IHeartMedia is expanding into Web3 and the metaverse, with plans to create events and experiences for mainstream listeners on the Roblox platform, the company said Wednesday. The radio broadcaster plans to bring immersive musical events to the 47 million daily active users on Roblox and launch its first tokenized community. It will build a token designed to “incentivize and reward” iHeart creators in new ways and give iHeart users access to offerings across its multiple platforms, including collectible nonfungible tokens. Calling iHeartMedia “big believers in the incredible potential of web3,” Conal Byrne, president-iHeartMedia digital audio group, said the company is working with partners to develop an “easy-to-use ramp to the metaverse and web3 for the mass market.”

FuboTV raised guidance for Q4 revenue and subscriber metrics, said the company Monday. Q4 revenue is now expected to be $215 million-$220 million vs. guidance of $205 million-$210 million; full-year revenue was upped to $622 million-$627 million from $612 million-$617 million. Q4 advertising revenue is seen topping $25 million, rising 90% year on year, it said. Fubo projects paid subscribers at the end of 2021 of 1.1 million vs. prior guidance of 1.06 million-1.07 million. Metrics exclude contributions from French livestreaming platform company Molotov, acquired in December (see 2112080030). The sports-based virtual MVPD is expected to report Q4 earnings in early March. The stock hit a 52-week low at $12.79 before closing down $2.93 at $13.56.

Comcast and AT&T's WarnerMedia's carriage renewal includes the first distribution agreement for the CNN+ streaming subscription service. The two said Monday CNN+ will launch in Q1 and Comcast will make it available to its Xfinity customers via its Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex and XClass TV platforms later in 2022.

Eugene, Oregon, can't sidestep Cable Act preemption of regulatory fees it charges for non-cable services provided over cable networks "by simply donning a different hat" and calling its exercise of franchise power something different, the FCC told the Supreme Court last week in a respondent opposition brief. Eugene petitioned for a writ of certiorari on a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision partially upholding the FCC's 2019 local franchise authority order (see 2105260035). The FCC said Eugene arguments that its rights-of-way fee isn't preempted because it's not limited to cable operators fail because the Cable Act bars putting requirements on cable operators' non-cable services. Intervenor NCTA said Eugene arguments that the 6th Circuit decision conflicts with an Oregon Supreme Court decision ignores that the state court decision came years before the FCC's local franchise authority decision and without the benefit of the agency's interpretation of the Cable Act or the 6th Circuit rationale for upholding it. Eugene outside counsel didn't comment.

Allen Media Group launched a free sports-based streaming platform available on Apple and Android apps, Fire TV and Android TV, with Roku and Apple TV platforms "coming soon," it said Wednesday. Among Sports.TV's 60-plus channels are Pac-12 Insider, HBCUGo.TV, World Poker Tour, PursuitUp TV, Impact Wrestling, Black Belt TV, MMA TV, CampusLore, Horse & Country, NHRA.tv and Racing America. Allen Media CEO Byron Allen said the platform has already received “enormous ad support.” Virtual live channels showing Thursday morning included Fox stations from Boston; Great Falls, Montana; Memphis; Seattle; and Tulsa. Also showing were virtual channels WFTV Orlando; WPXI Pittsburgh; KULR-TV Billings, Montana; and WHIO-TV Dayton.

There's “no compelling or well-founded argument for adoption” of additional copyright protections for online news stories and headlines that would affect news aggregators such as Google and Facebook, said Computer & Communications Industry Association in second round comments that were due Wednesday in a Copyright Office proceeding (see 2112090069) on publisher protections (docket ID COLC-2021-0006). The proceeding stems from a May request by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, that the CO investigate additional publisher protections. News aggregation “is an existential problem for the news industry,” said the Copyright Alliance in its own comments. Congress and the CO should look into policies in Europe and Australia that give publishers additional protections and allow publishers to collectively bargain with aggregators for rights, said the Association of Magazine Media. Such rules would be “not only undesirable but also impossible within the U.S. legal framework,” CCIA said. The CO should make it easier for online publishers to register works, the News Media Alliance said. The “current market crisis” for news publishers will persist until their copyrights are properly enforced and Congress “steps in to recalibrate” the current “market dominance problems,” said NMA. Extending copyright protections or adjusting competition law to restrict sharing hyperlinks and quoting headlines or article snippets “would fundamentally alter the way we create, share, engage with, and learn from news and information online,” said startup-policy group Engine. “Platforms and online communities do not ‘free ride’ off of the content created by publishers,” said Reddit. “They share it, build off of it, and help others discover it.”

WGBP-TV, Opelika, Alabama, isn't a new station in the Atlanta designated market area eligible for mandatory carriage on DirecTV during the current election cycle, the FCC Media Bureau said Wednesday, denying a must-carry complaint brought by WGBP licensee CNZ Communications in docket 21-153. WGBP has provided over-the-air service in the Atlanta market since 2014, and it didn't become a new station by virtue of putting its distributed transmission system transmitter in the Atlanta area in 2020, the agency said.

The ongoing cord cutting by MVPD subscribers, while significant, remains orderly, though there's a risk it could ramp up to disorderly, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Tuesday. That ramp-up only needs a major programmer to aggressively push its best programming to a direct-to-consumer offering "and the Jenga tower [of the programming bundle] would collapse," he said. ESPN is an obvious candidate to go that route, he said. Disney's ESPN didn't comment.

Some 60% of subscribers with multiple streaming services reported frustration with their viewing experience, said a Tuesday Accenture report. Forty-four percent of survey respondents said they spend more than six minutes searching for something to watch. “The video streaming experience has become somewhat unwieldy, unfriendly, and expensive” for many subscribers, said Accenture spokesperson Andrew Walker. Consumers think more than 60% of the content they are paying for is not relevant to them, and 56% said they want their profile from one service to be easily be shared with another service that may offer them better, more personalized content, the report said. Consumers care more about the content delivered by streaming services, but they find the navigation experience with the growing number of services to be increasingly frustrating, it said. Content aggregators can address that concern by unifying access to streaming services through application software, services and data-sharing agreements, it said, suggesting aggregators act as a single platform with curated content that enables subscribers to select “exactly what they want to watch.” The survey of over 6,000 consumers was fielded in 11 countries October-November.

Imax closed out Q4 grossing its highest quarterly global box office since 2017, riding the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took in $83 million of the company’s $277 million Q4 total, said the company Monday. For the year, Imax posted $638 million in global box office, up 146% year on year, but under the pre-COVID-19 pandemic $1.1 billion global box office in 2019. Top performers in Q4 behind Spider-Man were Dune ($43.9 million), No Time to Die ($43.9 million), The Battle at Lake Changjin ($31.6 million) and Eternals ($25.2 million). The company expects 10 releases filmed for Imax for 2022.