AT&T and Univision were to continue the cease-fire in their retransmission consent dispute, with access to the Univision network and some other stations -- which was brought back onto U-verse for Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate (see 1603080045) -- extended through 1 a.m. Saturday, Univision said in a news release Thursday. Univision's other remaining networks will remain unavailable, it said.

Comcast is violating federal and Massachusetts antitrust laws and the Massachusetts Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act as it tries to replace WHDH Boston as its NBC Boston affiliate with its own station, WHDH said in a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston. WHDH alleged that after Comcast bought NBCUniversal, the broadcaster approached the company repeatedly about renewal of its affiliation but was continually put off by Comcast until January, when Comcast said it would build its own Boston affiliate using its New England Cable News network as the base. "This was an unprecedented step, as no major national broadcaster has ever terminated its relationship with a successful independent affiliate in a major market to build its own local affiliate from scratch," WHDH said, saying a Comcast executive later acknowledged the affiliate move was aimed at solidifying its dominant position in the Boston cable market. The broadcaster also said Comcast unsuccessfully sought to buy its broadcast assets "at a fire-sale price in order meet its obligations to continue providing free, over-the-air access," and Comcast began broadcasting using WNEU Merrimack, New Hampshire, which it owns. Comcast also violated the terms of an agreement signed with NBC affiliates to get their support of its buy of NBCU, with that affiliate agreement committing Comcast to negotiating affiliate agreements solely on the broadcast interests of NBC, not its cable interests, WHDH said. It asked for an injunction preserving the status quo and that Comcast pay unspecified damages. In a statement, Comcast said, "NBC has had a long, mutually successful relationship with (WHDH owner) Sunbeam, which is expiring under the agreed-upon terms of WHDH’s affiliation contract at the end of the year. We are disappointed that Sunbeam has chosen to file this meritless lawsuit, and that it has chosen to do so by constructing baseless claims against our parent company. Rest assured that we will continue to deliver Boston-area viewers the best local news, weather and information along with the NBC news, sports and entertainment programming they already enjoy."

A group that had slammed AT&T and Univision's retransmission consent dispute (see 1603080045) had kinder words for the temporary cease-fire between the companies. The National Hispanic Media Coalition appreciates "Univision for their efforts to make their programming available for customers on AT&T’s U-Verse platform ahead" of the Democratic presidential-candidate debate to have been shown Wednesday night on the network "while a fair carriage deal is still pending," said NHMC CEO Alex Nogales in a statement Tuesday. "It is of the utmost importance that both parties renew negotiations toward an equitable agreement that respects the needs of customers and the immense value of Spanish-language programming." Last week, Nogales said the blackout was "a grave injustice to voters looking to be informed."

Mediacom and NAB are continuing their war of words over "additional stations" provisions in retransmission negotiations. The cable company in an FCC filing in docket 15-216 Tuesday rejected NAB comments calling Mediacom worries a "lonewolf conspiracy tale" (see 1602160054). "Perhaps the CIA is cleverly using NAB to convey coded message to agents in the field by disguising them as incomprehensible statements about retransmission consent," Mediacom said, also referencing author Henry Miller, comedian Rita Rudner, John F. Kennedy, the TLC show Extreme Poodles and a historical examination of poodles' role in World War II, then saying good-faith negotiations are a statutory obligation and urging the FCC to make clearer what actions in retrans talks cross that line. "Otherwise, there indeed would be nothing preventing broadcaster or [multichannel video programming distributor] from insisting to the point of a negotiation impasse on the inclusion in the contract" of even the most left-field provisions, Mediacom said. "NAB's ad hominem attacks, mischaracterization of the nature of the provision and misunderstanding of the legal implications of a statutory good faith requirement do nothing to diminish whatever merit may be found in our arguments." In a statement Wednesday, NAB said it "declines comment on this rehash of discredited cable arguments. We also refuse to respond to Mediacom’s canine conniption fit.” The "additional stations" language refers to when a broadcaster's retrans deal with a pay-TV company lets the broadcaster expand the deal to include any stations it acquires during the period of the contract.

The FCC doesn't have the authority from Congress to dictate where in user interfaces companies must place caption controls, said American Cable Association, AT&T and NCTA in reply comments filed in docket 12-108. Though consumer groups such as Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TDI) have said the Television Decoder Circuitry Act (TDCA) gives the FCC the authority to do it, the industry replies argued that law is much too narrow to stretch that far. “Congress adopted the TDCA to address specific, technical barriers to the availability of closed captioning on television, namely, the decoding of captioning.” AT&T said. “Congress could have required in the CVAA [Communications and Video Accessibility Act] that closed captioning display settings be 'readily accessible,' but it did not,” AT&T said. “Congress’ charge to the Commission in the TDCA was narrow,” said NCTA. A joint filing from TDI and other consumer groups for the hearing impaired disagreed. TDCA was about removing technical barriers to captioning, just as the FCC proposal is, said the joint filing. Under the narrow industry interpretation, “manufacturers and MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors] could bury critical user settings as deep as they want in a complicated series of menus,” the joint filing said. “The Commission should not take such a constrained view.” The FCC shouldn't pass rules on caption-setting placement because they aren't needed, Echostar said. But if the commission does, it should give industry a two-year compliance period and be open to waiver applications, Echostar said.

