The sooner the FCC assesses Media Bureau regulatory fees on a technology-neutral basis, the sooner small and mid-sized cable operators will quit subsidizing direct broadcast satellite competitors and struggling with a competitive disadvantage, an American Cable Association staffer told an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, recounted a docket 18-175 posting Thursday. ACA sought a single rate of 67 cents per subscriber for DBS, cable and IPTV (see 1806220017) and said if the agency instead adopts the regulatory fees proposed in the NPRM, its end goal should be fee parity among those providers. The association said it should make clear regulatory fees are assessed based on burdens on the FCC and not issues like relative impact of regulation.

Comments will be due Sept. 24, and replies Oct. 9, as the FCC seeks input on competition in the audio programming delivery market, said a Federal Register notice to be published Thursday. It's for the communications market report required in Q4 under the Ray Baum Act.

A dismissed third amended complaint against Google for its YouTube service allegedly providing material support for ISIS leaves the door open for yet one more amended complaint on one theory, but when that theory "inevitably fails," the next step is perhaps "almost-certainly-futile appeal," Santa Clara University Director-High Tech Law Institute Professor Eric Goldman blogged Monday. Goldman said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision earlier this year in Fields vs. Twitter was clear that social media providers aren't proximate causes of terrorist-related injuries, so the YouTube suit didn't overcome that standard. He said the claim YouTube shares revenue with terrorists "clearly has no chance," and the entire subset of litigation going up against Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- which makes immune interactive computer services that publish third-party users' content -- "will fade away." In the docket 16-cv-03282-DMR decision (in Pacer) last week, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu said the revenue sharing claims -- the revenue coming from YouTube advertising -- also don't support the proximate causation finding under the Fields standard. She said the other claims were being dismissed with prejudice, but she couldn't conclude that further amendment of revenue sharing claims would be futile and said the plaintiffs can file a fourth amended complaint. The plaintiffs -- surviving family members of a woman killed in November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris by ISIS-associated terrorists -- allege that because ISIS used YouTube as a recruitment tool, the platform knowingly provided material support to the terror group.

Awareness of autonomous driving is rising, as are perceptions it’s unsafe, Cox Automotive found in canvassing 1,250 adults online in May. Eighty-four percent would ride in a self-driving vehicle if given the option of taking control of the wheel; 16 percent feel comfortable riding without that. Those saying roadways would be safer if all vehicles were fully autonomous decreased 18 percentage points in the past two years. Forty-nine percent will “never” consider buying a vehicle with full Level 5 autonomy on the Society of Automotive Engineers scale, compared with 30 percent two years ago. “Recent high-profile accidents involving autonomous vehicles have cast a shadow on driverless appeal and software, but the accidents may only be slightly to blame for a change in consumer sentiment,” said Cox Thursday. Three-quarters think fully autonomous vehicles need “real world testing to be perfected,” with 54 percent hoping that occurs far from where they live.

“Partner” manufacturers shipped 25.3 million Energy Star-certified TVs in 2017, for 58 percent of all sets shipped in the U.S. last year, EPA reported Wednesday. The Energy Star v8.0 TV spec takes effect March 1 (see 1802270044).

Twitter temporarily suspended the account of Alex Jones (see 1808100025) Tuesday shortly after the far-right conspiracy theorist posted an “abusive” video urging followers to “have their battle rifles” ready against mainstream media and others. Jones -- who experienced widespread content takedowns by Apple, Facebook, YouTube and others last week -- tweeted a screenshot from his InfoWars account of Twitter’s explanation for the seven-day suspension. Twitter limited his account to direct messages to followers and barred him from tweeting, retweeting, following and liking. The clock starts when Jones removes the “abusive” post, the platform said. “The account currently has limited functionality,” a spokesperson emailed. “We haven't suspended the account but are requiring Tweets which contained a broadcast in violation of our rules are deleted.” “Everybody’s getting purged,” Jones said, calling the platform’s rules subjective. “It’s not just me. [Twitter’s] just taking their time with InfoWars.”

Google Assistant-based voice-enabled product owners now can request songs from Pandora Premium and Deezer, Google Home Product Manager Prabhu Balasubramanian blogged. Pandora Premium subscribers can search and play favorite songs, albums and playlists by voice, and Deezer subs can stream music "hands-free."

Usability, image quality and high prices are among barriers blunting video device market growth, Futuresource reported Monday, though sales remained “resilient” with 12.2 million units shipped last year. In addition to benefiting from lower prices, consumers will get higher end features in action cameras, including better Wi-Fi for social media sharing, and 4K resolution at 60 frames per second is spreading, Futuresource said. The researcher said rugged action cams that can be mounted onto clothes and accessories are more durable than fragile smartphones.

U.S. subscription VOD customers will grow from 132 million in 2017 to 208 million by 2023, Digital TV Research said Monday. It said 88.5 million households -- 73.5 percent of those in the U.S. -- will subscribe to at least one platform by 2023, with the average household paying for 2.35 of them. At the end of 2017, 65.1 million U.S. households, or 55 percent, subscribed to at least one platform, and the average subscription VOD subscriber paid for 2.03 services, it said.

More than a billion connected TV devices are in use worldwide, said Strategy Analytics Monday, citing smart TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and digital media streamers. Smart TVs are 60 percent of the installed base of connected video devices, it said. Samsung has caught up with Sony at the top of the pack of connected TV device units and is poised to take the lead this half due to its dominant position in smart TVs, said analyst David Mercer. Companies such as Roku have built successful businesses selling dedicated streaming devices as consumer preference for viewing and engaging with TV content shifts, said analyst David Watkins. SA expects more than 55 million digital media streamers to ship globally this year, along with more than 150 million-plus smart TVs.