Facebook, in a significant move forward on its premium video strategy, has reached a deal with Major League Baseball to live-stream 20 games for free during the 2017 season.

Source: Facebook Inks MLB Pact to Live-Stream Free Game Weekly | Variety

Facebook Inc. is paying professional videogame teams and others in the esports industry to post videos on the social network, part of a shift in strategy to deliver more-polished programming to the company’s nearly two billion monthly users.

Source: Facebook Embraces Esports in Its Video Strategy Shift – WSJ

On Thursday, the European Union’s powerful antitrust chief fined the social network 110 million euros, or about $122 million, for giving misleading statements during the company’s $19 billion acquisition of the internet messaging service WhatsApp in 2014.

Source: E.U. Fines Facebook $122 Million Over Disclosures in WhatsApp Deal – The New York Times

They’re already pledging to embark on a take-no-prisoners political crusade — one that also threatens to make the internet’s most intractable debate even louder and harder to solve.

Source: Democrats are readying an all-out war to stop the FCC from killing net neutrality rules – Recode

Android TV devices will get a completely revamped user interface that puts a much bigger emphasis on content recommendations.

Source: Android TV Gets A Facelift With Android O: Here’s Whats New | Variety

Apple exec Jimmy Iovine said that the streaming service plans to be less aggressive about obtaining exclusives in the future. “

Source: Apple Music is moving away from album exclusives – The Verge

The challenge for the tech giant is breaking old habits and fending off resistance from suspicious media companies.

Source: Facebook wants to disrupt TV ads, just like Google, Hulu and Amazon – Business Insider

Spotify helped popularize streaming music when downloading, or pirating, songs was mainstream. Now, the service may be veering away from the mainstream in going public.

Source: Spotify Said to Lean Toward Direct Listing on N.Y.S.E. – The New York Times

The mad dash of dealmaking in the days before the network upfront presentations is never an easy process, but this year has been particularly challenging.

Source: Upfronts: Series Dealmaking Turns ‘Brutal’ Amid Ad Market, Ratings Woes | Variety

The surge in cord-cutting has set off a race among media companies to be included in new “skinny” streaming bundles that are reshaping the American television landscape.

Source: As Streaming Services Amp Up, Not all TV Channels Make the Cut – WSJ

comScore today announced comScore OTT Intelligence, a syndicated service that measures U.S. household viewing of over-the-top (OTT) content on television screens.

Source: comScore Introduces Breakthrough Service to Measure Over-The-Top (OTT) Content Viewing on TV Screens – comScore, Inc

Between YouTube Gaming and Twitch, video game streaming is a crazed ecosystem full of odd personalities with uncertain fortunes.

Source: How Streaming Changed the Gaming Ecosystem – The Ringer

Faced with subscriber and viewership losses, Walt Disney Co.’s DIS -2.47% ESPN is planning to launch digital subscription services focused on particular sports, teams and regions.

Source: Disney’s ESPN Looks to an Online Future, as Cable Subscribers Decline – WSJ

Next-gen user interfaces such as Comcast’s X1 video platform, as well as virtual MVPD services like Hulu’s new livestreaming platform, are further eroding network branding by pushing channels behind programming genres, Barclay’s analyst Kannan Venkateshwar said.

Source: X1, Hulu and other next-gen video interfaces are destroying network branding, analyst says | FierceCable