The Association of National Advertisers said Amazon, Instagram, Twitter and other tech firms with “walled garden” digital ad platforms should allow the Media Rating Council to conduct independent audits of their ad metrics. Walled garden platforms are those in which the provider “has control over applications, content, and media, and restricts convenient access to non-approved applications or content,” ANA said in a Friday report. ANA surveyed 113 members, with 89 percent of respondents saying they approved of decisions last month by Facebook and Google's YouTube (here and here) to allow the MRC to do independent audits of their ad metrics.

A Unamas Septet recording of A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe, to be released Friday on the Ottava label in Japan, will be the first Master Quality Authenticated recording on CD, said MQA in a Thursday announcement. The MQA-enabled CD could mark “a new era of hi-res audio,” said mastering engineer Mick Sawaguchi. MQA CD works the same way as an MQA digital file, said MQA: With a conventional CD player connected to an MQA-enabled device, the MQA CD will “unwrap’ to the original sample rate,” it said.

AT&T's U-Verse service is far more prone to blackouts since the company bought DirecTV in 2015, Raycom Media said Thursday after its stations were dropped from the U-Verse lineup in 23 markets due to an impasse in retransmission consent talks. In a news release, Raycom CEO Pat LaPlatney said retrans agreements "are important free-market negotiations that sustain broadcast localism. It is unfortunate that AT&T U-Verse appears to be involving their customers in their broader business strategy.” In a statement, AT&T said Raycom "is deliberately preventing its stations from reaching their homes until Raycom receives a significant increase in fees even though the same people can still watch its shows for free over-the-air and, typically, online at each network's website or using those network's apps. We have asked Raycom repeatedly to allow our customers to watch [the NCAA Men's Division I basketball tournament] while we work this business matter out privately, but Raycom continues to refuse." Station-induced blackouts "are on a record pace in 2017 totaling more than 125 blackouts in 81 cities, and costing nearly 18 million families at least some temporary disruption," the telco said. American TV Alliance said 2017 already has had more than 125 blackouts, exceeding all of 2016. "As this surging blackout crisis rolls on, big network executives are not only raking in cash at new record highs, but local stations have shown little courage to stop gouging a much smaller number of American families who still continue to remain loyal," it said.

Honda received a 20-month waiver of the accessible user interface requirements covering rear entertainment systems for its Odyssey, Pilot and Acura MDX models for 2017 through 2019. An FCC Media Bureau order Thursday in docket 12-108 requires that Honda file status reports on July 20 and Jan. 20 with the Media and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus on its work integrating accessible technology for rear entertainment systems in its vehicles. The National Federation of the Blind opposed the waiver request petition, saying the carmaker had ample time to design systems to meet FCC rules. The bureau said it's only a limited waiver, and not granting it would mean the company would have to suspend production and sales of vehicles to make hardware and software changes, or alternately, it would have to cease offering rear entertainment systems altogether.

Samsung applied last week to register “HDR10” and “HDR10 Plus” as plain-text trademarks with no logos for a wide range of possible commercial and consumer devices and applications, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The company made similar requests a day earlier to European trademark authorities, PTO records show. An early mention of HDR-10 is in “voluntary guidelines” that CTA (then CEA) released in August 2015 on what features would qualify a TV to be called “HDR-compatible": It should be capable of receiving and processing the "HDR10 Media Profile" from internet protocol, HDMI or other video delivery sources, though additional media profiles may also be supported. CTA "does not have an opinion on the status of HDR10 in terms of whether it is in the public domain," Brian Markwalter, senior vice president-research and standards, emailed us Tuesday. Samsung didn't comment.

Dish Network likely will "employ any scheme" it can to put off meaningful negotiations with Hearst, the broadcaster said in a letter to customers posted Monday on the website of WBAL-TV Baltimore and other stations. Dish and Hearst blamed each other for the March blackout resulting from a retransmission consent renewal impasse (see 1703030011 and 1703090021). Hearst in its letter called Dish suggestions of the broadcaster's intransigence "untrue" and said it's the satellite company that hasn't budged on its "completely off-market terms in any meaningful way." Dish didn't comment Tuesday.

The interconnected PubFilm websites are a "massive" pirated TV and movie streaming operation with more than 8 million visits a month, several content companies said in a lawsuit (in Pacer) unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The suit said the PubFilm pirate sites include PubFilm, PubFilmHDNo1, PubFilmHD, PidTV, Top100Film and iDMCA and are believed to operate from Vietnam. Alleging direct and secondary copyright infringement, trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin, the content companies asked for an order that the PubFilm domain names be rendered inactive and transferred to them, as well as for damages. The plaintiffs are Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Universal, Disney, Paramount and Viacom. PubFilm didn't comment Tuesday.

Last week’s WikiLeaks disclosure that the CIA worked secretly with U.K. authorities in 2014 to hack Samsung smart TVs and turn them into covert microphones (see 1703070047) sparked the first known complaint Tuesday, that from a Long Beach, New York, resident who alleged the voice recognition feature on Samsung smart TVs violates federal privacy statutes. Joshua Siegel bought several Samsung smart TVs “and kept them in personal and private areas of his home, including his bedroom and living areas,” said the complaint (in Pacer), filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, the district where Samsung Electronics America is headquartered in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. Siegel was unaware his family’s “private conversations in their home could be hacked by third parties due to Samsung’s reckless and/or negligent failure to protect that private, sensitive data and recordings,” said the complaint, which seeks class-action status. The “degree” of the company's “lack of adequate protection” was revealed publicly when WikiLeaks said Samsung smart TVs “were in fact being used by outside parties to spy on Samsung customers’ private conversations,” said the complaint. Samsung declined comment Tuesday. Samsung responded to the WikiLeaks report a day later with a statement that it was “urgently looking into the matter,” and that “protecting consumers’ privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung” (see 1703080014).

FCC draft channel sharing rules understate “potential carriage burdens” that will be caused by post-incentive auction channel sharing (see 1703080066) and incorrectly describe legal rulings behind must-carry rules, NCTA said in meetings Thursday with acting General Counsel Brendan Carr, an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, and Media Bureau and Office of the General Counsel staff, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 15-137 Tuesday. Contrary to language in the draft, FCC precedent shows changes in the cable market made the justification for carriage rules less certain, NCTA said. “Chairman [Ajit] Pai himself has made the point that significant changes in the video distribution marketplace” have “eroded the justification for invasive cable carriage mandates,” NCTA said.

Ad management company Sizmek partnered with TV advertising company BrightLine on an interactive connected video experience crossing desktop, mobile, tablet and over-the-top platforms, it said in a Monday announcement. The joint offering pairs BrightLine’s interactive, dynamic OTT ad platform with Sizmek’s HTML5 Vpaid technology to allow marketers to repeat the desktop interactive video experience across all channels, they said. OTT is the fastest growing source for digital video, with 74 percent of U.S. households now owning a smart TV, it said. Citing industry studies, the companies said advanced TV ads delivered on OTT platforms have higher engagement metrics than traditional TV ads, including higher purchasing intent, brand recall and likeliness to recommend.