More than half of U.S. households subscribing to over-the-top video services pay for more than one service, Parks reported Thursday. Of the households with multiple subscriptions, 81 percent use Netflix plus another service, typically Amazon or Hulu, and the average number of subscriptions per household is rising, said analyst Brett Sappington. “Video services do not necessarily have to displace a Netflix” or another heavyweight service to gain market share, Sappington said. “Services can potentially find success as a complementary offering." Sappington said consumers who pay for OTT services are more likely than nonsubscribers to watch free online video services, and the more OTT video subscriptions consumers have, the more likely they are to use free or “freemium” video services that offer different service tiers. Some 30 percent of households with one subscription service use at least one free, ad-supported online video service. The ratio jumps to 47 percent for households subscribing to three premium services and to 63 percent for households subscribing to five or more services.

The American Cable Association will petition for reconsideration of the ATSC 3.0 order if broadcasters put undue pressure on small cable operators to carry the standard, ACA said in docket 16-142, posted Tuesday. Such petitions can be submitted within 30 days of the order's publication in the Federal Register, and many ACA members will be negotiating retransmission consent deals in the next month, the group said. It cited Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's warning at commissioners' November meeting he would be watching for examples of possible violations of good-faith rules for 3.0 carriage. "Should broadcasters insist on ATSC 3.0 carriage in their negotiations with ACA members, the 'concrete examples' of which Commissioner O'Rielly spoke may become available sooner rather than later," ACA said. "We hope, however, that broadcasters will show some measure of restraint."

MGM's Epix will be available via Comcast's X1 platform early next year under a distribution agreement they announced Tuesday.

DOJ's case against AT&T's buy of Time Warner is backed by only speculation and out-of-context statements, telecom consultant Jonathan Lee blogged Monday. He said the case (see 1711210005) has numerous "unsupported" assumptions that New AT&T could profitably raise TW programming prices; that blackouts are always worse for MVPDs than for programmers; that New AT&T will be well insulated from the threat of a rival MVPD not carrying TW content because it would pick up some defecting customers; and that New AT&T could profitably charge its own retail customers more.

Vertical mergers are nearly always pro-competitive and pro-consumer, result in lower consumer pricing or better products, and no loss of competitors in the market, R Street blogged Wednesday, calling DOJ's case against AT&T's buy of Time Warner (see 1711200064) "weak." It said negotiations about merger conditions likely will continue in coming weeks. A "targeted" behavioral condition covering the licensing of TW content to competing online video distributors like Sling TV "may be enough to grease the wheels and get this merger over the line," it said, but it's not clear if AT&T would accept such conditions or try to get court approval of the buy without any conditions. Many antitrust experts said the DOJ doesn't face easy success (see 1711210005). DOJ has a strong case, given the growing bipartisan view that behavioral conditions are problematic, Cleveland State University law professor Chris Sagers blogged Tuesday. Federal agencies frequently put conditions on vertical mergers, he said, saying the size of the deal -- one of the largest in history -- is also important. It could help the DOJ that the case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, whose opinion in the Tunney Act proceedings in the Comcast/NBCUniversal merger (see 1109020106) "was modestly strongly worded," and who ordered the government's requested relief "be toughened up in a few respects." Separately, Technology Policy Institute President Emeritus Thomas Lenard, in a column Wednesday in RealClearPolicy, said AT&T likely went into the TW deal thinking it could negotiate conditions similar to those put on Comcast/NBCUniversal. But the antitrust division, with its suit, is making clear it doesn't favor such conditions in AT&T/TW, Lenard said. Divestitures have costs, such as destroying some of the value and efficiencies the parties hoped to get from the deal, plus their disruption, he said, saying the facts of the case will determine whether structural or behavioral remedies are best. In a tweet Tuesday, telecom consultant Jonathan Lee waved off the DOJ's argument that TW-owned sports content like NBA, MLB and NCAA games are must-have content, citing Charter Communications and SportsNet LA and its challenges getting carriage on MVPDs. The DOJ complaint ignores the travails the legacy media sector faces from cord cutting to ad dollars shifting online and the hope M&A represented, BTIG Research Analyst Rich Greenfield wrote Wednesday. He also said DOJ arguments Turner content is must-have is questionable. And he said it was surprising the complaint didn't have clear examples of Comcast/NBCU consent decree failures or the economic harms inflicted on consumers, since DOJ presumably will need to show that deal hurt competitors and consumers and that the larger AT&T/TW deal carries larger potential hurts.

Comcast Xfinity customers with the X1 remote can vote verbally for contestants on The Voice, in an interactive experience starting Monday, said Comcast and NBC.

Wireless and wireline providers should be treated equally and without any favoritism in any infrastructure proceedings, Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge said in meeting last week with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, recounted a docket 17-258 filing posted Monday. Rutledge cited the importance of reasonably sized geographic licenses for the 3.5 GHz band, indicating too-large licenses could preclude new entrants like Charter from investing. The company said he pushed for the FCC to quickly make 5.9 GHz band spectrum available for unlicensed use.

Discovery Communications shareholders approved the company's buy of Scripps Networks Interactive, the buyer said in an SEC filing Friday. The $14.6 billion deal was announced in July (see 1707310062).

Any DOJ condition of sale of some Time Warner channels in AT&T buying TW would be "unprecedented" for a vertical merger, wrote Free State Foundation President Randolph May and Fellow Theodore Bolema in an opinion piece in The Hill Friday. "It will have a challenge in court explaining why this case deviates from antitrust enforcement precedent in which, at most, behavioral conditions were sufficient." BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield said it's "nearly impossible" to imagine Comcast getting regulatory OK for significant content or distribution acquisitions under this administration, and if DOJ sues to block AT&T/TW or forces a divestiture of Turner or DirecTV, "it is not far-fetched" to think an attempted government breakup of Comcast/NBCUniversal could come. He pooh-poohed Comcast/NBCUniversal buying Fox but envisioned a Comcast split if vertical integration is a legal issue, with the result being two public companies: Comcast and Sky holdings on one side, NBCU and Fox on the other. Event Driven reported DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim (see 1711160056) said he's “absolutely” confident in his team if AT&T/TW is litigated and the agency will decide how to proceed "in due course." AT&T hired a lawyer to help in that potential effort (see the personals section of this issue of this publication.)

Time's over-the-top Sports Illustrated TV streaming network debuts Thursday on Amazon Channels, it said Wednesday. It said the network will debut with 130 hours of on-demand programming and follows People TV. Subscription is $4.99 monthly for Amazon Prime's U.S. members.