Labor union-recommended conditions for the proposed $8 billion Skydance/Paramount Global deal (see 2410080033) have no basis in law or policy, the companies said Wednesday in docket 24-275. Instead, they urged that the FCC avoid putting conditions on the proposed acquisition. They said filings by One Ministries and Sean Kiggins, a self-described "rightful heir and soul trustee" of the Sumner Redstone media empire, didn't identify any transaction-specific harms from the deal.

The cable industry and broadcasters are adopting dueling talking points on the FCC's 10th floor concerning the proposed reporting requirement when retransmission consent talks fail and lead to a blackout, according to docket 23-427 postings Tuesday. In meetings with the offices of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, NCTA, Comcast, Charter and Cox Communications representatives said that while the NPRM (see 2401170072) proposes reporting on blackouts that last more than 24 hours, it should focus on longer blackouts because that would be less disruptive to negotiations. The cablers also argued against reporting the number of subscribers affected. However, if reporting such numbers eventually is required, then the FCC should keep figures confidential. In meetings with Rosenworcel and Starks aides, NAB asserted that a blackout reporting requirement would exceed the FCC's limited statutory authority relating to retransmission consent, and wouldn't provide consumers with meaningful information. NAB said disruptions increase during key congressional or FCC deliberations on retrans issues. A public database of retrans blackouts "will serve as an 'attractive nuisance' that MVPDs cannot resist, triggering increased disruptions and harming consumers," it said. NAB has had similar meetings with the offices of Carr and Simington.

As the FCC eyes fostering independent video programming, it should examine how broadcasters' forced bundling and forced tier and penetration requirements distort competition and harm indie programmers and multichannel video programming distributors, according to the American TV Alliance. In a docket 24-115 filing posted Monday recapping a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, ATVA said programmers' increased ownership of or affiliation with VOD services incentivizes those programmers to be even more aggressive with bundling and related requirements than in the past. FCC commissioners in April adopted an indie programming NPRM, 3-2 (see 2404190063)

While about 40% of TV viewing is on streaming, only about 13% of ad viewing is, "and that’s a problem," TVRev consultant Alan Wolk wrote Friday on LinkedIn. Even accounting for such factors as that a lot of streaming isn't ad supported, the gap still points to ad spending not being "what it should be," he said. "Especially given the amount of time the most valuable consumers are spending on streaming, there should be more ad dollars flowing in that direction," Wolk said. The ad side of streaming needs to get its "act together" and make it easier for ad buyers, including creation of common understandings about what constitutes a "view."

ESPN faces a proposed $146,976 fine for using emergency alert system tones in a promo spot that ran repeatedly in October 2023 touting the start of the 2023-2024 National Basketball Association season, an FCC Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability said Thursday. FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, who has said he would dissent from monetary forfeitures until the agency examines the boundaries of its enforcement authority (see 2409060054), dissented. ESPN didn't comment.

An FCC proposal requiring that MVPDs notify the agency of retransmission consent blackouts exceeds the agency’s authority and could prompt additional blackouts, said NAB in meetings last week with aides to FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-427. A draft item proposing rules on blackouts is on circulation to the 10th floor. “Given the Commission’s very limited role and its inability to use information on negotiating impasses to require parties to take any additional steps, it is not clear what lawful purpose this information gathering effort can serve,” NAB said. Consumers aren’t likely to consult an FCC database on blackouts, and wouldn't find it useful for comparison shopping MVPD services because it won’t contain information on blackouts of nonbroadcast services such as regional sports networks, NAB said. A database focused on disruptions in service would provide “an incomplete picture given that the overwhelming majority of retransmission consent negotiations are concluded without event,” NAB said. MVPDs will use the database as evidence for regulatory or legislative intervention in the retrans consent negotiation process, NAB said. “There have been documented increases in disruptions during key Congressional or Commission deliberations on retransmission consent issues,” NAB said. “The database will serve as an ‘attractive nuisance’ that MVPDs cannot resist, triggering increased disruptions and harming consumers.”

DirecTV will launch a free, ad-supported streaming service, MyFree DirecTV, on Nov. 15, it said last week. The service will have a library of on-demand content at launch, with additional channels added to the platform starting in 2025.

The FCC should cement Paramount Global's and Skydance Media's "general labor-friendly statements with specific, binding merger conditions" that maintain minimum levels of union-created content and station-level employment, labor unions said Tuesday in docket 24-275. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Hollywood Local 399, Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East said Paramount and Skydance have maintained that New Paramount will have strong demand for union-created programming and good partnerships with organized labor. But they also have indicated that the $8 billion Skydance/Paramount deal, announced in July (see 2407080025), could prompt significant job cuts, the unions said. Worker-related merger conditions, the union filing said, would be in line with the FCC Media Bureau's hearing designation order in Tegna/Standard General (see 2302240068), which emphasized that jobs and journalists relate directly to localism and the public interest.

It would be "delicious irony" if Disney's ESPN acquired streaming rights for a variety of MLB teams through Diamond Sports' Chapter 11 bankruptcy, since Disney divested many of Diamond's regional sports networks due to antitrust concerns during Disney's 2019 purchase of Fox assets, Macquarie's Tim Nollen noted Tuesday. Nollen said MLB supports Diamond's plan to drop carriage of eight more MLB teams in December, atop the three contracts it already let expire, as MLB prefers to carry games on alternative streaming services including the MLB app. Nollen said Diamond's move could work well for ESPN's streaming service launching in fall 2025. Pointing to the 2019 RSN divestitures, he said "the TV landscape has changed with the growth of streaming, now rendering such linear market share concerns moot."

Low ad loads is one of the reasons streaming TV services are growing their prime-time viewing, but expect more ads once streamers shift their focus from growth to profitability, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. Cable averages 15 to 18 minutes of ads per hour, while advertising VOD like Disney+ Basic and Tubi average closer to four to five minutes per hour, Dixon said.