Six TV makers with a majority share of the North American market joined in a “breakthrough agreement” with CTA, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy to develop and promote an “updated test method” for measuring TV energy use, they said Wednesday. They also agreed to work toward establishing “voluntary energy commitments” for new TVs sold in the U.S. and Canada, based on lab testing of a cross section of TVs using the new method. Voluntary programs can “adapt more quickly and flexibly than traditional regulation to accommodate rapid changes in technology and consumer demands," said CTA, NRDC, ACEEE and “manufacturer signatories” Funai, Hisense, LG, Samsung, TCL and Vizio. They agreed to develop a new test method “that better enables accurate, consistent evaluation of automatic brightness control, motion detection dimming, screen-average luminance and standby power of internet-connected TVs.” The agreement is "a promising step toward modernizing the approach to TV energy efficiency,” said Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology policy, in a statement. "By working together, we hope to develop an updated test method that better reflects the actual amount of electricity used by new televisions and find ways to bring down their national energy consumption,” said Noah Horowitz, NRDC senior scientist. How to measure TV energy use by up-to-date standards became a hotbed of contention three years ago when EPA announced it would deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found not to be comparably energy efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences” see 1709250043).

NCTA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) and various antitrust and economic scholars support Comcast's petition for writ of certiorari as it seeks to undo a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversal of a lower court's dismissal of antitrust claims against Comcast (see 2002260020). In Supreme Court docket 20-319 amicus briefs Tuesday, they urged the court to hear Comcast's appeal. Businesses should be able to refuse to deal with others if there's a rational, pro-competitive purpose, and the subjective balancing test adopted by the 7th Circuit would cost businesses certainty and have them face costly antitrust litigation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. It and the other amicus filers said multiple other circuit courts have said refusals to deal with middlemen are predominantly pro-competitive. NCTA said the 7th Circuit decision starts out noting the pro-competitive benefits of advertising interconnects but then turns and expresses doubt about their legality, "interjecting irrelevant and mistaken dicta that underscore the decision’s clear legal errors." There are situations that might justify penalization of a monopolist's unilateral refusal to deal, but "this case is not one of them," seven antitrust and economic academics said. The 7th's decision is "out of step" with generally accepted academic views of the best route for antitrust enforcement, as it seems to accept at face value Viamedia's arguments that Comcast had a duty to deal with it. WLF said SCOTUS' 1985 Aspen Skiing decision, that ending a joint venture without a legitimate business reason could be a case of illegal monopolization, should be overruled, as it "remains an evergreen source of mischief for the lower courts."

Disney Music Group debuted a “dedicated destination” on Apple Music Friday with a collection of more than 30 playlists, plus “classic soundtracks” from the Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars franchises. Disney said it will feature Halloween themes at launch but will update the offering regularly.

Maine's law requiring prorating of refunds for canceled cable TV service alters the rates Charter Communications charges, at least for those subscribers who cancel partway through the month, U.S. District Judge Jon Levy of Portland said in an order last week (in Pacer, docket 20-cv-00168) denying motion by state Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) to dismiss Charter's suit challenging the law (see 2006030036). Levy said state arguments that the law is for customer service, and thus is permitted under the Cable Act, unlike rate regulation, would open the door to states regulating cable service rates under the guise of customer service requirements. The AG's Office didn't comment Friday.

MPA “vastly overstates the scope and breadth” of the exclusion order Philips seeks at the International Trade Commission on Hisense, LG and TCL smart TVs and Dell, HP and Lenovo PCs for allegedly infringing high-bandwidth digital content protection patents (see 2010060047), posted Philips Thursday (login required) in docket 337-3492. “Requested relief would not implicate all digital video-capable devices using any HDCP technology.” Philips conceded exclusion might hinder lawful distribution of 4K content to wider audiences. ITC action would affect only branded devices with “HDCP 2+," not the older HDCP 1.4 version, said Philips. “Conspicuously for an industry group representing content producers,” MPA “altogether fails to differentiate” between the two versions, it said. HDCP 1.4 “enables the secure distribution” of 1080p and 720p digital HD content, and HDCP 2+ does so for ultra HD, it said. It’s false that content producers would lose copyright protection of their content if an exclusion order is issued, the company said. Copyright owners “at worst” might lose the ability to distribute their 4K content to “as many potential consumers,” it said: There would be “no hindrance to such content owners distributing the very same content at a marginally lower resolution” in 720p or 1080p. Though 4K smart TVs and computing devices “may be common on the market now,” native “luxury content” for viewing 4K on those products “is not widely available,” it said. “UHD content still has not been widely distributed or adopted by content producers and consumers.” MPA didn’t respond to questions.

