Viacom's BET Networks purchased the Soul Train brand and library of video content from InterMedia Partners and Yucaipa Cos., BET said in a news release Monday. BET said the acquisition will let it build on the Soul Train Awards it relaunched in 2009 and gives it opportunities for ancillary revenue such as live events and consumer products.

The Texas Supreme Court is backing The Golf Channel's (TGC) reading of the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (TUFTA). The court said TGC provided $5.9 million worth of advertising to what turned out to be a financial fraud. TGC and a number of amicus curiae briefs previously filed in the case had argued that good-faith creditors providing services at negotiated market rates are protected by TUFTA. The decision Friday was in response to a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals question asking for clarification of TUFTA and requirements under it for good-faith affirmative defense (see 1507010036) as part of TGC's ongoing legal battle with Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver of Stanford International Bank. Janvey sued TGC in 2011, trying to claw back the money given it by Stanford -- which was the focal point of what the 5th Circuit called an "undisputed ... multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme." While it operated, Stanford was the title sponsor of a PGA Tour event held yearly in Memphis, and subsequently bought advertisements on TGC. The 5th Circuit previously ordered TGC to return what it was paid for ad services, ruling they had no value to a Ponzi scheme's creditors, but the Texas court ruling said TUFTA's "reasonably equivalent value" requirement is satisfied with evidence the transferee -- in this case, TGC -- fully performed a lawful, arm's length contract for fair market value, provided something that had objective value at the time and did so in the ordinary course of business. Given TUFTA's broad definitions of "value" and "reasonably equivalent value," the Texas court said, "the services Golf Channel provided indisputably had objective value at the time of the transaction." Counsel for TGC and Janvey didn't comment Monday.

NRBTV, Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) are opposing Charter Communications' proposed purchases of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. NRBTV in an FCC filing Monday in docket 15-149 said difficulties in getting carriage on U.S. cable systems would likely get worse under a New Charter regime, as it will "only embolden and exacerbate the silence" of multichannel video programming distributors, leaving nonbroadcaster programmers like it "out of the carriage landscape even longer." If the FCC does approve Charter/TWC/BHN, the religious programmer said, it should be predicated on the condition that New Charter set aside 4 percent to 7 percent of its capacity for educational, noncommercial channels and that it can charge programmers of such channels only "the reasonable costs of signal delivery." In a separate filing Monday in the docket, Adam Swart -- founder of Crowds on Demand, a rent-a-crowd firm -- said he met with a variety of FCC officials including aides to all commissioners, and with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and Owen Kendler, who is overseeing the Charter review team, on behalf of Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM. Swart said that while the deals should be rejected "given Charter's history of racial discrimination," any FCC approval should be conditioned on "a substantial portion" of New Charter's programming budget being spent on wholly African-American owned content. Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM also have sued Charter alleging it racially discriminates against African-American-owned media companies by withholding carriage (see 1601280063). Charter, in response to the Entertainment Studios/NAAAOM opposition, said in a statement that Entertainment Studios founder Byron Allen's "history of frivolous claims speaks for itself." Charter also said it "is committed to expanding diversity and inclusion throughout the company as reflected in the memorandum of understanding we signed with leading national civic organizations representing communities of color [(see 1601150017)] and recognized by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in their recent letter to the FCC. Our commitments will enhance diversity in corporate governance, including on our board of directors, employment, suppliers, community investment and in the programming we carry. We look forward to obtaining approval for our pending transactions and serving all consumers in the communities we will operate in.” The company meanwhile is continuing its own lobbying before the FCC. In a filing Monday in the docket, Charter said it recapped a meeting with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff, David Grossman, at which the cable company said it talked up how its low-income broadband service carries substantial public interest benefits and that it will be rolled out six months after the closing of the deal.

Time Warner Cable's answer and affirmative defenses to a second amended complaint by Cableview Communications of Jacksonville, Florida, should be thrown out because TWC makes new modifications and factual allegations and asserts new defenses and a new counterclaim, all of which goes beyond the limited scope of the amendments in the new complaint, Cableview said in a motion Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville. Cableview sued TWC in 2013 (No. 1:13-cv-306-J-34JRK), claiming TWC interfered in FTS USA's 2012 purchase of Cableview. In the motion, Cableview said the court in January granted its motion for leave to amend specifically to clarify which proper TWC entity should be named as defendant. But TWC's answer and affirmative defenses filed in February "fly in the face of the Court's directives" as it should have sought court leave before making material modifications that "effectively provide Time Warner a fresh start to this litigation," Cableview said. The changes, according to Cableview, include TWC's inserting the words "and other obligations" to the list of Cableview breaches under a past agreement, replacing one affirmative defense from a list with another and adding a new affirmative defense. TWC didn't comment Friday.

