April 16, 2014

CableLabs Receives DLNA Award

CableLabs was honored with an Outstanding Contribution Award from DLNA, thanks to its work on the CVP-2 guidelines.  The CVP-2 guidelines enable service providers, worldwide, to offer their interactive program guide, linear programming as well as on demand services to DLNA devices. Ryan Chiang, Senior Standardization Lead at CableLabs, had this to say: “CableLabs, working closely with DLNA Members from the service provider and consumer electronics communities, is proud to have contributed to the development of the DLNA CVP-2 Guidelines published earlier this year. The Guidelines enable delivery of premium cable content to a wide variety of consumer devices, such

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April 15, 2014

Wireless Auction Rules Becoming Clearer

One of the approaches the FCC is taking to increase the amount of available wireless spectrum is to hold a one-time-only auction where companies and organizations will be incentivized to sell off TV spectrum they aren't using or don't need anymore. An auction of this size and nature comes with a lot of complexion, and Tom Wheeler and the FCC are working to make all parties happy. Recently the FCC has floated a plan that would reserve up to a third of licenses sold for smaller wireless companies. This would help to ensure that wireless giants like Verizon don't snatch

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April 14, 2014

Turner President Leaves to Run NBA Team

Steve Koonin, the man behind TNT's branding as a place for drama and TBS as a place for comedy, has exited as president of Turner Entertainment Networks to become CEO of the Atlanta Hawks. This is the fourth high-level executive to exit Turner in the last six months, but it's far too early to tell if the movement will mean any major changes for any of Turner's properties. More on the change from Broadcasting & Cable.

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April 11, 2014

DOCSIS 3.1 Puts Cable Ahead of Upstream Curve

While upstream hasn't been the hot topic it was a few years ago when P2P sites were gobbling up bandwith, there will come a time in the near future when it's just as – if not more – important. With DOCSIS 3.1, cable operators will be ahead of the game. DOCSIS 3.1 includes advanced modulation and agile channel bonding capabilities that increase upstream capacity without expanding the return path bandwidth. Dan Rice, Vice President of Network Technology for CableLabs, points out that DOCSIS 3.1 is backward-compatible with previous iterations of the spec. “Operators ought to understand that they don’t have

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April 10, 2014

Report: Digital Has Major Impact On Viewing

According to a research report released by Google, digital activity has a direct and meaningful correlation to TV viewership. The report says that 90% of TV viewers also visit Google and YouTube, and their actions on those websites are strong indicators of a show's popularity. The biggest digital activity growth seems to be coming from mobile, where users are searching for ancillary content such as cast lists and schedules. "Digital platforms are changing the way today’s viewer experiences television,” the report says. MSOs have long been aware of and interested in how digital activity affects viewership, and this report could

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April 9, 2014

NAB Show 2014: 4K Everywhere

The 2014 convention put on by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is highlighting what many industry insiders have been predicting for some time: 4K video is on its way. According to Light Reading, vendor after vendor is showing off their 4K capable technology, including demos of the first live delivery of full-frame-rate 4K. It likely won't be long until consumers begin seeing 4K capable TVs on the store shelves. But what is 4K? Is it the same as Ultra-HD? What about 8K? Well, CableLabs' own Daryl Malas explains it all.

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April 8, 2014

Zenith Predicts Global Ad Growth

ZenithOptimedia is forecasting that global advertising spending will return to growth rates not seen since before the financial crisis. In a recent report the media agency sees 5% growth for 2014 and 6.1% by 2016. Despite growth across platforms, TV is forecast to be the dominant media, representing 40% of global ad spending. Dive into the numbers over at Broadcasting & Cable.

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April 7, 2014

Pay-TV Subscribers Willing to Pay for Mobile Downloads

Interesting analysis piece from Light Reading regarding a recent survey that showed nearly half of those with a smartphone and/or tablet were interested in downloading content to which they already subscribe, and of those the majority would be willing to pay $1-$5 extra per month to do so. The survey comes on the heels of Amazon's new set-top box, the Fire TV, which joins the foray of streaming devices that pundits say threaten the traditional cable-subscriber model. As Laurie Lawrence points out: "For all the concerns about cord-cutters, at least half of viewers are adding to their traditional pay-TV subscription,

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April 7, 2014

2014 Final Four Sets Record for Cable Viewers

The 2014 Final Four, buoyed by Kentucky's late-game winning shot over Wisconsin, set a record as the most-watched college basketball game on cable, according to Multichannel News. Turner took an interesting approach this year with simultaneous broadcasts across multiple channels, which they termed "Teamcasts." A main feed was shown on TBS, while team-centric feeds were shown on TNT and TruTV. Click on the link to Multichannel's piece above for more details on the numbers.

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