A major new survey of consumer video subscriptions offers the TV industry some mixed messages, with data showing ongoing drastic declines in pay TV subscriptions and antenna usage coupled with notable increases in streaming.

The “State of Media, Entertainment, and Tech: Subscriptions 2025” report, from Horowitz Research, found that homes who could access to live TV channels via an antenna declined from 32% in 2020 to 19% in 2025. Even more precipitous declines were recorded for traditional pay TV providers, with the number of homes with MVPD subscriptions falling from 81% in 2020 to 44% in 2025.

Meanwhile, the new Horowitz data showed the share of homes with SVOD subscriptions rose from 70% in 2020 to 81% in 2025, and households with free streaming services jumped from 52% to 70% in the same period.

Virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), like Sling TV and YouTube TV, declined from being in 29% of homes in 2020 to 23% in 2025.

Over the last decade, that has dramatically changed both the mix of video services and the way those services are accessed. In 2015 nearly half of all homes (47%) only had a MVPD subscription and only 7% of all homes were streaming only. In 2025 nearly half of all homes (49%) were streaming only, while only 11% only had a pay TV subscription. About one third (33%) had both MVPD and streaming subscriptions in 2025, down from 40% in 2015. The homes with no video subscriptions stayed virtually flat, rising from 6% in 2015 to 7% in 2025.

In terms of homes with TV antennas, the Horowitz study found that they skewed towards lower income homes and older households. Antenna were used in 26% of homes headed by someone 50 or older compared to 19% for the overall population in 2025. Only 9% of homes with incomes of greater than $100,000 a year had antenna while 26% of those with incomes below $50,000 had antenna. About 28% of all homes without MVPD subscriptions had antennas but only 10% of homes headed by someone 18 to 34 had access to live TV channels via an antenna.

The report also provides detailed information on how much consumers are spending on subscriptions, the most popular streaming services, subscription bunding, broadband subscriptions, opportunities in the area of smart homes and a wide variety of other subjects.

The report is based on a survey of 2,200 consumers 18+ who are decision makers about subscription services in their home. Data have been weighted to ensure results are representative of the overall U.S. population. The survey was conducted in January and February of 2025.

More information is available here.

WASHINGTON—Last week Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced the “Stop Sports Blackouts Act” to make cable and satellite companies refund customers who aren’t able to watch the channels they already pay for during television blackouts.

The proposed legislation is just the latest attempt by lawmakers to intervene in conflicts between multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs) and broadcasters and other content providers that all too often result in cable and satellite companies dropping channels after negotiations break down.

In introducing the act, the legislators pointed to a dispute between Optimum and MSG Networks, affecting over a million customers in the New York City tri-state area who have been unable to watch the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils on networks MSG and MSGSN. A separate blackout with Nexstar Media Group-owned WPIX New York left Optimum customers unable to watch “Judy Justice’ and local news for more than 10 days, the lawmakers said.

From 2010-2024, the two congressmen said New Yorkers experienced a total of 100 blackouts for a total of 3,350 days when consumers were blocked from viewing content they had paid for.

Ryan, who claims to be a champion of consumer protection in entertainment, previously demanded an investigation into blackouts and slammed sports leagues for making it more difficult for fans to watch games.

“It’s outrageous that millions of folks couldn’t watch the Knicks, Judy Justice, or dozens of other programs for weeks because of blackouts,” Ryan said. “And it’s even more ridiculous that we’re all still paying for the right to stare at black screens! I don’t see why this is even a debate—cable companies simply should not be able to advertise and charge for services they are not providing.

“On behalf of fans across the country, we’re putting down a marker: everyone will get their money back when a blackout stops them from watching TV, no questions asked,” he continued. “That means dollars back in your pockets and, equally importantly, it provides a hell of an incentive to these billion-dollar corporations to make sure these blackouts don’t happen in the future. They have teams of lobbyists looking out for them—I’m introducing this legislation because I fight for YOU.”

Said Murphy: “Blackouts are a slap in the face to every customer paying their hard-earned money for TV shows they can’t even watch. It’s ridiculous the rest of us get stuck in the crossfire of negotiations between cable and broadcast companies. Our bill is simple: if cable companies can’t provide the service you’re paying for, they owe you a refund.”

On Jan. 1, Optimum and MSG Networks announced that they were unable to renew their distribution agreement, leaving subscribers unable to watch NBA and NHL games in the middle of the season. On Jan. 10, Optimum subscribers were subjected to an additional blackout when the company announced it had failed to come to an agreement with Nexstar Media’s WPIX, which owns the syndication rights to popular show “Judy Justice,” starring Judge Judy Sheindlin, as well as the NewsNation network.

Congressman Ryan and Sen. Murphy’s “Stop Sports Blackouts Act” would direct the Federal Communications Commission to require television distributors to provide rebates to subscribers for television blackouts that occur as a result of carriage disputes.

