Roku pulled back its 2020 forecast, citing economic uncertainties due to COVID-19. It expects Q1 revenue to be slightly higher than projected due to effects of sheltering at home, with other metrics generally in line with the prior outlook. “While we believe that our offerings to consumers, content providers and advertisers will enable our Company to deliver value in these uncertain times," there are "wider business and consumer impacts, as well as the duration of the pandemic,” said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden Monday. Roku expects Q1 revenue of $307 million-$317 million vs. a midpoint outlook of $305 million in February's shareholder letter. The streaming media provider estimated it had 39.8 million active accounts March 31, a net increase of nearly 3 million since Dec. 31. Streaming hours will be 13.2 billion, a 49% year-to-year bump, it said. In early Q1, Roku completed the rollout of its “Are you still watching” feature, which exits video playback after long periods of user inactivity, a feature that will moderate streaming hour growth, the company noted. CEO Anthony Wood said Roku has been working with advertisers to help update their plans to reflect new viewing patterns and adjust their overall marketing mix, “which has been affected by social distancing.” Wood expects some marketers to pause or reduce ad spending near term. Tuesday, Pivotal Research raised its 2020 net new active accounts forecast to 11.5 million from 10 million and sliced platform monthly revenue per average active accounts from 21% growth to a 2% decline “to attempt to account for what appears to [be] 40-50% declines in on-line video CPMs,” analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors. The combination drove a reduction in Pivotal's 2020 revenue growth forecast from 40% to 23%. The company's path to profitability is "unclear," as it looks to navigate "a likely recession while expanding its workforce to support its next leg of growth," Wedbush's Michael Pachter wrote investors. It will take time to achieve profitability in international markets, said the analyst, "while declining advertising demand puts the current year at risk." Roku's Q1 report is May 7. The stock closed 10.3% higher Tuesday at $106.53.

The FCC circulated a draft order clarifying aspects of the TV Viewer Protection Act based on the NPRM released in January on retransmission consent talks between MVPD buying groups and large station groups (see 2001310047), the agency told us. It went on circulation last week (see here).

EPB of Chattanooga, with 108,000 broadband customers, had demand increase sharply during the workday after the COVID-19 crisis started, below early evening average peak hours, said Ryan Keel, vice president-technical operations. Primetime peak demand is up as more people stay home, he told a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday (see 2004080054). EPB hasn’t had “very many issues in total” and addressed some downstream electronics problems, he said.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Comcast's request for a rehearing or rehearing en banc of the court's reversal of a lower court's dismissal of antitrust claims brought by Viamedia (see 2003250002), said an order Tuesday (docket 18-2852, in Pacer). Comcast outside counsel didn't comment Wednesday.

Overall national consumer downstream peak usage is up 19% since March 1, but a drop of 1% last week could point to consumer usage and demand leveling off, NCTA blogged Tuesday. Others that day and in recent days reported similar (see report, this issue, or 2004060038). NCTA said overall upstream peak growth is still growing -- at potentially a slower level. It said since March 1, national upstream peak growth rose 33%. It will take more than one week of data before reaching conclusions, it said.

Citing the need for MVPDs and fixed broadband providers to focus on pandemic issues, an FCC Media Bureau order Friday delayed implementation of Television Viewer Protection Act truth-in-billing implementation by six months until Dec. 20. TVPA, enacted as part of an FY 2020 federal appropriations law (see 1912190068), included modified language from the Truth-in-Billing, Remedies and User Empowerment over Fees (True Fees) Act (HR-1220/S-510). "Their foremost obligation at this time is to ensure continuity of service adequate to meet the nation’s needs," instead of changes to existing billing systems, employee training or other compliance measures, the Media Bureau said. ACA Connects, NCTA and USTelecom sought delayed implementation (see 2003270030). ACA said Friday even without the COVID-19 pandemic, the required software upgrades were challenging. NCTA cheered the extra time. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., urged the FCC Friday to “vigorously enforce" the truth-in-billing language, which will require cable and satellite providers to begin disclosing all fees before consumers sign up for a service. It also requires providers to allow cancellations within 24 hours without penalty and to only charge subscribers for equipment “they actually use.” The FCC needs to confirm it “fully intends to enforce the new law,” Markey and Eshoo said in a letter to Chairman Ajit Pai. “We would also like to know what, if any, guidance the Commission intends to provide [MVPDs] about compliance.” The agency didn’t comment.

The Q4 2019 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 1.28%, the FCC Media Bureau said Wednesday. In the year-ago quarter, it was 1.68%.

Comments are due May 4, replies May 18 on FCC-proposed elimination or modification of the rule that cable operators maintain records in online inspection files about attributable interests in video programming services, says Thursday's Federal Register. The NPRM was approved at commissioners' March 31 meeting (see 2002280044).

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn't understand advertising interconnects in reversing lower court dismissal of antitrust claims against Comcast (see 2002260020), suggesting those operated by a participating MVPD are noncompetitive, said NCTA. Its amicus brief (docket 18-2852, in Pacer) Tuesday supported Comcast's rehearing/en banc request. The decision "could threaten the continued viability of interconnects," with other courts deeming them anti-competitive "even though there is no evidentiary -- or even sound theoretical -- basis for that," the association said. The Washington Legal Foundation said Comcast "had no reason to aggressively enter the ad-rep market as an anticompetitive predator -- and every reason to step forth as a procompetitive low-cost producer." Outside counsel for plaintiff Viamedia didn't comment Wednesday.

The Supreme Court, having reversed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a complaint against Comcast by programmer Entertainment Studios Network (see 2003230031), vacated and remanded a similar 9th Circuit decision in an ESN complaint of racial animus in programming choices against Charter Communications. The court said Monday the docket 18-1185 decision was in light of its Comcast decision. Chief Justice John Roberts didn't take part.