Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once. 

The virtual MVPD provider first debuted its Multiview feature on premium Apple TV devices back in 2020. According to Digital Trends, which dug into Fubo's announcement today, users of Roku's high-end Ultra devices will be able to put up to four channels at once on their screen at once time.

Users of lower end Roku Express 4K and 4K+, and Roku Streaming Stick 4K and 4K+, will be confined to two simultaneous streams. 

In a business catering to fans of live sports, Fubo's Multiview feature bests a similar offering from rival YouTube TV, which only lets users access select channels. 

“Multiview has been one of our most loved features, and we’re thrilled to expand it to Roku users,” said Isaac Josephson, senior VP of product management, Fubo, in a statement. “With Multiview and a suite of product features that enable content discovery and personalization, Fubo’s goal is to ensure fans never miss a moment of their favorite content.”

Cable giants Comcast and Charter Communications on Wednesday announced a new partnership with chipmaker Broadcom to jointly develop a new silicon standard capable of delivering downstream speeds of up to 25 gigabits per second over cable's traditional hybrid fiber-coax wires. 

Outlining their collaboration during the cable industry's big annual tech trade show, SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta, the companies billed the standard as the launch of “DOCSIS 5.0” — a new version of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, which the cable industry uses to transmit data. 

It's an attempt to unify the fractured development paths of the current DOCSIS 4.0 iteration, which has two disparate threads — Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 and Extended Spectrum DOCSIS 4.0 (ESD). 

Comcast, Charter and Broadcom are looking to develop unified DOCSIS chipsets for network nodes, smart amps, and cable modems, enabling both FDX and ESD versions of the DOCSIS 4.0 specification. 

“Supporting a single technology that can be used by all operators efficiently, over their existing networks, allows the industry to leverage its collective investment, and to increase the benefits of AI at the edge,” Charlie Herrin, president of technology, product and experience for Comcast, said in a statement. 

Added said Rich DiGeronimo, president of product and technology for Charter: “By integrating Broadcom's cutting-edge technology into our network infrastructure and cable modems, our network will leverage artificial intelligence to enhance power, reliability, and cost-effectiveness, ultimately delivering superior services to our customers.”

Google has launched its first piece of streaming hardware since its $50 Chromecast With Google TV debuted four years ago, and initial reviews are in for the new premium gadget.

We're still conducting our review, but we aggregated five test drives from notable tech publications to summarize the industry's thoughts on Google’s new TV Streamer.

The first thing most reviewers seemed to notice was the size of the new $100 gadget — as Google did away with the discreet, behind-the-set, dongle configuration for Chromecast in favor of a rubberized set-top.

Also Read: Google TV Streamer Gets Official Price, Release Date

The new device is noticeably larger and intended to sit in front of your TV set.

Still, most reviewers said that it was more like a “smaller ornament” than a large, unsightly piece of tech.

Early reviews also commented positively on the redesign of Google’s remote, which is slightly larger and saw several buttons shifted for ease of use.

It didn’t change much, but users seem to agree that the new shape is more ergonomic.

Also integrated into Google TV Streamer’s remote is the ability to bind shortcuts, which the company suggests connecting to its smart-home features.

Some said that this was a bit redundant, given that smart-home adjustments are accessible from the quick settings sidebar, but most agreed it was a generally useful feature to have.

One reviewer recommends binding the shortcut key as an input switcher.

Regardless of whether you decide to keep it as a shortcut, reviewers largely agreed that the smart home features were nice to have — even if they’re sloppily integrated in some cases.

Through the smart-home tab, you can control your smart lights, climate control and even watch live feeds from your security cameras right on your TV.

But, as one reviewer noted, feeds for some of Google’s latest-generation Nest cameras are heavily compressed when displayed on screen.

The same reviewer noted that he could not interact with or toggle the power for his cameras from the streamer.  He also experienced a “seven-second or so delay” from his Nest camera.

The new Google streaming device also allows users to customize their home further by using AI features (very similar to Google’s Gemini web tool) that can generate custom images to display.

Most users agreed that while this was a fun feature — although it didn’t have the capability to generate moving images — it remained largely unused.

Perhaps most importantly to viewers, though, was the increased quality-of-picture and efficiency of the device.

Every reviewer agreed that, in terms of performance, the Google TV Streamer is far superior to its predecessor.

One speculated that this was due to a MediaTek MT8696 SoC processor inside the box, although Google hasn’t publicly confirmed much about the device’s specs.

According to Google’s estimate, the Streamer allows for 22% faster CPU performance than the legacy Chromecast.

This seems like a consensus shared by most users — not quite as powerful as rivals like the Nvidia Shield, but a worthy successor to the Chromecast.

All agreed that the Streamer was by far Google’s best crack at set-top boxes. Most seemed resolved that, despite some minor nitpicks, it’s a good set-top box for most consumers.

Read the reviews here:

The Verge

AndroidPolice

9to5Google

DigitalTrends

AndroidAuthority

Comcast on Monday unveiled a virtualized network management system called Janus that aims to maximize its network efficiency and reliability.

According to Comcast, Janus does this by shifting the brunt of the company’s internet routing, switching and transport services to its edge cloud platforms.

“Data usage continues to skyrocket at unprecedented rates, primarily due to the rapid increase in streaming high-quality live sports,” Comcast chief network officer Elad Nafshi said in a memo. “Janus builds upon years of investment and innovation to maximize our network performance and will be a game-changer for our customers, our business, and the environment.”

Also Read: Comcast Advertising Names Scott Weisenthal Head of Global Marketing and Insights

Comcast said the new organization of its networks will allow the company to keep up with the massive data traffic that fluctuates around live sports events.

In addition to enhanced network performance, Janus can self-diagnose functionality issues through a real-time telemetry algorithm and offload processing onto redundant, intact network pathways.

That means that in most cases of weather or accidental damage, Janus is capable of restoring service through backup network connections.

Comcast also said that Janus would help the company achieve its goal of being carbon-neutral by 2035.

Since the initiative’s computing platforms would be switched from traditional network facilities to cloud-based platforms, their environmental impact should be significantly reduced.

Initial trials for Janus are underway at Comcast’s network hub in Atlanta, with wide-scale rollout expected in 2025.

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers will host its annual TechExpo at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from September 24-26. This year’s show will feature an expanded exhibit space with more than 300 exhibits, including 68 first-time exhibitors. There will be nine conference tracks along with a roster of keynote addresses and headliner sessions.  

Ahead of the show opening, for an additional registration fee, attendees can join the inaugural SCTE Broadband Fiber Installer (BFI) Boot Camp — an in-person training course for fiber installers slated for September 23.

This year’s TechExpo show — the first since the former Cable-Tec Expo was rebranded — will be Maria Popo’s first as SCTE president and CEO, after taking the helm last December in the wake of Mark Dzuban’s retirement. The organization has lined up a number of new initiatives for the show, and Popo wants to outline how the SCTE is adapting during her opening-day keynote address. “I will be focused on two areas — economic opportunity and workforce development and how those two interconnect,” she said. 

She explained that with most baby boomers expected to retire by 2030, the SCTE plays a vital role in mentoring and training the next generation of technicians to replace them. And with the rollout of 10G services expected to generate more than  600,000 jobs (roughly half for technicians), she will outline the organization’s plan to align its training and standards work more strategically with operators’ needs in a rapidly changing industry.

SCTE currently has 56 chapters across the U.S. where members come together to share information on new technologies and best practices. These chapters are the grass roots of the organization. “It’s where humanity and technology intersect,” Popo said. “It’s very important that we have all these chapters where people are learning about technology, learning about how to network and engaging with each other, having discussions that don't always happen in the workplace.”

SCTE is currently testing digital platforms that will make it easier for those chapters to connect with each other across the country, Popo revealed. She hinted that she will present a completely new plan for training and certification “that could potentially reach outside of the industry. I believe that that will be exciting news, because it will illustrate how SCTE is evolving just as technology evolves.”

AI Makes Its Mark on TechExpo

Overall, Popo said she is most excited about TechExpo’s new AI zone and conference track.

“AI is already in the networks, and you'll see that next week across the three days of the show,” she said. “It’s in the networks’ troubleshooting and diagnostics. It's already impacting the way technicians and engineers work. Throughout the vendor community, AI is implemented in some way, so that is of significant interest.” 

Headlining the AI & Automation track on September 25, Comcast Cable executive VP and chief network officer Elad Nafshi will moderate a panel including Lilac Ilan, global head of business development telco-AI powered operations at Nvidia;  Jennifer Andreoli-Fang, head of fixed networks at Amazon Web Services; and Nirali Patel, group VP of data and AI strategy at Liberty Global. The panelists will explore how AI is shaping the future of broadband, including its role in driving self-optimizing networks, future innovations and business models.

“The Human Factor” is another new conference track this year, featuring a September 23 master class on “Cultivating Your Ideation Toolkit and Innovation Mindset” featuring CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney, director of strategic growth engagement Lisa Schwab, principal strategist Todd Byron and director, innovation services and coaching Michelle Vendelin. 

Other tracks include Wireless & Convergence, Wireline Network Evolution, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), Technology Policy, Growth & Transformation and Energy Management.

Click here for the full conference schedule. 

Laying a New SCTE Foundation

The group has also relaunched the SCTE Foundation with new branding and a new website, along with a restructured board, new committees and an expanded mission statement that reads: “The SCTE Foundation is dedicated to fostering talent and innovation for the global broadband connectivity industry. Through the provisions of grants, scholarships, resources and programs, we empower aspiring professionals and companies with the skills and tools necessary to succeed in our dynamic field.”

Among the new initiatives, the SCTE Foundation has launched a New Ideas Committee dedicated to evaluating innovative proposals to enhance the organization’s talent training initiatives.

The foundation is also launching the Broadband Labor Academy specifically designed for aspiring fiber splicing technicians. Students can experience hands-on training complemented by SCTE coursework and mentorship from industry experts.

In addition, the foundation is kicking off the Diversity TechConnect Initiative as a pilot program to mentor rising stars from diverse backgrounds. The program is based on The Women’s TechConnect program, which was developed in partnership with The WICT Network to mentor women in the cable telecom sector. 

In Pursuit of Sustainability

With the support of TechExpo24 co-sponsors Cox Communications and Liberty Latin America, organizers have purchased and retired enough renewable energy certificates (RECs) to power the event with 100% renewable energy. New for 2024, water restoration certificates (WRCs) will offset water usage throughout the event. 

With additional support from Cox, TechExpo24 also aims to achieve 100% zero waste to landfill. Attendees will notice an increased number of recycling and compost bins and exhibitor waste will be segregated for recycling. Cox volunteers will be on hand to encourage all attendees to reuse, recycle and use the right bins. 

Introduced in 2014, the SCTE Energy 20/20 Program has helped cable broadband providers achieve their environmental goals by creating standards and sharing successful operational practices. 

On September 25, Derek DiGiacomo, SCTE’s senior director of energy management program and business continuity, and Ryan Capone, Comcast’s VP of network facilities and energy, will update attendees on the latest developments in sustainability.

AT&T announced on Monday wholesale agreements with four commercial open-access fiber broadband providers.

The deals, which will involve AT&T’s existing Gigapower JV with investing firm BlackRock, is intended to help the company grow its fiber network offerings.

The announcement comes as fellow wireless providers race to expand their own fiber networks — Verizon Communications spent $20 billion to acquire pure-play fiber provider Frontier Communications last Thursday, while T-Mobile inked a deal to buy a 50% stake in the fiber operator Lumos in April.

Also Read: Dumb in Dallas? AT&T Keeps Pushing a ‘Convergence’ Advantage It Simply Does Not Have

AT&T will now begin construction on several expansion projects in Texas, Florida and Minnesota with its new partners: Boldyn Networks, Digital Infrastructure Group, Prime Fiber and Uniquity.

“Each company AT&T is working with was selected because they provide opportunities to expand AT&T Fiber distribution to new service areas without existing fiber options,” the company wrote in its release. “As these providers add fiber locations, AT&T will evaluate where it wants to offer AT&T Fiber.”

