WGBP-TV, Opelika, Alabama, isn't a new station in the Atlanta designated market area eligible for mandatory carriage on DirecTV during the current election cycle, the FCC Media Bureau said Wednesday, denying a must-carry complaint brought by WGBP licensee CNZ Communications in docket 21-153. WGBP has provided over-the-air service in the Atlanta market since 2014, and it didn't become a new station by virtue of putting its distributed transmission system transmitter in the Atlanta area in 2020, the agency said.

Some 60% of subscribers with multiple streaming services reported frustration with their viewing experience, said a Tuesday Accenture report. Forty-four percent of survey respondents said they spend more than six minutes searching for something to watch. “The video streaming experience has become somewhat unwieldy, unfriendly, and expensive” for many subscribers, said Accenture spokesperson Andrew Walker. Consumers think more than 60% of the content they are paying for is not relevant to them, and 56% said they want their profile from one service to be easily be shared with another service that may offer them better, more personalized content, the report said. Consumers care more about the content delivered by streaming services, but they find the navigation experience with the growing number of services to be increasingly frustrating, it said. Content aggregators can address that concern by unifying access to streaming services through application software, services and data-sharing agreements, it said, suggesting aggregators act as a single platform with curated content that enables subscribers to select “exactly what they want to watch.” The survey of over 6,000 consumers was fielded in 11 countries October-November.

The ongoing cord cutting by MVPD subscribers, while significant, remains orderly, though there's a risk it could ramp up to disorderly, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Tuesday. That ramp-up only needs a major programmer to aggressively push its best programming to a direct-to-consumer offering "and the Jenga tower [of the programming bundle] would collapse," he said. ESPN is an obvious candidate to go that route, he said. Disney's ESPN didn't comment.

Imax closed out Q4 grossing its highest quarterly global box office since 2017, riding the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took in $83 million of the company’s $277 million Q4 total, said the company Monday. For the year, Imax posted $638 million in global box office, up 146% year on year, but under the pre-COVID-19 pandemic $1.1 billion global box office in 2019. Top performers in Q4 behind Spider-Man were Dune ($43.9 million), No Time to Die ($43.9 million), The Battle at Lake Changjin ($31.6 million) and Eternals ($25.2 million). The company expects 10 releases filmed for Imax for 2022.

Podcast usage is rising for "diverse" audiences, Nielsen emailed Thursday. Mainstream media often centers on one perspective or experience, “with representation often addressed as a complement to a main story or primary character,” but podcasts increasingly resonate with diverse audiences, it said. The average number of times each identity group listens to a podcast varies from nine to 12 per month, Nielsen said, counting Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ consumers. People with disabilities listen to podcasts most at home (67%); Asian Americans listen the least at home at 43%. Black listeners stream audio more than other audiences, “while listening more closely when brands reach out,” averaging 73% brand recall for podcasts ads, it said. Podcast listening among Hispanics 25-39 has doubled in the past three years, it said, and Asian Americans have upped their podcast listening five times over the past decade, with news among the leading topics, it said. The Interactive Advertising Bureau predicts podcast ad revenue will hit $2 billion by 2023 vs. $842 million in 2020, Nielsen noted. Host-read ads drive a brand recall rate of 71%, creating “high levels of consumer interest, purchase intent and recommendation intent,” it said. Diverse audiences want to hear from “trusted voices with similar backgrounds or that have similar interests,” Nielsen said; topics need to be inclusive and relevant from credible sources with original voices.

The FCC denied Digital Broadcasting’s application for certification to operate an open video system in a service area including the top 210 U.S. designated market areas and “Territories, Commonwealths, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa,” said a Media Bureau order Thursday. The application was denied over concern that Digital Broadcasting didn’t fulfill a requirement to serve the filing on all local communities that would be covered in the proposed “vastly expansive” service area, the order said. The application shows “hundreds” of communities and local authorities were given notice electronically, but it “does not make clear whether every local community covered within Digital Broadcasting’s anticipated service area was properly served.” The order said there are indications at least some communities in some DMAs weren’t given notice. Since the application is being denied without prejudice, it could be refiled with a more complete listing, the order said.

Comments are due Jan. 24, replies Feb. 8, on Peloton's petition for an 18-month waiver of FCC rules requiring accessibility of user interfaces on some digital devices, giving it more time to implement extra accessibility features for its connected fitness equipment, said a Media Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 12-108.

The 8K Association landed Amazon Prime Video, UL and 4by4, a producer of 8K demonstration and promotional videos, said the group Thursday. The association didn’t speculate on the ramifications of Amazon's new membership for 8K streaming content on Prime Video, and the customarily secretive Amazon didn’t respond to questions. 8KA, the brainchild of Samsung and Samsung’s broader display ecosystem, also revised the criteria for earning its certification logo to include “a broader set of video decoding standards that will promote the wider availability of 8K streaming content,” it said. The association unveiled its logo program a year ago (see 2101040054).

Comments are due Feb. 14, replies March 1, on an FCC Media Bureau proposal to delete vacant FM broadcast station allotments in Snowflake, Arizona; Millerton, Oklahoma; Powers, Oregon; Mount Enterprise and Paint Rock, Texas; Hardwick, Vermont; and Meeteetse, Wyoming, said a docket 21-502 NPRM Thursday. The agency said there were no bids for the seven in two FM auctions, and their deletion opens the door to new FM allotments in nearby communities or upgrades of existing stations.

SES is 30% done with C-band accelerated clearing Phase II satellite transitions, including broadcast TV, cable network and other services being received at 3820-4000 MHz, the satellite operator said in an FCC docket 18-122 quarterly report Wednesday. About 10% of antennas part of the Phase II transition are installed and all SES-associated incumbent earth stations have any needed compression equipment, it said. It said all compressed services were transitioned by Oct. 31, and filter installation will happen after all incumbent earth station services at 3700-3980 MHz have fully transitioned on the satellite. It said it remains on schedule to meet Phase II clearing obligations.