Over-the-top now generates $25 billion revenue annually, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reported Tuesday. Of the more than 500 OTT service providers globally, most are local players competing in a single market, BCG said. The top five global players -- Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Time Warner's HBO and Google's YouTube -- generate about half of the total market revenue and are expected to grow due to advantages like scale in content creation and technology, BCG said. OTT growth is leading to a content boom, BCG said, with 1 billion amateur and professional content creators "adding daily (actually, hourly) to the content mix available through OTT channels." It said the middle tier of entertainment programming "is collapsing" due to content consumption bifurcating between "high production value, must watch shows ... and more modest, traditional professional, pro-am or even amateur productions." Live sports remains one area for TV channels to attract major audiences, with OTT driving additional growth by creating new monetization routes, BCG said. Traditional networks might start moderating their spending on content as OTT competitive pressures grow, but spending by major OTT players in the U.S. is expected to keep growing.

Along with addressing most-favored-nation and alternative distribution method (ADM) provisions in its diverse programming NPRM, the FCC should tackle the problems caused by bundling and by early termination fees charged customers, RFD-TV/FamilyNet executives told staff in a series of meetings, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-41. Many ADM clauses restrict independent programmers from distributing over-the-top content via apps, and prohibiting enforcement of ADM provisions would give FCC set-top box reform "a more meaningful impact," said RFD-TV/FamilyNet representatives including CEO Patrick Gottsch. The programmer also said bundling by large programmers squeezes out independent voices. Multichannel video programming distributors should be blocked from enforcing termination fees when MVPDs drop programming or at the very least be required to provide notice to customers of any upcoming programming loss as far in advance as the period when early termination fees would apply. RFD-TV/FamilyNet met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel and to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and with Media Bureau staff. A draft indie programming NPRM is circulating (see 1609190032).

Expanding the number of nonbroadcast networks covered by the video description rules would be “inconsistent” with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), NCTA told staff from the FCC Media Bureau and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in a meeting Thursday, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-43. NCTA also objected to a “no backsliding rule” for video description, which would require companies covered by the video description rules to continue providing the service even if their size or subscribership declines below the thresholds that trigger the rules. “The video description rules do not, and should not, apply to programming offered on a Video-On-Demand basis,” NCTA said. The FCC also shouldn't adopt new rules for accessing caption display settings, which NCTA said would be outside agency authority. “Any such action would risk negative consequences, and is unnecessary given that companies are already developing interfaces that provide easy access to accessibility settings in an intuitive manner,” NCTA said.

NCTA changed its brand, now calling itself NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association, the group said in a news release Monday. In 2015 it rebranded its traditional The Cable Show into INTX: The Internet & Television Expo (see 1505050046). INTX 2017 will be in Washington, D.C., in April, it said.

Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman endorsed the FCC draft set-top box plan, according to a copy of his remarks at the Searle Center antitrust conference Friday. “We have been pleased to see FCC Chairman [Tom] Wheeler actively listen to the many stakeholders involved to improve the proposal, and believe that he is charting out a responsible way to address their meaningful concerns while being responsive to Congress's explicit directive to ensure a healthy set-top marketplace,” Furman said. Others have slammed even the revised proposal, from what they've heard about the draft (see 1609150045). TiVo Monday backed it (see 1609190048).

