Comments are due Feb. 3, replies March 7, on the status of MVPDs' implementation of Television Viewer Protection Act requirements that customers receive a breakdown of all charges involving the MVPD’s video service before signing a contract, and that customers get a 24-hour grace period to cancel without penalty, said an FCC Media Bureau docket 21-501 public notice Monday.

Altitude Sports and Entertainment plans a new carriage offer to Comcast before the two go into mediation to settle a two-year-old blackout. "It is Altitude’s aim that this offer will bring the case to a close and return the network to Comcast," the regional sports network said Friday. Comcast said it has remained open to resuming carriage in a way that doesn't raise rates for subscribers. Altitude brought an antitrust complaint against Comcast in 2019 (see 1911180062). The two told (docket 19-cv-03253) District Judge William Martinez of Denver Thursday that they will a file joint motion before Dec. 20 for a settlement conference.

Comcast will begin rolling out the Xfinity Video Doorbell early next year, it said Thursday. The HD-quality video doorbell, which will allow users to watch their front door “from anywhere,” will be available with professional installation for Xfinity Home Pro Protection and Pro Protection Plus customers for $120, it said.

Discovery+ is now available on Vizio’s SmartCast streaming platform, said Vizio Thursday. Users can trial the service for seven days before buying; subscriptions are $4.99 monthly with advertisements, $6.99 for commercial-free.

The churn rate for U.S. over-the-top video subscriptions is 44%, said Parks Associates Wednesday, with half of broadband households in Q3 having four-plus OTT video subs. Some 37% of households that subscribed to a new OTT service in the last year plan to quit because of lack of new content, and a quarter of subscribers that canceled a service did so because they finished watching the shows they like. AI and machine learning can identify content that will keep subscribers engaged and behaviors that predict future churn, Parks said.

Netflix will use SoundHound’s voice AI interface for its Da Vinci reference design kit, said SoundHound Tuesday. Searches can be granular, it said, like asking for action movies from the 1990s that aren’t over 150 minutes. Users can access their set-top box for voice commerce.

Advertising-supported and transactional VOD models are growing as a way for over-the-top video providers to differentiate in an “incredibly crowded” streaming market, said Parks Associates analyst Jennifer Kent, opening the company’s online event Tuesday. Kent referenced “hundreds” of streaming video services in the U.S., with all types of business models benefiting from a “massive increase” in OTT adoption spawned by stay-at-home COVID-19 trends. SVOD leads by far, but AVOD and TVOD services have increased users; 44% of OTT customers say they used AVOD in the past 30 days, up from 28% in 2018. One in five report using TVOD, double 2018. Hybrid models using subscription, ad-based and transactional models are emerging as a way to add users and content libraries while monetizing the business, Kent noted. SVOD and pay TV remain the first service type consumers turn to when looking for content, with ad-based offerings supplementing that, she said. That could change as ad-supported services expand their interfaces to resemble a content hub, she said, citing The Roku Channel and Samsung TV Plus.

Comcast will end its "best price" and "unlimited 5G" claims in its Xfinity 5G mobile service ads, said the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division Tuesday. NAD said the ad claims -- challenged by T-Mobile -- were problematic since customers get relegated to 3G speeds after reaching 20 GB of data in a month, and the pricing claim is unsupported. It said Comcast indicated it agreed that an appropriate disclosure will make the basis for comparisons clearer and will follow that NAD recommendation in future ads. Comcast didn't comment.

About a fifth of U.S. broadband homes subscribed to a virtual MVPD by the end of Q3, about double the penetration of two years ago and up five points from 2020, reported Parks Associates Monday. “Many households who cut the traditional pay-TV cord or never subscribed in the first place are looking for a live and more linear video viewing experience via online options, which is driving vMVPD service uptake,” said analyst Paul Erickson. “These services also promise less costly investment and more content flexibility, which increases the appeal among today’s video viewers,” who are accustomed to benefits of over-the-top solutions, he said.

Ensuring there's no disruption of subscribers' broadband as they transition from the emergency broadband benefit program to the affordable connectivity program is critical, NCTA President Michael Powell told FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, per a docket 21-450 posting Friday. Rather than making EBB-enrolled households opt into ACP, the FCC should default to EBB customers remaining in ACP unless they are no longer eligible or choose to opt out, Powell said. Many ACP implementation issues won't be solved before its Dec. 31 start, especially as the commission likely won't adopt final rules by then, he warned.