Discovery+ subscription streaming will be coming to Vizio SmartCast smart TV viewers by September, said the TV vendor Tuesday. Vizio also said it's bringing the BET+ streaming app to SmartCast TVs beginning Wednesday. Users can access the streaming service for a free, seven-day trial before buying a premium, commercial-free subscription for $9.99 monthly.
Vizio upgraded the appearance and functionality of its WatchFree+ free video streaming offering, the company announced Monday. It added an “intuitive” program guide and expanded content “custom-curated” using “first-party viewership data” collected through its proprietary Inscape audience-measurement service. The program guide supports voice navigation for new SmartCast TVs that come with the latest Vizio voice remote. Vizio reports Q2 Wednesday.
Display-only video monitors and projectors should be exempt from FCC user-interface rules if they don’t render audio, said the Information Technology Industry Council in a call Tuesday with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Wireless Bureau staff, per a filing posted Friday in docket 21-140. ITI was represented among others by Senior Policy Counsel Joel Miller, former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s chief of staff when O’Rielly was at the agency. Miller left the FCC in early 2021 and was hired by ITI in May. Display-only monitors and projectors “do not possess the hardware or firmware needed to produce audio feedback,” the filing said. Requiring the devices to produce audio could effectively eliminate display-only devices, the group said: Changing the construction of such monitors to comply with user-interface rules would require additional chips, which are in a shortage. So manufacturers would need more time to comply.
The American Television Alliance said the FCC sent a "strong signal" with its forfeiture order Wednesday against several broadcasters for violations of good faith negotiation rules (see here and 2107280068), in a statement. The order indicates the agency "will not tolerate broadcasters' bad-faith conduct, especially when their behavior leads to needless TV blackouts," said ATVA.
Spotify fell short of its monthly average user guidance for Q2 on “ongoing COVID-19 headwinds” and a “temporary issue” with user intake on a third-party platform, said CEO Daniel Ek on a Wednesday call. MAUs grew 22% year on year to 365 million. There was “user sign-up issue” with email verification on a third-party platform that created “unexpected intake friction,” management said. Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said this “was on our end” due to a change “not caught soon enough” that had a 1 million-2 million impact on MAU growth. It's corrected, he said. Q2 revenue exceeded expectations at $2.7 billion, up from $2.2 billion year on year. Shares closed down Wednesday 5.7% at $223.32.
Sling TV says monthly subscriptions will increase to $35 a month from $30 beginning Aug. 27, matching the new subscriber fee for the Orange and Blue packages. A Reddit user posted the email received Tuesday. The Sling email attributed the price hike to higher content costs. The virtual MVPD noted recent enhancements including increasing DVR storage from 10 to 50 hours, the ability to pause live content, a redesigned app and local channel integration in the Sling guide with Locast. It also has a Watch Party. The Dish Network subsidiary didn’t respond to questions.
Capitol Broadcasting North Carolina stations WRAZ and WRAL-TV, both Raleigh, and WILM-LD Wilmington are again being carried by Dish Network, Dish told us Monday. Capitol emailed Friday that it had a multi-year carriage deal, ending a blackout that started at 2020's close (see 2012300054).
Oct. 21 is the deadline for C-band earth stations reported as inactive to affirm they continue to operate and intend to take part in the C-band transition or else automatically be terminated in the International Bureau filing system and lose incumbent status, said an IB public notice Friday.
U.S. consumer spending on mobile games increased 5% in Q2 from the year-earlier quarter, said NPD, citing data from Sensor Tower, which tracks mobile app store sales activity. “Multiplayer gaming on mobile continues to be a standout.” It's “showing signs of a continuing lift from the surge of new players who flocked to the category beginning in the second quarter of 2020,” Sensor Tower analyst Randy Nelson reported Thursday. “We see no indication that spending or usage has diminished as consumers have begun their return to life in a post-vaccine world.” Netflix plans an initial push into the category (see 2107210035).
The push for Olympics eyeballs, with opening ceremonies Friday, has Hulu pitching its virtual MVPD service. Like Roku, which added an Olympics hub and a dedicated tab to its homepage Tuesday (see 2107200042), Hulu allows personalizing events by sport, it emailed Wednesday. Hulu promoted watching the Tokyo Games “live on the networks of NBCUniversal.”