Cable programmers could end the lawsuit against their Venu sports streaming partnership if they allowed multichannel video programming distributors to offer more customized programming bundles, LightShed Partners blogged Friday. The source of the Venu suit is that third-party distributors aren't offered "Venu-like bundles," LightShed said. The big bundle's future "is grim at best," and now might be a good time to allow MVPDs to offer smaller bundles and reduce or end minimum penetration requirements, it added. That could slow the demise of linear TV, though it also would hasten the end of non-core non-sports networks like MTV, TLC and USA, LightShed said. DOJ and various states are backing fuboTV in its litigation against Venu and its defense of a preliminary injunction against Venu (see 2408160040). Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery -- the Venu partnership -- is challenging the injunction. In a docket 24-2210 amicus brief last week filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of fuboTV, 16 states and the District of Columbia said the "no duty to deal" doctrine -- under which businesses aren't liable for unlawful monopolization by refusing to do business with competitors -- doesn't shield those businesses from antitrust scrutiny of anticompetitive joint conduct. Signing the amicus brief were New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. DOJ, in an amicus brief, dismissed the programmers' argument that it's not anticompetitive to stop rivals from getting unbundled sports channels because there's no antitrust duty to deal with distributors. "That argument is a red herring," and the appeal is about creation of Venu as a violation of the Clayton Act, DOJ said. Asked whether the change in administrations and the Donald Trump DOJ might have a different stance, a fubo spokesperson emailed that "we believe our issue is bipartisan."

The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Dec. 3 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):

The Commerce Department has published the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on diffusion-annealed, nickel-plated flat-rolled steel products from Japan (A-588-869). Commerce set an AD rate of 4.44% for Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd., the only company under review. The final rate is a sizable reduction from the preliminary rate of 12.69%. Commerce will assess AD on importers at importer-specific rates for subject merchandise from Toyo Kohan entered May 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023, it said. The new AD duty cash deposit rate for Toyo Kohan takes effect Dec. 3, the publication date of these final results in the Federal Register.

Suspension of liquidation and countervailing duty cash deposit requirements take effect Dec. 3 for imports of brake drums from China (C-570-175) and Turkey (C-489-854), after the Commerce Department found countervailable subsidization in preliminary determinations in its ongoing CVD investigations.

The Commerce Department made preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations that imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from Cambodia (A-555-003), Malaysia (A-557-830), Thailand (A-549-851) and Vietnam (A-552-841) are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. AD suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements will generally take effect for entries on or after Dec. 4, the date that the preliminary determinations are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, but Commerce is making the suspension of liquidation and AD cash deposits retroactive to approximately Sept. 5 for some Vietnamese and all Thai companies.

The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Dec. 2-3 on AD/CVD proceedings:

The FCC unanimously approved an order aligning rules for the 24 GHz band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference held five years ago (WRC-19). Released Monday, the order aligns part 30 of the commission’s rules for mobile operations in the band with Resolution 750 limits adopted at WRC-19 to protect the passive 23.6-24 GHz band from unwanted emissions on time frames adopted at the conference.

The Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) terminated its review of human rights complaints against Ralph Lauren Canada, the agency announced last week. The company participated in a confidential dispute settlement process with the parties that filed the complaint against the company; in June 2024, the complainants notified CORE of their decision to withdraw the complaint given "satisfactory responses" from Ralph Lauren.

The International Trade Commission published notices in the Dec. 2 Federal Register on the following AD/CVD injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):

The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Dec. 2 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):