AT&T didn’t specify the scale of its initial projects, but said it is on track to pass its goal of 30 million locations with fiber by the end of 2025.

Currently, the telecommunications giant serves more than 8.8 million fiber customers and passes 28 million total consumer and business fiber locations, according to a press release.

“In new service areas, Gigapower is ramping well,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said in a statement. “We’re targeting additional geographies for growth with the joint venture and other commercial open-access agreements. Customers tell us they want a high-performance wireless and broadband experience from a single provider, and AT&T is best positioned to serve this growing need.”

AT&T and BlackRock have so far announced plans to build in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.

Fubo said it is launching a new connected TV ad format called Triple Play on its home screen.

When a subscriber logs onto Fubo, they see an interactive home screen. With the Triple Play module, the advertiser gets a branded banner, a custom content carousel showcasing curated live and on-demand programming, plus clickable branded content video within the programming playlist.  The branded video can include a QR code

The advertiser also gets a rotation of midroll spots that will appear within the programming on the curated playlist.

Fubo said the format will be up and running in a few days and that a retailer–which the streamed declined to identify–has signed up to be the first Triple Play for a back-to-school campaign.

“Traditional 15- and 30-second ad spots have long been staples in TV advertising but CTV has made it possible to expand standard TV ad formats to command more attention and engagement,” Dina Roman, senior VP, global ad sales and operations at Fubo, said. “By offering premium bespoke ad opportunities, we are creating even more ways brands can authentically reach their target audiences. We can’t wait to debut The Triple Play with our inaugural brand sponsor.”

MyBundle, a startup that provides SaaS tools to make streaming easier, has announced a new technology feature in anticipation of the new NFL season.

MyBundle’s new NFL Schedule, available to the nearly 13 million end users of its various telecom partners, is designed to help consumers find the big game and related content at a time when NFL rights are proliferated across nearly a dozen broadcast partners, from NBC to Netflix.

Also Read: MyBundle Strikes Deal for Free Roku Remotes

The feature is organized by team -- click on your favorite squad, and the widget will tell you what local broadcast affiliates, streaming services and pay TV platforms are carrying it. 

As fans of the Seattle Seahawks living in Southern California, here's what we like: If you're fan of a team and living or traveling out-of-market, this useful tool also lets you switch to "national" mode to find games that are being broadcast beyond the local affiliates. 

Try it out for yourself here. 

Comcast has begun notifying customers via their billing statements that starting October 24, it will no longer be issuing CableCARD security modules. 

Comcast told LightReading that it will provide affected customers with a free year's usage of a streaming device and guide them to use the Xfinity app. It will also continue to support existing CableCards after October 24.

Also read: Charter to Cut Off CableCARD Support

The move comes a little more than two years after ended support for the device, and four years following the end of the FCC's requirement of its usage. 

Creation of the CableCARD was mandated as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and designed to force cable operators to provide their customers a choice of using third-party set-tops. 

The module was developed to allow third-party devices sold at retail to be used in the cable TV ecosystem. However, only a handful of gadgets in the market today still support CableCARD. 

Tech vendor CommScope said Thursday that it's close to developing hardware and software that supports both flavors of the cable industry's new DOCSIS 4.0 network standard. 

Chuck Treadway, chairman and CEO of the struggling Claremont, N.C. company, told equity analysts during CommScope's Q2 earnings report that his engineers could have products such as amplifiers and nodes able to support both Full Duplex DOCSIS (FDX) and Extended Spectrum DOCSIS (ESD) by the time the annual SCTE CableTec Expo conference convenes in late September. 

DOCSIS stands for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications." That's a globally recognized telecommunications standard allowing for high-bandwidth data to be transferred over existing coaxial cable systems.

DOCSIS 4.0 is the next iteration of this standard, allowing cable companies to eventually deliver symmetrical internet speeds of 10 megabits per second or faster. 

However, there are two variations of the standard, both developed by industry consortium CableLabs to extend the life of hybrid fiber-coaxial cable for decades. 

Full Duplex DOCSIS has more rigid upgrade requirements, which have eased a bit as the technology has been developed. (Originally, FDX required fiber nodes to be pushed out deep into the network in a so-called "node+0" configuration.) 

But FDX is the preferred DOCSIS flavor for Comcast, which is already working with tech vendor Broadcom on cable modems, amplifiers and nodes that support both FDX and ESD. 

ESD, meanwhile, has less rigid upgrade requirements, but a lower ceiling -- its spectrum limit 1.8GHz (up from about 1.2GHz for today's DOCSIS 3.1 networks). Charter Communications and Cox Communications have been an early supporters of ESD, but they're also looking closely at FDX solutions. 

Cable network technology is now a priority for debt-strapped CommScope, which paid $45.1 million at auction in May to acquire bankrupt rival Casa Systems' cable network assets. CommScope, which is around $9 billion of debt, has also recently sold off part of its business, including its customer premises equipment division to Europe's Vantiva back in November.

CommScope said its second-quarter sales declined 12.7% to $1.38 billion. 

After several weeks of leaked product shots and FCC schematic filings by the broader tech press, Google has officially released key details about its new streaming gadget, the Google TV Streamer. 

Also read: The Chromecast Brand and the Dongle Form Factor Get Left Behind With New ‘Google TV Streamer’

It’s Google’s first product refresh since it debuted its $50 Chromecast with Google TV four years ago. And it’s a major one. 

The device will not only feature a wedge-shaped box form factor vs. the legacy HDMI dongle, it will also pack a more ambitious range of features into a package priced twice as high ($99.99) and starting Sept. 24 (with preorders starting Tuesday).

The Google TV Streamer will feature a more robust CPU, running 22% faster than the one in Chromecast with Google TV, as well as 32 gigabytes of storage, four times as much as the legacy gadget. 

There will be support for 4K HDR with Dolby Vision, in addition to Dolby Atmos sound.

Notable is the inclusion of a voice remote and Gemini AI tech in the gadget, giving the Google TV Streamer a leg up in the race to make search and recommendation more effective. 

For a decade, streaming services and gadget makers have been pledging to cut down on the time users spend looking for something to watch. As one of the elite tech makers in the fast-developing — and scary! — world of artificial intelligence, Google would seem to have a leg up on what could ultimately be a Holy Grail tech feature when someone finally gets it solved. 

Speaking to Next TV last week, Shalini Govil-Pai, VP and GM of Google TV, acknowledged that no one in the technology business has fully “gotten it right” yet in terms of search and recommendation. 

For its part, the Streamer will blend algorithmic science with "Gemini overviews," AI-fueled scourings of the internet that deliver essential programming info like plot synopsis, reviews aggregations, thematic appropriateness for kids, etc.

The AI tech also has other uses. For example, lots of connected TV devices make use of the modern low-power LED smart TV display to function as "always on" curators of family photos, classic paintings and other renderings. 

The Streamer lets users make suggestions into their voice remotes — on mashups of artistic classics, say — to come up with all sorts of crazy AI-based digital imagery. 

Also factoring into the Streamer’s agenda is integration into Google’s smart-home universe via inclusion of Threads radio hardware. 

The gadget can function as a central part of a smart-home environment, dimming lights and responding to smart doorbells. 

DirecTV, which had around 11.3 million remaining customers across its multiple pay TV platforms as of the end of last year, isn't pushing satellite TV very hard these days. 

Visit the company’'s landing page, and it will direct you to DirecTV Stream services “unless you don't have high-speed internet, live in a rural area or just prefer a satellite dish.” 

The pay TV company hasn't put a new satellite into orbit in 2019. And it's not even clear as to how many satellite TV customers it has left. 

Still, for the first time in five years, the pay TV company — controlled by TPG Capital since AT&T spun it off in 2021 — has upgraded its UX for its satellite customers. 

The new design, which is being pushed in a phased rollout starting Wednesday to all Genie and Gemini CPE gadgets in Denver, seems to abide by the now-standard Netflix playbook, with thumbnails, carousels and side navigation. 

The UX will include four carousels: “Live TV,” “Continue Watching,” “Discover” and ”Live Sports.” 

There also appear to be algorithmic capabilities, with the user’s selected favorites and most-watched channels driving what gets surfaced on the UX most prominently. “Later this year, the user interface will include personalized content curated to the users’ preferred programming,“ DirecTV said. 

Additionally, DirecTV redesigned the “Sports Central” submenu destination it rolled out on the satellite UX in 2023. 

With nearly four years having passed since Google debuted its last major streaming device upgrade, Chromecast with Google TV, images and specifications have leaked for the tech giant's soon-to-be-released "Google TV Streamer." 

Last week, 9to5google wowed the tech press with images of the new wedge-shaped device. The tech blog has followed that up by obtaining and publishing FCC spec filings, revealing the inclusion of an Ethernet port, for serious high-bitrate streaming without Wi-Fi problems, as well as support for Thread radio, which enables the device to communicate with other smart home gadgets. 

According to Next TV sibling pub TechRadar, it's believed the device will debut at an event on August 13, where new Pixel-branded mobile devices are expected to be introduced, as well. 

Beyond the retrograde, set-top form factor and revised remote control, not a ton is known about the Google TV Streamer. 

We do know that the FCC docs were filed by Quanta, which has previously made Google hardware including the Pixel Slate, the PixelBook Go and the Pixelbook. 

And TechRadar suggests that support for legacy Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac — and not the newer Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) or Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) standards — indicates the gadget will compete at the lower end of the OTT device market, 

Chromecast with Google TV was introduced with a $50 MSRP, but it routinely sold for less than that. 

Also read: For Fast-Aging Streaming Devices, 8GB Is Not Enough

With the legacy Chromecast device including only 8 gigabytes of memory — too low to support today's flora and fauna of streaming apps — it’s expected that the Streamer will come with more storage. 

It's also expected that the device will include a processor upgrade over Chromcast's Amlogic S905X3 CPU. 

Comcast Technology Solutions was selected to provide multiscreen video management and delivery NBC Sports’ coverage of the Paris Olympic games.

NBC Sports, part of Comcast, will be showing Olympic coverage on many of NBCUniversal broadcast and cable networks, as well as its Peacock streaming service, often at the same time.

NBCUniversal will use Comcast Technology Solutions’ VideoAI for automated metadata tagging and its syndication platform to publish video On demand assets and metadata management across certain devices, sites, and apps.

“By working alongside Comcast Technology Solutions to assist in publishing VOD assets and metadata management across select platforms, we have been able to consistently raise the bar in our coverage,” said Monica Williams, senior VP, digital products & operations, NBCUniversal Content Distribution. “The 2024 Paris Olympics is an incredible, tentpole event for our distribution partners, and working with partners like Comcast allows us to deliver our audiences the best content experience.”

Comcast Technology Solutions recently launched a Sports Hub facility to meet the stringent and dynamic needs of sports programming and has worked with NBC Sports for 12 years, including during past Summer and Winter Olympics.

“The Olympics represent the pinnacle of sports video production and distribution, and Comcast Technology Solutions is honored to be entrusted to play such a central role supporting the video management and delivery of this unparalleled multiscreen sports experience at such scale,” said Bart Spriester, senior VP and general manager of streaming,broadcast, & advertising for Comcast Technology Solutions."

The average broadband speed is up from 173 megabits per second in 2022 to 304 Mbps, but average monthly ISP prices have increased by around $9 to $85 over the same span.

And more than half of the 48,000 members it surveyed, Consumer Reports said, gave their internet service provider an unfavorable rating in the company's third annual dive into internet service quality and satisfaction. 

“We’ve observed consistent dissatisfaction among CR members in recent years when it comes to their telecommunication services, and internet service is no exception,” Tian Wang, senior survey research associate at CR, said. “In fact, telecommunication services are some of the least popular of all the services that CR members help us to rate.”

Speaking broadly, fiber-based service providers scored the highest, with 69% of customers reporting to be “completely” or “very” satisfied, vs. just 39% for cable. 

