Canada’s broadband companies and third-party video streaming services are competing with over-the-top programming, a Moody’s Investors Service report said. Canadian TV distributors can use traditional channels, the Internet and subscription options to “counter some of the competition from Internet-based programming,” Moody’s said Wednesday. Broadband companies will survive the competition because “most of Canada’s television broadcasters are owned by its broadband companies, which also own the country’s television distributors,” it said. Advertising will continue supporting TV programming, it said.

Cinedigm, partnering with TV4 Entertainment, will offer niche over-the-top channels that TV4 Entertainment will distribute through its online video distribution platform, the company said in a news release Monday. The companies will focus the channels on preschoolers, kids and tweens, it said. The first channel from the partnership will launch later this year, it said.

The FCC Media Bureau extended by two weeks the deadlines for comments on its NPRM on expanding the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor to include some streaming video services, it said in a public notice Tuesday. Comments are now due March 3, replies March 18, the notice said. The extension follows requests last week for a 30-day extension from NAB and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (see 1502060037). “Although the parties seek a 30-day extension, we believe that a two-week extension will give the public enough time to respond to the NPRM,” the PN said.

Cubans with Internet connections and access to international payment methods can now subscribe to Netflix to view a “curated selection” of movies and TV shows for $7.99 a month, the over-the-top provider said Monday. Among the programs available to Cuban subscribers are House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Marco Polo, kids’ shows All Hail King Julien and The Adventures of Puss in Boots and documentaries including Virunga and The Square, said Netflix. In a statement, CEO Reed Hastings said of the Cuban market: “One day we hope to be able to bring their work to our global audience.” Netflix didn’t immediately respond to questions about other specific content availability to the Cuban market or estimated market size.

The FCC shouldn’t set a zero population-served threshold for interservice interference as proposed by NAB or the zero percent interference threshold proposed in the ISIX Further NPRM, said CTIA in reply comments posted in docket 13-26 Friday. Either standard for interference would be “impractical and unprecedented,” CTIA said. Instead, the FCC should adopt a simple “safe harbor” approach to interference prevention, and “decline to adopt proposals that would add even more unnecessary regulatory obligations for wireless licensees,” CTIA said. Block Communications said the commission should slow down in its approach to the incentive auction to deal with the potential interservice interference problems caused by the repacking. “No reviewing court will give the FCC extra points for getting the auction done fast if it fails to adhere to the basic requirements of the Spectrum Act,” Block said. NAB also said the framework of the auction was the problem -- specifically the variable band plan. The FCC also should study the issue of intermodulation interference to DTV signals, NAB said.

The FCC should look for new bands for wireless microphones to use, said NAB and CTIA in comments posted online in docket 14-166 Thursday. “It is critical for the FCC to immediately identify new bands on which wireless microphones may operate,” said NAB, urging the FCC to identify the new bands before the incentive auction ends. The FCC should explore new bands for wireless mics but require unlicensed operations to “cease use of licensed spectrum in areas where a 600 MHz licensee has commenced service,” CTIA said. The FCC should modify rules for unlicensed use so that unlicensed operations “adequately protect the substantial investments of 600 MHz licensees,” CTIA said. CEA also expressed concern about wireless microphone interference: “The Commission must weigh the costs and benefits of expanding access to spectrum for wireless microphone operators and undertake rigorous technical analyses to address potential interference concerns before it decides on any course of action.”

Viewing video has overtaken playing games as the most popular entertainment activity on tablets, said a Futuresource Consulting report that polled consumers in France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S. Some 57 percent of tablet owners in the four countries watch video on their mobile device -- vs. 53 percent who play games -- and 24 percent pay-to-view video content, Futuresource said. The U.S. leads all markets in watching paid-for video on tablets with 34 percent of users paying for video content, it said. Large tablets appear to encourage more viewing, as 62 percent of large tablet users said they watched video on their devices compared with 53 percent of small tablet owners, it said. The TV continues to gain use as a connected device, said the industry research firm Tuesday. Nearly 80 percent of connected TV owners stream video, and 63 percent access a premium video service at least once a week, it said. Households with children under 12 are 20 percent more likely to subscribe to TV services, said the data. Netflix subscribers are four times more likely to own a digital media adapter than Netflix non-subscribers. Twelve percent of households with kids had an UltraViolet account vs. 4 percent of households with no kids, and households with kids outnumbered those without as packaged media buyers and renters by 38 percent to 18 percent. Deleting premium packages from TV subscriptions, known as cord shaving, reached 17 percent of U.S. consumers in October 2014. That was up from 13 percent in September 2013, led by 19- to 25-year-olds and households with children, said the survey. U.S. pay TV subscribers stood at 65 million last fall versus 10 million streaming VOD customers, while 35 million U.S. viewers fit into both groups, it said. Music streaming is the most popular form of music consumption in the four countries, with 29 percent of respondents reporting they listen to free music services and 42 percent to Internet radio stations. The U.S. skewed higher at 50 percent of respondents who reported listening to any type of music service. Only 5 percent of the total base said it pays for a subscription music service. The survey was conducted during September and October with a nationally representative sample of just more than 1,000 consumers in each country.