Last month, the FCC passed a rule requiring cable and satellite pay TV operators to report commercial broadcast station blackouts that last than 24 hours or longer and were caused by failed negotiations over a new retransmission-consent agreement.

The American Television Alliance, a group of small and independent MVPDs, warned that such legislation will only increase prices.

“We agree it’s outrageous when big broadcasters unilaterally remove channels from TV lineups, blacking out content from consumers and depriving paying customers of critical local news coverage, sporting events and entertainment programming,” said ATVA spokesperson Hunter Wilson. “While well-intentioned, this bill will only raise prices for consumers. Blackouts are the result of networks and other big programmers holding their channels for ransom to force pay TV providers into higher-priced programming deals. Requiring pay TV providers to pay rebates will only encourage big broadcasters to further increase prices at a time when retransmission consent fees are at record highs.

“The broken retransmission consent system has led to nearly a thousand TV blackouts in the last decade,” he concluded. “ATVA stands ready to work with Congress to modernize dated regulations that turn sizeable profits for big broadcasters at the expense of consumers.”

NYC regional sports network MSG Networks—which was dropped by Optimum owner Altice USA at the beginning of the year and is currently in talks with Amazon to avoid bankruptcy—applauded the proposal.

An MSG spokesman said: “It’s not surprising that elected officials are engaged and standing up for their constituents. We appreciate Senator Murphy and Congressman Ryan’s efforts to fight for sports fans who are stuck paying for content they aren’t receiving, while Altice pockets their money. It’s time for Altice to do what’s right and agree to binding arbitration so that sports fans can again begin to watch games of their favorite teams.”

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters continued its push to get the FCC to regulate vMVPDs like YouTube TV as traditional pay TV operators during in a recent visit with commissioner Anna Gomez, her chief of staff, Deena Shetler and her policy advisor, Harsha Mudaliar.

The issue is important to station groups, which believe they can increase their retransmission consent revenue if they are able to negotiate directly with YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu and other vMVPDs.

Currently, station groups handle retrans negotiations with traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) like Charter Communications and Comcast. But broadcast networks and major programmers like The Walt Disney Co. and Paramount Global handle retrans deals with virtual MVPDs because the streaming services are not classified as traditional pay TV operators (or MVPDs) under FCC rules.

Some members of Congress have supported the change, but FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has argued the agency may not have the power to change those rules without Congressional action.

The discussion has also divided the broadcast industry between station owners, who want the vMVPDs reclassified, and broadcast networks owned by major media companies, which want to continue to handle deals with online providers as part of much larger distribution pacts.

The meeting with Gomez and her staff was attended by Curtis LeGeyt, NAB president and CEO, and Rick Kaplan, its chief legal officer and executive vice president.

During the conversation, the NAB emphasized the critical need for the FCC to study how streaming has affected local broadcasting. “It is impossible to understand the demands local stations face without coming to grips with the sea change wrought by streaming,” Kaplan said in a letter to the FCC following the Oct. 3 meeting. “The Commission’s rules were designed for a different world, and if the agency is truly committed to ensuring local service to communities across the nation, then it must examine the interplay between local broadcasting, the dramatic rise of streaming and the unregulated Big Tech behemoths that have shattered the economics underpinning local journalism.”

The NAB representaties at the meeting also expressed their surprise that the commission has not demonstrated greater curiosity about the impact of streaming, Kaplan added.

“While broadcasters have filed comments in docket after docket on issues such as foreign government sponsorship identification, cyber security plans, disaster reporting, proposed rules on generative AI disclosures in political ads, public reporting of station-by-station workforce demographics, retransmission consent impasse reporting, and more, we are left waiting for the Commission to address the one issue that is so forcefully impacting the ability of broadcasters to serve their local communities,” Kaplan wrote. “How is it that the Commission has not examined this issue in earnest since 2014, when it first proposed, for example, to modernize the definition of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to include virtual MVPDs? Why, with all of the obvious shifts in the marketplace, has the Commission refrained from considering how these changes are impacting service to local communities?”

The NAB letter also noted that “many Members of Congress agree that this is exactly what the Commission should be examining” and said the FCC should be exploring the issue even if it is unsure of its authority to change the rules. “Why not still inquire about the marketplace even to report its findings to Congress?” Kaplan’s letter asked.

“As we explained, NAB is ready to work with the Commission to help it gain a better understanding of the current marketplace,” Kaplan wrote. “That will require the FCC to seek additional comment from parties in light of the intervening decade since it last sought public input on the issue of virtual MVPDs. The Commission should not fear information and differing viewpoints; rather, it should welcome them.”

The full letter is available here.

In response to the NAB's comments, a spokesperson for the Preserve Viewer Choice Coalition, which is backed by vMVPDs and such major programmers as Disney, Fox and Paramount, said: "Despite assertions by some to the contrary, the FCC has consistently reinforced their lack of authority to upend the streaming marketplace in the way that the big affiliate groups seek – a fact that bipartisan members of Congress have echoed. The reality is, local news is widely available on streaming, providing consumers with a variety of ways to watch. Further, polling shows that few Americans support more streaming regulations. We commend the FCC for their fact-based assessment of the streaming marketplace."

