Good morning. It’s Monday, August 26, 2019 and this is your first Media Tech Update. Join us every Monday morning!

IN THE NEWS

Facebook is rolling out a new way for users to view a summary of the apps and websites that send Facebook information about their activity, and clear that information from their account if they wish. Users can also disconnect future off-Facebook activity from their accounts. “If you clear your off-Facebook activity, we’ll remove your identifying information from the data that apps and websites choose to send us. We won’t know which websites you visited or what you did there, and we won’t use any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger,” said Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer, Policy and David Baser, Director of Product, Management, in a blog post. “We expect this could have some impact on our business, but we believe giving people control over their data is more important.”

Amazon’s Audible is facing a lawsuit from publishers claiming its speech-to-text feature violates copyright laws. Audible’s taking copyrighted works and repurposing them for its own benefit without permission “are the kind of quintessential infringement that the Copyright Act directly forbids,” say major publishers including HarperCollins, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster in the suit. “We disagree with the claims that this violates any rights and look forward to working with publishers and members of the professional creative community to help them better understand the educational and accessibility benefits of this innovation,” responded Amazon.

Who needs faster internet for streaming? Not most households, according to a study from the Wall Street Journal. Looking at the internet usage of 53 of its journalists across the country, the WSJ found the panel used only a fraction of their available bandwidth to watch multiple streaming services simultaneously, and quality didn’t improve significantly with higher speeds.

Cox Communications, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and SCTE’s global arm, the International Society of Broadband Experts have partnered on a training program to provide Cox with a highly-skilled coax splicing workforce to support implementation of its fiber-deep strategy. The four-day Coax Splicing Boot Camp integrates existing SCTE•ISBE training with Cox needs to create a Cox-specific training program for new splicers.

YouTube is removing the ability to share videos via direct messages on YouTube, a feature it launched two years ago. “Since then, we've also focused on public conversations with updates to comments, posts, and stories,” said YouTube. “We’re constantly reevaluating our priorities and have decided to discontinue YouTube’s native direct messaging feature while we focus on improving public conversations.”

Video marketplace Stringr announced its integration with Reuters Connect, for its new Productivity Suite. Stringr is one of the first partners integrated into Reuters Connect’s end-to-end solution, allowing global users to produce and edit video content. In addition to digital content offered by Reuters Connect, users will be able to source custom video content from Stringr’s network of videographers, as well as leverage its content library to create editorial content globally.

The rate of cord-cutting will slow in 3Q19, predicts MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett. Following a quarter in which the US pay-TV business lost over 1.5 million subscribers, what’s left of the satellite subscriber base is “inevitably becoming more rural and therefore (presumably) stickier,” wrote Moffett, and overall, “eventually, the customers who most wanted to leave will have left.”

Xumo’s app is now an available on Android TV devices, including the Nvidia Shield media player and select Sony connected TVs. “We’re focused on bringing our service to the most popular devices available and have expanded to a record number of new platforms this year alone,” said Chris Hall, SVP of product.

Apple launched its new credit card, Apple Card, which works as a traditional credit a card as well as through Apple pay where Mastercard in accepted. Instead of points, the card awards 2% cash back for Apple Pay purchases, and 3% for purchases from Apple. The 3% will also go toward Uber and Uber Eats. “We’re thrilled with the overwhelming interest in Apple Card and its positive reception,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s VP of Apple Pay. “Customers have told us they love Apple Card’s simplicity and how it gives them a better view of their spending.”

Apple is considering a monthly charge of $10 for its Apple TV+ streaming service, having set aside $6 billion for content, according to reports. Bloomberg sources said the tech giant is eyeing a $9.99 monthly subscription price for the service, which it hopes to launch by November. Although a free trial could be offered, the idea of a subscription fee contradicts a popular theory making the rounds that the company could off offer original programming for free to anyone owning an Apple device.

Kaltura’s Cloud TV Platform will power the newly-launched TV service from Beeline Kazakhstan, reaching more than half of the nation’s population. The new platform will replace Beeline Kazakhstan’s legacy pay-TV service. This comes on the heels of Kaltura’s successful launch of Beeline TV in Russia, which now delivers personalized and targeted TV on any device to viewers across 11 time zones in Russia.