Netflix's TV app is getting its first major upgrade in two years with new functionality, it said Wednesday in a blog post. Video playback is being linked with content selection so when a viewer selects a title, it will start or resume playing while briefly superimposing information about the program on the screen. That new feature began rollout Wednesday and is expected to be worldwide in days, the company said.

Consumer Watchdog asked the FTC and Justice Department to investigate whether Apple unfairly dominates the streaming music business, said a CW news release. “Apple’s new streaming music service raises serious antitrust concerns that require the government to put limitations on Apple as it develops its service if consumers are to continue to have access to free streaming music services and so-called ‘freemium’ music,” wrote CW President Jamie Court and Privacy Project Director John Simpson in a letter Wednesday. Apple has credit card information for subscribers and knows its users’ musical preferences, and uses that information to “attempt to rub out free (commercial sponsored) music platforms,” the group said. “Confidential information provided to Consumer Watchdog suggests that Apple is pressing the three remaining music labels to give Apple exclusive rights to artists" -- it has more than 800 million credit cards on file worldwide and can charge those cards following a trial subscription; has inside knowledge of the music preferences of hundreds of millions of consumers and can leverage this information to dominate the subscription music sector regardless of price; and if the music studios don’t comply, Apple will go directly to the artists and cut the music labels out of the business, the letter said. “Apple is utilizing its market power in much the way the company did in setting e-book prices.” Documents showing Apple’s tactics are under seal in an action before the Copyright Royalty Board, under the case citation 14-CRB-0001-WR (2016-2020) (Web IV), the letter said. DOJ and the FTC can issue a subpoena to see the documents, it said. “Given that Apple is both an online platform for music apps, the dominant one in the industry, and now a competitor of streaming music services, Apple is in a position to drive up prices for consumers,” Court and Simpson wrote. DOJ, the FTC and Apple didn't comment.

SFX and Spotify established a content distribution partnership that involves the inclusion of audio and video content from SFX's Beatport service on Spotify, a joint news release said Wednesday. The deal will allow Beatport, an electronic music content supplier, to host "a variety of premium and exclusive content" on Spotify, which includes new music and video coverage of live events, they said. It said Beatport launched its own streaming service and mobile apps earlier this year, and has more than 5 million registered users.

Sling TV launched its first nationwide advertising campaign across TV, digital and social platforms, the company said in a Monday news release. Its #TakeBackTV campaign is aimed at cord cutters, the company said.

The streaming video market could see a big competitive boost from a preliminary federal court decision Thursday in a lawsuit against online streaming service FilmOn X, Public Knowledge said. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge George Wu in Los Angeles was that FilmOn X could be entitled to a compulsory license under Section 111 of the Copyright Act as it operates somewhat akin to a cable system. "Similar services should not be subject to totally different rules depending on whether they are offered over coaxial cable, fiber, satellite transmissions or online," said John Bergmayer, Public Knowledge senior staff attorney, in a statement. One of the plaintiffs, Fox, said that the Wu decision doesn't allow FilmOn X to resume streaming its broadcast signal because it remains under a preliminary injunction. In a statement Friday, plaintiff CBS said the court announcement "does not resolve anything, as it is only a tentative ruling. It is also wrong, as other courts and the US Copyright Office -- which administers Section 111 -- has rejected that position." The ruling also only concerns copyright law, and does not address the separate issue of retransmission consent that multichannel video programming distributors must obtain from programmers, CBS said. Parties in the case have until July 23 to submit a joint proposed judgment, after which the court will enter a final judgment and certify the case for appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The FCC has no place in regulating online video distributors, Commissioner Ajit Pai said Friday. "Even though online video has thrived precisely because of the government's hands-off approach," some in government "view the Internet as too important not to regulate," Pai said in a Churchill Club address that later was posted online. The FCC is considering reinterpreting the definition of multichannel video programing distributors to include over-the-top (OTT) providers of multiple streams of prescheduled, linear video programming -- a move that faces pushback from numerous media companies as well (see 1507140011). While backers of the move say such regulation would assist online video distributors (OVDs), "the benefits promised are illusory," in large part because the Copyright Office does not consider OTT providers as cable systems and thus have no legal right to a compulsory copyright license to show broadcast programming, Pai said. "The FCC's regulations would likely compel retransmission consent negotiations that lead to the carriage of little to no programming." While nothing stops broadcast programmers and OVDs from negotiating their own carriage and licensing agreements, he said, the FCC has no legal ability to force such negotiations "because copyright law stands in their way." Instead, Pai said, "It's all about increasing the FCC's authority -- about putting the FCC at the head of the digital table and bringing another industry within our reach." If the agency does in fact begin regulating only a certain segment of OTT operators, that almost surely will lead to the agency seeking to regulate other segments, Pai said. "I can even predict one of the arguments that will be made: How is it fair to regulate one type of online video provider but not another?"

HBO's online streaming service, HBO Now, is now viewable on Android and Amazon devices, the company said in a Thursday news release. HBO also plans to have the $14.99-a-month streaming service accessible via Chromecast and on Android TV and Amazon Fire TV, it said.

EchoStar's Sling Media unveiled its Slingbox M2 service, a set-top box and app combination that allows for streaming of live and recorded home TV content on an unlimited number of mobile devices. Slingbox M2 also lets subscribers of such over-the-top services as Apple TV, Chromecast and Roku move content from mobile devices to any Internet-connected TV anywhere, Sling said in a Thursday news release. The Slingbox M2 costs $200.

Charter Communications “made net neutrality history” when it committed to “open and free interconnection” across the Charter/Time Warner Cable network “if their pending merger is approved” (see 1507150038) Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Financial Officer David Wells said Wednesday in a quarterly letter to shareholders. “This move ensures that all online video providers can aggressively compete for consumers' favor, without selective and increasing fees paid to ISPs.” Charter's policy “is the right way to scale the Internet” because it means consumers “will receive the fast connection speeds they expect,” they said. “The Charter/TWC transaction, with this condition, would deliver significant public interest benefits to broadband consumers, and we urge its timely approval.” Netflix in Q2 exceeded 65 million subscribers, including 42 million in the U.S. and 23 million overseas, the letter said. “We are at the forefront of a wave of global Internet TV adoption and intend to make our service available throughout the world by the end of 2016.” To support its global expansion, Netflix is “focused on adding more languages, optimizing our personalization algorithms for a global library in local markets, and expanding support for a range of device, operator and payment partnerships,” the letter said. “We are also placing a greater emphasis on optimizing for mobile, which is the main means for Internet access in many emerging markets where we will be expanding in the future.”

Comcast is testing a streaming videogame service in partnership with Electronic Arts, the cable company said Tuesday. Its Xfinity Games offering doesn't use a console or game controllers but is controlled by users' smartphones or tablets, with the games streaming over Comcast Xfinity subscribers' X1 boxes, Comcast said. Xfinity Games follows Comcast's unveiling of its video streaming service, Stream, earlier this week (see 1507130008).