Universal Electronics will supply next-generation remote controls to some 140 million pay-TV subscribers into next year, said CEO Paul Arling on the company’s Q1 earnings call Thursday. Such remotes lead to higher MVPD engagement with users plus financial and other benefits, he said. Revenue in Q1 rose 7.1 percent to $161.4 million from the year-ago quarter, with Comcast revenue up by about that percentage, the company said. Universal warned of lower Q2 guidance as a large customer “burns through inventory of the company's old product” before transitioning to the next Universal remote platform. Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel cited “a material up-tick in customer churn” in the subscription-video industry, a loss of 762,000 subscriptions marking its “worst quarter ever,” and said the threat of cord-cutting is driving the next-generation user experiences being rolled out by virtually every participant in the industry. The next-gen gear switch has had "fits and starts,” he said. The stock closed 5.9 percent down Friday at $64.15.

Scripps Networks Interactive will begin producing shows for Snapchat's Discover platform, the programmer said in a news release Thursday. The deal including HGTV and Food Network builds on a previous arrangement where Food Network was one of the first publishers on Discover at its 2015 launch, and has been creating Publisher Stores for the platform since then, it said.

Pressures on the pay-TV sector show cord-cutting and cord-nevering are accelerating, while advertising dollars increasingly are shifting to mobile, BTIG Research analyst Rich Greenfield wrote Wednesday. He said MVPDs appear to have lost at least 450,000 subscribers in what is traditionally a seasonally strong quarter, and that loss comes even as virtual MVPDs added more than 300,000 subscribers. "Scary when you think about a seasonally weak Q2" and the launch of more virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu Live, he said.

Best Buy and Vivint Smart Home are expanding their partnership on an in-store smart home initiative to launch this summer in more than 400 stores, they announced Thursday. Feedback from pilots in 23 stores in Detroit and San Antonio is “overwhelmingly positive,” emailed a Best Buy spokeswoman, saying the expansion includes Best Buy’s Geek Squad staff. This brings Vivint much-needed visibility to compete with security companies such as ADT plus MVPDs, Imperial Capital analyst Saliq Khan told us. As AT&T and Comcast boosted efforts in the smart home, do-it-yourself has started to slow down, he said. “The likes of Vivint, ADT and Moni Security have to find ways to become more relevant."

TiVo is banking on pay-TV renewal business and “significant incremental opportunity” with over-the-top video providers to drive growth, CEO Tom Carson said on a Q1 earnings call, citing increasing video consumption and distribution channel growth. TiVo’s core pay-TV business is “healthy” due to long-term licensing and product deals with most operators, positioning the company to work with new entrants launching similar services, Carson said. Q1 revenue was $206 million, vs. $118 million in the year-ago quarter, benefiting from the acquisition of TiVo Solutions Inc. in Q3, the company reported Wednesday. Net loss was $35 million, vs. an $18 million net loss a year earlier. It expects a wider 2017 loss on one basis than previously forecast. The company's stock ended the day down 7.5 percent at $17.95.

Viacom is in talks about creation of a skinny bundle package of content, and such offerings from programmers "will be a catalyst for more," CEO Bob Bakish said during an analyst call Thursday. "Everyone acknowledges there's a marketplace opportunity there." While licensing content to subscription VOD offerings, one big Viacom goal is ensuring it's not undercutting itself by creating inexpensive alternatives for consumers to access its content, he said. Pointing to Hulu carrying some Nickelodeon content, he said while Viacom builds out its own consumer products business, it makes sense to have some content available across multiple platforms. Bakish said the uneven subscriber results being reported by different MVPDs reflects differences in execution, and the industry overall needs to put more focus on the product and marketing. He said Charter Communications is retiering some of its channels for new subscribers -- an issue still the focus of talks between the two. Viacom said Q1 revenue was up 8 percent, to $3.26 billion, driven largely by filmed entertainment and more affiliate revenue. The CEO said as part of Viacom's announced turnaround plan (see 1702090029), Paramount has a new leadership team in place and MTV is installing a new team and pivoting to a new programming pipeline with a heavier focus on unscripted content. The programmer's stock closed down 7.7 percent to $37.85.

Hulu's live-streaming service launched at $40 a month for more than 50 channels, up to 50 hours of recording storage and two simultaneous streams per account, it said in a news release Wednesday. Hulu said an affiliate agreement with Scripps Networks Interactive means HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network will be part of the new virtual MVPD service and Hulu's existing premium streaming service. The $40-a-month live-streaming service also includes Hulu's $8-a-month premium streaming service, it said. Hulu said its audience hit 47 million total unique viewers. It's launching a T-commerce advertising unit, which will allow for viewer purchase of movie tickets at theaters and showings of their choice through their connected TVs, with other brand categories such as retail and dining to follow in 2018.

Virtual MVPDs "are gaining traction" and offsetting some subscriber declines among traditional MVPDs, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said in an analyst call Wednesday. He said they're demonstrating consumer demand for cheaper skinny bundle packages. He said AT&T's planned buy of TW is expected to close by year's end. Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara said TW continues to talk with motion picture exhibitors about "a premium video on-demand model" allowing for earlier home consumption of movie content. TW said Q1 sales rose about 6 percent to $7.74 billion from the year-ago quarter as operating income gained about 4 percent to $2.1 billion.

Liberty Interactive's proposed $1.12 billion buy of Alaska-based General Communication Inc. (GCI) "will promote stability and investment" in Alaska while creating no foreseeable harm to competition, the companies said in a consolidated application for consent to transfer control posted Tuesday. They said the transaction "will have limited practical effect on ... day-to-day operations" since GCI's communications subsidiaries will go unchanged, but provide GCI with "more stable access to financial markets" and more resources for executing its business plan. GCI's operating businesses also will be more insulated from Alaska-specific market fluctuations, they said. Pointing to GCI's nearly complete Terra "ring" of more than 2,000 miles of fiber and microwave links, they said the deal would put GCI on better footing "to execute on these projects in the future." They said there's no overlap of GCI and its subsidiaries with any Liberty Interactive entities, and the Liberty entities that will be part of GCI Liberty don't offer any FCC-regulated services. They said GCI Liberty will hold a noncontrolling interest in Charter Communications, but there's no overlap in any markets served. The deal is expected to face few regulatory headwinds (see 1704040048).

With cable network ratings down significantly in Q1, "the era of 'Peak TV' driven by an explosion of cable originals is coming to an end," MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson said in a note to investors Monday. MoffettNathanson downgraded Scripps Network Interactive, Discovery and AMC over recent months over concerns that viewers were increasingly focused on either live -- such as sports and big events -- or on-demand content, leaving cable networks in the lurch. Nathanson said cable network advertising will be under increased pressure this year due to the ratings declines.