The FCC proposes to modernize its definition of multichannel video programming distributor in a rulemaking notice adopted Friday. It proposes to interpret the definition of an MVPD "to include providers that make multiple linear streams of video programming available for purchase, regardless of the technology used to distribute the programming," it said in a news release. This approach would ensure that nascent, Web-based video programming services "will have access to the content they need to compete with established providers," it said. “Video is no longer tied to a certain transmission technology, so our interpretation of MVPD should not be tied to transmission facilities,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. Under the proposal “any providers that make multiple linear streams of video programming available for purchase would be considered MVPDs, regardless of the technology used to deliver the programming,” he said. The NPRM asks for comment on an alternative interpretation that would require an MVPD to have control over a transmission path, and whether the proposals "would affect the regulatory status of IP-delivered video services by cable operators and [direct broadcast satelite] providers." Comments and replies are to be due 30 days and 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Comcast launched Xfinity in UHD, an Ultra HD on-demand programming app for Samsung Ultra HD TVs, Comcast said in a Thursday announcement. Debuting with full current seasons of TV shows from NBC and USA Network, the Xfinity in UHD app library will continue to expand with on-demand programming "across multiple networks and studios and is completely free to Xfinity TV customers whose video subscription includes participating networks," Comcast said. Xfinity TV customers who own 2014 Samsung UHD TVs can download the app, log in and immediately begin streaming episodes of Chicago Fire (NBC), and Suits and Covert Affairs (USA), with Parks and Recreation (NBC) to debut in February, it said. The Comcast deal is Samsung’s second exclusive partnership on Ultra HD content delivery in as many months, following its mid-November agreement with DirecTV on the launch of 4K VOD content (see 1411130039).

Internet advertising revenue reached $12.4 billion in the third quarter of 2014, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Internet Advertising Revenue Report said. It's the highest quarter ever, IAB said Thursday in a news release. The figures show a year-over-year uptick of 17 percent from the $10.6 billion reported for Q3 2013, it said. The figures also are up 6.5 percent from Q2 2014's $11.7 billion, it said. IAB did the research with PwC, it said. Data was compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet, IAB said. The survey includes data on online advertising revenue from websites, commercial online services, free email providers "and all other companies selling online advertising," it said.

Cox Communications launched more than 1,700 additional Wi-Fi hot spots for Cox high-speed Internet customers in the Phoenix and Las Vegas areas this month. Cox WiFi service is now in six markets, with many more planned for 2015, "including hundreds of hotspots in San Diego after the first of the year," Cox said in a news release. Subscribers to the company's Preferred, Premier, Ultimate and Gigablast Internet packages "will have free access to Cox WiFi, via WiFi hotspots, as part of their service," it said.

Copyright industries in the U.S. produced $1.1 trillion revenue in 2013, said a report released Wednesday by the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Copyright revenue was 6.71 percent of the U.S. economy overall in 2013, it said. “Core” copyright industries employed almost 5.5 million people, more than 4 percent of the U.S. workforce, said IIPA. The average earnings of those employees were 34 percent higher than other U.S. workers, it said.

21st Century Fox reached a preliminary agreement to acquire video advertising company true[X] media, Fox said Wednesday in a news release. After the sale, true[X] will remain a stand-alone business and continue to deliver services to television clients and streaming music companies, 21st said. The ad company’s clients include Microsoft, Visa, Apple, Disney and Procter & Gamble, the release said. “[T]rue[X] will work closely with Fox Networks Group to drive engagement between brands and consumers on Fox’s proprietary digital platforms,” the release said.

The TVStudy software is necessary to conduct the incentive auction and Sinclair lacks standing to challenge the repacking process, the FCC said in a legal brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in response to Sinclair and NAB’s petition for review against the incentive auction order. The congressional requirement that the FCC use the OET-69 methodology is not violated by the commission’s plan to use TVStudy, the FCC said in response to NAB. “Software and data are not methodology,” the agency said. The commission also responded to NAB’s argument that the order violated its legislative mandate by failing to preserve broadcast contours. The order preserves the coverage area and populations served of repacked stations by trying to ensure that a station's signals after the auction will reach “substantially the same geographic area at the same signal strength” and the same viewers as it did before, the FCC said. Sinclair, separate from NAB, challenged the FCC’s 39-month deadline for stations to cease broadcasting on their old channels after the auction. However, since Sinclair doesn’t yet know if it has stations that will be affected by the repacking, it doesn’t have standing to challenge that aspect of the rule, the FCC said. FCC rules give new licensees 36 months to build a new station, the FCC said. “The modifications that existing stations will have to make to their facilities following the auction are, at worst, no more complicated than those faced by new licensees constructing new stations,” the commission said. The petitions for review should be denied, the FCC said.

Yahoo completed the purchase of BrightRoll, whose approximately 400 employees will continue working on digital video advertising, said Yahoo in a news release Monday. It said BrightRoll is expected to have 2014 revenue above $100 million, and the deal makes Yahoo the No. 1 U.S. video ad platform.

A torrent search version of The Pirate Bay website was posted online Monday after being shut down by Swedish police last week (see 1412100031), said a tweet by isoHunt, a peer-to-peer file sharing and search site. The Pirate Bay site thanked its users, saying, “We really appreciate all your efforts to help us save the Freedom of information on the Internet.” A Swedish court found some of The Pirate Bay's operators guilty of mass copyright infringement in 2006. IsoHunt didn’t comment.

NBCUniversal is launching a broad marketing effort to promote its TV Everywhere offering, the company said in a news release Tuesday. Using the tagline “Watch TV without the TV” and associated hashtag #TVwithoutTHETV, the campaign will include “a digital and on-air cross-portfolio promotional activation” Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, said the broadcast and cable programmer. The campaign will begin with a digital media push and highlight all of NBCUniversal's TV networks and their respective apps, it said. That includes Bravo, E!, NBC News, Syfy and USA, said the unit of Comcast.