Discovery Communications, moving headquarters to New York City next year (see 1801090026), sold its Silver Spring, Maryland, HQ to developer Foulger-Pratt and Cerberus Capital Management, it said Thursday. Neither Discovery nor Foulger-Pratt commented on the price. The cable programmer said it signed a lease on 60,000 square feet in Silver Spring for its Maryland Network Hub, for functions including government relations and some network and support operations.

The Dolan family is suing Altice USA for allegedly reneging on terms of Altice's buy of Cablevision, via ongoing layoffs at News 12 Networks. In a complaint filed Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and other family members allege Altice agreed in the 2016 takeover to maintain News 12 employment level for at least five years and incur up to $60 million in losses doing so. Plaintiffs allege it cut 70 positions in 2017 and notified them last week of plans to lay off dozens more this week and to cut 10 percent of News 12 staff each successive year. Those downsizings have "no basis in economic reality" given News 12 profitability, according to the suit. Also suing is News 12 anchor Colleen McVey, who is to be laid off this week. The suit asks for a permanent injunction and a court order that Altice operate News 12 in compliance with its business plan at least through 2020. The plaintiffs also filed an accompanying motion for a temporary restraining order. Altice emailed that the suit is meritless and it plans to defend itself "vigorously." It said "our News 12 team is comprised of the most talented journalists and staff in the news business and Altice USA remains committed to offering meaningful news coverage, enhancing our news product for our local communities, and growing our audience."

Altice and 83 current and former field service technicians agreed to settle claims alleging the cable operator expected or required those technicians to work off the clock through their lunch breaks and through uncompensated pre-shift and post-shift duties, said a unopposed motion (in Pacer, docket 16-cv-02207-AKH) for preliminary approval of the settlement filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The company would pay up to $1.4 million.

Charter Communications' mobile service, Spectrum Mobile, is now available across the company's footprint for Spectrum internet subscribers, after a soft launch earlier this summer, it said Tuesday. Pricing is $45 a month per line for unlimited data or $14 per GB shared across all lines, it said.

An order on Competitive Enterprise Institute's petition for reconsideration of the broadband overbuild conditions put on Charter's buy of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 1803050023) is on circulation with commissioners, said CEI Director-Litigation Ted Frank. He said the draft order (here) comes as oral argument is scheduled for Sept. 17 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the group's petition for writ of mandamus regarding the recon petition (see 1807180027), with the agency potentially trying to make it moot. The FCC didn't comment. Frank said regardless of how commissioners vote, "we'll either have a successful petition or an interesting appeal to the D.C. Circuit."

AT&T dropped beIN Sports from its DirecTV and DirecTV Now lineups, the programmer said Wednesday. It said that carriage negotiations stalled over beIN trying to move its channels to lower-priced tiers and that AT&T rejected an offer to extend the existing contract. AT&T said it's "unfortunate that we could not agree to terms."

U.S. households with subscription VOD service from Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix grew to 69 percent, from 52 percent in 2015, said a Monday Leichtman Research Group June-July survey of 1,153 adults. Among those with SVOD, 63 percent have more than one vs. 38 percent before. Overall, 43 percent of U.S. households have more than one vs. 20 percent earlier. Thirty percent of adults stream an SVOD daily, and 52 percent of viewers of ages 18-34 stream one service daily compared with 31 percent of viewers 35-54 and 11 percent of viewers above 55. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said their Netflix subscription is shared outside their household vs. 22 percent with Hulu and 10 percent with Amazon Prime. Some 53 percent of TV households said they subscribe both to a pay-TV service and an SVOD service, 25 percent subscribe only to a pay-TV service, 16 percent get only get an SVOD service and 6 get neither.

Comcast and Fox Networks Group reached agreement for Comcast to continue carrying the Big Ten Network and all the Big Ten games on FS1, they said Friday. BTN will be available to Comcast customers in states with Big Ten universities, and Xfinity customers in Delaware and the Washington, D.C., area will also receive their network given their proximity to such schools. In coming months, customers outside of the Big Ten states will have BTN access as part of Comcast’s Sports and Entertainment Package.

Cableview Communications, disappointed in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Thursday affirming a lower court's tossing out of its litigation against Time Warner Cable (see 1808230014), is reviewing its procedural options, including a possible motion for reconsideration or rehearing, outside counsel Jack Webb told us Friday.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta affirmed a lower court's rejection of a Cableview Communications lawsuit against Time Warner Cable. Cableview sued TWC in 2013, claiming TWC interfered in FTS USA's 2012 purchase of Cableview assets including TWC service agreements (see 1604010052). In the docket 17-10701 decision (in Pacer) Thursday, Judges Kevin Newsom, Elizabeth Branch and Lanier Anderson rejected Cableview arguments it resolved under duress an indemnity claim brought by TW. It said there's no evidence TW engaged in wrongful acts or threats when negotiating that settlement, and the settlement was clear enough to foreclose against TW claims of tortious interference and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Cableview outside counsel didn't comment.