Activision Blizzard shareholders approved Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion buy of the game company in an all-cash transaction (see 2201180009), voting virtually in a special meeting Thursday, Activision said. More than 98% of the shares voted were in favor of the deal, it said. Microsoft’s proposed buy, the largest in its history, is expected to close in Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 2023.

Some 51% of U.S. TV content viewers subscribe to a traditional pay-TV service, down from 63% last year and 81% in 2020, said Horowitz Research Wednesday. Though 37% are paying for a subscription VOD service -- and not cable or satellite -- a 30% year-on-year increase, the overall percentage of TV content viewers subscribing to at least one SVOD service fell to 62% from 74% in 2021, partly due to a drop in Netflix subs, it said. An additional 10% have access to other SVOD services by borrowing passwords, said the research firm. Streaming subscribers reported spending an average $75.80 monthly on SVOD and/or virtual MVPD services, up $26 a month from a year ago. The share of TV viewers watching free, ad-supported services, including over-the-air content via antenna, was unchanged at 66%. Survey findings suggest churn will become a "bigger challenge" as consumers become even more cost-conscious, Horowitz said, saying 18% of SVOD subscribers are planning to cancel at least one of their services, 42% for vMVPD customers. The next phase in the maturing industry “will be a reset,” said Horowitz Chief Revenue Officer Adriana Waterston. The firm predicts more ads in free or low-cost ad-supported tiers and more consolidation of services and subscriptions.

East St. Louis, Illinois, is ignoring the growing number of state and federal courts dismissing claims against streaming services because of a lack of right of action (see 2203290039), defendants WarnerMedia, DirecTV and CuriousityStream said in a docket 3:21-cv-00561 reply Tuesday in support of their consolidated motion to dismiss. They told the U.S. District Court in East St. Louis the city contends local governments have rights over their public rights of way, but it doesn't explain how those rights would create a cause of action regarding Illinois' Cable and Video Competition Law. Counsel for the city didn't comment. It's one of an array of localities pursuing franchise fees litigation against streaming services (see 2112230003).

Netflix had 29% of total connected TV viewing hours in February, followed by YouTube with 21%, Hulu at 12% and Amazon Prime Video at 9%, but rivals are quickly gaining ground, blogged Courtney Gursky, Comscore senior marketing content specialist. Netflix’s overlap with Amazon Prime Video subscribers in February was 67%, up from 60% in February 2021, and was 67% with YouTube, 51% with Hulu, 44% with HBO Max, 40% with Disney+ and 30% with Peacock, according to Comscore. The market may have reached a “tipping point” where consumers with multiple over-the-top video services will begin to cut back on subscriptions, Gursky said Monday. Netflix could grow its popularity with an ad-supported tier, which CEO Reed Hastings last week suggested as a possibility to stem a subscriber exodus after the company reported a 200,000 subscriber loss last quarter (see 2204200002). An ad-supported tier could be a "game-changing move" for Netflix since half its subscribers said they would choose an ad-supported plan for $5 less per month, she said, citing a June report from Hub Entertainment Research. In February, the reach of ad-supported video-on-demand services was 75.3 million households vs. 74.7 million for SVOD services, she said.

Consolidating the Shiloh, Illinois, litigation seeking franchise fees from streaming services with a similar East St. Louis suit pending in the same court would be more efficient than remanding the Shiloh case to state court, as ordered last month (see 2203240053), defendant Dish Network told the U.S. District Court in East St. Louis Friday in a motion to reconsider (docket 3:21-cv-00807). Shiloh's outside counsel didn't comment.

U.S. consumers are “picking their pets" over the latest "binge-worthy Netflix shows” in deciding which areas of “discretionary spending” to reduce to cope with the biggest rise in inflation in 40 years, reported First Insight Thursday. The analytics firm canvassed 1,000 people by email this month in a sample that was “proportionately balanced” by generation, region and gender, finding 42% plan to reduce spending on dining out to cope with rising prices, and a third saying they will cut back on entertainment, it said. Only 16% said they will reduce spending on pet services, it said. About a quarter (24%) plan to curtail spending on streaming services, putting that in the middle of the pack of about a dozen discretionary spending options.

Twenty-one percent of cable and direct broadcast satellite subscribers expect to cut the cord within the next 12 months, said video advertising services firm Pixability Wednesday. It said cord cutting is particularly pronounced among younger subscribers, with more than 53% of those 18-24 who still subscribe to traditional pay TV expecting to end those services in the next year. It said YouTube has the biggest reach of all streaming platforms in the U.S., with 87% of consumers saying they watch the platform. Among people ages 25-34, that jumps to 97.2%. On average, a U.S. adult watches YouTube about an hour a day, with music and audio the most-popular YouTube content, it said. The Pixability data came from a survey of 703 U.S. adults.

Nexstar is violating the 39% broadcast ownership limit by negotiating retransmission consent rates for Mission Broadcasting’s WPIX New York through a local marketing agreement, said Charter Communications in an informal complaint sent to the FCC Media Bureau last week. The complaint makes accusations similar to a Comcast petition from July (see 2107140059). Both complaints argue Nexstar dodged FCC ownership and retransmission consent rules by divesting WPIX to Scripps to buy Tribune but retaining an option to repurchase the station, transferring that option to Mission, and then operating WPIX through an LMA once Mission bought it. Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer told Comcast in a March letter its petition would be treated as an informal complaint and the bureau was reviewing the matter. Nexstar filed breach of contract lawsuits against Charter and Comcast -- in Delaware and New York, respectively -- that Charter says are an attempt to further evade FCC scrutiny, according to the complaint and filings. Charter sought a stay of the litigation until the FCC rules on Comcast’s petition, but Nexstar opposed the stay, “creating a real risk of inconsistency on the same issue between the Commission and two different courts,” Charter said. “Permitting such forum shopping may embolden Nexstar (and others) to flout Commission directives.” Nexstar declined to comment.

The suspension of the Netflix service in Russia and the “winding-down of all Russian paid memberships" sent Q1 global streaming paid net additions into negative territory, reported the company Tuesday. Paid net subscriber losses were 200,000 compared with the outlook for 2.5 million global streaming paid net additions in the Jan. 20 forecast. Russia caused losses of 700,000 paid net adds. Net additions would have been up by 500,000 globally “excluding this impact,” said Netflix. The Q2 forecast is for paid net losses to worsen to 2 million, compared with nearly 1.54 million paid net additions in 2021's Q2. “Our forecast assumes our current trends persist (such as slow acquisition and the near term impact of price changes) plus typical seasonality.”

Paramount Global's board is recommending a "no" vote at the annual meeting June 8 on a shareholder proposal to reduce by half the threshold of stock ownership necessary to call a special shareholder meeting. It's the only shareholder proposal on the agenda for the former ViacomCBS, per the company's proxy statement. The board thinks the existing threshold should be retained to prevent the risk of misuse of the special meeting right for interests not supported by a majority of shareholders, said the proxy, while the proponent argues the current bar for calling a special shareholder meeting is too high. The annual meeting will be held virtually beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT, said the proxy.