Radio+Television Business Report

WASHINGTON, D.C. — FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed establishing Raleigh and Boston as innovation zones to allow for advanced wireless communications and network innovation and research.

These designations would, among other positive impacts, help spur the development and integration of 5G network technologies and open radio access networks, or Open RAN.

Innovation zones are FCC-designated, city-scale test beds managed by the National Science Foundation’s Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research. If approved by a vote of the full Commission at its August 5 Open Meeting, this proposal will allow Raleigh and Boston to join New York City and Salt Lake City at the forefront of wireless technology innovation.

“These Innovation Zones will support cutting-edge research and development that is crucial for advancing our wireless leadership,” Rosenworcel said. “Moreover, by bringing together operators, vendors, vertical interests, and other government agencies, we are helping to spur a market for more secure and open 5G technologies. I am grateful to city and research facility leaders, and our partners at the National Science Foundation, for working with us to deliver these opportunities.”

The Innovation Zones initiative was first proposed by NSF’s Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research and, in September 2019, the FCC designated New York City and Salt Lake City as the first designated zones. These wireless technology test beds extend the geographic areas in which already licensed experimental program licensees can conduct tests. Parties have flexibility to conduct multiple non-related experiments in the zone, and the designation allows experimental program license holders, which are licensed to operate elsewhere, to also use the Innovation Zones.

In keeping with the FCC’s effort to explore the potential of Open RAN technology, each test bed is equipped for Open RAN research and testing. The FCC is in the process of taking public comment on the current status of Open RAN development and deployment, whether and how the FCC might foster its success, and how to support competitiveness and new entrant access to this emerging market. The Acting Chairwoman made the announcement of her proposed designations at today’s FCC-hosted Open RAN Solutions Showcase.

The Boston Innovation Zone, at Northeastern University, will support the transition of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Colosseum network emulator to a shared platform, usable by the research community. Colosseum, the world’s largest wireless network emulator, was originally designed to support DARPA’s Spectrum Collaboration Challenge. With the conclusion of that challenge, the larger research community will now be able to take advantage of Colosseum’s unique capabilities, including the ability to emulate full-stack communications, to support artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms and hardware in the loop. This project is expected to bring academia, government, and industry researchers together to accelerate advancements in wireless networked systems and Open RAN.

The Raleigh Innovation Zone, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, will house Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW), which will focus on new use cases involving wireless communications and unmanned aerial systems. AERPAW will focus on how cellular networks and advanced wireless technologies can enable beyond visual line-of-sight unmanned aerial systems to accelerate development, verification, and testing of transformative advances and breakthroughs in telecommunications, transportation, infrastructure monitoring, agriculture, and public safety. The AERPAW testbed will be the first platform to allow testing at scale of open 5G-and-beyond solutions in unmanned aerial system verticals.

The proposed Public Notice to be shared by Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel today with her fellow Commissioners would also, if adopted, modify the New York City Innovation Zone (known as COSMOS) to cover the three Columbia University and City College of New York campus areas. COSMOS is a city-scale outdoor testbed with a technical focus on ultra-high-bandwidth and low-latency wireless communications, with tightly coupled edge computing, a type of cloud computing enabling data processing at the edge of the network. COSMOS also was a host facility for the 2019 and 2020 O-RAN Alliance worldwide plugfests.

— RBR+TVBR Washington Bureau

It is an FM translator serving the Tennessee city of Chattanooga at 104.3 MHz.

Soon, it will be licensed to Immanuel Broadcasting Network.

Will “The Message” be altered for this operation?

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Despite an effort by the company’s founder to stop it, the Audio Division of the FCC’s Media Bureau has moved forward with the approval of Alpha Media‘s voluntary debtor-in-possession status.

As such, an emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection appears imminent.

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Sinclair Broadcast Group has created a position that will see an individual lead the company’s information security program across all business functions, charged with creating and executing Sinclair’s security vision, strategy and operating model across its entire portfolio.

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Crossings TV can be found over the air on low-power TV station KBTV-8 in Sacramento; on Comcast Xfinity systems in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma; and on Charter Spectrum systems in Los Angeles in New York — some of the nation’s biggest Asian American population centers.

Why did Frank Washington, founder and CEO of the Sacramento-based channel, and COO Daniel Sakaya, each decide to focus their careers and attention to the build-out of a television channel that offers a variety of programming targeting all of these different groups?

They share this, and more, in this encore RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast from January 12, 2021, presented by DOT.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Frank Washington” on Spreaker.

Global advertising spend is on course for 12.6% growth this year.

That’s an upgrade from the 6.7% initially projected, as the global ad market rebounds strongly from the COVID-19 downturn of last year.

It is a conclusion from business intelligence firm WARC.

