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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Aereo: Fox exec threatens to pull signal
April 9, 2013 12:39 pm | by Associated Press | CommentsA top executive with the owner of the Fox broadcast network on Monday threatened to convert the network to a pay-TV-only channel if Internet startup Aereo Inc. continues to "steal" Fox's over-the-air signal and sell it to consumers without paying for rights.
Clearleap, BlackArrow team up on advanced ads
April 9, 2013 12:34 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsClearleap and BlackArrow have integrated their respective platforms in order to streamline the monetization of on-demand and multi-screen video advertisements. Through the Clearleap-BlackArrow offering, programmers and pay-TV service providers can increase the amount of ad inventory by reducing the complexities of mid-roll advertising.
Shaw buys Enmax, field trials 400 Gbps
April 9, 2013 12:24 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsShaw Communications and Alcatel-Lucent have laid claim on the first successful field trial in North America for 400 Gbps data transmissions over a live network. Using Alcatel-Lucent's 1830 PSS with the 400G Photonic Service Engine (PSE), the trial ran over a 400 kilometer route between Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada.
Cox’s Wilson to retire at yearend
April 9, 2013 12:16 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsCox Communications chief content negotiator Bob Wilson will retire at the end of this year after a 34-year career with the company. Wilson joined Cox in 1979 in its Atlanta headquarters. At the time he was one of 45 employees that helped support Cox’s 500,000 customers
Number of Cable Pioneers swells by 19
April 8, 2013 1:20 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsThe Cable TV Pioneers Organization will induct the new Class of 2013 at its 47th Annual Banquet in Washington, D.C. The members of the new class hail from coast-to-coast and are involved in the many different areas of the cable television industry for over 20 years.
Ericsson to acquire Microsoft Mediaroom
April 8, 2013 12:53 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsMicrosoft will invest its full attention on the Xbox as a vehicle for its consumer TV strategy. Ericsson, meanwhile, further solidifies its position in the IPTV market, picking up ongoing support for Mediaroom customers, including AT&T (U-verse), Deutsche Telekom (Entertain), Telefonica, Telus (Optik TV), and Swisscom.
Cablevision up to 75,000 hotspots for Wi-Fi service
April 8, 2013 12:09 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsCablevision announced this morning that its Wi-Fi service, Optimum WiFi, was now enabled across more than 75,000 hotspots in its New York Metropolitan footprint. Cablevision also said its Wi-Fi service has been used more than one million times by its subscribers since it was first launched in Long Island back in 2008.
Research: STBs bounce back in 2012; Cisco leads the way
April 8, 2013 12:03 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsInfonetics Research’s recent study said that the set-top box market, which includes IP, cable, satellite, hybrid boxes, bounced back last year. According to Infonetics, the global set-top box (STB) market, totaled $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, which was up 3 percent sequentially
Facebook barges into Google turf
April 5, 2013 2:41 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsFacebook Home, the new application that takes over the front screen of a smartphone, is a bit of a corporate home invasion. Facebook is essentially moving into Google's turf, taking advantage of software the search giant and competitor created.
Internet from lamps one step closer
April 5, 2013 2:20 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsTransmitting data using simple LEDs is still a research technology, but it took another step closer to practical implementation when the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute used off-the-shelf LED room lights for data transmission with data rates up to 800 Mbps in one laboratory experiment.
Motorola sets practical demos of HEVC
April 5, 2013 2:09 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsOne of Motorola’s demos next week will feature a real-time HEVC encoder delivering streaming content to a Google Nexus 10 tablet for real-time decoding and playback, the company said. A second demo will showcase real-time HEVC HTTP live streaming to an Apple iPad (4th generation). A third will show an IP set-top box decoding HEVC.
Triveni Digital goes independent
April 5, 2013 2:04 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsThe former LG Electronics R&D lab was purchased by a group of employees led by company president Mark Simpson. Triveni Digital now provides a variety of systems that enable television service products for program guide and metadata management, data broadcasting, and video quality assurance.
Rdio launches Vdio for TV, movies
April 4, 2013 2:33 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsRdio, the music streaming service started by a co-founder of Skype, is getting into video. New and current subscribers of a $10-a-month unlimited music plan from Rdio will get $25 to spend in the new digital store for video, called Vdio.
Simple.TV draws $5M in venture money
April 4, 2013 2:27 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsReally Simple Software said it closed $5 million in Series A funding from New World Ventures. Simple.TV is based on a DVR that streams both live and recorded TV shows to tablets, phones, or connected TVs. The system is designed for consumers looking to supplement over-the-air (OTA) broadcast TV with over the top (OTT) services such as Netflix and Hulu.
Telenor Sweden readies for multi-screen
April 4, 2013 2:21 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsTelenor Sweden will deploy Ericsson Multiscreen TV solution for its customers, enabling it to deliver content to a wide range of connected devices. Separately, Ericsson will be showing its LTE video delivery system at the NAB Show next week.
