Since CNN and Team Video Services (TVS) were joint employers of numerous technical workers, and CNN violated the National Labor Relations Act when it brought those technical jobs in house and then refused to hire former TVS workers, a court should enforce the National Labor Relations Board's 2015 order that more than 100 employees be rehired and should deny CNN's cross-petition for review, the NLRB said in a petitioner brief (in Pacer) Friday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The appeal stems from a 2007 complaint against CNN alleging workers unfairly lost jobs after CNN took over news operations in New York and the District of Columbia (see 0704130138). Backing CNN in a joint amicus brief (in Pacer) filed in February are the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, International Franchise Association, National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of Independent Businesses, National Restaurant Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. NLRB in its brief said despite CNN and amicus curiae arguments the agency retroactively applied new joint employer law standards without acknowledging doing so, its 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries of California decision didn't set a new standard, it merely clarified the decades-old standard. In its brief, the NLRB also argued it properly ordered CNN to reinstate fired TVS workers and restore their employment terms and that CNN has shown no proof that its operations have changed in any meaningful way that would make reinstatement an undue burden. CNN didn't comment Monday.
Networks will be able to offer viewers high-dynamic-range (HDR) live linear programming and VOD through a new Technicolor/Vubiquity partnership, Technicolor said in a news release Monday. The joint service will use Technicolor technology for an "in-network HDR up-conversion and delivery service," with the aim being a large expansion of HDR enhanced content available, it said. Along with HDR content, Vubiquity will be able to offer standard dynamic range content up-converted to HDR, Technicolor said. The HDR service is expected to launch later this year, though the two will demonstrate the capabilities at the NAB Show later this month, Technicolor said.
Comcast's response to Entertainment Studios' complaint against the cable company "is absolute proof that the FCC must stand up and prove to the world that they are doing what is in the public's best interest" by forcing Comcast to document its compliance with its voluntary commitment in the NBCUniversal takeover approval process to add independently owned and operated programmers in which African-Americans have a majority or sizable ownership interest, Entertainment Studios emailed various FCC staff including Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake. According to the email -- included in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 10-56 -- Comcast's opposition (see 1604050018) to the Entertainment Studios/National Association of African American Owned Media petition for an FCC investigation of the cable company (see 1603280030) is an example of Comcast "thumb[ing] its nose at its existing merger condition regarding independent, diverse programming." Entertainment Studios also reiterated its claim that Comcast's "white executives are not used to an African American man holding them accountable." In its email, Entertainment Studios noted "Comcast has not executed on the commitments, nor have the FCC enforced the provisions," and compared the agency to the SEC, saying "the same malpractice of a major regulatory agency refusing to do its job lead [sic] to the crash of the world economy." Comcast didn't comment.
Brightcove launched OTT Flow, an over-the-top system to let media and content companies launch their own OTT service offerings, it said in a news release Monday. OTT Flow was jointly developed with Accedo, Brightcove said. It said OTT Flow pricing depends on a user's operating model, with OTT Flow for ad-supported OTT video service starting at $10,000/month, and the service for subscription-based OTT service starting at $15,000/month.
Cablevision's Optimum TV interactive program guide will start including Hulu, the cable company said in a news release Thursday. Cablevision distributed Hulu content to Optimum customers only online last year (see 1504280054). Cablevision said it's the first cable provider with a dedicated channel -- channel 605 -- for Hulu content.
An array of Wisconsin communities no longer can regulate Time Warner Cable basic rates, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Wednesday, rejecting arguments from the cities of New Berlin and Waukesha and the town of Delafield that they weren't subject to effective competition. New Berlin had said the footprint of LEC AT&T Wisconsin didn't cover parts of the community, but the bureau said the LEC effective competition test doesn't require any particular penetration level and that AT&T's service area significantly overlaps TWC's. The cities and town also argued the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions is the franchising authority that should have been a party in TWC's petition, but the bureau said its omission doesn't make the petition procedurally defective. The order covers 18 communities around Wisconsin.
New Charter should be required to carry at least one independent sports network in the same manner it carries proprietary sports networks and nationally distributed sports programmers and without any limits on the indie sports network's alternative distribution methods, said beIN Sports in a meeting with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, according to its ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 15-149. BeIN said it also discussed its proposed condition's applicability to other independent programmers that have or will have U.S. rights to international sports. Nvidia in a separate filing on meetings or discussions with Owen Kendler, who is overseeing the Charter review team, and with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff, David Grossman, said it proposed that any approval of Charter's buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable come with conditions that would stop New Charter from preventing third-party devices such as Nvidia's Shield TV from having access to the authentication credentials needed to work with various TV Everywhere apps (see 1601220017). In a statement Wednesday, Charter said it "continue[s] to productively engage with regulators about the substantial public interest benefits of the transactions and look[s] forward to approval soon.”
Comcast and Disney Studios signed a licensing agreement that will let the cable company resell new releases and library titles from such Disney properties as Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar and Touchstone Pictures through its Xfinity On Demand digital store, the cable company said in a news release Tuesday. It said the purchased films can be cloud-stored to watch on any device anywhere. Disney joins Fox, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony Pictures and Warner in making content available through Comcast's On Demand digital store, it said.
Cox Communications never required anyone to rent a set-top box, and that no one else in Oklahoma City was offering set-tops isn't its fault, Cox said in brief and request for oral argument filed Monday in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That is where class-action plaintiffs Richard Healy et al. are appealing (see 1603010016) a U.S. District judge's 2015 overturning of a $6.31 million jury verdict against Cox for its set-top rental policies (see 1511130005). "It is not 'tying' for Ford to offer both trucks and tow hitches for sale, separately -- even though there are some things that a truck can do only if it has a hitch and even if there happen to be no other sellers of hitches in a particular community, through no fault of Ford's," Cox said in its 71-page brief. While Cox has no specific "Premium Cable" product, it said, most of the content Healy et al. have described as premium in their complaint doesn't need a Cox-provided set-top and could be accessed through Cox-provided CableCARDs. Cox said that despite its efforts working with makers of consumer electronics, none opted to sell set-tops in the Oklahoma City market. The cable operator said the District Court ruling should be affirmed or, alternately, that Cox should get a new trial because of faulty jury instructions that didn't properly explain issues of foreclosure and coercion. Cox said that at minimum, it is entitled to binding judgment against class members whose damages came solely from DVR fees, since the original jury verdict indicated it rejected any claims based on DVR fees. Plaintiffs' counsel didn't comment Tuesday.
Time Warner Cable and a North Carolina woman have settled a 2014 Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint. Victoria Galbreath sued TWC in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, alleging the cable company would use its automated telephone dialer system to repeatedly call her on her mobile phone to collect a debt even after she told the company "the calls were annoying" and to cease calling her phone. She asked for statutory damages of $500 for each violation, with treble damages for each violation found to be willful or knowing. Galbreath and TWC filed a stipulation of dismissal Monday, dropping the lawsuit with prejudice and without costs to any party.