Direct-to-consumer content delivery continues to be one of Disney’s “top priorities,” said CEO Bob Iger on a Thursday earnings call. More than a million subscribe to ESPN Plus, and “we continue to see impressive growth,” he said. That “bodes very well” for Disney’s overall direct-to-consumer ambitions, including the Disney Plus-branded service to launch late 2019, he said. The company will give “a first look at Disney Plus, along with some of the content we're creating for it," at an investor conference in April, he said. “You can't cry over spilled milk,” said Iger about Disney’s failed bid to land Sky, which went to Comcast. “We would have loved to have had Sky, both because we believe in the asset and we thought it could have helped us in terms of introducing a direct-to-consumer service in the European market.” Disney still plans to launch Disney Plus in Europe, he said: Without Sky, it’s possible “it takes us a little bit longer to penetrate some of these markets.”
Comments are due Nov. 27, replies Dec. 7, on SiriusXM seeking clarification of emergency alert system rules or, alternately, waiver to transmit EAS header code tones in a compressed audio format over the four channels on the legacy XM platform that use audio compression, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 15-94. The requests responded to the FCC seeking comment on a 2005 then-XM Radio still-pending petition (see 0601040124).
Good-faith negotiation rules bar unreasonable delays, but MTA Communications wasn't unreasonable in failing to make another counteroffer after not getting a reply from Coastal TV Broadcasting to reasonable questions, the FCC Media Bureau said in a docket 18-208 order dismissing Coastal's negotiation complaint. The bureau also said in Monday's Daily Digest that MTA wasn't causing unreasonable delays when it made counter offers lower than its previous offers, since retransmission consent rules don't bar a party from changing its bargaining position during negotiations. Coastal said it's reviewing the decision, continues to evaluate its next steps and "remains willing to negotiate with MTA to reach a mutually agreeable arrangement.”
Dish Network is in a no-win situation in its carriage dispute with AT&T over HBO and Cinemax, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote investors Friday. The blackout (see 1811010016), alongside the ongoing Univision impasse and following others, adds up to a "steady drip, drip, drip of lost programming" and "sends a rather unsettling message" that Dish is gradually getting out of the video business, he said: A prolonged HBO/Cinemax blackout will cost Dish subscribers, but acquiescing to AT&T terms would result in "already unattractive economics get[ting] even more unattractive." Dish didn't comment. Its quarterly earnings call with analysts and the news media is scheduled for Wednesday.
AMC Networks closed on its $59 million buy of the portion of RLJ Entertainment not owned by founder Robert Johnson and announced in July (see 1807300047) following approval by ELJ shareholders, it said Thursday. AMC said the deal adds to its direct-to-consumer and subscription VOD strategy.
The portion of U.S. households subscribing to some form of pay TV is sliding, Leichtman Research Group said Wednesday. Seventy-eight percent subscribe, down from 86 percent in 2013, 87 percent in 2008 and 81 percent in 2004. A big part of the decline is driven by younger people, with 70 percent of adults age 18-44 subscribing now, compared with 83 percent in 2013, LRG said. Among people ages 45 and up, 84 percent subscribe today vs. 88 percent in 2013. It said penetration of pay TV among renters, singles and movers has declined at a faster pace in recent years, expanding the demographic divides in the area. The mean reported monthly spending on subscription video among subscribers is about $107, up about 1 percent from a year ago. The data comes from a phone survey of 1,152 households.
Digital movie purchases and rental transactions grew 19 percent in first-half 2018, NPD reported Tuesday. As of August, 61 million U.S. households had at least one internet-connected TV, videogame console, Blu-ray Disc player or streaming media player, for a year-on-year growth of 20 percent for connected TVs and 17 percent for streaming media players. Apple iTunes users had the highest purchase v. rental ratio, 60:40, while Amazon flipped that, 56:44. The researcher surveyed 5,677 U.S. adults July 30-Aug. 7.
Netflix and Hulu haven't shown the U.S. District Court in St. Louis has jurisdiction over Creve Coueur's legal complaint about the streaming services, the Missouri city said in a docket 18-cv-01495-SNLJ reply (in Pacer) Thursday supporting its motion to remand the case to state court. It said Hulu didn't meet the $5 million threshold needed for Class Action Fairness Act jurisdiction, and the two have yet to meet the burden of showing they properly removed the case to federal court (see 1809100020). The city said Missouri state courts are best positioned to decide whether the streaming services must pay fees under Missouri's Video Service Providers Act, and it didn't waive its right to seek remand when it filed a motion to consolidate the case with similar litigation against DirecTV and Dish Network. Counsel for the streaming services didn't comment Friday.
Dish Network, which had sought $1.95 million in damages from the creator of the ZemTV streaming service (see 1809070059), was awarded $650,000 -- $50,000 for each of 13 copyrighted works that ZemTV willfully infringed by retransmitting without authorization -- U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore of Houston ordered Wednesday in docket 17-cv-01618 (see here, in Pacer). She also enjoined defendant Shahjahan Durrani, doing business as ZemTV, from retransmitting a list of channels to which Dish has copyright. Durrani didn't comment Friday.
Turner Classic Movies’ FilmStruck streaming video service said Friday it’s shutting down Nov. 29 and no longer enrolling subscribers. Current FilmStruck subscribers will receive an email with details about their accounts and the refund process, said the website. FilmStruck, owned by AT&T, said this month (see 1810100038) it plans to launch a streaming service in Q4 2019, after its June acquisition of Time Warner. An SEC filing with few details said the service would be "a new choice for entertainment with the WarnerMedia collection of films, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation." FilmStruck, which streams international cinema, indie movies and film classics, is available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast devices, and via Android and iOS apps.