Discovery and Hulu signed a distribution agreement for the streaming service picking up close to 4,000 episodes of Discovery reality shows, they said Wednesday. The deal adds five more Discovery networks to the Hulu With Live TV virtual MVPD offering starting in December, alongside three Discovery networks already on the lineup.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' TVEyes decision earlier this year needs Supreme Court review to prevent news channels from using copyright law as protection from research about and criticism of them, TVEyes said in a petition for writ of certiorari filed Wednesday with the Supreme Court. The appellate court reversed a lower court ruling that some TVEyes functions are fair use and found that its redistribution of Fox News content was too broad to be considered fair use (see 1802270025). In its cert petition to be posted in docket 18A117, TVEyes said that with the Supreme Court not getting into copyright fair use issues in more than 20 years, even as digital technology has changed massively, the case is "an ideal opportunity" for confirming that fair use protects research services used in criticism and analysis of copyrighted works. Fox News outside counsel didn't comment.

Subscription VOD penetration in the U.S. is slowing, but TV brands getting into the direct-to-consumer SVOD market over the next two years could gin up that growth, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Monday. Disney's entry into streaming in 2019 could snag a sizable portion of U.S. population that hasn't subscribed to SVOD, and AT&T also appears to be looking to make HBO the anchor of a direct-to-consumer platform, the analyst said: Such entries "could be just the kick the industry needs" to push SVOD penetration past pay TV's current 77 percent.

CBS, within 30 days, will donate $20 million to “one or more charitable organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace” under its separation agreement with Les Moonves, who resigned Sunday as chairman, president and CEO amid allegations of sexual misconduct (see the personals section of the Aug. 3 issue), said the company in an SEC filing Monday. Moonves will pick the charities “in consultation with” CBS, it said. CBS also will pay $120 million into a “grantor trust” and will keep the money if its board determines that Moonves was fired for cause and he doesn’t seek an arbitration appeal, it said. The board will make that determination within 30 days after independent investigators from Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton submit their report on the allegations, but “in no event later” than Jan. 31, it said. If the board finds Moonves was fired for cause, CBS will have “no further obligations” to him, it said. Until that determination, Moonves will perform “transition advisory services” for a year and will be given “office services and security services” for up to two years, it said. Moonves would collect the $120 million from the grantor trust if the board determines he was fired without cause, it said. The CEO's departure came in an announcement Sunday that the group of TV stations and its controlling shareholder affiliated with the Redstone family ended their litigation. That shareholder, National Amusements, confirmed it doesn't plan to propose combining CBS and Viacom and won't do so for at least two years, and "will give good faith consideration to any business combination transaction or other strategic alternative that the independent directors believe are in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders." CBS shares closed 1.5 percent lower Monday at $55.20, while Viacom's stock was little changed, too.

DOJ appeal of a lower court decision allowing AT&T's buy of Time Warner hasn't notably affected how New AT&T operates, WarnerMedia head John Stankey said at an analysts' presentation Thursday. He said the appeal is "a weak case." Over the months since the close on TW, the focus has been on getting management teams in place and on more cooperation between the TW operating divisions that traditionally operated more as silos, Stankey said.

21st Century Fox is investing $100 million in social broadcasting platform Caffeine, Fox announced. The deal includes creating Caffeine Studios, which is jointly owned by Caffeine and Fox Sports. “The new studio will leverage FOX Sports’ expertise in live events and programming to create exclusive esports, video game, sports, and live entertainment content” for Caffeine's platform, Wednesday's release said. 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch will join Caffeine’s board.

The head of the UHD Alliance hopes for more very high definition content and expects more deals to educate the public about 8K, he told us in Berlin at IFA. Aside from NHK plans to launch 8K broadcasting by the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, “there is only limited 8K content being produced,” which means displays will need to upscale content, said President Mike Fidler Friday. “We still have lots of work to do with 4K. We still have to build the ecosystem out.” The alliance saw Amazon launch its “Witness the Revolution” webpage about a month ago to guide shoppers through Ultra HD product complexities. The project took nine months from inception to its going live in August, including negotiations and getting required studio clearances to display Ultra HD Blu-ray titles onscreen, Fidler said: The alliance is “working with others” for similar collaborations.

The deadline for U.S.-based foreign media outlets to submit their first report as required under the McCain National Defense Authorization Act is Oct. 12, said an FCC public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. That report is to include the outlet's name and a description of its relationship to the foreign principal of the outlet, including a description of the legal structure of the relationship and any funding the outlet receives from the principal. The PN noted the act requires such reports from all entities that produce or distribute video programming transmitted by an MVPD for U.S. audiences and that would be an agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Quincy Media stations have been blacked out on Dish Network since Wednesday in what Dish said was an attempt to more than double the fees the broadcaster gets from the MVPD. It said Quincy on Wednesday made a final offer and wouldn't grant an extension to the existing carriage agreement while Dish reviewed the offer. Dish said ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW and MyTV affiliates in 13 markets in 12 states were affected. Quincy emailed Tuesday that it has been talking with Dish for months and offered multiple extensions but that the satellite-TV provider "steadfastly refused to make a fair deal." It said it's seeking "fair and reasonable terms and compensation," and other negotiations were concluded "without delays or disputes." The broadcaster said Dish publicly says it will accept rates in line with what other subscription-video providers pay but keeps offering terms and rates "way below the marketplace."

Antitrust law and its enforcement have "helped sports improve," DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim told a Notre Dame Law School audience Friday, according to prepared remarks. He said examples of that enforcement include DOJ requiring Disney to divest 22 regional sports networks as part of its buy of Fox's nonbroadcast assets (see 1806270016) and the department's settlement with AT&T and its DirecTV stopping them from spearheading information exchanges among pay-TV companies regarding negotiations about carrying SportsNet LA (see 1703240005).