Among individual providers, Greenlight Networks, which serves municipalities in New York’s Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton and Albany areas, scored highest in the survey, a “95.” Meanwhile, Chattanooga, Tennessee, municipal broadband service, EPB ranked second with a 92.

Allo Fiber, Google Fiber, GoNetSpeed and Sonic also were on the top side of the list.

Scoring worst (14 points each) were satellite broadband providers Viasat Internet and HughesNet. Other poor performers included Comcast Xfinity (28), CenturyLink’s Lumen (25), Mediacom’s Xtream (25) and Altice’s Optimum (20).

So yeah, we just listed cable companies serving millions of American homes as “other poor performers.”

Service monopolies remain a barrier to quality in many regions. Nearly half of those surveyed said they had two or fewer options for ISPs. 

Indebted tech vendor CommScope has announced the sale of its Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN) and Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) segments to Amphenol Corp. for $2.1 billion. 

Also read: CommScope Reports 38% Q4 Revenue Drop … But No Buyers To Ease Its Arduous $9 Billion Debt Load

Managing a debt load of $9 billion, much of it tied to the $7.4 billion purchase of Arris in 2019, CommScope will be able to avoid liquidation through 2025, Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold told investors. 

But it comes with a cost. 

“The cash infusion enables CommScope to meet its debt obligations through 2025,” Leopold wrote. “However, it is divesting some of its most profitable businesses and will no longer have the cash generation from the OWN and DAS assets."

In early October, CommScope sold its “Home Networks” unit, which makes “customer premises equipment” like video set-tops and gateways, to Vantiva, the French company formerly known as Technicolor. 

Also read: CommScope Tries To Race Past Bankruptcy Court

The company’s latest divestment is expected to close in the first half of 2025. 

“This transaction allows CommScope to increase focus and further strengthen its CommScope NEXT priorities with its remaining segments and business units,” CommScope CEO Chuck Treadway, said in a statement. “We believe CommScope’s OWN and DAS businesses are positioned to continue to perform well under Amphenol’s leadership.”

While CommScope seeks to raise capital through divestments, it has put money recently into its Access Networks Solutions business, outbidding Vecima Networks in May to acquire bankrupt Casa Systems’ cable tech operations for $45.1 million. 

While Comcast only had 13.6 million linear pay TV customers left at the end of March, those dwindling ranks of subscribers still on the cable company's once vaunted X1 platform still get nice things. 

For the Paris Olympic Games, Comcast said it's rolling out a little something it calls "Enhanced 4K." USA Network, owned by the conglomerate's NBCUniversal division, will render 24/7 coverage of the Games, which will be delivered to X1 customers "at the highest bitrate" via Comcast's network, and, er, "enhanced" by Dolby Vision picture quality and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. 

Comcast also said it will deliver "ultra-low latency" that's only "seconds behind" the live hot Olympics action unfolding in and around the River Seine. 

X1 customers can access Comcast's enhanced 4K feed within X1’s Olympics destination. The destination features curated and personalized access to every minute of coverage across the networks of NBCUniversal, including NBC, USA Network, E!, CNBC, GOLF Channel, Telemundo, Universo, two new Paris Extra channels featuring 24/7 Olympics programming, as well as streaming on Peacock.  

Comcast is paying $7.65 billion so that its NBCU division can televise the Olympic Games domestically through 2032. So consumers across divisions are getting an Olympics experience. X1 Games features also include:

* Personalized experience across devices: In just a few clicks, customers can choose their favorite sports to build a custom destination. Any favorites will carry over to the Xfinity Stream app mobile app.

* Comprehensive and interactive schedule of events: X1 will feature an interactive daily schedule, giving customers one comprehensive guide of all live and upcoming events airing across NBCUniversal’s cable and broadcast networks and streaming on Peacock. Customers can filter the schedule by any of the 39 sports, tune directly to live events, set reminders, or schedule DVR recordings.

* Catch-Up Highlights: With Catch-up Highlights on X1, customers can quickly jump to top moments in recorded primetime and daytime coverage on NBC, as well as men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, and golf. 

* Venue Tours: Some of Paris’s most storied landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles and Roland-Garros will play host to Olympic events. The venue tours showcase how events such as beach volleyball, equestrian and tennis will come to life at these iconic sights.

* Xfinity Sports Zone App, Featuring Odds Zone: X1’s sports companion experience will offer customers the ability to watch one event while getting updates on others in progress. It is also where customers access Xfinity Odds Zone, a new sports betting experience that makes it easy for customers to follow live odds and initiate wagers on the DraftKings Sportsbook mobile app without taking their eyes off the main screen. For the first time, Xfinity Odds Zone will be available for select Olympics sports, including men’s and women’s basketball, soccer and golf.

“The Olympics is the best example of how Comcast can bring together its fantastic sports content, entertainment platforms, and innovative technology and connectivity offerings to deliver one-of-a-kind experiences to customers,” said Vito Forlenza, VP of sports entertainment for Comcast. “By premiering enhanced 4K during Paris 2024, fans of the Olympics will be among the first to experience this new innovation and enjoy all the live action in stunning picture and audio quality, with significantly less delay compared to anything else in the market.”

Altice USA quietly introduced its Optimum Stream device three years ago, allowing its broadband customers who don't take linear TV services a $5-a-month, Android TV-powered gadget that lets then stream Netflix, Disney Plus or whatever else is available in the Google Play Store. 

On Thursday, the New York-based cable operator announced an expansion to the Optimum Stream platform. 

First, there will be more access. Already situated in the legacy Cablevision Systems footprint of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, Optimum Stream will now be available in 1.5 million additional homes situated in Western “Suddenlink” territories including Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas.

There will also be more content.

While more than 50 free FAST channels have been available via the Optimum Stream and Suddenlink Stream apps, a new $30-a-month virtual MVPD, Entertainment TV, including more than 80 live channels is now available for the platform. 

Channels included with Entertainment TV include A&E, AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Game Show Network, Great American Family, Hallmark, HGTV, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TLC and We TV.

Entertainment TV customers will also have access to local news content from Optimum’s News 12 service, the hyperlocal news source focused on the New York tri-state area.

With the loss of another 78,000 customers in Q1, Altice USA finished March with just 2.1 million remaining pay TV souls. Like many cable operators, the company would prefer to leave linear video behind and focus on bundling internet service with its emerging Optimum Mobile products. 

“Optimum is focused on providing superior customer experiences at every touchpoint — backed by a world-class network and product set — and putting our customers at the center of everything we do. This launch demonstrates our commitment to further enhancing the Optimum TV offering and bringing customers innovative TV packages that satisfy their unique viewing habits,“ Leroy Williams, chief growth and innovation officer at Optimum, said in a statement. 

In the first of what it says will be many live sports events streamed in the Ultra High-Definition format, Sling TV will stream Tuesday night's Major League All-Star Game in 4K for free for "select" subscribers. 

The game, which will be broadcast live by Fox starting at 8 p.m. ET from Arlington, Texas, will be available in 4K to Sling Blue subscribers (and subscribers to the Sling Blue and Orange rollup tier) in 16 major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. (A full list of available markets can be found here.)

And only big-DMA-residing, Sling TV Blue-tier-subscribing users of "select" Roku and Amazon Fire TV OTT devices will be able to access Sling TV's 4K coverage. (That list is available here.)

So yeah, 4K on Sling TV is a little limited to start, but it's a move in the right direction.

Sling TV said it will present other upcoming live sports events in 4K, including NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics on USA Network, as well as college and pro football games on FS1, ESPN and other networks. 

Sling TV lost 135,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year and dropped below 2 million customers. Leading virtual MVPD competitors YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV already offer limited 4K support. 

“With live sports now in 4K, we’re upping our game and giving fans front-row seats to every thrilling moment. Get ready to see your favorite sports like never before, with crystal-clear action that brings you right into the heart of the play," said Seth Van Sickel, senior VP of product and operations for Sling Video Services.

Sales of Apple’s pricey Vision Pro won’t reach 500,000 in its first year and will likely finish the ongoing third quarter with a 75% sequential drop, according to market intelligence firm IDC. 

Also read: While More Than Half of Americans Are Interested in Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro, 76% Say They Have No Intention of Buying One

IDC also said that the mixed reality rig has yet to reach 100,000 unit sales in a quarter. 

The Apple Vision Pro debuted in the U.S. back on February 2 with a $3,500 price tag and an aggressive TV marketing campaign that ran in heavy rotation during the NFL postseason. 

The Apple Vision Pro is set to debut Friday (July 12) in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France and Germany. But domestically, it has struggled to seed demand, even with Apple structuring a zero-interest payment plan for consumers. 

IDC believes a more affordable version of the Apple Vision Pro — due out next year, reportedly with a price tag that’s half that of the current version — could spark sales. 

But a lack of available content might be limiting demand as much as the price point. 

“The Vision Pro’s success, regardless of its price, will ultimately depend on the available content,” said Francisco Jeronimo, VP at IDC, in a statement. “As Apple expands the product to international markets, it’s crucial that local content is also made available.”

Mediacom told the FCC it will meet the deadline to "rip and replace" equipment supplied by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE by its July 15 deadline. 

"To date, 100% of the program has been completed across the areas of removal and replacement, and 99% of equipment has received disposal certification," the New York-based cable operator said in a filing to the FCC Monday. 

Established by Congress in 2019 to weed out Chinese telecommunications gear that could be used for espionage, the "Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act" has suffered from significant underfunding. In May, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel sent a letter to Congress, informing lawmakers that the project has only received $1.9 billion so far, but needs closer to $5 billion to complete. 

A report compiled by the FCC and sent to Congress last week said only 14 telecom companies have completed their ripping and replacing of Huawei and ZTE gear. Nine of these companies, including Mediacom, took advantage of a six-month deadline extension rendered back in January. 

Rosenworcel told Congress that 40% of broadband providers can't afford to get rid of the Huawei and ZTE gear, which was deemed a national security risk in 2020.

The FCC has prioritized smaller ISPs "with 2 million or fewer customers,” which are often based in rural areas. And with these smaller companies, the FCC has been forced to prorate the funds, providing only 39.5% of the "reasonable costs" to replace the affected equipment. 

For its part, Mediacom asked for $86 million to lift its end of the couch and only received $36 million, according to Policyband's Ted Hearn. 

The incentive for ISPs, especially rurally situated ones, to comply is real. Failure to replace the Chinese gear would restrict ISPs from participating in the FCC's $8.1 billion Universal Service Fund subsidy program. 

Comcast said the University of Notre Dame has become the first collegiate organization to participate in the Comcast NBCU Sports Tech accelerator program.

As part of the group, experts from Notre Dame’s athletics department will participate in the accelerator, mentoring and working with sports-business startups in which Comcast has made an investment.

“We are excited to join Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech, bringing together and further enhancing our historic collaboration with NBC Sports and the University’s commitment to innovative athletics,” Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said.

“Being part of this program will continue to help us to identify and implement new technologies and ways of thinking that can elevate the sports experience for our University, our athletes, and our fans,” said Bevaqua, who was previously chairman of NBC Sports.

NBC Sports has had a long relationship with Notre Dame, including exclusively televising Fighting Irish home football games since 1991.

“Notre Dame adds a unique innovation champion to Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech’s distinguished partner roster,” said Will McIntosh, President, Fandango & NBC Sports Next, a subdivision of NBC Sports and home to all NBCUniversal digital applications in sports and technology.

“As the program’s first collegiate adviser, Notre Dame offers new opportunities, access, and insight for startups,” McIntosh said. “Additionally, through our broadcast rights, NBC Sports and Notre Dame have a rich tradition of collaborating on ways of enriching fan experiences, further aligning to one of SportsTech’s core pillars.”

Starting with SportsTech’s fifth class, which will begin in 2025, selected companies will have an opportunity to explore collaborations and engage directly with experts and leaders from Notre Dame and the network of businesses with which it works.

Over the course of six months, Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech connects founders with partners with an eye toward developing strategic collaborations and enhancing companies’ products and services.

