Matt Daneman

AT&T arguments against Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal show that if AT&T/Time Warner goes through, prices for current services will increase and emerging competition development will slow, DOJ said in a docket 17-2511 trial brief (in Pacer) to U.S. District Court in Washington. On the contrary, AT&T and TW said (in Pacer), also filed Friday, the agency's lead economic expert concedes it wouldn't be profitable for New AT&T to withhold its TV networks from rival MVPDs, and prices paid by New AT&T subscribers will decrease. The trial, to begin Monday, is expected to last 15 days (see 1803080047).

The Trump administration put the spotlight on violent media after last month's school shooting in Parkland, Florida, but experts see big First Amendment hurdles to FCC or congressional action aimed at addressing such content. One big issue is defining violent media in a way that can be consistently and reliably applied, emailed broadcast lawyer David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker, noting that the same violent act is seen very differently in the context of a live-action show versus a Looney Tunes cartoon. The White House last week hosted a closed-door meeting on media violence, focusing largely on video games (see 1803080067).

Better consumer education and prodding law enforcers via language in appropriations bills urging strong enforcement were suggestions Wednesday at a discussion on streaming video piracy. A coalition of studios, broadcasters, MVPDs and online providers went to DOJ with referrals about streaming piracy operations, and the agency is looking at "a variety of candidates" for criminal action, said MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried. DOJ didn't comment. Fried said law enforcement funding to tackle such IP-related issues needs to be adequate, and report language in appropriations bills making such enforcement a priority also would help.

Tech giants need to be more heavily regulated, said NCTA CEO Michael Powell. "Governments can no longer coddle and cater" to such large and heavily influential companies, he said Tuesday at Cable Congress 2018 in Dublin, according to prepared remarks. He touched on fake news, tech addiction, consumer concerns about privacy and other tech criticisms increasing coming to the fore in Washington (see 1803050040). Critics cast the comments as the cable ISP industry trying to shift regulatory focus away from itself.

Liberty Media, through its SiriusXM operations, bought a portion of iHeartRadio corporate debt large enough to fund most of any iHeart restructuring it might pursue, Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said Thursday in an earnings call. He said Liberty Media sees "potentially substantial synergies" with Sirius in the form of shared personalities and cross promotions. FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh wrote investors that Liberty and Sirius XM -- of which Liberty has majority control -- combined are apparently considering a total investment of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion that would have them each owning about 20 percent.

Comcast's bid for Sky likely won't raise the same types and levels of regulatory concern that initially met Fox's bid for Sky, experts told us. Unclear is whether the Fox bid -- now that it has pledged a firewall to protect Sky News operations (see 1802120031) -- still carries those regulatory concerns. Comcast announced the $31 billion proposal Tuesday. Fox said it "remains committed" to the cash offer it made in 2016, saying "no firm offer has been made" by Comcast.

