AT&T plans to launch a streaming service in Q4 2019 as a result of combining with Time Warner, it said Wednesday. An SEC filing with few details said it would represent "a new choice for entertainment with the WarnerMedia collection of films, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation."

SoundCloud will be the exclusive U.S. advertising and sales organization for Pandora effective next year, they announced Wednesday. Advertisers and brands will be able to buy SoundCloud's U.S. ad inventory directly through Pandora, with access to its direct sales, targeting data and audio programmatic product, they said. SoundCloud and Pandora’s combined U.S. audience reaches more than 100 million unduplicated listeners -- with 13 percent audience overlap, they said. Last week (see 1809240047 or 1809250021), SiriusXM, which owns 16 percent of Pandora, proposed to buy the streaming-media company in a $3.5 billion deal.

Amazon’s upcoming Fire TV Stick 4K, due to ship Oct. 31, has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support, the company said Wednesday. The new release is in response to customers’ request for a “complete 4K solution” in a compact form factor, said Marc Whitten, vice president-Amazon Fire TV. It incorporates new antenna technology, a quad-core processor and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, said to deliver a robust streaming experience even in congested network environments. The stick, combined with a new Alexa voice remote, will sell for $49; the Alexa remote can be bought separately for $29, Amazon said, and it’s compatible with previous Fire TV sticks. The 4K stick also supports Dolby Atmos for consumers with compatible home theater systems or sound bars, it said. The Bluetooth-enabled, cloud-based remote, with multidirectional infrared technology, allows users to power on a compatible TV and AV equipment, switch inputs, or tune to a channel on a cable box via voice commands, Amazon said. A bundle combining the new voice remote with Amazon’s Fire TV Cube will be available Oct. 31 for $119 in the U.S., Amazon said, and Amazon and Best Buy are currently selling the Fire TV Cube with a previous-generation voice remote for the same price. In a preorder special, customers can get the Fire TV Stick 4K and the Amazon’s latest Echo Dot together for $79, a 20 percent discount, said the company. Customers who preorder two Fire TV Stick 4K devices get them at a 10 percent discount for $89, it said. In another preorder bundle, customers can save $50 by buying the Fire TV Recast, a “35-mile” HDTV antenna, and a Fire TV Stick 4K together for $249, Amazon said. Leveraging its content side, Amazon is offering three months of Amazon Music Unlimited to eligible customers who buy a Fire TV streaming media player in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan.

More than nine in 10 over-the-top video subscribers are members of Amazon Prime Video, Hulu or Netflix, Parks Associates said Monday. Though new online pay-TV and premium channels pushed into the OTT space last year, they haven’t made a dent in the top three’s market position due to “strong viewer loyalty,” said analyst Brett Sappington.

Hearst launched Hearst Anyscreen, an over-the-top advertising platform for Hearst-owned programming, it said Monday. It said Anyscreen ties Hearst TV station local content and content from a variety of other programmers to ad inventory, with audience targeting across a variety of connected TV platforms, including Roku, Android TV, Apple TV, DirecTV Now, Google Chromecast and Sling TV.

Saying AT&T's DirecTV Now virtual MVPD service operates like cable TV, Charter Communications wants 32 Massachusetts franchise areas and Kauai, Hawaii, to be declared effectively competitive, said an FCC docket 12-1 petition Monday. Charter said DirecTV Now satisfies the LEC test by offering comparable video programming service in areas substantially overlapping with Charter's franchise area. Charter said the Massachusetts and Hawaii markets remain subject to regulation even after the 2015 effective competition order because of revised certifications filed by those states after the order. NAB, NATOA and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities didn't comment.

Hulu services clearly don't fall under the video service provider fees authorized by Missouri's 2007 Video Services Provider Act, said the company in a docket 18-cv-01495-SNLJ motion (in Pacer) last week in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to dismiss Creve Coeur's lawsuit against Hulu and Netflix (see 1809100020). Hulu said municipalities can collect fees only from providers authorized by the Public Service Commission, but the PSC hasn't required Hulu to get such authorization. It said the act expressly exempts internet content providers like it. The city's outside counsel didn't comment Monday.

Spotify’s monthly average user total could reach half a billion by 2023, said Macquarie analyst Amy Yong in a research note to investors after markets closed Thursday. Yong gave Spotify an outperform rating citing sustained subscription growth, operating leverage, including content negotiation, and advertising. Yong called Spotify “the dominant global streaming player with continued sub growth and eventual operating leverage.” The streaming music service is set to renew label agreements and expand to India, Russia and Africa, Yong noted, predicting monthly average users will reach 246 million and 294 million by the end of 2019 and 2020. The 21 and 20 percent growth rates would be a “modest deceleration” from 28 and 30 percent in 2017 and 2018, said the analyst. Label renewals are imminent and offer an opportunity for long-term margin expansion, said Yong. Direct relationships with artists “could complicate negotiations,” she said, but they likely will help Spotify gain leverage and boost margins despite the potential of disrupting relationships with labels. The service’s advertising business is poised for “meaningful growth,” and a 25 percent slice of the advertising pie could equate to $3 billion-$5 billion in revenue, she said.

Broadband households in the U.S. at the end of 2017 were spending nearly three hours a week watching video on a mobile phone, a 55 percent bump from 2015, said a Friday Parks Associates report. At the same time, live broadcast viewing on TV fell to 44 percent of total video consumption from over 60 percent in early 2012, it said. As on-demand viewing rises in the fast-changing video services market, consumers’ expectations for features and experience continue to evolve, and how consumers select and purchase services is changing, creating a “challenging competitive environment,” said analyst Brett Sappington. The industry is responding with direct-to-consumer services from content producers, new monetization models, and online pay-TV services. Consumers are the ultimate winners of the transitioning market, “enjoying new services, enhanced features, greater personalization, and a superior user experience,” Sappington said. Meanwhile, Comcast released a summary of viewing data associated with its Xfinity on Campus service Thursday, saying “live” is the preferred method of viewing for college students at 44 percent of total video consumption, followed by VOD (37 percent) and DVR (19 percent). Comcast's “tens of thousands” of students using the service prefer viewing on laptops vs. mobile devices with prime time on Thursday and Sunday the most-watched periods in a week, led by sports, scripted drama and reality TV, said Mike Gatzke, vice president-video subscription services of Comcast Cable. Xfinity on Campus, available at more than 130 colleges, is included as part of the on-campus TV service provided with students' housing fees, said the Comcast website.

Discovery and Hulu signed a distribution agreement for the streaming service picking up close to 4,000 episodes of Discovery reality shows, they said Wednesday. The deal adds five more Discovery networks to the Hulu With Live TV virtual MVPD offering starting in December, alongside three Discovery networks already on the lineup.