Charter Communications and Viacom will partner on co-production of original content and on advanced advertising, under a multiyear extension of their distribution agreement, they said Wednesday. They said some Viacom networks, including BET, MTV and CMT, will move to Charter's Spectrum Select tier, with others remaining on Spectrum Silver or Spectrum Gold tiers. They said co-produced original content will premiere on Charter's platform in the U.S., with Viacom distributing it internationally and in additional domestic markets after Charter's premiere period. They also said the companies would partner on the use of anonymized viewership data and on tackling unauthorized password sharing.
The largest pay-TV providers lost about 405,000 net video subscribers in Q3, up from the 205,000 lost in the year-ago period, Leichtman Research Group said Wednesday. LRG said the top six cable companies lost about 290,000, up from 90,000. Direct broadcast satellite operators lost about 475,000, compared with a gain of 5,000, their deepest losses in a quarter, it said. The largest telcos lost about 180,000, compared with a loss of 370,000. Over-the-top services Sling TV and DirecTV Now added about 535,000, up from 200,000 net adds, the researcher reported.
Xfinity TV customers can access their cable service via the Xfinity TV Partner app on Sony Android TVs next year, Comcast and Sony announced Tuesday. Xfinity TV customers will be able to watch, via app, live and on-demand programming, including local broadcasts and public, educational and government channels, plus cloud DVR recordings, they said. Comcast launched the Xfinity TV Partner Program, based on open-standard HTML5 technology, last year to expand the field of retail devices Xfinity TV customers can use to access programming.
Streaming service Philo launched a sports-less content package at $16 monthly, it said Tuesday. It said the package has more than 35 channels including A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, BBC America, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, ID, IFC, MTV and Travel Channel. It said the service includes an unlimited 30-day DVR and on-demand library. It supports web browsers, Roku devices, an iOS app and Android via Chrome, with other platforms to come. Some question demand for such a product (see 1709140021).
Netflix is integrated into Cox Communications' Contour TV guide system, the company said Monday. It said subscribers also can search Netflix using Contour's voice remote. The cloud-based Contour interface is based on Comcast's X1 platform, it said. Comcast integrated Netflix into its X1 last year (see 1611040055).
The FCC, in its report on video programming, faces arguments against and for further steps, including a push to ensure online video distributors aren't subject to cable rules. Replies on the 19th annual report were due Thursday. Verizon -- echoing its calls for retransmission rules changes and elimination of the network nonduplication and syndicated programming exclusivity rules (see 1710110016) -- said in docket 17-214 comments posted Monday that legacy cable regulations on OVDs "would be highly inappropriate." Regulation would be contrary to the agency's goal of promoting video competition, it said. Cable "remains uniquely burdened" with antiquated regulations, despite choice and competition, Charter Communications said. It pressed the agency to declare the market highly competitive and eliminate regulations based on a lack of competition, looking for routes to regulatory parity. NCTA said similar in initial comments last month. NCTA now pitched for seeing the set-top box marketplace as filled with rivalry. It said apps, the emergence of devices like Roku and MVPD investment in alternatives to set-tops -- plus the growth of streaming services -- eclipsed set-top use. It said app use came despite Section 629 of the Communications Act, which requires promotion of competition in the set-top market. Predictable pay-TV claims about a broken retrans regime "should be taken with a proverbial grain of salt," since pay-TV providers were complaining about negotiating with TV stations even before retrans fees became substantial, NAB said. It said proposals for negotiation reforms are without merit and contrary to statute, saying the FCC lacks authority over carriage of TV stations' signals without broadcaster consent. The multichannel TV sector is "broken," with major programmers using leverage and must-have networks to impose tying and bundling requirements, indie cable network INSP said. It said the report should conclude independent cable networks are in jeopardy, program carriage rules and enforcement need strengthening, and conglomerate programmers should be barred from bundling and tying. Citing "overwhelming evidence" of sizable video competition, Comcast rejected American Cable Association criticisms of its NBCUniversal's minimum penetration terms for its regional sports networks. It said the agency should declare the area competitive "at all levels."
Roku added 48 percent more “active” user accounts in Q3 than a year earlier, said CEO Anthony Wood Wednesday on the company’s first earnings call since it went public Sept. 28. “If Roku were a traditional cable company or a service operator, we would be the fourth largest in the country,” he said. “Streaming is mainstream, and a huge market. We believe every TV will one day run a streaming OS.” Momentum in licensing to TV makers made Roku the top U.S. streamer, “based on streaming hours,” said Wood. Streaming hours for Q3 were up 58 percent from a year earlier to 3.8 billion, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden. Q3 revenue jumped 40 percent to $124.8 million, as the operating loss narrowed to $7.9 million. Roku shares ended Thursday up 55 percent at $29.19.
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority shouldn't assume Sky News will continue to be provided if Fox's planned buy of Sky doesn't go through, Sky said Tuesday in a CMA filing. It said it would "likely be prompted to review the position" if the provision of Sky News unduly impedes the Fox deal or other such deals. In a separate CMA filing Tuesday, Fox said there isn't one editorial position shared by News Corp. newspapers with which Sky News content "could even theoretically be aligned." It said overlap of exclusively Sky News and News Corp. news consumers is small, so the deal doesn't hurt diversity. And it said Ofcom considers Fox's compliance with UK broadcasting standards good, and thus "there is no plausible, let alone likely, risk" Fox wouldn't maintain Sky's commitment to broadcasting standards. U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley in September referred Fox/Sky to CMA for a full, six-month investigation (see 1709140020). CMA said provisional findings are due in December.
Owners of Sony 2017 and select 2016 Sony TVs with Android TV can use Google Assistant to discover and access content and control other smart home devices, said Sony Tuesday. Sony Android TVs are also compatible with Amazon Alexa (see 1707170041).
Live NBA games will be available in virtual reality under a multiyear partnership with Turner Sports, Intel said Tuesday. The chipmaker will be exclusive VR provider for the NBA on TNT starting with the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 18. It said it's partnering with the NBA to provide VR and 360-degree volumetric video for the league's broadcast partners globally. It said the VR content will be available via the forthcoming NBA on TNT VR app on Samsung GearVR and Google Daydream headsets.