Pay-TV and virtual MVPD subscribers can expect a rough 2022 in the form of price increases and carriage disputes, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. He said distributors are no longer eating some of the costs of programming license fee hikes but passing it all along to subs. He said programmers increasingly focused on direct-to-consumer offerings will also help accelerate the withering away of the traditional programming bundle.

Citing the heavy workload stemming from earlier assigned cases, the FCC is asking the Supreme Court for a Jan. 5 deadline to file a response to an appeal of a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the Cable Act preempts states and localities from levying cable regulatory fees on non-cable services provided using cable networks (see 2111010048), per a motion Tuesday. The agency's response to the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Eugene and other localities is due Dec. 6.

ViacomCBS has closed on buying a majority stake in Disney's Spanish language content producer Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico, it said Tuesday. The deal was announced last month (see 2110280007).

U.S. District Judge Brooke Jackson in Denver shot down Charter Communications' bid for dismissal of a lawsuit by music labels claiming Charter abetted copyright infringement by some of its broadband subscribers. In an order Monday (docket 21-cv-02020, in Pacer), Jackson said he had "no reason to rule differently on the motion to dismiss in the present case" than his April 2020 order denying a Charter motion to dismiss a related copyright infringement suit (see 2004160002). Charter didn't comment.

Major pay-TV providers lost about 650,000 net video subscribers in 3Q vs. a 90,000 loss in the year-ago quarter, said Leichtman Research Group Thursday. The top pay-TV providers account for about 77 million subscribers, 41.9 million for the top seven cable companies, 7.5 million for the top publicly reporting virtual MVPDs. Top cable providers had a net loss of about 700,000 video subs, vs. a loss of 380,000 in 3Q 2020; Comcast shed 407,000, bringing its base to 18.5 million. Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 635,000 vs. a loss of 780,000. All traditional pay-TV companies lost customers, but vMVPDs Hulu+Live TV (300,000), Sling TV (117,000) and fuboTV (262,884) gained, LRG said, though growth slowed to 680,000 from 1.1 million. Annual net losses were similar to a year ago, said LRG President Bruce Leichtman, saying top pay-TV providers shed about 5.1 million subs over the past year vs. losing some 4.8 million.

Cable networks are potentially "swapping pay TV dollars for streaming pennies" with an increased focus on streaming delivery, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said being part of a cable bundle helped hide the true cost of individual networks, and a move to streaming lets people assess pricing on a la carte basis. Subscribers' assessment of the value of those networks might differ considerably from what the networks think they're worth, he said.

Samba TV is “transforming” smart TVs “into a platform for our customers,” including brands, agencies, content programmers, publishers and measurement and advertising vendors, “to build attentive, engaged audiences,” said the company in an S-1 registration statement Tuesday at the SEC for an initial public offering of common stock. Samba’s AI-driven “content identification software” is embedded in smart TVs sold by “leading OEM brands across the globe,” it said. “Through our software, we form direct relationships with millions of viewers, who provide us consent to collect their viewership data. Using the data we collect, as well as data we license, we provide customers with critical tools to optimize how they plan, buy and measure their advertising campaigns to reach their preferred audiences.” Traditional TV audiences "watched a limited selection of content available on a broadcaster’s linear programming schedule, which included advertisements seen by all viewers regardless of their interests," said the filing. "With the development of on-demand services, today’s viewers enjoy more video choices than ever as content consumption rapidly spreads across a growing set" of broadcast, over-the-top and streaming "platforms, formats and devices," it said. Samba generated revenue of $82.8 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, up nearly 24% from the same 2020 period, said the S-1. August Capital Management is Samba’s largest institutional investor with 6.51 million shares, said the filing. Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin is its largest individual shareholder with 4.17 million shares. Samba has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SMBA.”

Next year could bring better news for residential broadband providers' and broadcasters' rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, though streaming service new entrants and legacy pay-TV providers face a murkier future, Kagan said Friday. Federal investment in closing the digital divide should help drive 3.9 million residential broadband subscriber net additions next year, raising penetration to 92%, up from 88% at the end of 2020, it said. Midterm election and legalized sports betting advertisements will help aid broadcasters' rebound from the pandemic, it said, predicting TV broadcaster revenue of $38.2 billion, up $4.1 billion, and radio station revenue at $15.8 billion, up $2.1 billion. MVPD penetration globally, which peaked at 60.6% of households in 2018, is expected to decline to 58.2% next year as customers move to streaming services or virtual MVPDs. Subscription VOD sub growth could slow next year, it said. Kagan predicted the consumer electronics industry continuing to be hit by the global semiconductor shortage, with improvements to semiconductor supplies coming in 2023 at the earliest.

Comcast can continue serving the seven libraries participating in its pilot program for the three years it requested without violating the E-rate gift rule, said an FCC Wireline Bureau order Monday in docket 02-6 (see 2110270065). The bureau acted on its own motion after Comcast sought clarification after an earlier order waiving program rules.

Roku's decision to shut its Pornhub and other pornography channels early next year is a "victory for survivors of sexual exploitation," the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said. NCOSE has been pressuring Roku shareholders in 2021 and the company for years, said CEO Dawn Hawkins. "Roku can now have no excuse of ignorance that they are partnering with the world’s most prolific sexual exploiters by hosting channels" for Pornhub and other MindGeek subsidiaries, NCOSE's U.K. subsidiary and other groups wrote Roku CEO Anthony Wood in March. Roku and MindGeek didn't comment now. Roku was scheduled to have had its quarterly call later Wednesday.