Interactive TV Headlines Round-Up (II) 1/24/17: Canoe, Cisco, Cloud Nine Media, Comcast, Cracked, DirecTV Now, FCC, Dish Network, Disney, NBCU, Facebook, Oculus, Fox, FoxNext, Fuse

As most of you are probably aware, [itvt]'s news round-ups were on hiatus for a couple of months, because our editorial team was working on TVOT NYC 2016 and then taking a post-event break. We expect it will take us a few weeks to catch up with all recent developments (note: we have marked older stories with the date they originally broke), so if you have sent us a press release or briefed us about a piece of news, and don't yet see it covered here, please bear with us.

• Canoe's VOD Dynamic Advertising Insertion Platform Generated 18 Billion+ Impressions in 2016, up from 11.8 Billion in 2015 and 6.3 Billion in 2014
• Cisco Launches Infinite Video Platform Labs, Enabling Infinite Video Customers to Test New Features with Users Before Making Them Generally Available; Labs Participants Include Israeli MVPD, YES
• Comcast Technology Solutions Launches "Multiplatform, Direct-to-Consumer Solution for Content Providers"; Partners Include UX Specialists, Accedo and You.i TV; Comcast Technology Solutions Unit Was Formed Last October from Comcast Wholesale, ThePlatform and This Technology
• Canadian MVPD Shaw Communications Launches Comcast X1-Powered "BlueSky TV" Service
• Discovery Communications-Backed Cloud Nine Media Names Richard Beckman Chief Revenue Officer, Suzanne Kolb Chief Brand Officer; Company, Formed Last December out of Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo and Seeker, Produces Programming for Digital and Social Media
• Cox Cable Launches $15-per-Month TV Streaming Service
• Scripps-Owned Streaming Video Service, Cracked, Launches Apple TV App
• FCC: AT&T's DirecTV Now Sponsored Data Plan May Violate Net Neutrality
• Report: AT&T Denying Refunds for DirecTV Now Customers Upset by Service's Performance Issues
• Price of DirecTV Now's $100-Channel Plan Increases from $35 to $60 per Month
• Analyst Estimates that DirecTV Now Is "Peaking At 35,000 Simultaneous Users," Has "Less than 100,000 Paying Subs"
• Analyst Says DirecTV Now Is Quickly Gaining Subscribers, Despite Launch Issues
• AT&T Says DirecTV Now Added 200,000+ Subs in Q4
• AT&T Launches DirecTV Now, Fullscreen and FreeVIEW Streaming Services (November 28th)
• Dish Network Says its Hopper DVR Will Soon Be Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Enabling Voice Control
• Disney's Freeform (Formerly ABC Family) Makes Full Season of "Beyond" Available Online as Part of its Premiere
• NBCU-Hearst Esquire Channel to Become Digital-Only
• Report: Facebook to Begin Testing Mid-Roll Ads; Will Give Publishers 55% Share of Revenues
• Report: Facebook No Longer Paying Publishers to Produce Live Streaming Video; Is Said to Have Paid Live-Video Publishers $50 Million Last Year
• Facebook Launches Free, Automatic Video-Subtitling Tool
• Facebook Testing Real-Time Ads to Promote Facebook Live Broadcasts (November 22nd)
• Facebook Rolls Out New Facebook Live Features, Including Ability to Broadcast via Web Browser
• Facebook's Oculus Teams with Felix & Paul Studios on 360-Degree Video of the White House
• Testifying in Oculus Lawsuit, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Says Company Will Invest $3 Billion+ in VR over Next Decade: also Admits that Oculus Acquisition Cost Facebook $3 Billion, not $2 Billion
• NBA Streams Warriors-Kings Game to Indian Fans via Facebook Live; Is First Regular-Season NBA Game to Be Streamed on the Platform
• Fox Sports to Offer Non-Authenticated Live Stream of Super Bowl LI on Fox Sports Go; Stream Will Feature Local Ad Integration from 170+ Fox Affiliates
• Fox Innovation Labs Developing VR Experiences for "Planet of the Apes," "Alien Covenant"
• Fox Forms VR/AR-Focused Division, FoxNext; Taps Salil Mehta as Division's President
• FoxNext Teams with Chris Milk's Within on AR/VR Experience for "Planet of the Apes"; This Will Be the Second VR Experience Fox Is Developing for the Franchise
• Fuse Announces "Multiplatform Expansion" of its Relationship with Comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias; Deal Includes 3 New Digital Series
• Fuse Debuts its First Original eSports Special, "Gamer Gods: Team Liquid" (October 20th)
• Fuse Enters eSports Space via Sponsorship Deal with eSports Company, ESL (September 23rd)