Altice USA and its critics are raising the idea that refunds are owed to Altice subscribers as a result of MSG Network's blackout (see 2501130068). Accordingly, Altice said Thursday that MSG owes its cable subscribers some $125 million in refunds. Altice said the refund figure represents the $10 per month per subscriber that MSG says its sports programming is worth and that Altice subscribers paid for but didn't receive last year. It added that MSG "continues to play games with our customers while refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations." Meanwhile, two Republican House members representing parts of the New York City metro area wrote FCC leadership, saying Altice's handling of talks with MSG and Nexstar involving carriage of WPIX New York (see 250114004) "appears inconsistent" with FCC guidance. "Consumers should not pay the same fees for diminished service, and providers should proactively issue rebates when significant content, such as sports or local news, is removed," said the letter dated Thursday from Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Chairman-designate Brendan Carr. Pointing to the agency's new retransmission consent blackout reporting requirement (see 2501060032), the lawmakers said it "will provide valuable data to inform solutions [to such blackouts], and we stand ready to collaborate with the FCC and consider legislative remedies to address these issues."

Manufacturers of covered set-top devices and multichannel video programming distributors must make closed captioning display settings “readily accessible” to the deaf and hard of hearing by Aug. 17, 2026, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice Wednesday. The agency adopted the readily accessible requirement in July (see 2407180037). The requirement is intended to make it easier for caption users to modify the color, fonts, sizes and other features of closed captions.

Tencent's investment in Skydance Media should give the FCC pause, considering Tencent is a member of DOD's list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S., the Center for American Rights said Tuesday. CAR petitioned the agency to put conditions related to Chinese control on any approval of Skydance's proposed purchase of Paramount Global (see 2412170038). CAR said the fact DOD considers a Skydance founding investor to be a “Chinese military company” should refute the FCC presumption that foreign-ownership interests of 5% or less aren't generally contrary to the public interest. It said the FCC could condition approval on New Paramount having board diversity through board members coming from different geographies, industries, backgrounds and political persuasions; its locating of executive and editorial staff in cities besides New York and Los Angeles; creation of an "independent, empowered, balanced ombudsman"; or committing to "an ideologically diverse hiring pipeline." Chicago-based CAR last fall filed news distortion complaints against CBS over the network's interview with Vice President/Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris (see 2410170051) and an equal-time complaint against NBC and its WNBC New York over Harris' appearance on Saturday Night Live just prior to Election Day (see 2411050049).

Comcast “should pay a BIG price” for programming that is “simply political hits, 100% of the time, to me and the Republican Party,” President-elect Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social early Tuesday morning. It was the latest in a series of threatening comments Trump has made about Comcast-owned NBC and other networks (see 2409230022). Trump’s FCC Chairman-designate, Commissioner Brendan Carr, has also broadly condemned the networks (see 2412030044). NBC is “run by a truly bad group of people,” and Comcast is run by “Scum,” Trump wrote in the post, which also blasted NBC late-night host Seth Meyers. “These guys should be paying a lot of money for the right to give these ‘in kind’ contributions to the Radical Left Democrat Party.” Comcast didn't comment.

DirecTV introduced a sports-only programming tier, MySports, it said Tuesday. The tier includes 40 sports and broadcast channels and is initially available in 24 metro areas, with more markets to come as additional local stations join the package.

Pointing to the FCC's retransmission blackout reporting order released earlier this month (see 2501060032), Altice USA discussed the current Nexstar blackout (see 2501130068). In a docket 23-427 filing posted Tuesday, Altice said Nexstar continues insisting on including WPIX New York in the negotiations despite the FCC's proposed $1.8 million forfeiture against Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting over allegations that the companies misrepresented Nexstar’s control of WPIX (see 2403220067). Altice said Nexstar, in the retrans talks between the two, "is demanding exorbitant rate increases."

Holly Saurer has left her post as chief of the FCC Media Bureau, an agency spokesperson confirmed Monday. However, Saurer remains at the FCC in a different role, the spokesperson said, without identifying it. A Monday order to pay or show cause aimed at Cobra Broadcasting over failure to pay delinquent regulatory fees was signed by Rosemary Harold, with the title “Acting Chief, Media Bureau.” Harold, who served as Enforcement Bureau chief under former Chairman Ajit Pai, is listed on the FCC’s website as a deputy chief of the Media Bureau. A longtime Media Bureau staffer under numerous FCC chairs, Saurer was chief since January 2022. She also spent time as media adviser to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

TV programmers cutting their newsroom staffs in light of shrinking TV news audiences -- particularly among cable news outlets --- could be an opportunity for Netflix to enter the field, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Sunday. In addition, he said Amazon reportedly is considering adding news to its Prime Video service. Netflix management has repeatedly said the company is not interested in news, but it said the same about sports previously, Dixon said. Netflix has an advantage in that many members of its huge subscriber base use it daily, Dixon added.

The American Antitrust Institute is urging DOJ to examine Disney acquiring a stake in FuboTV and other terms of Fubo's settlement of its litigation against the Venu streaming service. Settling Fubo's suit against Venu joint venture partners Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery "appears to leave the consumer harms that were the basis of the suit unaddressed and unremedied," AAI said in a letter to Doha Mekki, acting assistant attorney general in DOJ's Antitrust Division. Released Friday, the letter urged that DOJ "take any actions necessary to ensure effective remedies to any harms to competition in live U.S. sports broadcasting that its investigation reveals." Disney and the other partners said Friday they were axing Venu plans (see 2501100042).

Altice USA and Nexstar are blaming one another for a blackout that saw Nexstar stations go dark on Altice's channel lineup Friday. Altice said Nexstar is "using an anti-consumer negotiation tactic" of tying local channels to carriage of NewsNation, despite the Nexstar cable network having "essentially no viewership." Nexstar said Altice removed 63 stations in 42 markets and dropped NewsNation, "demanding special terms that are wildly out of step with both our longstanding relationship and the cable television marketplace." Nexstar said MSG Network going dark on Altice earlier this month signals "a regular pattern of behavior for Altice." In a statement Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) urged MSG and Altice "to work together to reach a fair, final agreement so New Yorkers can get back to rooting for the home teams.” James said she "will be monitoring this situation closely to ensure New York customers receive the services they are paying for."