Dish Network landed the highest national TV customer satisfaction ranking for the fifth straight year, reported J.D. Power Thursday. Overall satisfaction was 699 points on a 1,000-point scale for cable and satellite and 774 points for streaming, it said: “Among both groups, the biggest driver for choosing a television provider is a lower price.” FuboTV ranked highest in the live TV streaming segment with a score of 789, it said. Sling TV (786) ranked second and YouTube TV (779) was third.

Nielsen announced Thursday that Roku will enable “four-screen measurement” for the first time across traditional TV, connected TV, desktop and mobile in Nielsen Total Ad Ratings. The collaboration will enable marketers running ads with Roku to “deduplicate” campaign reach and frequency across all four screens in the home, said Nielsen. “As consumers spend more time streaming, marketers are diversifying their media investments and continue to shift more dollars to TV streaming than ever before,” it said. Nielsen data showed streaming surpassed cable for the first time in July, capturing its largest share of TV viewing ever. OneView, Roku's ad platform built for TV streaming, is directly integrated with Nielsen's measurement solution, “enabling robust, person-level measurement of ad campaigns on the Roku platform.”

Dish Network and Game Show Network reached a carriage agreement that restores the channel on Dish TV and Sling TV and ends a blackout that started earlier this month (see 2209070001), Dish said Tuesday.

Analysts already gloomy about the state of linear TV are increasingly bearish about its prospects. Linear's steady decline "is arguably triggering a sense of defeatism" in pay-TV circles, "so there is less and less energy being devoted to saving it," MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Wednesday. The traditional distribution ecosystem "has the earmarks of a lost cause," with the annual rate of decline in Q2 nearly 10%, while conversions of those lost traditional subscribers to virtual MVPD is slowing greatly, he said. He said it appears only about a quarter of disconnects from cable or satellite TV are going to a virtual provider. The rate of decline for DBS remains worse than cable, but that gap is narrowing as cable's decline is accelerating, he said. Citing Comcast's Flex box, provided free to broadband-only subscribers, he said Comcast and Charter "have made clear that they are fully willing to let video customers walk, even to the point of helping them with streaming options if they desire." He said programmers "continue to strip-mine their cable networks and move their best shows" to direct-to-consumer streaming, while raising prices to offset the decline of traditional pay-TV subscribers. He said the role of sports and news as an anchor to keep some pay-TV subscribers is eroding as regional sports networks disappear from lineups and as streamers like Amazon and Apple invest in carrying sports. Expect the rapid decline in the traditional pay-TV bundle to continue, since viewers decreasingly make traditional pay TV their default, opting to tune in an over-the-top service first, ScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. Homes without a big channel bundle will jump from 18 million in 2016 to an estimated 45 million by year's end, he said. Sizable numbers of viewers still watch both traditional and streaming TV, but the cost of a traditional TV package exceeds $100 a month, and the most popular tiers of the three top subscription VOD services is $31 a month.

The FCC plans a forum on accessible emergency information in video programming Oct.6, said a public notice Monday. Hosted by the Media Bureau and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the event will “explore the current state of emergency information in video programming, as well as advancements that may occur in the future” and include panels featuring speakers from TV companies including ABC and Gray, and consumer groups such as the Hearing Loss Association of America and the National Federation of the Blind, the PN said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) pushed MLB and Apple to reach agreement with YES Network allowing the regional sports network to carry the Yankees game against the Boston Red Sox. The game was to be carried on Apple+ Friday night. "To deny millions of New Yorkers, and fans around the nation, the opportunity to watch as (Yankees outfielder) Aaron Judge steps up to the plate, is wrong and unfair," James said Friday. Citing New York cable subscribers "being asked to pay extra if they want to watch this exciting home run chase, and potentially historic game," James said Apple and MLB should "reach a fair accommodation with the YES Network so that fans can watch what we all hope will be history made this evening.” MLB and Apple didn't comment.

Illinois' Cable and Video Competition Law (CVCL) doesn't give East St. Louis a right of action to seek video service provider franchise fees from streaming services, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty of East St. Louis ruled Friday, dismissing a putative class action complaint brought by the city. In the docket 3:21-CV-561 order Friday granting the streaming service defendants' motions to dismiss (see 2203290039), Beatty said CVCL explicitly says the state attorney general can institute a lawsuit for CVCL violations, but it doesn't say that local government units can do likewise. That the AG's office hasn't pursued a suit "does not somehow mean the statutory enforcement framework is an inadequate remedy," said the order. There was no oral argument, with Beatty in the order calling it "not necessary." The city didn't comment.

Fox Corp. shareholders will vote Nov. 3 whether to recommend the company annually issue a report on its federal and state lobbying activities, per a company SEC proxy filing this week. The proxy said Fox's board urges a "no" vote on the shareholder-brought proposal, saying it has "made sweeping changes to its political activities disclosures and policies this year and already publishes nearly all of the information requested by the proponent." Also on the agenda is a vote to amend Fox's certificate of incorporation to reflect Delaware law changes on officer exculpation. The board recommended a "yes" vote for that.

A 3.3% year-on-year ad spending decline in August, the third consecutive monthly ad spend decrease, was “far better than the market performed in July,” when ad spending dropped 12.7%, reported eMarketer Thursday, saying the August numbers “should ease some anxiety that July’s dramatic figures would become the norm.” Still, “until core issues plaguing the industry are resolved,” said analyst Daniel Konstantinovic, “the downturn will continue.” Konstantinovic called year-on-year spending decreases “inevitable” as post-pandemic “normalcy” resumes. “Digital ad spending reached record highs during lockdowns that increased the average consumer’s screen time, but now that society is reclaiming some normalcy, issues with addressability, measurement, and economic uncertainties have caught up with the industry," said the analyst. July figures were particularly rough due to the lack of major sporting events, he noted. Issues with addressability and changes in consumer spending habits are driving the industry’s big spenders to “permanently shift their strategies,” Konstantinovic said. The recent spending downturn came mostly from the top 10 ad categories, which had a 5.1% falloff, the most noticeable coming from carmakers, which cut spending 23% in June and 43% in July, he said. The money is going instead to customer experience and post-purchase marketing, he said. Worldwide ad spending on technology and electronics is expected to be up 25% this year vs. 2021, eMarketer said.

Film production companies that sued Verizon earlier this month for vicarious copyright infringement regarding alleged piracy by the carrier's internet subscribers using BitTorrent have voluntarily dismissed the claim, per a notice (docket 1:22-cv-07586) Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.