TROY, Mich.—The highly anticipated annual J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study indicates that once again vMVPDs, which J.D. Power calls “Live TV streamers,” had a much higher satisfaction rate than traditional cable and satellite services. 

The newly redesigned survey found that live TV streamers is 625 (on a 1,000-point scale) compared with 524 among cable and satellite customers.

The biggest gap in satisfaction between live TV streaming and cable and satellite—140 points—is heavily based on costs, the researchers said. The survey found that the reported monthly average cost for live TV streaming is $75, while cable and satellite is $120.

YouTube TV ranked highest in the live TV streaming segment for a second consecutive year, with a score of 651. Hulu + Live TV (635) ranked second.

Spectrum ranked highest in the cable/satellite TV–national segment with a score of 530. Xfinity (529) ranked second.

“It is clear that price has been a main driver in satisfaction, however, satisfaction for streaming is higher than cable and satellite customers across all seven dimensions of the study,” said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom intelligence at J.D. Power. “Live streaming has reorganized the industry and as it continues, cable and satellite providers have been working hard to remain competitive, including exploring new revenue models to compete with the cost pressure.”

In terms of different regions, Verizon Fios ranked highest in the cable/satellite TV–east region for a third consecutive year, with a score of 570. DirecTV (520) ranked second.

Xfinity ranked highest in the cable/satellite TV–north central region with a score of 528. Spectrum (516) ranked second.

Xfinity ranked highest in the cable/satellite TV–south region with a score of 570. Cox Communications (547) ranked second and Spectrum (545) ranked third.

Spectrum ranked highest in the cable/satellite TV–west region with a score of 534. Xfinity (517) ranked second and Dish (516) ranked third.

The J.D. Power U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM is designed to provide a detailed assessment of customer perceptions of service with their current television provider. The study measures Overall Satisfaction with television service providers based on seven dimensions: value for price paid; consistently delivering high-quality service; level of trust with provider; ease of doing business; people; digital tools; and resolving problems or complaints. To be included in the national cable/satellite TV ranking, brands must be ranked in all four geographic regions. The study is based on responses from 32,349 customers and was fielded from October 2023 through August 2024.

For more information about the U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/tmt/us-residential-television-customer-satisfaction-study. 

After a period of strong growth, BIA Advisory Services is predicting that cord cutting and the shift towards streaming will produce a “flattening” in retransmission fees between 2024 and 2028. That marks and important change from recent years, where BIA estimates that local TV stations generated $12.3 billion in distribution revenue from MVPDs and vMVPDs in 2020, and this rose 22.5 percent to $15.1 billion by 2023. 

A blog post by BIA's Rick Ducey noted that “as shown below, NBC affiliated stations saw the largest increase in distribution revenue in this period, followed by CBS, FOX, and ABC.  Broadcasters often negotiate both financial and non-financial terms such as including carriage of diginets.”

“Looking ahead beyond 2023, the local TV industry has come to rely on these distribution revenues but the dynamics are in flux,” Ducey noted. “In a world with growing segments of homes that are cord-cutters and cord nevers with a transition to CTV/OTT streaming video services, the economics of retransmission consent are changing as MVPDs see video subscriber losses along with the associated revenues from which distribution fees can be paid. MVPDs themselves are making adjustments by moving towards offering their own streaming services served to their growing ranks of broadband customers versus their traditional cable households.”

The BIA did not provide specific dollar figures for its 2024-2028 retrans fee estimates but noted that “BIA’s latest forecast for local TV station vMVPD/MVPD distribution revenue shows growth from 2023 but an overall flattening in the 2024-2028 period. Of the total amount of distribution revenue in the 2020-2028 period, the Top 25 TV Markets account for over half of the local TV station revenue from multichannel video providers. The Top 10 markets generate 29.9 percent of the total and Markets 11-25 get 21.6 percent.”

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—Amid growing signs that the era of “peak TV” may be coming to an end, a new survey from Hub indicates that many consumers are now either at or near their maximum number of TV sources, and are not actively looking to spend more money on video entertainment.

The Hub’s annual “Monetization of Video” survey found that nearly half (43%) of those surveyed are already at what they claim is the maximum number of services they want, which is an average of seven TV sources. Among the one third of viewers who have not yet reached their limit, the survey found that seven services is also the optimal number of services. 

“The video ecosystem is clearly at an inflection point. Gone are the days when providers could reliably count on revenue growth from new subscribers,” said Mark Loughney, senior consultant to Hub. “This leads to a quandary: how to deliver the volume of content necessary to keep subscribers loyal, while at the same time controlling production costs. Reconciling this dilemma will be the key to long term success in the video marketplace.”