Comcast's X1 interactive program guide is based on Rovi-developed technology that the cable operator once licensed but now refuses to do, the IPG company said in a patent infringement complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas. It alleged that Comcast's license for access to Rovi's patent portfolio expired Thursday. Rovi's lawsuit asks for an injunction stopping Comcast from selling any IPG product using one of the six patents in question -- which cover various aspects of IPG technology and functionality -- as well as unspecified damages. In a statement, Comcast said it "disagree[s] with Rovi’s accusations and intend[s] to defend the cases vigorously. Beyond that, we can’t comment on pending litigation." Also named as defendants were set-top makers Arris-Pace, Humax and Technicolor, with Rovi Guides alleging they all have limited licenses to Rovi's patents but those licenses don't allow those companies to make set-top boxes that work with Comcast's Xfinity service. The other defendants didn't comment.

The Parents Television Council is throwing its weight behind Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. PTC -- which had opposed Comcast's failed attempt at buying TWC -- last fall called for conditions on the New Charter deals (see 1511030024). Since then, PTC said in an FCC filing Friday in docket 15-149, it has spoken with executives at different independent, family-friendly cable programmers and also read comments in the docket about Charter "which affirm [it] has been a good partner to family friendly programmers such as Hallmark, INSP, Ovation, RFD, UP and ASPiRE." Charter's demonstrated support of carriage of such programming, and the presumption New Charter executives will continue that policy, indicates "a combined Charter/TWC/Bright House entity would better serve the public interest than the status quo of existing, independent corporate entities," PTC said.

Given that TVEyes is used by -- among others -- media critics who comment on and criticize Fox programming, the service's functions merit copyright law protection, a group of media critics said in an amici curiae brief filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. The brief was in support of TVEyes' appeal of a U.S. District Court decision that said the company's archiving function is fair use, but emailing, downloading and date/time searches aren't, and a subsequent injunction (see 1603180007). Fox News Network, which sued TVEyes in 2013, has a June 15 deadline for its brief in the appeal. In their brief, City University of New York professor and liberal blogger Eric Alterman, Brave New Films, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting said TVEyes' functionality constitutes transformative fair use of content, and that its use of recorded news coverage doesn't have a substantial adverse effect on any markets for Fox. They also said the TVEyes downloading and sharing features "are essential to full, accurate criticism and reporting." A conclusion that obtaining the clips from Fox is an adequate substitute for TVEyes would permit Fox and other broadcasters to effectively silence or blunt many of their critics," they said. "This Court should decline Fox’s offer to guard the media criticism henhouse." Fox didn't comment. TVEyes also has netted amici curiae brief support from such parties as the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Public Knowledge, numerous intellectual property law professors and library associations (see 1603250016).

Claims about his Aspire cable channel by Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) are "derogatory and inflammatory," said Earvin "Magic" Johnson -- describing himself as majority owner and CEO -- in a statement to us Wednesday. Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM petitioned the FCC to investigate Comcast's compliance with merger conditions on diverse programming stemming from its buy of NBCUniversal, claiming its addition of channels like Aspire to its lineup don't fulfill its requirement to add independently owned and operated programmers in which African-Americans have a majority or sizable ownership interest (see 1603280030). “We, my executive board and Aspire staff, are grateful for Comcast and their outstanding [External Joint Diversity Advisory] committee that has made a way for African American owners to do business in television," Johnson said in the emailed statement. "They have provided opportunities for ASPiRE to showcase positive images and authentic portrayals of African Americans and urban culture. I am proud of my network and will continue to use my platform and influence to advance the community.” NAAAOM and Entertainment Studios didn't comment.

Video consumers ages 13-24 start watching video from the moment they wake up -- with 65 percent of those surveyed saying they watch before school or work, and 67 percent say they watch falling asleep, Defy Media said in its Youth Video Diet report released Tuesday. Their top source of content was YouTube, with 85 percent of those surveyed watching, followed by Netflix at 66 percent and multichannel video programming distributors at 62 percent. Youths average 12.1 hours a week of free digital video, with many watching an additional 8.8 hours of subscription digital video, Defy said. When financially independent youths were asked about why they don't have pay TV, 40 percent cited cheaper options available and another 24 percent said affordability, while 24 percent said they weren't interested in the content or shows. Among those surveyed, 52 percent said they use ad blocking software on their video devices. Between 87 and 89 percent said they were "always or sometimes OK" with five-second intro screens showing brand sponsors or five-second end screens advertising a product, product placements or a digital celebrity announcing a brand sponsor or demonstrating a product in a video. Smaller majorities of those surveyed were less supportive of 30-second or one-minute pre-roll ads. The data came from 14-day video journals of 54 youths ages 13-24, subsequent interviews with 27 of those youths, and an online survey of 1,300 people ages 13-24.

Starz will rebrand its Encore linear channels and on-demand services as Starz Encore, with new logos for the channels, Starz said in a news release Tuesday. Along with the rebranding, Starz content such as its original series will be available to Encore subscribers, it said.