That U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley is leaning toward referring Fox's proposed purchase of Sky to receive further investigation bodes well for the deal, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said in a note Thursday to investors. Given Bradley has voiced concerns about Fox/Sky having too much media power in the U.K., Ryvicker said, "The ball is in [Fox's] court" to offer more concessions, which seems likely "and more procedural than anything else." In a statement Thursday to Parliament, Bradley said Fox/Sky would give the Murdoch Family Trust that controls Fox "material influence over news providers with a significant presence across all key platforms," and the deal "may increase members of the Murdoch Family Trust’s ability to influence the overall news agenda and their ability to influence the political process and it may also result in the perception of increased influence." Bradley gave Fox and Sky a July 14 deadline to respond.

Awarding BMG attorneys' fees in its torrent piracy lawsuit against Cox Communications was an abuse of discretion, given the novel issues the case presented and the "strong and substantial basis" of Cox's position, Cox said in a supplemental opening brief (in Pacer) filed Wednesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Cox also said the lower court erred in saying Cox couldn't recover costs and attorney fees incurred defending itself against claims brought by plaintiff Round Hill that were dismissed on summary judgment. It said determining the prevailing party in a complaint with multiple plaintiffs has to be done independently for each opposing party, or else plaintiffs bringing frivolous claims wouldn't face liability for fees because their cases would be consolidated with that of a plaintiff without a valid claim. Cox is fighting BMG's motion for $10.48 million in attorney's fees and $2.92 million in expenses (see 1610030005).

U.K. and U.S. sports programming rights holders face a similar problem of declining viewership but are taking different steps, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said Sky -- facing a big drop in Premier League viewers -- is repackaging premium sports by creating sports-themed channels and making sports watching more affordable for viewers whose primary interest is just one or two sports. Neither the NFL nor programming rights holders "seem ready to act as decisively as Sky," he said. The NFL is reducing the number of advertising breaks, but the total number of ads won't change, he said, saying games remain unavailable via virtual MVPD or broadcaster apps since Verizon Wireless owns those exclusive rights. Dixon said last year's Twitter experiment with Thursday night games "was a start in the right step," but subsequently selling the rights to those games to Amazon Prime "seems like a retrograde step." The NFL didn't comment Wednesday.

The FCC opened a pleading cycle on Radiate Holdings' planned buy of Wave Holdco. Comments and petitions on license transfers are due July 26, reply comments and oppositions to petitions Aug. 10, said a public notice in docket 17-158 in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Radiate controls cable systems run by RCN Telecom Services and Grande Communications Networks, and Wave subsidiaries operate fiber networks that provide internet access, dark fiber, cable TV and competitive telecom services to 473,200 customers in California, Oregon and Washington, said the PN, citing the companies.

The Supreme Court, in invalidating a law barring registered sex offenders from some social networking sites in its ruling earlier this month on Packingham v. North Carolina, was clear on the centrality of Internet access to protected First Amendment activity, Cox Communications said in a filing (in Pacer) Monday in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Thus if cutting off some Internet access to convicted sex offenders is unconstitutional, so too is the lower court's reading of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by requiring ISPs end all Internet access to people merely accused of copyright infringement, Cox said, calling Packingham "directly relevant" to determining appropriate circumstances for Cox terminating Internet access. The cable ISP is appealing a U.S. District Court ruling in BMG Rights Management's torrent piracy lawsuit (see 1608190030). BMG counsel didn't comment Tuesday.

Though pay-TV providers argued last year that FCC moves on set-top boxes are unnecessary because industry is correcting issues of competition and pricing, providers haven't followed through on those corrections since the threat of action went away, Public Knowledge said in a letter in docket 16-42 Tuesday. “In the absence of pressure from regulators the incumbent MVPD players have little motivation to unlock, ditch, or otherwise rid consumers of the unloved rented Box,” PK said. “This pattern is not unfamiliar, and should inform the FCC’s willingness to accept industry promises in lieu of regulation more generally.” NCTA didn’t comment.

Charter got a temporary license from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to run tests in the 3650-3700 MHz band. Tests are to start July 1 and run through the start of 2018, said a report posted by the FCC. The application's purpose is to test “a variety of experimental equipment,” the document said: “The testing will evaluate coverage, capacity, and propagation characteristics in the 3650-3700 MHz band. The proposed operations will advance Charter’s understanding of technology and network potential in the band and will advance deployment of fixed and mobile services.” Tests also will look at coexistence of devices in that band and in the FCC’s adjacent Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, said a filing by the cable ISP. It said it's working with Federated Wireless, one of coordinators in the CBRS band. The tests will take place in the Tampa, Florida area.

Predicting "a hotbed of M&A activity" in cable, Macquarie analyst Amy Yong wrote investors Thursday that possible sellers include Cox, Cable One and Frontier. She said likely buyers could include Charter Communications, while Altice might buy up smaller regional players and overbuilder WideOpenWest could take an opportunistic approach. Yong said increased mergers and acquisitions could be driven by Altice and WOW going public and by "cable-hungry Charter and (maybe) Verizon."

Current pricing of virtual MVPDs is probably too high to attract cord cutters/cord nevers, MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote investors Thursday. Entry-level bundles are priced at $35-$40 monthly, and economics of wholesale pricing preclude distributors from going lower, he said. Inclusion of broadcast and sports networks "creates a very high bar for distributors" that cuts the ability to be profitable while also keeping pricing low enough to stimulate incremental demand. Nathanson called it "a strong likelihood" that an entertainment bundle of channels will be tested soon. The wholesale cost of such a bundle, if it excludes broadcast-led network portfolios, might be roughly $10 monthly, which could generate more demand, revenue and gross profit than current virtual MVPD bundles, he said.

Verizon, accused by the National Advertising Division of not responding to a Comcast complaint about Fios advertising (see 1706210065), said it will "happily demonstrate [its] performance superiority in a neutral and proper forum." It said it "offered to respond to Comcast's frivolous complaint in the NAD process," but NAD "refused to resolve a conflict of interest" resulting from a former NAD official who had participated in previous Verizon cases and is now representing Comcast "on substantially similar matters." Former Deputy Director David Mallen is now an advertising disputes lawyer at Loeb & Loeb. Mallen didn't comment Thursday. Verizon said it "regrets that NAD was unwilling to address this fundamental unfairness." NAD didn't comment.