The diversity of Netflix’s portfolio and its pace of new content give the streaming video service “an advantage over its peers" and traditional broadcast, Piper Sandler's Yung Kim wrote investors Tuesday. The streaming video leader has a “solid grip” on a category with “massive multi-year growth potential” as more content shifts online, said Kim: Despite increasing competition and unforeseen hurdles, the market will support multiple large players behind Netflix. Its viewing share among teens inched up a point to 34% in fall vs. spring despite competition from new services, the analyst said. YouTube’s share moved up to 32% from 31%, as newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV+ slipped to 6% and 1%. Cable's viewing share declined to 9% from 11%.

Sonos customers who buy the Arc ($799) or Beam ($399) subwoofer, or a qualifying speaker set from sonos.com, can get six months free of the Disney+ streaming service, said the multiroom audio company. The subscription then goes to $6.99 monthly. The offer runs through Oct. 31; use codes by Dec. 1, Sonos said.

Amazon raised the bar for music streaming Friday, announcing a partnership with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to remaster “thousands” of songs and albums in 24-bit with sampling rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz, what Amazon calls Ultra HD. Amazon cited songs from artists including the Eagles, Marvin Gaye, Lady Gaga, The Notorious B.I.G., Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez as among those that have been remastered “to the highest quality streaming audio.” They are available exclusively on Amazon Music HD, Amazon said, and all titles resulting from the partnership will be delivered in 24-bit and 96 kHz or 192 kHz. Amazon Music HD subscriptions are $12.99 monthly for Prime members, $14.99 non-Prime. David Solomon, chief high-res music evangelist at streaming service Qobuz, messaged us that he was told by Warner Music that none of the material being remastered in 24-bit is exclusive to Amazon. Qobuz doesn’t support Dolby Atmos Music or Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, “so that wouldn’t have any bearing on what we’re doing now,” Solomon said. He called the Amazon news “a bit misleading at best.” Warner and Universal couldn’t be reached for comment. Amazon didn't respond. The partnership builds on a promise to deliver the best possible recordings available for streaming "by upgrading existing recordings to make the listening experience even better, and preserving artistic legacy for future generations,” said Amazon Music Vice President Steve Boom in a statement. The partnership delivers “key recordings” from Universal and Warner catalogs, “exclusively for Amazon Music customers.” Amazon plans to work with other labels to upgrade the digital quality of more audio recordings and “provide customers with all of the emotion, power, clarity, and nuance of original recordings across all genres,” said Boom.

Peacock will debut two original shows Monday on its news channel The Choice, featuring MSNBC contributors Mehdi Hasan and Zerlina Maxwell, said the streaming service Friday. “We will continue to expand news content on Peacock with a focus on aggregating varied perspectives and diverse voices," said Jen Brown, senior vice president-topical programming and development. "News is a key differentiator for Peacock."

A “liquidity crisis” that’s “all but inevitable” amid the COVID-19 pandemic spurred S&P Global to downgrade AMC Entertainment to CCC- from CCC+. The world's biggest movie theater chain “continues to struggle operationally and financially because U.S. attendance remains weak after reopening, additional major theatrical releases are delayed, and its cash burn might accelerate now that its theaters are open,” S&P said Friday. S&P expects AMC to run out of cash within six months “unless it is able to raise additional capital, which we view as unlikely, or attendance levels materially improve,” it said. Even with the additional liquidity from AMC's recent debt restructuring, S&P doubts the company will have enough cash on hand to cover its “fixed charges” by early April, it said. “Now that the majority of its theaters are open and box office receipts remain weak, we expect the company's cash burn will remain elevated and could accelerate further over the remainder of 2020 unless there is a significant improvement in attendance levels relative to the September box office.” Operating conditions for AMC remain “highly uncertain from the impact of COVID-19,” said S&P. The chain began reopening most theaters with low seating capacities in April, but New York and Los Angeles locations remain closed, S&P said: Even if those remaining theaters were to reopen, the lack of major film releases “will likely result in low theater attendance for some time.” AMC didn’t respond to questions. AMC reopened more than 100 U.S. locations under its “Safe & Clean” COVID-19 protocols in mid-August, floating an admission price of 15 cents for the day to lure customers back to the movies. But S&P said it was to little avail because Americans don't trust returning to theatergoing. The pandemic will continue to harm "theater attendance and consumer behavior into 2021," said S&P. "We anticipate that global cinema attendance will recover much more slowly in the fourth quarter of 2020 than we had previously expected and now expect the impact of COVID-19 on theater attendance to last well into 2021." The negative outlook "indicates our view that AMC could face a liquidity shortfall over the next six months," said S&P.