Pivotal Research Group raised Netflix to a “buy” from “sell,” analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Wednesday. PRG increased its subscriber forecast from 5.5 million to 15 million on what it believes will be a successful conversion of “effective pirates” to paying subscribers, plus short-term subscriber benefits of launching its ad-supported service next week. Wlodarczak is concerned about “consumer churn” down to $7 ad-supported tiers, “particularly in a recession,” though that isn’t likely to be an issue until second-half 2023, he said. The analyst views competitor price hikes as “fundamentally positive.” Despite growing competition in the streaming video space, Netflix “provides the most unique and powerful streaming experience globally” and has the opportunity to accelerate subscriber growth over the next year, he said. Wlodarczak expects co-CEO Reed Hastings to “look to sell” the streaming service as early as 2024.

The FCC should reexamine its proportional allocation of indirect full-time equivalents in the assessment of regulatory fees, said NAB comments responding to the agency’s notice of inquiry in docket 22-301. “Rather than assuming the work performed by all the noncore bureaus and offices of the Commission is so cross-cutting that it cannot be meaningfully disaggregated,” the FCC should examine whether those functions correspond to the way indirect costs are allocated, NAB said. The FCC's current division between indirect and direct FTEs is “too general to be a reasonably accurate proxy for the assignment of Commission work,” the Satellite Industry Association said. “Splitting all FTEs into direct and indirect FTEs based on whether they are assigned to a ‘core’ or ‘non-core’ bureau is an oversimplification.” The agency could assign indirect FTEs for noncore offices to the bureaus they largely support, or create a hybrid, “intersectional FTE,” the SIA said. NAB also called for the FCC to reexamine the Media Bureau FTEs working on broadband matters. “Regulatees in the other core bureaus also benefit from the Commission’s broadband work,” said NAB. “It would be inconsistent with the Commission’s methodology to not require such regulatees to share in the cost.” ACA Connects said the FCC should be cautious about altering the regulatory fee system. The system isn’t perfect, but it works, said the MVPD group. “As part of such an evaluation, the Commission should be guided by a bureaucratic Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.”

An online survey to collect data for an FCC content vendor diversity report could be “simple, easy, and non-burdensome,” said Fuse in a call with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and Media Bureau staff Monday, according to an ex parte filing in docket 22-209 (see 2207260003). Fuse demonstrated a prototype survey portal for the bureau during the call, the filing said. The sample survey has drop-down menus to record licensees and distributors and a box to sign certifying under penalty of perjury that “every content vendor listed in response to this survey has been contacted by my organization by email or certified mail with the following message: 'The Federal Communications Commission requests that you complete the Content Vendor Diversity Report Survey.'” Even if some vendors wouldn’t respond or responded incorrectly “the resulting information nevertheless would be better than what the Commission has today in this area (i.e., nothing),” the filing said.

YouTube-ripping software company Yout appealed the U.S. District Court of Connecticut's ruling last month granting defendant Recording Industry Association of America's motion to dismiss plaintiff Yout's complaint (see 2209300061), per an appeal notice last week (docket 3:20-cv-01602). Yout sought a declaratory judgment that its software, which allows users to make copies of streaming video and audio files, doesn't violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. RIAA counsel didn't comment Monday.

East St. Louis, Illinois, appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a lower court's granting of a motion to dismiss a putative class-action complaint against defendant streaming services (see 2209230059), per an appeal notice filed Monday (docket 3:21-cv-00561) with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The city was suing the streamers for franchise fees it said they owed as video service providers.

Music labels alleging Frontier Communications has turned a blind eye to copyright infringement by its internet subscribers (see 2108130033) asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to lift an 8-month-old stay on their complaint. In a docket 1:21-cv-05050 motion to lift the stay Monday, they said the stay was to allow for quicker resolution of related claims brought in Frontier's bankruptcy, but that isn't happening. Frontier counsel didn't comment.

EarthLink "has agreed to request its wholesale providers to use commercially reasonable efforts to block access" to video privacy site YTS on their U.S. servers providing service for EarthLink, the defendant ISP and plaintiff movie production firms suing it told the U.S. District Court in Atlanta in a docket 1:22-cv-02576 joint stipulation for dismissal Tuesday.

The Copyright Act preempts right of publicity claims by radio personality John Edward Melendez, also known as "Stuttering John," the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, upholding a lower court's rejection of Melendez's docket 21-1769 complaint against Sirius XM for alleged violations of his right of publicity under California common and statutory law. The court said Melendez didn't show any use of his name or likeness by the satellite operator other than via rebroadcasts of the copyrightable material from its archives of The Howard Stern Show. Deciding were Judges Raymond Lohier, Beth Robinson and Joseph Bianco, who penned the decision.

The Nielsen Company is developing a product that could allow analysis of video programming diversity, said the company in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 22-209, on a petition for an FCC content vendor diversity report (see 2207250060). Nielsen’s subsidiary Gracenote has products that already allow users to analyze the diversity of on-screen talent in content, and is developing a product that could analyze the diversity of those behind the camera for a given piece of content, the company said. Gracenote could be an alternative to the FCC proposal to require FCC regulatees to get diversity information from programmers, the filing said. Gracenote’s new capabilities would “allow customers to access diversity information for major offscreen contributors to many shows and movies offered on television, cable, satellite, or streaming,” Nielsen said.

Nexstar closed on its 75% ownership stake buy of the CW Network from Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, both of which will retain a 12.5% ownership interest, the company said Monday. The deal was announced in August (see 2208150052).