An FCC proposal that requires broadcasters and MVPDs to report on blackouts related to retransmission consent negotiations exceeds FCC authority and wouldn’t collect useful information, all four broadcaster network affiliate groups said. Instead, they urged the agency to focus on reopening the record on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs. The FCC’s attention “should be trained on seeking 'basic information' about the ever-changing, uber-competitive multichannel video programming distribution ecosystem” and virtual MVPDs, said the affiliate groups for Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS in reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 23-427. Adding regulations to traditional MVPDs while leaving competing linear streaming services "entirely free of such regulations” will not help consumers, the groups said. “The instant proceeding underscores that the Commission’s multichannel video distribution rules are becoming increasingly irrational, underinclusive, and out of step with current marketplace realities.”

TV revenue in the U.S. dropped $2 billion last year, to $220.9 billion, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Monday. Revenue from traditional pay TV and advertising was lower, while virtual multichannel video programming distributors, subscription VOD and connected TV ads were up. He said disc sales and rentals continued falling while digital rentals and sales saw a slight gain. At the end of 2022, 70% of U.S. TV revenue came from traditional pay TV, disc sales and rentals, and traditional TV ads, but their combined share dropped to 64% in 2023, Dixon said.

Comments are due April 15, replies April 25 in docket 12-108 on a joint proposal for closed caption display settings accessibility, an FCC Media Bureau public notice said in Tuesday’s Daily Digest (see 24031900). A joint effort of NCTA, the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America and TDIforAccess, the proposal represents a consensus from those groups on how to make the settings usable through a button, key or icon in a specific section of a set-top device settings menu.

Hawaiian Telecom's application for review of an FCC Media Bureau $720,000 notice of apparent liability issued against Nexstar (see 2403080072) is part of HT's "continuing crusade" to punish it and other broadcasters for not extending expiring retransmission consent agreements, Nexstar said Monday. In a docket 23-228 opposition to HT's review application, Nexstar said the liability notice clearly refutes HT's "meritless" argument that the bureau should have considered the circumstances around Nexstar withholding a meaningful retrans agreement extension to determine whether the broadcaster acted in bad faith. With it already facing a potential $720,000 forfeiture, Nexstar said there "is neither a need nor a legitimate basis for requiring the Bureau to expend even more resources in taking up what amounts to a petition for a new and improper revision of the Communications Act and the FCC’s [retrans consent] rules."

Netflix's stated goals of expanding its live content offerings and its World Wrestling Entertainment deal (see 2401300062) point to the streamer playing a bigger role in the traditional sports rights market, Ampere Analysis wrote Friday. The growing number of subscribers watching with ads means Netflix will be in a position to profit from large audiences viewing live content in a way it previously couldn't, Ampere said. It said non-U.S., non-China rights for the NBA could also be an option for Netflix, as they will be up for renewal in many key territories in the next few years and would be far more affordable than domestic rights.

One in 10 streaming service subscriptions is shared with someone outside the subscriber's household who isn't paying for it, Leichtman Research Group said Wednesday. In addition, it reported 88% of U.S. households have at least one streaming video service from the top 15 services, with 53% of households having four or more direct-to-consumer streaming video services. Leichtman said its data comes from an online survey of 2,546 U.S. households.

The Media Bureau is seeking comment on a joint proposal for closed caption display settings accessibility from NCTA, the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America and TDIforAccess, according to an NPRM released Tuesday. Under the proposal, closed caption display settings would be in one area of the settings, accessed by “button, key or icon,” and cable operators would commit to making the settings available to app providers through an application programming interface (API). Cable operator apps on third-party devices would respect the caption setting of the host device, and cable operators would commit to training customer support employees on adjusting the closed caption settings, the NPRM said. All the proposals would be “subject to being achievable and technically feasible,” and would apply going forward “after a reasonable implementation period,” the NPRM said. Comments will be due in docket 12-108 twenty days after the item is published in the Federal Register.

Pay-TV industry interests are pushing the FCC for more time to implement "all-in" video pricing disclosure rules. FCC commissioners will vote on the proposed rules at Thursday's open meeting (see 2402210057). MVPD interests are lobbying on implementation timelines, according to docket 23-203 filings Friday. DirecTV said it would need more time and asked for at least a 12-month deadline or maintenance of the current nine-month deadline for all-in disclosures in advertisements but allowing an additional six months for customer bills. It said solely regulating cable and satellite TV hurts their competitiveness with online services. At least give operators a 12-month window for compliance, ACA Connects told aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez. It said changing customer bills "is a complex undertaking that can involve many sequential steps," especially if the providers use third-party software platforms. Pricing requirements won't address the "underlying dysfunction" in the video marketplace, and urged the FCC against adoption. Pointing to arguments that the rules just apply to cable and direct broadcast satellite, One Ministries said virtual MVPDs should be regulated along with MVPDs. Without it, virtual MVPDs "will continue to discriminate against local 'mom and pop' independent TV stations by not carrying them and only carrying the major network TV stations in the various TV markets," it said.