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On July 1, an individual whose resume includes stints as EVP/Ad Sales and Marketing for TV One and, before that, as VP of Client Strategy for Viacom Media Networks officially took the reins as CEO of the owner of two New York City radio stations and Fairway Outdoor. 

The company’s stock price actually dipped slightly, while remaining steadily in a range seen across 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic proving to be a non-issue.

On Monday, July 12, MediaCo Holding stock exploded like a West Coast wildfire. A day later, a bit of profiteering was taking shape.

Is this the latest example of Wall Street investors taking diversity commitments from Fortune 100 companies to the bank?

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The average audience for the three major cable news channels, as well as for the network and local TV news sectors, increased in 2020. That’s according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the state of the U.S. news media.

Financially speaking, the cable and local TV news sectors saw an increase in revenue, while advertiser expenditures for the news programs of the three major networks remained steady.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday recommended $20 million for public broadcasting’s Next Generation Warning System within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Fiscal Year 2022 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.

This funding would help support public broadcasting’s work in alert and warning and public safety communications.

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He’s most recently served as the VP/GM of the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned FOX affiliate serving Omaha and The CW Network affiliate it runs via a local marketing agreement with Mitts Telecasting Co.

Now, after nearly 11 years in Mid-America, this 30-year local TV veteran is heading to the Rio Grande Valley for a new role with Nexstar Media Group.

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How does one pull the trigger and launch a podcast? Where should that podcast be launched? What’s the best way to increase the listener base?

These are the questions Podcasting Hall of Famer and School of Podcasting CEO Dave Jackson deals with daily. He addressed them, among others, in a lively session conducted live Tuesday during Streamline Publishing’s How to Make REAL MONEY Podcasting virtual conference.

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For the independent podcast, getting good distribution without the tech headaches is just as important as attracting sponsors. So, what’s the best route to take?

That was the focal point of a conversation between Podcast Business Journal and Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan and two podcasting business leaders that served as a strong kickoff to the three-day How to Make REAL MONEY Podcasting virtual conference.

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As the clock strikes Midnight, low-power TV stations that haven’t been built yet and haven’t secured extensions from the FCC will disappear into the ether, with their respective licensees forfeiting the right to create them.

For some, the race against the clock meant engaging in deals before time expires. These fresh transactions involve such companies as HC2 Holdings and Gray Television, and noted brokerage Kalil & Co.

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TORONTO — Telestream, the provider of workflow automation, media processing, quality monitoring and test and measurement products for the production and distribution of video, has announced a new integration of the Vantage Media Processing Platform within BroadView’s OnDemand software to provide advanced transcoding and automated media workflows.

Based in Toronto, BroadView Software supplies a comprehensive broadcast management system which includes fully integrated tools for programming, scheduling, VOD, traffic and sales.

“Built for broadcasters and content providers who are making their content available to either traditional cable set top VOD partners or TV everywhere partners, the integration with Vantage streamlines the operation with workflow automation, reducing manpower and the potential for errors,” the company says.

BroadView can now create sequences based on VOD schedules and send them automatically to Vantage for transcoding, it adds.

“Vantage has an excellent API which has allowed us to create an improved media workflow that BroadView can leverage to provide tools for our clients without having to re-engineer that ourselves,” said Geoff Holden, Product Manager of OnDemand at BroadView. “This is an exciting first step in tighter integration with Vantage that will make our customer workflows more efficient and more cost effective when delivering VOD.”

The integrated solution is currently in use at Blue Ant Media, a Toronto-based media company. Everything is controlled from BroadView including the ability to monitor jobs in Vantage in real time. Prior to BroadView, many media workflows at Blue Ant were manual in nature.

Holden added, “We are also able to provide our clients with a graphical user interface to monitor the state of jobs within Vantage as they relate to the BroadView items without leaving our interface.”

— Carina Newton

TEL AVIV — OOONA, a global provider of professional management and production tools for the localization industry, has signed an API partnership with broadcast channel management service provider Evrideo.

The agreement gives Evrideo customers access to OOONA’s complete product range.

“Localization has always been an important element of the broadcast industry,” says Nir Gilad, Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Sales at Evrideo. “It became even more so when the world rediscovered its cultural and geographical roots during the Covid-19 pandemic. OOONA products closely complement the facilities we offer our customers around the world. This agreement extends the feature set we are able to provide, allowing clients to concentrate on their professional skills without operational distractions.”

“This is the latest in an ongoing series of technical conformance agreements designed to make our localization platform as widely accessible as possible,” adds OOONA co-founder and CEO Wayne Garb. “OOONA’s platform can be integrated with the Evrideo workflow to become a seamless part an existing operating environment. One of the important features is the ability to prevent human error and save time.”

