Comcast is on course to becoming a leading all round player in video monetization, combining multiscreen programmatic advertising with content streaming after its video ad management technology subsidiary FreeWheel has acquired French video supply-side platform (SSP) StickyADS.tv. The purchase widely rumored to have cost around $100 million will give FreeWheel a single platform for managing both directly and programmatically sold ads, given StickyADS.tv’s focus on the latter. The move was not unexpected since the two companies had been working together for a year, collaborating over an integration project when StickyADS.tv became one of the first SSPs to join FreeWheel’s Preferred Partners program. The decision to acquire StickyADS.tv was almost certainly motivated by the growing competition among major US operators, in particular,…