YouTube's ending its "Originals" premium service content, canceling many shows and making the remainder freely available, is "an unsurprising departure from big budget productions and another dead end," nScreenMedia's Lloyd Dixon blogged Thursday. Google's YouTube will rely less on its ad-free premium subscription tier for revenue, meaning ad-supported "is the only business model YouTube has to work with right now," the analyst said. YouTube didn't comment.

Though it’s the “early days” of SiriusXM’s offer of free three-month trials of its streaming services to Amazon smart-speaker owners (see 1810240034), it's an “opportunity here to diversify our distribution” and attract consumers who wouldn’t listen to satellite radio in the car, Sirius XM Chief Financial Officer David Frear told a Credit Suisse investors conference Tuesday. “We’re happy to get whatever we can get” from the partnership, said Frear. “We’re also happy to deepen engagement with our existing subscriber base.” SiriusXM won’t have “a lot to say” for now about the “synergies and the impact” it expects from its proposed $3.4 billion Pandora all-stock buy (see 1809240030), said the CFO. As SiriusXM works through the regulatory approvals at DOJ and the SEC toward the deal’s anticipated Q1 completion, the company may discuss future guidance at the investors conference it customarily holds during CES or on its next quarterly earnings call in late January or early February, depending on “where the transaction is at that point,” he said.

Warner Brothers and Universal interest in premium VOD release of movies for earlier home streaming won't be the tipping point for such success, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged. Disney, with 21st Century Fox to be part of its stable, will own 40 percent of the U.S. box office, making Disney necessary for premium VOD, he said Monday. The analyst said box office revenue continues to grow even as attendance numbers drop, meaning premium VOD is a tough argument to make to theater owners.

Opponents to Charter Communications' petition to be declared effectively competitive due to DirecTV Now (see 1810260026) rely on a restrictive LEC effective competition test inconsistent with FCC precedent and underlying policy goals, the cable operator replied, in docket 18-283 posted Tuesday. It said the argument DirecTV Now doesn't offer physical channels as defined by Section 602 of the Cable Act is contrary to statutory language of the LEC test, which doesn't mention channels but says competing services can be provided by any means other than DBS. The operator said nothing in statute, rules or precedent indicates Congress wanted to limit the meaning of offering service to only a physical network of DirecTV owner AT&T. The American Cable Association agreed that DirecTV Now satisfies the effective competition test since that test doesn't require the LEC offer local exchange service in the franchise area or that DirecTV Now meet the MVPD definition.

Netflix signed a long-term lease for 355,000 square feet at the Academy on Vine project Kilroy Realty is developing in Hollywood, said the developer Tuesday. On Vine St. about a half-mile south of Hollywood Blvd., it will include offices and a 20-story apartment building, slated for occupancy in mid-2020, said Kilroy. It acquired the 3.5-acre site from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences five years ago, it said. Outgoing Netflix Chief Financial Officer David Wells said the lease “further deepens our connection with the Los Angeles and Hollywood communities.”

Direct-to-consumer content delivery continues to be one of Disney’s “top priorities,” said CEO Bob Iger on a Thursday earnings call. More than a million subscribe to ESPN Plus, and “we continue to see impressive growth,” he said. That “bodes very well” for Disney’s overall direct-to-consumer ambitions, including the Disney Plus-branded service to launch late 2019, he said. The company will give “a first look at Disney Plus, along with some of the content we're creating for it," at an investor conference in April, he said. “You can't cry over spilled milk,” said Iger about Disney’s failed bid to land Sky, which went to Comcast. “We would have loved to have had Sky, both because we believe in the asset and we thought it could have helped us in terms of introducing a direct-to-consumer service in the European market.” Disney still plans to launch Disney Plus in Europe, he said: Without Sky, it’s possible “it takes us a little bit longer to penetrate some of these markets.”

Samsung added free ad-supported programs Danger TV (adventure short videos), Outside TV (adventure sports and outdoor lifestyle movies) and RiffTrax (scripted, humorous audio commentaries to accompany TV programs and movies) to its TV Plus service, said channel provider Wurl TV Monday. They join Wurl’s Fail Army and Pet Collective channels in TV Plus. Wurl plans to launch channels on all smart TV platforms.

CBS is standing by its forecast of signing 8 million paid subscribers combined for its CBS All Access and Showtime over-the-top direct-to-consumer services in 2019, “a full year ahead of our original schedule,” said President-Acting CEO Joe Ianniello on a Thursday Q3 earnings call. The forecast doesn’t include direct-to-consumer subs CBS is just beginning to sign on internationally, including for its Australian service, 10 All Access, launching this quarter, he said. “We will continue to expand into new territories in 2019, and we’re confident that digital distribution on a global scale will be very lucrative.” The “world of OTT has opened up so many options with what we can do with data analytics and really unlock and target our marketing,” said Chief Financial Officer Christina Spade. “As we get further educated and learn more about our consumer” through the CBS All Access and Showtime OTT offerings, “the scale of the business is huge,” she said. CBSN, the network’s 24/7 ad-supported news service, is averaging more than a million daily streams, said Ianniello. The average age of the CBSN viewer is 38, “decades younger than the average broadcast and cable news viewer,” he said. Later in Q4, "local versions" of CBSN will debut, “featuring content from our owned and operated stations across the country,” starting with New York, with Los Angeles and other markets to be added in early 2019, he said.

Dish Network and AT&T are pointing fingers at one another over an HBO and Cinemax blackout on Dish and its Sling TV. Dish, along with Public Knowledge, called the blackout evidence of problems with AT&T's buy of Time Warner. The circumstances suggest DOJ's opposition to the deal on the grounds New AT&T would have motivation to withhold content and stronger leverage in negotiations was valid and that it bolsters the argument that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should reverse the lower court decision allowing the deal, PK said Thursday. Dish said AT&T made "untenable demands," including that the satellite company pay for a guaranteed number of subscribers regardless of how many actually want the channel. Dish also sought "binding, baseball-style arbitration to determine the fair market value of HBO and Cinemax" -- and for the premium channels to be restored to Dish during arbitration. AT&T emailed that HBO in 40-plus years never was taken down due to the lack of a deal. Dish "is making it extremely difficult, responding to our good faith attempts with unreasonable terms," the telco said. "Past behavior shows that removing services from their customers is becoming all too common a negotiating tactic for them." The carrier said Dish could have opted to continue to carry HBO under existing terms negotiated before TW's takeover.

Digital movie purchases and rental transactions grew 19 percent in first-half 2018, riding the wave of connected TV and streaming video, reported NPD Tuesday. As of August, 61 million U.S. households had at least one internet-connected TV, videogame console, Blu-ray Disc player or streaming media player, for a year-on-year growth of 20 percent for connected TVs and 17 percent for streaming media players. Apple iTunes users had the highest purchase percentage (60 vs. 40 percent rental), which NPD attributed to “affluence” of Apple customers and a desire to build a digital video collection. Vudu had a purchase-to-rental ratio of 55 to 45 percent, while Amazon flipped proportion, showing a higher rental ratio at 56 vs. 44 percent. Google Play had a 70-30 rental-to-purchase ratio and Microsoft Movies split 77-23 percent in favor of rentals. Results were based on a July 30-Aug. 7 survey of 5,677 U.S. adults, from diverse regions and demographical backgrounds, it said.