Fifteen streaming services, including AMC Networks' Acorn TV, Crunchyroll, Tubi and Shudder, have formed a regulatory advocacy coalition called Beyond Mainstream, they announced Tuesday. "By joining the Beyond Mainstream coalition, we're uniting with other specialized services to ensure viewers can easily access a range of content offerings and to advocate for alternatives to one-size-fits all policies," said Dawn Botti, AMC's executive vice president of legal and business affairs.
Blackout "battles of attrition" between pay-TV providers and distributors will let the former assess the impact of losing carriage fees while they grow their direct-to-consumer services, Ampere Analysis' Sam Nursall wrote Tuesday, pointing to Disney channels going dark last week on YouTube TV. It's the first major dispute with a carrier since Disney released its ESPN app, with the streaming platform "significantly shifting the dynamic between ESPN and carriage partners such as YouTube TV," Nursall said. Instead of relying on carriage agreements with MVPDs and virtual MVPDs, ESPN is now a competitor, especially with the ESPN/Disney+/Hulu bundle, he noted. Between the ESPN app and Fox One app, the vast majority of sports are available in the U.S. via streaming, and the ability of fans to create a streaming-only subscription basket could incentivize further cord-cutting among pay-TV and vMVPD subscribers, he added.
Eliminating Canada's digital service taxes, such as those it levies on foreign-based streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon, should be a trade priority for the Trump administration and Congress, blogged Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum's former director of technology and innovation policy. The recently implemented 5% tax on non-domestic digital media companies’ online streaming revenue drives up costs for U.S. businesses, he said Monday in an AAF post. If other nations adopt similar streaming taxes, U.S. companies "will ... face increased costs with limited returns, especially as the taxes go to directly subsidize their competitors." Aside from the direct costs of Canada's Online Streaming Act, the law also requires streaming providers to use, produce or acquire certified Canadian content, which will also lead to significant compliance costs for U.S. firms, he added.
Sling TV violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) because its processes for consumers to opt out of sharing personal information are "confusing" and hard to effectuate, said Stacey Schesser, supervising deputy attorney general at the California DOJ.
LiveVideo.AI Corp. is "wasting the Court’s time and the Defendants’ money" with its frivolous motion for reconsideration on Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global, National Amusements told the U.S. District Court for Southern New York on Wednesday.
The merger of Fubo with Disney's Hulu+ Live TV business has been finalized, the companies said Wednesday. Fubo and Hulu+ Live TV will continue to be available as separate streaming services. The merger, announced in January, ended Fubo's lawsuit challenging the Disney/Fox/Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming partnership Venu (see 2501060003).
Comcast should pursue a merger of its NBCUniversal assets with Warner Bros. Discovery and hire Turning Point USA head Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk, to oversee the combined CNN/NBC/MSNBC news unit, LightShed's Rich Greenfield wrote Monday. "At first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal, and [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently" in light of the company's stock struggles in recent years.
Nexstar is demanding “exorbitant retransmission consent fee hikes” and holding stations “for ransom” by threatening potential blackouts, said the American Television Alliance in a release Tuesday. Nexstar didn’t comment. The blackouts would affect 14 stations for Verizon customers in 10 markets, including Washington, Richmond, Providence, Philadelphia and New York, the alliance said, jeopardizing consumer access to news and upcoming NFL games. “American consumers continue to pay the price for outdated regulations, allowing broadcasters to continuously weaponize TV blackouts, deliberately targeting live sports and other must-see TV.”
Warner Bros. Discovery said Tuesday that while it continues to pursue its split of Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, it also has started looking at alternatives in light of unsolicited offers from multiple parties either for WB or the entire company. Options under consideration include a transaction for the whole company, separate transactions for its WB or Discovery businesses, or a merger of WB plus a spinoff of Discovery to shareholders, WBD said. There's no deadline or timetable for completing the alternatives review process, it added. The company's split, announced in June (see 2506090024), is expected to be completed by mid-2026.
Cable programmers are coming around to the possibility that their cable brands might not survive streaming, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon wrote Monday. He cited moves by NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery to spin off their cable assets, WBD's launch of a stand-alone CNN app, Fox's launch of the Fox One streaming service, and rumors that Paramount Skydance will shutter MTV. "This reckoning for cable TV has been a long time coming, and it is far from clear which, if any, brands will survive," Dixon said. Even ESPN "seems at risk" as it faces growing competition for sports rights.