Some process and structural changes at the FCC should help ensure the agency operates differently even under future administrations, the agency's Republican commissioners said Friday at the American Conservative Union's (ACU) 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference. There, Chairman Ajit Pai was a surprise recipient of the National Rifle Association's Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award for his role in and the fallout from the net neutrality Title II rollback. Pai "saved the Internet" and weathered numerous death threats and having his property "invaded by the George Soros crowd," said ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider. Citing the newly created Office of Economics and Analytics (see 1801300026), Commissioner Brendan Carr said institutionalizing the idea of considering economic impacts of regulations should ensure that decision has long-term effect. Pai said his successor "will face a big fight" in the name of government openness if there are efforts to roll back his process change of making agenda items publicly available before meetings. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said the best way to help ensure that the free market path the FCC is on continues is to elect conservatives to the House and Senate and make sure President Donald Trump is re-elected. He also said "we could use everyone's help" in the looming fight in the Senate over Title II. Pai said his administration's focus on a Title II rollback was against the advice of some who urged him to take smaller, more incremental deregulatory steps, but "I don't play small ball." Carr and O'Rielly both highlighted the agency's efforts to foster 5G; Carr said the FCC should be able to complete this year the streamlining of federal permitting and processing procedures needed for 5G deployment. Asked about the vitriol he received on the net neutrality proceeding, Pai said it has "not been an easy time" and quoted a passage from Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” He also said he would continue to speak out about the "poisonous political culture." The NRA award pre-empted a speech Pai was to deliver. The FCC didn't make available a copy of the speech but said Pai was "honored" by the recognition. According to the NRA, recipients have included talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Mike Pence, and the award is a Kentucky handmade long gun to be stored at an NRA museum.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's championing U.S. market access for SpaceX's planned broadband constellation probably reflects him wanting to elevate forward-looking satellite related items, an FCC official told us. Several said the SpaceX item circulated Wednesday doesn't seem to raise any obvious red flags that might result in eighth-floor opposition. Pai, announcing Wednesday the draft was circulated, said SpaceX and other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operators seeking licenses or U.S. market access are one potential way to bridge the digital divide. Satellite technology can reach rural or unserved areas that fiber and cell towers don't reach and provide more competition in areas that have terrestrial Internet access, he said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement said, “The next generation of satellites will multiply the number of stations in our skies, creating extraordinary new opportunities for connectivity. The FCC will need to move quickly to facilitate these services and at the same time address new challenges with coordination and debris.” The FCC, Pai's office and SpaceX didn't comment. The commissioners at their June meeting approved OneWeb's application for U.S. market access for its 720-satellite NGSO constellation (see 1706220039). Space Norway and Telesat Canada NGSO applications were approved on circulation (see 1711030063). In a letter to the Office of Engineering and Technology earlier this month, SpaceX said it's planning for an upcoming launch of two test NGSOs, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b.

Viacom has been limiting its content licensing to third-party subscription VOD services in anticipation of the direct-to-consumer streaming service it plans to launch later this year, CEO Bob Bakish said on an earnings call Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Wade Davis said it will be “fundamentally different” from what it offers MVPDs, with at least one such provider looking to incorporate it into its offerings. Bakish said Viacom continues to have conversations about deals with streaming MVPD services, with it currently on DirecTV Now, Sling and Philo. Bakish said the company is in content licensing talks with mobile carriers. "This is the point that upends the whole argument of the decline of pay TV,” given the ubiquity of mobile subscribers and carriers looking for content differentiation, Bakish said. The programmer reported revenue in the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $3.07 billion, down 8 percent, due largely to lower TV affiliate revenue and motion picture performance. Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar emailed investors that results reinforce that Viacom needs "an inorganic path out of its problems" and that possibly combining with CBS (see 1802010056) would buy it time but won't solve core performance issues. Eventually, he said, CBS/Viacom would need to look at other partnerships to get scale needed to survive. Viacom stock closed Thursday up 7.2 percent to $32.71.

Disney's increasing its estimate for Hulu losses this year to $250 million could indicate expectations of the virtual MVPD service gaining a million incremental subscribers, which would help Disney subscriber trends but potentially hurt legacy MVPDs, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote investors Wednesday. Disney has begun the process of seeking regulatory OK for its Fox purchase in numerous jurisdictions worldwide, Disney CEO Bob Iger said on the company's quarterly earnings call Tuesday. Iger said the deal gives it "significant production capabilities and ... the talent to produce on our behalf." He said those production capabilities would be used in Disney's movie and TV businesses and in creating content for its direct-to-consumer offerings. He said an ESPN direct-to-consumer service will launch this spring in conjunction with a "reconceived and redesigned" ESPN app that will allow livestreaming of all ESPN networks and the ESPN+ subscription service. He said the ESPN+ streaming service will be $4.99 monthly, with the Disney direct to consumer service targeted for late 2019. He said the media company is seeing a trend of cord-nevers "coming into ... the multichannel world," attracted by the lower prices and skinnier bundles of digital platforms.