Google's YouTube TV virtual multichannel video programming distributor service is now up in New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago and Philadelphia, with more U.S. markets to follow, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. Subscriptions are $35 a month, which includes live streaming of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, Fox Sports, Comcast SportsNet and other channels; a cloud-based DVR with no storage limit; and access to YouTube Red Original series and movies, it said. It said several networks will join the YouTube TV lineup soon at no extra charge, including AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, Telemundo, WE tv and BBC World News.

Herring Networks' One America News Network and A Wealth of Entertainment channels are now on DirecTV's lineup and will become part of DirecTV Now within weeks, Herring said in a news release Wednesday.

Traditional multichannel video programming distributors inevitably will lose significant numbers of subscribers to the growing virtual MVPD offerings, as competitive pressures of that emerging market "rise to a fever pitch," said The Diffusion Group senior adviser Joel Espelien in a TDG blog post Tuesday. That competition will push virtual MVPD providers to surpass traditional pay TV, which can't compete on price, convenience or user experience and functionality, TDG said. It said virtual MVPDs won't be able to target just niche markets since competition among them will necessitate broad marketing campaigns. It also said competition is already forcing some improvements in their offerings, pointing to PlayStation Vue cutting prices and adding ESPN and Sling TV, and DirecTV Now adding cloud DVR functionality before YouTube TV -- which promises similar cloud DVR functionality -- comes to market.

Philippine media company ABS-CBN received a default judgment in federal court against one online video pirate site and is pursuing legal claims against others. U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of Los Angeles granted a motion for default judgment against the John Does doing business as Cinepinoy.tf in its claim for trademark infringement, unfair competition and copyright infringement. The Thursday order (in Pacer) said the defendants haven't appeared in the action that was filed in October. In the default judgment, the court granted a permanent injunction against the defendants, plus awarded $760,000 in statutory damages, $18,800 in attorney fees and $400 in costs. Cinepinoy didn't comment Monday. Earlier in March, U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ABS-CBN filed a motion (in Pacer) for final default judgment against John Does behind FMovies.to on the company's suit making similar allegations of trademark and copyright infringement related to unauthorized streaming of ABS-CBN video content. In its motion, ABS-CBN said it was still awaiting response to its October complaint against FMovies.to. Also earlier in March, ABS-CBN received a preliminary injunction (in Pacer) from U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas of Fort Lauderdale against Filstreambox and the people behind it from distributing ABS-CBN copyrighted content or using ABS-CBN trademarks. Filstreambox didn't comment Monday. ABS-CBN also has a complaint (in Pacer) brought in February before Dimitrouleas against KissAsian.com, which it alleged was also a pirate site. KissAsian didn't comment Monday.

Roku is offering audience guarantees for advertisers via its partnership with Nielsen integrating the metrics company’s Digital Ad Ratings platform into Roku’s ad framework, Roku said in a Monday announcement. With consumers watching more TV content on OTT platforms such as Roku, it’s harder for advertisers to reach viewers through traditional TV advertising, said Scott Rosenberg, senior vice president-advertising. Roku. Demographic-guaranteed campaigns on the Roku platform ensure that advertisers' campaigns reach a larger TV audience, including consumers who are not watching linear TV, said the company. Forty percent of Roku customers have canceled or cut back their traditional pay-TV service, and some watch all their TV through a Roku player, it said, citing NPD data from Q3 2016.

With Comcast and Verizon perhaps joining the ranks of virtual multichannel video programming distribution services, programmers need to be on board with such offerings even though it still isn't clear if virtual MVPDs will be successes, wrote nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon in a blog post Sunday. Though the existing virtual MVPD services have only about 2 million subscribers, that's proof of at least some demand for more flexibility in pay TV, with the services moving customers closer to an a la carte model, Dixon said. ESPN, for example, has been licensed to each of the virtual MVPDs that launched, in response to its own declining household penetration, he said. Many programmers similarly "aren’t sure [virtual MVPDs] will allow them to recapture the viewers, but dare not risk waiting to find out" and might have to sacrifice some license revenue to ensure they get into those skinnier virtual MVPD bundles, he said.

Drake set a U.S. record for number of streams from a single album in one week, said Nielsen Monday. The rapper eclipsed his own record with 385 million streams of More Life, surpassing the previous record of 245 million streams set by his Views album, Nielsen said: More Life has sold 225,000 digital albums.

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.

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.

Epix channels will be available via CenturyLink's Prism TV platform, under a carriage agreement between the two, the programmer announced Monday. The deal -- involving Epix (East and West), Epix 2 and Epix Hits -- also includes TV Everywhere rights, Epix said.