Warner Pictures will release its full 2021 film slate on its HBO Max service in a one-month streaming exclusive at the same time it releases the titles theatrically worldwide, said the studio Thursday. The hybrid model is a “strategic response” to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the U.S. After the one-month HBO Max access period, each film will leave the platform and continue in theaters and international territories under customary distribution windows. All films will be available in 4K Ultra HD and HDR on HBO Max. “The “one-year plan” will allow the studio to support its theater partners with “a steady pipeline of world-class films, while also giving moviegoers who may not have access to theaters or aren’t quite ready to go back to the movies” the chance to see its 2021 films, a “win-win,” said Ann Sarnoff, CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks.

Dish Network and Nexstar pointed fingers at each other over a blackout of Nexstar programming on Dish's lineup affecting more than 100 markets in 42 states and Washington, D.C. Nexstar "forced the largest broadcast affiliate station blackout in TV history" and rejected Dish's request for a contract extension, the DBS operator said Wednesday. Nexstar said Dish has a "documented long-term practice of putting its paying subscribers in the middle, rather than reaching agreements with broadcasters and content providers at fair market rates."

Respondents in Cowen's November shopping survey were “somewhat negative” about holiday spending, it emailed investors Thursday. Despite the “soft macro backdrop” from COVID-19, e-commerce spending is expected to “rise significantly,” as 59% of respondents said they would bump up their online holiday shopping; 11% planned to spend less online. Survey data aligned with 44% year-on-year e-commerce growth over the Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday shopfest, as reported by the National Retail Federation (see 2012010042). Cowen estimates U.S. Amazon Prime households rose to 73 million in November: Two-thirds of those expect their online holiday shopping to rise year on year, said analyst John Blackledge, noting that Amazon kicked off holiday shopping with its delayed Prime Day event in early October. Amazon is the most popular site, said the survey, with 84% of respondents planning to shop the leading e-commerce site over the holidays, followed by 50% at retailer sites and 21% each for brand sites and eBay. Amazon’s third-party gross merchandise value grew nearly 60% year on year after Prime Day; it topped 60% over the “Cyber 5” shopping period. Some 44% of survey respondents said they planned to start shopping earlier this year, 42% the same as last year, and 14% later. The elongated season is a positive for e-commerce, said Blackledge, noting that consumers who begin buying earlier could end up spending more overall. Sixteen percent expected to spend more, 29% less, and half about the same as last year. Delivery anxiety is a logical driver behind early buying, dating back to longer delivery times early in the pandemic, said Blackledge. About 56% of respondents said they aren’t worried about delivery times, 36% were moderately worried, and 7% “very worried.” Similar percentages played out among Prime members, with 8% very worried.

Nexstar's WGN America cable network will be part of the YouTube TV channel lineup starting Jan. 19, Nexstar said Tuesday, announcing a multiyear carriage agreement with the vMVPD.

Tegna stations went dark on AT&T's DirecTV and U-verse Tuesday night, the broadcaster said Wednesday. It said it remains "hopeful that this will get resolved quickly." AT&T didn't comment. Meanwhile, Dish Network and Nexstar have blamed each other for a blackout set to happen Wednesday night, affecting 115 markets. Nexstar said Dish "has a long history of holding its subscribers hostage during negotiations with content providers." Dish said Nexstar is seeking "unreasonable rate increases while intentionally using millions of Americans as pawns in their negotiations."

Hearst-owned stations are to go dark on Comcast Dec. 22 as the cable operator plans to drop Hearst "overflow" stations where it's carrying more than one local station affiliated with the same network, said notices sent to subscribers in the 38 affected markets across 17 states. Hearst and Comcast didn't comment.

Comcast and Tegna got waivers to add existing collocated antennas to incumbent C-band earth station registrations for interference protection in the 4-4.2 GHz band, per an FCC International Bureau order in Tuesday's Daily Digest. It said the rights of such additional collocated antennas are different from those of the incumbent earth stations. The bureau said it will implement waivers to keep separate the two classes of C-band earth stations, with the additional antennas registered under a new call sign. The bureau plans to email detailed directions to all operators with approved waivers.

“The profusion of crystal-clear, widescreen digital HDTV sets in almost every American home and office, we just take for granted today,” former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley told a commemorative industry Zoom call Monday. Wiley chaired the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service for 12 years. Saturday was the 25th anniversary of ACATS' final report to the commission, recommending adoption of the Grand Alliance HDTV system as “better than any of the four original” DTV proposals and “superior to any known alternative system.” Wiley doubts ATSC 3.0 “would be possible were it not for the work of the Grand Alliance and the advisory committee,” he said. What “really surprised” Wiley about the Grand Alliance proposal “was how much opposition we got from government and business leaders,” he said. “It all seems still very odd to me,” he said: “Yet all the credit” should go to ACATS and Grand Alliance members “who just continued to plod along and do your work, criticism notwithstanding, and stayed the course and made HDTV a reality.”

ViacomCBS will sell its Simon & Schuster publishing business to Bertelsmann, the parent of Penguin Random House, for $2.18 billion, it said Wednesday. It said proceeds will go into strategic growth priorities like video streaming, and paying down corporate debt. The deal, expected to close next year, got criticism. Robert Thomson, CEO of rival News Corp, which bid for Simon & Schuster, said Bertelsmann "is not just buying a book publisher, but buying market dominance as a book behemoth." Open Markets Institute said DOJ should challenge the deal "to make clear that no further consolidation of power will be allowed in America’s book publishing industry, which is already too concentrated." It urged DOJ "immediately take steps to break Amazon’s power over the sale and distribution of books in America, which is the ultimate source of the pressures on America’s authors, editors, and publishers."

Comments are due Dec. 24, replies Jan. 25 on the FCC proposals to require disclosures when stations are compensated to air content by a foreign entity, said a Media Bureau public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest.