Univision Communications Inc. will buy the digital media assets of Gawker Media Group for $135 million as part of Gawker's bankruptcy proceedings, UCI said in a release Thursday. The deal includes the Gawker blogs Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker and Kotaku, it said. “UCI will not be operating the Gawker.com site.” The Gawker blog announced in blog post Thursday that it will shut down next week. The digital assets will be integrated into Fusion Media Group (FMG), a UCI division that “serves the young, diverse audiences that make up the rising American mainstream.” The deal increases FMG's digital reach to nearly 75 million unique visitors, the release said. The deal builds on the company's previous investments in The Onion (see 1601190067) and The Root, it said.

Retransmission consent negotiations between Dish Network and Tribune are continuing, but a blackout remains in place, Dish said in a news release in which it also endorsed programs by Sinclair and NAB to give consumers free over-the-air (OTA) antennas. “The country’s 90 million pay-TV customers, all of whom pay retransmission fees for local broadcast stations, are frustrated by rising costs and channel blackouts,” said Warren Schlichting, Dish executive vice president-marketing. “Sinclair is on the right track for consumers and we’d encourage Tribune to follow its example.” Dish endorsed its traditional opponents on retrans -- Sinclair, NAB, Antennas Direct and TVfreedom.org -- for handing out $1 million worth of free OTA antennas in 60 cities. Dish gave out $7 million worth of antennas since the Tribune blackout began in June, the release said. “Complementing the pay-TV experience, which includes the increasing adoption of streaming services like Sling TV, Sony Vue, Hulu and Netflix, is good business and may drive a solution to the otherwise compounding problem of ever-rising retransmission consent fees for local TV,” said Schlichting. Tribune didn't comment.

Though there may be “an evolution” in the FCC's set-top plan, NCTA and its attorney, Helgi Walker of Gibson Dunn, met with new FCC General Counsel Howard Symons Monday to brief him on NCTA objections to the original set-top NPRM, said an ex parte filing posted online in docket 16-42 Tuesday. The briefing was a response to “statements made by proponents of the NPRM that they hoped to 'bolt on' aspects of the NPRM to the apps-based approach,” NCTA said. Incompas has suggested a combination of the FCC and pay-TV plans it called the “bolt-on” approach. “Any proposal -- even if termed 'apps-based' -- that includes unbundling and disaggregation of content and/or interactive services” would lead to legal challenges, NCTA said.

The Copyright Office’s views on the FCC's set-top proposal lead “down a dangerous road,” said Mozilla Head of Public Policy Chris Riley in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler posted in docket 16-42 Tuesday. If the CO letter on the FCC's plan (see 1608050053) is “taken at face value,” any terms to which a pay-TV company and set-top box vendor agree “would effectively supersede the Commission’s regulatory authority under Section 629 of the Telecommunications Act to promote competition in the video navigation device market,” Riley said. Copyright law isn't meant to convey “total control,” the Mozilla letter said. Mozilla is “disappointed” in the policies outlined in the CO letter and “strongly encourages” the Commission to “take the law on its face, and continue to fulfill its own, long-established statutory obligations to promote competition,” Riley said.

Scripps Networks Interactive doesn't engage in bundling in the pay-TV or online video markets, said Scripps executives in a meeting Wednesday with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filing Friday in docket 16-41. The meeting also concerned Scripps’ programming offerings and “efforts to reach distribution agreements” with online video distributors and over-the-top distributors, the ex parte filing said: “Our efforts are ongoing and we have already achieved some success in this area.”

Objections by Cox Communications and Dish Network to the proposed Nexstar/ Media General deal “repeat misleading and misplaced arguments about the application of the Commission’s general rules regarding retransmission consent,” Nexstar said in a reply filing in docket 16-57. “A merger proceeding is the not the proper forum to address general policy matters such as retransmission consent restrictions,” Nexstar said. Those objections, along with those by the American Cable Association and ITTA, ignore the public interest benefits of the transaction, Nexstar said. Those benefits include “robust investment” in local news and increased operating efficiencies, the filing said. The FCC shouldn't impose oversight “mechanisms” to ensure the merged entity complies with merger conditions, Nexstar said. Such rules are “wholly inappropriate as a prophylactic measure,” Nexstar said. “Nexstar urges the FCC to reject the arguments of the petitioners in this proceeding and grant the Applications -- which are now ripe for approval -- without further delay,”

The New York Times Co. acquired Fake Love, a design agency specializing in live experiences and virtual and mixed reality, the publisher said in a news release Friday. The all-cash transaction, which closed Thursday, comes six months after the Times acquired social media marketing agency HelloSociety. No terms were disclosed.

Pay-TV set-top box customers saved $646 million in energy costs in 2015 because of the industry's 2012 voluntary energy conservation agreement for the devices, CTA and NCTA said in a joint release Tuesday. “A new report by independent auditor D+R International found that more than 3.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were prevented in 2015 through a 15.94 percent reduction in national energy consumption from set-top boxes.” DVRs now use 36 percent less energy annually than in 2012, said Natural Resources Defense Council Center for Energy Efficiency Standards Director Noah Horowitz in the release. The entities involved in the voluntary agreement have created a website on the progress of energy efficient equipment for consumers: www.energy-efficiency.us. “The website includes links to individual pay TV and Internet provider websites so consumers can learn more about the equipment that each company offers,” the release said.

Pandora subsidiary Ticketfly added 12 Southern venues in seven states over the past two months, sparked by the success of the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis in the spring, it said in a news release Tuesday. The announcement follows the first product integration between the two companies: personalized Ticketfly concert notifications for Pandora listeners, said the company. Pandora listeners will receive notifications for just-announced shows and on-sale dates in various ways: feed alerts in the Pandora app (currently live), push notifications on mobile devices (launching soon), and personalized live event email digests (launching later this year), said Pandora in a recent news release. Other key markets for Ticketfly are Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Pandora bought Ticketfly in October in a deal valued at $450 million. Ticketfly has relationships with more than 1,200 venues, it said.

The FCC is considering a “revised approach” to proposed set-top box rules that “would ensure that all of Fox’s and other programmers’ valuable content would remain inside of, and under the control of, apps developed exclusively” by pay-TV providers, said 21st Century Fox in an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-42 Tuesday. “The Commission staff also stressed that third-party platforms, when distributing these MVPD [multichannel video programming distributors] apps, would be required to honor and abide by all of the terms and conditions set forth in programmers’ licenses with MVPDs.” Fox told aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Chief Technologist Scott Jordan it supported “a rule construct in which programming at all times remains inside of an MVPD-controlled app,” the filing said. In a separate filing in 16-42, TiVo criticized the pay-TV-backed apps proposal, which it said was already rejected by the FCC after the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee process. “The MVPD App proposal would represent a significant step backwards from the features and functionality that consumers enjoy today using CableCARD-enabled devices,” TiVo said. It lobbied Wheeler aides and Jordan as well. The agency is considering MVPD's Ditch the Box alternative to Wheeler's Unlock the Box NPRM to give pay-TV customers ways to view cable programming without leasing set-tops from those providers (see 1608040062).