One in three smart TVs sold in the U.S. in Q1 had a Roku operating system, up from one in four in Q1 a year earlier, said CEO Anthony Wood on a Wednesday evening earnings call. That's a "pretty big increase," he said. Roku is “now the No. 1 smart TV OS in the country,” he said. It's taking share away from TV makers that go to market with their own “homegrown solutions,” he said. TV OEMs “that are not licensing Roku TV are almost all losing in market share and Roku’s OEMs are gaining in market share,” he said. The new Apple and Disney streaming service launches (see 1905090001) “are absolutely positive for Roku and we are excited to bring them to our users,” said Wood. “With 29 million active accounts and some very effective audience development tools, we are an increasingly important partner for these kinds of services that are trying to reach viewers, build audience, increase engagement.” The service launches also “drive interest in streaming,” he said. “It drives more cord cutters, it just propels the whole industry generally.” Content companies like Disney that launch streaming services are “absolutely not competitors” of Roku’s, said Wood. “They are direct-to-consumer services, but they need a platform like Roku to reach consumers in the living room on TVs, and we’re a great platform for doing that.” They’re “important partners for us and we’re important partners for them,” he said. Roku's 74 percent increase in Q1 streaming hours from a year earlier to 8.9 billion and 51 percent revenue increase to $206.7 million sent the stock soaring 28 percent higher Thursday to close at $83.17.

Federal law bars damages that Comcast sought in a lawsuit challenging Sacramento cable franchise fees, ruled the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Wednesday's opinion vacated a lower court’s summary judgment, directing that court to enter an order on remand to dismiss the suit without prejudice. Comcast had sought a return of its security deposit, totaling nearly $230,000 with interest, after disagreeing with the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission about calculation of California Public Utilities Commission and public, educational and governmental fees under state and federal law. “Under 47 U.S.C. § 555a(a), local authorities and municipalities, involved in the regulation of cable television services within their boundaries, are exempted from civil money damages liability in any lawsuit for any claim arising from the regulation of cable services,” wrote Judge Randy Smith with Judges Consuelo Callahan and Fernando Olguin. Comcast is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson said. The Sacramento commission didn't comment.

A record level of cord cutting hit U.S. MVPDs in Q1, losses widening to nearly 1.2 million from 682,000 in the year-ago quarter, BTIG's Richard Greenfield wrote investors. Subscriber trends are slowing for vMVPDs, too, as net additions shrank to 174,000 vs. 933,000. Total subscriptions of companies tracked, representing more than 90 percent of the industry, were down nearly 2 percent year over year, said the analyst, and they should begin to negatively affect broadcast and cable network programmer retransmission/affiliate revenue in Q2. “The collapse in multichannel video subscribers that we are now witnessing is caused by the unwillingness of Disney and other legacy media companies to allow distributors to create the channel packages that their consumers actually want,” said Greenfield, citing Disney’s channel bundle, now with FX and Nat Geo, which costs distributors some $17-$18 per month.

The International Trade Commission seeks comment by May 10 on a Rovi complaint seeking a ban on import of Comcast X1 digital video receivers based on infringement of a group of Rovi’s patents, said Thursday's Federal Register. The April 27 Tariff Act Section 337 complaint is the third Rovi has filed against Comcast’s X1 set-top boxes, with one having resulted in an exclusion order and another forming the basis for an ongoing Section 337 investigation. Rovi seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of set-top boxes that infringe this third set of patents. “Rovi launched this campaign in April 2016 by asserting infringement of 15 patents -- 14 of which have been held to be invalid and/or not infringed by Comcast, or have been withdrawn by Rovi,” said a Comcast statement Thursday. “We will continue to defend ourselves against allegations we determine to be meritless.”

"To encourage more broadband deployment," ACT | The App Association members back a Further NPRM to bar local franchise authorities from "duplicative and disproportionate demands in return for" ISPs building broadband facilities, the group told Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O’Rielly and aides to the other FCC members. The association itself also holds that position, a spokesperson emailed. The "FNPRM prevents unlawful taxation of broadband deployment," the association reported executives such as NeuEon Chief Technology Officer Scott Weiner; Hacksmith Labs co-founder Thomas Gorczynski; BadVR co-founder Jad Meouchy; Canned Spinach Partner Andrew Savitz; and Communication Circles founder Betsy Furler saying. Not all executives attended all meetings. The association and members "asked the FCC to continue on its current trajectory to ensure that states and localities facilitate 5G deployment without undue delay." The disclosures posted Friday in dockets including 05-311: here, here, here, here and here. The group also asked the agency to continue work to make more spectrum available for unlicensed use (see 1905030050).

Dolby expects the first pay-TV set-top boxes with Dolby Atmos and Vision to hit the market this year, an effort to get more live sports content in each format, said CEO Kevin Yeaman on a call about the quarter ended March 29. Profit rose about 16 percent to $73.4 million from the year-ago quarter, with sales up 13 percent to $338.3 million. Mobile generated 22 percent of revenue; broadcast, 39 percent; among other categories, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew Wednesday evening.

Making clear rights-of-way fees fall under Cable Act's 5 percent cap on franchising fees charged cable operators will free up financial resources for network deployment, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Seth Cooper blogged Thursday. He said authority to access the rights of way for distributing video content is "inherent" in the cable franchise concept and states and local franchise authorities must be blocked from levying two or more sets of fees as a way of sidestepping Congress' limit.

The latest version of the Altice One operating system includes a sports programming hub and optional voice command, the MVPD said Wednesday. It said the sports hub features an overview of games scheduled for the next 48 hours and the ability to select favorite teams for a customized view.

The Supreme Court will decide May 16 whether to consider related appeals by Comcast and Charter Communications about alleged racial discrimination in their programming decisions (see 1811190023). The court announced Tuesday both cases are to be distributed then (see here and here). In a reply brief Monday, petitioner Comcast repeated its arguments the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversal of a lower court's dismissal of the suit conflicts with other appellate court and Supreme Court decisions about but-for causation and plausibility of claims for relief. But-for causation "remains the 'default' standard today" for Section 1981 federal rights law, Charter said in its reply brief. Outside counsel for respondents Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African American Owned Media didn't comment Wednesday.

Viacom networks will launch on its Pluto TV free streaming service starting May 1, the programmer said Monday. BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon will feature library content. Viacom is rolling out digital-only series for the service.