Hulu's claims it's not regulated under Missouri's Video Service Providers Act ignore "clear language" showing the definition applies to programming delivered via IP technology, which is how the streaming service works, the city of Creve Coeur said in a docket 18-cv-01495-SNLJ opposition (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. It responded to a Hulu motion to dismiss the city's litigation against it and Netflix (see 1809170004). Hulu didn't comment.

Walmart announced a strategic entertainment joint venture with interactive video technology company Eko to develop original content to “connect with customers in new and more meaningful ways,” it said Thursday. Eko CEO Yoni Bloch said “all forms of media are personalized except for live action video,” and Eko’s mission is to accelerate video’s evolution. Scott McCall, Walmart U.S. senior vice president-entertainment, toys and seasonal, said the collaboration W*E Interactive Ventures is part of an overall entertainment ecosystem Walmart is building, which includes physical and digital video presence in stores and on websites via the Vudu digital platform, Walmart eBooks platform and with Rakuten Kobo. Eko received prior funding from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Warner Music Group, Samsung, Walmart and others, and has more than 15 patents. Walmart agreed to participate in Eko’s next funding round.

When Apple sells a season of a TV series via iTunes, it often also counts promotional clips as among the videos subscribers are getting, making it falsely seem that buying a full season is ultimately cheaper than buying episodes individually, a California and a New York resident claim in a lawsuit (in Pacer, docket 18-cv-06139-BLF) alleging false advertising. Filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Jose, it seeks class-action status. Apple didn't comment.

The Parents Television Council praised Walmart and MGM's partnership to create original programming for the retailer's Vudu streaming video service. “Netflix may be the shiniest new toy in Hollywood, but the volume and degree of explicit content is increasingly vexing for parents and families," said Tim Winter, PTC president. The announcement from Walmart is "welcome news," said Winter, encouraging Walmart to invest in and expand the service.

Comcast is now majority owner of Sky, completing buying the 39.12 percent held by Fox, it said Tuesday. Fox and Comcast were in a bidding war for Sky, until Fox said it wouldn't make a counteroffer to a Comcast auction bid accepted by Sky's independent committee (see 1809260019).

An Energy Star Version 8.0-compliant Ultra HD TV can consume 45 percent more energy than a comparably sized 1080p set and still get “most efficient” status, said the EPA. It rejected green groups’ call to reduce that gap to 20 percent. Though TV makers reduced “power consumption gap between HD and UHD TVs in recent years,” the agency found that of Energy Star TVs, 1 percent of UHD models “could meet the criteria were the UHD adder reduced to 20%.” Friday’s disclosure is the first that the EPA plans significant reductions in the UHD adder in V9.0; V8.0 takes effect March 1.

Comcast and Fox have finalized a deal for Fox's minority stake in Sky, Comcast said Thursday. It said in an SEC filing that it will purchase Fox's 672.78 million common shares of Sky -- representing a 39.12 percent ownership stake -- for roughly $15.13 billion. It said the sale is scheduled to close Tuesday. Fox and Comcast had been in a bidding war for Sky, until Fox said it wouldn't make a counteroffer to a Comcast auction bid accepted by Sky's independent committee (see 1809260019).

SoundCloud will be the exclusive U.S. advertising and sales organization for Pandora effective next year, they announced Wednesday. Advertisers and brands will be able to buy SoundCloud's U.S. ad inventory directly through Pandora, with access to its direct sales, targeting data and audio programmatic product, they said. SoundCloud and Pandora’s combined U.S. audience reaches more than 100 million unduplicated listeners -- with 13 percent audience overlap, they said. Last week (see 1809240047 or 1809250021), SiriusXM, which owns 16 percent of Pandora, proposed to buy the streaming-media company in a $3.5 billion deal.

FTC repeal of the five-decade-old “picture tube rule” to prevent deceptive marketing of TV screen sizes (see 1803130054) takes effect 90 days after notice in the Federal Register, said the commission Tuesday. The rule “is no longer necessary to prevent deceptive claims regarding the size of television screens or to encourage uniformity and accuracy in their marketing,” it said. The FTC “retains its authority to address future unfair or deceptive practices relating to television screen measurement on a case-by-case basis,” it said: The commission relied heavily on CTA comments that keeping the rule “would not provide any meaningful benefit to consumers because market forces will continue to make a screen’s diagonal measurement the industry standard,” said the notice.

Podcast listening is “booming” in the U.K., with nearly 6 million adults listening weekly, double five years ago, said Ofcom Friday. The increase spans all age groups, steepest among young adults ages 15-24, with 18.7 percent listening weekly.