Asset manager Gabelli, which holds a stake in Paramount Global, is asking the FCC to defer action on Skydance Media's proposed purchase of Paramount. In a docket 24-275 filing posted Tuesday, Gabelli said a deferral would provide it with sufficient time for an inquiry into the merger terms and "potential fiduciary and/or federal securities violations." Gabelli said that inquiry would let it know whether to initiate litigation for breach of fiduciary duty against Paramount's board, Skydance or National Amusements, which has a controlling stake in Paramount. The $8 billion transaction was announced in July (see 2407080025).
The FCC received no submissions from U.S.-based foreign media outlets for its latest semi-annual report to Congress, it said in the report Friday. The latest report covers April 12 to Oct. 11. The last several editions -- since May 2021 -- have listed no submissions (see 2405090055). The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act requires the reports.
Arguments against placing labor-related conditions on the Skydance/Paramount Global deal (see 2410230009) miss that the companies, not the unions, initially raised labor issues in their application, labor unions said in a docket 24-275 posted Friday. In their filing, the unions said they "simply want these commitments to be more detailed, and formally memorialized as a condition of the merger." The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Hollywood Local 399, Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Communications Workers of America made the filing.
An FCC proposal that would require MVPDs to report retransmission consent blackouts should apply only to blackouts of primary streams on full-power stations and low-power TV or multicast streams that carry a network feed, NCTA argued during an Oct. 25 meeting with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-472. Though the FCC has proposed requiring such reports after a blackout lasts more than 24 hours, NCTA said the period should be longer and that MVPDs should have two business days to file. “Retransmission consent negotiations are complex and often involve numerous stations,” NCTA said. “Collecting and filing the information will be a time-consuming process that could distract from efforts to resolve the blackout.” The FCC shouldn’t require MVPDs to disclose the number of subscribers a blackout affects, NCTA added. “Such data is commercially sensitive information, and the burden of compiling it for disclosure would outweigh any benefit that its submission would achieve.”
Alternative distribution method terms in multichannel video programming distributors' (MVPDs) contracts with programmers, like Monumental Sports & Entertainment, can substantially impede online distribution and extend to broadcast TV, the regional sports network told FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. In docket 24-115 Thursday, the RSN said most-favored nation (MFN) terms can interfere with the ability to go direct to consumer and make it impossible to provide such offerings at a competitive price. Recapping a meeting with Simington, Monumental said such issues are especially challenging in situations where MFNs aren't conditioned on the MVPD accepting associated terms and conditions.
Labor union-recommended conditions for the proposed $8 billion Skydance/Paramount Global deal (see 2410080033) have no basis in law or policy, the companies said Wednesday in docket 24-275. Instead, they urged that the FCC avoid putting conditions on the proposed acquisition. They said filings by One Ministries and Sean Kiggins, a self-described "rightful heir and soul trustee" of the Sumner Redstone media empire, didn't identify any transaction-specific harms from the deal.
The cable industry and broadcasters are adopting dueling talking points on the FCC's 10th floor concerning the proposed reporting requirement when retransmission consent talks fail and lead to a blackout, according to docket 23-427 postings Tuesday. In meetings with the offices of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, NCTA, Comcast, Charter and Cox Communications representatives said that while the NPRM (see 2401170072) proposes reporting on blackouts that last more than 24 hours, it should focus on longer blackouts because that would be less disruptive to negotiations. The cablers also argued against reporting the number of subscribers affected. However, if reporting such numbers eventually is required, then the FCC should keep figures confidential. In meetings with Rosenworcel and Starks aides, NAB asserted that a blackout reporting requirement would exceed the FCC's limited statutory authority relating to retransmission consent, and wouldn't provide consumers with meaningful information. NAB said disruptions increase during key congressional or FCC deliberations on retrans issues. A public database of retrans blackouts "will serve as an 'attractive nuisance' that MVPDs cannot resist, triggering increased disruptions and harming consumers," it said. NAB has had similar meetings with the offices of Carr and Simington.
As the FCC eyes fostering independent video programming, it should examine how broadcasters' forced bundling and forced tier and penetration requirements distort competition and harm indie programmers and multichannel video programming distributors, according to the American TV Alliance. In a docket 24-115 filing posted Monday recapping a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, ATVA said programmers' increased ownership of or affiliation with VOD services incentivizes those programmers to be even more aggressive with bundling and related requirements than in the past. FCC commissioners in April adopted an indie programming NPRM, 3-2 (see 2404190063)
While about 40% of TV viewing is on streaming, only about 13% of ad viewing is, "and that’s a problem," TVRev consultant Alan Wolk wrote Friday on LinkedIn. Even accounting for such factors as that a lot of streaming isn't ad supported, the gap still points to ad spending not being "what it should be," he said. "Especially given the amount of time the most valuable consumers are spending on streaming, there should be more ad dollars flowing in that direction," Wolk said. The ad side of streaming needs to get its "act together" and make it easier for ad buyers, including creation of common understandings about what constitutes a "view."
ESPN faces a proposed $146,976 fine for using emergency alert system tones in a promo spot that ran repeatedly in October 2023 touting the start of the 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season, an FCC Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability said Thursday. FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, who has said he would dissent from monetary forfeitures until the agency examines the boundaries of its enforcement authority (see 2409060054), dissented. ESPN didn't comment.