US-INDUSTRY Summary

U.S. broadcast TV ratings slide pressures ad rates at "upfronts"

(Reuters) - U.S. broadcast networks head into their biggest ad-selling season this week, competing with streaming services like Netflix, battling online players for ad dollars, and fending off hits starring zombies and duck hunters on cable. The increased competition will force ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC to settle for their lowest average rate hikes in three years during the "upfront" selling season, Wall Street analysts say.

Exclusive: SoftBank asks banks not to finance Dish's Sprint bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp is playing it rough in its attempt to keep Dish Network Corp from breaking up its $20.1 billion deal to take control of Sprint Nextel Corp. The Japanese telecom company, which owns 33 percent of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, has told banks that their financing of Dish's $25.5 billion rival offer for Sprint could hurt their chances of landing a role in a highly anticipated public offering of the Chinese e-commerce giant, two sources familiar with the situation said.

Ergen could end up selling Dish if he doesn't win Sprint

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp Chairman Charlie Ergen said he could end up putting the entire satellite TV company up for sale if he lost his battle with Japan's SoftBank Corp to buy Sprint Nextel Corp. But the Dish chairman said on a conference call with analysts that he could also take on a bidding partner or even sell some non-core Dish assets to pay down debt if a bidding war with Softbank became too pricey.

YouTube starts paid subscription service

(Reuters) - Google's YouTube video service is dipping its toe into pay television by starting on Thursday a subscription service with 30 content creators, including children's programmers Sesame Street and Muppet creator The Jim Henson Co, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. YouTube, the world's largest video website, allows creators to set subscription fees and accept advertisements, at their discretion, for the channels they create.

"Walking Dead" breathes life into AMC results

(Reuters) - AMC Networks Inc reported quarterly results above analysts' estimates as more people watched the cable operator's shows, particularly "The Walking Dead". Viewership of The Walking Dead's third season jumped 55 percent from that of the previous season. The season finale in March was watched by 12.4 million viewers, including 8.1 million from the 18-49 demographic coveted by advertisers.

Italy antitrust body rejects Mediaset claims against Sky Italia

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust authority, AGCOM, has rejected claims by Mediaset that pay-TV rival Sky Italia abused its dominant position in buying exclusive UEFA and World Cup soccer rights, the regulator said on Thursday. In a statement, AGCOM said Sky Italia, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, had acquired 2012-2015 rights for the Champions League of the Union of European Football Associations after a competitive process.

McCain bill seeks 'a la carte' cable channel subscriptions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator John McCain introduced a bill on Thursday that would uproot the current system of bundling cable channels and let customers pay for select channels on an "a la carte" basis, a move likely to face stiff industry opposition. The influential Republican's bill, dubbed the Television Consumer Freedom Act, comes at a time when cable prices are rising and pressure is mounting for programmers to stop forcing consumers to pay for subscriptions to lower-rated cable networks in order to watch more popular channels.

News Corp results beat estimates, spin-off on track

(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, aided by growth at its cable networks, and said it is on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June. Its revenue rose 14 percent from a year earlier to $9.5 billion in the quarter, ended March 31, News Corp said on Wednesday. The company posted adjusted earnings of 36 cents per share, just beating the 35 cents expected on average by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Viacom says Cablevision bundling lawsuit should be tossed

(Reuters) - Viacom Inc said on Wednesday an antitrust lawsuit by Cablevision Systems Corp accusing it of forcing cable providers and subscribers to buy channels they don't want, should be thrown out. The owner of MTV and Nickelodeon contended that Cablevision should be bound by its contract, and should not be allowed to take a legal position it had recently opposed in a similar case.

Ex-Murdoch stalwart Mockridge to run rival Virgin Media

LONDON (Reuters) - Tom Mockridge, who worked closely with Rupert Murdoch in more than 20 years at News Corp, is to take over at Virgin Media, pitting the two men against each other in a battle for British pay-TV viewers. Mockridge will take his in-depth knowledge of Europe's media market to work with Murdoch's veteran American rival John Malone just five months after the New Zealander walked out of News Corp in frustration at being passed over for a top job in New York.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-industry-summary-023234498.html

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