The seventh annual OnDemand Summit on the business of on-demand TV is June 9 in New York, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference will address advertising and subscription fees, content, distribution options, on-demand and pay-per-view TV, and viewers' increasing use of Wi-Fi on mobile devices, summit producer Schramm Marketing Group said.
The FCC Media Bureau dismissed several petitions for review of the DTV transition “due to the passage of time, and with no objections put forth by petitioners,” the bureau said in an order Wednesday. The affected petitions were all filed in 2008, by the Association for Maximum Service TV, Gulf-California Broadcast Co., Harris Corp., NAB, NPG of Texas and Russell Withers, the order said.
The FCC’s proposal to expand the requirement that public inspection files be posted in its online database to cable operators will place “substantial” regulatory burdens on small operators, ACA said in its reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 14-127. ACA and the NCTA recommended “targeted relief” for smaller cable system operators, to “greatly ease the burdens of compliance for hundreds of small cable systems across the nation,” ACA said. Cable systems with fewer than 15,000 subscribers that aren’t affiliated with a large multichannel video programming distributor should be required only to file contact information in the online database and respond to inspection requests from the public through electronic means, ACA said. NCTA supported a six-month adoption for the requirement to maintain political files in the online database for all cable operators, and a two-year adoption period for small systems, it said in reply comments posted Wednesday. The commission should ensure its database is functionally ready to handle hundreds of additional documents, NCTA said. Noncommercial educational (NCE) radio stations and commercial stations with fewer than five full-time employees at each station should be exempt from new online file requirements, NAB said in reply comments posted Tuesday. The commission should ensure regulatory parity for entities with online public and political file requirements, NAB said. The commission should adopt a standard format for electronic political files and ensure they're as complete as possible, said the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation in reply comments posted Wednesday. Waivers for the requirement should be allowed only for limited situations, and the commission should create a shot-clock deadline for them, the three organizations said.
"Preliminary registered attendance" at the NAB Show reached 103,042, NAB said in a Tuesday announcement. The show's exhibition floor had 1,789 companies using 1.015 million net square feet of exhibit space, NAB said. The data are based on preshow and onsite registration and are "subject to an ongoing audit," it said. The show closes Thursday after four days of exhibits and six days of conferences. Final data from last year's event showed 97,915 attended and that total exhibit space was 947,000 net square feet, NAB said.
Seven members of the House and two senators joined as co-sponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act (see 1503170042), NAB said in two news releases Wednesday. The resolution opposes new performance fees, taxes, royalties or other charges on local broadcast radio stations, NAB said. The representatives are Austin Scott, R-Ga., Frank Guinta, R-N.H., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., Robert Wittman, R-Va., and Steven Palazzo, R-Miss. The senators are David Vitter, R-La., and Richard Burr, R-N.C. The resolution has 154 co-sponsors in the House and 13 in the Senate, NAB said.
"Everyone should be able to enjoy this golden era of entertainment, no matter where they live," Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote in a blog post Tuesday. If approved, a combined Comcast/Time Warner Cable would offer millions of Americans access to "the most robust" VOD platform, with more than 55,000 choices, he wrote. Comcast customers can access 80 live TV channels and more than 22,000 on-demand choices with its Xfinity TV Go app, he said. Comcast's cable division spent almost $10 billion on programming expenses last year, he said. A united Comcast/TWC would allow greater investment in programming and independent networks to "reach millions of households they wouldn’t otherwise," he said. As the parent company of NBCUniversal, Comcast focuses on entertainment and delivering diverse content and theme park attractions, he said. NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment networks will air more than 140 original series in 2015, he said. Comcast will continue to bring the future of TV to consumers and partner with content creators after the TWC transaction closes, Cohen wrote.
SES is partnering with broadcast and TV “technology innovators,” including Sony, at this week’s NAB Show to build a “full end-to-end” Ultra HD transmission system and deliver three days of “live and linear” Ultra HD broadcasts to a cable system on the floor of the show, it said in a Monday announcement. Sony is contributing content and Bravia 4K TVs to the project, SES said. Other partners include Harmonic, PacSat, Sinclair, Superior Satellite Systems and TelVue, it said. PacSat is providing uplink services from a truck parked next to an SES Ultra HD studio at the front entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall, it said. “A mix of pre-produced content, feature coverage of events throughout Las Vegas, and live interviews with Hollywood and television celebrities and executives will be broadcast in Ultra HD to a fully operational cable system in the SES NAB booth” in South Hall, it said. NAB attendees “will be able to watch the live Ultra HD broadcasts” when they visit the SES, Harmonic and Sony booths, it said.
The FCC should provide immediate, short-term help for AM broadcasters for AM revitalization, Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Monday. Pai applauded Chairman Tom Wheeler's announcement that he will circulate an item addressing AM revitalization (see 1412040059) in the next few weeks, he said. "There is nearly unanimous support in the record for the ideas put forward by the Commission under Acting Chairwoman [Mignon] Clyburn’s leadership," Pai said. The commission should work on these proposals in the next months, he said.
Raycom Media has selected Livestream for News for all of its TV news stations, a news release from Livestream said Thursday. It said Livestream for News is now deployed at more than 200 commercial TV news stations across the U.S. -- equal to about one-third of the market. Livestream for News lets stations insert online ads into the broadcasts’ commercial breaks, creating a new online revenue stream for broadcasters, it said. Livestream is also the primary streaming provider for Fox Television Stations, Media General, Schurz Communications, Tribune Media and others.
The FCC proposed switching KOHD Bend, Oregon, to Channel 18 from 51, said a Media Bureau Video Division NPRM released Friday. Licensee TDS signed a voluntary relocation agreement with T-Mobile USA and said operation on Channel 18 would remove potential interference with authorized wireless operations in the lower 700 MHz A Block adjacent to Channel 51 in the Portland, Oregon, market, the bureau said. TDS requested expedited treatment of its channel change petition due to the upcoming pre-auction licensing deadline, which states facilities have to be constructed and licensed to be eligible for protection in the repacking process part of the TV incentive auction, the bureau said. Comments are due April 24, replies May 15 in docket 15-88.