The good news for providers is consumers are still spending more: Nearly half of consumers (44%) say they are spending more on TV than a year ago, and that’s up from 34% who said the same in 2020. This is despite the fact their actual average spend of $85 per month is 25% more than what they consider “reasonable” for video services, the Hub survey found. 

The bad news is the highest spenders are the most likely to churn: The more subscriptions a household has, the more likely they are to cancel a new subscription within 6 months of acquiring it. The majority of those with 4 or more subscriptions say they canceled a new service within six months.

Another key finding is that consumers are looking for value: While low price is the strongest driver of the value of a particular video service, it is not the only thing consumers include when considering value. They also want price stability, and for a service to have a large library of content, the researchers said. 

The survey also found that bundling SVODs with MVPD subscriptions provides value: Among the substantial segment of consumers who do not have an MVPD subscription, two thirds say integrating SVODs into an MVPD (i.e.. traditional pay TV) set-top-box would make a Pay TV service more valuable to them (up from 59% last year). In an environment characterized by subscription churn, such bundles could serve to reduce cancellations.

These findings are from Hub’s 2023 “Monetization of Video” report, based on a survey conducted among 1,602 US consumers with broadband, age 16-74, who watch at least 1 hour of TV per week. Interviews were conducted in June 2023 and explored consumers’ attitudes toward what they pay for TV services, and the value delivered by providers.  A free excerpt of the findings is available on Hub’s website. This report is part of the “Hub Reports” syndicated report series.

NEW YORK—The cross-media local advertising company Viamedia has launched its new Parity ADS Platform. 

Parity ADS is designed to be a transitional platform for buyers and sellers migrating to a full dynamic advertising market. It allows MVPDs to maximize live streams for IP-delivered distribution by simultaneously inserting regionally targeted ads on linear streams to match the local ads running on traditional cable TV systems, the company reported. 

"Our new Parity ADS Platform is one of the industry's first transitional approaches and introduces the immediate next step to achieving fully dynamic advertising," said David Solomon, president and CEO at Viamedia. "This presents an enormous opportunity for our MVPD partners around the country to essentially turn their linear inventory into connected TV (CTV) inventory, all while better serving their local communities, businesses and advertisers."

Solomon added that “the industry is beginning to catch on to the benefits of a parity approach. As subscribers are transitioned to streaming, there's often not enough impressions to sell independently. By replicating the same ad on two platforms, MVPDs are able to optimize linear and CTV feeds for advertisers, maximizing inventory and ad sales during the migration.  This system is specifically developed to drive greater demand and value for existing advertising inventory.”

Viamedia’s Parity ADS Platform enables MVPDs to regionalize streaming distribution by inserting regionally targeted ads on linear streams which mirror the ads running on traditional SD and HD channels. The platform provides a CTV capability for MVPDs that have already deployed a dynamic platform or are migrating into a dynamic advertising model by serving identical ads across multiple platforms. 

This enables ad sales for an entire subscriber base while protecting existing revenue streams.

The platform is also designed to help accelerate time-to-market and to reduce technological risks associated with transitioning linear into digital streams.

The new Parity ADS Platform complements Viamedia’s expanding portfolio of advanced advertising solutions, which includes QTT, the company’s patented, cloud-based solution that bridges digital demand and linear TV advertising inventory. The first-of-its-kind solution can request and receive ads from programmatic digital ad exchanges to enable programmatic ad insertion in real time or near real time pending Publisher’s preference on linear cable, National Network or Broadcast television utilizing existing TV infrastructure, the company said. 

WASHINGTON--The FCC has announced deadlines for the NPRM it issued last month that changes the method for cable and satellite TV providers to notify broadcast television stations from paper to electronic delivery.

Deadline for comments is Sept. 4, 2019 and reply comments, Sept. 19.

On July 10, the commission approved an NPRM that would allow cable and satellite TV providers to notify broadcast TV stations about must-carry or retransmission consent issues by email rather than traditional certified mail. The move was supported by most TV lobbyists, including the NAB, APTS and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association.

The NPRM also seeks comments on whether electronic notification should also be extended to LPTV without Class A status and certain noncommercial translator stations that don’t have FCC public record requirements. 

CHICAGO—Results of a December 2018 survey released this week by Waterstone Management Group paint a rather dire picture for the cable TV industry: 59 percent of subscribers nationally have cancelled their plans and another 29 percent are considering it.

“I think it is pretty obvious that cable TV is going to go away, at least in the form that we’ve known it,” says Andy Kerns, creative director of Digital Third Coast and primary researcher on Waterstone’s cord-cutting survey. ”I think the story right now is about how quickly it is happening.”

Idaho registered the highest percentage of people who have cut the cord at 72 percent, followed by Kentucky at 70 percent, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona at 69 percent and South Dakota at 68 percent.

The states with the lowest percentage of unsubscribes include Virginia at 51 percent, Alabama and Massachusetts at 50 percent, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Connecticut at 49 percent, Mississippi at 47 percent and New Jersey at 36 percent, the survey found.

