Fox Sports will use technology to bring baseball fans closer to the action during its live telecast of the 93rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game tonight (July 11) from Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

For the first time, Fox during its  All-Star Game coverage will employ aerial drone technology to capture the action from unique angles throughout the ballpark, Fox Sports president of production and operations/executive producer Brad Zager said. “We’ll utilize the drone as players come on and off the field at the end of half innings, which is a first for us,” he said. “We’ll continue to push access and let viewers at home learn and hear from these all-star players more than they may get during the regular season.”

Also Read: Fox Sports Finds Success With a Time-Tested Playbook

Fox Sports will also look to provide a window into the player’s perspective during its telecast by placing live microphones on players, said Zager. The pregame studio booth featuring former MLB All-Stars Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Derek Jeter — who played in nearly 40 All-Star Games between them — will also provide analysis from a player’s point of view, he said.

“Having those guys there will allow viewers to get their perspective and offer context into what it’s like to play in an All-Star Game,” Zager said.

Overall, Zager said baseball’s new rules implemented this season, including a pitch clock to speed up the game, will not alter Fox’s production of the All-Star Game. “We think the rule changes that baseball has put in has done nothing but make this great game even better,” he said. “We look at the All-Star game as an opportunity to look at the game almost half-inning by half-inning in terms of who’s on the field and what stories we can tell.”

Fox’s 2022 MLB All-Star Game telecast averaged 7.51 million viewers, which was down 7% from the year prior. Zager believes that the league's momentum stemming from the strong play on the field and enhanced by the rule changes should bode well for All-Star game viewership.

“It’s been a great year for baseball with the changes that they’ve made, which has translated to fans being excited about watching games,” he said. “With the All-Star game you’ve got a great mix this year of established stars like [Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder] Mookie Betts as well as some of the younger guys you want to show off like [Baltimore Orioles catcher] Adley Rutschman and [Atlanta Braves outfielder] Ronald Acuna Jr. We’re looking forward to a great game.”

Play-by-play announcer Joe Davis and analyst John Smoltz will call the game for Fox. It will also air live on Fox Deportes as well as on the Fox Sports app.

The Commerce Department has identified drone maker DJI, the Shenzhen, China-based company whose drones are used in TV and movie production, among other things, as a company that is acting "contrary to the foreign policy or national security interests" of the U.S. and has added it to the Entity List.

That means it will limit the export, re-export and transfer of the technology, which includes gimbal cameras and camera stabilizers that have been used in a number of TV and movie productions, according to the DJI website, including Watchmen on HBO, Dead to Me and Mindhunter for Netflix, and Castle Rock on Hulu.

DJI is one of 34 Chinese companies added to Commerce's Entity List this week. That is the same list to which Huawei and ZTE were added for their ties to the Chinese government.

“Today’s decision by the Treasury Department to add DJI to its investment blacklist is welcome news," said FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who called for a review of DJI back in October over security concerns. "Treasury’s determination that DJI is actively supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to surveil and repress religious minorities in China only adds urgency to my call for national security agencies to provide their views on adding DJI to the FCC’s Covered List.”

That is a list of suspect tech companies--including ZTE and Huawei--that can't get government subsidy money. ■

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure a drone restriction over a Texas bridge does not prevent media outlets from reporting fully on the migrant situation there.

That is according to a letter from the senator to FAA administrator Steve Dickson, a copy of which was supplied to Multichannel News by the senator.

The two-week temporary restriction on drone flights over the international bridge into Del Rio, Texas, stil allows flights, but under a waiver process.

Wicker wants the FAA to explain just why it instituted the tighter drone access policy in the first place and give its assurance that will not impede media coverage of the border issue.

"To ensure that the First Amendment is protected, I expect that the FAA will promptly process any waiver sought by the media, which I understand is standard practice," said Wicker.

He said he wanted more than a reply to his letter. "Given the concerns raised by this matter, I request a briefing with an explanation for implementing this aviation restriction at the Mexican border."

Conservative media have been positing a nefarious motive for the restriction, linking it to viral footage of the migrants that got airplay on Fox News, with reporter Bill Melugin saying that the border patrol had been overwhelmed by more than 8,000 migrants.

The FAA tweeted Friday:

The agency made clear that "Media Coverage Providing Crucial Information to the Public" is one of the cases for expedited approval of such waiver requests.

The FCC has signaled it is looking back into the issue of giving drone operators an FCC license, though not an exclusive one.

That comes as unmanned aircraft systems have taken off, as it were, as a way to deliver medical supplies and respond to emergencies like wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and search and rescue, as well as tower inspection, mapping, surveillance, not to mention TV and film production.

The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is seeking to "refresh" the record on using the 5 GHz band for UAS, including a 2018 request by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) that the FCC develop licensing and service rules for UAS operations in the U.S.

