The Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for comScore buying Rentrak has expired, comScore said in a news release Tuesday. The deal's closing is still awaiting approval by comScore and Rentrak shareholders but has been approved by the boards of both companies, it said. The deal is expected to close in January, it said. When complete, comScore stockholders are expected to own about 66.5 percent of the new company, and Rentrak shareholders are expected to own about 33.5 percent, said the acquirer. The audience measurement companies have said various media firms back the deal (see 1510080044).

Technicolor completed its acquisition of Cisco’s connected devices operations for $450 million cash and $150 million in newly issued Technicolor shares, Technicolor said in a Friday announcement. The acquisition, announced in late July (see 1507230028), includes a “strategic collaboration agreement” with Cisco that will allow both companies to develop and deliver “next generation video and broadband technologies,” with a special emphasis on IoT “solutions and services,” Technicolor said. In a separate development Friday, Cisco announced plans to acquire Acano, a privately held London-based company that supplies “collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software.” The acquisition will speed Cisco’s “collaboration strategy to deliver video everywhere, providing the best collaboration experience across every endpoint, every screen, every workspace, and to every user," the company said. Terms weren’t disclosed.

The FCC released the text of its user interface accessibility item, adopted last week, which includes a second report and order, an order on reconsideration and a second Further NPRM. The order released Friday received as expected (see 1511190054) no dissents, but Commissioner Ajit Pai concurred in part and approved in part.

Samsung received the Natural Resources Defense Council report on Ultra HD TV energy consumption (see 1511180067) only Wednesday and is “closely reviewing the findings,” spokeswoman Megan Pollock emailed us Thursday. The company is “a pioneer in creating exciting new TV experiences, including Ultra HD 4K and high dynamic range, that are recognized for their award winning energy efficiency capabilities,” she said.

Vudu 4K UHD titles with Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision will be priced “around $25-$30 to own and $10 to rent,” a Vudu spokesman told us. Vudu and Dolby announced Tuesday (see 1511170036) the first round of 4K Ultra HD titles remastered for Dolby Vision and mixed in Dolby Atmos. Vudu will let customers know the release day for the titles “soon,” said the spokesman. The Warner-supplied titles include Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Gallows, San Andreas, American Sniper, Man of Steel, Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow and Into the Storm.

The findings in a Natural Resources Defense Council report that Ultra HD TVs consume on average about 30 percent more energy than comparably sized 1080p models weren't surprising, since the new Energy Star Version 7.0 TV specification already contains an “allowance" that lets Ultra HD sets consume up to 50 percent more incremental power than comparably sized HD sets and still be deemed Energy Star-compliant (see 1412040035). But a more standout conclusion in the report released Tuesday was that Ultra HD TVs with high dynamic range (HDR) have the potential to consume 50 percent more power than basic Ultra HD TVs without the HDR capability. Since the “shift” toward Ultra HD TVs “is now in its early stages,” there's still time “for manufacturers to incorporate more efficient designs and components into all new models and prevent much of this potential additional electricity use and resultant pollution,” the report said. Before NRDC did its study, “very little was known about the precise energy impact of the recent changes in the television market and the technology advancements that are occurring,” it said of HDR power consumption.

All nine FCC and FTC commissioners will speak at CES, the Consumer Technology Association said in a Wednesday announcement. All are expected to give “insight into top policy and regulatory issues” on IoT, spectrum allocation, privacy and “disruptive innovation,” CTA said. A Jan. 6 “SuperSession” will feature FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in separate 30-minute interviews with CTA President Gary Shapiro, it said. CES opens Jan. 6 in Las Vegas for a four-day run.

Vudu customers can watch Warner titles remastered for Dolby Vision and mixed in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Labs and Warner said Tuesday. The content can be seen, for now, only on Dolby Vision-enabled Vizio Reference Series 4K Ultra HD TVs with additional compatible TVs due to be announced at CES. Numerous audio playback options are on the market that can decode Dolby Atmos, including AV receivers, speakers and soundbars. Scott Blanksteen, Vudu vice president-product management, said the streaming service is giving customers the chance to “be the first to enjoy a premium visual and audio experience.” Warner 4K titles available in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos include Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Gallows, San Andreas, American Sniper, Man of Steel, Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow and Into the Storm. Vudu also streams Dolby Vision titles, without Dolby Atmos sound, including Vacation, Focus, Get Hard, Run All Night, The Lego Movie, The Great Gatsby, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Hangover trilogy and Magic Mike XXL, said Vudu.

Facebook's new system for recognizing copyright infringement in videos could require users to share private videos with third parties, potentially threatening users' online free expression and privacy, activist Elliot Harmon wrote Tuesday in an Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post. A user who shares a video only with friends or a private group, but has it flagged by Facebook's new system, won't be allowed to share it "unless you are willing to show it to the rights holder as well," he wrote. But he said EFF hasn't seen this happen yet. While he said the policy may be better than some alternatives, "Facebook has effectively created a new restriction for private communications." This could put a user's privacy at risk and it could also undermine fair use rights, said Harmon. "Rights holders can’t see your name, but there’s no way to scrub personally identifying information from the video itself." He said the company launched the video system with a small group of content creators, but plans to expand that base of users. Facebook had no immediate comment.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest agreed to journalists' request (see 1407140043) to meet with him on media groups' concerns about lack of government transparency for interviews and information from experts, the Society of Professional Journalists said. SPJ said he will discuss "press access with a small group of SPJ and Society of Environmental Journalists representatives" Dec. 15. "We view the meeting as one more step in a long battle," SPJ's website said in a post dated Thursday. "Policy change and a more open government are what we hope to achieve by sharing our concerns with Mr. Earnest and others in the White House." The White House didn't comment Friday.