Seven states had too few responses to be included in the analysis, according to Waterstone. They included Louisiana, Alaska, Montana, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming and North Dakota.

Although the survey didn’t examine why people are cutting the pay TV cord, Kerns identified price and original content as likely reasons. “Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services were initially competitive on price,” he says. “But they have also been investing in an incredible amount of original content. That seems to have accelerated this battle with traditional cable.”

The survey also did not ask about the efforts of traditional pay TV providers to preserve subscribers by offering their own SVOD services.

For the survey, Waterman contacted 5,000 people age 18 to 69 across the United States via Mechanical Turk, an Amazon-powered survey platform. Respondents were paid to participate.

More information is available on the Waterstone Management Group website.

MONTEREY, CA–Cable and satellite TV providers continue to shed subscribers as the rate of cord-cutting accelerate in the third quarter, according to several new research reports.

According to MoffettNathanson, more than 1 million viewers severed their subscriptions to cable and satellite TV services in Q3, the most ever in a quarterly earnings period. The four largest U.S. pay-TV providers--AT&T (DirecTV), Comcast, DISH and Charter lost 887,000 subscribers in the quarter, with the satellite TV providers taking the brunt of the loss.

Media Research firm Kagan released similar figures, noting that cable lost 1.1 million subscribers year-to-date so far, their worst performance at the three-quarter mark since 2014. Satellite providers lost 726,000 subscribers in Q3 and traditional telco subscriptions fell by 94,000, with Verizon alone shedding 63,000 subs alone during Q3. The current number of multichannel video program subscribers stands at 91 million, including 88.2 million residential customers, according to Kagan.

Kagan’s quarterly analysis now includes total virtual multichannel subscriptions from services such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue. The combined virtual platforms gained an estimated 2.1 million subs in the trailing 9 months, compared a decline of 2.8 million in the traditional segment.

Leichtman Research Group reported a loss of approximately 975,000 subscribers for the pay-TV market in Q3 compared to a pro forma loss of 410,000 in Q3 2017. Among “skinny bundles,” LRG focused on those provided by AT&T/DirecTV and DISH, noting that its Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW services added only 75,000 subscribers in Q3, compared to about 530,000 net adds in Q3 2017. This was the fewest in any quarter since their debut.

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. noted the danger such trends mean for DBS providers in particular.

“Satellite TV services had more combined net losses in 3Q 2018 than in any previous quarter,” he said. “These net losses were largely driven by corporate strategies focused on acquiring and retaining more profitable subscribers (as well as a programming carriage issue between DISH and Univision). A related emphasis on improving the profitability of the satellite TV company’s Internet-delivered flanker brands reduced net quarterly adds in the segment, resulting in vMVPDs not helping to mitigate overall pay-TV losses to the degree they had in recent quarter

In addition to lost subscription revenues, cord-cutting is hitting pay-TV’s advertising base as well. eMarketer recently downgraded its TV ad revenue estimates for 2018, decreasing the rate of growth to just .5 percent to $71.65 billion, down from the previously estimated $72.72 billion. eMarketer predicts that TV’s share of total media ad spending in the US will drop to 34.9 percent, and is expected to fall below 30 percent by 2021.

WASHINGTON—NAB has called on the FCC to recognize the important role C-band plays in content delivery for radio and television stations, MVPDs and OTT operators, to be judicious in the way it makes decisions about reallocating part of the band for wireless use and not to take steps that will degrade C-band satellite service by allowing shared use in the non-reallocated part of the band.

The association Oct. 29 filed comments with the FCC regarding the agency’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding expanding flexible use of the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz band.

“In the wireless industry’s ‘Race to 5G’ it is critical for the Commission to not sacrifice the nation’s position as the world leader in content,” NAB said in the filing. “If premium programming–including live sports, entertainment and news–cannot be reliably distributed, the fastest 5G network in the world will have far less value and the prize for winning will be a participation trophy instead of a substantial economic boost.”

Any agency plan to allow expanded operations in the C-band must guarantee existing operations are fully protected by “requiring a documented, enforceable and fully-funded plan for accommodating existing users,” NAB said.

The association reminded the agency of how important C-band satellite content distribution to existing media distributors. More than 1,000 TV stations affiliated with networks, thousands of MVPD headends and OTT providers rely on C-band satellite distribution to receive programming, NAB said. Additionally, 475 public radio earth stations that together account for public radio service to 42 million Americans every week rely on reliable C-band program distribution.

These C-band transmissions are a critical piece of “a near-flawlessly reliable distribution network” that does not suffer the service interruptions and outages “that plague fiber optic networks and higher-frequency satellite systems,” the filing said.

NAB told the agency that content delivery must be allowed to evolve and any decision it makes to reallocate the band must not preclude future uses of the band for satellite distribution of emerging types of programming, such as 4K and high dynamic range video.