The AIA proposal is based on providing operators "with highly transitory spectrum assignments [literally on the fly] tailored in both geography and time to specific flights."

Also Read: FCC Opens Challenge Docket for C-Band Payment Disputes

The petition was first put out for public comment in April 2018, but no action was taken.

On Friday (Aug. 20), the bureau issued a public notice to update the record with developments over the past three years relevant to the proceeding, and to "explore certain aspects of the AIA proposal in greater detail than is reflected in the current record."

The FCC also said that since the AIA proposal appears to be limited to line-of-sight radio transmissions linked between the drone and the operator, it wants to know if there should be a licensing alternative in the band for the growing interest in "beyond-line-of-sight operations."

Among the greater details it wants to explore are 1) whether operators seeking a license need to certify they have an FAA remote pilot certification; 2) how a dynamic frequency assignment management regime would work; 3) what new or modified technologies and devices or standards are needed; 4) the appropriate technical requirements; and 5) the scope of the service.

“Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones, could greatly enhance our public safety, economic competitiveness, and scientific progress," said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. "That was the message I received in early 2020 when I visited the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, an FAA-designated UAS test site outside Las Vegas. But these systems cannot truly flourish without Commission action governing the operation of UAS in licensed spectrum. That’s why I called for such action earlier this month. I’m therefore pleased to see today’s Public Notice seeking to refresh the record of a proceeding seeking a licensing framework for UAS."

The FCC has signaled absent some specific issue, flexible-use spectrum can be used to operate drones, but there is a "but."

Related: The Sky Is No Limit

That came in a report Thursday (Aug. 27) concluding that the 5030-5091 MHz band supports use of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

"Absent specific restrictions in the spectrum allocation or service rules, current law does not prohibit UAS communications in the flexibleuse bands," the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said in the report. But it also said that UAS do have the potential to cause harmful interference.

“We are optimistic about the use of flexible-use bands to support UAS operations,” said Ron Repasi, acting chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, in a statement. “However, we recognize that drone operations on flexible-use spectrum may raise interference issues for co-channel and adjacent-channel networks, so we recommend further work on using these bands for UAS."

Related: CNN Gets Drone Waiver for Crowds

The report was required by Congress in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. Look for NTIA and the FAA to weigh in on the drone spectrum, said the bureau, since Congress mandated reports from them as well. 

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) say that recent drone sightings in "safety-sensitive" areas--like the Boston Red Sox' Fenway Park, says Markey--have put an exclamation point on their call for FAA to publish a proposed rule to let the public know who is flying where.

Drones are used for, among many other things, TV and movie production, as well as live sports and news.

In a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the senators cite various sightings, including during the baseball game and one at Newark Liberty Airport that led to flights being halted.

They point out that Congress directed the FAA to come up with drone-identification standards in 2016, with a two-year deadline that passed nearly a year ago, and that the legislation is key to insuring privacy as well as safety.

The senators say the rules would allow the public, the FAA, law enforcement, and others to track drones and identify their operators.

Related: Sen, Markey Says Privacy Regs Should Precede Drone Rules

The FCC proposed to loosen its commercial drone rules to allow commercial drones to be flown over people and at night "under certain conditions." Markey said identification rules should be a linchpin of any rule allowing drone flights over people.

A number of TV and movie producers have been granted waivers of general drone flight rules.

Sen. Ed Markey is renewing his call for privacy protections after the Federal Aviation Administration proposed to loosen its commercial drone rules to allow commercial drones to be flown over people and at night "under certain conditions."

The FAA's goal in the draft proposal is to open up "an entirely new realm" of commercial drone possibilities, including for newsgathering and TV and film production as well as infrastructure inspection, emergency response and aerial surveying, though it is aerial surveillance Sen. Markey is most concerned about.

Related: CTIA Says Commercial Wireless Should Be Drone Home

The FAA does already allow for night flying and over people, but only under a waiver program that has drawn thousands of requests. The FAA says it has not received any reports of accidents under that waiver program, which is one of the arguments for loosening the rules. For night flights, the conditions are that pilots get training on night flying and the UAAS (unmanned aerial vehicles) would have to have an anti-collision light.

Flights over people would not require waivers anymore, either, but with plenty of safety-related conditions depending on the level of risk to people on the ground, like rotating parts or the weight of the drone.

Drone manufacturers would have to declare a product meets a specific category of conditions--there will be three separate categories a drone could come under--and monitor to make sure the product being produced continued to meet those standards. They would also have to correct any safety defects they identify after manufacturing.

Markey said privacy protections and other rules established by Congress should be in place before the FAA widens those roving electronic eyes in the skies.

The senator has for years been promoting legislation, the Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act--and will introduce it yet again--a bill that would create a framework for informing the public, not only about when and where drones would be flying and who was at the controls--or at least who owned the drone--but also related to data collection and minimization, disclosure and law enforcement access to that data. It also deals with licensing and operation on the drones.

