Fletcher Heald plans a free webinar Wednesday on the upcoming April 22 Aereo oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the law firm announced at its blog Monday (http://bit.ly/1qA8ytK). Attorneys Kevin Goldberg and Harry Cole will provide a “comprehensive overview of the history of the Aereo litigation,” on the webinar, the blog post said. Fletcher Heald doesn’t represent any of the parties involved in the case.
Four record labels sued (http://bit.ly/OPu9jG) Megaupload for encouraging and profiting from “massive copyright infringement of sound recordings” Thursday, said RIAA in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/R9yjVC). The Justice Department shut down Megaupload.com, Megaupload’s primary file-hosting website, and indicted its operators, including founder Kim “Dotcom” Schmitz, in 2012. The new lawsuit -- filed in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. -- is a civil action seeking damages for Megaupload’s “$175 million in illicit profits from copyright infringement,” which caused “more than a half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners,” said the suit. “A federal indictment is appropriate, but so is holding Megaupload and its operators accountable for the blatant harm caused to the music community,” said RIAA in the release. Six major movie studios sued Megaupload for copyright infringement earlier last week (CD April 8 p19). Megaupload didn’t comment.
Viacom and Mass Relevance announced a partnership to launch EchoGraph, a social media measurement platform that will track and analyze social activity for advertisers. Mass Relevance will work exclusively with Viacom to measure earned media generated by Viacom client campaigns across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms in real time, Viacom said in a news release (http://bit.ly/OLeRwm). “With EchoGraph, Viacom will provide clients with comprehensive data and analysis regarding reach, social activity, types of engagement, hashtag popularity, influencers and more.” The EchoGraph platform will support Viacom Echo, which extends an advertiser’s message beyond Viacom’s owned-and-operated linear, digital and mobile screens and into the social ecosystem, it said.
U.S. interactive advertising revenue hit $42.8 billion in 2013, an all-time high and 17 percent increase from 2012, said a news release (http://bit.ly/1kNTa9M) from the Interactive Advertising Bureau Thursday. IAB said 2013 was the first time interactive ad revenue exceeded broadcast TV revenue ($40.1 billion). Interactive ad revenue was $12.1 billion in Q4, also a 17 percent increase from 2012, it said. Mobile ad revenue hit $7.1 billion in 2013, a 110 percent increase from 2012, it said. Digital video ads, part of display ads, had $2.8 billion in revenue, a 19 percent increase from 2012, it said.
Two Washington state hotels were cited by the FCC Enforcement Bureau for operating non-cable multichannel video programming systems using aeronautical frequencies without informing the commission, according to two citations issued Thursday. Value Inn in Des Moines (http://bit.ly/1iBh72y) and Skyway Inn Hotel in SeaTac (http://bit.ly/PVncih) have both been ordered to file Form 321 to inform the FCC that they are operating systems in aeronautical bands and to inform the commission within 30 days of steps taken to address signal leakage problems with their systems.
Dish Network reached agreement with Hearst for carriage of Hearst’s TV stations in 25 markets, Dish said in a statement. Stations in markets including Albuquerque, Baltimore, Louisville, Ky., and Portland-Auburn, Maine, have been restored to Dish subscribers after a brief blackout from the Dish lineup. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Dish said. The carriage agreement expired March 1, but Hearst granted Dish a series of extensions, Hearst station KSBW-TV (NBC) Salinas, Calif., said in a news release.
Time Warner Cable’s Hawaii operations need not carry Hawaii Catholic TV’s KUPU Waimanalo in any of TWC’s five systems in the Honolulu market other than the one on the island of Oahu, said the operator. The Honolulu designated market area covers all of the Hawaiian islands. “KUPU cannot deliver a good quality signal to four of those systems.” The station can’t reach the Big Island, Kauai and Maui with a good-quality signal, the operator said in a December filing in docket 13-277 opposing Hawaii Catholic’s must-carry FCC complaint (http://bit.ly/1ilRGRe). Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, backed the complaint, in a new filing (CD April 8 p22). Time Warner Cable had no comment Tuesday.
Hawaii backs KUPU Waimanalo’s must-carry complaint against Time Warner Cable, wrote the state’s Democratic governor to the FCC. Gov. Neil Abercrombie said KUPU’s programming targets Catholics, who comprise about 27 percent of Hawaii’s population. “I support making KUPU available fairly on all islands to all Subscribers (especially those who have analog television receivers)” in accordance with FCC rules, he wrote in a letter posted Monday to docket 13-277 (http://bit.ly/Ot4Kw3). Hawaii Catholic TV complained that Oceanic Time Warner Cable wasn’t carrying KUPU throughout the Honolulu market, such as not carrying it in areas outside Oahu (http://bit.ly/Ot4Kw3). Time Warner Cable had no comment on Abercrombie’s letter. The company has opposed the must-carry request (http://bit.ly/1ilRGRe).
The major problem facing Western Telecommunications Alliance members and other small video service providers is the very high and constantly increasing prices of video content, WTA said in an FCC filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/1dVzm5t). WTA is affected by both the price of retransmission consent for off-air network TV stations and the price of carriage rights for popular satellite sports, entertainment and news channels, it said. Most WTA members believe they pay much more, on a per-subscriber basis, “for retransmission consent and for satellite channels than larger, multi-system cable operators and direct broadcast satellite services,” it said. Because small rural companies need the video content more than the national content providers need their several hundred rural customers, WTA members find “that they have little choice but to accept the prices, terms and conditions offered on an effective ’take it or leave it’ basis by the content providers,” said the association. It backed the FCC’s action prohibiting joint retrans consent negotiations between competing top-four broadcasters (CD April 1 p11). WTA urged the FCC to consider other actions, like requiring the pricing and terms of retrans agreements and satellite channel agreements “to be transparent and available for review by other potential content purchasers,” it said. WTA met this week with staff from Commissioner Ajit Pai’s office.
Tribune Digital Ventures acquired TV by the Numbers, a ratings data analysis provider, said Tribune in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1j5l5lT). Tribune also relaunched its Zap2it website with a renewed focus on helping TV fans discover programs to watch across linear TV and streaming services, “and providing integrated advertising opportunities designed to reach that valuable audience,” it said. TV by the Numbers content will be used to power Zap2it and it will be licensed to third-party apps and services, Tribune said.