Further, NAB reminded the FCC that any proposals to share C-band spectrum with wireless companies to date have been based on the assumption that 4,700 registered or licensed C-band earth stations exist. However, the agency’s current registration window has seen thousands more register. “As of October 26, there were approximately 16,500 C-band earth stations registered in the Commission’s IBFS system,” NAB said, adding that this represents “a dramatically different operating environment than previously assumed.”

In the comments, NAB also pointed out that rule changes allowing shared operations in non-reallocated parts of the band run the risk of creating harmful interference today and impeding future operations.

“The worst outcome the Commission could achieve in this proceeding would be to assume that existing users can easily be accommodated in a smaller band or relocated to alternative spectrum or fiber,” NAB said. The next worst possible outcome would be undermining such a plan by “forcing C-band operations into a smaller spectrum band that is further degraded by additional operations on a co-frequency basis based on unproven sharing technologies.”

The association urged the FCC to “require a specific accommodation plan for C-band operations” serving more than 100 million U.S. households “to ensure viewers and listeners continue to have access to the premium content they enjoy today,” the filing said.

Whatever mechanism the agency ultimately uses to reallocate a part of the band, it should take three steps to make sure new mobile services in the band don’t “upend the nation’s content distribution architecture,” NAB said.

They include:

• A “specific, documented, actionable and public plan” to accommodate existing C-band users;
• A provision that ensures the costs of implementing the plan fully fall upon “the beneficiaries” [i.e. the satellite operators or wireless operators] that acquire the rights to use the spectrum; and
• Steps to ensure capacity for future video marketplace evolution, such as sufficient spectrum to accommodate 4K video programming.

“Small missteps in this proceeding will have dramatic ramifications that threaten the stability and reliability of the infrastructure that distributes content American viewers and listeners enjoy, and in which programmers invest billions of dollars every year,” the comments said.

WASHINGTON—The American Cable Association says MPVDs and full power and Class A TV stations should get priority access to $400 million in 2019 incentive auction relocation funds before FM radio stations or low powers and translators get a share.

The latter were initially not included in the fund, set up to compensate broadcasters and MVPDs for costs of the post-incentive auction repack, but Congress earlier this year made them part of the fund, directing funds for 2018 specifically to FMs ($50 million) and low powers and translators ($150 million), but was less clear about the 2019 funds.

In proposing a framework for allocating that money, the FCC noted the lack of specificity about the 2019 funds and asked whether it should prioritize MVPDs et al. before FMs and low powers. ACA says definitely.

ACA told the FCC in comments this week that it is certainly feasible that MVPDS, full powers and class A's may need all $400 million, and if that is the case, they should get it.

"It would be unfair, therefore, to permit others—including LPTV, TV translator, and FM stations—to access the funds appropriated for 2019 until all entities for whom the reimbursement fund was originally created are fully satisfied," ACA said.

[Read: NAB Urges FCC To Minimize Consumer Disruptions, Wait To Prioritize Repack Reimbursements]

ACA pointed out that while only 136 MVPDs have so far filed for reimbursement—many have to adjust their headends to receive stations being moved in the repack—"hundreds more" are expected to file for reimbursement over the next two years.

Congress has consistently prioritized reimbursement of MVPDs and full power and Class A stations over all others," ACA president and CEO Matthew M. Polka said of the filing.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

The top U.S. pay TV providers turned in an improved Q1 2018, but the results weren’t good enough to avoid a net subscriber loss, according to a new analysis from Leichtman Research Group.  

The largest MVPDs, representing about 95 percent of the market, shed about 305,000 net video subs in Q1 2018, compared to a pro forma loss of about 515,000 subs in the year-ago period, LRG said.

“Traditional” pay TV services, excluding internet-delivered services, lost 710,000 subs in Q1, improved from a year-ago loss of 780,000. Among individual market segments, the top six U.S. cable operators lost about 285,000 video subs in Q1, widened from a loss of 115,000 a year earlier.

Dish Network and DirecTV lost 375,000 satellite TV subs in Q1, versus a year-ago loss of 340,000. The top telco TV providers lost just 50,000 video subs in the period, improving greatly from losses of 325,000 subs in Q1 2017. LRG said Q1 marked the fewest sub losses in that segment in any quarter since Q3 2015.

Read: Millions Flee Pay-TV; Revenues Slide, Say Researchers]

Dish’s Sling TV and AT&T’s DirecTV Now, the top publicly reporting OTT TV service providers, combined to tack on 405,000 subs in Q1, up from 265,000 net adds in Q1 2017, LRG said.

With all segments factored in, the largest U.S. pay TV providers now account for 91.9 million subs – 47.8 million for the top cable MSOs, 31.1 million for satellite TV, 9.2 million, and 3.8 million for Sling TV and DirecTV Now.

Recent estimates that include subs for other OTT TV services such as YouTube TV, fuboTV, Hulu live TV, PlayStation Vue and Philo, put the virtual MVPD sub total at north of 5 million.

