The FCC Media Bureau dismissed Gray's must-carry denial complaint against AT&T's DirecTV on carriage of WCJB-TV Gainesville, Florida, after the broadcast company's withdrawal of the complaint, the bureau said in Tuesday's Daily Digest.

AT&T and Hearst inked a retransmission consent agreement that ends a blackout of 34 stations in 26 markets, the MVPD said Sunday. The blackout affected such markets as Baltimore, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Oklahoma City. Dish Network and Mission Broadcasting are in the midst of a retrans fight with a multi-market blackout (see 2001060009).

LG TVs dating to the 2016 model year have Disney Plus backward compatibility through a firmware update, the consumer electronics manufacturer announced at CES in Las Vegas. The plan for Apple TV Plus compatibility is to be determined. The company also disclosed its U.S. ATSC 3.0 plans (see 2001060026).

Dish Network and Mission Broadcasting blamed each other for a blackout of the broadcaster's stations that began Friday in 18 markets in 16 states. Both said the other side declined a contract extension during negotiations. Mission President Dennis Thatcher said Sunday Dish "gave us no warning." Dish said Friday it's offering digital antennas free to its customers in the affected markets. AT&T and Hearst settled a retrans fight that caused blackouts in multiple markets (see 2001060003).

AT&T “misled” the FCC Media Bureau into ruling that Deerfield Media and other broadcasters with sidecar arrangements with Sinclair violated good-faith retransmission consent rules (see 1912100057), said a heavily redacted reply from the broadcast defendants posted Friday in docket 19-168 in support of their application for review. The bureau ruled that the agent negotiating retransmission terms for the joint parties failed to negotiate, but the agent provided three draft agreements to AT&T on the stations’ behalf, the reply noted. “It was simply AT&T’s self-serving theory -- and later the Bureau’s speculation -- that the agent was lying or mistaken when he claimed to be negotiating terms for the Joint Parties.” AT&T has made opposite arguments elsewhere, the broadcasters said. The decision threatens to “tilt the playing field for future negotiations farther in favor of market-dominant MVPDs like AT&T,” the station owners said. AT&T didn't comment.

“Expect the unexpected” from nontraditional exhibitors at CES 2020, including NBCUniversal and WWE, said organizer CTA Thursday. Sensors, connectivity and smart technology continue to broaden the scope, advance booth invitations show. While traditional categories such as high-end audio turn to more specialized events, CES is casting a wider net to bring in more diverse, global technologies.

Comcast signed retransmission consent agreements with Nexstar and Tegna in advance of previous agreements' Dec. 31 expirations, without blackouts, the cable operator told us Thursday. It didn't provide terms.

Comments are due Jan. 29 on a Copyright Royalty Board notice of inquiry on categorization of claims for cable or satellite royalty funds and treatment of royalties associated with invalid claims, said a notice in Monday's Federal Register.

The FCC Media Bureau made a "detailed and carefully reasoned decision" when it said nine Sinclair-affiliated station groups violated per se good-faith negotiating standards in talks with AT&T (see 1911080036) and there's no basis for overturning it, AT&T said in a heavily redacted docket 19-168 opposition posted Tuesday to the broadcasters' application for review (see 1912100057). It said the station groups argued Duane Lammers of Max Retrans was representing and negotiating for all of them, but the broadcasters didn't cite a single pre-blackout offer that included them. The station groups' outside counsel emailed Thursday that they disagree and plan to file a response.

Comcast and Lionsgate's Starz reached a carriage agreement that will keep the Starz networks on Xfinity TV and have NBCUniversal license Lionsgate content for Peacock, its streaming service launching in April, Comcast said Monday. It said Starz will license NBCUniversal content for U.S. markets and its international streaming service, Starzplay. It said Starz channels will get expanded distribution on the Comcast Flex platform of streaming content for broadband-only subscribers.