Programmers remain “strongly opposed to any licensing construct in which the Commission has the ability to alter the provisions contained in any license that permits the distribution of copyrighted video programming,” said CBS, Viacom, Disney, Scripps, Time Warner and 21st Century Fox in a joint letter Friday responding to FCC testimony a day earlier to the Senate Commerce Committee (see 1609150045). “That is true whether the Commission’s exercise of oversight relates to a license permitting a device manufacturer to distribute content via apps, or whether such oversight relates to the private commercial agreements that programmers enter into with multichannel video programming distributors,” the programmers said in docket 16-42. “We have encouraged the Commission to include as part of any new rules certain protections to promote competition, consumer choice, and the continued investment in content, but we have never asked the FCC to interject itself into our agreements.” The approach in the draft item “neither respects the sanctity of programming agreements nor upholds the copyright licensing regime by which programming is distributed,” said representatives of NCTA, Cox, Charter Communications, Comcast and AT&T/DirecTV in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai Wednesday, said a filing posted Friday. “We expressed concern that the Chairman’s proposal to require MVPDs to provide an information flow of entitlement data is unnecessary, unlawful, and like the original unbundling proposal in the NPRM, sacrifices consumer privacy.” The draft item would hurt innovation, since a requirement that the pay-TV-provided apps have to offer all the services that the MVPD set-top offers ”would prohibit the launch of any new feature in a set-top box unless equivalent functionality can be provided through all apps that are -- or once were -- widely deployed,” the pay-TV representatives said. “Requiring Commission or other licensing review and approval of proposed amendments to the standard license would also constrain innovation.” Also Friday, the House Judiciary Committee chairman and ranking member expressed concerns (see 1609160058).

Cable operators with networks that are mostly fiber shouldn't have to labor under cable signal leakage rules, said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a blog post Friday. Small cable operators use small airplanes to check their networks with RF sensors to look for signal leakage from loose connections, damaged paint or cracked coaxial cables, at a cost of thousands of dollars per system -- "money that can be used to curtail rate increases or expand the network’s reach to unserved homes," O'Rielly said. Pointing to the agency's now-moribund attempts in 2012 to update its cable signal leakage rules -- which was opposed by Verizon, NTCA and others (see 1212130055) -- O'Rielly said "substantial and valid concerns were raised about other ideas in that item." He also urged the agency to focus strictly on updating its rules governing cable signal leakage in systems with a sizable fiber footprint. Since fiber systems don't produce RF leakage, he said, making them not subject to such rules would cut compliance costs and could partially incentivize fiber deployments. O'Rielly didn't give specific recommendations on how the rule should be changed. American Cable Association in a statement said the blog item "is another good example of Commissioner O’Reilly’s knack for identifying common sense updates to the Commission’s rules" and it "would welcome further discussion of this matter, which could eliminate needless burdens" on smaller cable operators. NCTA didn't comment. At an Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers lunch Friday, O'Rielly said: "The impact in the scheme of things might not sound earth shattering, but can quickly become significant. It seems to me a reasonable minor step we should be able to make without much controversy." According to his speech made available online, O'Rielly also said he would like the AM revitalization proceeding split off relief for the main studio rule from the final NPRM so it can be completed by year's end. He said the FCC shouldn't just approve the ATSC 3.0 standard but rewrite its rules so broadcasters can offer 3.0 in an effort to "avoid any tech mandates or overly prescriptive measures." Since "both adopting the new standard and removing barriers to allow flexibility and choice of technologies get to the same end point, why not pursue the one that sets the stage for ATSC 4.0 or 5.0?" he said.

HBO and Cinemax will become part of the lineup on Sony's PlayStation Vue streaming service, and HBO's HBO Now direct-to-consumer service will be integrated into Sony's PS3 and PS4 game consoles, PlayStation Vue head Dwayne Benefield said in a blog post Thursday. It said the Vue arrangement is the first time Cinemax and HBO live programming will be available as stand-alone channel offerings instead of as part of a bundle. Vue customers will be able to subscribe to them as stand-alone channels for $15 a month each or add them to an existing Vue plan.

Discovery Communications now offers 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and will extend the same 12 weeks to caregivers, in changes to its paid leave policy for U.S. workers. Discovery said in a news release Thursday that with the option to add up to two weeks of vacation for all parental leave and care-giving, leave will max at 14 consecutive weeks. The new leave policy is effective Jan. 1.

Google Fiber refreshed its TV user interface, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. The update includes improved DVR navigation, personalized recommendations, enhanced search and Rotten Tomatoes ratings in program descriptions, it said. New customers get the new interface right away; current customers get it “in the coming weeks,” Google said.