Cablevision filed a complaint with the FCC alleging Meredith Corp. refused to operate in good faith during retransmission consent negotiations. The companies have been in a dispute over retransmission of Meredith’s WFSB-TV Hartford, Conn., to Cablevision subscribers (CD Jan 8 p14). Cablevision asked the FCC “to immediately direct Meredith to cease its bad faith negotiation practices and to separate negotiations for carriage of WFSB in Litchfield and New Haven counties from negotiations for carriage of the channel elsewhere in Connecticut,” it said in a news release Friday. Meredith said “it is Cablevision that is acting in bad faith.” Meredith urged Cablevision’s customers “to look at alternate providers or use an over-the-air antenna if they would like to receive WFSB’s leading local news, top CBS primetime programming, and the NFL playoffs this weekend,” it said in a statement.
Needing “flexibility in attracting investment in a challenging digital market,” loosening FCC ownership limits on broadcast and daily newspaper properties “would spur greater investment and innovation in the publishing industry,” said the Newspaper Association of America. “Liberalization” of broadcast-paper cross-ownership rules would mean “greater and more innovative news production, without any diminishment in diversity,” said NAA. Its filing posted Friday to docket 09-182 (http://bit.ly/1dCziq3) reported on a meeting of an NAA executive and a lawyer representing the association with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who earlier pulled a draft order that would have relaxed some cross-ownership rules (CD Dec 16 p1).
The FCC shouldn’t apply emergency video description rules to devices that deliver video over IP, said CEA in an ex parte filing Thursday (https://bitly.com/). The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act limits the application of those rules to video from broadcast or multichannel video programming distributor sources, CEA said. If the commission does apply the emergency video description rules to IP video devices, manufacturers should get at least a two-year “phase-in” period to follow the rules, longer if a new technical standard is required, CEA said. CEA also urged the commission not to impose specific customer service requirements for companies with devices covered by the emergency video description rules. The FCC should give companies “the opportunity to integrate customer support services for emergency information and video description into their other customer care operations,” it said. As covered entities implement the new rules, they “will be able to assist customers who are blind or visually impaired with navigating between the main and secondary audio streams,” CEA said.
FilmOn’s appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was put on a temporary hold while the court decides whether to delay the case until the Supreme Court is finished with Aereo, said a clerk’s order filed Wednesday. FilmOn is appealing a nearly nationwide preliminary injunction that prevents it from streaming copyrighted material anywhere in the U.S except the jurisdiction of the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Immediately after the Supreme Court granted cert in the Aereo case, the broadcaster plaintiffs in the FilmOn case asked the court to stay the case until the high court has ruled on Aereo. “If the Supreme Court decides that Aereo’s service infringes the petitioners’ copyrights, the same conclusion would be required here, thereby rendering moot any briefs already filed and any argument already held in this action,” said broadcasters. FilmOn opposed staying the D.C. Circuit case, because the company will have to remain under the preliminary injunction until it’s resolved. The injunction prevents FilmOn from “competing with Aereo on equal footing” and does “irreparable harm” to the company, FilmOn said. The Supreme Court case may not bear directly on the D.C. circuit case, despite the similarity between FilmOn and Aereo’s services, FilmOn said. “The Supreme Court could decide Aereo on grounds that are unique to the dispute between the different parties in that case,” said FilmOn. While the D.C. circuit decides whether to wait for the Supreme Court, the briefing schedule for the FilmOn case has been suspended. Broadcasters had been scheduled to enter a brief Jan. 17, and replies were due Jan. 31.
A survey from CEA and the National Association of Television Program Executives found that there are opportunities to improve synchronized program content awareness and offerings for second-screen viewing, CEA and NATPE said. Of more than 2,500 respondents, 79 percent access a second device while watching TV programming, the associations said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1hQKX6F). More than 40 percent of such users tried synchronizing their content experience to live TV, it said. Nearly all second-screen viewers surveyed access asynchronous program content, either before or after watching a show, or between episodes, “which offers a strong opportunity for program brands to increase loyalty and keep viewers engaged and watching even when shows are not on the air,” it said. “Currently, synchronized content is most often used for voting during reality shows, and participating in contests to win prizes.” The quantitative portion of the study was administered by E-Poll Market Research in October, it said.
