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Did Apple Goof On Name?
February 5th, 2010, Brad Dick Broadcast Engineering.com
One aspect that’s not received a lot of notice is the device’s screen aspect ratio. The iPad has a 9.7in screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Unless you’re planning on watching only decade or older movies, you’re going to be forced to view the new releases in less than full-screen size.
The image to the left illustrates how various aspect ratios will be displayed on the iPad.
Read The Whole Story...
CBS Sells Out the Super Bowl
February 1, 2010 (AP)
Beer buys the most time
LOS ANGELES: CBS has sold all available airtime for the Super Bowl. CBS had sold around 90 percent of its Super Bowl inventory by December, even as companies ratcheted down on ad spending in one of the worst recessions in decades. The network is also pacing ahead of last year for selling golf and the NCAA basketball tourney in March as well. Read The Whole Story...
NBC Set for First All-HD Winter Games
Along with a 30 person crew of engineers and project managers, the NBC team has been preparing the network's broadcast facilities for the first all-HD Winter Games. Read The Whole Story
Broadcasters Nix Low-Power DTS Proposal
January 27, 2010 TV Technology
The NAB and MSTV, acting as representatives for the nation’s broadcasters, filed comments with the FCC on Jan. 27 pledging “full and constructive participation” in that agency’s broadband plan, but at the same time, denouncing a proposal from the Consumer Electronics Association and CTIA-The Wireless Association for transitioning U.S. television broadcasting to a low-power distributed transmission system (DTS) as impractical. The NAB and MSTV were united in their opinion that the DTS plan was not workable due to loss of coverage and interference problems. Read The Whole Story.
Groups Blast Comcast-NBCU Public Interest Commitments
January 28, 2010
“A month ago, Comcast-NBCU pledged to operate in a manner consistent with certain ‘public interest commitments,’” said ACA president and CEO, Matt Polka. One of the commitments calls for Comcast-NBCU to self-apply the FCC’s program-access rules to its TV stations. This ‘commitment’ isn’t without irony, given that Comcast is asking a federal appeals court to tear up those rules and toss them in the wastebasket. Read The Whole Story....
Golf Channel Goes HD
Broadcast Facilities Inc. Acquires Crawford’s Satellite Division
January 25, 2010LOS ANGELES: Broadcast Facilities Inc. is buying the satellite division of Crawford Communications, the Atlanta-based content distributor. The acquisition includes all of Crawford’s television network origination, Teleport, satellite uplink trucks, Internet, production and government services portions of the business. BFI did not disclose the value of the all-stock deal, but The New York Times DealBook puts it north of $100 million.
Crawford has been providing turnkey broadcast services since 1984. The company performs over 40,000 feeds per year, originates/turns more than 200 full-time networks and provides satellite services to hundreds of clients in various industries, BFI said.
Crawford’s broadcast clients include ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. The company also delivers content for DirecTV Sports Networks, ESPN, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball League, NASCAR and the NFL Network. It does disaster recovery for BET, Discovery, Scripps Networks and The Weather Channel. Government clients include the military, NASA and the Centers for Disease Control. Read The Whole Story....
Universal Sports Finds New HD Production Home
Jan 22, 2010 
Westlake Village, CA Universal Sports has moved into a new 40,000sq-ft HD production facility in Westlake Village, CA, where it is consolidating its TV and digital units that have been spread across two states.
The facility was originally conceived and built by Dole Food Chairman David Murdock to promote health and wellness programming but has sat idle for two years. Read The Whole Story....
RDF to be bought by Zodiak
RDF Media, the independent production company behind Wife Swap, is reportedly to be sold to Zodiak Entertainment, a Paris-based producer.
RDF's chief executive, David Frank, is being lined up to run the combined group, which would be the third largest TV production company in the world, according to a report on the Broadcast website, behind only Endemol and the RTL-owned FremantleMedia.
RECENT NEWS
3D Jackson Tribute Planned for Grammy Awards
January 21, 2010
LOS ANGELES: A 3D short created for the late Michael Jackson’s “This is It!” tour will be featured on the Jan. 31 Grammy Awards telecast as a tribute to the singer. Grammy organizers are saying the feature, “Earth Song,” will debut in the broadcast on CBS. The network is teaming up with target to provide glasses--presumably anaglyph--for the show.
Hundreds of Wireless Microphones To Go Obsolete !
January 16, 2010
Literally hundreds of different wireless public address systems that utilize the 700 MHz UHF band for microphones, intercoms, and in-ear monitors must now be replaced or reconfigured, and it's because of the great DTV shift that took place last year.
In 2008, the FCC auctioned off the 700 MHz frequency band that formerly belonged to UHF channels 52-69, and a large chunk of the band went to AT&T, Verizon, Cox, and King Street Wireless, a holding company associated with US Cellular. Now that the DTV transition is complete and next-gen wireless services are being built around the spectrum that was freed, the FCC has prohibited the sale and distribution of 700 MHz consumer devices.
