The FTC wants comments by Jan. 3 in docket 202-3092 on a proposed consent order on Google's advertising for its Pixel 4 phone, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register (see 2211280062).

Fox is blaming DirecTV for a possible blackout of local stations on the MVPD starting Friday, while American TV Alliance is blaming the broadcaster. Fox said it's "committed to reaching a fair agreement" with DirecTV, but the MVPD "continues to demand unprecedented special treatment that represents a wholesale change to our long-standing relationship and is out of step with marketplace terms." ATVA said Monday the blackout warning is "a bargaining ploy" by the programmer to hike retransmission consent rates and other licensing fees.

If the FCC proceeds on a redefinition of MVPD to apply to some over-the-top services, it will need to address some critical implications of the proposal, including ensuring broadcast signals carried by virtual MVPDs are protected from piracy and distribution beyond a station's local market, NAB said Wednesday in docket 16-142. In two filings (here and here), it recapped meetings with aides to Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks and Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer. In the Simington and Media Bureau meetings, NAB also said there's "apparent fraud" in the ZoneCasting proceeding record and the vast majority of broadcasters oppose the petition because there's no evidence ZoneCasting doesn't cause interference. NAB also pushed for a decision on the ATSC 3.0 proceeding.

Given the projected revenue growth of free ad-support streaming TV (FAST) services, expect the launches of more of them in 2023, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. Such services "will be the driving force behind the expansion of the streaming TV market over the next five years," he said. He predicted subscription VOD services will launch FAST channels and license content to competitors, plus better monetizing content, such as pay-per-view models, for new movies and exclusive live events.

The most successful video services will use innovative technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to drive high engagement with consumers through advanced content moderation and curation, said Parks Associates analyst Sarah Lee in a Friday report. AI and ML can create a personal experience by using data to understand patterns and relationships at a granular level, beyond recommendations offered by big-data systems, she said. About 30% of U.S. internet households are "service hoppers" who frequently switch services and resubscribe multiple times, according to Parks data, and businesses may be able to use AI to cut down on the practice, she said. AI and ML use cases “are just starting to scratch the surface,” she said. "By understanding the viewer on a deeper, personal level, businesses can deliver a more positive, individualized experience that drives acquisition, satisfaction, and retention," Lee said. Some 83% of U.S. internet households subscribe to at least one over-the-top video service; 45% still subscribe to a linear pay-TV service, Parks said.

Broadcasters sneaking around the ownership rules' prohibition on owning more than one top-four station in a market by putting top-four programming on multicasts and low-power stations is one driver of the steep rise in retransmission consent fees, DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow told the FCC commissioners in a series of meetings recapped in a docket 18-349 posting Thursday. Morrow urged the agency to stop that practice.

The FCC released its Disability Advisory Committee's report on best practices for sending and receiving captioning files so captioning associated with full-length programming remains available regardless of the distribution method. Members discussed the report at length before it was approved two weeks ago (see 2211010062). “The captioning ecosystem for video programming online is large and complex,” the Tuesday report says: “Captions are initially created by a content creator, owner, or provider, either internally or through a vendor. They are sidecar components to a video program and may be delivered as a file embedded in the media container, or may be streamed alongside the video, such as for most online program delivery, including live streams. After creation, the captions may be converted to various formats … as required by the content distributor or to suit the method (or platform) of distribution.” Among its recommendations for the FCC are “encouraging efforts by developers, vendors, and providers of professional and amateur video editing, production, and distribution tools to ensure that tools are available to creators to promote the availability and utility of captions in their videos” and “educating video creators at all levels about the importance of treating captioning as an integral part of the creative process.”

In Q3, the largest MVPDs, with about 92% of the market, lost about 785,000 net subscribers, compared with a pro forma loss of 650,000 in Q3 2021, Leichtman Research Group said Monday. Combined, those MVPDs have about 71.4 million subscribers, it said. The top cable providers lost about 980,000 video subscribers, up from a loss of 700,000 in Q3 a year earlier. Telco and DBS services altogether lost about 700,000 in the quarter, compared with 630,000 lost the same quarter a year earlier. Virtual MVPDs added about 900,000 subs in the quarter, up from gains of 680,000 year over year. Leichtman said Q3 marked the third-best quarter ever for net subscriber adds for the top publicly reporting vMVPD services.

The FCC again received no submissions from U.S.-based foreign media outlets for its latest semi-annual report to Congress, it said Thursday. The latest report covers April 13-Oct. 12. The May 2022 and November 2021 reports also reported no submissions (see 2205090049). The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act requires the reports.

That Arkansas' Video Service Act doesn't expressly bar municipalities from bringing claims doesn't mean it confers a right for municipalities to do so, an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said Tuesday, upholding a lower court's dismissal of the city of Ashdown's suit seeking video service provider franchise fees from Netflix and Hulu. Judges Steven Colloton, Roger Wollman and David Stras, in a docket 21-3435 opinion inked by Wollman, said it's the state Public Service Commission's right and duty under the VSA to bring a claim. Read as a whole, the VSA's aim is establishing and regulating a statewide franchising system, and recognizing Ashdown's right of action would circumvent that intent, the judges said. Oral argument was in September (see 2209200046).