A consortium seeking to buy Paramount Global is raising red flags regarding rival Skydance Media's proposed Paramount deal. In a docket 24-275 filing posted Thursday, Project Rise Partners (PRP) said the FCC should examine the risks that the Skydance/Paramount deal raises about perpetuating practices of bundling networks in a way that inhibits the creation of programming content and about the influence of the Chinese government over one of the major national broadcast networks. The FCC also should consider the dangers the Skydance deal raises of higher consumer prices and undermined integrity of broadcast news, PRP said. It said it wants to create "a greenhouse for new content, including conservative, progressive, niche voices, and unrestrained freedom of expression" and "is intent on modernizing, diversifying, and expanding brands like BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Showtime rather than eliminating them." Pointing to Chinese company Tencent Holdings' investment in Skydance, PRP said the FCC should look into how Tencent is operating in the U.S. directly or indirectly, adding that Tencent could be operating through Skydance. House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., has called for a Committee on Foreign Investment investigation of the Skydance deal because of Tencent's investment (see 2501160055). The co-chairs of PRP are Daphna Edwards Ziman, head of independent network Cinemoi, and Moses Gross, managing trustee of Malka Investment Trust.
Today's video distribution marketplace is working efficiently, with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) lacking undue market power and facing growing competition, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Andrew Long wrote Thursday. The idea of rules applying exclusively to traditional MVPDs "cannot withstand even the slightest scrutiny," he added. Virtual MVPDs aren't subject to the FCC's proposed programming blackout rebate requirement and are outside the scope of the Stop Sports Blackouts Act. If that bill (see 2501310062) becomes law, it would hasten MVPD subscriber losses and "further tilt the regulatory status quo toward ascendant streaming options, and lead to less competition overall," Long said. He added that the FCC's proposed blackout rebate would also make distributors the automatic responsible party and incentivize programmers to ramp up their demands more than they would otherwise.
Media ownership regulations should shift to being technology-neutral and recognizing that there is now an "integrated video-distribution market" that includes broadcast, cable and streaming, said International Center for Law & Economics Senior Scholar Eric Fruits in a blog post Wednesday. “Market power should be assessed based on a company’s share of this broader market, not just its dominance within a particular technological segment,” wrote Fruits, who is also an economics professor at Portland State University. “Instead of different rule books for different technologies, we need a unified framework based on competition principles.” This would involve sunsetting legacy rules tied to specific transmission mediums and basing any ownership rules on actual market share across all platforms, he said. “The focus should be on antitrust enforcement, rather than preemptive structural regulations.” If viewers “readily switch among cable, broadcast, and streaming based on content, rather than delivery method, regulations should treat these services as competitive alternatives,” Fruits wrote. Making that shift wouldn’t be simple but would allow “a media landscape in which competition would be waged on a level playing field and where consumers, not regulatory distinctions, determine which services succeed.”
Pointing to feedback from a committee of child development and digital media experts it convened, YouTube said Monday it's widening the set of video categories where it controls teens' binge-watching. Content featuring "get rich quick" schemes or about buying products that show how to buy lottery tickets to get rich will have viewership dispersed, so teens are less able to binge-watch such videos, it said. So too will content that portrays "delinquency or negative behaviors" like cheating on a test or taking part in pranks that negatively affect others, blogged Garth Graham, director-YouTube Health, and James Beser, director-product management for YouTube Youth. They said YouTube will also limit binging content that encourages teens to ridicule others, and it will activate bedtime and "take a break" reminders by default for users younger than 18.
Warner Bros. Discovery's Max streaming service -- with roughly 117 million subscribers worldwide -- has "a clear, demonstrable path" to 150 million by the end of 2026, CEO David Zaslav said Thursday as the company announced Q4 2024 results. The U.S. is largely a mature market, and most of that Max growth will likely come internationally, said President-Global Streaming J.B. Perrette. Zaslav said Max plans to launch in markets including the U.K., Australia and Germany in coming years. Warner Bros. Discovery had revenue of $10 billion in Q4, compared with $10.3 billion a year earlier. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said Q4 ad sales were weaker than expected, particularly with political advertising on CNN. He said Q1 2025 is showing "some mild positive signals" from the ad market.
Paramount+ should be profitable this year, Paramount Global said Wednesday as it announced Q4 2024 results. It said the streaming service added 10 million subscribers in 2024, ending the year with 77.5 million. Viewing hours across its Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming services were up 28% year over year. The company said it saw revenue of $8 billion in the quarter, compared with $7.6 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. TV revenue was down slightly, due to fewer sporting events on CBS and a softer linear TV advertising market. The company also said it expects the Skydance Media deal to close in the first half of the year.
The FCC should dismiss Mack Toys’ complaint against Paramount Global because it fails to bring a claim where relief can be granted, Paramount said in a motion Wednesday. Mack’s complaint concerned Paramount’s trademark on the word “slime,” which Mack said violates the Communications Act (see 2502060068). It invoked Section 308 of the act, which applies only to common carriers, Paramount said. “The Complaint, however, does not allege that Paramount Global is a common carrier, and nor could it -- Paramount Global operates broadcast stations and other media that in no way resemble a common carrier.” The Enforcement Bureau should dismiss the complaint, Paramount said. In a separate filing, the company also asked for filing deadlines connected with the complaint to be suspended.
In a pair of posts on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said Saturday that MSNBC is a threat to democracy and parent company Comcast “should be forced to pay vast sums of money for what they've done to our country.” He called Comcast “Concast” and MSNBC “MSDNC” in one post, in which he also said the “whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party.” MSNBC has “BAD PEOPLE AT THE TOP!” he said in another post. Trump has repeatedly decried Comcast, and the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into Comcast's diversity policies and reinstated a complaint against NBCUniversal over allegations that it violated the FCC's equal opportunity rules (see 2502110063).
Litigation such as FuboTV's challenge of the now-defunct Venu sports streaming platform points to sports being must-have content, International Center for Law & Economics senior scholar Eric Fruits wrote Friday. Companies under competitive pressure will likely try legislative solutions as well to try to forestall any changes in how sports content gets delivered, he said. But price controls or mandates to unbundle sports content could lead to unintended consequences such as reduced investment in sports programming or stifled innovation, he said. "Media regulations are often implemented with an eye on the rear-view mirror, rather than out the front windshield, inviting the likelihood they will be obsolete soon after they are enacted."
Paramount Global content, including CBS, will go dark on YouTube TV starting Friday, YouTube said. The platform said it's "fighting for an agreement that avoids passing along additional costs and offers you more flexibility in how you watch your favorite sports and shows." It said that if the blackout goes on "for an extended period of time," subscribers will receive an $8 credit. Paramount didn't comment Thursday.