Media and Video News Headline Updated on 30 October 2019

The headline on 30 October 2019

Bell Media signed a long-term exclusive deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution to bring original programming from WarnerMedia’s HBO Max to Canada beginning in 2020. Source: PR Newswire > Bell Media Seals Long-Term Deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution to Bring HBO Max Original Programming to Canada

Belden plans to divest Grass Valley as part of its portfolio for third quarter 2019 financial report. Source: TVTechnology > Belden Selling Grass Valley

The headline on 29 October 2019

Comcast’s FreeWheel has appointed Jon Whitticom as chief product officer, will lead product strategy, management, design and development. Source: BusinessWire > FreeWheel Appoints Jon Whitticom as Chief Product Officer

Netflix is testing a feature that allows viewers to stream titles at up to 1.5x speed of shows and movies on smartphones. Source: Hollywood Reporter > Netflix Plan to Test Varying Play Speeds Meets Filmmaker Backlash

The headline on 28 October 2019

Discovery signed multi-year strategic agreements for the use of Comscore’s audience measurement and consumer insights tools, as well as for a deeper partnership that will innovate the next generation of measurement capabilities. Source: PR Newswire > Discovery, Inc. and Comscore Announce Broad Strategic Partnership Across Measurement, Targeting and Segmentation

STIRR announced additional 17 new channels to its platform. Source: PR Newswire > STIRR Adds 17 New Channels, Now Offers Audiences 70 Linear Options

Nexstar Media announced that Nexstar Broadcasting will begin to immediately transition its advertising sales to a cost-per-impression (CPM) model. Source: BusinessWire > Nexstar Broadcasting Transitions Advertising Sales to Impressions-Based Currency

Michael Grau has been appointed CFO at Altice USA, responsible for all financial and accounting matters as well as the strategic planning and analysis, internal audit, tax, investor relations and treasury activities. Source: BusinessWire > Michael Grau Appointed Chief Financial Officer of Altice USA

TEGNA and Fox Corporation signed a comprehensive, multi-year deal that renews station affiliation agreements for six TEGNA markets, including three stations acquired last month from Nexstar Media Group. Source: BusinessWire > TEGNA and FOX Renew Affiliation Agreement

The headline on 25 October 2019

Sony has reportedly hired bankers to explore a sale of PlayStation Vue service, which offers a slimmed-down version of cable TV delivered over the internet. Source: The Information > Sony Explores Sale of Vue, Signaling Shift on Streaming

Verizon lost a net 67,000 Fios video subscribers in the third quarter 2019. Source: Verizon > Verizon reports strong 3Q results propelled by wireless customer growth

The headline on 24 October 2019

ETSI announced two major specifications released by the ETSI Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM) Industry Specification Group that can span multiple standards and open source based domain-specific network automation projects. Source: ETSI introduces a new end-to-end architectural framework for network and service automation

Brightcove announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019. Source: BusinessWire > Brightcove Announces Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019

Telaria partnered with She Runs It, formerly Advertising Women of New York, to elevate women at all stages in their career in the technology and advertising industries. Source: BusinessWire > Telaria Forges Strategic Partnership With She Runs It to Empower Women in Technology and Advertising

The headline on 22 October 2019

The Department of Justice is reportedly weighing a probe into Comcast’s threats to charge consumers extra for movie channel Starz. Source: New York Post > DOJ watching Comcast’s plan to charge extra for Starz channel: sources

Discovery, Inc. has chosen Synamedia’s virtualized Digital Content Manager (DCM) from its video network portfolio to increase operational efficiencies for Asia Pacific distribution. Source: Cision > Discovery selects Synamedia’s virtualized DCM to support its Asia Pacific migration to cloud encoding

The headline on 21 October 2019

NBA has begun offering NBA TV service as a standalone streaming app for $59.99 a year (or $7 a month) includes a live feed of NBA TV across devices including Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, and Android with video-on-demand access to every NBA Finals game from 2000-2019 and exclusive NBA TV shows. Source: The Streamable > NBA TV is Now Available to Stream As $7 a Month Standalone Subscription

Eros Now added support for Dolby Vision ultra-vivid imaging technology and Dolby Atmos immersive audio on selected content. Source: Business Wire > Eros Now to Stream Content in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

Apple’s AR glasses could debut in 2020. Source: Bloomberg Businessweek > Apple’s Smart Glasses Could Make 2020 the Year of AR

The headline on 18 October 2019

Fox has set a deal with TV ad measurement and attribution firm iSpot.tv. Source: Deadline > Fox Corp. Forges Deal With TV Ad Measurement Firm ISpot

eyecandylab and LG Uplus launched “U+ AR Shopping,” an augmented reality (AR) home shopping product. Source: PR Newswire > eyecandylab and LG Uplus become first to fuse TV home shopping with Augmented Reality

Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe, and Mercado Pago have all left the Libra Association. Some companies were spooked by the prospect of increased scrutiny by regulators, dealing a major blow to Facebook’s attempt to create a global cryptocurrency. Of the 28 founding companies that signed on, 21 are left. Source: Bloomberg > Libra Loses a Quarter of Its Members as Booking Holdings Exits