Notre Dame joins Comcast’s NBC Sports, Sky Sports and Comcast Spectacor as well as NASCAR, the English Premier League, the PGA Tour and three U.S. Olympic sports organizations, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming and USA Cycling, as part of the Comcast NBCU Sports Tech program.

Access Advance, the patent pool behind the HEVC video compression standard, is suing Roku, which it says continues to use its technology in streaming products without paying tribute. 

"Despite long-term efforts by Advance to resolve patent infringements in good faith, Roku remains unwilling to voluntarily legalize its sales of HEVC capable products," the patent pool representing 43 licensors and 23,000 patents covering around 80% of all HEVC tech patents, said in a statement. 

"In response, Advance licensors have chosen to begin enforcement actions to facilitate a level playing field for the pool’s existing licensees. As part of their infringement suits, the pool licensors are seeking payment of past royalties from Roku and an injunction against continuing infringement," the group added. 

Also known as H.265 or MPEG-H Part 2, HEVC is a crucial compression standard for 4K streaming, significantly reducing the required bitrate.

The Roku suit follows similar legal action earlier this year against HP Inc. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

The pool said it's attracted over 320 licensees, including Dell, Google, LG, Microsoft, OPPO, Huawei, Panasonic, Sony, and Lenovo.

More than a decade into the mainstream adoption of video streaming, the operating software platform consumers use to watch their movies and shows is still a commodity-driven decision based primarily on the TV they're buying.

This is according to Rob Caruso, director of product management for UX at Google TV, who spoke on a panel at Questex's amply attended StreamTV Show in Denver last week. (Questex pub StreamTV Insider covered the event.)

“I don’t think consumers care about the OS,” Caruso said. “I think for the most part, what still drives TV purchasing … is size and price.”

Like Roku, Samsung, Amazon and numerous other technology companies, Google is trying to control the "gateway" experience to the global living room with a TVOS platform that offers simpler, more elegant search and discovery, greater app support, more FAST channels and other features. 

But the consumer decision, according to Caruso, is still driven by TV price and display size. Good to know!

Action-packed, Pee-wee!

NCTA – The Internet & Television Association has produced a 20-minute documentary showcasing the challenges and perils cable crews face as they lay fiber in rural America. 

In the doc, Every Last Mile: The Untold Story of Connecting Rural America, a Mediacom crew races against time and weather in frigid conditions to lay fiber in Lakewood Township, Minn, a community near Duluth with a population of around 2,000 people and an average annual snowfall of about 86 inches. 

In Congress, Arizona, a Cox Communications crew faces extreme heat of up to 115 degrees, as well as challenging rock topography, as it tries to deliver high-speed internet for the first time to a seminal gold rush community. 

And far north, in King Cove, Alaska, a community of 800 residents on the Aleutian Peninsula located 497 miles southwest of mainland Alaska, GCI crews struggle to avoid underground utilities which have locations that have not been precisely recorded. 

“The film is being used to highlight both the importance and challenges of connecting every community to modern internet service,“ NCTA communications chief Brian Dietz told us Thursday. “We all know about the importance of reliable internet and how high-speed internet changes the lives of people, but we don’t often focus enough on the hard work required on the ground to bring this critical infrastructure to rural and remote communities that are still waiting to be connected. This docufilm captures that story.”

Comcast said Thursday that it has integrated support for the Fubo app into Xumo Stream Box and Xumo TVs, as well as Xfinity Flex. 

With the inclusion, users download the Fubo app to Xumo and Flex. And if they're a subscriber to one or more of these respective services,  they'll have voice control access to the four largest virtual MVPDs, with YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV already supported by Xumo Stream Box, Xumo TV and Flex. 

These devices also come pre-installed with FAST services Xumo Play, Tubi and Pluto TV. 

Fubo, which ended March with just over 1.5 million subscribers, markets itself heavily on live sports access. 

Comcast, meanwhile, launched Xumo as a joint venture with Charter Communications two years ago, attempting to establish a gateway OS presence in living rooms increasingly dominated by TV operating systems created by Roku, Samsung, Amazon and Google.

Also Read: Xumo TV: Everything You Need to Know About the Comcast and Charter Streaming OS Joint Venture

Like Flex, Comcast is now giving the HDMI-connectable Xumo Stream Box OTT device for free to its broadband-only customers. The "Comcast Entertainment OS" also powers Xumo TV-branded smart TVs made by manufacturers including Hisense and sold at stores including Walmart. 

“For many consumers, one of the first things they look for in a streaming service is whether it provides access to their favorite sports,” said John Dixon, senior VP of entertainment for Comcast, in a statement. “With a huge collection of sports-focused channels ranging from local broadcast to national networks covering the biggest and smallest of sports, Fubo is a great addition to the growing catalog of streaming options available on our platforms.”

Added Isaac Josephson, senior VP of product management for Fubo: “Live sports is best enjoyed on the big screen — in fact, 95% of Fubo viewers are watching their favorite content on connected and smart televisions.” 

The move certainly won't help improve cord-cutting metrics for Comcast's Xfinity-branded linear video services, which lost more than 2 million customers last year.

Also read: Minnesota Senator Urges Comcast to ‘Return to the Negotiation Table’ With Diamond Sports Group

Fubo, for example, carries Bally Sports channels, regional sports networks that have been blacked out on Comcast pay TV services since late-April. Certainly, fans of the Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins and other Major League Baseball teams affected by this pay TV renewal impasse can simply call Comcast, ditch Xfinity X1, have the cable company send them a free Xumo Stream Box for their remaining ISP subscription, then sign up for Fubo. 

Fubo delivers a base tier of 195 channels, including many RSNs, for $80. By the time fees are factored in, it’s not a cheap “skinny” vMVPD bundle, but it’s certainly less expensive than Full Monty Comcast cable TV service, all sub fees and other gouges considered. 

T-Mobile remains the wireless provider with the fastest median 5G internet download speed in the U.S., according to a new report published by Ookla. 

The research company's latest “5G in the U.S.” study found T-Mobile had a peak median download speed on its 5G network of 287.14 megabits per second (Mbps) before a slight drop-off in April and May. 

Verizon similarly peaked in March at 224.67 before dipping. 

As Ookla also notes, Verizon is gaining ground on T-Mobile, even surpassing in in median upload speed. 

Last week, the Advertising Research Federation released more new figures, suggesting that 6% of U.S. households watch video exclusively on mobile devices, a tally that increased by 1 million homes since 2022, the group said. 

Notabaly, according to Ookla, both T-Mobile and Verizon have improved their experience for video and gaming over 5G since last year. 

Ookla lead industry analyst Mark Giles noted: “5G performance in the United States continues to improve as more midband spectrum becomes available. In March, T-Mobile gained access to additional 2.5 GHz spectrum it won at auction 108 in 2022, and we’re already beginning to see the impact of this, adding extra capacity to its 5G network and boosting performance in rural U.S. locations in particular. In just one month, T-Mobile’s median download performance across the U.S. increased by 29.64 Mbps.”

The overall 5G experience does vary state to state, Ookla also said. 

Future has released the Best of Show Awards Guide for the 2024 NAB Show. This guide takes you on a tour of new products for TV, video, streaming, film, radio, audio and pro AV professionals introduced at the April event. 

This digital guide features all the nominees and winners and offers an excellent sample of new technology on the market today. 

A number of Future B2B publications participated in the awards program including Broadcasting+Cable, Next TV, TV Tech, TVBEurope, Radio World, Sound & Video Contractor, Mix and ITPro.

To read the guide e-book, click the image above or access it here. 

For some users of Roku-powered TCL smart TVs, it’s a nightmare moment from, well, a soap opera.

With the recent upgrade to Roku OS version 13, some of these users are complaining on Reddit and in Roku’s community forum that the motion-smoothing feature on their sets, which Roku calls “Action Smoothing,” is stuck on, with no way to turn it off. 

TCL has action smoothing out of the blue from r/Roku

Users complain that there’s now no way on their TCL sets to turn Action Smoothing off, either in general settings, or during the streaming of content with picture settings. 

Roku has responded in the online forums that it's looking into the issue. And as The Verge noted, not all users of TCL Roku sets are affected. (Our 55-inch TCL was just upgraded to version 13 and Action Smoothing wasn't enabled.)

“Video interpolation,” aka “motion smoothing,” is a widely available feature in smart TVs intended to smooth out fast-unfolding, potentially blurry action sequences in sports and various other action-oriented programming by adding extra frames to the video.

Different TV brands call motion smoothing different things. LG, for instance, calls it TrueMotion, while Sony refers to as Motionflow.

Call it whatever you like, but many consumers absolutely detest motion smoothing because of the hyper-realistic “soap-opera effect” it creates for most video content.

It's enough of a societal issue that Tom Cruise even posted a PSA on it back in late 2018.

Samsung's Tizen has maintained its crown as the most distributed smart TV operating system globally, but Hisense upstart OS VIDAA is closing fast. 

According to data recently published by the Connected TV Marketing Association (CTVMA), which said in a blog post that it just started tracking "the number of CTV devices in global households by country and device brand," Samsung Tizen will control about 12.8% of the 120 million smart TV's the trade group predicts will be sold in 2024. 

Tizen has long been the world's dominant TVOS, but the No. streaming software gateway,  Hisense's VIDAA, is a relative newcomer ... that's seems to be coming pretty fast. 

Also read: Hisense and Its ‘Preferred Smart TV OS,’ VIDAA, Infiltrate the U.S. With Super-Cheap Models

VIDAA, the Atlanta-based upstart TVOS launched in 2019 by Qingdao, China-headquartered Hisense Group and other investors as the "preferred smart TV OS" for Hisense global TV brands including Toshiba, controls 7.8% of the market, CTVMA said. 

That's followed by LG's webOS (7.4%), Roku (6.4%), Amazon Fire TV (6.4%), Google TV/Android TV (5.9%) and Vizio SmartCast (5.8%), the latter now controlled by Walmart.

Xperi's TiVo OS, which just hit store shelves this past year with the introduction of Vestel TV's across Europe, already controls 2.3% of the market. 

Notably, CTVMA found that 38% of smart TVs are controlled by "other" software operating systems, including unlicensed OS products. 

The CTVMA says it bases its rankings on "comprehensive glass-level data from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and operating systems (OS)."

The aforementioned rankings don't include OS share derived from third-party HDMI dongles. 

B+C and Next TV have announced the winners of the Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show. Products were judged by a panel of industry experts at April’s convention based on innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and overall performance. 

Also Read: Learn About All the NAB Best of Show Winners in the 2024 Guidebook

The Best of Show Awards, from B+C, Next TV, TV Tech and other Future B2B brands, were chosen from companies that exhibited at NAB Show and submitted nominations.

Here are edited excerpts from product descriptions furnished by the winning entrants. 

Broadcasting+Cable

Dina, part of Fonn Group
Dina

Dina is a cloud newsroom system that enables digital-first workflows and facilitates story creation, planning and publishing across multiple platforms. It integrates with technologies such as LiveU and Mimir, providing immediate media access. The system also includes a mobile application, Dina Mobile, ensuring seamless integration with the newsroom and flexibility for journalists on the move.

ROXi
ROXi FastStream

ROXi’s new interactive TV platform, FastStream, makes broadcast TV channels on NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) fully interactive with no need for users to download or launch a TV app. FastStream-powered TV channels benefit from the instant accessibility of a broadcast TV channel but with the full interactivity and functionality of an app. Many analysts believe FastStream will make broadcast TV relevant to younger customers who expect to be able to pause or skip any segment, TikTok-style.

Sony Electronics
HXC-FZ90 Studio Camera System

Sony’s flexible new HXC-FZ90 Studio Camera System combines 4K image quality with seamless integration and streamlined live workflows. Ready for today’s live productions, the HXC-FZ90 supports HD HDR out of the box and has an easy path to accommodate those looking towards a 4K (HDR) future. For ultimate flexibility, 4K capability on the HXC-FZ90 is available as a weekly, monthly or permanent license.