“The number of pay TV subscribers for the top providers peaked six years ago. Since 1Q 2012, top providers have lost about 3.4 million total pay-TV subscribers,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, said in a statement. “Since the industry’s peak, traditional services have lost about 7.2 million subscribers, while the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered services gained about 3.8 million subscribers.”

WASHINGTON—The American Television Alliance has reiterated its position asking the FCC to reconsider three separate objections it previously raised to the commission’s ATSC 3.0 Order authorizing Next-Gen TV broadcast service in reply comments filed April 23 with the agency.

ATVA is asking the FCC to issue an order on reconsideration that requires separate negotiations for first-time ATSC 3.0 signal carriage by MVPDs, mandates LPTV and translator stations to simulcast ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 signals and makes stations provide viewers and MVPDs with prior notice before being allowed to degrade their signal format or picture quality.

ATVA originally petitioned the FCC March 5 to reconsider its November 2017 ATSC 3.0 order asking the commission to address the same three issues. 

[Read: ATVA Files Petition For Limited Reconsideration of ATSC 3.0 Order]

In this week’s filing, ATVA argued the FCC should not reject its petition for reconsideration, despite its presentation of the same arguments in earlier proceedings, because it “believe[s] that aspects of the ATSC 3.0 Order constitute a ‘material error’….”

The FCC can “grant a petition for reconsideration relying on arguments previously raised, so long as the petitioner demonstrates ‘material error or omission in the original order,’” the filing said. “If the Commission comes to agree with us, no legal barrier prevents it from granting reconsideration.”

In their opposition to the petition for reconsideration, broadcasters have said “marketplace incentives” will prevent them from engaging in the three practices to which ATVA objects. “We have always been highly skeptical of this claim,” the reply comments said.

The reconsideration process gives the FCC the chance “to address these issues despite broadcasters’ promises.” 

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.  

SAN BRUNO, CALIF.—After making its debut in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco/Bay Area, Chicago and Philadelphia back in April, YouTube TV is ready to expand to 10 more markets in the coming weeks. According to a blog post from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the MVPD service can expect to launch in Dallas-Fort Worth; Washington D.C.; Houston; Atlanta; Phoenix; Detroit; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.; and Charlotte, N.C.

To read the full article, visit TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News.

WASHINGTON—Local simulcasting is at the core of the next-gen broadcasting proposal pending at the Federal Communications Commission. The idea is, a TV station that fires up ATSC 3.0 continues to transmit the same programming in ATSC 1.0, the current format, from another station’s facility.

The Feb. 24, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes requiring local simulcasting“as a condition to offering ATSC 3.0.”

The question is how to do it. Proponents of the new standard want as much flexibility as possible, while the commission posed questions about how licensing, interference and pay-TV carriage would work with local simulcasting, among other issues.

Comments were due on the NPRM docket, No. 16-142, Tuesday, May 9. The document reflects an April, 2016 petition filed by America’s Public Television Stations, the AWARN Alliance, the Consumer Technology Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, asking for voluntary deployment of ATSC 3.0.

In comments filed May 9, petitioners requested only that the “bootstrap” portion of the standard be incorporated into current rules, and lobbied for “as much flexibility as possible in tailoring local simulcasting arrangements to best suit their viewers.” *

With regard to simulcast carriage, the NPRM would require pay-TV operators to continue providing must-carry for ATSC 1.0 signals but not 3.0 signals, which would be subject to retransmission consent. 

The American Cable Association, which represents smaller cable operation, is concerned that broadcasters will “coerce” carriage through retransmission consent, either in future agreements or “in longstanding language in existing agreements [that] could be read to require ATSC 3.0 carriage—even where such language dates from years before anybody had heard of ATSC 3.0.”

The petitioners counter that the retransmission discussion is “simply irrelevant in this proceeding” since carriage of ATSC 3.0 signals will not be mandatory.

The ACA nonetheless favors separate carriage negotiations for ATSC 3.0 and 1.0 signals. (See ACA comments here.) The organization also is concerned about the cost of carrying the ATSC 1.0 simulcasts, the format and picture quality of those simulcasts and what happens when the signal from a simulcasting location no longer reaches a cable provider’s headend. A filing from Midcontinent Communications further elaborates.

The petitioners urged the commission to allow “market forces to determine coverage and signal quality issues,” and noted that broadcasters now transmitting in high-definition are already exceeding the FCC’s current standard-def requirement. They also ask that the commission not require an identical simulcast, since 3.0 has multiple more capabilities than 1.0.

“For example, broadcasters might choose to use the next-gen station to highlight ultra-high definition or the benefits of high-dynamic range or other features using content that might be less appealing to viewers if transmitted using ATSC 1.0,” they said.

Nexstar Broadcasting seconded this request: “Mandating an absolute exact duplication between the ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 transmissions is counterproductive to the flexibility of the ATSC 3.0 standard.”

Petitioners also asked to use vacant, in-band channels, aka “white spaces,” subject to FCC approval, “for the duration of the transition.” The U.K.-based Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, a consortium of companies with designs on white spaces, urged the commission “not to expand broadcasters’ spectrum rights by allowing them to claim white spaces for ATSC 1.0—or ATSC 3.0—simulcasts.”

