Disney’s $500 million buy of YouTube content network Maker Studios may help the acquirer grow online, said analysts Tuesday, a day after the deal was disclosed (http://bit.ly/1dsFGBs). Maker has more than 55,000 channels and 380 million subscribers on YouTube, with 5.5 billion views per month, Disney said, describing the company as “the top online video network for Millennials.” Disney CEO Robert Iger said in a statement: “Short-form online video is growing at an astonishing pace and with Maker Studios, Disney will now be at the center of this dynamic industry with an unmatched combination of advanced technology and programming expertise and capabilities.” Analysts said in notes to investors Tuesday the deal makes some sense. It shows Disney’s commitment to delivering content on new technologies and developing more short-form online video options, said Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker. “Maker Studios will have access to Disney’s valuable intellectual property,” and that lets Disney expand its “Internet presence and capitalize its IP across multiple entertainment platforms,” said Moody’s.

A draft order that would prevent joint retransmission consent negotiations by broadcasters would keep Univision Television Group from negotiating on behalf of smaller broadcasters even when asked to do so by pay-TV providers, Univision told Commissioner Ajit Pai and staff from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1iZYZlb). Univision acts as an agent in negotiations on behalf of broadcaster Entravision Communications, and the two companies own non-top-four stations in some of the same markets. “Entravision has elected to engage UTG as its agent in order to have access to the human and financial resources UTG can make available in concurrent negotiations with multiple MVPDs,” Univision said, saying one of the nation’s largest multichannel video programming distributors -- which it didn’t name -- had asked Univision to negotiate on behalf of Entravision. Because the stations share markets, the draft order would have the FCC adopt a “negative presumption” to some of those negotiations, Univision said. Entravision would be “put in the position of having to negotiate separately for a small subset of its stations, with the loss of efficiencies that would entail,” Univision said. The commission should address the “anomalous situation” by creating an exemption from the negative presumption for “group-wide negotiations by one broadcaster on behalf of another that involve a subset of collocated non top-4 rated stations,” Univision said. “Alternatively, we proposed that this sort of unique circumstance be deemed sufficient to overcome the negative presumption."

Prohibiting joint retransmission consent negotiations among broadcasters is “an important step” in reforming retrans negotiations as a whole, pay-TV representatives told FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly and staff from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s office in meetings last week, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1lhhEMg). Charter, Dish Network, the American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV all participated in the meetings. Such arrangements are “starkly anticompetitive and harmful to consumers,” the ex parte said. The commission has received “empirical evidence” showing that retrans fees can be “up to 43 percent higher for jointly negotiated ‘Big Four’ stations that elect retransmission consent than the average fee paid for separately negotiated ‘Big Four’ stations,” the ex parte said.

The FCC shouldn’t compel multichannel video programming distributors to provide buttons or icons for every auxiliary function of closed captions or to provide information about captioning options on product packaging, said several industry associations in reply comments to a rulemaking on user interfaces and program guides Thursday. “Flexibility should be afforded to industry members,” said the Telecommunications Industry Association, echoing NCTA, the Entertainment Software Association and CEA. The associations also argued that the 21st Century Video Accessibility Act doesn’t give the FCC the authority to impose additional requirements for accessing closed captioning on manufacturers. A coalition of consumer groups representing the hearing impaired, including the National Association for the Deaf, said the FCC does have the authority. However, the consumer groups said they would be satisfied if access to the display settings for closed captions were available in the first level of a menu. ACA said the commission should mitigate the impact of any new rules for small cable operators.

More than 50 percent of U.S. broadband households use paid over-the-top video services, Parks Associates research found. More than 40 percent of U.S. broadband households selected online video as one of the top three important sources of video, compared to 25 percent of households for rented DVDs and 13 percent for owned Blu-ray discs, Parks Associates said in a press release (http://bit.ly/OEQTmI). Analysts also found that 37 percent of consumers age 18-24 claimed that video from online sources is their most important video source, it said. Watching programs through playback on DVR was highest among the 35-44 demographic, it said. The research includes data from two surveys involving a total of 13,000 respondents, a spokeswoman said. Parks will present the findings March 27 in a webcast.

