The FCC Office of General Counsel OK'd Game Show Network's request (see 1701090033) for extra time to file its opposition to a Cablevision ask for a stay of GSN's petition that would force the cable operator to comply with the FCC administrative law judge's initial decision in a carriage discrimination complaint. In an order Tuesday on docket 12-122, OGC said the FCC doesn't regularly give out time extensions, but the three extra days -- with the deadline now being Friday -- will let the parties respond better to related pleadings.

The transition to an on-demand video marketplace is probably seven or so years in and has seven or so to go, meaning there's substantial life left in the traditional video bundle, Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh wrote investors Tuesday. He predicted Wall Street's bearish stance that traditional media companies are structurally challenged will face several headwinds this year, including growth of virtual multichannel video programming distributors slowing the pace of video bundle subscriber declines and disrupting the competition challenge for subscription VOD, the continual robustness of the TV advertising market and the scrapping of net neutrality rules. Virtual MVPDs are "critical to the long term health of the traditional video ecosystem" by serving as a competitive response to SVOD services like Netflix, he said. The forthcoming Hulu live-streaming service likely will outperform virtual MVPDs like Sling and DirecTV Now through its library content and cloud DVR, he said. He said the pending AT&T purchase of Time Warner and 21st Century Fox's pending acquisition of Sky will, if approved, lead peers to focus increasingly on the potential upsides of scale and of vertical integration. Disney and CBS, which don't have that scale and/or vertical integration, could be motivated to look into transactions, he said.

The Game Show Network wants three extra days to file its opposition to Cablevision's seeking a stay of GSN's petition that would force Cablevision to comply with the FCC administrative law judge's initial decision in a carriage discrimination complaint (see 1701050019). In a motion for a time extension filed Friday in docket 12-122, GSN said neither Cablevision nor the Enforcement Bureau objects, and the extra time -- a Friday deadline for filing instead of Tuesday -- will let it align its responses to multiple pleadings, all of which involve interrelated issues in the networks' discrimination claim against the cable operator.

Hearst is buying a majority of Litton Entertainment, which specializes in educational/informational programming and Saturday morning content for broadcasters. In a news release Friday, Hearst said the deal is expected to close by Feb. 1.

With its original amicus brief on the docket since April, a renewed application for leave to file the brief in a Star Trek fan film copyright lawsuit hardly counts as a sneak attack, the Language Creation Society (LCS) said Tuesday in a reply (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. It responded to an opposition (in Pacer) last week from Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios that argued the LCS filing saying the Klingon language can't be copyrighted and thus can't be used as evidence of copyright violation on the part of the makers of an online fan film (see 1612300016) is untimely and improper. The LCS reply throughout uses some Klingon words and phrases with footnoted English translations.

Roku General Manager Chas Smith said streaming hours on the Roku platform increased 60 percent year on year. Roku is constantly upgrading the platform, said Smith, and will add two channels in the next few weeks: a Comcast Xfinity app and DirecTV Now. He spoke Wednesday at CES in Las Vegas.

Live streams of CBS and sister channels CBS Sports and POP will become part of Hulu's lineup for a multichannel live-streaming service it plans to launch in the coming months, the company said in a news release Wednesday. Hulu said much of the networks' programming will also be available on demand through its deal with CBS. Hulu said other broadcast options on its live TV service will be ABC and Fox. CBS is likely in talks with other streaming services like Sling and DirecTV Now about similar deals, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors Wednesday, saying the Hulu deal probably won't cannibalize CBS' All Access streaming service since it retains in-season stacking rights and offers originals such as Star Trek.

Cable One's financial growth "is about to hit a wall" as its strategy of focusing on price increases could run afoul of its relatively price sensitive customer base, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote investors Wednesday as the firm downgraded the cable ISP to "sell." "Those price increases do not appear sustainable, and in the near term they are not repeatable," Moffett said. He said the company's de-emphasizing its video offerings, including its dropping of Viacom content (see 1501140012), has hurt its attractiveness as a takeover target because Cable One has "foregone a tremendous amount of potential synergy for an acquirer." Cable One didn't comment.

Cable video subscriber numbers should continue growing this year, but competition also will grow with the launches of additional streaming services, UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote investors. AT&T's DirecTV Now virtual multichannel video programming distributor service (see 1612010025) by itself won't affect cable trends, but similar streaming services from Amazon, Hulu and Google's YouTube could, he said. An inflection point in cable video subscriber trends likely won't come until 2018 since connectivity and quality issues that come with initial product releases likely means a slow start for virtual MVPDs, he said. Hodulik said Comcast likely will launch a wireless service in the second half of the year in the $40 per month price range, though mobile virtual network operator agreement economics make it unlikely the service will be unlimited or zero-rated. For wireless carriers, he said, the result will be higher industry churn and increased promotional activity as smaller carriers try to keep their momentum. Hodulik Tuesday laid out implications of several possible deals, including Sprint/T-Mobile, Dish Network/T-Mobile, Charter Communications/T-Mobile and Verizon/Charter. He said it's not clear who would be the buyer in a Sprint and T-Mobile deal, and it would benefit AT&T and Verizon through reduced competition while complicating cable entry into wireless. He said Dish/T-Mobile would solve T-Mobile's spectrum needs and monetize Dish's spectrum, while Charter/T-Mobile could lead to further cable-wireless transactions. He said Verizon/Charter would likely face significant regulatory conditions.

Viacom, which previously sued toy company MGA Entertainment over an unfulfilled advertising agreement (see 1608120051), is suing it again over new allegations. In a breach of contract complaint (in Pacer) filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Viacom said that MGA -- “apparently undeterred” by the previous judgment against it -- is refusing to pay the cable programmer $200,000 owed for Little Tikes toy ads aired on VH1 and Country Music TV (CMT) during the second half of 2015. Viacom said MGA's Haworth Marketing + Media, which ordered the VH1 and CMT ads, has at the same time been paying for ads it ordered on Nickelodeon. MGA didn't comment Friday.