AMD 
AMD Alveo MA35D Advanced Media Accelerator

The Alveo MA35D media accelerator is designed to support up to 32 times 1080p60 streams, ensuring high channel density and superior video quality at ultra-low latency. The accelerator’s optimized architecture helps reduce rack space, network bandwidth and power consumption, making it an efficient solution for infrastructure and content providers to scale cost-effectively while delivering an optimal experience quality.

MEDIAGENIX
MEDIAGENIX FAST Scheduling Artist

Mediagenix FAST Scheduling Artist enables broadcasters to launch FAST channels at the click of a button. Automatically generated schedules include commercial ad breaks, promo intervals and specific channel branding. Mediagenix’s intuitive FAST cockpit allows real-time monitoring with operational metrics such as the amount of times content has been aired, the status of material and rights clearances. Its FAST algorithm ensures the most-suitable content is scheduled. 

TAG Video Systems
TAG Language Detection

TAG Language Detection streamlines caption monitoring, significantly reducing the need for operator intervention. Integrated within TAG’s existing comprehensive caption monitoring suite, Language Detection automatically identifies subtitle language and precisely analyzes quality as defined by the language-specific dictionary. The feature also reduces the risk of human error and helps ensure captions adhere to compliance regulations.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Workflow Monitor for AWS Media Services and CloudFront

In just a few clicks, the AWS workflow monitor can discover the resources associated with a media workflow. Discovery can begin at any supported service, including AWS Elemental MediaConnect, MediaLive and MediaPackage, and the workflow monitor will create an end-to-end signal map. A customer can view all video workflows on a single page and filter for specific ones based on name or status. They can also view which resources are in use and their status, which can be updated every second. 

Next TV

Ross Video
Media I/O UX 

Media I/O redefines the live capture and playout landscape by offering support for a myriad of input sources, workflows, codecs and formats. It facilitates instant access to live ingest content, seamlessly integrating with post-production, media asset management and delivery workflows. Its unique capability to support edit-while-ingest processes fast-tracks production for both logging and editing workflows, enabling creators to harness the speed of live production without compromising on quality or flexibility. 

Vimond
VIA App Builder

VIA App Builder is designed to simplify the creation and management of front-end video streaming applications. It accelerates the development process by offering dynamic building capabilities and seamless CMS integration, courtesy of its connection to the Vimond VIA platform. It enables creators and broadcasters to swiftly launch their streaming services, reducing the focus on technical complexities and allowing more time for content creation.

Cleeng
Cleeng’s Subscriber Retention Management (SRM) 

Cleeng’s SRM suite helps service providers manage subscribers, keep them engaged to increase their lifetime value and introduce new monetization techniques with actionable insights throughout the subscriber journey. Customers using Cleeng’s full SRM product suite typically lower their churn rate by 30% in three months, increase revenues by 15% by adopting tailored pricing and upselling strategies and retain 25% of at-risk customers through AI churn prediction.

ThinkAnalytics
ThinkFAST

ThinkFAST seamlessly transforms existing content libraries into captivating FAST channels tailored to diverse audience preferences, significantly reducing the time and costs associated with manual curation and scheduling. It leverages advanced content-understanding techniques and first-party viewing data to optimize channel schedules, driving engagement and increasing advertising revenues. Powered by AI algorithms, it offers real-time recommendations across extensive content catalogs. 

MEDIAGENIX
MEDIAGENIX Ratings Artist 

MEDIAGENIX Ratings Artist leverages machine learning models trained on historical ratings data enriched with content and context metadata to predict TV ratings for all content types, with dedicated predictions per target demographic. To effectively manage time constraints, Ratings Artist generates intelligent predictions automatically based on new actuals and schedule changes. It adapts to the unique characteristics of each target demographic using a machine learning model, resulting in a 70% FTE enablement. 

Evergent
Evergent Captivate Product Suite 

The Evergent Captivate Product Suite offers a comprehensive toolkit to proactively anticipate and combat all forms of churn. The suite comprises Captivate Flow, Captivate Smart, Captivate Proact and Captivate Essentials, each designed to target specific aspects of churn through AI-powered technology and data-driven insight. Captivate Smart’s payment recovery engine has increased the industry recovery standard from 59% to 70%. 

Zixi
Live Event Manager: ZEN Master 

ZEN Master serves as the central hub for managing configurations and monitoring activities across the Zixi Enabled Network, including Zixi’s live-streaming platform and related devices. This software significantly reduces operational costs while enhancing production efficiency for media entities. Tailored for the complexities of remote live event workflows, ZEN Master offers powerful event scheduling capabilities, dynamic resource provisioning and real-time performance analysis. 

TMT Insights
Polaris Operational Management Platform 

Polaris is the result of over a decade spent researching, architecting and deploying digital media supply chains. The platform accesses all necessary tools and data — within a single pane of glass — to manage disparate systems across end-to-end media supply chains. This cloud-native and tech provider-agnostic platform is hosted within the customer’s cloud environment. It securely organizes and monitors fulfillment data from various integrated systems; surfaces actionable insights in one view within a customizable, intuitive UI; and provides granular control over specific tasks and jobs, both manual and automated. 

INSP, a family friendly and Western-content focused cable network, has elevated a pair of technology executives, tapping John Rouda as executive VP of technology and Eric Edwards as VP, media logistics.

Rouda, who joined the Indian Land, South Carolina-based cable programmer in 2016, most recently was its VP, technology. He holds more than 25 years of experience in such areas as software engineering, DevOps, infrastructure and cybersecurity. In addition to his professional duties, he teaches part-time at Winthrop University and hosts the podcast A Geek Leader, where he interviews guests and shares book reviews and concepts with an eye toward mentoring future tech leaders. 

“John possesses an ability to simplify complex challenges and create profitable, sustainable outcomes,” INSP CEO David Cerullo said in a statement. “He has developed a highly motivated and culturally diverse team of skilled technical professionals that keep our network operations adaptable, efficient and secure.”

Edwards, who’ll report to Rouda in his new role, joined INSP in 2018 after six years at NBCUniversal. As senior director of media operations, he has introduced to the network updated media workflows and design in areas such as postproduction, mastering, digital restoration and digital distribution. He started his career in postproduction and distribution of independent feature films. 

“Eric is a seasoned media professional whose entertainment experience and skillset has been invaluable to the technology team,” Rouda said in a statement. “He is an expert at automation, integration, and operational enhancement. His design and execution of large-scale initiatives has played a pivotal role in content distribution to FAST, linear and OTT digital channels. We are fortunate to have Eric’s incredible talent and kind demeanor leading multiple INSP initiatives.”

INSP says it is available in some 47 million homes, offering a lineup that includes original series, Westerns, action-oriented dramas and films that feature adventure and heroic characters. 

A report published Monday by S&P Global Ratings suggests that the revenue lost for cable operators from customers opting for fixed wireless access (FWA) services is greater than the gains generated from new "junior cable" mobile services.

Amid this dynamic “wireless convergence” marketplace, S&P analyst Chris Mooney said Charter Communications and Comcast are “better positioned than other cable providers” dabbling in mobile, primarily because of their respective wholesale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreements with Verizon. 

These MVNO deals date back to a 2011 spectrum sale, in which Comcast, along with the erstwhile Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, sold wireless spectrum to Verizon for $3.6 billion and wholesale use of its network in perpetuity.

Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile and Charter’s Spectrum Mobile have the ability to limit how much their customers use the Verizon network and can better control costs and margins because of that. Both cable operators have robust WiFi coverage in urban areas and can offload wireless traffic accordingly. Because the two companies must pay variable fees to Verizon under the perpetual wholesale agreement, the more data they offload onto their own networks, the less expensive the MVNO costs are.

In fact, Charter says it offloads 88% of mobile traffic onto WiFi, with Comcast even higher, at around 90% of traffic.

As Comcast and Charter develop more cost-effective ways to offload mobile traffic, their margins on mobile could eventually swell to sky-high levels, equity analyst Craig Moffett noted in his own report last November. Mooney agrees.

But smaller cable operators, Mooney said, lack the resources to develop similarly competitive wireless services.

Also Read: Charter and Comcast Rout FWA in OpenSignal’s Latest ‘Fixed Broadband Experience Report’

That could be a problem, considering wireless operators like Verizon and T-Mobile have collectively amassed more than 8 million FWA customers in the U.S. in just the past couple of years. These fixed 5G wireless home internet plans are typically cheaper than cable internet. 

Also Read: Charter CEO Chris Winfrey Dismisses FWA as ‘Cellphone Internet’

Smaller MSOs are responding to the lost wireline broadband market share and revenue by trying to turn the tables and encroach on wireless’s core business. But Mooney suggested that, given their inferior MVNO economics, the “modest” margins available to them on the wireless side won't match their lost home broadband profitability.

Meanwhile, if Comcast and Charter focus on expanding their traffic offload and scale of coverage, Mooney believes that both cable giants could generate EBITDA margins as much as 15% to 20% in the next four years.

Charter’s aggressive, volume-focused strategy focuses on low-price promotions, which helps attract and create a “stickier consumer,” according to S&P.

Comcast, however, has favored a strategy focused on profitability and conservative pricing over low-price promotions, and that’s likely to generate more immediate profit and EBITDA growth, S&P said.

Netflix has sent emails to customers using older Apple TV devices that app support for second- and third-generation Apple TV models, those introduced between 2010 - 2013, will end on July 31. 

Netflix is also noting this sunsetting on its Apple TV support page. 

Of course, computational devices become obsolete all the time due to the natural evolution of the software that runs on them. Apple itself even stops supporting its gadgets with operating system upgrades after seven years. 

This particular obsolescence is notable, however, because these Apple TV devices were so groundbreaking.

Introduced in September 2010, the second generation, 720p-resolution-capable Apple TV was one of the first streaming devices to use 8 gigabytes of flash storage instead of an internal hard drive -- a configuration that became universal among streaming gadgets. It also used Apple's A4 chip instead of an Intel x86 processor. 

In conjunction with the Gen-2 release, Apple also renamed AirTunes as "AirPlay," supporting streaming video from iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. 

The 1080p-capable third-generation Apple TV, which arrived in March 2012, was identical in outward appearance to the second-generation model, but included an upgraded A5 processor, as well as support for remote access via HomeKit devices. 

Both were priced at a $150 MSRP at introduction. And both will soon be bricked by the world's biggest subscription streaming service. 

CommScope has won the auction for bankrupt rival tech vendor Casa System's cable network assets with a surprisingly robust $45.1 million bid. 

That winning number was more than twice the $20 million “stalking horse” bid rendered back in early April by Canadian software company Vecima Networks, which moved in shortly after Casa Systems filed bankruptcy. 

Vecima, which had hoped Casa’s assets would accelerate its quest to run down Harmonic in the race for cable network virtualization, said it has assumed the role of backup bidder, with a bid of $44.95 million.

The sale of Casa’s cable tech business is part of a supervised, piece-by-piece bankruptcy court auction that has also seen Andover, Massachusetts-based Casa’s 5G mobile core and RAN assets sold to Lumine for $32.25 million, and Dallas-based DZS pay $7 million to buy NetComm, provider of fiber extension, fixed wireless access, home broadband and industrial Internet of Things products and patents.  

As for Hickory, North Carolina-based CommScope, it has battled its own debt demons in the aftermath of its $7.4 billion purchase of cable tech vendor Arris. 

However, extending itself further brings CommScope customer relationships with Casa client operators including Liberty Global, J:COM, Vodafone, and Canada's Rogers Communications and Vidéotron. 

“As a leader in the cable industry, we are quite pleased by the opportunity to acquire Casa’s cloud-native network solutions,” CommScope CEO Chuck Treadway said in a statement. “Adding Casa’s technology to our portfolio will allow us to provide a seamless transition for our combined customer base that utilizes both integrated and virtual CMTS products. This transaction provides stability to Casa’s customers while allowing CommScope to further grow our customer base as we enable customers to migrate to Distributed Access Architecture solutions on their own timeline.”

