Discovery filed a notice of dispute with the Polish government warning of formal action over Poland's treatment of its TVN broadcast network, the programmer said Thursday. A World Bank International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes tribunal would hear such a complaint under the 1990 bilateral investment treaty between the country and the U.S. Discovery said the notification "follows Poland’s discriminatory campaign" against TVN, including not renewing TVN24's broadcasting license and a vote Wednesday in the lower house of the Polish parliament in favor of legislation that would ban upstream foreign media ownership in the country. Discovery said the legislation is "the latest assault on independent media and freedom of the press, and takes direct aim at Discovery’s TVN, the country’s leading independent broadcasting group and news provider, as well as one of the largest U.S. investments in Poland." It said absent a "positive resolution," it would start arbitration proceedings. Discovery has operated in Poland for nearly 25 years, but "the current Polish government’s damaging and discriminatory actions ... leave us no choice but to bring charges under the US-Poland bilateral investment treaty," said Discovery International CEO JB Perrette. "This legislation will have a chilling effect on U.S. and European investment into the Polish economy, and we will aggressively defend our rights.” Discovery said the 1990 treaty includes obligations of non-impairment by arbitrary and discriminatory measures, nondiscrimination in granting licenses and the prohibition on expropriation without compensation. The U.S. was "deeply troubled" by the legislation targeting TVN, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. "Poland has worked for decades to foster a vibrant and free media [and] this draft legislation would significantly weaken the media environment the Polish people have worked so long to build," he said: It "threatens media freedom and could undermine Poland’s strong investment climate." Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn't comment Thursday.

Redbox inked a deal with Digital Media Rights to add the 24-hour anime-based RetroCrush channel to its ad-supported VOD service, it said Wednesday. Redbox will also add “hundreds” of movies and TV series to its ad-based VOD offering, it said.

YouTube will start adjusting the default upload setting for users ages 13-17 to the most private option available, over the coming weeks as part of new safety and digital well-being options it announced Tuesday for YouTube and YouTube Kids. "Take a break" and "bedtime" reminders, plus autoplay set to off, will be by default, it said. James Beser, director-product management, kids and family, blogged that the company will begin to remove overly commercial content from YouTube Kids such as videos that directly encourage children to spend money.

All remaining invoices for reimbursement from the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund for entities repacked in the first five phases of the post-broadcast incentive auction repacking are due by Oct. 8, but only 189 out of 2,104 participating in the reimbursement process have initiated closeout procedures, said the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau in a public notice Monday. The PN said 324 entities -- TV stations, FM stations and MVPDs -- haven’t submitted any invoices. “We have consistently, strongly encouraged all entities to submit all remaining invoices and initiate close-out procedures as early as possible without waiting for the deadline,” said the PN. The agency needs to have enough time to process all the requests and closeout submissions before July 3, 2023, when any money left in the fund goes back to the U.S. Treasury, the PN said. As of Aug. 3, the total amount of estimated reimbursement submitted by repacked entities was $2 billion; $1.6 billion in reimbursement requests had been approved for payment, and $34 million in invoices remained under review, the PN said. The PN said 964 of 987 repacked full-power and Class A TV stations from the first five phases are on their final facilities, and all but 12 of the 444 stations in phases six-10 are on their final facilities. Invoices for entities from phases six-10 are due March 22, the PN said.

Lionsgate had a “strong financial quarter” for Starz streaming, “but like the rest of the industry, we were impacted by a reduction in at-home viewership, and importantly a light content quarter, due to COVID-driven production delays,” said CEO Jon Feltheimer on a call Thursday on fiscal Q1 ended June 30. Starz continued growing its base of international subscribers, but U.S. sub numbers took a “temporary” hit that “we have already reversed,” he said. He expects Starz global subscriber growth to “outpace” last year’s, “buttressed by a very strong slate” of content. Starz plans 12 original programs this FY compared with seven last, plus “five tentpole films in the next three quarters will drive a large, large growth of subscriber acquisition,” said Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch. “We also saw churn at a historic low.”

The FCC Media Bureau partially granted a market modification petition from broadcaster One Ministries for KQSL Fort Bragg, California, extending the station’s market only to include Cloverdale. The bureau denied the petition -- in accordance with objections registered by Comcast -- for other nearby communities in Contra Costa, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. Cloverdale is the only community in the petition covered by the station’s over-the-air contour, said Friday's order: One Ministries “failed to demonstrate meaningful economic connections” between Fort Bragg and the other communities.

Roku Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden set expectations for “tough” year-on-year comparisons in second-half 2021, on the company's quarterly call Wednesday, after COVID-19 pandemic-driven “outperformance” in 2020. Q2 revenue increased 81% year on year to $645 million, it reported, crediting “exceptional performance in platform monetization.” (See Q2 materials). Player unit sales were little changed after the 2020 demand spike. Tight component supplies and shipping constraints increased costs faster than expected across consumer electronics, executives said, saying the company “insulated consumers” from higher player unit costs. Higher costs are an industrywide issue affecting smart TVs, too, Louden said. Management said higher out-of-home entertainment engagement was competition, as consumers "sought increased out-of-home entertainment activities" after being pent up in Q2 2020 during lockdowns. That led to a decline in viewing hours, it said. The stock closed down 4% to $403.48 Thursday.

ViacomCBS ended Q2 with 42 million streaming subscribers worldwide, and its $982 million in streaming revenue nearly doubled from the same quarter a year ago, it reported the company Thursday. It said Paramount+ was the biggest driver of the 6.5 million new streaming subscribers it added. It said Paramount+ will launch in Australia and New Zealand this month and in European markets including the U.K., Germany, Italy and Ireland in 2022 through a partnership with Comcast's Sky. Total sales were $6.6 billion, up $489 million, with $411 million of the gain due to growing advertising revenue. Licensing revenue, at $1.24 billion, fell $701 million, partly reflecting depressed film licensing due to lack of theatrical releases in 2020 and early 2021, it said. ViacomCBS closed up 7.1% to $41.55.

Following its acquisition of clypd, Xandr launched Monetize TV for advertising sales, said the company Wednesday. Standardizing audience-based transactions will help expand the digital TV market, said Xandr’s Mark Mitchell, vice president-business development, TV Platform.

Fandango said it’s combining its Vudu and FandangoNow streaming services into a newly updated Vudu-branded offering that will replace FandangoNow as the official movie and TV store on Roku. The new Vudu service will offer more than 200,000 new release and catalog movies and TV shows to rent or buy, it said Tuesday. It claims the largest collection of 4K titles with no subscription required.