The next semiannual disclosures by U.S.-based foreign media outlets are due Oct. 12, said an FCC Media Bureau public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. The agency will send a report to Congress by Nov. 9 that summarizes the submissions, the PN said.

Comcast was one of three companies, along with Google and Microsoft, vying to partner with Netflix on its forthcoming launch of an ad-supported VOD tier, acknowledged Comcast Deputy Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong during a Bank of America investment conference Thursday. The contract ultimately went to Microsoft (see 2207130048). When Netflix “globally went out and said, we need to have advertising capabilities” and would look “externally” to find them, “it was down to three companies,” said Armstrong. “If you think about what Comcast brought to the table, I would say we were at or near the top of the pecking order in terms of the capability set,” he said. “We may not have been willing to write the biggest guarantee around it,” but Comcast’s “prowess” in ad sales, distribution and technology “put us right there,” he said. “That was a great sort of cross-company moment to be that far into the mix on something that was that relevant.”

The string of content cancellations at Warner Bros. Discovery, including the decision this summer to scrap releasing Batgirl on HBO Max (see 2208050006), is nothing “unusual” for when “a new team takes over,” Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels told a Bank of America investment conference Thursday. “We're a creative industry and one of the elements of creativity is that there's judgment and differences in the views on what the potential of a certain piece of IP might be,” said Wiedenfels. Corporate management, including CEO David Zaslav, has “really this belief in the theatrical window,” as opposed to “just producing feature films for just one streaming window,” he said. The Batgirl decision was “blown out of proportion a little bit in terms of the attention” it got outside the company, he said. Zaslav ultimately defended the decision, saying his team couldn't find an "economic case" for steering expensive feature films direct to streaming.

Connectivity issues persist as a “major contributor” to the decline in vehicle infotainment satisfaction, reported J.D. Power Thursday. Automakers and tech companies “are working to create the most innovative and smart infotainment systems for new vehicles, but owners of newly launched models have lower satisfaction with their infotainment systems than owners who buy carryover vehicles,” it said. Neither the carmakers nor the tech companies are “taking responsibility as satisfaction is clearly on the decline,” said J.D. Power. “Simplifying infotainment systems and focusing on connectivity to smartphones and OEM applications would be a good start to turning around satisfaction.”

Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media is the first agency to join Roku’s certified partner program for its One View streaming ad platform, the companies said Thursday. Camelot will use Roku data, technology and tools to help small- and medium-size businesses achieve marketing goals, they said. Roku pitches OneView as a way for advertisers to offer experiences that “go beyond the traditional TV spot,” noting its 63 million active users and scale. OneView offers software with data, machine learning, and measurement to reach more streamers on Roku, other TV streaming platforms, desktop and mobile, Roku said.

Game Show Network and Dish Network are blaming each other for a programming blackout of the network. GSN's going dark on Dish Network and Sling TV is the result of the programmer's "deceitful negotiation tactic," Dish said Tuesday. It said the sides had been negotiating for months before GSN did "an about-face" that forced a blackout. GSN said that after eight months of negotiations "we could not agree to their demands."

Vizio added four E.W. Scripps channels to its WatchFree+ service, it said Wednesday. The four free channels -- Ion, Ion Mystery, Bounce XL and Grit Xtra -- span dramas, thriller and detective shows, Black-oriented content and westerns, said the smart TV manufacturer.

The FCC should impose a merger condition on the Standard/Tegna deal that would bar all employees of the combined company involved in retransmission consent from viewing or accessing “in any form” any retrans agreement to which a Cox Media Group station is a party, said the American Television Alliance in calls Friday and Monday with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing in docket 22-162. Cox Media is owned by Apollo Global Management, which is also one of the deal's financiers. The condition’s language comes from a consent decree reached with Deerfield Media and other broadcasters associated with Sinclair Broadcast over retrans negotiations, ATVA said (see 2107280068). Along with the prohibition on accessing Cox retrans agreements, ATVA wants the FCC to require the combined company to designate a compliance officer and create a compliance plan, and be subject to regular reporting requirements. “These conditions should last so long as Cox/Apollo holds a financial interest (attributable or not) in New TEGNA,” ATVA said. A representative for ATVA member Altice also had a call with Saurer Monday, said another ex parte filing. Altice urged the Media Bureau to request additional information from Standard to “better explain the structure of the proposed transaction with respect to use of the applicants’ ‘after-acquired’ and ‘divested’ station clauses."

Citing a nationwide class being certified in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act against it (see 2208020038), DirecTV asked U.S. District Court in Wheeling, West Virginia, to let it amend its answer to the complaint. In a docket 5:17-cv-00179 motion for leave to amend Monday, the company said it wants to add one affirmative defense: the court lacks personal jurisdiction over claims brought by out-of-state class members. It said the argument "is nothing new" to the plaintiffs, who have responded to the personal jurisdiction argument in opposing the motion to dismiss and in briefing for their class certification motion. It said the amendment would conform the pleadings to the arguments already raised, DirecTV said, adding it will continue to raise the arguments in the case. Counsel for the plaintiffs didn't comment.

DirecTV can't force arbitration on plaintiffs suing it for alleged vicarious liability over violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2207050002), a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge John Bailey in Wheeling, West Virginia, denied DirecTV's motion to compel arbitration (docket 5:17-cv-00179), saying DirecTV "unquestionably waived arbitration" by litigating for months against one of the named plaintiffs in the telemarketing suit before filing its motion. DirecTV didn't comment Friday.