Nearly two months into the blackout of 159 Nexstar stations on DirecTV's direct broadcast satellite and streaming lineup (see 2307030032), the two continue to blame one another as the cause. In a filing this week, DirecTV called Nexstar's arguments about nearly identical news releases issued by Nexstar sidecars Mission and White Knight "fairly implausible." It also cast doubt on Nexstar claims the sidecars' retransmission consent information couldn't get to anyone at Nexstar involved in retrans negotiations. Nextar emailed us Thursday that DirecTV is continuing "its campaign to thwart fair marketplace negotiations and instead use the impasse it created to pursue its broader regulatory agenda [of] undermine[ing] local broadcasters like Nexstar." It said DirecTV's arguments "are baseless and self-serving, and its abusive filings should be ignored."
The FCC should refresh the record on reclassifying streamers as MVPDs, said One Ministries in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 14-261 Monday. “To truly preserve viewer choice entails granting must-carry rights to independent TV stations on any streaming service that carries another local TV station in the same TV market,” said One Ministries. One Ministries endorsed a recent Writers Guild of America West report that condemns large streaming companies such as Disney, Netflix and Amazon as “gatekeepers” and asked lawmakers and agencies to block streaming consolidation, investigate anti-competitive issues, and increase regulation for streamers: “It is unfair for vMVPDs to both control streaming services and major networks and content and to purposely exclude independent TV stations.”
The nation's largest pay-TV providers lost more than 1.7 million net video subscribers in Q2 2023, about the same loss as in Q2 the year before, Leichtman Research Group said Tuesday. Those pay-TV providers combined have about 71.9 million subs, it said. The largest virtual MVPD services have about 13.4 million subs, it said. For the quarter, the largest cable providers had a net loss of about 925,000 video subscribers, down from about 950,000 subscribers lost in 2Q 2022. Leichtman said other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 690,000 subs, vs. a loss of about 710,000 the same quarter a year earlier. The top virtual MVPD services had an estimated net loss of about 115,000 subs, compared to a loss of 65,000 in Q2 2022. Leichtman said top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 5.4 million subs overall over the past year, compared to a net loss of about 4.2 million in the 12 months prior.
Streaming commanded a record 38.7% of TV usage in July, with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube all hitting all-time highs, Nielsen said Tuesday. Broadcast viewing was 20%, a new low, it said. Year-over-year broadcast usage was down 5.4%, it said. Cable viewing, at 29.6% of TV in July, was down 12.5% year over year, it said.
Numerous full-power TV stations in the San Francisco area are excluded from carriage on newer virtual MVPDs, and without must-carry rights they're at a huge disadvantage as viewers migrate from traditional MVPDs, One Ministries President Keith Leitch said Friday in docket 14-261, recapping a meeting he and Total Living Network CEO Debra Fraser had with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. As long as virtual MVPD operators have a vested interest in promoting affiliated content, smaller independent TV stations -- like One Ministries' KQSL Fort Bragg, California -- inevitably "will be left out" of vMVPD carriage, he said.
NBCUniversal and EverPass Media, a platform for distributing live sports and entertainment to commercial businesses, signed a multiyear agreement giving EverPass rights to distribute Peacock's exclusive sports content to bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments, they said Friday.
The FCC should refresh the record on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs “in light of many significant developments in the market for vMVPD services and other video marketplace developments,” said NAB in a call Monday with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, according to an ex parte filing in docket 14-261. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, wrote a letter Monday to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel arguing the matter is outside FCC authority and should be left to Congress (see 2308090065).
ESPN and Penn Entertainment, sports content and gambling company, will launch a sportsbook this fall, ESPN said Tuesday. ESPN said Penn will rebrand and relaunch its current sportsbook as ESPN Bet, launching in 16 states where Penn is licensed. ESPN's finally agreeing to a sportsbook licensing deal "to help stem the growing profitability hole facing ESPN isn’t shocking," Lightfield's Rich Greenfield wrote Wednesday. But the deal raises questions about why ESPN partnered with Penn rather than sports betting market leaders like FanDuel or DraftKings, he said.
The FCC shouldn’t “apply 1990s-era laws and regulations” to streaming services, said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta R-Ohio, in a letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday. “If the laws and regulations governing the video marketplace need to be reexamined, it is up to Congress to make updates, not the FCC.” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has written Rosenworcel pressing for the agency to refresh the record on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs, while Rosenworcel said such reclassification is not within the agency’s authority (see 2306230062. “We agree with your previous statements and urge you to refrain from taking any actions to reopen this proceeding,” said Latta and McMorris Rogers. “Imposing old cable regulations on vMVPDs would ignore the unique characteristics and complexities of the online video ecosystem.” The outdatedness of the current MVPD regulations is “precisely why it is so important for the FCC to refresh the record on how it views [virtual MVPDs],” said a statement from the Coalition for Local News, an advocacy group recently formed by broadcast affiliate groups to press for the 2014 FCC docket (14-261) on reclassification to be refreshed (see 2307180058). “The FCC and Congress cannot effectively understand this new market without the data and perspective a public comment process would uniquely offer,” said the coalition.
Paramount Global will sell its Simon & Schuster publishing arm for $1.62 billion cash to investment firm KKR, the two said Monday. They said Simon & Schuster will be a stand-alone, private company in the deal. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.