“Privacy cannot be an afterthought as the FAA seeks to make it easier and safer for commercial drones to take flight,” said Markey. “Drones have the capability to collect treasure troves of sensitive personal information using technologies like facial recognition and automated license plate readers, yet the FAA has failed to establish any baseline privacy protections, despite its obligation to integrate drones into the national airspace."

Markey said Congress must ultimately be at the controls.

DJI, which makes civilian drones and imaging technology, was pleased with the draft, particularly a "performance-based standard for measuring safety, which allows manufacturers to develop creative ways to meet that standard," a standard DJI had proposed, though it said the safety testing methodology in the draft was different and needed scrutinizing.

“Drones prove every day that they belong in the sky doing important work for America, and everyone benefits when it is easier for professionals to safely fly over people and at night,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI VP of policy and legal affairs. “Drones have helped rescue more than 200 people from peril around the world, and drones help professionals do their work faster, safer, more efficiently and at a lower cost. Removing the barriers to routine night operations and flight over people will mean more benefits for more people.”

Cox Communications has struck a national sponsorship agreement with the Drone Racing League (DRL), and will use that deal in part to tout the speeds and performance of its WiFi products. 

That sponsorship will be active during the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship Season and extend to drone pilot Nick “WildWilly” Willard, a two-time, third place DRL winner who hails from Atlanta, Cox’s headquarters city.  

RELATED: Cox Crosses Whole-Home WiFi Milestone

Willard will be among 18 top pilots who will race custom-built DRL drones during the seven-event series, which will be broadcast in more than 75 countries on networks such as ESPN, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, OSN, Fox Sports Asia and Disney XD.

Financial terms weren’t announced, but Cox said its sponsorship will include a custom commercial spot produced by DRL’s media team, digital content creation, and live FPV (First Person View) freestyle events, where Willard will perform drone tricks and maneuvers while donning a branded uniform.

“The Drone Racing League is an undeniable reminder of the speed and performance excellence required by today’s connected devices. We’re proud to sponsor DRL and support millions of other high-speed applications with our nationwide network,” Mark Greatrex, executive vice president and chief marketing and sales officer at Cox, said in a statement.

In addition to participating on a Cable WiFi consortium that has deployed more than 500,000 hotspots in outdoor and business locations, Cox also markets Panoramic WiFi, a premium, whole-home WiFi offering that has more than 1 million customers on board.

CNN said it has received government approval to fly a drone over large crowds of people outdoors.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave the cable news network a first-of-its-kind waiver to "to operate the Snap UAS, a frangible, 1.37-pound aircraft with enclosed rotors that is made of deformable material, over people," CNN said.

CNN said it will be able, for the first time, to fly an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) over open-air assemblies, up to 150 feet above ground level.

“This waiver signifies a critical step forward not only for CNN’s UAS operations, but also the commercial UAS industry at large,” said David Vigilante, senior VP of legal for CNN, in a statement.

CNN said its waiver request was the product of more than two years of research and testing in conjunction with Vantage Robotics, which developed the Snap 4K "flying camera," and that the waiver was granted in part based on the network's history of safe operations and test data showing the camera was safe to fly over crowds on the ground.

Related: White House Unveils Drone-Boosting Plan

CNN already obtained waivers to fly a smaller craft over people and one for using UAS on closed sets for TV and film.

In August 2016, CNN launched a dedicated drone unit to provide aerial shots for all networks and platforms.

AT&T said it’s deploying a fleet of 25 drones to areas in southeast Texas impacted by Hurricane Harvey to check cell towers.

AT&T, which is also using them to determine network impact in those areas, noted that the drones are helpful to inspect assess damage in areas that aren’t accessible to cars or trucks due to flooding or are otherwise inaccessible due to storm damage.

RELATED: AT&T Deploys Portable Cell Sites, Charging Stations in South Texas

Those drones can take HD video and photos of a cell site, providing visuals of equipment, components and cabling, AT&T said, noting that engineers can use the technology to inspect the cell sites remotely from the ground in real-time.

Update: This sample video shows the drones in action, including a stating site in San Antonio and cell tower inspection footage taken in the Corpus Christi area.

AT&T added that it plans to deploy two Satellite Cell on Wheels (Sat COLTs) in Beaumont, Texas, and to stage 12 more in the area to support customers and first responders in that area in the wake of the storm.

Las Vegas -- Indicating a slow but steady rise in an emerging format, virtual reality (VR) headsets are expected to reach 2.5 million units this year, up 79% versus 2016, while driving $660 million in revenues, a predicted year-on-year jump of 42%, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) found in a semi-annual industry report released Tuesday.

“This area is really, really new,” Dr. Shawn DuBravac, the CTA’s chief economist, stressed here during a presentation of the group’s top tech trends heading into the show, noting that Sony’s PS VR product didn’t even go on sale until toward the end of 2016.