The two Democratic senators from Connecticut criticized the fallout of a retransmission dispute between Cablevision and Meredith Corp.’s WFSB Hartford, but the cable operator pointed to others at fault. It “does a disservice to Connecticut families,” said Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy in a Friday letter to both parties (http://1.usa.gov/1gqui5Z). They said blackouts are “harmful for consumers” and that “WFSB deserves to be fairly compensated for its content under law,” with broadcasters playing what they call a “fundamental role” in the U.S. They asked Cablevision to commit to refunding Litchfield and New Haven County subscribers upon request for the value of WFSB that they have lost. Cablevision said the senators “are absolutely right that the WFSB owners should put Channel 3 programming back on during negotiations and stop holding Cablevision customers in one area of Connecticut hostage in order to force customers in a different part of the state to pay double for CBS programming.” A Meredith Corp. spokesman pointed to a statement issued last week. “Cablevision’s assertions are untrue and reflect its lack of understanding of Connecticut television viewers,” Meredith said. “Other subscription television operators recognize the value of WFSB local programming and have entered into agreements to compensate us accordingly. However, Cablevision has refused to even negotiate, and is revealing its true colors by wasting time with baseless press releases meant to mislead Connecticut residents, as well as a nuisance filing in the St. Louis market, a jurisdiction where it doesn’t even serve any viewers.” Meredith is ready to negotiate in good faith, it said.
Akamai Technologies will provide online video streaming delivery, site performance and security services to NBC during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, it said. Akamai’s cloud-based digital media, site performance and security products “help make the entire online experience faster, scalable and more secure,” it said in a news release (http://bit.ly/19esuxE). NBC also will deliver video through NBCOlympics.com and the “NBC Sports Live Extra” mobile app, Akamai said. “These experiences are automatically optimized for viewing devices and network variability while enjoying protection against malicious traffic."
Aereo closed a $34 million round of financing to fund “rapid nationwide expansion,” it said in a news release Tuesday night. New investors in the company include IAC, Himalaya Capital Management and Gordon Crawford, formerly of Capital Research and Management, the release said. “Aereo is available in 10 markets and will grow to 15 by the end of the quarter,” said CEO Chet Kanojia in the release. Aereo is currently available in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Salt Lake City, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Baltimore. The company is embroiled in ongoing court challenges to its business model in Utah and Massachusetts, and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce Monday whether cert has been granted on a broadcaster appeal of a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Aereo’s favor (CD Jan 3 p9).
TV and movie ratings systems need to be comprehensively overhauled, said the Parents Television Council in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1aIfprx). “Networks routinely assign age ratings for horrifically violent content on broadcast TV deeming it appropriate for children,” said PTC President Tim Winter in the release. Ratings for “Movies are no better, as new research found that PG-13 rated films contain as much violence as R-rated films,” Winter said. This week is the one-year anniversary of a series of meetings between Vice President Joe Biden and the entertainment industry on media violence, PTC said. “In one year, the industry has done nothing to reduce media violence,” said Winter. Ratings for TV and movies should be “accurate, consistent, transparent and publicly accountable,” said PTC. “More than 3,000 medical and sociological studies in the last 50 years have proven that children are affected by the media content they consume,” Winter said. NAB and MPAA didn’t comment.
U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment content jumped 0.7 percent in 2013 to $18.2 billion, said the Digital Entertainment Group Tuesday in its annual year-end report. Highlights of the report included a 47.2 percent increase in electronic sell-through to $1.2 billion, marking the first time that category surpassed the $1 billion mark, the DEG said. Other forms of digital delivery also fared well, the DEG said. Spending on subscription streaming jumped 32.1 percent to $3.2 billion, while VOD rose 4.8 percent to $2.1 billion, it said. However, sell-through of packaged media fell 8.1 percent to $7.8 billion, and rental spending in all forms declined 5.2 percent to $6.1 billion, it said. Other highlights: (1) Blu-ray software spending “remained consistent,” rising about 5 percent, the DEG said, without disclosing a specific dollar volume. (2) Total Blu-ray U.S. homes exceed 72 million, including those that own at least one stand-alone Blu-ray player, PS3 or Blu-ray-equipped home theater in a box. (3) There are now more than 15 million UltraViolet accounts, and “most major retailers support UltraViolet,” the DEG said. (4) “Strong consumer interest” in Ultra HD “bodes well for the home entertainment industry,” the report said.