Streaming video-on-demand competition for exclusives and originals has become “fierce,” and streaming VOD content costs are rising, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter emailed investors Monday. Video content spending dented earnings reported last week by Amazon (see 1610280053) and Netflix (see 1610170061), Pachter said, saying Amazon’s lower-than-expected gross margins were affected by an estimated $300 million in video content spending that hadn’t been included in forecasts. Netflix, meanwhile, posted higher-than-expected subscriber additions, but reported negative free cash flow of $506 million, Pachter said. Wedbush expects the trend of escalating content costs to continue for the foreseeable future, but sees the spending gap narrowing between the two, “approximately reflecting the quality of content as well,” he said. Comparing subscriber costs, Pachter said an Amazon Prime membership bundling Prime Video is $99 annually vs. $119 for Netflix, which could play out in Amazon’s favor this quarter. “Long time Netflix customers could be persuaded to switch this Holiday season as Amazon markets their video service more aggressively, and as Netflix completes its price increases on its remaining grandfathered subscribers, potentially bringing greater consumer attention to the price comparison and alternative content available,” he said.

Over the top and Ultra HD Blu-ray are “the largest amount of HDR content that’s available to the consumer,” said Walt Husak, Dolby Labs director-image technologies, at the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers conference in Hollywood. Amazon, Netflix and Vudu collectively have “several hundred hours worth of” Dolby Vision high-dynamic-range content available, he said. Adaptive bit-rate streaming, designed to improve the performance of OTT services by eliminating buffering and other unwelcome phenomena, to “a certain extent, it’s a lie,” said Giraffic CEO Yoel Zanger, also at the conference last week. “Consumers are paying and subscribing to services in 4K or in HD,” when “in fact, maybe 50 or 70 percent of the time,” they’re not getting it because of limitations from the “complexities of the ecosystem,” he said. Giraffic markets apps-embedded “adaptive video acceleration” technology for improving OTT delivery. A challenge "is that 20 percent of the users suffer bit-rate switching every 30 seconds” in streaming OTT content, said Zanger.

Comments on an Entertainment Software Association petition asking for an extension of the waiver of accessibility requirements for videogame software until January 2018 (see 1610190031) are due Nov. 30, replies Dec. 15, the FCC said in a public notice Monday. ESA's petition said such relief would let the industry continue work on developing accessibility technology. The current waiver of 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act requirements is to expire Jan. 1.

The Univision/Charter Communications contract that expired June 30 didn't contain any requirement that Charter renew it, so there's no cause of action under New York state law for failing to renew, the cable operator said in a filing Friday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in support of its motion to dismiss the broadcaster's breach of contract and good faith and fair dealing claims (see 1609060069). Charter said Univision's breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim also fails because it's duplicative of the broadcaster's breach of contract claim and it tries to argue the media company had a right to renegotiate for market rates and new terms but can't point to any such right in the contract. The two sides disagree about the effect Charter's purchase of Time Warner Cable had on the contracts governing Univision programming, but that separate argument will be addressed in Univision's declaratory judgment claim and Charter's counterclaim, to be filed later, the operator said. It also said it plans to file a counterclaim against Univision for breach of the most-favored-nation clause in the TWC contract, "which has resulted in millions of dollars of contractual damages." Univision didn't comment Monday. It's suing Charter, claiming license fees in its TWC agreement apply to only the legacy systems and only through this year (see 1607080022); Fox News network is pursuing a similar complaint (see 1607200065).

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) sent FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel a letter thanking her for her “expressed concern for the rights of creators in the set top box proceeding,” said an ex parte filing in docket 16-42. The current FCC set-top proposal “does not protect DGA members' creative works and will impact their livelihoods and future ability to create the best programming in the world,” the filing said.

Sony’s PlayStation Vue live TV streaming service is available on Sony premium Android TVs, the TV maker said Thursday. In an announcement, Sony said PlayStation Vue gives customers “a better option” for watching live TV than a cable or satellite subscription. The service offers simultaneous streaming on various devices from one account, and includes “thousands of hours” of programming “without recording conflicts” on Vue’s cloud-based DVR, said the company. Sony Chief Operating Officer Mike Fasulo said the launch of Vue on premium Sony TVs demonstrates the company’s “continuing commitment to customer choice,” including cord-cutting. PlayStation Vue is available on all models in Sony Android TV series: X700D, X750D, X800D, X850D, X930D, X940D, Z9D and plans start at $29.99 per month, $39.99 in cities with most major live broadcast stations.

