PITTSBURGH—As cable operators continue to see declines in their video business due to cord-cutting and see the value of their broadband service expand, another cable association has decided to change its name to better reflect today’s market reality.

The American Cable Association, which represents more than 700 smaller and medium-sized independent cable operators, will now be known as the “ACA-American Communications Association,” according to President and CEO Matthew M. Polka, who announced the change to nearly 350 participants attending the association’s 26th annual Summit, held at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The association has adopted ACA Connects as its “day-to-day name.”

“It's all about the communications and connections our members provide," said ACA Connects’ Polka. "Even though our industry and technology are changing so rapidly, fueled by our members' broadband deployments, what's most important for our members and their customers is the ability to communicate freely and connect in their homes and businesses in countless new ways. With this name change, we’re recognizing that communication is the priority, not the medium.”

ACA Connects will continue to advocate for closing the digital divide for its members, including expanding broadband deployment in some of the most rural and financially challenging areas of the country, eliminating governmental barriers to investment and providing increased access to high-performance connectivity.

This is the first name change for the association in 20 years, when the association changed its name from the Small Cable Business Association (SCBA) to the American Cable Association. Its bigger brother, the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), took a similar tact in 2016 when it changed its name to “NCTA-The Internet and Television Association.”

Fed up by customer service complaints and higher monthly subscription fees, pay-TV providers have seen increasing declines in subscriptions to video services, with millions of subscribers over the past several years cancelling their video subscriptions in favor of so-called “skinny bundles” of virtual multichannel video program distributors (vMVPDs) like DirecTV Now, SlingTV and YouTube TV.

“The pay-TV market saw net losses increase in 2018,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “Overall, the top pay-TV providers lost 3.1 percent of subscribers in 2018 compared to a loss of 1.6 percent in 2017. Since the industry’s peak in 1Q 2012, pay-TV subscribers for the top providers have declined about 6,000,000. This reflects a decline of about 10,000,000 subscribers for traditional services, offset by the addition of about 4,000,000 subscribers for the publicly reporting vMVPD services.”

WASHINGTON—The American Cable Association is among those raising concerns about the potential impact of any new media consolidation.

ACA represents smaller and medium-sized, independent cable companies whose subscribers primarily are in rural and smaller suburban markets.

In comments to the Federal Communications Commission, the trade group discussed possible changes to the rule that bans a TV station group from reaching more than 39 percent of U.S. TV households.

It said that broadcasters must demonstrate that any benefits of new consolidation would outweigh the downsides including harms related to retransmission consent. “ACA remains skeptical that such a case can be made, and the recent revelations that allegedly ‘local’ news anchors must read scripts delivered from Sinclair corporate headquarters have only deepened our skepticism," ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka stated in an announcement.

[Read: State AGs Say FCC Can't Raise Ownership Cap]

The group responded to discussions about the UHF discount, which allows UHFs to reduce the number of households their signals reach when calculating audience reach. It noted that the system was created when analog UHF signals were weaker than analog VHF signals; now, it said, the NAB wants to expand the discount based not on signal strength but because stations “reach” a smaller audience than they did before as broadcast ratings have decreased — thus all stations UHF and VHF alike should now receive a discount.

ACA countered by saying the FCC has no discretion to change the basis of how the UHF discount is calculated; and that even if it could, the commission can’t rationally provide all stations with the same discount. “Ratings have nothing to do with a station’s ‘reach,’ at least as the FCC has always understood that term, and the FCC cannot now change that understanding, which, since at least 2004, has been Congress’ understanding too,” it wrote.

The cable group said the commission will have to justify any “Everybody Discount” in the same way it must justify raising or eliminating the national 39 percent cap itself. “If the FCC lacks authority to raise the ownership cap directly, it also lacks authority to circumvent the cap through creative changes to the UHF discount.”

PITTSBURGH – The American Cable Association has announced that Mary Lovejoy has been named to the new position of vice president of regulatory affairs. Lovejoy, an attorney, will work in Washington, D.C., with the goal of strengthening ACA’s legal and policy advocacy.

Lovejoy will advocate on behalf of the ACA with federal agencies, as well as develop policy positions, prepare regulatory filings and help keep members informed of relevant policymaking and compliance matters. Lovejoy will report to Ross Lieberman, senior vice president of government affairs.

Previously, Lovejoy worked at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo in Washington, focusing on policy and regulatory matters of interest to cable operators and broadband Internet service providers.

Lovejoy began at ACA on July 1.