Separately, Microsoft met with FCC staff members April 27 to lobby for “three 6 MHz channels… for unlicensed use in the 600 MHz and TV bands” and that “in no way should the ATSC 3.0 proceeding be used as a vehicle to unnecessarily extend the incentive auction transition period.”

The NPRM also asks if 3.0 signals should be licensed as second or temporary channels, defined asmulticasts, or a choice thereof. Licensing gives the commission more authority over the 3.0 signals, but it means more work for both broadcasters and FCC staff. Multicasting would be easier but leave non-commercial educational stations out of the mix because they are statutorily precluded from transmitting ads. (SeeSec. 399B.) 

Petitioners said that the commission could authorize simulcasts as multicasting “without difficulty,” but suggested license modification as an alternative. Separately, NAB’s Alison Neplokh and Patrick McFadden met with Media Bureau staffers to advocate for licensemodification to accommodate simulcasting, according to an ex parte notice of the April 12 meeting.

Either way, broadcasters intending to transmit 3.0 would have to file a facilities modification notification.

The NPRM also seeks input on 3.0-into-1.0 interference issues (to be measured with OET-69), as well as the petitioners’ claim that simulcast deals can be done between facilities “serving a substantially similar community of license.” The NPRM essentially asks what that means.

Additionally, it would impose current public interest obligations on 3.0 simulcasts, but no receiver mandate “at this time.” Petitioners are fine with both, but Ronald Brey of Rockford, Ill., would like to see “minimum tuner standards” imposed.

Other issues in the NPRM include handling the impact of 3.0 on the post-auction TV band repack as well as viewer education. A need for viewer education was illustrated in comments such as one from Evelyn Rhoads who interpreted the petition to force another set-top on viewers. Petitioners said broadcasters would handle viewer education voluntarily.

Among other commenters, Spencer Karter of Greenwood, S.C., suggested expanding the signal coverage to 250 miles and to “eliminate” service contours. He also replied to the opposition to the petition filed by John Notor of San Jose, Calilf., and his contention that over-the-air broadcasting is “obsolete.” Karter countered that 3.0 will improve reception and provide an alternative to pay TV.

“Our DirecTV bill is currently $145 a month, and it’s not cheap,” he writes.

Bill Sanford, CEO of Lakeland Public Television in Bemidji, Minn., didn’t opposed 3.0, but said it was “too late to the party.” He requested the rulemaking to allow voluntary MPEG-4 encoding in addition to the MPEG-2 scheme broadcasters are locked into now.

Spectrum Evolution,a group led by low-power TV pioneer Greg Herman, asked that LPTV licensees “be included from the start and not left out of the initial conversion opportunity” to transmit 3.0. Herman is president and CEO of WatchTV in Portland, Ore., which was granted an experimental license in February to transmit 3.0 over a distributed transmission system. 

American Tower, which owns and/or operates 40,000 communications towers across the United States, simply asked for a speedy rulemaking so broadcasters could incorporate 3.0 in the repack. The request was made about a year ago. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stated—most recently in his address at the NAB Show—that he hopes to nail down a 3.0 rulemaking by the end of this year.

* The bootstrap layer represents the foundation of ATSC 3.0, enabling entry into the broadcast waveform, receiver detection and a flag for emergency alerts.

SAN BRUNO, CALIF.—YouTube is entering the virtual MVPD arena with the launch of YouTube TV later this year. The new service will feature 40 channels of cable networks including ESPN, FX and USA Networks, as well as broadcast networks CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC, and access to original YouTube Red content. This will be a no-contract service that will target millennials and be available for $35 a month.

Read the full article on TVT's sister publication Multichannel News. 

PITTSBURGH—Significant strides have been made with video description services that are available to the blind and visually impaired says the American Cable Association in a filing with the FCC. However, the ACA does not believe certain new regulations on MVPD are necessary, and potential rule changes to smaller MVPDs should align with existing compliance deadlines. ACA’s comments were in response to an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on expanding the ability of, and support customer access to, video described programming.

“Given the success of the existing video description program under the existing regulatory regime, and the continuing voluntary efforts on the part of the industry to improve service and make video description more widely available, the FCC need not adopt some of its proposed rules, particularly those applicable to smaller MVPDs,” said Matthew M. Polka, ACA president and CEO. “If the FCC does adopt any new requirements, aligning the compliance deadlines with the deadline for small operators to comply with the requirement to provide audibly accessible video navigation devices will help minimize confusion and administrative costs.”

Under the current rule, MVPDs with under 400,000 or fewer subscribers (as of 2012) and MVPD systems with 20,000 or fewer subscribers that are not affiliated with an operator serving more than 10 percent of all MVPD subscribers (as of 2012) must come into compliance by Dec. 20, 2018.

To read ACA’s full comments, click here.