Another 26 earth stations are involved in Eutelsat's portion of the C-band clearing than originally thought, it said Monday in docket 18-122, updating its transition plan. It said the changed list of earth stations reflects the FCC International Bureau's refinement of its list of eligible incumbent earth stations, Eutelsat outreach to earth station operators and coordination with other C-band satellite operators. The company said it's possible it might discover a small number of earth stations that need to be added to the list for the Phase II transition. It put its total relocation cost estimates at $8 million, up about $600,000 (see 2107080060), and cited changes in the number of antennae included in the transition plan and the necessary services to be provided for the earth stations. The bureau released a list of earth station antennas on the C-band incumbent list that are possibly inactive or not operational in the band. It said Monday the deadline is Dec. 27 for operators of those earth stations to inform the bureau they're operating in the band or be removed from the incumbent earth station list.
Country of origin cases
An FCC draft Further NPRM tightening rules for gateway providers to curb illegal robocalls originating abroad is expected to be unanimously approved during the agency’s open meeting Thursday. That's despite some industry concerns about the proposal to pause enforcement of the foreign provider prohibition until a final decision on addressing illegal robocalls originating abroad. The item is expected to be approved without any major revisions to the draft, an FCC official said Friday.
Netflix's 2021 amortized content spending could reach $13.6 billion, growing to $18.92 billion in 2025, with $5.1 billion allocated to originals, emailed Kagan's Deana Myers Thursday, citing a “rough year for productions and swelling competition in the streaming space.” Subscribers from the U.S. and Canada were about 56.2% of the streaming service’s total subscribers in 2017 vs. 35.4% in June, she said, referencing Netflix’s “localization focus.” The two markets generated 60.8% of revenue in 2017 vs. 44.3% in Q2, reflecting strong pricing in the U.S. and Canada, along with Europe, the Middle East and Africa vs. lower pricing in Latin America and Asia-Pacific, Myers said. Addition of subscription VOD players such as Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock and Paramount+ resulted in “swaths of content being held back as each looks to populate their own services,” said the analyst. Kagan expects distributors to continue to reserve rights for their own SVOD services, and more so from territories where they will launch soon.
ViacomCBS is “spending a lot of time on release strategy” for its feature films, and “really testing different models to maximize the value of that film slate in this evolving landscape, particularly in this COVID-ruled space,” CEO Bob Bakish told a virtual Goldman Sachs conference Wednesday. Paramount’s animated feature, PAW Patrol: The Movie, was its first released simultaneously in theaters and on Paramount+ when it debuted Aug. 20, he said. “That's actually a very good model for kids’ and family films” in this “COVID-impacted time,” he said. “It gives consumers optionality to view the product where they feel the most comfortable, and we did a bunch of research on that.” The film “did very well” theatrically and was a “significant driver” for Paramount+, “where it's actually now one of the most watched originals,” he said. ViacomCBS prefers a 45-day theatrical window for the “bigger films,” because that's the “sweet spot of driving theatrical revenue and streaming growth in general,” said Bakish. The “range of tactics” is designed to “maximize the value of film across this now-broader ecosystem," he said. "But theatrical definitely still matters.”
CEDIA Expo parent company Emerald has held over 20 in-person trade shows, conferences and other events this year with 30%-70% of pre-COVID-19 attendance levels, said the events company Monday. “As expected, COVID-related issues such as international travel restrictions and date postponements for many Company events have impacted attendance,” it said. A spokesperson told us Monday CEDIA Expo 2021, Sept. 1-3 in Indianapolis, in early summer was on track to draw 10,000 attendees: "When the delta variant came through this year -- we had about 30%-50% of those originally registered attendees come to the show in person." Emerald said last week (see 2109130046) the custom installation industry’s annual trade event drew 82 exhibitors, down from more than 250 that were expected, after concerns about the COVID-19 delta variant caused numerous exhibitor and attendee cancellations. CEDIA Expo had 1,400 verified attendees: 35% first-timers and 58% integrators; 14 countries were represented. Emerald is scheduled to stage “dozens” of events in coming months and looks to return to a full slate in 2022, it said Monday. On its August earnings call, the company (see 2107300061) said it canceled 108 events due to the pandemic, 94 scheduled for 2020, representing $230.6 million of 2019 revenue, and 14 scheduled for this year, representing $71.2 million of revenue. It submitted $167 million in insurance claims for 2020 canceled events and received $121.1 million: $89.2 million last year, $31.9 million this year. It submitted an additional $52.9 million in claims for events not held in first-half 2021 (see 2104300064).
Amazon pacts with wholesalers harm consumers by increasing prices and hurting competition on online marketplaces, said District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine (D), adding that charge about first-party sellers to his May antitrust lawsuit at D.C. Superior Court (case 2021 CA 001775 B). The original complaint alleged Amazon practiced “anticompetitive restraint” at least until two years ago by barring its third-party sellers through a “price parity provision” in its contracts from offering their products at lower prices on a competing online retail sales platform (see 2105250050). Monday’s amended complaint alleges it's anti-competitive to require first-party sellers to guarantee Amazon a certain minimum profit. That minimum margin agreement means if Amazon lowers its price to match or beat another online marketplace a wholesaler must compensate Amazon for the difference between the minimum and actual profit, said the AG's office: To avoid those payments, wholesalers increase prices on other online marketplaces. “Amazon has continued to use its dominant position as an online marketplace to rig the system,” said Racine. An Amazon spokesperson emailed that what the AG seeks “would result in higher prices to customers, whether offered directly by Amazon or by third parties in our store, oddly going against core objectives of antitrust law." The court plans an initial scheduling conference Oct. 28 at 10:30 a.m.
The FCC provided details on its proposal to reshape the rules for the 4.9 GHz band, adopted 3-2 last year, in a draft report and Further NPRM posted Thursday and set for a commissioner vote Sept. 30 (see 2109080081). The item examines sharing the spectrum, while giving public safety priority access similar to FirstNet.
FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the several items that she and her colleagues tentatively will vote on Sept. 30. They include public-safety spectrum and 911 issues, plus paving the way for more robust Wi-Fi and cracking down further on some robocalls, she blogged Wednesday afternoon. The drafts will be released Thursday, a spokesperson told us. Our earlier news bulletin is here.
The California Public Utilities Commission delayed until Sept. 23 votes on items about Lifeline and enforcing conditions for Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization, showed a hold list released Tuesday. They were previously scheduled for Thursday’s meeting. The CPUC’s independent public advocate last month sought a delay in updating California LifeLine wireless minimum service standards until the commission considers the impact of the federal Lifeline MSS increasing Dec. 1 to 18 GB (see 2108270049). The CPUC previously delayed the Frontier item, originally scheduled for the Aug. 19 meeting, after Frontier said the proposal would violate the law and the Constitution (see 2108060021). Frontier declined to comment Wednesday.
FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced what she and her colleagues will vote on Sept. 30. They include public-safety spectrum and 911 issues, plus paving the way for more robust Wi-Fi and cracking down further on some robocalls, she blogged Wednesday afternoon. The drafts will be released Thursday, a spokesperson told us.