Amazon Studios announced Thursday 10 new pilot shows available on Prime Instant Video in the U.S. and LOVEFiLM in the U.K. Amazon will use viewer feedback as one factor in deciding which series move on to full-season production for exclusive viewing by Amazon Prime members, it said. Drama pilots include hourlong shows from creators Chris Carter (The X-Files), Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Treme) and Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch). Half-hour comedy pilots were created by writer and producer Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom), actor and musician Jason Schwartzman (Saving Mr. Banks), writer and director Alex Timbers, filmmaker Paul Weitz, writer Jill Soloway (Six Feet Under) and executive producers Ice Cube and Michael Strahan, Amazon said. Kids shows on the pilot list come from creators Duane Capizzi (Transformers Prime), Josh Selig (Wonder Pets), Angela Santomero (Blue’s Clues), Arland DiGirolamo (Sketchy) and Geoff Barbanell (Kickin’ It), it said. With previous pilots, Amazon customers submitted “thousands” of reviews within the first few days of launch, and more than 80 percent of reviews received 4 and 5 stars, said Roy Price, director-Amazon Studios.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office had planned to circulate a draft order Thursday that would attribute TV joint sales agreements (JSAs) for the purposes of calculating ownership, but the item is expected to be delayed until March, an agency official told us. The order would have treated the attribution of TV JSAs the same way as for radio, counting as 15 percent toward ownership, the official said. It’s not clear why the item may be delayed. The item would also have included a further notice of proposed rulemaking on media cross-ownership, the official said.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has a big decision ahead in coming months -- whether to seek en banc and, ultimately, Supreme Court review of Tuesday’s decision rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. Longtime FCC watchers disagree on the likelihood of an appeal. Some say an appeal carries a risk since the panel’s majority offered an expansive reading of FCC authority under Section 706 of the Communications Act. The decision is not the FCC’s alone to make because the solicitor general, not the commission, would have to file the appeal before the high court.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has a big decision ahead in coming months -- whether to seek en banc and, ultimately, Supreme Court review of Tuesday’s decision rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. Longtime FCC watchers disagree on the likelihood of an appeal. Some say an appeal carries a risk since the panel’s majority offered an expansive reading of FCC authority under Section 706 of the Communications Act. The decision is not the FCC’s alone to make because the solicitor general, not the commission, would have to file the appeal before the high court.
An appeals court granted a partial stay of the FCC prison phone order (CD Aug 12 p1) Monday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit kept in place the interim rate cap of 21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls, and 25 cents a minute for collect calls. It put on hold three other sections of the FCC’s rules: the requirement that rates and ancillary services be “cost-based”; low safe-harbor rates that presume charges are reasonable; and the annual reporting requirement.
A U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C., opinion in the FCC’s favor may also be a bad omen for the commission’s must-carry regime, several attorneys told us Friday. In a unanimous decision in Agape Church v. FCC (http://1.usa.gov/19ojjp3), a three-judge panel upheld the commission’s authority to sunset its dual carriage “viewability” rule, which required cable operators to downconvert the digital signals of “must-carry” channels for subscribers with analog television sets.
The FCC Media Bureau will approve the proposed Tribune/Local and Gannett/Belo broadcast deals this week, said agency officials in interviews Wednesday. The $2.73 billion Tribune/Local transaction will be approved without any additional conditions or divestitures, and the bureau won’t impose additional conditions on the $2.2 billion Gannett/Belo deal beyond the single station divestiture handed down by the Department of Justice earlier this week (CD Dec 17 p6), said the officials. Both deals will be approved on the bureau’s delegated authority, the officials said. Public interest groups had argued that because both deals involve sharing arrangements between stations, they should be handled by the full commission. Bureau staff found that the deals were “within the zone of existing precedent,” and so didn’t require a vote by the full commission, said an FCC official.
Amazon’s original film and TV production unit, Amazon Studios, plans to shoot all 2014 original series in 4K Ultra HD, it said Monday, joining Netflix as a streaming video provider getting a head start on broadcasters and cable networks to 4K content distribution.
Amazon’s original film and TV production unit, Amazon Studios, plans to shoot all 2014 original series in 4K Ultra HD, it said Monday, joining Netflix as a streaming video provider getting a head start on broadcasters and cable networks to 4K content distribution.
An FCC Media Bureau letter pointing out problems with some sharing arrangements involved in Sinclair’s deal to buy Allbritton probably doesn’t represent a policy shift in the commission’s stance on mergers and acquisitions, said industry attorneys and an analyst in interviews. But public interest officials said questions about Sinclair’s financial arrangements that were raised in the letter (CD Dec 9 p5) --after they were pointed out by Free Press and others -- might point to a stricter stance on ownership rules. “Asking about financial relationships is significant,” said public interest attorney Andrew Schwartzman, who consults for Free Press. The FCC’s stance though could be “deal-specific,” he said.