Both sides in a dispute involving alleged violations of good faith retransmission consent rules between Nexstar and Hawaiian Telecom want the full FCC to overturn aspects of a Media Bureau $720,000 notice of apparent liability issued against Nexstar last month. In the NAL, the bureau agreed with Hawaiian Telecom that Nexstar violated FCC rules by proposing renewal terms that would have barred HT from filing complaints with the FCC, but rejected as being outside the FCC’s authority HT’s initial claims that the broadcaster also violated the rules by refusing to extend an existing retrans agreement. The FCC can’t order a broadcaster to grant retransmission consent, the NAL said. “The Bureau’s decision incorrectly concludes that in the absence of authority to order a broadcaster to grant retransmission consent, the Commission cannot review bad faith conduct that results in a blackout,” HT said in its application for review Thursday. That decision “will serve as dangerous precedent” that “will likely lead to more frequent blackouts because the very existence of a blackout will exempt the broadcaster’s conduct from Commission scrutiny,” HT said. In its own application for review filed Friday, Nexstar argued the bureau shouldn’t have found any good faith violations and said the proposed $720,000 forfeiture is too high and should be canceled or reduced. The provisions against filing complaints with the FCC were part of Nexstar’s proposal to settle HT’s initial good faith dispute concerning Nexstar’s refusal to extend an existing retrans agreement, Nexstar said. That proposal was “eminently reasonable, and any such settlement would have been deficient without a prohibition on further litigation of the matter,” the broadcaster said. The proposed forfeiture “far exceeds the Bureau’s delegated authority” was arrived at in an “illogical way” by treating a contract proposal as a continuing violation from the date it was first proposed until the date the contract was executed, Nexstar said. Such a policy “perversely incents future parties to delay negotiations in the interest of elevating the potential liability to their counter-parties,” Nexstar said. The NAL also increased the forfeiture using “a draconian upward adjustment that is based on no apparent rationale other than that Nexstar is a large and successful broadcaster,” the filing said. “Even if the Bureau could justify a conclusion that a violation occurred,” the proposed forfeiture “far exceeds the gravity of the conduct, not to mention the Bureau’s delegated authority and notions of reasoned decisionmaking,” said Nexstar.

Some pay-TV providers are telling the FCC that a ban on early-termination fees (ETF) and a requirement for prorated refunds should be limited to residential subscribers, not business subs, and shouldn't be applied retroactively to existing contracts, according to reply comments this week in docket 23-405. FCC commissioners voted 3-2 in December to adopt the video service fees NPRM, which proposes banning ETFs and requires prorated refunds when service is canceled (see 2312130019). Verizon said that while only a small portion of its subscriber base is potentially subject to ETFs, a ban on them should be done prospectively, as eliminating the fees in existing contracts "would improperly upset the economic bargains reflected in those contracts and would impose an undue administrative burden on Verizon." It defended keeping ETFs for business customers, calling them "sophisticated actors who may individually negotiate their contracts with Verizon." Altice urged similarly for business subs and for not applying a ban on existing contracts. NCTA said a ban on "unjust" ETFs should apply only to practices that don't transparently disclose them or give consumers the option to go on a month-to-month plan without such fees. It argued against letting state and local governments apply other ETF and whole-month billing requirements to cable service. "A patchwork of state and local regulations would be unduly burdensome" and make competition with satellite TV and online video distributors a chore, it said. Dish Network also defended ETFs and said they need to be clearly and prominently disclosed. It called for transparency standards in the billing and onboarding process. Opposing the FCC proposal on ETFs and prorated refunds, NTCA said the FCC can accomplish its objectives via its all-in pricing proceeding "without the unintended consequences to consumers or impermissible rate regulation." The FCC proposal received some support. The pay-TV industry argument that ETFs and billing cycle fees benefit consumers "may shock some observers, who have come to know the pay TV industry as a reliable advocate for the Commission imposing new regulations on behalf of consumers," a sarcastic NAB said. Local governments, including Boston, the District of Columbia and Fairfax County, Virginia, said eliminating fees won't drive up prices. Instead, they said competition that enhances consumer choice "will promote lower prices and will permit consumers to choose the highest value products for their budgets."