“[VR] Hardware sales will come slowly, surely,” he said, noting that there will also be a push toward VR-capable PCs that cost less than $1,000, and pointing to Lenovo’s announcement that it’s getting into the business of selling relatively inexpensive VR viewers and VR-ready laptops.

From a broader standpoint, the CTA, in its latest U.S. Consumer Technology Sales and Forecasts report, expects the U.S. consumer technology industry to produce $292 billion in retail revenues in 2017, and to be driven by emerging product categories such as 4K/Ultra HD, digital assistants, smart home products and wearables.

Here’s a snapshot on how CTA expects emerging CE segments to produce this year:

-Smart Home: The category, which includes products like smart thermostats, IP cameras, smart locks, lights and doorbells and smartwatches, will hit sales of 29 million units in 2017, up 63%, and bring in $3.5 billion, up 57%.

-Digital Assistant Devices: Aided by products like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home, unit sales are expected to reach 4.5 million units, up 52%, and $608 million in revenue, up 36%.

-4K/UHD TVs: 2017 shipments are expected to reach 15.6 million units, up 51%, and pump revenues of $14.6 billion, up 38%.

-Drones: Total sales will top 3.4 million units, up 40%, and, for the first time, eclipse $1 billion in revenues. And new use cases are emerging. DuBravac noted that Alarm.com and Qualcomm are working together on a home system that auto-deploys drones to provide a bird’s eye view when an alarm is tripped.

-Wearables: Driven by fitness activity trackers, the category will hit 48 million unit sales this year ,up 14%, and bring in revenues of $5.5 billion, up 3%.

Maturing technology categories (smartphones, TVs, tablets, laptops, and desktops) will contribute almost half of total industry revenue (48%). Among them, LCD TVs are expected to see a 2% decline in in unit volume (39 million units), while tablet sales drop 5%, and smartphones tick up 2%. Laptops will hold steady at 27 million units, with desktops dipping 7%.

During his talk, DuBravac emphasized the rise of voice-controlled computing and AI.

While the word error rate of voice recognition technologies were near 100% in 1995, it improved to about 23% in 2013, and will drop down to “human parity” – or about 5% to 6% -- in 2017, he said.

“The next computer interface is voice” as the technology hits an inflection point and makes the leap from “theoretical to practical,” DuBravac said, noting that he expects to see 700 new apps for Amazon Alexa introduced here over the next four days. 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is all for harnessing the power of drones, but also wants the government to establish privacy rules. Currently, the Obama Administration has helped stakeholders come up with voluntary drone privacy best practices, an approach it has taken with other privacy issues, including facial recognition and apps and, announced just this week, the Internet of Things.

But in the wake of the White House announcement of efforts to boost drone use, and voluntary efforts on privacy, Markey called for more.

“While I am pleased that the White House continues its efforts to safely integrate drones into our national airspace, when it comes to drone privacy, we are still essentially flying blind,” he said. “As more drones take flight, voluntary privacy guidelines and best practices are simply not enough. Drones flying overhead could collect very sensitive and personally identifiable information about millions of Americans, but right now, we don’t have sufficient safeguards in place to protect our privacy. We need to put privacy rules on the books now before more and more drones take flight over our heads and backyards.”

Markey has proposed The Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act, legislation to establish drone privacy rules including informing the public about the location and ownership of drones.

WASHINGTON — Stakeholders have come up with voluntary best practices for data collection by commercial and private drone users, but journalists have received a carve-out from those guidelines.

The stakeholders involved cited the reliance of the public on an independent press and the protections of the First Amendment. Those stakeholders developed the voluntary regime under the auspices of the National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration (NTIA), part of the Commerce Department.

"For this reason, these best practices do not apply to newsgatherers and news-reporting organizations,” the guidelines said. “Newsgatherers and news-reporting organizations may use UAS in the same manner as any other comparable technology to capture, store, retain and use data or images in public spaces.

“Newsgatherers and news-eporting organizations should operate under the ethics rules and standards of their organization, and according to existing federal and state laws,” the guidelines continued.

Among the practices that apply to other users — including TV and film producers that are increasingly using the technology — include making reasonable efforts to provide prior notice; limiting the collection, use and storage of data covered by the guidelines; protecting the collected data; and monitoring and complying with state laws.

“I want to congratulate the hard-working stakeholders who reached consensus on privacy, transparency and accountability best practices related to private and commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said. “As the president recognized when he directed NTIA to convene this process, these best practices can help promote Commerce priorities by allowing the industry to grow, develop and innovate while helping to build consumer trust.”

The best practices are the latest in a series produced by NTIA-curated stakeholder meetings in an effort to put some meat on the bones of the Obama administration’s Privacy Bill of Rights.