Motion sickness affects roughly half of those who try virtual reality content and devices and remains the “highest challenge” to mainstream VR acceptance, Mary-Luc Champel, standards director and principal scientist at Technicolor, told the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers conference Wednesday in Hollywood. Younger consumers tend to be “less affected,” Champel said in Q&A. “There is also correlation with gender,” he said. When attendees began buzzing, Champel responded: “That’s why I said it’s tricky.” He declined to be more specific when we asked. Industry needs “to solve the issues that can cause the rejection of VR,” Champel said. Pierre Routhier, who runs the Digital Troublemaker consulting firm, agreed “multiple challenges” stand in the way of assuring high-quality VR experiences. “That’s no reason not to go and start champing away and addressing those problems,” said the former Technicolor 3D strategist.

NAB's agreements with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group don't alter station royalty payments, said Fletcher Heald copyright attorney Kevin Goldberg in a blog post. The deals, announced in an NAB release, relieve radio stations from “certain compliance conditions associated with the sound recording streaming statutory license that are inconsistent with traditional broadcasting practices,” Goldberg said Thursday. “These waivers are NOT what some radio stations think (or hope) they are,” Goldberg said. “They do NOT affect the obligation of a station that is engaged in webcasting to pay royalties and make certain filings to SoundExchange.” The waivers affect the limits on the frequency with which webcasters can play songs or hold onto copies of recordings, Goldberg said: They “have a big [good] impact on a radio broadcaster’s ability to maintain compliance with the statutory webcasting license.” Stations will need to opt-in on the NAB website to take advantage of the Warner side of the deal, said Pillsbury Winthrop Attorney David Burns in another blog post. Sony, Warner and NAB didn't comment.

Small and medium-sized cable providers have limited resources and little leverage with manufacturers and programmers to come up with solutions for meeting new accessibility regulations, the American Cable Association said in a meeting with staff from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and the Office of General Counsel Friday, recounted a filing in docket 12-108. Proposals to increase the amount of video description pay-TV carriers must provide and the customer service obligations for video description should be considered in light of those limited resources, ACA said. The industry has made progress in delivering multiple audio streams without the need for additional regulation, the association said: The FCC shouldn't make pay-TV carriers responsible for allowing consumers to readily access user display settings for closed captioning.

The Copyright Office was “aggressively lobbied” by programmers for months leading up to its letter denouncing the FCC's set-top NPRM (see 1608050053), and “made no attempt to seek other views,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a blog post Wednesday based on a Freedom of Information Act request. The request yielded 310 pages of emails between CO officials and MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried, then-FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, Capitol Hill offices, reporters including with Communications Daily, and representatives of Comcast, Disney and TiVo. “The Copyright Office has come under scrutiny for alleged systemic bias in favor of major media and entertainment companies to the detriment of Internet users, technology companies, and independent creators,” said EFF. “These documents received by EFF yesterday do nothing to dispel that concern.” The CO didn't comment. The emails show Fried began lobbying the office shortly after the FCC announced its set-top plans, before Sallet began trying to schedule a meeting on behalf of the commission. The CO met with MPAA April 11 and the FCC a week later, the documents show. “Throughout the spring and summer of this year, the Copyright Office alternated between meetings with the FCC, MPAA, and other major content companies such as Comcast and Viacom,” EFF said. “On May 31, just hours after holding a conference call with MPAA, the general counsel of Copyright Office emailed her counterpart at the FCC saying 'the proposed rule may in fact implicate some rather serious copyright concerns.' The emails also show the CO coordinating with members of Congress on formally weighing in on the set-top debate, and that the CO only met with industry advocates for the FCC plan the day before issuing its letter denouncing the FCC NPRM. A staffer for Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., contacted the CO with the idea of Deutch formally requesting a letter from the office on June 17, according to the emails. On June 28, CO officials watched an NCTA demo of set-top tech arranged by MPAA, and on June 30 met with Sallet and other FCC officials, the emails show. On July 11, CO officials met with House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Four days later, she joined Reps. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Deutch in asking for a written analysis of the FCC plan. A Senate Finance Committee staffer contacted CO officials about a possible meeting on July 22, the emails show. Staffers for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., made contact with the CO to set up a meeting on July 27. The CO letter went out Aug. 3. An "agency that listens only to the views of some industry groups without seeking out additional opinions cannot be a reliably neutral expert for Congress or the FCC,” said the EFF. “We hope that the FCC will weigh the Copyright Office’s comments appropriately.”