Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung and TCL with AU Optronics are founding members of the 8K Association (see 1812180053), unveiled at CES in Las Vegas Tuesday to “help develop the 8K ecosystem.” Another association goal is to help “secure 8K native content for members,” but there’s no stated intention to extend memberships to content companies, though there will be outreach to over-the-top services to “develop 8K offerings.” The association scheduled a CES news conference for Wednesday in Room S-228 of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall. LG and Sony, both of which announced new 8K products Monday at CES, didn't join. Those companies had no comment.

That LG is adding Apple AirPlay 2 support to its 2019 TV lineup was a surprise announcement at its CES preview Monday, as other manufacturers are doing the same. “We’re really excited to be one of Apple’s first TV partners for AirPlay Video,” said Tim Alessi, senior director-home entertainment product marketing. “This will help users easily share what they’re watching on their favorite streaming apps right on our beautiful TVs.” LG also is adopting AirPlay Audio and HomeKit support, he said. “This will simplify how Apple devices work with LG TVs.” AirPlay and LG TVs are “a great combination” because both support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, he said. Vizio announced support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit in its SmartCast 3.0 smart TV platform. And Samsung announced Sunday AirPlay 2 and iTunes movie and TV show store integration in its 2019 smart TVs.

TDS and Nexstar have budged some from their original stances in their retransmission consent talks, but Nexstar demands remain "too expensive and unreasonable," TDS Senior Vice President-Corporate Affairs Andrew Petersen said in a letter Friday to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. TDS said Nexstar is demanding "materially more" than TDS pays other broadcasters, and warned a Nexstar/Tribune combination would mean a further ratcheting up of retrans fees paid by MVPDs. Nexstar didn't comment Monday.

“Video everywhere” will be first of three top tech trends to watch in 2019, the others being edge computing and artificial intelligence, reported IHS Markit. “Video’s increasing ubiquity is forcing significant industry change, as a growing number of players vie for consumer attention and revenue, and businesses adapt to cope with the rising demand.” The rise of online offerings and platforms, “including those from powerful new market entrants,” will be among video everywhere’s “driving forces,” it said Thursday. IHS also cited the “increasing penetration of mobile connected devices capable of capturing and displaying video,” and advances in “network and transmission technologies for sharing it” as contributing to the growth, along with “the resultant explosion of user-generated content and social video.” On 5G, early deployments will be “an extension of what we know best” in broadband, said the paper: “Don’t expect factory automation, tactile low-latency touch and steer, or autonomous driving to be ready on 5G anytime soon despite being touted as the chief 5G use cases."

Disney and Verizon signed a multiyear carriage deal Wednesday. It has Disney content including Disney Channel, ESPN and SEC Network remaining available for Fios customers, and the ACC Network joining the lineup when it debuts Aug. 22, Disney said.

Expect 2019 to bring accelerated MVPD subscriber losses, deeper rather than broader subscription VOD adoption, the initial big launch of Disney+ to quickly taper off and the first vMVPD service shutdown, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said with Disney and Time Warner increasingly focused on direct-to-consumer distribution instead of pay-TV providers, they'll have even less motivation to rein in pricing demand of pay TV. He said the Disney streaming service will undoubtedly get big adoption when it rolls out but lack of depth in its catalog will mean usage substantially below competitors. He said vMVPDs FuboTV and PlayStation Vue could be most vulnerable this year, given escalating channel license fees. Fubo emailed Wednesday that 2018 was its biggest year, surpassing a $100 million annual run rate, closing a $75 million fundraising round and more than doubling subscribers. "We were also the first vMVPD to expand outside of North America with the launch of fuboTV in Spain, and are better positioned than our competitors to bring fubo to even more markets in 2019," it said. Disney and PlayStation didn't comment.

The American Cable Association is pointing its finger at Nexstar for a series of blackouts that began New Year's Day involving small cable systems. "Small cable operators are not to blame," since they are willing to pay higher programming fees to broadcasters and willing to grant extensions of agreements during negotiations, it said Wednesday. "At some point, however, there must be a limit to the crazy price increases Nexstar wants consumers to pay." ACA questioned whether the FCC should allow Nexstar's buy of Tribune stations, since the deal "would put Nexstar in position to black out at least more than half of the country." ACA said the 13 designated market areas affected by the blackout include Nashville, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Nexstar didn't comment.

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument Feb. 25 on an appeal by Manhattan Community Access, aka Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), of a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision earlier this year, the court said in a docket 17-1702 notice last week. MNN is appealing the 2nd Circuit's decision that public, educational and governmental channels are public forums and MNN is a state actor since it was designated by the Manhattan borough president to run the public access channels there (see 1810170027).

Thirty-three Tribune Broadcasting local stations in 24 markets may go dark on Charter Communications' lineups Jan. 1 when the companies' current agreement expires, Tribune said Thursday. Tribune said the blackout also would mean its WGN America cable network won't be carried on Charter. Tribune said Charter rejected "fair market rates" offers for its content. Charter emailed it's "negotiating with Tribune and we hope to reach a fair agreement.”

Meredith completed the $150 million sale of Fortune to Thai executive Chatchaval Jiaravanon's Fortune Media Group (see 1811090018), Meredith said Friday. The U.S. TV-station owner and publisher said it has gotten $340 million from selling that magazine and Time "and is in active negotiations to sell the Sports Illustrated and MONEY media brands." It got the assets when it bought Time Inc. Jan. 31 in a $1.4 billion deal.