Hollywood Reporter

Mark Ruffalo, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and members of OK Go are asking the Federal Communications Commission not to change its network neutrality rules.

More than 50 stars have signed a letter to FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler, calling his proposed changes to net neutrality a threat to artistic freedom.

"The open Internet has powered the creative community’s pursuits and offerings in the 21st century," reads the letter. "As members of this community, we urge the Federal Communications Commission to protect the open Internet as a vehicle for free expression and collaboration."

The letter goes on with crediting the Internet with allowing artists to connect with audiences in unprecedented ways. "It has eliminated the barriers of geography and taken collaborations to new levels. And it has allowed people -- not corporations -- to seek out the film, music and art that moves them," the letter continues.

President Barack Obama will headline a Democratic fundraising dinner on May 7 at the home of Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn and his wife, Cindy. Proceeds from the evening event will go to benefit the Democrats' House Senate Victory Fund.

Its chairman, Michael Bennett, also will be on hand, along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-DA). In their invitation to the event, the Horns wrote that "with the midterm elections approaching, this event provides an opportunity to hear directly from President Obama on his positions on many issues that we all care deeply about, and to offer thoughts and suggestions. We urge you to join us in supporting the president's important goal of taking back the House of Representatives and holding the Senate to further his legislative agenda."

The US pay TV industry in 2013 recorded its first-ever full-year subscriber decline, SNL Kagan said in confirming what industry watchers had previously predicted.

Cable TV, satellite TV and telecom firms offering video services collectively shed 251,000 subscribers in 2013, led by continued cable losses, the research firm estimated. The industry added 40,000 video subscriptions in the fourth quarter, helped by a return to video sub growth at cable giant Comcast, but it wasn't enough to make up for losses earlier in the year.

As of the end of the year, the number of pay TV subscribers dipped to approximately 100 million, according to SNL Kagan. Losses from cable operators again fueled the overall drop. SNL Kagan estimates cable operators lost nearly 2 million video subscribers in 2013 and 388,000 in the fourth quarter to end the year with fewer than 54.4 million basic video subscribers.

Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus told an investor conference in more detail why his company's board agreed to sell to Comcast, calling the proposed combination a dream deal with big upside potential. He said his management team was focused on maximizing shareholder value and enhancing consumers' user experience in evaluating possible deals.

"The combination truly is a dream combination," he concluded. "The value creation opportunity is huge." Marcus added that while the TWC board saw value upside if the company remained independent, it felt there was more upside with Comcast as the new owner.

Charter Communications, in which John Malone's Liberty Media owns a 27 percent stake, had also bid for TWC. Discussing his future after the close of the proposed deal, Marcus said: "Whether or not I'll be here [at the conference] next year...is a question that remains to be answered." The two companies have said they expect to close the deal by the end of 2014. With Comcast Cable boss Neil Smit set to run the combined company, industry observers have been wondering where Marcus may land next.

For the past 40 years, there's been a policy that if a home professional football team hasn't sold out tickets at least 72 hours prior to kickoff, the game is subject to a broadcast blackout.

The policy is political pigskin, kicked around by fans, lawmakers and TV companies everywhere. Everyone has always assumed that the policy was meant to ensure great live attendance, but the National Football League is telling the Federal Communications Commission that the policy also ensures that games are televised. The league isn't prepared to let the blackout rule die easily, saying that the system works well for the public and fans.

The league notes that of 256 regular season games in 2013, only two were blacked out. Of course, that was a pretty blackout-light year, but it doesn't stop the league from boasting that the number of blackouts has plunged 92 percent since 2003.

Next, the NFL makes the argument that when Congress passed the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, it "adopted the blackout provision not for the sake of protecting the gate in its own right, but instead for the purpose of promoting sports on broadcast television." The league asserts that the rule was one of the big reasons why it was able to enter into exclusive contracts with broadcasters in the first place.

But the NFL goes even further by making the counterintuitive argument that blackouts are leading to more football games on television. "Proponents of repeal rely on the entirely unsupported assumption that the commission’s sports blackout rule reduces the availability of professional sports on television," says the NFL. "To the contrary, over the long run the blackout rule actually increases the availability of sports games on television by encouraging broadcasters and professional sports leagues to reach deals for exclusive broadcast rights."

With satellite TV operators DirecTV and Dish Network set to report fourth-quarter financials, respectively, Wall Street is looking for the latest management commentary on consolidation in the pay TV industry, a hot topic since Comcast unveiled its deal to acquire Time Warner Cable.

A merger deal between DirecTV and Dish Network failed more than a decade ago, but the idea still comes up regularly, and Wall Street observers expect the top executives to be asked about the possibility. Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker predicted that the Comcast-TWC transaction would spur other deals.

"We view an approved Comcast-TWC transaction as an incremental positive for Dish-DirecTV," she wrote. She noted, though, that a key variable would be Dish chairman Charlie Ergen's "time frame and focus, i.e., we still think priority number one is wireless" for him. Macquarie Securities analyst Amy Yong said that the Comcast-TWC deal would allow the satellite TV giants to argue that they should be allowed to merge if they want because they are facing a stronger competitor.