The FCC is providing a sunset period for these devices which will last until June 12, 2010, or one year from the DTV transition. Thought to be most affected by this transition are P.A. rental companies, music venues, and churches.
Read The Whole Story....
Broadcasters Organize Haitian Relief Effort
January 14, 2010
WASHINGTON: The National Association of Broadcasters today announced a voluntary nationwide initiative aimed at boosting relief efforts in response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti. (The destruction in Port-au-Prince is pictured left in this United Nations photo.)
As part of the initiative, NAB is working closely with the American Red Cross and the Ad Council to distribute critical earthquake relief information. Television and radio PSAs featuring First Lady Michelle Obama will be available for download on NAB’s dedicated public service Web site, NABSpotCenter.org, on Friday, Jan. 15. TV stations can also obtain the PSAs through a special NAB satellite feed on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Specific satellite coordinates will be provided in a communication to stations shortly. Read The Whole Story....
Broadcasters Ready to Fight!
Perry Sook, chairman/president/CEO of Nexstar Broadcasting Group, is even more adamant about the so-called "spectrum grab."
Citing the "unfunded Federal mandate" under which broadcasters spent $15 billion for the digital TV transition, Sook rattles off a roster of reasons why the FCC's dream for redistributing TV spectrum makes no sense.
NBC's Leno Drama Might Have a Happy Ending
January 14, 2010
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC's late-night TV troubles are proving embarrassing and costly for the network -- but the drama could pay dividends down the road.NBC is scrapping its cost-cutting experiment that put "The Jay Leno Show" on TV at 10 p.m. because the show earned poor ratings and backlash from local TV stations that said it hurt the 11 o'clock newscasts that followed. NBC also remains the last of the four big U.S. TV networks in audience ratings.But the disaster might come with a benefit: it could draw more viewers to the network, media executives and advertising experts said. "Controversy is sometimes great PR and could reinvigorate Leno's show. More viewers may turn in out of curiosity," said Gabelli & Co analyst Christopher Marangi. Read The Whole Story....
ESPN Plans Live 3-D Sports Channel
Many details remain fuzzy, but ESPN said it has developed its own techniques and workflows for live game applications. To stimulate interest and prompt consumers to buy the required 3-D-capable HDTV sets, ESPN will host a series of viewing parties across the country in specially equipped theaters and other venues. The network will also have to convince cable, satellite TV providers and telcos to deploy the necessary set-top boxes.
NBC to Move Leno Back to Late-Night as Ratings Drop (Update2)
January 10, 2010
(Bloomberg) -- NBC will stop broadcasting Jay Leno’s talk show at 10 p.m. next month, ending an experiment that sank the TV network’s prime-time ratings and damaged the lead-in audience for local newscasts and late-night shows.
The U.S. network plans to return Leno to a half-hour weeknight slot at 11:35 p.m. and shift “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” a half-hour later to 12:05 a.m., Jeff Gaspin, NBC Universal co-chairman of television and entertainment, said today at a television critics meeting in Pasadena, California. The changes would take effect after the Vancouver Olympics.
Read The Whole Story....Broadcasters Begin Airing Spots Promoting Free TV
January 8, 2010
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has produced a TV spot informing viewers of discussions in Washington that could limit free, over-the-air broadcast television. The 30-second spot, produced in English and Spanish, was distributed via satellite in late December and has been airing on local stations this month. The TV spot comes on the heels of several third-party filings submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for the reallocation of broadcast spectrum for new wireless broadband devices.
Could Leno Go Back To 11:30?
NBC Wants to Set Late-Night Plans Before January 21 Affiliates Meeting
Pressure from stations behind talks of shakeup that could see Leno to 11:35, O'Brien and Fallon 30 minutes later
With the prospect of Leno returning to 11:35--one possibility being discussed and something he exclusively told B&C he would do--speculation immediately turned to O'Brien.
While sources say ABC probably would not be interested in O'Brien, multiple sources with knowledge of Fox's thinking say they believe the network would be interested in O'Brien if the numbers made sense. News Corp. executives have looked at opening up an 11 p.m. late-night time slot in the recent past.
Indie Video Producers Love Blip & YouTube January 5, 2010
Sony Pins Future on a 3-D Revival
JANUARY 7, 2010, BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI, Wall Street Journal
LAS VEGAS -- With its once-revered electronics business flagging, Sony Corp. is placing a huge bet this year that 3-D technology will vault the company back into a leadership position in the living room.
In his latest effort to resuscitate the struggling Japanese behemoth, 67-year-old CEO Howard Stringer has bulled past the hesitancy of some top aides to drive every unit of the company -- from TV production to the movie studio to its videogame arm -- to advance three-dimensional viewing in the global marketplace.
