The media industry needs a unified approach to digital media piracy, and ongoing consolidation of pay TV, telco and content owners might finally be the trigger that accomplishes that, said Irdeto Senior Vice President-Global Sales Bengt Jonsson in a blog post Thursday. Irdeto said over-the-top operators aren't feeling quite the same pains from piracy that studios are since OTT revenue comes from subscriptions, but piracy will hurt them in the long run because their original content also is a target. It called MovieLabs' Enhanced Content Protection specification of best practices "a great step in the right direction," and said there needs to be more effort across all platforms.

Consumers are in the “drivers’ seat” today, said 30-plus-year NPD veteran and newly tapped CEO Karyn Schoenbart in an email Thursday. Schoenbart, most recently chief operating officer, was named CEO Wednesday (see the personals section of the March 23 issue of this publication), succeeding Tod Johnson, who became executive chairman. With consumer priorities and shopping behavior evolving, NPD will continue to meet market needs, Schoenbart said. She cited the developing consumer preference for “experiences over things,” that’s leading to a proliferation of shopping alternatives. “The good news is that there is also a wealth of data available to help marketers understand and anticipate trends,” she said. On how NPD will adjust its tracking methodology to keep up with changing consumer buying habits, Schoenbart pointed to the NPD’s "Checkout Tracking" service that monitors the same consumers over time based on information from “millions of receipts” from both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. Checkout Tracking shows how shopping habits are changing over time and also allows NPD clients to “dig into how habits differ by demographic,” she said. That’s allowing NPD to understand the differences in shopping behavior between millennials and baby boomers, for instance. “It’s also key to understanding the shopping cadence, particularly during key times of year, like holiday,” she said. The tracking service complements NPD’s core data, she said. On possible acquisitions ahead in an industry that’s seen several mergers and acquisitions in recent years, Schoenbart said NPD is generally focused on organic growth but will look to acquisitions “when there is an opportunity to fill in gaps and strengthen our existing portfolio.” She gave as an example NPD’s recent purchase of Nielsen’s U.S. book business and videogames research provider Eedar to “broaden and deepen our expertise.” NPD provides sales tracking and analytics for more than 20 industries in addition to consumer electronics.

Intel inked a deal with Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA for a multiyear partnership to provide its virtual reality technology to NCAA Division I Men’s basketball championship games, it announced Wednesday. It will live-stream in VR through premium ticket options via an NCAA app. Intel 360 replay technology will be featured during CBS Sports and Turner Sports coverage of the games on CBS.

That TV programmers are starting an advanced audience measurement platform "is a very positive development for the industry" and for comScore, wrote that company's Chief Financial Officer David Chemerow. The “OpenAP” open audience platform unveiled last week by Fox Networks Group, Time Warner's Turner and Viacom (see 1703150057) shows "the industry will move swiftly in the direction of advanced currencies," Chemerow wrote Wednesday. "This announcement also provides validation that the industry is increasingly accepting of the notion of multiple currencies for transacting on TV/video inventory." Representatives for the programmers didn't comment further Wednesday.

Broadcasters say multichannel video programming distributor carriage of ATSC 3.0 will be voluntary but are insisting on clauses requiring such carriage in retransmission consent negotiations, said the American Television Alliance in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 16-142 Monday. “ATVA’s concerns about the ‘voluntary’ nature of ATSC 3.0 carriage reflect the real-world experiences of ATVA members,” the letter said. “As the Commission considers claims made by the broadcast industry in this rulemaking, we urge it to examine the apparent disconnect between such claims and broadcasters’ actual conduct in negotiations.”

