Cable accounted for all Q1 growth in U.S. broadband subscriptions, adding 910,000, while telcos collectively lost 13,000 despite "hyper-aggressive offers" from AT&T, Pivotal Research's Jeffrey Wlodarczak emailed investors Friday. "Speed matters and cable has the better mousetrap" with speeds ramping up to 1 GB and heading eventually toward 10 GB, he said: Cable has ample medium- to long-term growth opportunities in taking market share from DSL, and 5G isn't likely to be a material competitor over the next five years. The analyst said pay-TV operators, including private ones, likely lost 840,000 subscribers in Q1, for the seventh straight quarter of accelerating year-over-year declines, a trend that likely will continue in Q2. Wlodarczak said there likely were roughly 5 million virtual MVPD subscribers in the quarter.

With El Centro's new citation against Charter Communications alleging other violations of California state law and the city issuing notices seeking payment of penalties, Charter Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Diego filed a docket 18-cv-00679-AJB-PCL first amended complaint (in Pacer). The company said California's Digital Infrastructure & Video Competition Act (DIVCA) pre-empts all the city code provisions on which the original citations are based and lays out notice requirements El Centro didn't meet when it issued the new citation. The amended suit asks for a declaration that DIVCA pre-empts the city code provisions that are the basis of the citations and an injunction preventing the city from trying to enforce its pre-empted municipal code violations. El Centro didn't comment Friday. The operator sued El Centro in April for allegedly meddling in the MVPD's carriage dispute with Northwest Broadcasting (see 1804060003) and the municipality is suing Charter under the California False Claims Act for removing Northwest affiliates from its channel lineup without then reimbursing the city, a subscriber (see 1804260003).

Google joined the Streaming Video Alliance, along with AWS and Videastream, the industry group said Thursday. Members include Amazon Web Services, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast, Fox, IBM and Sinclair, it said.

At $88 billion, digital advertising spending in the U.S. overtook ad spending on cable and broadcast TV ($70.1 billion) last year for the first time, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported Thursday, based on a PwC survey. Spending on digital channels grew 21 percent last year, with mobile, at $36.6 billion, generating 57 percent. Total media ad spending fell 3 percent. Digital video reached $11.9 billion, a 33 percent rise, and spending on social media advertising jumped 36 percent to $22.2 billion. Mobile video ad spend leaped 54 percent to $6.2 billion, the first time mobile video ad revenue passed desktop video, the group said. Search revenue reached $40.6 billion, up 18 percent, and mobile drove the 23 percent increase in banner ads to $27.5 billion. Digital audio ad spending grew 39 percent to $1.6 billion.

Roku is unfazed with Best Buy phasing out Roku support on Insignia-branded smart TVs under an exclusive partnership with Amazon last month (see 1804180027), said Roku CEO Anthony Wood on a Wednesday earnings call. Roku shares tumbled 12 percent the day of the announcement. Roku is “deepening” its relationship with advertisers and content publishers, said Wood. “The $70 billion spent each year on TV advertising in the U.S. continues to shift to streaming as advertisers follow viewers.” This is the first spring the company is participating in the TV “upfront” season, "indicative of the fact that national advertisers are starting to think holistically about how to reach consumers in the living room and recognize that a larger and larger portion of their viewers are now only available” on over-the-top services, he said.

Disney is “still deep in the regulatory process” of acquiring much of 21st Century Fox (see 1712140038), said CEO Bob Iger on a Tuesday earnings call. “I can't share any more information or engage in further speculation about the deal, except to say that we strongly believe in the value” of the Fox “assets as part of our ongoing strategy to create growth in a very dynamic global marketplace,” said Iger. There was no mention on the call of Comcast’s reported all-cash offer for Fox (see 1805080004). Disney soft-launched the ESPN+ over-the-top service about a month ago with a marketing strategy that’s “relatively modest in nature,” said Iger. He wouldn't disclose statistics on the ESPN+ launch, “except to say that so far, so good,” he said. “A number of people have signed up, obviously, for the trial and our conversion rates have been good so far. Most importantly, the technology is working, the user interface is considered good, the fan reaction has been quite strong.” Disney is pricing the service at $4.99 monthly, starting with a seven-day free trial.

Facebook expanded disclosure requirements for customers buying political and “issue” ads, it announced. The list of issues now includes abortion, civil rights, crime, guns, immigration and terrorism. Those buying related ads will have to disclose their identity, location and source of payment, a change meant to combat malicious political influence. “Glad to see Facebook introducing transparency requirements for issue ads, a measure I proposed last year along with @AmyKlobuchar & @SenJohnMcCain,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted Tuesday. He urged passage of the Honest Ads Act (S-1989), so other platforms must follow similar rules (see 1804090041).

Charter Communications clearly had more than enough control over its ability to carry Northwest Broadcasting programming and avoid or defer the ongoing blackout long enough to give 30-day notice to subscribers, said El Centro and Crescent City, California; Yuma, Arizona; and Jackson, Wyoming, in an FCC docket 18-91 reply posted Tuesday. They responded to Charter's opposition to the communities' petitions (see 1804270002). The communities said the company hasn't offered a strong defense of its broadcast TV surcharge, and if it's a pass-through charge, Charter is obligated to refund the amounts saved by the blackout. They said the FCC has authority to order refunds under Section 4 of the Communications Act and that Charter's terms of service saying subscribers aren't entitled to refunds violate public policy and should be declared void. The MVPD didn't comment.

Analysts see Comcast's supposedly working toward an all-cash offer for Fox as carrying multiple challenges. The reported offer could "face a stiff fight" for Fox and Sky "and will likely end up with neither," New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin emailed investors Tuesday. If it does buy both, New Comcast might have to separate its cable and content businesses, though "it would be hard not to be excited about a phenomenal Cable asset coupled with a global content powerhouse," he said. Any Comcast interest in Fox is "just dumb" given the amount of debt Comcast would take on, the antitrust issues raised and the lack of synergies between the two, Ross Gerber, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management CEO, tweeted Tuesday. Disney, meanwhile, "is in such a good position they don’t need Fox, although it puts them in a more dominant position." Gerber said the company should put its focus on its ESPN and over-the-top apps. Comcast's interest in Sky and possible interest in Fox underscore its focus on differentiation through original content, while possibly pointing to "a large-scale Internet-delivered video strategy," Kagan analyst Tony Lenoir emailed. But a Fox bid could start a bidding war with Disney, which is counting on Fox programming assets for its over-the-top service, he said. Comcast didn't comment.

Charter Communications and CBS inked a multiyear carriage agreement that gives the cable operator rights to live authenticated streaming on CBS.com and the CBS app, allowing Charter customers to stream CBS content across multiple devices, Charter said Monday. The deal includes retransmission consent of CBS-owned TV stations, including CBS-owned CW affiliates, in multiple markets, and distribution of Showtime, Smithsonian Channel and CBS Sports Network.