Altice violated its Keep Americans Connected pledge when it shut off service to small businesses over supposed nonpayment of monthly service charges in the first half of 2020, a Bronx, New York, barbershop owner said in a suit seeking class-action status (in Pacer, docket 21-cv-05540) Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, New York. It said Altice charging a $180 “illegal 'ransom' fee” to restart service was a violation of New York consumer protection law. Altice emailed Thursday that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic it “has been committed to providing support and relief to our customers, including providing free broadband services to students, suspending disconnections for households and businesses during the height of the pandemic as part of the 'Keep Americans Connected Pledge,' ... While we have not yet received the complaint, we will respond appropriately upon receipt.”
MSG Networks signed a multiyear renewal of its distribution agreement with Verizon, ensuring Fios subscribers have access to MSG and its live games through their Fios TV packages and the MSG Go streaming platform, MSG said Wednesday.
Video cord cutting could mean a $33.6 billion drop in annual revenue for U.S. multichannel services 2021-25, with DBS and telcos having the steepest decline, S&P's Kagan said Wednesday. It's projecting subscription revenue for MVPDs going from $91.1 billion this year to $64.7 billion in 2025. It said cable revenue should stay relatively stable.
Cox Communications closed on buying the commercial services segment of fiber infrastructure provider Segra, it said Tuesday. Cox incoming President Mark Greatrex said the deal means an expanded geographical presence, more network capacity and more business services. Cox said the Segra brand will continue as a stand-alone Cox business. The deal was announced in April (see 2104270042).
Redbox is teaming with Comcast’s FreeWheel TV advertising platform to integrate “programmatic” technology across Redbox's free streaming services, they said Monday: This lets advertisers access and buy Redbox national and local “inventory” and “micro-target” audiences.
ViacomCBS and its streaming service Pluto TV agreed to a $3.5 million settlement with the Enforcement Bureau over violations of FCC IP closed-captioning rules, said a consent decree Wednesday. Pluto didn’t provide timely accurate information, “wast[ing] valuable Commission resources and delay[ing] the resolution of the accessibility issues,” the decree said. This stems from consumer complaints about nonfunctional captions on Pluto TV in 2018, the decree said. An agency investigation found that despite being in contact with the FCC about captioning issues, petitioning for a waiver and receiving a letter of inquiry about possible violations, “Pluto continued to offer Pluto TV on existing Platforms and initiated Pluto TV on several new Platforms without being in compliance.” The business “failed to provide timely and accurate information,” the decree said. It includes an elaborate compliance plan, with consultations with disability groups, creation of a consumer information website, testing procedures to ensure functional captions on all platforms, training, and a three-year reporting requirement. A Media Bureau order lets Pluto withdraw its waiver petition. ViacomCBS didn't comment. It's “the first consent decree and first enforcement action related to” IP captioning rules “since their adoption in 2012,” said an FCC release.
NBCUniversal "is seeking fair rates from Google for YouTube TV’s continued carriage" but Google "is refusing to make a deal at these fair rates and is willing to withhold entertainment, news and sports programming from their paying customers," the programmer emailed us Monday. YouTube TV is warning of a possible blackout of NBCU content when the current contract expires Thursday (see 2109270053).
Cowen began coverage of Sony with an “outperform” rating and a 15,800 yen ($142.36) price target, it said Monday. "We view Sony primarily as a top-tier entertainment company with market leading presences in some of the most attractive entertainment verticals,” like gaming and music, it said. “We think the company unfairly trades at a discount to underlying value due to low-merit concerns about conglomeratization.” The stock closed 0.3% lower Monday on the Tokyo exchange at 12,965 yen. Sony's Gaming & Network Services segment “has been a clear global market leader in video gaming” for more than two decades, said Cowen. The PlayStation 4 finished the last console generation with a larger hardware installed base than any competing platform, and the PS5 “is the early leader in the current generation” that launched in 2020's Q4, it said. Sony's Music segment holds the top share in music publishing and is No. 2 in global recorded music, it said. Sony Pictures is the only major Hollywood-based “film/TV asset” that is not “tethered” to a major streaming service, making it “a film & TV arms merchant to the content-hungry” subscription- and ad-based VOD markets, said Cowen. Sony's core consumer tech segment, Electronic Products & Solutions, “used to be a drag on results but has been significantly rationalized by the company into a consistently profitable business,” it said. It views Sony as “an underappreciated entertainment powerhouse.”
Parker Broadcasting's mandatory carriage complaint against Wikstrom Systems is dismissed, the FCC Media Bureau ordered Friday. It cited the licensee of KRDK-TV, Valley City, North Dakota, withdrawing the complaint as it and the cable operator try to negotiate a settlement.
Noting underwhelming back-to-school broadband adds, Altice will likely end up with 15,000 to 20,000 net broadband losses in Q3 and broadband subscriber numbers that are flat to slightly up for the year, CEO Dexter Goei said virtually Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. He said a new product set and pricing launched early this month should move the company "back to normalized trends and positive net adds" in Q4. Goei said Altice would upgrade 1.5 million homes to fiber by year-end in its footprint where it competes with Verizon. It's also weighing whether to accelerate the timetable for upgrading an additional 1.5 million homes to fiber in that overlap area, and whether other parts of Altice's network should be upgraded. He said the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Hakim Boubazine (see 2109080083) came as operating trends "have been underwhelming the last year or so." Goei's decision to assume Boubazine's duties was designed to bring issues to his attention more quickly, he said. The stock closed down 13% to $22.06.