Netflix named its recommended TVs for 2017, with LG, Samsung and Sony receiving nods, said a company blog post Monday. LG’s 4K UHD TVs with WebOS 3.5, Samsung’s 7, 8, 9 and Q series TVs and Sony’s Android TVs netted recommendations for “better usability, faster performance and new features” that make getting to streaming media services “as easy as getting to live TV,” said Netflix. The TVs passed an evaluation process based on factors Netflix users said were important, including getting from power on to using internet TV apps such as Netflix in “just a few seconds"; switching between apps or switching from apps to live TV and back “almost instantly"; and displaying the Netflix interface in high-resolution, making text and graphics clear, sharp and bright, Netflix said. Other criteria carried over from previous years: Netflix must be easily accessible from the TV menu, including having a Netflix button on the remote control that can turn on the TV and go directly into the Netflix app “within a few seconds.” Recommended TVs also must incorporate the latest version of Netflix, it said.

Nearly 20 percent of streaming video subscribers are paying for three or more services -- up 4 percentage points over 2015, said a 451 Research report Monday with findings from a December survey of 1,270 North American respondents. Of respondents who pay for a streaming video service, 79 percent subscribe to Netflix and 53 percent are Amazon Video subscribers, with Amazon Video subscriptions growing by 5 points last year vs. 2015, it said. A third of respondents chose the services for their original content, up 8 percentage points over 2015, with 36 percent of Amazon and Netflix subscribers saying original content was key to their decision to subscribe. Thirty-one percent of Amazon Video subscribers said original content is their most-watched type of video, up from 7 percent in 2015, compared with 32 percent of Netflix users, up from 20 percent in 2015, it said. Streaming enthusiasts are creating their own bundles of video services, starting with Netflix (95 percent) and Amazon Video (82 percent) then choosing from subscription and a la carte platforms including Hulu, HBO Now and iTunes, said the report. Half of subscribers said access to movies was their top motivator for subscribing to a video service, followed by 45 percent who wanted to access complete seasons of TV shows, it said. Roku leads the streaming media device market with 31 percent of respondents saying they own a Roku player, and 10 percent owning a Roku Streaming Stick. Thirty-five percent owned an Apple TV, and 26 percent were Google Chromecast users, it said. Amazon devices had a smaller market share than other streaming devices at 13 percent for the Fire TV Stick and 10 percent for Fire TV player, but ownership was up 2 percent for the Stick and 1 percent for the player vs. the previous year, it said.

The contractual language that let Charter Communications operate legacy systems under terms of the Time Warner Cable agreement with Univision is "clear and unambiguous," and the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan should declare so, Charter said in a declaratory judgment counterclaim and answer filed Friday. In its heavily redacted filing, Charter said the surviving entity of 2016's Charter/TWC was a third entity, Spectrum, which owns both legacy systems, and that Spectrum was contractually allowed to carry the legacy Charter systems under the Charter agreement and then, once that expired, under the TWC agreement. Charter said the counterclaim is related only to the March 1 stipulation and order (see 1703010002), with the company possibly bringing more counterclaims following resolution of forthcoming motions for summary judgment. Univision, pointing to a stipulation agreed to by the two companies (see 1703010002), said in a statement Monday it and Charter agreed to forego a preliminary injunction hearing and are pursuing an expedited schedule so the court can rule more quickly.

The global market for augmented- and virtual reality headsets will reach 99.4 million units in 2021, up from 10.1 million shipments in 2016, IDC reported. Analyst Ramon Llamas said AR and VR will provide immersive experiences to consume content, and content providers are developing ways to bring you-are-there concert or sports event experiences to the home, he said. Gaming on AR and VR will transport players “into outer space or the battlefield, several steps beyond what they currently experience on a PC or television screen,” Llamas said. Current VR experiences “lack the context required for real engagement Strategy Analytics said in another Thursday report. But SA said the “nascent technology ... holds huge promise.”

Not all tracks from Pandora’s free radio service will be available to play on the $10-per-month on-demand (see 1703130071) Premium service, said the Pandora.com help section. “Since we’re bound by our existing licenses to stream some of our tracks exclusively in a radio format, on-demand playback may not be available for some tracks.” The majority of songs in the collection will be eligible to be played without restrictions, said the company. Pandora trickled out the service to some starting Wednesday. Pandora Plus users will be offered a six-month trial to the on-demand service, it said in a news release.