For its part, Vecima said: “the auction was a competitive daylong process that consisted of multiple rounds of bidding by Vecima and several other interested parties. Vecima conducted extensive due diligence prior to the auction and, based on those insights, made the decision at the end of the auction not to increase its bid any further when the proposed price was no longer reasonably supported by Vecima’s valuation of the assets.”

As upstart fixed wireless access services launched several years ago by T-Mobile and Verizon undercut them on price, robbed them of market share and ended their customer growth expansion, top cable executives adopted a “what, me worry?” posture. 

Over time, they argued, 5G wireless won't have the capacity to keep up with the speed and quality demanded by consumers for 4K video streaming and other data-intensive tasks now conducted regularly in the American home. 

OpenSignal’s latest Fixed Broadband Experience report, which analyzes key home internet qualitative factors for the five largest home-internet providers in America, may have just proven them right. 

Drawn from a national sample, the report is, frankly, a little janky, as Verizon and AT&T’s metrics are culled from an odd mix of fast, reliable fiber-to-the-home internet, and lesser 4G FWA and legacy digital subscriber line (DSL) delivery platforms. OpenSignal apparently just lumps them all into their national sample with equal weight. (You can read about the research company's methodology in the report.)

More telling is the relationship between Comcast’s Xfinity brand and Charter’s Spectrum Internet services versus T-Mobile, which only offers one home broadband flavor — FWA. Both cable broadband providers offer significantly faster home broadband connections, on both the downstream and upstream side, compared to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. 

The same was true for both the quality of internet connection and, more specifically to streaming consumers, the quality of video connection. 

It turns out Panasonic is the Japanese company Xperi was referring to last week when during its first quarter earnings report it referenced a sixth smart TV OEM partner for its TiVo operating system. 

Also read: TiVo's Long Smart TV OS Slog Marches on, Adds Japanese OEM, Targets 2 Million Active TVs by EOY

Introducing its 2024 smart TV product line this week at an event in Düsseldorf, Germany, Panasonic unveiled a mid-range and several entry-level smart TV model lines that use Xperi's TiVo-branded TVOS. 

San Jose, Calif.-based Xperi is a leader in car audio tech. But after purchasing TiVo in late 2019 for $3 billion, the company has set its sites on running down the world's great smart TV OS platforms with an alternative it claims is more cost-effective for set makers who aren't the size of Samsung or LG. 

Osaka-based Panasonic, meanwhile, still develops its TVs in Japan, but relies on a double-top-secret manufacturing partner to build its sets. The company has a reconfigured smart TV product line that includes high-end Z95A models loaded with Amazon Fire TV, while its mid-range W70A model sets run on Google TV.

Panasonic now has a third OS option, TiVo, which it's adding to its W60A lower midrange strata, which come in 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch configurations and support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, but lack the actual hardware to pull it off.

TiVo will also power Panasonic's S40A and S45A models, which are HD only and come in 24-, 32 and 40-inch iterations. 

The TV's will hit the shelves of European retailers later this year, joining models powered by Samsung's Tizan, LG's webOS, Google TV and Amazon Fire TV. 

So yeah, Xperi seems to be doing what Roku CEO Anthony Wood said a year ago was impossible -- enter the smart TV OS business at this stage of the game and build scale. 

Also read: Roku CEO Dismisses TiVo TVOS Threat: 'It's Hard to Imagine They Could Gain the Necessary Scale'

Vestel, one of Europe's largest TV suppliers, started Europ shipment of "powered-by-TiVo" sets earlier this year. And Western Euro retailer Argos is now selling TiVo-powered sets made by Sharp under its "Bush" house brand. 

As TiVo moves closer to establishing a beachhead in the gateway streaming OS business in Europe, Xperi said there are still plans to deploy the operating platform in North America later in 2024. 

The company is aiming to have 2 million active TiVo-powered TVs by the end of the year. 

After some ups and downs in 2023, activity in the first five months of 2024 markedly accelerated for ATSC 3.0, the terrestrial broadcast system standard created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, also known as “NextGen TV.” 

There’s been further proliferation.

By early February, for example, TV stations in Chicago, including CBS-owned WBBM, Fox’s WFLD and NBC’s WMAQ, had all adopted the ATSC 3.0 standard, which aims to provide higher-quality audio and video, better compression efficiency, and more robust transmission for mobile and fixed devices. 

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Texas, a second wave of five TV stations, including Graham Media Group-owed KSAT, went online with ATSC 3.0 following adoption by KMYS and other local outlets last year. 

There has been further product refinement. 

In Detroit, where NextGen TV has been deployed for more than three years, broadcasters have been using the market as a laboratory, testing features and getting ready for when more viewers are paying attention. 

“There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg phenomenon going on,” Michael Newman, director of transformation at Graham Media Group, owner of WDIV Detroit, told B+C Multichannel News back in early April. “We need to demonstrate the value of this next-generation television broadcast system.” 

During the second quarter of 2024, the Scripps stations in Detroit plan to enable “start over” and “pause” functionality, giving over-the-air viewers a feature that cable viewers and streamers take for granted. The features also create new advertising inventory for the stations to sell.

“We continue to search for the killer app that will be the motivating factor,” added Kerry Oslund, VP of strategy and business development at E.W. Scripps, which owns WXYZ-WMYD Detroit.

And there’s been technology innovation. 

ATSC 3.0 activity was punctuated at NAB 2024, where major stations owners introduced new interactivity features, hoping to convince TikTok-focused younger consumers to buy NextGen TV sets. 

This kind of interactivity is being enabled by the Fast Stream technology being brought to the U.S. by Roxi. At CES in January, Roxi announced plans to launch an interactive music service using ATSC 3.0 on Sinclair stations. At NAB 2024, Roxi said it's working not only with Sinclair, but with all of the members of the Pearl TV group promoting NextGen TV. Those companies include Gray Television, Nexstar Media Group, Hearst Television, Tegna and E.W. Scripps.

Fast Stream will be used by stations to launch dozens of national channels and hundreds of local news channels this summer, Roxi CEO Rob Lewis told Broadcasting+Cable.

“All of the major broadcasters have the same problem of an aging viewership base and not having younger customers interested in broadcast TV,” Lewis said.

Also at NAB, NBCUniversal said it is using NextGen TV technology to launch personalized experiences for broadcast viewers on six of its owned stations in four markets, starting Monday.

The technology is designed to create added engagement with viewers, advanced advertising opportunities and enhanced measurement of viewing.

In the four markets, NBC and Telemundo station viewers with NextGen sets and antennas will be able to go back to the beginning of shows, pause what they’re watching and select from a variety of content, including hyper-local weather forecasts.

The initial six stations are WNBC (NBC) and WNJU (Telemundo) New York, KNBC Los Angeles, WCAU in Philadelphia and WTVJ (NBC) and WSCV (Telemundo) Miami.

Also in January at CES, one of the largest smart TV makers in the world, TCL, announced that it will include the ATSC 3.0 tuners in Google TV-powered “S Series” and “Q Series” TVs.

Challenges … and Opportunities

All of this activity followed a 2023 that was perhaps the most challenging year for the ATSC 3.0 standard, with LG’s decision last fall to stop including ASTC 3.0 tuners in future OLED smart TV sets after the company lost a relatively small patent case against Maryland-based tech company Constellation Designs.

ATSC president Madeleine Noland even reminded members of the standards body that “every technology transition has its challenges.”

Constellation was awarded $1.68 million in damages associated with its ATSC 3.0 patents and LG reported that the required royalty payments going forward would drive up the cost for including a ATSC 3.0 tuner in each set from $3 to $6.75. NextGen sets generally start at about $599.

In a letter to the FCC, LG said, “This decision was not made lightly, because LG has been a vocal ATSC 3.0 advocate, a strong supporter of local broadcasters and a leading developer of television products with the latest NextGen TV technologies.”

In fact, LG Electronics made a big splash at CES 2020 as one of the first TV makers to integrate ATSC 3.0 tuners into its sets. 

LG complained about “companies like Constellation Designs that are not participating in the main patent pools for ATSC 3.0 technology,” saying they’re not committed to licensing their IP on “reasonable and nondiscriminatory” (RAND) terms.

LG left the door open for reintegrating the tuners in future lines, so perhaps they were just making a stand on the principle of the matter. But it’s safe to assume that a company of that size wouldn’t just abandon a wildly popular consumer electronics product line in the run-up to Christmas if it were a profitable business, especially over such a small cost increase. 

The news sparked a flurry of speculation about other TV manufacturers. Our sibling publication TechRadar wondered if Samsung and Sony might end up dropping ATSC 3.0 tuners from their products, as well. 

As January's TCL announcement revealed, a mass defection never transpired. 

But it is also worth noting that in August of 2023, Scripps rolled out the latest edition of the Tablo OTA DVR, after quietly acquiring Ottawa-based manufacturer Nuvyyo, it was assumed that since Scripps is primarily a broadcaster, the latest model would offer an ATSC 3.0 tuner, but alas, it did not, not even as an optional add-on. 

Next TV caught up with Nuvyyo founder and CEO Grant Hall, who was still calling the shots under the new ownership to ask about the decision to leave out an ATSC 3.0 tuner.

“We started this development a little while ago,“ Hall explained. “Back then, ATSC 3.0 was evolving as well, in the earlier stages. And it wasn't quite ready to, you know, for us to bet the farm and to include it into the very first product.” 

He added, “We do have ATSC 3.0 on the road map, and we’re actively working on products with that technology.”

TV Sets

Pearl TV, the industry association that has been orchestrating the U.S. NextGen TV rollout, estimated that by the end of 2023, NextGen TV signals will “reach” 75% of U.S. television households in more than 70 markets. 

But how many TV sets and/or standalone tuners are actually watching? More importantly, how much overlap is there between the OTA market and the target demographic for brand-new 4K UHD TV sets with a built-in tuner?

Pearl TV predicted that more than 10 million NextGen TV-capable devices will have shipped by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the CTA estimated that about 5 million NextGen TV sets would ship in 2023 alone, representing 12% of all TV shipments and that the percentage will reach 50% by 2025. 

There are now approximately 75 models available at retail, at a starting price point between $600 and $700. 

On a global scale, so far only South Korea, Jamaica and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago have officially adopted the platform, with other countries still evaluating their options.

The Promise

ATSC 3.0 is designed to deliver stunning 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) video with movie-theater-quality sound and added voice clarity with Dolby’s Voice Plus.

It allows for two-way interactivity, both over the air and in tandem with internet connections, opening a broad range of possibilities for broadcasters. That includes enhanced internet content on demand, data delivery to cars and mobile video, expanded hyperlocal news, dual-language support and addressable advertising, as well as advanced emergency alerts and information. 

There’s also the promise of 8K OTA signals in the future. 

In 2022, Pearl TV introduced a key component for the platform, Run3TV, which acts as an application development platform for broadcasters. 

“An industry first, Run3TV gives broadcasters the ability to leverage the new ATSC 3.0 A/344 Interactive Content broadcast standard to create television applications that enhance over-the-air viewing with interactive and on-demand content delivered over broadband,” explained Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. “With NextGen TV and Run3TV, broadcasters can now bring the OTA environment into the digital world.”

But the platform’s vast and somewhat nebulous potential is turning out to be a both blessing and curse. 

In April 2023, going into NAB, Next TV contributor David Bloom called NextGen TV “a tech TV version of 'Waiting for Godot,' where an unspecified something is imminently arriving to make everything better ... yet never quite materializes.”

He explained that “a problem that has been bedeviling this platform for years” is that “broadcasters seemingly can’t decide what to do with ATSC 3.0’s many possibilities.”

Charter Communications has been vocal in its complaints about the thousands of potential configurations of the new standard that make it difficult for them to deliver an ATSC 3.0 signal over their wired networks. Charter noted that the NAB itself has said that ATSC 3.0 has 40,000 possible configurations.

“Worse, many of the things made possible in ATSC 3.0 -- movie downloads, video on phones, data delivery to cars and Lord knows lots of sports betting information -- are already being done with other devices,” Bloom explained.

