The FCC Media Bureau is doing 2018 equal employment opportunity audits, and mailed out its third set of audit letters to MVPDs Thursday, said a public notice. The FCC randomly audits 5 percent of all stations and MVPDs each year.
With the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel having withdrawn its nine separate applications for review of various determinations of effective competition in different communities, the applications for review are dismissed, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order Thursday.
More than nine in 10 over-the-top video subscribers are members of Amazon Prime Video, Hulu or Netflix, Parks Associates said Monday. Though new online pay-TV and premium channels pushed into the OTT space last year, they haven’t made a dent in the top three’s market position due to “strong viewer loyalty,” said analyst Brett Sappington.
Comcast should “discontinue” claiming in broadcast ads that DirecTV is unreliable in bad weather, recommended the National Advertising Division. The recommendation results from a DirecTV challenge of a Comcast ad that shows a DirecTV antenna being struck by lightning and mentions weather can cause satellite signals to pixelate. DirecTV said the commercial doesn't explicitly state service interruptions from severe weather are typical, but "the advertisement strongly implies it,” the group said. Comcast argued the ad was similar to other Comcast commercials that NAD found to be substantiated. NAD said Comcast should “avoid conveying the message” that the satellite provider offers no free shows or “movies on the go,” but rejected a DirecTV allegation Comcast made false claims about the number of free shows and to-go movies in its introductory package. DirecTV is appealing the latter ruling, and Comcast is appealing the rulings against it.
Video entertainment devices are expected to reach 457.5 million units shipped by 2022, a 10.9 percent compound annual growth rate, IDC reported Monday. Devices including Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast and Roku will serve as the gateway into the smart home ecosystem, leading to “immense competition” in content and price, the researcher said. It expects the worldwide smart home device market to grow 31 percent this year over 2017 to 643.9 million shipments, reaching 1.3 billion by 2022. Smart speakers are expected to post the fastest growth.
Citing concerns a "retaliatory motive is ... infecting regulatory enforcement decisions that affect the press," the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as part of its handling of the AT&T/Time Warner appeal to clarify the standard for discovery where selective enforcement of antitrust laws could chill reporting. An amicus brief (in Pacer, docket 18-5214) Thursday in favor of neither DOJ nor AT&T/TW said the lower court -- in denying discovery on whether supposed White House animus toward TW's CNN resulted in DOJ opposition to AT&T/TW -- used an erroneous standard that makes it potentially impossible for news organizations to get discovery. DOJ didn't comment Friday.
Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is urging the House Commerce Committee to investigate anti-competitive effects of Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal, saying it expects the end result likely will be either a Comcast/NBCU breakup or reimposing the FCC conditions that expired in January (see 1801220030). In a letter to committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Vice Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, dated Monday and released Thursday, ALG said at the very least, Comcast/NBCU should be forced to submit to the same arbitration terms that AT&T has committed to in its buy of Time Warner. Comcast didn't comment.
Record company litigation alleging copyright infringement should be dismissed because it's outside the three-year statute of limitations and because any such infringement was "innocent and ... not willful," Cox Communications replied (in Pacer, docket 18-cv-00950) Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. Cox said the claims of contributory liability are barred because it didn't have knowledge of the alleged primary infringement by some subscribers and didn't cause or encourage it, nor did it materially contribute. The ISP said statutory damages sought are "unconstitutionally excessive" and out of proportion to actual damages. A counterclaim sought declaratory judgment that it's not liable for contributory infringement of the works in question and a declaratory judgment it's not vicariously liable for infringement by third parties of those works. Cox also moved (in Pacer) to transfer the venue to the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying the claims and plaintiffs have no particular tie to the Virginia court, but the suit was likely filed there because that court previously handled BMG v. Cox. Cox said the Atlanta court is where Cox is headquartered and where most relevant witnesses and evidence are. The music companies' outside counsel didn't comment Tuesday. Cox is seen facing a challenge in this latest suit after the BMG litigation (see 1808020009).
FCC commissioners approved the local franchise authority Further NPRM that was to be on Wednesday's meeting agenda (see 1809050056), the agency said Tuesday, deleting the item from the agenda. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said that after last year's 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remand of the FCC ruling that local franchise authorities can't use cable franchising authority to regulate cable operators' mixed-use networks (see 1707120031), the NPRM looks to prevent franchise authority overreach. Otherwise, he said, "it’s hard to see any boundaries to the meddling of franchise authorities, creating the perverse circumstance in which such non-cable services could be regulated by multiple governmental layers, generating confusing and conflicting obligations." NCTA said the unanimous NPRM approval properly seeks to reinstate "clear limits on franchising authorities' ability to impose undue and unwarranted regulations and fees."
Gray Television and Raycom were “heavy on rhetoric but light on the facts” and offered “no serious rebuttal” in their joint response (see 1809130051) to comments about their proposed deal’s implications for retransmission consent, said Dish Network and the American Cable Association in replies posted Monday in docket 18-230. The deal would lead to an increase in retransmission consent fees, Dish and ACA said. Most of “the supposed benefits” Gray and Raycom said would come from the combination are “euphemisms for reducing or eliminating local content,” Dish said. “Even if it does not violate the national audience reach rules, the transaction will cause retransmission consent prices to rise,” said ACA. “Whether or not bigger broadcasters are ‘bad,’ the evidence shows that they charge MVPDs higher retransmission fees,” said Dish. Along with criticizing the deal’s retrans permutations, ACA praised Gray and Raycom for making it clear that Gray wouldn’t acquire the stations it's divesting, and so wouldn’t activate after-acquired clauses in their retransmission contracts. NCTA said the FCC should require companies seeking approval to own two top-four stations in the same market -- as Gray and Raycom are -- should have to demonstrate “the harms the Commission has recognized that are associated with common ownership are outweighed by unusual benefits.” Gray/Raycom “has not made such a showing regarding their Honolulu stations,” NCTA said. Gray didn't comment.