Amazon premiered its first daily live show Tuesday, an interactive program about fashion where viewers are encouraged to participate through live chat and shop while they're viewing. One goal of Style Code Live is to create a community, said Executive Producer Terence Noonan. Interactive features include live chat where the audience can ask questions and share tips during the show; a “style carousel” that highlights and dynamically updates products available on Amazon as they’re featured on the show; “style links” to products and topics discussed; and a chat host who responds to viewer questions. Style Code Live streams live Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, with a “best of” show on Friday. Viewers can watch at www.amazon.com/stylcodelive; a mobile version is coming soon, Amazon said.

The FCC should set aside its set-top box plans or exempt smaller operators from the rules, said the American Cable Association and several ACA member cable carriers in a meeting with Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte filing in docket 97-80. The FCC should set aside consideration of changes to set-top box rules “and let the dynamic marketplace, which is providing consumers with increasing choices, continue to develop,” ACA said. If the FCC does make new rules for third-party boxes, it should exempt multichannel video programming distributors with 1 million or fewer subscribers, ACA said. “Consumer demand for these navigation devices will eventually drive ACA members to adopt the proposed open standards themselves when the economics may be more favorable,” ACA said. The ACA members also discussed retransmission consent negotiations, the filing said. The operators said they had been forced to negotiate for prospective programming channels -- “stations that are either unlaunched, unidentified, or after-acquired or managed” the filing said. Such negotiations create uncertainty for operators, the filing said. “Depending on the eventual identity of the channel, it may disrupt current channel line-ups,” ACA said. The operators said they had also felt “the ill effects” of being forced to acquiesce to after-acquired or subsequently managed station clauses as a condition of retrans deals with large station groups, the filing said. The FCC should rule that such practices are not “good faith” negotiations,” ACA said.

Fifty-two percent of U.S. Internet homes have at least one TV connected to the Internet, 6 million more than in 2014, said an NPD email Monday. Some 734 million connected devices are in use in U.S. Internet homes, averaging 7.8 per home, a jump of 64 million installed and Internet-connected devices over the past year. Driving the momentum are increased adoption of smart TVs and streaming players, plus growing libraries of streaming video, said NPD. The average connected TV home had nearly 2.9 devices installed from which they could stream programming, including videogame consoles, streaming media players, Blu-ray disc players and embedded TV apps. More than 5,000 U.S. adults were surveyed during Q4.

AT&T and Univision released dueling statements Monday about their ongoing retransmission-consent battle (see 1603040063), which has led to U-Verse customers' inability to access Univision programming since the end of last week. “If, as the most popular Spanish-language broadcaster, we do not take a stand and require the distributors treat us on par with English-language broadcasters, what does that mean for the minority and independent creators that come after us?” asked Univision Executive Vice President-Government Relations Jessica Herrera-Flanigan. Univision has “stooped to despicable allegations in an effort to extort an outrageous price increase -- an increase which ultimately will come at the expense of all our customers, including Univision viewers,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs. "If Univision really cares about their audiences, they will immediately restore their channels to U-Verse homes while we figure this out.” Herrera-Flanigan said AT&T should “continue its tradition of valuing the Hispanic community by negotiating reasonably and respectfully towards a fair agreement.” The National Hispanic Media Coalition said the blackout's timing could prevent many Latino voters from watching Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate, which will be hosted by Univision. Though Univision said AT&T should return to the negotiating table to have access to Univision content restored, and made statements defending the blackout as taking a stand for Spanish-language viewers, NHMC blamed AT&T for the blackout. "For AT&T to shut out Univision -- the most popular Spanish-language news network -- mere days before. the Democratic debate co-hosted by the network is a grave injustice to voters looking to be informed," said NHMC. "AT&T’s action jeopardizes the ability of Latinos to be well-informed participants in the political process." Both parties "must come back to the table immediately to resolve their differences," NHMC said.

Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku made more than eight of every 10 digital media streamer shipments worldwide in 2015, “strengthening their combined grip on the fast-growing category,” Strategy Analytics said in a Friday report. Google's low-cost HDMI dongle “continues to lead the standalone streamer market” and has “cemented itself” among the top five overall connected TV devices globally, the researcher said. Based on cumulative shipments of digital media streamers, Apple tops all others, having shipped nearly 37 million Apple TV units since their 2007 launch, it said. Google's Chromecast is catching up fast with 27 million units shipped in two and a half years, followed by Roku box and streaming stick devices (20 million) and Amazon Fire TV (less than 10 million), it said. Global shipments of all connected TV devices, including smart TVs, Blu-ray players, videogame consoles and digital media streamers, totaled 220 million units in 2015, it said.