— David Kirk

Technical Services Group (TSG), a broadcast engineering and commercial AV solutions provider, has completed its move to its new facility in Baton Rouge. With 36,000 square feet of interior floor space, the building is almost six times larger than the company’s previous headquarters.

The new building’s 25,000-square-foot warehouse and staging area, complete with tractor trailer loading zones and multiple forklifts, can accommodate equipment needs for larger projects. There are also dedicated, climate controlled areas for fabrication, integration and training. Instead of being limited to working on one project at a time due to space constraints, TSG teams can use the separate areas to work on multiple projects concurrently.

C-TAP compliance for international shipments and staging is an important milestone for the new facility, as TSG continues to grow with global partners. Other facility features include CCTV security, emergency power, a 10G IT fiber infrastructure, Creston presentation and collaboration technologies, and a Fishbowl inventory management system with wireless Zebra barcode scanners. TSG is also planning to add RFID technology for improved warehousing.

“Both our commercial AV and broadcast integration, RF, and field services teams are busier than ever. The transmission business continues to grow, too, even as we draw closer to the end of the FCC Repack,” said Bo Hoover, CEO of TSG. “This new facility is an important move forward for TSG and our clients. Now, we have more space to stage, store, and prepare equipment in order to respond faster to what our clients demand. We’ve also incorporated advanced technologies to manage inventories and provide better facility-wide communications. Plus, our addition of a dedicated 24-hour network and technical operations center will be extremely important to supporting our clients’ mission-critical facilities and customer operations.”

TSG’s new address is: 7000 Exchequer Dr., Baton Rouge, La. 70809.

NTP Technology has made a “major addition” to its global sales network by appointing CIS Group as a sales partner in Brazil and North America.

The partnership includes the NTP Technology Penta and DAD product lines with a focus on Broadcast and Entertainment.

CIS is headquartered in Florida, with offices and field presences in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; New York; Boston,; and Charlotte.

CIS Group’s U.S. team will work closely with the NTP Technology distributor for North America, plus24. Based in Los Angeles, plus24 works with integrators and dealers to develop system designs and timely procurement.

Tightrope Media Systems is continuing to enhance its Cablecast Community Media broadcast automation, playout and content publishing platform with new features and optimizations that further streamline community broadcasters’ workflows and bring even more value-added functionality into the system.

Available immediately, the new Cablecast 7.3 software upgrade adds dynamic audio normalization and NDI output capabilities along with a variety of performance and user interface enhancements.

Headlining the list of new features in Cablecast version 7.3 is dynamic audio normalization. Available on Cablecast VIO video servers, the function allows users to set a target loudness level to which all audio playout will automatically be adjusted in real time.

“Consistent audio loudness is an important component of enjoyable viewing experiences,” said Steve Israelsky, President of Cablecast Community Media. “Viewers don’t want to keep adjusting the volume of their TV or viewing device each time a different show or promo comes on. Dynamic audio normalization makes it easy for broadcasters to maintain consistent audio levels between programs without needing to individually process each show in advance, which is particularly valuable in PEG stations where programming is contributed by multiple producers. It also helps overcome unpredictable audio levels in live content, particularly relative to recorded programming that precedes or follows it.”

Newly added NDI output capabilities in version 7.3 complement Cablecast’s existing input support for the media-over-IP format. Cablecast VIO servers can now output each playout channel as an NDI stream in parallel with the usual SDI outputs. Stations can use the NDI outputs with third-party, NDI-compatible multi-viewer software for split-screen monitoring of all of their channels; make them accessible on their facility LAN for viewing in lobbies and other rooms in the building; or feed them to additional NDI-capable tools such as closed captioning systems.

Another new feature in Cablecast 7.3 lets users upload a default image or slate that will be displayed on a channel while awaiting the start of a live source stream.

Other improvements in Cablecast version 7.3 include transcoding performance optimizations for faster VOD turnaround of multiple shows; live streaming enhancements including line 21 closed caption support and intelligent resolution scaling; and user interface refinements.

The Cablecast 7.3 upgrade is available immediately and is free for Cablecast customers on active software assurance agreements.

The portfolio is comprised of the iHeartSports Network, which provides customized local, regional and national sports content and updates across more than 500 stations; the Fox Sports Network; and some 80 Sports Talk station in the iHeartRadio family.  There’s also the iHeartPodcast Network.

All are now under the leadership of Division President and President of the L.A. Region for iHeartMedia, who will be giving up his Southland duties to a radio industry newbie.

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They had been scheduled for debate and discussion at Tuesday’s FCC July Open Meeting.

On Monday afternoon, two items were deleted from the agenda originally shared with the public on July 6. One deals with steps to combat contraband wireless devices in correctional facilities. The other eliminates and/or amends “outmoded or unnecessary broadcast technical rules.”

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