Netflix added 6.74 million subscribers, surpassing its previous high mark of 5.59 million new additions in Q4, the company said Monday in an earnings letter after the market's close. In the U.S. it added 2.28 million subscribers. Netflix had forecast 1.75 million new U.S. subscribers, which it called low “because we underestimated the positive acquisition impact of our major original content debuts.” Total streaming revenue was $1.8 billion, vs. $1.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. U.S. revenue grew 18 percent year over year, with 14 percent growth in average paid memberships and a 3 percent rise in average revenue per user, it said. Netflix stock was down 10 percent in after-hours trading Monday, to $97.80.

Groups including the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, National Urban League, National Newspaper Publishers Association and the NAACP urged the 2016 presidential contenders to address minority media ownership through their advertising. “We write to appeal to each of you to confirm that minority-owned media will be included as a major component of your advertising plans throughout the 2016 campaign,” they said in a letter Monday. “Our constituents, comprising nearly 30% of the electorate, want and deserve to hear from all sides of public policy debates.” They requested a response within 10 days. “At your disposal are a host of minority-owned media outlets: over 400 newspapers, over 500 radio stations, over two dozen widely read minority-owned political and social justice websites, and over a dozen widely viewed cable channels,” they said.

Amazon stirred things up in the subscription video world, breaking out a separate Prime Video membership in an offering that competes against Hulu and Netflix. A Prime membership “does not need to be one size fits all,” said a company backgrounder Monday referring to the company’s $99 umbrella Prime membership that includes free two-day shipping, access to 1 million-plus songs along with playlists and stations on Prime Music, and tens of thousands movies and TV episodes on Prime Video. With Amazon’s new $8.99-per-month Prime Video-only membership, subscribers pay $1 less per month than Netflix’s standard rate, which will kick in next month for long-term subscribers who had been enjoying a grandfathered $7.99 rate for the past two years. Hulu is $7.99 monthly with commercials, $11.99 without. The move gives Amazon customers a video option that doesn’t require a full-year commitment to Amazon Prime. Customers have been asking for “flexibility and an easy, low upfront cost to join Prime,” said Amazon, which ultimately wants video-only subscribers to go full Prime. “For just two dollars more, members can also receive unlimited fast, free shipping, unlimited access to more than a million songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with Prime Music, unlimited secure photos storage with Prime Photos, and so much more.” Amazon also will make full Prime available on a monthly basis for $10.99, versus the $8.25 per month subscribers pay under the annual plan. The company didn’t address the possibility of a music-only version of Prime. The New York Post called Amazon a potential “Spotify killer” (see 1602040052) in an article earlier this year speculating about a music-only service from Amazon.

Centralizing the various privacy complaints against Vizio in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California (see 1602260059), “will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said in an April 7 transfer order (in Pacer). Nearly two dozen complaints have been filed against Vizio, all seeking class-action status on allegations that Vizio’s Inscape smart TV viewer-tracking feature violates the federal Video Privacy Protection Act. The judicial panel was “persuaded” that the Santa Ana federal court “is the appropriate transferee district for this litigation” because Vizio and most of the plaintiffs support moving the cases there, the order said. Vizio’s headquarters in Irvine, California, also are within the court’s jurisdiction, it said: “Thus, the district is a convenient and accessible forum, relatively close to potential witnesses and evidence.”

Harman partnered with software and cloud-based streaming technology company Wowza Media Systems to be an integrator for Wowza’s technology portfolio, it said Thursday. Customers in broadcast, automotive, government and enterprise markets will have access to Wowza’s Streaming Engine software that delivers video in any format to any device and its Streaming Cloud service for pay-as-you-go live streaming through Harman’s service delivery solution, the companies said.

Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus signed on to a Human Rights Campaign open letter to Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson in opposition to Senate Joint Resolution 39, which would prohibit the state from penalizing individuals or religious entities that refuse to take part in same-sex marriage ceremonies or provide goods or services for a same-sex marriage celebration, due to religious beliefs. In a blog post Wednesday, Marcus said, "Legislation like Missouri’s SJR39 and North Carolina’s HB2 are clearly bad for business, serving as a barrier to attracting and retaining the best talent and discouraging customers and potential customers from living and doing business in our markets. But equally importantly, this troubling trend of laws runs counter to our core values of diversity and inclusion." Also among those signing the letter were Brocade Communications Systems CEO Lloyd Carney, Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer and CTA CEO Gary Shapiro. Many other tech company leaders also signed the letter, and such companies have opposed actions in other states, saying they infringe on the rights of those who aren't heterosexual (see 1603240022).

CBS Sports Digital fixed a vulnerability related to Android and iOS versions of its app that transferred users' names, email addresses, account passwords, birth dates and ZIP codes over an insecure connection, after a mobile security firm discovered the problem, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. She said a vulnerability on the CBS Sports mobile website that transmitted users' email/user ID and passwords in clear text rather than being encrypted also was fixed. "There was no data breach on either the CBS Sports app or mobile site," the company emailed. "Our internal teams are rigorous about monitoring our platforms for any potential security issues. We take issue with outside companies publicizing the security operations of other firms for their own purposes rather than user protection." Mobile security company Wandera said in a threat advisory that it had discovered the vulnerabilities, which potentially exposed personally identifiable information when users signed up for an account. It said the CBS Sports app is one of the most popular sources for sports news. "Our researchers have identified that a significant amount of personal data is collected during the account registration process, and all these details are sent in clear text over an unencrypted connection to the app's backend services," the advisory said. Neither company said when the vulnerabilities were discovered or fixed.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will open Monday's Media Bureau workshop on obstacles facing diverse and independent programmers in the video market (see 1603250031), starting at 10 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, the agency said in a public notice Tuesday. Other scheduled speakers are Shentel Vice President-Industry Relations and Regulatory Chris Kyle, Atlantic Broadband Vice President-Programming Heather McCallion, National Cable Television Cooperative Executive Vice President-Programming Judy Meyka, Volcano Vision Director-Sales and Marketing Duke Milunovich, Nex-Tech CEO Jimmy Todd, Blqbox Digital CEO Eric Easter, Ride TV CEO Michael Fletcher, GFN-TV CEO Clifford Franklin, RFD-TV President Patrick Gottsch, Africa Channel Creative Director Brian Newton and Cinemoi President Daphna Ziman. A similar workshop was held in March on the state of the video market (see 1603210044).

Ultra HD Blu-ray players can now qualify to bear the UHD Alliance's Ultra HD Premium logo under an expanded certification program announced Tuesday. The Ultra HD Premium logo, unveiled at CES (see 1601030003), is designed to help consumers identify TVs, content, content services and playback devices that comply with performance metrics for resolution, high dynamic range, peak luminance, black levels and wide color gamut, said UHDA. Thirty TVs have been certified with the Ultra HD Premium logo, with more expected throughout the year, it said. UHDA President Hanno Basse called certification of Ultra HD Blu-ray players a “natural first expansion” of the Ultra HD Premium logo since the Ultra HD Blu-ray format was built “with premium performance in mind,” and a growing number of Ultra HD Blu-ray titles are being released with the Ultra HD Premium logo.

Any enforcement mechanisms the FCC adopts in its set-top box proceeding “would not adequately assure adherence to the terms governing the distribution of content" to multichannel video programming distributors, Disney officials told Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a meeting Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 97-80. The FCC couldn't enforce its rules because Disney wouldn't have contracts with the third-party set-top makers, the company said.