He reported that Charter warned the FCC and lawmakers that “station indecision and service duplication will reduce consumer demand for ATSC 3.0-capable equipment, slowing the rollout even more.”

In January 2023, the National Association of Broadcasters warned that ATSC 3.0 transition was in peril, and with it broadcasters’ future, calling on the FCC to phase out the "wasteful" ATSC 1.0 simulcast requirement. 

Nexstar Media Group CEO Perry Sook and other top broadcast group executives met with FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners and staffers to stress that the “stalled transition” represents an existential threat to free, over-the-air broadcasting.

For one thing, NAB pointed out that 4K HDR is growing across other platforms and will soon be little more than table stakes to play in the video game. They called for a firm plan for phasing out the “wasteful dual transmission in both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0.”

At the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Rosenworcel announced a partnership, the Future of Television initiative, led by NAB and with the goal of a smooth transition to the new standard. 

“Today, we are announcing a public-private initiative, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, to help us work through outstanding challenges faced by industry and consumers,” Rosenworcel said in a speech to the assembled broadcasters.

NAB set up three stakeholder working groups to deal with existing hardware, the technical aspects of executing the transition and other regulatory issues implicated by the evolution in broadcasting standards, respectively. 

Business Models

Launched in 2020, Evoca TV was one of the earliest attempts to build a business around NextGen TV, leveraging the system to provide a virtual pay TV service using ATSC 3.0 broadcast instead of the internet. 

Evoca TV operated in a handful of markets in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Michigan, packaging local broadcast stations, a few inexpensive cable channels and regional sports networks in skinny bundles priced at around $25 a month.

The initial play was for rural consumers who lacked the reliable bandwidth needed for streaming. Over time, Evoca turned itself into a platform that enabled inexpensive access to RSNs.

However, after making a brief splash, the Idaho-based start up ran out of cash at the end of 2022 and was forced to shutter. 

Earlier this year, Next TV reported that from the ashes of Evoca, we could be witnessing the emergence of an innovative post-RSN distribution scheme that finally utilizes the vast potential of NextGen TV. 

With the NBA's Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz both leaving their respective regional-sports-network homes and returning their regular-season games to over-the-air broadcast television, Next TV wondered if ATSC 3.0 might be used to gateway access to premium subscribers. 

This was inspired by what sources close to Evoca called the “Denver Example” --inb that region, Evoca had been bundling AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies, along with Altitude Sports, home of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche, delivering the package to consumers, primarily via ATSC 3.0, for $25 a month. 

Sports media consultant Patrick Crakes noted that "The potential model has components to it including tiered non-exclusive pay-TV distribution, as well as broadcast enabled pay walls via ATSC 3.0. Will those appear all at once? That I don’t know. But I do know it can keep rights fees within current parameters,"

But the rights market is complicated and with Bally Sports bogged down in bankruptcy court and Evoca out of the picture, a technical solution still seems evasive. 

Other use cases have included things like distance learning. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, education technology company SpectraRep partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s D.C. station, WIAV-CD, to deliver EduCast over ATSC 3.0. EduCast is SpectraRep’s broadcast internet product for K-12 and college learners without broadband internet services at home.

NextGen Stations

Meanwhile, the slow market-driven rollout continued apace throughout the last year. 

In 2023, Miami, Florida emerged as a top U.S. NextGen TV market with a combined total of 11 channels serving the city’s 1.7 million television households. Multiple major networks, including ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, PBS, Telemundo and Univision are now available.

In December, Mission Broadcasting-owned station WPIX in New York kicked off NextGen TV broadcasts in the country’s top market. Operated by Nexstar Media Group, WPIX is using its new ATSC 3.0 signal to carry its own programming, as well as programming from The Walt Disney Co.’s WABC and TelevisaUnivision’s WXTV and signals for Rewind TV and Antenna TV in the Big Apple.

Also in December, Sinclair-owned KFOX in El Paso, Texas converted to an ATSC 3.0 transmitter and is using the new format to broadcast its own programming as well as the programming of four other participating stations in the market.

In August, five local Minneapolis stations joined the party, along with six local stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the country’s fourth largest TV broadcast market.  

Six stations in Boston, Massachusetts, the country’s 10th-largest television market launched service last January in a market of roughly 2.5 million households.

So, while broadcasters have been making progress in a difficult transitionary period, we’re not quite seeing a deluge of new stations going online.

The History

In 2019, the FCC started accepting applications to start broadcasting the ATSC 3.0 standard, stressing a “voluntary, market-driven” deployment of the technology. The new platform is a complete overhaul of the previous ATSC 1.0 system that first brought digital HD to American living rooms. 

(In case you’re wondering, they just skipped ATSC 2.0. It’s kind of a “marketing thing.”) 

The original ATSC standard was forged in a contentious process that included input from computer manufacturers, the TV industry and the consumer electronics industry, which finally hammered out a “Grand Alliance” blueprint for the U.S. conversion to digital in 1996. 

The standard embraced no less than 18 different broadcast formats, incorporated as part of a compromise meant to replace the NTSC standard that ruled the airwaves from 1941 until stations started adopting the new standard in the late 1990s. That process concluded with the shutdown of the last major NTSC broadcasts in the U.S. in June 2009, although low-power TV (LPTV) stations in remote areas were permitted to continue for a few more years.

But the original format met with pushback from some corners of the U.S. broadcast industry at the time, most notably Sinclair Broadcast Group, which advocated for the rival European standard, DVB, citing ATSC’s issues with multipath interference and other strengths of the DVB’s COFDM modulation like the ability to reach mobile users. 

At the time, ATSC’s proponents argued that that with its inherent cellular design, COFDM would never be able to replicate the coverage range of legacy NTSC transmission towers, (a key design requirement at the time) and that it was more suited to the dense population centers of Europe than the vast expanses of rural America. 

ATSC 3.0, which adopts a similar COFDM modulation scheme, was designed to open up a whole new world of opportunities for U.S. broadcasters, first and perhaps foremost is 4K UHD OTA broadcast. When ATSC 1.0 first went on sale, high definition, in both its 1080p and 720p variants, quickly emerged as the key selling point among consumers who were enthralled by the big, bright, clear pictures. 

But while 4K UHD, especially combined with Dolby Atmos, could certainly deliver the next bright shiny thing consumers want in their living rooms, getting there is proving to be more challenging than anyone anticipated.

A second group of stations has begun broadcasting NextGen TV signals in San Antonio, Texas.

KSAT, owned by Graham Media Group, has started broadcasting using ATSC 3.0 technology. It is broadcasting its own ABC-affiliated station’s content as well as programming from KLRN, KENS, KVDA and KWEX.

Last June, KMYS started broadcasting a NextGen signal, carrying its own programming, plus channels for WOAI, KABB, and KCWX.

Also Read: Local News Close-Up: Flower Power in San Antonio

“NextGen TV is in high demand in San Antonio, a top media market where several major networks — ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, PBS, Telemundo and Univision — are offering this new service to their viewers,” Ashley Parker, general manager of KSAT, said. “Local broadcasters are dedicated to growing this free service in the San Antonio area and providing valuable local news, sports and entertainment. NextGen TV’s emergency alert and dual language capabilities are essential to residents and we’re proud that we can give them even more options now.”

NextGen TV promises a bigger picture and improved sound and voice quality. Viewers can also find internet content and get mobile reception and expanded local news.

The ATSC 3.0 format can also handle datacasting, a business that could generate $10 billion in incremental revenues for stations.

NextGen tuners are built into some TVs made by Sony, LG Electronics and Samsung. LTC later this month plans to deliver NextGen TV-enabled sets costing as little as $479.

Antenna viewers can rescan their TV sets to ensure full service. Cable and satellite subscribers do not need to take any action.

NextGen TV is available in 75 TV markets and reaches about 75% of U.S. households.

It's a disrupted period in the business of cable network technology, as the top two U.S. operators, Comcast and Charter Communications, make huge investments to shift to the DOCSIS 4.0 standard and Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) alignment. 

Some vendors are floundering. Casa Systems just declared bankruptcy, and CommScope is flirting with Chapter 11, as the two companies struggle to transition from selling hardware like Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS) to software that duplicates CMTS processes on servers. 

Other companies, like Canada's Vecima Networks, which is trying to buy Casa's broadband tech business, are trying to ramp up. 

Then there’s Harmonic, which has emerged as the early leader in the business of supplying virtualized, multi-gigabit cable network tech.

Since Tuesday, when the San Jose, California-based tech company reported exceeding revenue guidance in the first quarter, Harmonic's stock is up about 17% to nearly $11 a share, with early adoption of DOCSIS 4.0 and DAA by Comcast and Charter supplying nearly half of Harmonic's revenue. (Here's Harmonic's Q1 earnings release.)

Revenue was down for Harmonic in the first quarter to $122.1 million versus $157.6 million in the first quarter of 2023, with broadband segment sales declining to $78.9 million versus $100.4 in the year-ago quarter.

But in a lumpy business determined by when purchase orders for two huge clients come in, Harmonic expects sales to pick up significantly in the second half of 2024.

Harmonic, which reported $84.3 million in cash on hand, also expects improvement from its video segment, which was recently taken off the sales block. Video revenue came in at  $43.2 million, compared to $57.3 million in Q1 last year.

The company also expects to announce more new clients beyond Comcast and Charter.

“We continue to focus on further diversifying our business. This is showing positive results with larger portion of our business coming from others in the marketplace,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, who just took over for the retiring Patrick Harshman as Harmonic's CEO.

"We are seeing an expanding pipeline of opportunities from these other operators, driven by urgency to modernize their architecture to enable greater reliability and higher upstream and downstream speeds," Ben-Natan added. 

The internet is one of America’s greatest success stories and is now an essential part of daily life for millions of people around the world. Through significant investment, innovation and the hard work of thousands of people building modern and innovative broadband networks, we’re close to making the internet accessible to all Americans — regardless of where they live. 

The digital divide is a persistent challenge, but it’s one Verizon Communications and the Communications Workers of America are committed to solving.

We believe the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is part of the solution. The ACP has made unprecedented progress towards connecting all Americans by helping to ensure more than 23 million households can afford high-quality, high-speed internet. By providing a $30 per month discount on service, the ACP makes it possible for millions to obtain jobs, complete homework, connect with family, access life-saving information and conduct all the other business we do online every day. Americans from all walks of life — from urban and rural inhabitants to students, older adults and veterans — rely on the ACP to obtain and sustain their internet connection. 

With $42.5 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, network buildout is making broadband access a reality for people in the most unserved and underserved areas across the country. But building networks is only part of the equation. To make the most of the significant investment in BEAD and to support good jobs, maintain service and assist customers, we must ensure that high-speed broadband is affordable for everyone. 

Unfortunately, funding for the ACP is about to run out. Despite its success, April is the last month the program will provide full reimbursements that lower the cost of broadband for families in need. The Federal Communications Commission has joined with the White House and many others, including Verizon and CWA, to urge Congress to extend the program and to make sure that everyone — regardless of income — stays connected. Notwithstanding bipartisan efforts, Congress has yet to act. New applications are no longer being accepted and the program is winding down.

That is why renewing funding for the ACP should be an immediate congressional priority.

At a time when we are making tremendous progress on deploying broadband infrastructure to the places that need it most, Congress must act swiftly to make sure this valuable program continues delivering on our goal to close the digital divide. 

Allowing the ACP to end would be a significant blow to achieving this goal and it would diminish the impact of our ongoing network investment. It is not too late to save the ACP, but we need action now. Congress must renew ACP funding immediately.

AT&T initially downplayed the scope of its Internet Air fixed wireless access (FWA) service as a decidedly niche offering meant to fill in the gaps where its priority service, fiber, couldn't reach.

It still does feel that way. But the company was quite a bit more loquacious about Internet Air on Wednesday, after reporting markedly accelerated first-quarter uptake of Internet Air, which added 110,000 customers from January to March versus 67,000 in Q4. 

Nine months after its limited commercial launch, the cellular-based home internet service — deployed in 95 U.S. markets and priced at $55 per month, or $35 if bundled with an AT&T wireless bill — has more than 200,000 customers. 

