Redbox launched Redbox On Demand, offering movie and TV content via VOD and electronic sell-through, it said Wednesday. The service is available via the Redbox website and app, plus Apple TV, Chromecast, LG and Samsung smart TVs and Roku, it said.

Altice USA, Charter Communications and Comcast reached preliminary agreement for an interconnect in the New York City market that will launch in Q2 and give advertisers one-stop access to households served by the three, as well as other MVPDs in the New York designated market area, they said Wednesday. The interconnect will manage all DMA-wide non-local advertising sales for local news channels News 12 Networks and Spectrum News NY1.

Broadcasters typically go into retransmission consent talks with small and mid-sized cable operators with a "take it or leave it" approach to their offers, 76 percent of American Cable Association members said in ACA survey results released Wednesday. ACA said nearly 70 percent of its responding members said their top goal in retrans talks is to keep fee hikes down, and 63 percent expressed pessimism at the future of the retrans negotiations regime. ACA said the November survey received 131 responses. "Apparently, ACA's idea of a free market negotiation is one where cable companies simply get to take programming most valued by their customers for free," NAB said. "We respectfully disagree, and suggest that ACA spend more time fixing its woeful customer service problems than asking for a government bail-out."

Pointing to Comcast/NBCUniversal conditions expiring in 2018 and the competitive threat posed by AT&T/Time Warner, RCN and the American Cable Association are pushing the FCC to adopt new program access rules. In meetings with commissioners and Media Bureau staff, the two said the National Cable Television Cooperative should be able to bring program access complaints, and backed instituting a "standstill carriage" requirement while carriage disputes are pending and instituting an arbitration process. "An 'unleashed Comcast-NBCU is certain to wreak havoc in the market," RCN and ACA said in a docket 10-56 ex parte filing posted Tuesday on the meetings. RCN said the seven-year licensing terms being offered by TW as part of the AT&T deal (see 1711280063) aren't sufficient since they don't cover all the programming that would be owned by New AT&T. RCN and ACA had meetings with all FCC members but Jessica Rosenworcel and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey.

Comments on whether the FCC should eliminate Form 325 or otherwise modernize the cable-TV operator's annual report are due Feb. 12, replies 15 days later, under a notice in docket 17-290 to be in Tuesday's Federal Register. FCC members unanimously approved an NPRM last month (see 1711160054). The form submitted by all operators with more than 20,000 subscribers and a random sampling of smaller ones asks about subscriber numbers, systemwide capacity, programming and the like (see 1711030053).

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's scheduling of biweekly status conferences on DOJ's lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner suggests he's encouraging a settlement before the March 19 trial date (see 1712070067), Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan wrote investors Friday. He said settlement seems unlikely, expecting a May ruling.

DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner is scheduled for a March 19 bench trial, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia said in a minute entry (in Pacer) Thursday. AT&T had sought Feb. 20 (see 1712060034). In a statement, the company said it "understand[s] and appreciate[s] how busy the Court is, and ... will promptly discuss the Court’s post-trial schedule with Time Warner. We are committed to this transaction and look forward to presenting our case in March.”

DOJ is fighting AT&T's request for expedited Feb. 20 trial date for the agency's lawsuit seeking to block the company's buy of Time Warner (see 1711280063). In a docket 17-cv-02511 response (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, DOJ called the companies' April 22 transaction deadline "artificial" and urged "a process that leads to an orderly and complete airing of the facts and expert opinions." AT&T didn't comment Wednesday. In a filing (in Pacer) Monday, the companies argued their proposed timeline "falls comfortably in line with other merger challenges" by the FTC or DOJ since 2001.

Europe's cable ISP industry grew 4 percent to roughly $27.8 billion last year, IHS Markit and Cable Europe said Monday. They said the number of unique cable homes in the EU grew to 65.1 million, or 31 percent of total TV households, by the end of 2016. Internet revenue is 34 percent of Western European cable operator revenue, they said. Germany is the largest single market, with 18.6 million unique cable homes, with the three next-biggest -- the U.K., Poland and Romania -- each having just over 5 million unique subscribers, they said.

Discovery Communications is increasing its piece of the OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network joint venture with Winfrey's Harpo, the programmer said Monday. Discovery said it's paying $70 million for an additional 24.5 percent, which would give it more than 70 percent. It said Winfrey will remain CEO, with her exclusivity commitment to the network extended through 2025.