While pay-TV operators in the U.S. and Europe want to aggregate subscription VOD services for subscribers, most don't have an open platform at the set-top box, making that integration hard, and some are overly selective about the SVOD services they are willing to aggregate, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Monday. He said including only select services isn't sustainable long term since the legions of subscribers to an SVOD service not supported by their pay-TV operator will head to other platforms that do support that SVOD. To keep up, operators must adopt an open platform to run their set-tops, he said.

The FTC seeks comments by May 14 on its proposal to do away with the “picture tube rule” for marketing TV screen sizes, said a Tuesday NPRM. The FTC in June launched a “regulatory review” of the rule it has had on the books for five decades to prevent deceptive practices in advertising TV screen sizes and to promote uniformity in screen measurement (see 1706220031). In proposing the rule’s repeal, the NPRM said that the regulation “has not kept up with changes in the marketplace” as the industry migrated to flat-panel from CRT sets and that mandatory screen measurement instructions “are no longer necessary to prevent consumer deception.” Staff found TV manufacturers “are not making deceptive screen size claims, which is consistent with the fact that the Commission has not brought any enforcement actions against marketers making such claims in more than 50 years,” it said. CTA, in Aug. 31 comments, argued for the rule’s repeal on grounds that “case-by-case enforcement ... is a much more apt tool than a general rule to address any isolated instances.”

A Sinclair proposal that it be allowed to temporarily own duopolies in several markets after approval of its takeover of Tribune (see 1803070050) would create new retransmission consent concerns, said the American Cable Association in an ex parte letter posted Tuesday in FCC docket 17-179. ACA said that, though Sinclair said the stations will be sold to new owners, that the request could involve Tribune stations being temporarily owned by Sinclair before being passed to a new owner could activate “after-acquired” clauses in retrans deals involving the stations. “By combining after-acquired station clauses with temporary ownership waivers, Sinclair could -- intentionally or otherwise -- automatically increase retransmission consent prices for stations that Sinclair cannot lawfully own,” ACA said. Since Sinclair hasn’t specified which stations it will divest, to whom and under what terms, ACA can’t evaluate the possible effects of the proposal. “Until Sinclair discloses information regarding the stations it proposes to divest, it has not provided the ‘full and complete record' necessary,” ACA said. “Without such information, the Commission cannot proceed with its review.”

U.S. pay-TV providers covering about 95 percent of the market lost 1.5 million video subscribers last year, compared with a 760,000 pro forma loss the year before, Leichtman Research Group said Monday. LRG said the top six cable companies lost roughly 660,000 video subs in 2017 vs. 275,000. It said direct broadcast satellite lost about 1.55 million subscribers vs. 40,000. Telco losses slowed to 885,000 from 1.359 million. Most of those telco losses both years were from AT&T's U-verse, Leichtman said. LRG said sub losses from traditional services were about 3.1 million; those were offset somewhat by gains from internet-delivered services.

Clarification: Futuresource forecasts that the global market for voice assistant-enabled headphones and wearables will top 100 million units by 2021 (see 1803080016).

NBCUniversal wants the FCC to exclude MSNBC from the list of top five national nonbroadcast networks subject to FCC video description rules, NBCU said in docket 11-43. MSNBC doesn’t broadcast a sufficient amount of prime-time programming that isn’t live or near live to be required to do so, the filing said. MSNBC will average only 42 hours of programming that isn’t live or near live in the six quarters from July 2017 to December, the filing said. Fox News Network and 21st Century Fox made a similar request for Fox News also posted Monday. Fox News also provides very little programming that isn’t live or near live, the filing said. Disney also requested such an exemption for ESPN (see 1803070052).

BT Sport showcased the world’s first live HD broadcast in HDR10 high dynamic range by sending a Union of European Football Associations Champions League soccer match telecast to a smartphone, said the British Telecom subsidiary Thursday. The “breakthrough” live trial was Wednesday at London’s Wembley Stadium, broadcasting to a beta version of the BT Sport App installed on a Samsung Galaxy S9 using the 4G mobile network of EE, the BT-owned wireless carrier, it said. In the quarterfinal UEFA Champions League match, Italian champions Juventus defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-1. “Mobile viewers are an important and growing part of our audience, and we’re constantly focusing on innovating to ensure the best possible experience for our sports fans,” said Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport chief operating officer, in a written statement. “HDR is the future for mobile -- the technology is perfect for getting the most out of the small screen, with incredible colour and definition.” HD HDR “provides a better mobile experience and is less data intensive for both the mobile network and the user’s data consumption than 4K,” said BT Sport. U.S. broadcasters expressed many of the same sentiments, saying bandwidth constraints have many looking toward using 1080p with HDR in launching ATSC 3.0, at least as an “interim” approach (see 1705160044). BT Sport used 24 Ultra HD cameras at Wembley, including 17 that captured the match in native HDR10, the rest upconverted to HDR10, it said: “BT Sport will continue to test the new HD HDR technology along with other features in development.” BT Sport also beamed the match in 4K with HDR and Dolby Atmos sound to a private screening in London, it said.

The federal court hearing the DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner should allow discovery to determine the existence and scope of any improper White House interference in DOJ's handling of that deal and subsequent litigation, watchdog group Protect Democracy Project (PDP) said in a proposed docket 17-cv-2511 amicus brief (in Pacer) filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. In a related motion asking for leave to file the brief in support of neither party, PDP said it's made up of nine former DOJ officials, including Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John Dean, who was White House counsel to President Richard Nixon. PDP said it's concerned about White House interference in the DOJ suit, and the court has a variety of "doctrinal tools" for redress, including application of a presumption of vindictiveness that would require the DOJ justify its position by providing information about the constitutional legitimacy of its action. PDP also said the court could require the agency to reconsider the case with a different team more insulated from the White House, or dismiss the lawsuit under the unclean hands doctrine or as unlawful selective enforcement. And PDP said the court could put the burden on the DOJ to show it isn't punishing content protected by the First Amendment. DOJ didn't comment Friday. PDP also sued the DOJ seeking White House communications on AT&T/TW (see 1803060004).

Voice assistants are on course to be a major user interface, Futuresource reported. Smart speakers comprised more than half of the 49.6 million voice-assistant devices shipped worldwide last year, and the technology -- from Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft -- has expanded to media streamers, consoles, smart TVs and wearables, it said Thursday. The researcher forecasts more than 100 million voice assistant-enabled headphones and wearables shipping by 2021.

Copyright bots like YouTube's Content ID system have inherent shortcomings, like the inability to differentiate between infringement and fair use or between similar-sounding general noises, meaning such bots aren't good at protecting free speech, Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy analyst Katharine Trendacosta blogged Wednesday. She said some content companies pushed for copyright bots to be required for platforms hosting third-party content, and, beyond being a threat to speech, that requirement also would be "a huge and expensive hurdle" for new platforms. YouTube owner Google didn't comment Thursday.