Jon Lafayette

"The single most critical question facing cable investors is what happens to broadband subscriber growth from here," said Craig Moffett, the influential principal and senior analyst at MoffettNathanson. "If the problem facing cable broadband today is saturation, then subscriber growth likely flatlines from here.

Top cable industry analyst Craig Moffett issued a report with a provocative title, asking, “Is cable a good business?” Clearly, MoffettNathanson’s principal and senior analyst believes Wall Street doesn’t think so.

The new TV broadcast technology, known as NextGen TV or ATSC 3.0, is being used to deliver remote learning services to kids in Washington (DC), who might not have access to traditional broadband.

Local TV broadcast station owner EW Scripps is jumping into the national television business by buying Ion Media for $2.65 billion in a deal backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is investing $600 million in Scripps to help pay for Ion and make a bet on free over-the-air television. Scripps already had a national presence with Katz Networks, which runs channels like Bounce and Court TV. Ion reaches 96% of US homes with stations in 62 markets and 124 affiliated stations.

Comcast confirmed that it is considering an offer for assets of 21 Century Fox that would top the amount Disney has already agreed to pay. Comcast said it is “in advanced stages” of preparing an offer and that any offer for Fox would be all-cash and at a premium to Disney’s $52.4 billion bid, which is based on stock. “While no final decision has been made, at this point the work to finance the all-cash offer and make the key regulatory filings is well advanced,” Comcast said.

Analysts say AT&T’s declaration that it would offer distributors arbitration when Turner carriage deals expire—and its promise of no blackouts for seven years—if its acquisition of Time Warner goes through answers one of the government's biggest objections to the deal. AT&T disclosed the offer in response to the Justice Department’s suit looking to block the merger on antitrust grounds.  MoffettNathanson Research analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson called AT&T's arbitration and no-blackout gambit clever.

CSN Chicago plans to air an original documentary about Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, in which the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in extra innings to win their first championship in 108 years. The documentary, Reign Men: The Story Behind Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, will air March 27 at 9:30 pm CT.

Tribune Media Co agreed to sell Gracenote, which provides media and entertainment metadata, to Nielsen for $560 million.

Gracenote provides reference information for more than 12 million movie and television listings and 200 million music tracks. It is the industry standard for automatic content recognition technology. Combining Gracenote with its measurement framework, Nielsen expects to be able to provide clients with deeper analytics on consumer behavior and offer a better view of audience engagements. “Gracenote’s metadata and content recognition technology fuels the interfaces of the major video, music and in-car infotainment systems that consumers engage with every day. This acquisition provides Nielsen with a significant asset in our mission of measuring and understanding consumer behavior,” said Karthik Rao, president, Expanded Verticals at Nielsen. Tribune acquired Gracenote in 2014. Tribune Media expects to receive approximately $500 million in after-tax proceeds from the transaction, the majority of which will be used to repay existing debt with the remainder to be reinvested in the business. The sale is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017.

Comcast, which agreed to launch a series of independent and minority-owned networks to get its acquisition of NBCUniversal approved, said it will be distributing Hispanic-oriented Primo TV and Kids Central when they go on the air in January. With Comcast’s backing, the new networks will try to get other cable operators to carry them. Comcast will pay an undisclosed sub fee to the networks. A precise number for how many homes will get the channels was unavailable. Kids Central, an English-language network aimed at bicultural Hispanic viewers ages 3-7, is owned by Condista Networks. In primetime, the network will have a block of programming aimed at families.

Kids Central will provide both English and Spanish-language video on demand content. Primo TV is an English-language network designed to appeal to bicultural Hispanic viewers ages 6 to 16. It is owned by V-Me Media, which already programs networks including V-Me and V-Me Kids. Programming will feature animated shows, adventure programming and series emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

Facing the prospect of a lengthy review of its acquisition by AT&T, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said the transaction would spur consumer choice and competition in the digital advertising industry. Speaking on Time Warner’s earnings call with analysts, Bewkes said that both companies are committed to meeting the conditions necessary to clear regulatory hurdles and close the deal. But Time Warner believes the vertical merger is pro-competitive.
Bewkes noted that the digital advertising business has become increasingly concentrated, with Facebook and Google gaining big and growing shares of that market. The combination of AT&T and Time Warner would be able to offer advertisers more choice and new ad options that could prove to be more efficient and effective. “It has great benefits for advertisers because it gives them more effective advertising and it gives them more competition in advertising,” he said.