Comcast moved up two spots to sixth place on the list of U.S. providers in the Netflix October ISP Speed Index, Netflix said in a news release Monday. Comcast averaged 3.61 Mbps when its customers streamed Netflix in October, compared with 3.52 Mbps the previous month. Verizon FiOS maintained the top spot for U.S. service providers in October with an average speed of 3.8 Mbps, while Cox ranked second, averaging 3.75 Mbps. Bright House, Cablevision Optimum and Time Warner Cable rounded out the top five. Frontier, CenturyLink, Verizon DSL and Clearwire had the lowest average speeds for Netflix streaming among major U.S. ISPs for the month.

Be wary of unintended consequences when considering expanding the definition of multichannel video programming (MVPD) distributors to include aspects of over-the-top (OTT), Amazon said in an FCC ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 14-261. It recapped meetings between a variety of Amazon executives -- including Brian Huseman, director-public policy, and Bradley Beale, vice president-content acquisition -- and Media Bureau representatives and staffers from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Michael O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel. At those meetings, Amazon said the expanded MVPD definition could even include Amazon since it owns live streaming video gaming service Twitch.tv, which could be considered a channel under the OTT-as-MVPD NPRM, which would make it subject to programming access regulation. "Such unintended consequences could be highly damaging, inadvertently causing the government to significantly distort a new and alternative video segment that is growing and flourishing without any government intervention," Amazon said. That NPRM isn't likely to lead to an order anytime soon, as the proceeding is seen as stalled (see 1510230025).

Pandora and Sony/ATV Music Publishing signed a multiyear licensing agreement for Sony’s catalog of musical works, the companies said Thursday. Terms weren't disclosed. The direct publishing deal creates “business benefits” for Pandora, while modernizing compensation for Sony/ATV and its songwriters in the U.S., they said. The agreement is a "major step in the right direction to ensure that our songwriters are fairly compensated for the use of their music on streaming services,” said Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV CEO. The agreement means better rates “on one of the most important platforms for music consumption and discovery,” Bandier said. The companies called the deal a “win-win approach to publisher economics.” Sony songwriters will receive “improved performance royalties” while Pandora will benefit from improved rate certainty and the ability to add flexibility to its product offering over time, they said. The agreement doesn't cover public performance royalties that Pandora pays to rights holders of master recordings, said the companies.

Rovi released its Music Discovery Platform that combines three of the company's products to enhance the listening experience, it said in a news release Wednesday. The platform is comprised of Rovi's Search, Recommendations and Conversation Services tools and "enables Rovi customers to give listeners instant access to songs, albums, suggested tracks, playlists and artist information," said Rovi. The platform also allows for a "fluent, error-tolerant voice solution" for music search and discovery, it said.

QVC launched an app for Apple TV that allows customers to buy products from the device with a remote control click. A "speed buy" button shown on screen during programming will allow registered customers to view product details and buy the showcased item with a click or tap of a finger, without having to enter credit card and shipping information, said QVC. Customers can also browse through the product carousel at the bottom of the screen to view more details or buy items previously featured on air. The app will be available with the release of Apple TV Friday in the U.S. and in the U.K. and Germany in coming weeks, said QVC.

Apple began taking pre-orders Monday for the latest Apple TV that is slightly taller and heavier than the third-generation version. The fourth-gen device adds Siri voice control but lacks 4K video output, according to a comparison chart at the Apple website. Apple didn’t respond to questions on 4K support. The next-generation version includes Siri voice control, which adds the need for remote control charging via a Lightning connector, said Apple. Prices are $149 for 32 GB and $199 for 64 GB, while the third-gen model remains in the line at $69. Apple recommends the higher storage box for consumers who download a lot of apps and games and the 32 GB version for music and video streamers who play only “a few” apps and games. Orders taken Monday will deliver beginning Friday to customers who pay $17 for next-day shipping or $19 for next-day shipping before noon. Delivery dates are Nov. 2-4 for free shipping, said the company. Gen 4 Apple TV comes with HBO Now and Showtime apps, and users can subscribe for $14.99 and $10.99 per month. Other apps include Netflix and Hulu and access to sports subscriptions from MLB, the NBA and NHL, said Apple.

Nielsen's new over-the-top measurement system, Total Audience Management, "will launch a new era" of TV watching, said Diffusion Group senior analyst Alan Wolk in a blog. That metric will lead to more TV Everywhere, which in turn "will boost the amount of television being watched via OTT," Wolk said. If Nielsen's Total Audience Management is successful in counting OTT viewers the way the company currently does with linear watchers, "it could overcome the networks' objections to releasing content for viewing on their own or (multichannel video programming distributor) TV Everywhere device apps," which means more watching and thus higher ratings as well as more bandwidth use -- which is good for multiservice providers, Wolk said. Nielsen's Total Audience Management looks at views over the course of a week, which is "more reflective of how people watch TV now," Wolk said. OTT viewing over the next five years likely will approach 50 percent of all TV viewing, overtaking quadrature amplitude modulation watching, he said Thursday. Nielsen has said it expects to have Total Audience Management largely rolled out by year's end.

LG implemented Giraffic's Adaptive Video Acceleration (AVA) technology in its 2015 webOS TV product lines to improve digital content streaming, performance and delivery speeds, said Giraffic Tuesday. Giraffic’s network throughput optimization technology is also said to reduce buffering interruptions. LG’s 2015 webOS TVs with AVA will be available to consumers this fall, and previously purchased 2015 models can be supported with a firmware update, said Giraffic. AVA is designed to improve performance of adaptive streaming protocols including HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming and MPEG-DASH, said Giraffic.

Mediacom finished construction of direct fiber connections to Netflix's network aimed at improving performance for Mediacom high-speed Internet customers watching Netflix, the cable company said. Mediacom announced direct connection plans in May (see 1505050056), and said Monday that it has been moving Netflix traffic to the direct fiber connection since late July.

Don’t forget to create a plan for what you want to happen to your online life after you die, FTC Consumer and Business Education Counsel Carol Kando-Pineda wrote in a blog post Friday. “All the digital files, photos, posts and other accounts you leave behind might cause a lot of inconvenience -- even fraud or identity theft -- for your loved ones to clean up." Kando-Pineda recommended individuals make an inventory of their digital accounts including for email, social media, blogging, gaming and cloud storage. “Set up a spreadsheet or other file to keep track of each site’s name, URL, your user name, password, your wishes for each, and other information that might be necessary for access,” Kando-Pineda said. “Some of your accounts may involve money -- either real-world or online currencies -- and may require additional attention.” Some accounts allow an individual to make arrangements or name someone to manage accounts after death, so research your options, she said. Don’t attach this inventory to your will because your will becomes a public document after your death, Kando-Pineda said. It may help to name a digital executor to handle these tasks, either a friend, family member or third-party service, Kando-Pineda said. A series of reports showed how laws don't fully address such digital decedent issues (see 1508060032), and in their absence some but not all Web companies are rolling out their own services for digital life after death (see 1508070025).