MVPD concerns about carrying ATSC 3.0 programming are “premature and well within the capabilities of broadcasters and MVPD operators to resolve themselves,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz in a meeting Wednesday with FCC Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman and Media Bureau staff, said a filing posted Friday in docket 16-142. The threat of connectivity interruption is “not a reason to delay or compromise development of the service,” Fritz said. MVPD worries that a transition to 3.0 could involve high-cost equipment stem from “a fundamental misunderstanding of the patent monetization process,” the Sinclair affiliate said. “Royalties associated with ATSC 3.0-capable devices will likely be embedded in end-user device costs,” One Media said. “It is highly unlikely that MVPD operators will notice any significant changes to reception equipment costs related to ATSC 3.0 patents."

Roku shares plummeted 16 percent to close at $118.46 Thursday after the company reported its Q3 net loss widened 164 percent to $25.2 million. Roku finished the quarter with 32.3 million active accounts, a net addition of 1.7 million from Q2, when analysts had predicted 2.1 million net adds. Senior management nevertheless said Roku was well-positioned for the Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus streaming-service launches. The new services “are good for Roku in a bunch of ways,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood on a call Wednesday with analysts. Besides driving “engagement” on the Roku platform, they’ll “increase the interest in viewership moving from traditional TV to streaming,” he said. “We think that, eventually, all TV is going to be streamed.” The rise of “all these new services will help encourage that transition,” he said. There's "lots of room to grow engagement" on the Roku platform, said Wood. "Our primary competitor is not other services," it's "linear TV," he said. "Most TV in the country is still regular linear TV and people are moving to streaming and cutting the cord and this will help drive that."

SiriusXM is offering auto repair shops that use Bolt On Technology’s digital communication software a program giving customers three months free of All Access service, said the companies Tuesday. Bolt On will provide participating shops point-of-sale materials for vehicle owners, along with a social media campaign promoting the link between driving and listening to music.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau will allow emergency alert system participants unable to update certificate information for their EAS devices for the Integrated Public Alert Warning System by the Friday expiration to continue operating their equipment through Jan. 7 without additional FCC authority, said a public notice Tuesday. Though a replacement certificate was issued Oct. 28, the Federal Emergency Management Agency "and EAS Participants are concerned that this may not provide sufficient time to update all EAS devices,” the PN said. EAS participants that can’t complete installation of the new certificate by Jan. 7 must request additional time, the PN said. The certificate issue doesn’t affect reception of alert messages using the legacy, daisy chain system, the PN said.

NCTA and an Indiana landowner are at odds over whether the cable group can chime in in a fight before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving Charter Communications' running a fiber cable across the landowner's property (see 1910230016). NCTA said in opposition to the plaintiff-appellant's motion to reconsider (in Pacer, docket 19-2442) it's in a good position to explain the statutory framework involved and speak on how a restrictive interpretation would affect cable and broadband network expansion. It said a big part of why it and other trade groups exist is to advocate for members in court. Plaintiff-appellant Stephen West, in the motion (in Pacer) seeking reconsideration of the court allowing NCTA file an amicus brief, said it hadn't been shown Charter has inadequate legal counsel or that NCTA is providing any unique information or perspective, since its brief largely recapitulates Charter's arguments. In a separate reply brief (in Pacer) last week, West said the Cable Act doesn't give unchallengeable rights to commandeer the easement on his property because the easement wasn't formally dedicated for public use. Granting a power company rights nearly 80 years ago to traverse the property "does not magically convert an easement granting an electric company the right to run electrical wires across the Property into a ... public corridor for all utilities," he said.

SiriusXM is “now easily available in the home and on the go on a growing number of connected CE devices,” said CEO Jim Meyer on a Q3 call Thursday: “Subscriber growth" contributions "from these areas are small today but have plenty of room to grow.” SiriusXM programming is coming to Google Assistant devices (see report, Oct. 31). SiriusXM “moved very quickly” since buying the streaming service in February (see 1901300019), said Meyer. “We have moved the business to profitability through cost efficiencies, and we are continuing to make strides in monetization.” Advertising-supported Pandora listening hours fell 7.5 percent from a year earlier, “an improvement from declines of 9.6 percent" in Q2 and Q1's 11.2 percent, said Meyer. “We have a lot of heavy lifting ahead.” SiriusXM close up 3.9 percent at $6.72.

SiriusXM programming will be available over the next week on Google Assistant-enabled devices such as Google Nest speakers and displays, allowing subscribers to request channels by voice, said the companies Wednesday. Promotions include SiriusXM Select, All Access and Premier streaming subscriptions bundled with a Google Nest Hub.

IEEE has "initiated" 500 new standards and revised 360 existing ones, the group told DOJ and FTC in National Cooperative Research and Production Act notifications Sept. 10, says Wednesday's Federal Register. Philips, meanwhile, withdrew from the UHD Alliance, the association reported Oct. 15, per Tuesday’s FR. HiSilicon Technologies withdrew, while Westinghouse joined. UHDA President Mike Fidler confirmed Philips departed. As UHDA "is focused from a hardware perspective on TV manufacturers, we decided the best representation for the global Philips TV brand would be TP Vision," emailed a Philips spokesperson.

Podcasts are driving listener engagement at Spotify and likely “significantly increased conversion of free to paid users,” said Monday's Q3 letter. Shares closed up 16 percent at $140.20 after better-than-expected results. Monthly average users jumped 30 percent year on year to 248 million, beating company guidance. Increased podcast engagement among music listeners is leading to increased conversion from ad-supported to Premium, said the company, calling increases “extraordinary, almost too good to be true.” It's working to “clean up the data to prove causality,” and believes the data is “more right than wrong.” Spotify partnered with AT&T on Premium. On upcoming music label talks, CEO Daniel Ek said it will be the sixth major renegotiation in the company's 13 years, and there’s nothing different: “We don’t expect any material differences with the exception of the introduction of the marketplace strategy,” which Spotify is rolling out this quarter with sponsored playlists. Spotify estimated it's adding about twice as many subscribers monthly as Apple and more users than Amazon's music service. Revenue grew to $1.56 billion from $1.22 billion. Outgoing finance chief (see personals section) Barry McCarthy compared early days of Spotify as a public company to those during his tenure at Netflix, saying “there were long periods" before the stock market "figured out Netflix, just like it will eventually figure out Spotify.” Streaming was to Netflix as podcasting is to Spotify, he said. “There was a time when Netflix increased spending on streaming at the expense of profit." The question for music streaming generally is “how big will it be and will it be a winner-take-all-marketplace?” McCarthy said. "It’s our game to lose.” Pivotal Research Group's Jeffrey Wlodarczak's monitoring the number of senior executives leaving Spotify, including the chief accounting officer and head of music last month, saying he doesn’t view significant management exits positively. He attributed Spotify’s 18 percent jump Monday morning to “massive short covering” and said Spotify shares have underperformed the Nasdaq exchange since the analyst downgraded the stock in July.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that "but-for" causation doesn't apply to Section 1981 of federal anti-discrimination law (see 1811190023) goes completely against repeated Supreme Court rulings, Comcast said in a docket 18-1171 reply brief last week. It said plaintiffs Entertainment Studios Networks and National Association of African American Owned Media "are playing a shell game" with irrelevant case law. And when but-for causation to the original complaint that Comcast didn't carry ESN content, there's nothing suggesting Comcast was motivated by race. ESN counsel didn't comment Friday.