ESPN's streaming service -- also to be named ESPN -- isn't likely to cannibalize legacy MVPD subscribers, given that the streaming service will cost $30 a month, LightShed Management blogged Wednesday. It's also likely to attract a relatively small number of subscribers, LightShed said, predicting that it will finish 2025 with 2 million subscribers. ESPN and Fox Corp.'s forthcoming Fox One seem to be following a similar streaming strategy of a high monthly price to avoid luring away MVPD and virtual MVPD subscribers while still offering an option for cord-cutters and cord-nevers, LightShed said. It added that the ESPN network's goal might be to get the tens of millions of MVPD subscribers who have access to ESPN to watch via the ESPN app instead of via their MVPD, which could open the door to more targeted advertising and engaging with viewers beyond just live games.

Many smart TVs are promoting streaming channels ahead of over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts, subtlety suppressing those broadcast channels, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Sunday. OTA TV can be difficult to find among the streaming TV options on a smart TV home screen, he said: OTA channels and content aren't included in searches, "which is a critical decision point in the viewing session."

Fox Corp.'s Fox One streaming service will launch by early September, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Monday. In a call with analysts as Fox announced its quarterly financial results, Murdoch avoided specifics on price but said Fox One wouldn't be discounted, and the cost would be in line with what Fox charges for its content wholesale. He said the aim is to avoid cannibalizing its cable audience for Fox One. Asked about the cap on fees that broadcast affiliates pay networks proposed by FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington (see 2505020066), Murdoch said the affiliate/network relationship was "healthy" and negotiations should be left to the marketplace.

Starz and Lionsgate are now stand-alone, publicly traded companies. The separation of Lionsgate's studios business from its pay-TV unit was approved by Lionsgate shareholders at a special meeting April 23, Lionsgate said Wednesday. Starz said it started trading Wednesday on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol STRZ. Lionsgate's New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol is LION.

Voice of America will start carrying One America News Network content, wrote Kari Lake, a U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior adviser, on X Tuesday night. Lake said a One America feed will provide free content for VOA and other USAGM networks, including the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and its Radio Marti. The idea came from the Cuban broadcaster, she said. Her role doesn't give her editorial control over programming, she said, but she "can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs." The One America feed accomplishes that while also saving taxpayers' money, she said.

Arguments that employment and labor concerns aren't germane to Skydance Media's pending acquisition of Paramount Global and shouldn't be considered by the FCC aren't correct, according to Fuse Media and Teamsters Local 399. In a docket 24-275 filing posted Tuesday to recap a meeting with FCC Media Bureau and Office of General Counsel staffers, Fuse and the union said the transaction directly ties to likely job cuts at New Paramount, including at stations owned and operated by CBS. Station staffing can affect a licensee's ability to uphold the localism part of the public interest standard, they said. Fuse and the union suggested a station-level staffing requirement that would keep full-time employment stable for eight years. It also would bar New Paramount from consolidating operations across stations or outsourcing work previously done by full-time staffers.

Paramount Global has eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the face of America First Legal lawsuits against the company and its CBS subsidiary, the conservative administrative law nonprofit said last week. AFL said it has also secured a settlement with Paramount and CBS regarding an AFL client -- a script supervisor for the show SEAL Team -- who alleged discrimination by dint of not being an underrepresented minority. Paramount has committed to no longer setting numerical goals related to race, ethnicity, sex or gender and no longer collecting demographic data of applicants, AFL said. Paramount didn't comment Friday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has also targeted DEI initiatives at companies the agency regulates (see 2503280038).

Look for U.S. consumer spending on video to slide through 2027, though advertising revenues could help keep video-related revenues "flattish" over the next few years, MoffettNathanson wrote investors Monday. Given the decline in pay TV, theatrical and home video spending, "the days of growth are now behind us." It said ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and user-generated content will claim an increasing share of video advertising spending in coming years, as money that has flowed into traditional TV is increasingly going toward AVOD.

Comcast news outlets' coverage of the controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be news distortion that violates FCC rules, Chairman Brendan Carr wrote Wednesday night on X. "Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest," he said in his post, which was in response to a post by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung criticizing CNN and MSNBC coverage. "News distortion doesn’t cut it," Carr said. Comcast is "ignor[ing] ... facts of obvious public interest" regarding Abrego Garcia and his deportation. Comcast didn't comment Thursday. The FCC under Carr has a pending news distortion investigation against CBS about 60 Minutes' coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign (see 2502050063).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on X late Thursday that he met at DOJ headquarters with Gail Slater, the new DOJ Antitrust Division chief, and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “The three of us got together to talk about the work that we are taking across government right now to smash the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights to everyday Americans,” Carr said. “Across government, we’re taking action.”