Cox Communications and Fox renewed their distribution agreement, including retransmission consent for Fox TV stations, Cox said Friday. It also covers Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, BTN and Fox Deportes.
3D audio is “interesting, and we are watching it closely,” a Sonos spokesperson emailed in response to questions on Amazon’s move (see 1909190019). “If it proves to be popular with consumers and the industry, we’ll consider supporting it,” he said: “Artists tell us that when they are in the studio with the right content and perfectly calibrated equipment, 3D audio can be quite impressive.” The challenge is “making it easy for customers to replicate that experience in the home,” he said. Amazon Sept. 25 launched an Echo speaker capable of playing back 24-bit/192 kHz tracks in the “Ultra” tier of its Music HD streaming.
The FCC should modernize carriage election notification rules by broadening the category of broadcasters required to submit them online, said NCTA and America’s Communication Association in comments posted Tuesday in docket 17-317. Apply electronic notification rules to low-power TV stations and noncommercial educational translator stations, NCTA asked said. “Harmonize its entire carriage election regime,” it said. Rules should be extended to include MVPDs and broadcasters that don’t use online public files, ACA said. The FCC should collect carriage election information from such broadcasters and post it in a centralized location that’s searchable by MVPDs, ACA said.
Though many expect a bloodbath in subscription VOD with entrants such as Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock and Apple TV+ coming, it's likely no one will dominate and consumers will subscribe to several services, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. Among adults online, roughly three in four subscribe to a SVOD service, and the average viewer is willing to get another 1.6.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents ages 18-34 use Netflix most often to view video content on TV, Cowen wrote investors Monday. The August Cowen survey of 2,500 participants showed YouTube in second with 17 percent, followed by Hulu (12 percent), basic cable networks (11 percent), broadcast networks (6 percent), Amazon Prime Video (5 percent), premium cable networks (3 percent) and other platforms (8 percent).
Amazon and Google continue to mend fences, with Amazon blogging Monday that Google's YouTube TV app is officially available for most Fire TV devices, except first-gen sticks and Fire TVs. The YouTube TV app offers more than 70 channels, said Michael Polin, Fire TV product marketing. He described the service as a “cable-free live TV experience” akin to live TV “without the hassle of renting cable boxes, scheduling complicated installations or committing to long-term contracts.” He cited its unlimited cloud DVR storage space and account-sharing for six people per household, without noting the $50 monthly fee.
Broadcasters suing streaming retransmission service Locast for copyright infringement (see 1907310043) are trying to intimidate it into shutting down, or to bury it "under costly and needless litigation," Locast answered and counterclaimed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan (docket 19-cv-7136, in Pacer). It said the litigation is part of a broader campaign to undermine Locast and chill potential donations, with current and prospective Sports Fans Coalition (SFC) donors and business partners putting that relationship on hold since the lawsuit. It said the Copyright Act is unambiguous about allowing nonprofits to make secondary transmissions of a performance of a copyrighted work. It said claims against SFC founder David Goodfriend aren't permissible since he isn't compensated by Locast operator SFC. Locast said broadcasters are increasingly failing to make over-the-air signals freely available. It said the "sham copyright infringement claim" is part of an effort to limit access to terrestrial TV so consumers are forced to use subscription video. It asked the court to enjoin the broadcasters from any agreement preventing competition in retransmission services. Outside counsel for broadcast plaintiffs didn't comment.
Over-the-top advertising is expected to generate $857 million this year, and grow to $2.13 billion by 2024, BIA said Thursday. It said OTT ad revenue is expected to gain 43 percent this year, from $598 million in 2018.
A legal fight between Charter Communications and low-power broadcaster Tara Broadcasting is over, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday dismissing the suit after a Tara motion to dismiss (in Pacer, docket 18-56518). Tara notified in the court in August that managing member and attorney Clark Garen had died and it wanted to end the litigation. Tara sued alleging racial discrimination in Charter's not picking it up for carriage in its Palm Springs, California, channel lineup (see 1902050007).
Dish Network and Fox blame each other for a blackout of local channels in 17 markets in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Fox emailed Thursday that Dish is dropping programming as negotiating tactic "to coerce us to agree to outrageous demands." Dish said Fox demanded a double-digit percentage rate increase for carriage of local channels and to bundle the local channels with cable networks. Along with the local channels, Dish said cable networks FS1, FS2, Big 10 Network, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes had gone dark.