The FCC Media Bureau violated the Freedom of Information Act, including Section 552, said the Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday. A Nov. 26 order by the bureau wasn’t given a DA number or indexed on the commission’s FOIA index for 2014, the letter said. The order wasn’t listed in the commission’s Daily Digest, its recent releases page on its website, the FCC record or in privately published reports like Bloomberg BNA, Lexis or Westlaw, it said. A public notice that a waiver was requested also wasn't published, the letter said. In the order, the bureau denied a request for a permanent waiver of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule to allow a transfer of five FM radio stations and a daily newspaper in Virginia. “Because this order was not published nor even included in the Daily Digest, stakeholders would have no way to learn of this decision,” the letter said. The bureau didn’t immediately comment.

It's “appropriate” for video programming distributors (VPD) to bear the responsibility for closed captioning complaints, said a group of programmers including Starz Entertainment in a jointly filed reply comment in FCC docket 05-231 posted Monday. Replies responded to a narrow NPRM asking if programmers should have to keep contact information or caption quality certifications on file at the FCC. But many filers touched on the larger question of whether programmers should share caption quality responsibility with distributors. VPDs have a “direct business relationship with viewers” and a local business presence, the programmers said. “Imposing a compliance certification requirement on programmers effectively would reverse the compliance burden which VPDs have borne for nearly 20 years,” the programmers said. Comcast’s comments also focused on the responsibility question. VPDs aren't responsible for most caption problems, it said. “Comcast’s experience does not support claims that VPD equipment is at fault for the vast majority of captioning issues.” AT&T said shared responsibility would obviate the need for programmers to file certifications with the FCC. Shifting the burden and requiring certifications “would not be effective in improving the viewing experience for deaf and hard of hearing viewers or promoting the efficient resolution of consumer complaints,” PBS said. CenturyLink said it supported both the certification requirement and proposals to make programmers partially responsible for caption problems. The FCC should "allow the recently-adopted Best Practices to take effect and work with industry to improve captioning quality before making any determination that mandatory certification filings will make a meaningful difference for consumers," NAB said. "Yet another abrupt shift in captioning rules only serves to discourage industry investment in effective captioning solutions."

Among Broadcom’s set-top box customers, “developed markets are upgrading to new media server architectures and we're starting to see the first Ultra HD boxes roll out,” CEO Scott McGregor said Thursday on an earnings call. Operators such as Dish Network in North America, Free in France and Tata in India “have begun to offer Ultra HD set-top boxes to their subscribers,” McGregor said. “We're expecting at least 15 operators across multiple regions to launch 4K television service in 2015.” In connectivity, Broadcom is seeing “increasing adoption” of new wireless technologies such as 802.11ac that help drive up average selling prices of smartphones, he said. “We're broadening our connectivity business beyond smartphones into adjacent markets,” such as wireless home audio, and “we're powering both Denon and Harman Kardon's WiFi home audio systems,” he said. “We've also received our first design win for our wireless charging solution. We continue to diversify into new markets such as Internet of Things, automotive, wearables and small cells. In the Internet of Things market, design activity remains high with our current products and we're in the process of refreshing our portfolio with purposeful products that are optimized specifically for different market segments.” In Q&A, McGregor described smart watches as “an interesting business” that’s “hard to forecast.” He cited “some people out there who see high forecasts in that and I think we would certainly get a piece of that.” Broadcom componentry is embedded “in most of the watches that have been shipped to date and we believe we can see some position in that market," he said. "There will be different kinds of growth drivers involved and we'll just have to see how the year develops."