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.”
Emergency alerts must be “visually and aurally accessible,” said an FCC Enforcement Bureau advisory public notice Wednesday. Emergency alert system messages must be displayed at the top of the screen, in fonts and colors “readily readable and understandable” and the audio portion “must play in full at least once” during the message, the PN said. “The Enforcement Bureau may, at its discretion, treat each failure to transmit accessible EAS messages as a separate violation for purposes of calculating the proposed forfeiture amount.” A nationwide test of EAS and wireless emergency alerts is planned for Aug. 11 (see 2105040068). Consumers who witness inaccessible alerts should report that, the PN said.
Roku partnered with NBCUniversal on a home screen experience designed to give customers “easy access” to the media company’s 5,500 hours of streaming coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics via the Roku platform, the companies said Tuesday. The experience is designed to help viewers organize viewing of the games, delayed by a year due to COVID-19, by channel and sport, said the companies. Roku is creating a path to NBCU’s streaming coverage of the games directly from the home screen, with the Olympics “hub” accessible from the left side of the screen, third only to the Roku home screen and its free Roku Channel content.
Netflix had 1.54 million paid net additions in Q2, beating the guidance of 1 million in its April 20 forecast, it reported Tuesday. COVID-19 “has created some lumpiness in our membership growth (higher growth in 2020, slower growth this year), which is working its way through,” said its shareholder letter. Asia Pacific generated about two-thirds of the global paid net adds growth in the quarter, it said.