LinkedIn officially launched an events tool to help people get together in the physical world. “People don’t have a single place to organize [work-related] offline meetups specific to an industry or a neighborhood. Linkedin users can now create event pages via the Community panel which is something similar to Facebook events. Source: Linkedin Official Blog > Planning an in Person Professional Gathering Just Got Easier With LinkedIn Events and Linkedin Help > LinkedIn Events – Overview

The Guardian launched an ad-free daily app across iOS and Android devices, for paid subscribers. It’s finite — no mindless scrolling to an impossible bottom. “There’s room for a new experience with a different cadence, a finite amount of content carefully curated.” Source: The Guardian > The Guardian releases newly designed Daily app across iOS and Android devices

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is cutting 130 jobs by end of Nov. 2019 as its media business continues to implode. That’s about 5% of the company. SPH, which publishes the Straits Times, reported that print ads fell by almost 15% in the financial year ended August 31. Source: TODAY > SPH to lay off 5 percent of staff in media group as part of restructuring efforts

India’s Daily News & Analysis (DNA) has stopped print edition after 14 years since launch. Management says it needs to cut costs and it was “not viable to run the paper anymore”. DNA now survives only on digital. DNA launched in Mumbai in 2005, positioning itself as an alternative to the Times of India. It poached talent from its rivals quickly, often paying above-market rates. Source: rediff.com > DNA newspaper shuts print edition, to go fully digital

The headline on 17 October 2019

Locast is expanding to Atlanta and Phoenix. Source: Cord Cutter News > Locast Now Offers Free TV in Atlanta & Phoenix With Access to ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, & More

Former President of HBO Domestic Television Scott Carlin joined Magid as Executive Vice President of global media and entertainment. Source: Business Wire >Magid Names Scott Carlin, EVP, Global Media & Entertainment

Fox Corporation completed its acquisition of 67% of the equity of Credible Labs Inc. Source: FOX >Fox Corporation Completes Acquisition of 67% of Equity of Credible Labs

SpotX Chief Scientist Neal Richter was elected to the Chairman of IAB Tech Lab board of directors. Source: Business Wire > SpotX Chief Scientist Neal Richter Elected as Chairman of IAB Tech Lab Board of Directors

The headline on 16 October 2019

Adobe is canceling all subscriptions to its Creative Cloud software in Venezuela, thanks to Trump’s sanctions against the country. As in, subscriptions suspended, accounts deleted, no refunds, no further purchases — “no sales, service, support, refunds, credits, etc.” Venezuelan users can’t even use Adobe’s free products.

Gutenberg, the new WordPress block editor, is almost a year old. The big headline is that nothing broke. There were bugs; they’re smoothing them out. More blocks are being added to the editor, and building your own blocks is now way easier than it used to be. The Gutenberg roadmap is pretty extensive, and it looks like it’s here to stay: “Phase 3 will focus on collaboration and multi-user editing. Phase 4 will contain support for multilingual sites.” And 44% of respondents in a really non-conclusive 50-person Twitter poll said they liked Gutenberg more.

The headline on 15 October 2019

Akamai increases security enhancements to its Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, include: increased insight into bot activity, extended access security with device posture, enhanced agility with WAF rule evaluation mode and real-time content protection to stop piracy. Source: Akamai > Akamai Edge Platform Increases Security Protections For Content, Sites, And Apps Enhancements Accelerate Cloud Transformation and Improve Security

Amobee is extending partnership with DoubleVerify to launch an expansion of fraud prevention solution include connected TV inventory, ensure a fraud-free experience for brands and agencies. Source: BusinessWire > Amobee Launches Fraud Free Guarantee for Connected TV Inventory, Part of a Comprehensive Solution to Detect and Block Fraudulent Inventory

Rakuten TV launched AVOD service in Europe to provide ad-supported channels that offer Hollywood, local and exclusive content for free. Source: BusinessWire > Rakuten TV Launches its AVOD Service in Europe

TV Time acquired Mediamorph, combination of TV Time’s Sentiment Data and Mediamorph’s Content Value Management (CVM) cloud platform maximize the revenue of the client’s digital business. Source: PR Newswire > TV Time Acquires Mediamorph, the Leading Content Value Management Platform Powering Top Entertainment Brands

The headline on 14 October 2019

DirecTV experienced some technical difficulties with NFL Sunday Ticket streaming. Source: Deadline > DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Snafu Outrages Football Fans, As Provider Struggles To Fix Service

We are aware that some customers may be experiencing streaming issues with NFL Sunday Ticket. We are working to fix as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

— DIRECTV (@DIRECTV) October 13, 2019

The headline on 12 October 2019

President Trump created a channel on Amazon’s Twitch, the debut by live-streaming for rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday. Source: Wall Street Journal > President Trump Launches Channel on Amazon’s Twitch Streaming Platform and CNN Business > Donald Trump joins Amazon’s video game streaming platform Twitch

LG Business Solutions USA has launched the first 4K Ultra HD TVs (LG’s UT770H NanoCell TV series) with NanoCell IPS display technology designed specifically for the hospitality market. Each model utilizes DTS Virtual:X that analyzes incoming signals in real-time and adjusts output to provide the perception of surround sound from a two-channel system. Source: PR Newswire > LG Introduces First 4K Ultra HD Hotel TVs With NanoCell Display Technology