Comcast "cannot wish away" commitments made to NBC TV affiliates when it bought NBCUniversal, which is what it's trying to do in its motion to dismiss WHDH Boston's lawsuit (see 1604130058), the station said in an opposition (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. WHDH said the problems in Comcast's legal argument include "an unduly narrow reading" of the binding commitments it made affiliates and "a constrained application" of antitrust principles. It said it "easily meets" the standards for filing a claim under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A because that broad law doesn't specifically define the "unfair" and "deceptive" acts it prohibits, and it likewise has properly alleged Comcast has breached contractual obligations, which "is sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss," and antitrust claims. Comcast didn't comment Tuesday. The station is suing Comcast, alleging it violated an agreement with NBC affiliates made as part of Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal by planning to switch the NBC affiliation from WHDH to an owned-and-operated station (see 1603110031).

Univision signed up for Nielsen's National and Local Digital in TV Ratings services to get estimates of linear viewing online, the ratings company said in a news release Monday. With the deal, Univision Network and UniMas become the first Spanish-language broadcasters to include Nielsen's digital audience data in their TV ratings, it said.

Hallmark Cards finalized its takeover of Crown Media Holdings, taking the operator of the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries networks private (see 1603090083), it said in a news release Monday. Hallmark already was majority shareholder of Crown Media.

Comcast's arguments that an Entertainment Studios/National Association of African American Owned Media response to its objection was late filed "suggests Comcast has no effective response to Petitioners' showing," said Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM in a filing Monday in docket 10-56. While Comcast argues the response to its objection (see 1604050018) was due April 11, not the April 15 it was filed on, Entertainment Studios/NAAAOM said the deadline actually was April 18 in part because of the additional days granted to a pleading if the replies are directed by mail, and thus it "was early, not late." The FCC and Comcast didn't comment.

Florida's St. George Cable agreed to pay $2,500 for failing to install and maintain operational emergency alert system equipment, to operate its cable system within required signal leakage limits, to immediately suspend operations as directed by the FCC Enforcement Bureau and to register the cable system with the FCC, the bureau said in an order and consent decree Friday.

Viacom will have access to Roku data for targeted advertising on the Roku platform under a deal signed by the two companies, Viacom said Thursday. In a fiscal Q2 earnings call, CEO Philippe Dauman said the deal "will let us leverage Roku data for sophisticated ad targeting." He also said that with the carriage agreement signed earlier this month with Dish Network (see 1604210020), Viacom now has long-term deals in place with all the major distributors. He also said Viacom's Epix network will have its first original scripted series this fall. Viacom reported revenue in the quarter ended March 31 fell 3 percent to $3 billion from the year-ago period, led by declines in home entertainment and media network advertising.

Comcast will spend roughly $3.8 billion on DreamWorks Animation in an all-cash deal, making it part of its Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, the cable company said in a news release Thursday. Comcast said it expects to close on the deal by year's end, subject to antitrust approvals in the U.S. and internationally. On close, DreamWorks Animation CEO/co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg will be chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which will hold its ownership interest in Awesomeness TV and Nova, and serve as an NBCUniversal consultant, Comcast said.

The timing for the FCC announcement on proposed conditions (see 1604250039) for Charter/Bright House Networks/Time Warner Cable was dictated by the agency's close relationship with DOJ on the matter, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a news conference Thursday. The proposed conditions will create a “seven-year innovation and competition zone,” for broadband access and an “open opportunity,” he said.

Former Epix Chief Digital Officer Emil Rensing was charged with defrauding his former employer of more than $8 million, in a federal indictment announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Rensing, 42, of Manhattan, used his position to have the company contract with two vendor companies he owned for various digital media services they never performed. The indictment also said the vendor personnel designated in the contracts often were former associates or partners of Rensing, but they had never heard of the vendors and were unaware of their names being used on the contracts. The indictment never names Rensing's employer, but his LinkedIn profile says he was with Epix during the five years in question, April 2010-August 2015. In a statement, Epix said Rensing was terminated by the company then and it's "cooperating fully" with the investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office said he's charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a 20-year maximum sentence, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a maximum of two years. Rensing couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday

Proponents of FCC-proposed changes to set-top box rules TiVo and Public Knowledge support an exemption for pay-TV carriers with 1 million or fewer subscribers, the American Cable Association said in a news release Wednesday. “TiVo['s] and Public Knowledge's stance sends a strong signal to the FCC that, if it moves forward with its proposal, relief for smaller [multichannel video programming distributors] is justified.” The FCC should “terminate” the set-top proceeding without creating any new rules, but if set-top regulations change, they should include a carve-out exempting smaller providers, ACA said. It cited Public Knowledge and TiVo comments on the set-top proceeding (see 1604220063).