The possible blackout of Tegna-owned stations on Dish Networks was pushed back 24 hours, as the two said Wednesday they agreed to a one-day contract extension as talks continue. The current agreement, covering 51 local channels in 39 markets, was to expire at 7 p.m. Wednesday (see 1509280014).

Rentrak and comScore are combining, with Rentrak becoming a subsidiary of comScore, the companies said in a news release Tuesday. Rentrak shareholders are expected to own nearly 34 percent of the combined company, while comScore shareholders will own close to 66 percent. Serge Matta, comScore CEO, will lead the combined company and Bill Livek, Rentrak CEO, will be president. The deal will enable the company to "introduce a more comprehensive and precise set of solutions for measuring media consumption and advertising across platforms," said the companies. The transaction is expected to be completed early in 2016 upon regulatory and shareholder approval, said the release.

Netflix partnered with Virgin America to bring free Wi-Fi access to Netflix subscribers on the airline's 10 new planes equipped with ViaSat Wi-Fi, the streaming video service said in a news release Tuesday. The promotional offer allows passengers to access their Netflix accounts on smartphones, tablets and laptops, and will continue through March 2, Netflix said.

Panasonic Avionics and Rovi will collaborate to enhance Panasonic's in-flight TV service, the companies said in a news release Tuesday. Panasonic will use Rovi's metadata to manage its entertainment inventory and provide programming information for its TV offering, the release said.

Dish Network still hopes to reach a retransmission consent deal before a Tegna contract expires Wednesday, leading to a blackout of 51 local channels in 39 markets, the satellite company said Saturday. “Since we offered to retroactively true them up when new rates were agreed upon, Tegna has nothing to lose and consumers have everything to gain from an extension of our existing contract that would allow negotiations to continue,” said Warren Schlichting, Dish senior vice president-programming. “Tegna has not accepted our offer and has chosen to use consumers to gain leverage for the economic benefit of Tegna, while potentially causing substantial harm and disruption to the lives of those very same consumers who ultimately will bear the brunt of the unfair price increases sought by Tegna.” In response, Tegna said in a statement that Dish subscribers and its viewers "are best served through a long-term contract for carriage of our local stations. If both parties remain 100 percent focused on productive, market-based negotiations there is no reason a deal cannot be reached before the contract expires. Tegna remains entirely committed to that goal."

Consumer viewership information provider Rentrak bought big data platform company SponsorHub, the acquirer said in a news release Friday. The acquisition allows Rentrak to offer products that measure the effect of social media on TV, dynamic advertising insertion, online video ads, movies and branded content integration, it said.

NAB is wrong about the American Cable Association's position on ending the broadcast TV exclusivity rules, ACA said. In a statement Thursday, ACA CEO Matthew Polka challenged NAB's assertion that ACA favors the FCC "outlawing exclusive broadcaster arrangements altogether" -- as Rick Kaplan, NAB executive vice president-legal and regulatory affairs, said in a blog post Wednesday (see 1509230037). "ACA’s position has always been that should the FCC repeal the exclusivity rules, it should seek to protect traditionally offered out-of-market stations, like significantly viewed stations, at the same time, and does not need to limit other types of exclusivity arrangements," Polka said. "Such a blatant mistake warrants policymakers who read the NAB blog to fact-check all of NAB’s claims in the blog to make sure they are not also mischaracterized.”

Doing away with the network nonduplication rule should be put on the back burner until the FCC first tackles possible changes to the totality of circumstances test and until the GAO has finished a proceeding on whether compulsory copyright licenses should be eliminated, NBCUniversal said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-71. Network nondupe protects against network programming duplication, helping preserve the value of programming and ensuring local broadcasters have the dual revenue stream of advertising revenue and retransmission consent fees that they rely upon, NBCUniversal said. The rule also "serves as an essential counterweight" to compulsory copyright licensing, giving a route for protecting nonduplication rights, and Congress has been clear that it sees value in the protections that come with the exclusivity rules, NBCUniversal said. "It is a hollow argument to suggest that the Commission's limited role in enforcing nonduplication protection is no longer needed because the parties can craft private remedies and then, in a separate and ongoing proceeding, proposed to eviscerate those same remedies," NBCUniversal said, pointing to the FCC's looking at changes to the totality of circumstances test. The filing recapped meetings between a variety of NBCUniversal executives and Commissioners Michael O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff.

Broadcast and wireless broadband will “demonstrably interfere with each other,” and repacking broadcasters into the duplex gap will make that worse, Sinclair Broadcast Group said in comments filed in docket 12-268 and posted online Tuesday. A study by the European Broadcasting Union on potential sharing of wireless LTE and broadcast spectrum concluded that “such sharing is impractical; LTE cannot share spectrum with digital broadcasting,” Sinclair said. “Interference prevention is the raison d'être of the FCC,” Sinclair said. “The laws of physics have not changed and repacking broadcasters in bands reserved for mobile wireless broadband highlights the Commission’s challenge.”

The status quo of network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules has much going for it, including the efficacy of the enforcement mechanisms, while repealing them would lead to challenges in enforcing private contractual rights, given the lack of a direct copyright claim that comes with the compulsory license, Disney said in an FCC ex parte notice posted Friday in docket 10-71. It recapped meetings between executives -- including Ben Pyne, president-global distribution, Disney Media Networks, and Rebecca Campbell, president-ABC Owned TV Stations -- with Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, and Media Bureau staff. The Disney and ABC representatives also pushed for a long transition period due to the length of current contracts that incorporate FCC rules, and pushed for the agency to clarify the effect and legality of existing contractual provisions between broadcast networks and affiliates.