Public Interest Groups Call for Antitrust
Probe of "TV Everywhere"
January 4, 2010
Groups calling for a probe of the "TV Everywhere" plan by cable, satellite and phone companies that brings television shows and movies to computers and devices, but only for those that subscribe to both television and high-speed Internet services.
The public interest groups allege collusion between video service providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Verizon and Direct TV to keep video content behind a subscription-based pay wall.
L.A. Considers Creating Film Commission
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- The city council will consider a plan Tuesday to create a film commission, to keep more production in Hollywood.
How are you going to keep film and TV production in Los Angeles after they've experienced Louisiana, New York or Canada? That's a question the Los Angeles City Council is trying to answer. The latest attempt comes Tuesday with a vote to create a film commission to help market the city. 
"We shouldn't look at the film industry as a pie of a certain size. It's going to grow and the question is, is it going to grow here or someplace else?" asks Richard Alarcon of the L.A. City Council.
Alarcon introduced many of the proposals already approved by the city council.
The TV production Ugly Betty moved to New York in 2008. Costs are less in other states and countries. In 2004, 81 percent of TV pilots were shot in L.A. A new filmL.A. survey found that number plummeted to 57 percent last year. Feature filming in L.A. in 2008 was nearly half what it was at its peak.
TV In 10 Years!
The movement to kill free, over-the-air TV service has never been as intense as it is right now. The administration has aligned fully with the telco and computer lobbies that have been trying to wrench spectrum away from broadcasting for years. The effort started years ago with the move toward digital transmission. It advanced more recently when the fed allowed unlicensed communications devices in TV buffer channels. Now there’s talk of further displacement to free spectrum up for wireless broadband. 
It coincides with the single most difficult period in the broadcast industry. Broadcasters are hurting from multiple blows. The just-completed DTV transition cost them millions. The implosion of the auto industry cut revenues by a quarter. Some bankrupt broadcast companies are now in the hands of lenders. The industry’s down. There’s no better time to kick it if the intent is to finish it off, which seems to be the case.
The movement to kill free TV emanates from Washington, D.C., not into it.
Broadcasters Respond to FCC's
Spectrum Inquiry
Dec 28, 2009
The NAB and MSTV filed comments last week with the FCC over its proposed National Broadband Plan, echoing statements made by NAB President Gordon Smith before Congress.
The broadcast trade organizations also submitted “A Proposed Framework for Discussion,” which included a new study that shows nearly 750MHz of spectrum currently available for licensed broadband use. That figure is more than double the amount of spectrum allocated exclusively for TV broadcasters, which totals 294MHz. A pair of Purdue University engineering professors conducted the study. Read The Whole Story...
Can Steve Jobs Unplug Cable TV?
December 22, 2009
This could be totally disruptive. Or it could be another "hobby" like Apple TV that never quite takes off.
In a front-page story published Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that CBS (CBS) and Disney (DIS) are "considering participating" in Apple's (AAPL) plan to offer television subscriptions over the Internet.
It was the first hint of interest from TV content providers since the news broke last month — in All Things Digital, another News Corp. (NWS) property — that Apple was preparing to offer such a service to its 100 million-plus iTunes subscribers. Read The Whole Story...
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Equipment News
Broadcast Pix Puts Production in a Briefcase
Jan.29.2010
Broadcast Pix has introduced Slate Portable, designed for quick setup on a table or other work surface, with all the power of a Slate video production system, including an HD/SD production switcher, multi-view monitoring, clip stores, graphics system with Harris Inscriber CG, Fluent workflow software, and format and aspect conversion for 1080i, 720p, SD, and analog. It is available now. See More
Sony HDR-AX2000 First Look
By Moshe Lehrer, B&H Photo Video.com
Prosumer video cameras today can be even better than some of the professional cameras of only a few years ago, and the line between prosumer and professional keeps blurring more and more each year. Judging by the upcoming Sony HDR-AX2000 prosumer video camera, the accelerated pace of technological advancement shows no sign of slowing.Wohler Enhances AMP1-16-3G and AMP2-16 Series Audio Monitors With New Mixing, Control, and Display Features
January 20th, 2010
New Features Move Wohler Flagship Audio Monitors to Live Transmission-Chain Applications
HAYWARD, Calif. — Wohler Technologies Inc. today announced further enhancements to its AMP1-16-3G and AMP2-16 Series 16-channel audio monitors with new features and menu options that bring even greater convenience and functionality to multichannel monitoring. Improved access to audio levels and settings, newly added live mixing capabilities for the AMP2-16 Series, and more powerful monitoring and control functions at their fingertips now give operators the flexibility to adapt in real-time to the monitoring demands of complex broadcast operations.
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