Post-incentive auction channel sharing for TV broadcasters could “unlawfully” increase burdens for cable carriers, said NCTA in a meeting Monday with FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, and staff from the bureau and Office of General Counsel, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-268. Stations that channel share after the TV incentive auction will open up their vacated channels for more TV stations, in contrast to the stations that sell their spectrum for wireless use in the incentive auction. If one station moves to being shared, neither it nor the station that takes over its spectrum should be allowed to claim mandatory carriage status, NCTA said. That would increase cable costs and could “raise significant First Amendment problems,” said the association.

Media and entertainment professionals think virtual reality will become a “mainstay” of over-the-top streaming video, Level 3 Communications said in a Tuesday report. It commissioned a survey of 628 respondents from media and entertainment companies globally, and asked them about the current state of OTT, the company said. It found that 45 percent of companies surveyed are offering OTT services, a 10-percentage-point increase over 2015, “indicating significant adoption,” Level 3 said. Of the companies offering OTT services, 52 percent are researching, getting ready to launch or have already launched VR-video content, it said. Two-thirds said they believe VR is here to stay but said “primary business and technical challenges” abound, including bandwidth limits, lack of consumer awareness and fear of competition from free services and user-generated content, it reported. Nearly half said their companies have plans for 4K broadcasts, 4K VOD streaming or 4K “live-linear” or live-event streaming, it said. "As the OTT industry continues to grow and evolve, this study shows there is more focus on not only delivering live streaming events -- which can be a challenge in itself -- but also streaming in 4K or even VR,” Level 3 said. “End users expect their video streaming experience to be seamless, even as they begin to consume next generation content, and this study reveals the ever-increasing importance for OTT providers to have a robust CDN [content delivery network] strategy to enable this upward OTT trajectory as well as the importance of a safe, secure, reliable network."

Over-the-top multichannel video programming distributors, broadcasters and BitTorrent are pushing the FCC to move again on its proposal to reclassify some OTT providers as MVPDs. "Only ... a level regulatory field -- specifically the ability to acquire MVPD status" will let online video distributors (OVD) compete with traditional MVPDs that offer broadcast station programming, the group -- calling itself the TV Neutrality Alliance (TVNA) -- said in a filing Tuesday in docket 14-261. Making up TVNA are BiggyTV, BitTorrent, Camino Real Communications, Cocola Broadcasting, Cooper Communications, Pi Omni-Media, Pluto TV, Telletopia Foundation and Ventura Broadcasting. The retransmission consent mechanism for MVPDs is the only route to the 24-hour linear streams of local broadcast programming for Internet distribution, TVNA said, and any OTT offerings that don't include broadcast station signals shouldn't be subject to MVPD regulatory burdens. TVNA pitched a modification to the FCC-suggested rule change, with a certification step whereby non-facilities-based OVDs that want to transmit local broadcast signals will need to certify to the agency that they will comply with all MVPD retrans consent rules to be able to invoke retrans consent or program access rules. That certification step would make non-facilities based OVDs subject to MVPD regulations and privileges while obviating OVDs not taking advantage of MVPD rules, and thus allay Amazon regulatory concerns (see 1511060013), TVNA said. The OTT-as-MVPD rulemaking has been seen as largely dormant following tepid OTT industry reception (see 1606060033)

Microsoft's new line of Xbox One S machines will be the industry's first videogame consoles to support Ultra HD Blu-ray playback and high dynamic range, the company said in a Monday announcement at E3. Three versions of Xbox One S, also supporting 4K and HDR playback of physical and streamed games and video, became available for preorder Monday and will arrive in stores in August, Microsoft said.

The FTC-supported approach to privacy in the FCC set-top proposal is “legally problematic,” said NCTA officials and Gibson Dunn attorney Helgi Walker in meetings Thursday with FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing. Walker represented trade groups in litigation against the FCC over net neutrality and media ownership. The FTC proposal to require third-party set-top makers to certify they will abide by the same privacy rules as multichannel video programming distributors would subject “similarly-situated entities to differing enforcement regimes, thereby causing unpredictable, conflicting, and inconsistent enforcement,” NCTA said in docket 97-80.

