Fewer vMVPD subscribers also are MVPD customers as virtual operators expand their offerings, The Diffusion Group said Wednesday. It said since the mid 2018 peak of 37% of vMVPD subscribers also paying for a traditional pay-TV service, the overlap has now declined to 23.1%. It said Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV, which dominate the vMVPD market, both have the big four networks in their lineups, cutting the need for a second service.

Videogame players spending more time on such activities may leave less time for people to watch TV and streaming services, said a Technology Policy Institute paper Monday. "Time spent on gaming increased for all age groups from 2018-2019," said TPI Director-Communications Lindsay Poss. Players increased their weekly time about an hour to seven in that period, she reported. "More people are also watching others play games." Last year, they watched 12.3 billion hours across the four major platforms, Poss wrote: Amazon's "Twitch, the most popular streaming platform, accounted for 9.3 billion, a 20% increase." No. 2 YouTube gaming had a 16% increase to 2.3 billion, Facebook Gaming rose 210% to 356 million and Microsoft's Mixer more than doubled to a similar total. Such changes could cut "revenues for advertising-driven services" on TV and other streaming video, Poss said. NCTA declined to comment.

The Senate confirmed U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO nominee Michael Pack Thursday on a party-line 53-38 vote. USAGM, formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors, oversees Voice of America and other government-funded news and information broadcasts. No Democrats voted to confirm Pack, who also was opposed by party members on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (see 2006020013). Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and eight Democrats didn’t vote, including Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz of Hawaii. President Donald Trump nominated Pack, president of Manifold Productions, in 2018 and re-upped it in February after the Senate failed to consider him last Congress (see 2002250053).

DOJ released letters detailing its rationale for requiring U.S. branches of five foreign media entities and Virginia-based Reston Translator register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Reston Translator, which broadcasts Russia-funded radio station Sputnik, registered in 2017 (see 1712040054). Also doing so in 2017 was RTTV America, affiliated with RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and TV-Novosti. Three media entities registered in 2018: RIA Global, affiliated with Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya; RM Broadcasting, also affiliated with Rossiya Segodnya; and CGTN America, the U.S. bureau of the Chinese government-controlled China Global Television Network. DOJ touted its case to compel RM Broadcasting to register under FARA as an example of “renewed” enforcement (see 1905130035). Turkish government-controlled Turkish Radio & Television registered in 2019. DOJ’s release of the letters “is another in a series of steps designed to promote transparency by providing information on how we have interpreted FARA in particular cases,” a spokesperson emailed.

Advocating for inclusive broadband access and diverse media ownership are ways communications policymakers can fight for equality, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Tuesday on nationwide protests against racial injustice. “Policymakers must do more to include Black people and other communities of color and create a better world for future generations,” he said. “Access to robust and affordable broadband allows our communities to call attention to civil rights violations, mobilize and organize for social change, and advocate for policy changes,” he said. “Similarly, diverse ownership within the media landscape allows us to promote and take control of our own stories.” Chairman Ajit Pai and other commissioners commented Monday (see 2006010056).

The draft declaratory ruling and NPRM on not applying broadcast ownership rules to ATSC 3.0 datacasting should seek comment on whether a broadcast stream in standard definition satisfies FCC minimum requirements for TV stations, said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. It's filing posted in docket 20-145 Monday. OTI spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. OTI broadly supported the drafts, saying the NPRM should also gather information on increasing the fee for broadcasters providing ancillary services such as datacasting: “A better question would be whether the fee should be substantially higher than 5 percent given the enormous potential value of TV spectrum.” Questions in the draft NPRM about setting that fee to zero don’t seem to jibe with congressional intent, OTI said. The proceeding’s use of the term “Broadcast Internet” is misleading, the group said. “Nothing in the NPRM seems oriented to encouraging broadcast station licensees to use their spectrum to broadcast new services -- ATSC 3.0 or otherwise -- but instead seems oriented to pave the way for them to aggregate and lease out their spectrum.”

5G rollout showed how quickly China caught up with the U.S. in telecom network equipment, and satellite broadband could be next, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told the Commercial Spaceflight Federation Thursday, per prepared remarks released Friday. China says its government-backed providers are interested in just the domestic market, but the U.S. can't be complacent and the FCC needs to pursue policies that will encourage American leadership, he said. Expected megaconstellations might necessitate a new regulatory approach, and April's orbital debris rules update and NPRM approval (see 2004230040) "strike the right balance," he said.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Block Communications' petition for rehearing its dismissed appeal of an FCC market modification decision in Ohio (see 2005180049), according to an order (in Pacer, docket 18-4137) Wednesday. Block outside counsel didn't comment

AT&T's DirecTV and Fox signed a multiyear agreement to ensure access to Fox programming beyond the expiration Monday of the current Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act (STELA) reauthorization, the MVPD said Tuesday. It said it has been in similar talks with other major national broadcast networks for rights to provide some customers access to out-of-market broadcast network stations. AT&T told Congress last month it was trying to tackle expected customer upheaval once the latest STELA reauthorization law takes effect June 1 (see 2004200065).

Verizon Wireless asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for leave to intervene in support of the FCC in consolidated legal challenges to the agency's C-band order (see 2005050047), in a motion (in Pacer, docket 20-1142) Wednesday. SES similarly moved.