Roughly 82 percent of U.S. TV households subscribe to some form of pay-TV service -- down from 87 percent in 2011, and in line with 2005's 82 percent, Leichtman Research Group said in a news release Friday. Among the non-subscribing TV households, Leichtman said, 14 percent paid for a service in the past year. The researcher said rates of people leaving or intending to leave the pay-TV category have been steady in recent years, but the penetration decline comes from a lack of people entering the category and the industry not keeping pace with movers and the growth in rental housing. Leichtman said the reported monthly mean spending on pay-TV service is $103.10, up 4 percent over last year, the lowest annual increase in five years. Findings came from a phone survey of 1,206 U.S. households.

Comcast is taking full control of Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. In a news release Thursday, the cable company said it reached an agreement to buy Ed Snider's 24 percent stake in Comcast Spectacor, with the deal expected to close in October, pending NHL approval. Snider, the Flyers founder/Comcast Spectacor chairman, died in April from cancer, and President-CEO Dave Scott will remain, Comcast said.

Comcast and Dish Network are being advised to drop particular ad claims having to do with availability of content and with costs associated with the service, by the National Advertising Division (NAD), the investigative unit of the ad industry’s self-regulation system. In a news release Thursday, NAD said DirecTV challenged Comcast ad claims about the DBS service being based on old technology and having a quarter of the "unique TV show and movie titles" that DirecTV offers. NAD said it didn't agree with Comcast that consumers would understand the claim to include identical programming each time it's available on different platforms, such as via set-top box, online or mobile app. In a statement, Comcast said it "will take NAD’s recommendations into account in developing future advertisements.” In a separate news release Thursday, NAD said Dish agreed to drop ad claims challenged by DirecTV, saying Dish had adequate support to back other claims. NAD said Dish voluntarily dropped claims about the average monthly bill amount for DirecTV customers and DirecTV assessing a particular price increase. Dish "agrees to comply with NAD’s decision," the company said in a statement. Though pleased with NAD determining the local channels fee claim was supported, it disagreed with NAD treating claims that it didn't even review as though it had recommended their discontinuance when Dish independently decided to end the ads before the initiation of the NAD process, Dish said.

The condition on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks on provision of a low-income broadband service, including free cable modems, doesn't contradict a general prohibition on requiring such modems to have a separate line item and come at nonsubsidized prices for other consumers, Zoom Telephonics said. In an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 16-42, Zoom recapped a phone call between President-CEO Frank Manning and an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai in which Zoom said the basic premise behind the condition, to expand broadband deployment to this group, justifies allowing subsidized pricing. Zoom also argued for the need for nonsubsidized pricing along with the line item. Charter lobbied against the line item and unsubsidized price requirements in the FCC set-top box proceeding (see 1609210030). In its own ex parte filing, Charter said Senior Vice President-Policy and External Affairs Alex Hoehn-Saric met with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to say a cable modem line item "is legally flawed" and fails the FCC's goal of more transparency to consumers.

Content services provider Vubiquity signed a contract extension with Virgin Media to manage content licensing and digital content supply chain matters for Virgin Media's on-demand video services in the U.K. and Ireland, it said in a news release Wednesday: Vubiquity will continue to license movies from studios for Virgin Media's VOD service Virgin Movie and provide various digital content supply chain services.

Comments or petitions in TPG Capital's takeover of cable ISPs RCN and Grande Networks (see 1609020006) are due Oct. 21, replies Nov. 7, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. In the transfer of control application earlier this month in docket 16-276, the parties said the new ownership would result in "greater operational efficiencies and ... more focused strategies" and result in better financing and programming arrangements.

Viacom's board started a search for a new president-CEO, the company told us Wednesday, announcing in a news release interim President-CEO Tom Dooley is leaving the company effective Nov. 15. Formerly chief operating officer, Dooley was named interim in August, replacing Philippe Dauman (see 1608220029). Viacom said the board is undertaking a search for the next CEO but wouldn't elaborate. Viacom also said it's halving its quarterly dividend from 40 cents to 20 cents per share and it expects to take on additional debt soon. In a statement, Viacom said the steps are a balance between its "focus on a strong balance sheet and its strategy to invest in world class content and pursue opportunities to grow its core businesses." It also said it shut the door on finding a minority investor in Paramount Pictures, "to consider all options available." In an SEC filing Wednesday, Viacom said Dooley will receive a $4.375 million "retention payment" for not resigning before that November date or if Viacom terminates his employment before then -- in which case he also will receive any additional salary he would have earned if he had remained employed through then.

Over-the-top now generates $25 billion revenue annually, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reported Tuesday. Of the more than 500 OTT service providers globally, most are local players competing in a single market, BCG said. The top five global players -- Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Time Warner's HBO and Google's YouTube -- generate about half of the total market revenue and are expected to grow due to advantages like scale in content creation and technology, BCG said. OTT growth is leading to a content boom, BCG said, with 1 billion amateur and professional content creators "adding daily (actually, hourly) to the content mix available through OTT channels." It said the middle tier of entertainment programming "is collapsing" due to content consumption bifurcating between "high production value, must watch shows ... and more modest, traditional professional, pro-am or even amateur productions." Live sports remains one area for TV channels to attract major audiences, with OTT driving additional growth by creating new monetization routes, BCG said. Traditional networks might start moderating their spending on content as OTT competitive pressures grow, but spending by major OTT players in the U.S. is expected to keep growing.

Along with addressing most-favored-nation and alternative distribution method (ADM) provisions in its diverse programming NPRM, the FCC should tackle the problems caused by bundling and by early termination fees charged customers, RFD-TV/FamilyNet executives told staff in a series of meetings, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-41. Many ADM clauses restrict independent programmers from distributing over-the-top content via apps, and prohibiting enforcement of ADM provisions would give FCC set-top box reform "a more meaningful impact," said RFD-TV/FamilyNet representatives including CEO Patrick Gottsch. The programmer also said bundling by large programmers squeezes out independent voices. Multichannel video programming distributors should be blocked from enforcing termination fees when MVPDs drop programming or at the very least be required to provide notice to customers of any upcoming programming loss as far in advance as the period when early termination fees would apply. RFD-TV/FamilyNet met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel and to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and with Media Bureau staff. A draft indie programming NPRM is circulating (see 1609190032).

Expanding the number of nonbroadcast networks covered by the video description rules would be “inconsistent” with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), NCTA told staff from the FCC Media Bureau and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in a meeting Thursday, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-43. NCTA also objected to a “no backsliding rule” for video description, which would require companies covered by the video description rules to continue providing the service even if their size or subscribership declines below the thresholds that trigger the rules. “The video description rules do not, and should not, apply to programming offered on a Video-On-Demand basis,” NCTA said. The FCC also shouldn't adopt new rules for accessing caption display settings, which NCTA said would be outside agency authority. “Any such action would risk negative consequences, and is unnecessary given that companies are already developing interfaces that provide easy access to accessibility settings in an intuitive manner,” NCTA said.