With its NBC affiliation agreement now expired, WHDH Boston dropped its appeal in its NBC affiliation fight with Comcast. In a motion (in Pacer) for voluntary dismissal filed Wednesday in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, WHDH said since its June appeal "the parties' respective circumstances have changed," leading to WHDH's dropping its appeal. The station's appeal brief had been due Friday. Michael Gass of Choate Hall, representing the station, told us that with it not getting injunctive relief to prevent the expiration of WHDH's NBC affiliation agreement, which expired Sunday, "it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube." Station management instead decided to continue focusing on running the station as an independent with local news and syndicated programming like WHDH owner Sunbeam previously did with its WSVN Miami, Gass said: "There's no reason to think they can't do that here." WHDH sued Comcast last year over plans to move its NBC affiliation to a Comcast-owned station (see 1603110031).

The Copyright Royalty Board said Tuesday it opened a royalty rate-setting proceeding for digital transmissions of ephemeral copies of sound recordings to business establishments (Business Establishments III) to cover the period between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2023. Parties wishing to participate in the proceeding must submit their petition and the $150 filing fee by Feb. 2, the CRB said in a notice in the Federal Register. The previous rate-setting proceeding, which covered royalties for 2014-2018, drew participation from Clear Channel, Pandora and SiriusXM, among others.

Samsung plans to debut three smart TV services at CES 2017 next month in Las Vegas, it said in a news release Tuesday. The services -- Sports, Music and TV Plus -- will offer personalized content through Samsung's Smart Hub platform based on users' TV preferences, it said. Sports, for example, will have on one navigation page information such as scores, details on when favorite teams are playing and where those games can be watched, Samsung said. It also said its Music service will let Smart TV users search and identify songs on TV programs and make recommendations, while TV Plus will offer IP-based channels.

The librarian of Congress is seeking comments on the role of the next register of copyrights to head the Copyright Office, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post Tuesday. The Copyright Office's administration of copyright laws has a “transformative” effect on broadcasters, and copyright is expected to be a big issue during the next Congress, Oxenford said. Broadcasters who want to influence how that position is handled should weigh in, Oxenford said. Comments are due Jan. 31.

Hulu and Disney signed a licensing agreement giving the subscription VOD service exclusive streaming rights to an array of Disney films, Hulu said in a Tuesday announcement. Hulu obtained rights to a variety of Disney TV programming and Disney Channel original movies in an agreement earlier this year, it said.

The UHD Alliance plans a CES announcement with “some updates," but nothing that would "justify a full-blown press conference,” spokeswoman Heather Gioco emailed us. Except for an April announcement expanding its certification program to Ultra HD Blu-ray players (see 1604120017), it has been a quiet year for the alliance since last CES, where it announced its Ultra HD Premium logo program (see 1601030003). Compliance with a series of “performance metrics” on image resolution, color gamut and high dynamic range will determine which devices and content will qualify to bear Ultra HD Premium as a “consumer-facing” logo, the alliance said then. But the alliance, whose formation was announced at CES two years ago (see 1501060001), has yet to publicly release a list of certified TVs, Ultra HD Blu-ray players and content, and tabs for accessing those lists at the alliance’s website were still password-protected Friday.

The FCC should grant Honda a 20-month waiver of accessibility requirements for the rear-seat entertainment systems in some vehicles, the automaker said in a petition in docket 12-108. “Until very recently,” Honda wasn't aware that accessibility requirements for devices that display video would have an impact on automakers, it said. The accessibility rules for devices that record and play back video programming took effect Tuesday (see 1612200050). The company is requesting the waiver for Honda Odysseys and Pilots and Acura MDXs with model years 2017, 2018 and 2019. Vehicles built after the waiver period will comply with the rules, Honda said.

A second Cayman-Island based, U.S. citizen-controlled investor is seeking FCC permission to own about 15 percent of Pandora, said a public notice on the investor's petition for declaratory ruling filed Wednesday in docket 16-418 by Matrix Master Fund. Matrix already owns 9.877 percent and wants to increase that to 14.99 percent. In August, Cayman-based Corvex Master Fund filed a similar petition (see 1608120061), seeking to buy 9.99 percent and be pre-approved to buy up to 14.99 percent. “Team Telecom” withdrew a hold request on Corvex's still-pending petition earlier this month. Like Corvex, Matrix identifies the fund as being ultimately controlled by a U.S. citizen through “intervening entities” organized under Delaware law. Corvex was controlled by Keith Meister, and Matrix is controlled by David Goel, the petition said. Both companies needed to file the request because of a provision in an FCC declaratory ruling that allowed Pandora to buy a terrestrial radio station. The provision requires FCC approval for any foreign company seeking to buy more than 5 percent of Pandora. Comments are due on Matrix's petition Jan. 23, replies Feb. 7.

Guidance to help shift digital video ads to HTML5 and JavaScript formats, which are considered default media playback options in many browsers, was released Tuesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Technology Laboratory. “The move from Flash to HTML5 and JavaScript is vital to improving user experience in digital video advertising,” said IAB Tech Lab General Manager Alanna Gombert in a news release. “We recognize that it’s a complex transition -- one that cannot happen overnight. This guidance provides practical insights and how-to’s that simplify and facilitate the process for publishers, brands, and media agencies, as we build a stronger foundation for video marketing.” The lab also is providing one checklist for agencies and brands, and another for publishers that provide customized best practices as they make the transition over the next six months. It's recommending all video ads be in HTML5 by July. The release said tools such as a Video Ad Serving Template Validator and a JavaScript Video Player-Ad Interface Definition tester will be released in January to help with the transition.

Worldwide shipments of augmented and virtual reality headsets are expected to rise at a 108 percent compound annual growth rate through the end of the decade, reaching 76 million units in 2020, IDC said in a Thursday report. More affordable VR devices will continue to lead the market in terms of volume, but AR headsets are expected to pick up momentum as more affordable technologies and more OEMs enter the market, IDC said. It called 2016 a “defining year” for AR as “millions of consumers were introduced to Pokemon Go” and developers “finally got their hands on coveted headsets” like Microsoft's HoloLens. "AR may just be on track to create a shift in computing significant enough to rival the smartphone,” though the technology “is still in its infancy and has a long runway ahead before reaching mass adoption," said the researcher. AR “represents the larger long-term opportunity,” but VR for the near term “will capture the lion's share of shipments and media attention," it said. IDC estimates 10.1 million VR headsets were shipped globally in 2016, and unit volume will grow to 61 million in 2020, said the research firm. It sees unit shipments of AR headsets climbing to 15 million in 2020 from only 100,000 in 2016, it said.