Universal is making more films in 2023 than 2022, while other major studios are doing less, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said Tuesday at a Credit Suisse investor conference. He said its linear video businesses remain strong, though declining, but the ad-supported Peacock streaming service is growing rapidly. He said he went into 2022 concerned about NBCU's movie business until the back-to-back successes of the Top Gun and Jurassic World films. Shell said Peacock growth and the overall economy remain areas where the company is paying close attention. Peacock has more than 13 million paying subscribers, with the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl driving a big jump in growth in Q1. He said despite the lack of big sports events and originals in Q2, Peacock is retaining most of those Q1 subscriber gains: "We thought we would have more churn." Shell said in the back half of the year, Peacock should have more ramping up of paid subscriber growth, driven by other big content draws including content being pulled from Hulu for Peacock.

C Spire wants to drop its 2019 retransmission consent complaint against Gray Television, it said in a docket 19-159 motion Friday.

QVC is live on fuboTV, making it the first livestream shopping channel on the premium streaming service, the companies said Thursday. With the fuboTV add, QVC reaches some 14 million virtual MVPD subscribers, it said.

Good cause exists for the International Trade Commission to grant Dish Network’s unopposed motion for a two-week deadline extension to June 29 to move to limit or quash the June 3 subpoenas served on it by Broadband iTV, Dish said in a Wednesday filing in docket 337-TA-1315. The ITC opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into BBiTV allegations that cable set-tops from Comcast, Charter and Altice infringe four VOD and electronic program guide patents (see 2204280027). The extension will give BBiTV and Dish additional time “to engage in discussions in an attempt to resolve any disputes relating to the scope of the subpoenas,” said Dish.

Palo Alto Networks enlisted X-Files actress Gillian Anderson to star in a "Zero Trust with Zero Exceptions" ad campaign aimed at bringing “everyday cyber risks to the forefront of public awareness,” said the cybersecurity company Monday. “With the world working from anywhere, using applications that are hosted in multiple clouds or data centers, the cyber attack surface has expanded significantly," said Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora. "The first generation of zero trust cybersecurity solutions can't keep up and are inconsistent. With this campaign we sought to highlight the urgency around cybersecurity.” The campaign debuts this week and will run across digital media for the next year.

HBO's attempt to compel arbitration in a Video Privacy Protection Act complaint (see 2205020055) misses that the contract at issue, with its lack of refund policy and notice of additional terms, is unenforceable, the docket 1:22-cv-01942 plaintiffs told the U.S. District Court in Manhattan in an opposition Friday. They said that when customers subscribed through Amazon Prime Channels and AT&T, the providers never required assent to HBO's terms of use or mentioned the TOU existed, and HBO never provided a refundable opt-out option when the subscribers were then presented with the TOU. HBO outside counsel didn't comment.

Nearly 4 million people flocked to an AMC theater in the U.S. over the Memorial Day weekend, two-thirds of them to see Top Gun: Maverick, reported the theater chain Tuesday. The film's “record-setting success,” it said, “is another example of a box office that continues to show positive signs of recovery.” Led by the opening of the Paramount Pictures feature film, the domestic box office posted a 122% year-over-year increase compared with Memorial Day 2021, AMC said. Top Gun: Maverick also pushed Imax to its best-ever Memorial Day weekend box office performance, said the company in a separate announcement. The $21 million it took in was good for a 14% share of the overall North American box office, it said. "If you thought movies were dead, go see Top Gun: Maverick," said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond. "There's no way you sit in a theatre, with a huge screen and chest-pounding speakers, and come away thinking there's any other way you want to experience Top Gun: Maverick."

TV ad spending is likely better insulated against an overall slowing ad environment than social media apps, Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Friday, upgrading Roku from a “sell” to “hold” rating. Wlodarczak noted Snap’s recent “disappointing outlook (see 2205240006)," comparing the current macroeconomic environment to the late 1990s “when ad-based Internet companies massively benefited from large digital ad spend by profitless Internet companies, that disappeared quickly when investors suddenly pushed those companies to generate a profit.” Also, he said, a recession could accelerate the exodus from traditional pay TV to streaming. PRG’s previous sell rating was based on mixed Roku's Q4 subscriber results and guidance, its saturation in the U.S. streaming market, “too aggressive” revenue growth expectations and Charter and Comcast’s joint move into streaming aggregation (see 2204270057). “Nothing has really changed around our concerns here, offset partially by some signs of chip shortages alleviating,” he said -- adding Roku could benefit from Netflix’ upcoming ad-based plan -- but its $9 billion valuation at $80 a share is “reasonable,” said the analyst. Roku’s strategy to invest aggressively “is unloved by the market but is frankly prudent to try to raise the barriers to entry for existing/new players and attack a sizeable revenue opportunity,” he said: “It also exacerbates the risk that basically no one generates outsized returns if it forces everyone to follow suit.” The lower stock price creates “the potential for an outside player to make a bid for the company,” he said, citing Comcast-Charter or large internet players looking to reach critical mass in streaming quickly.

The NFL didn’t respond to questions on reports it's launching a premium streaming service in July. Sports Business Journal reported Wednesday that the league will have a $5 monthly service for live games on mobile phones and tablets. Games will be limited to what fans can see in their local TV markets, the story said. Before this year, those games were distributed to tablets and laptops via Yahoo and on mobile phones via major carriers in deals that have expired, it said.

Evoca went live Thursday with its 60+-channel lineup in Portland, Oregon, and includes Root Sports Northwest, TV home of the Trail Blazers and Timbers in Portland, the Kraken, Mariners and Seahawks in Seattle, plus the Gonzaga University Bulldogs, said the ATSC 3.0 pay TV service. The basic Evoca service costs $25 a month, plus the receiver, and newly added Sling TV programming options enable Evoca customers to access all their content through the Evoca channel guide at higher-priced tiers (see 2205250001).