Targeting consumers struggling with navigating competing internet services, Frontier launches a new national marketing campaign, "Don't Go It Alone," this week via broadcast, online and social media, it said Wednesday.

T-Mobile customers can get a free Pandora Plus subscription (a $54.89 value) for a year through a partnership, the music streamer blogged Wednesday, good from 4:59 a.m. EDT Aug. 28 until 4:59 a.m. EDT Aug. 29. Pandora called it "the first step" in news to come from the companies. Pandora Plus is the company's $4.99 monthly mid-tier offering to listen to a curated list of songs according to channel sans commercials, lacking on-demand capability of Pandora's Premium $10-per-month plan. T-Mobile also announced a relationship with Live Nation, giving its customers access to last-minute reserved seats at concerts and discounted tickets.

Sony owned the top U.S. unit and dollar share in full-frame interchangeable-lens cameras in 2017's first half, said the company Wednesday, citing NPD point-of-sale data. To "celebrate," Sony is launching a “Be Alpha” promotional campaign beginning Sunday at World Photography Day in New York, it said. The campaign will encourage photography professionals and other "creators" to share their Sony Alpha camera content on “all relevant social platforms,” it said.

Prime Day has passed, but Best Buy was giving customers a chance to hunt deals in a laid-back "Black Friday in July" event. Limited quantities were available of HDTVs, laptops and other products through Saturday, said the landing page from a Thursday email to customers. Apple products headlined the event, with $150 off select MacBook Air models, $125 off select iPad Pros (students save an extra $50), $200 off a 21-inch iMac and $50-$75 off Apple Watch models. An iPhone 8, 8 Plus X deal required a new line on Verizon and an eligible trade-in to get $300 savings, or $100 savings with an upgraded plan, it said. Sprint offered the 64 GB iPhone X to customers opening a new line for $20 per month under an 18-month lease, bringing the phone cost to $360, a savings of $390 over Sprint’s non-deal price and $639 off the phone’s full price. Savings are applied as bill credits, said Sprint. Apple gift cards were nipped by 15 percent, the 4th-generation Apple TV by $10 to $139 and Beats X earphones cut by $55 to $94, Best Buy said. Some Samsung TV prices were hidden until placed in the cart, coming in under the manufacturer’s minimum advertised price. A UN65MU8000 65-inch 4K TV was slashed by $300 to $999. The same model was also cart-priced at Walmart Friday, but for $1,349, down from a list price of $2,199, said the e-commerce site. Elsewhere at Best Buy, a 50-inch Samsung UN50M5300 smart HDTV was selling for $299, a $150 discount, it said, and Sony Blu-ray players were cut $50 each to $199 and $249. The retailer’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were low-key Friday, with Best Buy’s deals page on Twitter showing “Deal of the Day” vs. a Black Friday in July banner. In response to questions on timing of the event after Prime Day, low-key marketing and product selection, a Best Buy spokesperson emailed us the sale is a yearly summer event that’s getting standard marketing coverage “from website home page to emails.”

Charter Communications will drop the word "again" from any future airings of an ad that features the Grim Reaper bemoaning his family's satellite dish "went out in the rain, again," the National Advertising Review Board said Thursday. NARB reaffirmed a National Advertising Division decision sought by AT&T's DirecTV early this year that Charter had appealed (see 1801310022). A NARB panel also recommended the operator end claims that paint satellite TV as unreliable and its Spectrum TV service as reliable.

Samsung is pitching customers this week in a “Black Friday in July” promotion, offering shoppers price guarantees that they won’t pay less at Samsung.com on Nov. 23 than they do through this Saturday for four QLED models. Customers who buy an eligible 2018 QLED TV this week, and register it, will be locked into the lower price for the set, even if prices drop from current levels, Samsung said. If the Black Friday price is lower, customers will receive the difference between purchase price and that price in the form of a Visa Reward Virtual Account expiring Dec. 31, 2019, Samsung said. The one-per-person offer is open to U.S. customers 18 and older, while supplies last. Eligible QLED models are the QN65Q8FNBFXZA ($2,299), QN65Q9FNAFXZA ($2,999), QN75Q8FNBFXZA ($3,499) and QN75Q9FNAFXZA ($4,999).

Facebook agreed to prohibit discriminatory ads nationwide after a 20-month investigation by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), the AG’s office said Tuesday. Third-party advertisers no longer may exclude ethnic and religious minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and other protected groups from seeing ads, his office said. Under the agreement filed in King County Superior Court, the platform within 90 days must make changes, which will be permanent and legally binding, it said. The company must also pay $90,000 to the AG to cover costs and fees, the office said. “Facebook’s advertising platform allowed unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation, disability and religion,” said Ferguson. “That’s wrong, illegal, and unfair.” Facebook is glad it reached an agreement with Ferguson's office, said Vice President-State and Local Policy Will Castleberry. "We’ve worked closely with them to address the issues they've raised. Discriminatory advertising has no place on our platform, and we'll continue to improve our ad products so they're relevant, effective, and safe for everyone.” Facebook announced the changes in April.

The Better Business Bureaus' National Advertising Division decided Comcast should discontinue advertising claims the company has the most reliable network and that AT&T deceives customers about network speed and reliability, said the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council Tuesday. AT&T challenged Comcast radio and TV spots. Comcast said it will appeal to the National Advertising Review Board, the release said. NAD “has long recognized an advertiser’s right to make literally truthful and accurate advertising claims -- sometimes at the expense of its competitors. Denigrating claims, however, must be truthful, accurate and narrowly drawn,” it said. Though some of Comcast’s claims about the availability of AT&T’s faster service speeds could be substantiated, Comcast “could not support the claim that AT&T ‘was telling people everywhere that they could get AT&T Fiber when it’s really only available to, like, 10 percent of their customers,’” it said. NAD decided information from the FCC 2016 measuring broadband America fixed broadband report Comcast cited is dated.

LG is running a “B&Binge” contest to win a two-night stay for two to binge-watch Netflix shows in luxury settings on an LG OLED TV. Winners will watch The Crown from a palace in England, Arrested Development from a yacht and a new Netflix original series from a mystery location, said LG. Two winners will be chosen for each experience. Entrants write a 500-word blurb showing their enthusiasm for the show, and winners will be chosen based on passion, originality and execution.

Promotions website Brad's Deals advertised Thursday an LG 55UK7700PUD 55-inch smart TV for $549 available through BuyDig when customers use the code Bradstv at checkout. The price is $248 less than through other retailers, said the deals site. The LED-lit LCD TV has LG's ThinQ artificial intelligence with voice support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. The discount appears at the final stage of checkout, it said.