Forty-two Tribune Broadcasting local channels in 33 markets are blacked out on Dish Network, the companies said in news releases (see here and here) Sunday. Tribune said the blackout was due to a dispute over retransmission fees. “We want to reach an agreement, just as we have with every one of our other cable, satellite and telco distributors, but Dish refuses to reach an agreement based on fair-market value,” said Gary Weitman, Tribune Media senior vice president-corporate relations. “We want to keep servicing our local communities and we have repeatedly offered Dish a lengthy extension to continue negotiations -- unfortunately, Dish rejected these offers.” Dish said it's offering over-the-air antennas free to customers during the blackout. It said Tribune is trying to bundle its WGN America channel with local broadcast stations, in addition to the retrans fees, and it offered a short-term contract extension to Tribune that the cable programmer rejected. The retrans blackout is the largest this year, said the American Television Alliance, which seeks to change retrans rules and lists Dish as a partner.

The Consumer Video Choice Coalition supports an FTC-suggested proposal to address privacy concerns about the FCC’s set-top box proceeding by requiring third-party box makers to promise consumers they will abide by the same privacy rules as the pay-TV industry, said an ex parte filing posted Friday. Officials from CVCC member entities Google, Hauppauge, Incompas, Public Knowledge and TiVo announced their support of the plan in a Tuesday meeting with the FCC Chief Technologist Scott Jordan and staff from the Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau, the filing said. The FTC proposal would require the third-party box makers to certify they have promised consumers to respect their privacy, allowing the FTC to enforce that promise under its mandate to prevent companies from engaging in defensive practices. Certification could also keep third parties from altering channel placement, the filing said. “The Coalition representatives also affirmed that a two-year time frame as provided for in the NPRM is appropriate for developing open standards solution(s) in accordance with the proposed rules.”

Whether virtual reality is how all BBC programs will be viewable one day is a question “we are unlikely to have a clear answer to” for many years, said BBC Research and Development Controller Andy Conroy in a Thursday blog post. “Our research will make sure that if that time comes, the BBC is ready.” New media “come along rarely, and those that stand the test of time are rarer still,” he said. The BBC “helped pioneer and develop” radio in the 1920s, TV in the 1930s and digital delivery in the 1980s, he said. “And it’s in that tradition we are exploring 360 video and VR now, in collaboration with the industry. This will help inform any strategy the BBC may need in future.” VR and 360 video “are emerging media the BBC needs to explore," Conroy said. “Our motive with these technologies is the same for the others we are researching -- how might they improve the BBC’s ability to better inform, educate and entertain.” Truly interactive VR video “is in its infancy and can be expensive to create,” he said. All of the true VR “experiments” the BBC is conducting “seek to address different challenges that will provide invaluable insights for the organisation now and in the future,” he said. For example, the BBC worked with Aardman Studios to produce video for the Oculus Rift VR headset, he said. The video “uses real stories of refugees as the basis for an animated virtual experience, helping to give audiences a sense of presence by placing them at the heart of the story, and with technology allowing interactive eye-contact between them and the characters,” he said. The BBC is “learning a great deal” from its VR experiments “about production techniques and workflows, user experience, and the technology of capture and distribution,” he said.

Comcast, NCTA and several content companies did a demonstration of app-based delivery of a pay-TV service to a third-party device for Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and aides Thursday, said an ex parte filing posted online Monday. The demonstration included “apps-delivered programming” on Apple TV, Nvidia, Roku and Samsung, DirecTV service on TV sets, and “retail devices offering pirated content,” the filing said. The demonstration also included an integrated search of both pay-TV and over-the-top on Roku, the filing said. “The participants discussed innovation and competition in apps and in apps-hosting platforms, the ability for diverse programmers to participate in these platforms, and the importance of protecting copyright and addressing piracy,” the filing said.

Fifteen state attorneys general encouraged the FCC to follow the FTC's recommendation to address privacy concerns about third-party set-top boxes, said an ex parte filing posted online Monday in docket 16-42. Multichannel video program distributors "should provide access only to third-party set-top boxes that have provided consumer facing privacy statements,” the filing said. “Requiring consumer-facing statements would enhance the States’ abilities to pursue consumer protection actions against third-party set-top box manufacturers.” That logic is consistent with a letter sent to the FCC by the FTC earlier this year (see 1604220063). The 15 AGs represented in the letter included those from California, Vermont, Oregon, Massachusetts, Iowa and Washington, D.C.