Disney’s new privacy policy does not comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), said the Center for Digital Democracy in a Thursday letter to the FTC (http://bit.ly/1d4khhn). “Specifically, the notice about information collection practices is insufficient in several ways,” said CDD, a digital privacy advocate. “Also, Disney continues to allow third party advertisers to collect children’s personal information in violation of the revised COPPA rule.” Disney changed its privacy policy, the letter said, after CDD originally filed a complaint to the FTC about the company’s website, Marvelkids.com, alleging the site was not COPPA-compliant (CD Dec 19 p15). Disney countered CDD’s original complaint, arguing it had “robust processes in place” to ensure COPPA compliance, calling CDD’s allegations “inflammatory and inaccurate” (CD Dec 20 p16). In CDD’s letter Thursday, it asked the FTC to investigate “in light of this new information.” A Disney spokesman said, “In short, there is simply no truth to any of the claims made by the CDD.” The letter represents an “all too familiar and disappointing pattern” from CDD, which “once again seeks to garner headlines at the expense of the facts,” said the spokesman via email. “Disney’s privacy policies and practices respect and protect kids and parents and our websites are specifically designed to easily and effectively arm parents with the information they need to keep their kids safe online.” The FTC didn’t comment.

An NAB ex parte filing Tuesday (CD March 19 p21) accusing the pay-TV industry of collusion in advertising rates is “a transparent stunt to muddy the waters” on discussion of joint sales agreements and retransmission consent, said NCTA CEO Michael Powell in a written statement. “NAB’s latest attack is an unfortunate and desperate attempt to divert attention from examination of discrete broadcast ownership issues,” Powell said. “Heavily regulated local broadcasters in smaller markets are being scrutinized by the FCC for a practice that involves one local TV station selling ads for another local TV station,” said NAB President Gordon Smith in a Wednesday news release highlighting the filing (bit.ly/1dpA6dE ). “Yet the heavily consolidated pay-TV industry, unshackled by any ownership rules, is free to engage in this most collusive of advertising sales practice on a massive scale in multiple markets."

Global digital music delivery sales rose 4.3 percent in 2013 to $5.9 billion, due mainly to “steep growth” in subscription services and “stable income from download sales in most markets,” IFPI said Tuesday in its annual state of the industry report (http://bit.ly/1lLJw8r). “Globally, digital now accounts for 39 per cent of total industry global revenues and in three of the world’s top 10 markets, digital channels account for the majority of revenues,” said IFPI, formerly the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Overall global music sales, including those of packaged media, fell 3.9 percent to around $15 billion, hurt mostly by a 16.7 percent free-fall in Japan, the world’s second-largest recorded music market, IFPI said. “Japan remains a market in transition,” IFPI said, “with legacy mobile products and physical format sales only now starting to decline, while streaming and subscription services are still establishing themselves.” Within digital, subscription services are now “part of an increasingly diverse mix of industry revenue streams,” IFPI said. Sales from music subscription services grew 51.3 percent in 2013, exceeding $1 billion for the first time and “growing consistently across all major markets,” it said. The “subscription model” is prompting more consumers to shift “from pirate services to a licensed music environment that pays artists and rights holders,” it said. Globally, about 28 million consumers became “paying subscribers” to subscription services in 2013, vs. only 8 million in 2010, it said. Sales from ad-supported streaming services such as Vevo and YouTube are also growing, rising 17.6 percent in 2013, IFPI said. “Music video revenues in particular increased as the industry extended the monetisation of YouTube to more than 50 countries, adding 13 territories in 2013,” it said. “Vevo has performed strongly, hitting 5.5 billion monthly views in December 2013, a 46 per cent year-on-year increase, and attracting 243 million unique viewers worldwide.”

LIN Media reached a retransmission consent agreement with Cox Communications. “Programming will remain on the Cox lineup in all impacted markets with no interruption in service to Cox customers,” said the cable operator in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/OoW8Hu).

Consumers expect the same TV user experience throughout their home, regardless of the platform delivering the content and regardless of the receiving device, including set-top box or connected consumer electronics device, said Parks Associates researchers. Set-top box middleware also must accommodate the interoperation and virtualization of features among customer premises equipment devices, “which will add substantially to the software’s complexity,” Parks said in a Monday news release (http://bit.ly/1iWF6cW). Many operators believe the video services business has fundamentally changed, “and full IP distribution of content is the next evolutionary step for the pay-TV industry,” it said. The analysis is based on interviews and past consumer surveys conducted by Parks, which includes industry expertise using comparative data on HDTV and 3D TV adoption, a spokeswoman said.