Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming business "made the turn," generating a $100 million profit in 2023, Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said Friday as the company announced Q4 2023 financial results. This "will be a pivotal year for Max," he said, pointing to relaunches and rebranding in European and Latin American markets in the next few months. Wiedenfels said Max finished Q4 at close to 98 million subscribers, with more than 1 million international subs added in Q4 more than offsetting smaller U.S. declines. CEO David Zaslav said Max's ad-supported offering, available in the U.S. only, will debut in more than 40 markets globally by year's end. Asked about the forthcoming sports streaming joint venture with ESPN and Fox (see 2402070006), Zaslav said it should "coexist" with its cable networks. "We don't see a lot of people unsubscribing to cable in order to get this," he said. The target audience are cord-nevers, Zaslav added. Q4 revenue was $10.3 billion, down from $11 billion the same quarter a year ago. Wiedenfels said network revenue was off 8% in Q4 due to a soft U.S. linear advertising market. In addition, he said Q1 is showing improvement, with domestic ad sales rising. The company said TV revenue was down "significantly" due in large part to the impact of the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes.

California's 2nd Appellate District Court upheld a lower court's dismissal of a Lancaster, California, suit seeking video service provider franchise fees from Netflix and Hulu (see 2112230003). In an opinion last week, a three-judge panel said the state's Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act lets local governments sue a franchise holder for unpaid franchise fees, but it doesn't authorize their seeking franchise fees from non-franchise holders. The state Public Utilities Commission and not Lancaster is responsible for enforcing issues related to the issuance of a video service franchise, the appellate court said. Deciding were Judges Luis Lavin, Lee Smalley Edmon and Anne Egerton, with Lavin writing the decision.

Walmart is buying smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. They said the deal would serve as a boost to the retailer's media business by connecting Vizio's advertising solutions business to Walmart's reach. Walmart Chief Revenue Officer Seth Dallaire said the deal "enables a profitable advertising business that is rapidly scaling. Our media business, Walmart Connect, is helping brands create meaningful connections with the millions of customers who shop with us each week.” In an X post, LightShed Management's Rich Greenfield said Walmart "is taking its advertising business, Walmart Connect, very seriously (advertising was mentioned 47 times over calendar 2023’s four earnings calls)." Later he posted, "Advertising, and specifically the TV advertising market is poised for meaningful disruption, with Walmart now chasing Amazon which has just turned on ads within Prime Video." The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

ACA Connects is applauding a DOJ antitrust investigation into the ESPN/Fox/Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming joint venture (see 2402070006). "This is exactly what should happen," ACA said Thursday. "It’s anticompetitive for the biggest media players to join forces while locking out traditional linear video providers, including our Members from offering the same packages at the same prices. Fans deserve a level playing field in the sports media landscape without the threat of these giants controlling the marketplace and jacking up prices.” Bloomberg reported the investigation.

The proposed $150,000 fine for Mission Broadcasting's alleged retransmission consent negotiation violations (see 2401120069) is unreasonably large, and the violation finding is wrong, Mission said Tuesday. In a docket 22-443 response to the FCC Media Bureau's notice of apparent liability, Mission said the NAL focuses on Nexstar-proposed language for inclusion in an agreement to settle litigation with Comcast, not for a retrans consent agreement. It said the proposed forfeiture is in excess of the bureau's delegated authority and should be $7,500 at most. In addition, Nexstar said the NAL "is procedurally improper, prejudicial, and unsupported by the facts or the law." It added that the NAL claims it doesn't address allegations against Nexstar, but Comcast's allegations concerned Nexstar's conduct as Mission's negotiating representative for WPIX New York. Nexstar said the bureau "impermissibly prejudges" allegations against it that supposedly remain under investigation. Treating the settlement proposal that was quickly rejected as a continuing violation over a period of days is unreasonable and not factually supported, Nexstar said.

The FCC on Friday posted a Disability Advisory Committee report, approved last month and written by the Audio Description File Transmittal to IP Video Programming Working Group (see 2401300051). Members of the WG discussed the report in detail at last month's DAC meeting. The report said it’s “not intended to be an exhaustive discussion of issues related to the distribution of already-described programming, but instead provides a high-level overview of the current ecosystem and highlights technical, human, and organizational process challenges and opportunities to address them.” The report was posted in docket 12-107.

Thirty-three percent of U.S. viewers share passwords or the cost of at least one streaming service, Horowitz Research said in its annual state of media report. In addition, 49% of that one-third worry about a password-sharing crackdown, it said. The data comes from 1,531 online samples of adults who have a role in decisions about TV and internet services in the home, plus a sample of 400 antenna owners.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $720,000 fine against Nexstar for violating retransmission consent negotiation rules. In a notice of apparent liability in Thursday's Daily Digest, the bureau sided with Hawaiian Telecom in concluding that Nexstar breached its good-faith negotiation duties when it proposed renewal terms that would have barred HT from filing complaints with the FCC. The bureau said HT didn't meet its burden of proof on its assertion that Nexstar also violated the good-faith rules when it did not extend their retrans consent agreement until the parties reached a new agreement or an impasse. The proposed fine totals the $120,000 levied for each of the six Nexstar-licensed stations involved. Nextar emailed that it “believes the proposed forfeiture is unwarranted, excessive, and in violation of the law and we will challenge the FCC’s action.” HT and Nexstar reached a deal in July after a more than three-week blackout (see 2307210045).

ESPN will offer a standalone streaming option likely starting in August 2025, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday. In an earnings call with analysts, Iger said the 2018 ESPN+ launch was "the first step" in an "inevitable" move to take Disney subsidiary ESPN direct to consumer. In addition, he said ESPN's joint venture sports streaming platform with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, announced this week (see 2402070006), is "an attractive business proposition." The JV targets those who never had a multichannel TV subscription and "gives them a chance to do so at a price point that will be obviously more attractive than the big fat bundle." The JV "is going to be substantially less expensive to consumers" than a cable or direct broadcast satellite channel bundle, he said. The ESPN streaming app will include options that the Fox/WBD JV won't, such as integrated betting, fantasy and merchandise sales, said Iger.

Comments are due March 8, replies April 8, on an FCC proposal requiring refunds for consumers when blackouts occur due to failed retransmission consent negotiations, said a notice in Wednesday's Federal Register. The blackout NPRM was adopted 3-2 on circulation in January (see 2401100026).