COVID-19 could have "a material adverse impact" on company operations over the near to medium term, Comcast said in an SEC filing Tuesday. The impact led to the closing of theme parks, delayed theatrical distribution of films, and disrupted creation and availability of film advertising during TV programming. The pandemic's effects on Sky come atop what had already been a declining economy and ad market in Europe, Comcast said. It said the pandemic also likely will affect its cable residential and business services customer base due to economic stresses. The company said the scope of the virus-related business hit "will generally depend on the extent of governmental measures affecting day to day life and the length of time that such measures remain in place." S&P said the effect of the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games -- for which Comcast's NBC had the U.S. rights -- will be spread across the company's broadcast and cable networks and TV stations, since most outlets were to air games. It said total revenue from the 2016 Rio games was $1.6 billion, including nearly $1.2 billion in ads. It said NBC indicated earlier this month it had received more than $1.25 billion in commitments, selling about 90% of the inventory for national ads, and those results were about 6% above 2016 games. The debt ratings firm said other effects on Comcast include filling its summer programing schedules for its networks and stations. The beta launch of its Peacock streaming service, to come July 15 and be tied to the Olympic programming, also could suffer, S&P wrote.
Virtual entertainment company FaceBank's buy of vMVPD fuboTV (see personals section, this issue) should conclude in Q1, FaceBank said Monday. It will adopt the fuboTV name. In an SEC filing, FaceBank said it secured a $100 million loan for the deal.
Ad-supported over-the-top video might be able to tap into the $70 billion TV advertising market thanks to live sports' mass cancellations due to COVID-19 and advertisers that had depended on those events to reach viewers, nScreen Media analyst Colin Dixon blogged Wednesday. He said the longer pandemic issues go on, the more time advertisers will have to see if advertising on OTT works.
Hulu went live on Xfinity Flex Thursday and will roll out to the X1 voice remote “soon,” said Comcast. Users can say, “Hulu” into the remote to launch the app or request a program by title without toggling or switching inputs.
New FCC rules allowing MVPDs to deliver some notices to broadcasters via email instead of via the post (see 2001300001) take effect April 20, says Thursday's Federal Register.
The full FCC unanimously voted to eliminate leftover language in its rules on the local, physical public inspection files of commercial and noncommercial broadcasters and MVPDs, said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The last requirements for local inspection files were changed to require only online files in 2018, and as of March 1, the transition to the online system was complete, the order said.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling for Google and its YouTube subsidiary in Prager University's lawsuit (see 2002260046) leaves open the broader issue of how courts will treat online platforms as speakers, Wiley lawyers Megan Brown, Boyd Garriott and Jeremy Broggi blogged Wednesday for the Washington Legal Foundation. The Supreme Court's Manhattan Community Access v. Halleck decision left the door open to the court finding sufficient state action in future First Amendment cases, they said. With doctrine unsettled, some platforms are focusing on self-regulation, they said. They said the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 immunity could go away in the face of bipartisan criticism and DOJ saying it's looking at ways of paring it back.
Though major studios are scooting up digital release dates of feature films during the COVID-19 crisis, that's unlikely to be a permanent change, nScreen Media analyst Colin Dixon blogged Monday. If studios see some subscription VOD success with earlier releases, they likely will chalk it up to parents "trying to placate stir-crazy kids" and return to the traditional movie-theater-first releases once theaters reopen, he said. NBCUniversal said it will make a variety of films in theatrical release or being released also available for on-demand rental starting Friday. "Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable,” NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said.
Comments are due April 6, replies April 13, in docket 20-61 on whether to extend by six months to Dec. 20 the effective date of the Section 642 provisions of the TV Viewer Protection Act, the FCC Media Bureau said in Monday's Federal Register. Section 642 requires MVPDs to give potential subscribers a breakdown of all charges before a contract is signed, plus a 24-hour grace period for new subscribers to cancel service without penalty.
A Maine cable pro-rating bill cleared the Senate by a 29-0 margin Thursday after the House overwhelmingly passed LD-2031 earlier last week (see 2003110020). If signed by Gov. Janet Mills (D), cable companies would be required to pro-rate canceling customers’ final bills. Friday, NCTA declined comment; Mills' office didn’t comment.