Consumers are increasingly staying connected through the use of devices such as cellphones and personal computers and are more likely to download content, said research findings released by Limelight Networks Tuesday. The survey also discovered that individuals, especially millennials, expect "a seamless and consistent experience" when downloading content, Limelight said. Some 49 percent of millennials surveyed by Limelight said they were more inclined to download content than they were a year prior, and 42 percent of all consumers polled identified the cellphone as the device they use most to download content -- with their personal computer coming in a close second at 39 percent. Limelight also said 32.5 percent of consumers surveyed chose Google as their No. 1 source for frequent digital content downloads, such as e-books, games and movies -- compared with the 24 percent who chose Apple.

Pandora began offering mobile programmatic advertising, a company news release said Tuesday. It said the program, which has been in beta stage since March, offers Pandora's display inventory across mobile device and tablet platforms, letting advertisers more effectively reach target audiences. Since its release in beta, the program has "been leveraged by such brands as Ford and agencies including Essence," said the streaming music company.

Australia-based media provider Multi Channel Network (MCN) and AOL Platforms teamed up to launch a private, data-driven TV marketplace called MCN Programmatic TV, said an AOL news release Monday. The program officially rolled out last month, said an AOL spokesman, and since then four companies representing six advertising entities have begun using it. Plans for the platform began in October, and it now gives clients more efficiency and yield and an increased ability to drive value for marketers, AOL said.

A market modification should mean that TV stations wanting to be carried by satellite in that new territory must either be forced to be included as must-carry or must negotiate a new retransmission consent agreement, Dish Network said in a notice posted Friday in docket 15-71 regarding the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act. In a meeting with staff, Dish executives raised the argument that market modification proposals before the FCC could create situations where satellite companies are forced to carry two stations affiliated with the same broadcast network in the same geographic area, with the best fix being to abandon the approach of letting a station whose market has been modified choose between retransmission consent or must-carry. Dish also reiterated its point that satellite companies should be allowed to say whether a proposed market modification is technically or economically doable without having to provide confidential business or market information. Similar, separate conversations with the FCC about market modification raise the point that satellite companies aren't required to provide evidence regarding areas they don't serve, so "it would be anomalous to require detailed showings for modified markets when such showings are not required for unmodified markets," DirecTV said.

Universal Pictures joined the UHD Alliance as its fifth major studio member, following Disney, Fox, Sony and Warner, the alliance’s website shows. ARRI Group, which bills itself as the world’s largest supplier of professional motion picture equipment, also has joined, as have Taiwanese chipmaker MStar Semiconductor and Nanosys, which has partnered with 3M on quantum-dot display technology, it says. DTS and Nvidia also are listed as new members.

Since May 2014, Spotify has doubled its number of paid subscribers -- now more than 20 million -- the music-streaming service said in a blog post Wednesday. The company has more than 75 million active users and paid out $300 million in royalties to artists in the first three months of 2015, it said.

Gannett's board finalized a plan to split the media conglomerate into two publicly traded entities -- Tegna and “new” Gannett (see 1504210034) -- the company said in a news release Monday. Tegna will be a broadcasting and digital organization, while “new” Gannett retains all publishing outlets and related digital services. Gannett’s current $4.4 billion in debt will shift to Tegna upon the separation, which is expected to occur June 29. Shareholders will keep any shares of Gannett stock, which will be renamed Tegna, and receive one share of “new” Gannett stock for every two shares they previously held.

April’s five fastest U.S. ISPs for Netflix streaming speeds remained atop the list in May, the company said in a blog post Monday. Verizon FiOS held the top spot among major ISPs at 3.56 Mbps, followed by Cox, Cablevision Optimum, Bright House and Comcast. CenturyLink, Frontier, Windstream, Verizon DSL and Clearwire rounded out the bottom half of the list of major providers. A one-position swap between Suddenlink, now at the eight spot, and Mediacom, now at the nine spot, was the only change to the list in May. Abroad, New Zealand’s Bigpipe fell three spots in the country’s Netflix speed index, down .34 Mbps from the previous month to 3.11 Mbps. Kabel Deutschland found its way back into second place on the list in Germany, clocking in at 4.0 Mbps -- up from 3.81 Mbps in April.

Despite having launched its Fire TV streaming box and stick in 2014, Amazon has quickly established itself at the top of the rankings in the U.S. digital media streamer market, taking a 30 percent share of Q1 shipments, Strategy Analytics said last week, citing the availability of its quarterly vendor share report. Market concentration is prevalent in the stand-alone digital media streamer space, as the top four brands -- Amazon, Roku, Google and Apple, in the order of their rankings -- accounted for more than 90 percent of Q1 shipments, the research firm said. Other findings: (1) A total of 35.7 million digital media streamers are installed in U.S. homes, and about a third of U.S. broadband homes own at least one such device. (2) Apple has shipped in excess of 15 million Apple TV units since its 2007 launch. (3) Apple TV, Roku streaming boxes, Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV in Q1 accounted for 18 percent of all connected TV streaming devices installed in U.S. homes, up from 14 percent in Q1 a year earlier. "Low-cost standalone digital media streamers are proving hugely popular with consumers who want a quick and easy way of accessing their favorite online streaming services on the living room TV and the entry of instantly recognizable brands such as Google and Amazon is helping maintain growth in the sector," said David Watkins, Strategy Analytics service director-connected home devices.

PMCM TV will have to operate its WJLP Middletown, New Jersey, station on virtual channel 33 instead of virtual channel 3, the FCC Media Bureau said in a declaratory ruling released Friday. It grants the request of Meredith Corp., licensee of WFSB Hartford, which operates on virtual channel 3. PMCM had sought to operate on virtual channels 3.10 and up, though broadcasters are usually seen as having dominion over all the virtual channels in their market that start with their main channel digit (see 1409160043). The two stations have “significant overlap,” the bureau said. “The Commission has never assigned the same major channel number to separately owned stations for concurrent use in the same area, nor has it ever limited a broadcaster in the number of minor channel numbers it may use."The declaratory ruling also denies a waiver request from PMCM to be allowed to use virtual channel 3.10 and an emergency stay request also connected with the channel request.