That’s not the more than 5 million FWA customers T-Mobile will likely tout when it reports its first-quarter numbers Thursday, but 64% quarter-to-quarter growth isn't anything to sneeze at, either.  

Speaking to equity analysts Wednesday, AT&T CEO John Stankey still insists the company won't aggressively market Internet Air to the consumer market in the same way T-Mobile and Verizon promote their FWA services. 

Stankey said the FWA product isn’t a good fit for “a single-family home that streams hours of video each day … I just don’t see that as long-term sustainable.”

Internet Air is a better match in the business market, Stankey explained. 

"We believe [Internet Air] is a durable national play with businesses because it's able to serve as a reliable 5G-powered, primary Internet connection where fiber is not available, in remote locations, where temporary access is needed, or with small and medium businesses that don't require always-on video streaming," he said. 

Stankey added that while it’s not for every business, Internet Air is useful for businesses with outposts in wireline-bereft rural environments, enabling them to enjoy 5G connectivity. 

“We want to make sure we match the product with the businesses that have the right usage characteristics that we think we can provide a quality level of service,“ he said. “There are many businesses that match that.” 

Canada’s Rogers Communications, which has licensed Comcast’s X1 video platform technology since 2016, announced Wednesday that it has signed a 10-year agreement with the American cable giant to use a lot more of its tech. 

The bounty will include what Rogers describes as a “new device powered by Entertainment OS,” which on the surface sounds like Xumo Stream Box, the streaming gadget jointly launched last year by Comcast and Charter Communications that runs the former’s TVOS. 

So it is the Xumo Stream Box, which is also being deployed by Cox Communications and Mediacom Communications, right?

A Rogers rep told us that “commercial details” about the video product “will be announced later this year.”

Meanwhile, Rogers said it's also licensing Comcast’s “10G” wireline internet gateway, as well as its Storm-Ready WiFi product, a gateway introduced last summer that includes backup battery power and a system for switching from wireline to cellular internet connectivity. 

Rogers said it’s also licensing various Xfinity-branded home security tech from Comcast. 

“Our partnership with Comcast builds on our legacy of bringing Canadians the best networks, entertainment and services in the world,” Tony Staffieri, president and CEO of Rogers Communications, said in a statement. “Canadians want to be connected to the best entertainment, anywhere, without interruption and we’re proud to partner with Comcast to make this a reality.”

Rogers is the largest wireless company in Canada, with 11.6 million customers at the end of 2023. But it’s also still one of the country’s largest cable companies, with 4.2 million “retail internet” users and 2.25 million remaining linear video subscribers

Veteran technology leader Aaron LaBerge will step down from his role as chief technology officer of Disney Entertainment and ESPN on July 1 and will transition into a new role as CTO for sports betting company Penn Entertainment. 

The move is being spun amicably. In a memo to Disney staff, LaBerge said he's departing to assume a new role that will allow him to be “home for my family.” He also said that he’ll continue training direct report Chris Lawson, currently executive VP of content operations for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, to assume Disney's CTO role on an interim basis. 

Also read: LaBerge Named CTO For Disney DTC Unit

LaBerge has spent more than 20 years at Disney across two terms, rejoining ESPN in 2013 after a five-year stint as co-founder and CEO of startup Fanzter. He assumed the CTO role at ESPN in 2015, adding oversight to Disney Entertainment in 2018. 

LaBerge leads all Disney technology initiatives, including Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus. 

“Having overseen a global organization of thousands of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, and data scientists that created some of the largest scale and most successful media properties in the world, there is no better candidate to lead our Technology and Interactive division into its future,” Penn Entertainment president and CEO Jay Snowden said in a statement.  

In 2004, Apple introduced an exciting new technology, AirTunes, that let users of Apple devices stream music to third party gadgets.

Twenty years later, the legacy of that breakthrough, AirPlay, is finally serving one of its seemingly more practical real-world applications, with Apple announcing AirPlay support in the guest rooms of 160 IHS Hotel and Resort properties in North America. 

The IHS chain includes Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites and Avid Hotels. IHS has a list of its properties that support AirPlay on this page. 

The technology will enable users of Apple devices including iPhones and iPads to stream video from their own apps to LG smart TVs situated in IHS rooms. (LG started integrating support for AirPlay 2 in its TVs back in 2019.) 

Guests merely need to connect their Apple device to the hotel's WiFi network, then scan a QR code on their in-room television for authentication and setup. 

Apple first announced that AirPlay was coming to hotel rooms at its Worldwide Developers Conference last year, and the feature debuted with the introduction of iOS 17.3 earlier this year. 

The deployment of Apple's screen-sharing technology address a growing demand among hotel guests, who are craving more control of their media consumption in the age of personalized on-demand streaming ... and are often choosing vacation rental apps like Airbnb or Vrbo instead of hotels to gain that freedom. 

B+C and Next TV have announced the winners of Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show. The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts at the convention (April 14-17 in Las Vegas) on the bases of innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and overall performance. 

The winners will be included in B+C Multichannel News magazine as well as on the Next TV website. Nominees also are included in a Best of Show Program ebook.

The Best of Show Awards, from B+C, Next TV, TV Tech and other brands at Future US, were chosen from companies that exhibited at the 2024 NAB Show and submitted nominations.

Congratulations to this year's winners:

Broadcasting+Cable

• Dina, part of Fonn Group — Dina
• ROXi — ROXi FastStream
• Sony Electronics — HXC-FZ90 Studio Camera System
• AMD — AMD Alveo MA35D Advanced Media Accelerator
• MEDIAGENIX — MEDIAGENIX FAST Scheduling Artist
• TAG Video Systems — TAG Language Detection
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Workflow monitor for AWS Media Services and CloudFront

Next TV

• Ross Video — Media IO UX 
• Vimond — VIA App Builder
• Cleeng — Cleeng’s Subscriber Retention Management™ (SRM™) 
• ThinkAnalytics — ThinkFAST
• MEDIAGENIX — MEDIAGENIX Ratings Artist 
• Evergent — Evergent Captivate Product Suite 
• Zixi — Live Event Manager: ZEN Master 
• TMT Insights — Polaris Operational Management Platform 

The Android TV-powered pay TV set-top business is still here, and Vantiva owns a major chunk of it.

That's the essential takeaway from a boast published Tuesday by the French tech company formally known as Technicolor, and which purchased CommScope's set-top and gateway business last year. 

Vantiva said it has now sold 22 million Android TV set-tops. And based on data provided by research company Omdia, it controls 25% of the global Android TV set-top market. 

“Vantiva has been a significant partner in bringing the Android TV experience to customers around the world,’ said Shalini Govil-Pai, VP of TV for Google, which makes the Android TV operating system. “Vantiva reached an impressive milestone, and we're looking forward to continuing to bring innovation and entertainment to viewers for years to come.”

Since 2020, Vantiva said it has contributed to the development and deployment of the Google Common Broadcast Stack software platform across a wide array of customer premises equipment (CPE) and consumer electronics devices used to access video services. The Google Broadcast Stack allows service providers to integrate traditional broadcast streams and conditional access systems with over-the-top services.

“Android TV represents a profound shift for consumers and network service providers by delivering a unified, user-friendly platform with advanced features, such as voice search and content personalization, transforming TVs into smart, versatile entertainment hubs,” said Leopold Diouf, senior VP of the product division at Vantiva.

Roku said that after investigating a security breach that was reported in early March, it detected a second, larger intrusion that involved around 576,000 accounts. 

The streaming company released a statement on the matter Friday. 

Once again, the security breach involved "credential stuffing," whereby hackers who have already stolen user names and passwords knock on the door of Roku accounts, hoping users abide by the bad habit of using the same credentials for multiple services. 

"There is no indication that Roku was the source of the account credentials used in these attacks or that Roku’s systems were compromised in either incident," Roku said in its Friday statement. "Rather, it is likely that login credentials used in these attacks were taken from another source, like another online account, where the affected users may have used the same credentials. In less than 400 cases, malicious actors logged in and made unauthorized purchases of streaming service subscriptions and Roku hardware products using the payment method stored in these accounts, but they did not gain access to any sensitive information, including full credit card numbers or other full payment information."

In addition to resetting passwords for affected users, Roku said it will now adopt two-factor authentication. 

For Apple's pricey Vision Pro virtual reality headset, the consumer awareness and interest has arrived, but the $3,499.99 price point just might be out of reach. 

According to Hub Entertainment Research's new "Connected Home" study, which surveyed an impressively large sample of 5,026 U.S. consumers ages 16-74, 49% of Americans are aware of the Apple Vision Pro. And 53% indicate some level in interest in the device. 

Also read: Apple’s ‘Vision Pro’ Headset: 'Let Us Strap the Screen to Your Face So You Never Stop Making Money For Us' (Frankel)

But 76% of U.S. consumers said they were "not likely" to buy the gadget, with only 10% indicating a purchase was probable. 

Apple debuted the Vision Pro at retail back in January and said it sold 200,000 units of the device at launch.

Apple is offering interest-free financing to consumers, allowing them to pay $291.58 a month for a year -- about what you'd pay monthly to lease a subcompact car.

According to a SmithGeiger Group survey conducted exclusively for the Penske showbiz trades, watching movies or TV shows ranked as the activity U.S. adults most want to do on Apple's mixed reality headset. 

Apple had several TV commercials in heavy rotation around the product launch -- and during the heavily watched NFL postseason -- showcasing the Apple Vision Pro as a home theater replacement device. See the guy watching Napoleon in this spot:

For its part, Hub sees the Apple Vision Pro's market being limited to gaming right now, with room for expansion in the realm of movie and TV viewing. But the problem with that is, the research company says, consumers are really vibing on smart TVs, which are far cheaper.

Hub said penetration of smart TVs into U.S. homes has reached 79%.

“With more affordable and higher quality TVs available, it’s no surprise that people are continuing to upgrade their home theaters to better Smart TVs that make watching favorite streaming content easy,” says Jason Platt Zolov, consultant to Hub and study co-author. “The exciting debut of the Apple Vision Pro headset is a big step toward making advanced headset usage more mainstream -- although there is clearly room to grow in further integrating it into traditional living room behavior.”

Kerv said it made a deal to make its portfolio of interactive and shoppable video advertising experiences available in omnichannel inventory made available through Magnite.

Kerv uses artificial intelligence to power its interactive ad experiences. Layering interactivity onto video creative tends to increase brand favorability, consumer intent and purchase intent by as much as 150%, according to a report from media buyer Magna Global cited by Kerv.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen a significant increase in demand for highly immersive, interactive programmatic video solutions, underscoring the need for scalable, data-driven interactive and shoppable advertising solutions that capture audience attention and drive meaningful performance,” Gary Mittman, founder and CEO at Kerv, said. “We’ve always allowed advertisers to optimize campaign creative based on audience interaction data, and personalize creative based on viewer interests. This partnership with Magnite will now allow brands to activate these capabilities with unparalleled ease and scale.” 

Availabilty through Magnite makes it easier for buyers and advertisers to adopt interactive creative for their brands.

“We are at an unprecedented time in digital advertising, where AI has the power to transform consumers’ experiences with the content they love and the brands they care about,” said Megan Pagliuca, chief activation officer at Omnicom Media Group. “By connecting Kerv’s AI-powered exploration and shoppability solutions with the scaled video supply of Magnite, this partnership helps us future-proof our media investments as part of our larger focus on the intersection of content and commerce.”

Magnite expects to work with Kerv to bring more advanced advertising capabilities to the inventory it handles.

"In today's fiercely competitive media landscape, the ability to dynamically deliver interactive, contextually relevant messages is critical,” Magnite chief revenue officer Sean Buckley said. “Our partnership with Kerv provides clients with direct access to premium ad inventory while their first-party, real-time data automates and streamlines the creative optimization process, driving maximum impact. This is just the beginning of the ways Magnite and Kerv will collaborate to bring innovation to our industry that scales quickly, simply and efficiently.”