FuboTV signed an exclusive multiyear deal with The Professional Fighters League for the league’s PFL Challenger Series, the companies said Thursday. Viewers can interact with the live competition through fuboTV's predictive, free-to-play games. Fubo Sportsbook will be the exclusive gambling sponsor of the PFL Challenger Series, they said.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' approach in deciding the Cable Act preempts states and localities from levying cable regulatory fees on non-cable services provided using cable networks (see 210526003) violates the federalism protection in the Constitution, said the International Municipal Lawyers Association and League of Oregon Cities in a Supreme Court docket 21-661 amicus brief this week.The 6th Circuit acknowledged the Cable Act doesn't expressly preempt such a fee but then said it implicitly did, ignoring the law's words and provisions Congress included to protect local authority to regulate non-cable communications services, they said. They supported petitioners Eugene, Oregon; the District of Columbia; Fairfax County, Virginia; and others.

ViacomCBS and South Korea's CJ ENM agreed to co-produce original series and films plus license and distribute content across their streaming services. They said Tuesday that ViacomCBS' Paramount+ will enter the Asian market next year by debuting in South Korea in a bundle with TVING, CJ ENM's streaming service. Paramount and CJ ENM/Studio Dragon will co-develop and co-produce English-language scripted series based on CJ ENM/Studio Dragon's titles for exhibition on Paramount+ and co-finance new Korean series for Paramount+ global distribution. Paramount+ will license Korean-language series from CJ EMN's library, they said, and Pluto TV will launch a CJ ENM-branded channel on Dec. 14 of Korean content for U.S. audiences.

Pay-TV and virtual MVPD subscribers can expect a rough 2022 in the form of price increases and carriage disputes, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. He said distributors are no longer eating some of the costs of programming license fee hikes but passing it all along to subs. He said programmers increasingly focused on direct-to-consumer offerings will also help accelerate the withering away of the traditional programming bundle.

Citing the heavy workload stemming from earlier assigned cases, the FCC is asking the Supreme Court for a Jan. 5 deadline to file a response to an appeal of a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the Cable Act preempts states and localities from levying cable regulatory fees on non-cable services provided using cable networks (see 2111010048), per a motion Tuesday. The agency's response to the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Eugene and other localities is due Dec. 6.

ViacomCBS has closed on buying a majority stake in Disney's Spanish language content producer Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico, it said Tuesday. The deal was announced last month (see 2110280007).

U.S. District Judge Brooke Jackson in Denver shot down Charter Communications' bid for dismissal of a lawsuit by music labels claiming Charter abetted copyright infringement by some of its broadband subscribers. In an order Monday (docket 21-cv-02020, in Pacer), Jackson said he had "no reason to rule differently on the motion to dismiss in the present case" than his April 2020 order denying a Charter motion to dismiss a related copyright infringement suit (see 2004160002). Charter didn't comment.

Major pay-TV providers lost about 650,000 net video subscribers in 3Q vs. a 90,000 loss in the year-ago quarter, said Leichtman Research Group Thursday. The top pay-TV providers account for about 77 million subscribers, 41.9 million for the top seven cable companies, 7.5 million for the top publicly reporting virtual MVPDs. Top cable providers had a net loss of about 700,000 video subs, vs. a loss of 380,000 in 3Q 2020; Comcast shed 407,000, bringing its base to 18.5 million. Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 635,000 vs. a loss of 780,000. All traditional pay-TV companies lost customers, but vMVPDs Hulu+Live TV (300,000), Sling TV (117,000) and fuboTV (262,884) gained, LRG said, though growth slowed to 680,000 from 1.1 million. Annual net losses were similar to a year ago, said LRG President Bruce Leichtman, saying top pay-TV providers shed about 5.1 million subs over the past year vs. losing some 4.8 million.

Cable networks are potentially "swapping pay TV dollars for streaming pennies" with an increased focus on streaming delivery, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said being part of a cable bundle helped hide the true cost of individual networks, and a move to streaming lets people assess pricing on a la carte basis. Subscribers' assessment of the value of those networks might differ considerably from what the networks think they're worth, he said.

Samba TV is “transforming” smart TVs “into a platform for our customers,” including brands, agencies, content programmers, publishers and measurement and advertising vendors, “to build attentive, engaged audiences,” said the company in an S-1 registration statement Tuesday at the SEC for an initial public offering of common stock. Samba’s AI-driven “content identification software” is embedded in smart TVs sold by “leading OEM brands across the globe,” it said. “Through our software, we form direct relationships with millions of viewers, who provide us consent to collect their viewership data. Using the data we collect, as well as data we license, we provide customers with critical tools to optimize how they plan, buy and measure their advertising campaigns to reach their preferred audiences.” Traditional TV audiences "watched a limited selection of content available on a broadcaster’s linear programming schedule, which included advertisements seen by all viewers regardless of their interests," said the filing. "With the development of on-demand services, today’s viewers enjoy more video choices than ever as content consumption rapidly spreads across a growing set" of broadcast, over-the-top and streaming "platforms, formats and devices," it said. Samba generated revenue of $82.8 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, up nearly 24% from the same 2020 period, said the S-1. August Capital Management is Samba’s largest institutional investor with 6.51 million shares, said the filing. Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin is its largest individual shareholder with 4.17 million shares. Samba has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SMBA.”