NALIP: Bringing Latino Content Creators to the Forefront
It’s coming close to that time of year when key players across the media and entertainment world will gather for the 33rd annual Walter Kaitz Foundation dinner, the most prestigious fundraising event in the cable industry. Every year the foundation recognizes organizations that demonstrate an unwavering commitment to diversity. This year, the honors go to the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP)and A + E Networks. In anticipation of the event, we caught up with Axel Caballero, the executive director of NALIP, to find out how the diversity advocate honoree is helping
Emmy Noms Day Another Big One for Cable Programs
The 68th Primetime Emmy nominations were just announced and cable programming is once again sitting pretty, taking over half (41 out of 72) of the nominations in the top 12 categories. The always competitive drama categories were again lead by cable hits, taking five of the seven noms for Best Drama. Cable also has a good number of nods in the comedy categories, including Best Comedy Series nominations for HBO’s Silicon Valley and Veep. This year’s nominations reinforce the trend of the world’s top writers, directors and actors moving to cable and producing cinema-quality programing that
Let Some Fresh Air Inside the FCC’s Smoke-Filled Tent
According to a recent blog post from Public Knowledge executive and telecom pundit Harold Feld, negotiations to reach final rules for the FCC’s Business Data Services (BDS) proceeding are underway and he is encouraging AT&T to stop “throwing a hissy fit,” “read [] the writing on the wall,” and “come into the tent and negotiate.” While we have previously raised concerns about some of the strange statements coming out of Public Knowledge in the BDS proceeding, Feld’s post deserves a particularly close look. Specifically, in explaining why he thinks AT&T should join Verizon in negotiating a
The Internet of Things Lives on Wi-Fi
There are cable Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, and as their numbers continues to increase, the Internet of Things’ network will grow as well. Eventually, everything you own could be connected to Wi-Fi. But with everything getting connected to Wi-Fi, it is essential that we make more spectrum available for unlicensed use so that Wi-Fi can grow. By increasing the amount of spectrum that Wi-Fi can share, we can continue to expand the Internet of Things and increase the speed and capacity of our connected lifestyle.
HTML5: Just Another Technology We Never Notice
The best innovations are the ones we immediately take for granted. Things like Wi-Fi and HD are incredible the first time we experience them and once we realize they work really well, they fade into the background. A great streaming video app is like this, too; astounding one second, to-be-expected the next. But the reality is these technologies are amazing feats of engineering. And in the case of TV apps, are made possible by an even more hidden piece of incredible tech that is essentially unknown to the non-developer community, HTML5. HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language, is the standard
Do We Need to Formally Re-Define News for the Digital Era?
Like it has done in almost every aspect of our lives, technology has undoubtedly changed the way we get our news and how we engage with news. Pew’s most recent State of the Media report revealed that 65 percent of people receive their news about the presidential election from digital sources, and more people are learning about it through social media than ever before. But the delivery of news isn’t the only thing that’s changed. The types of news content produced for those platforms has also evolved as online news aggregators, satirical and alternative news sites, memes, and viral videos took
An Existing Internet Privacy Plan That Works for Everyone
Almost everyone agrees that the internet is a phenomenal success that has changed our lives in many important and entertaining ways. Superfast networks built and continually upgraded by internet service providers (ISPs) have provided consumers with an exciting platform to find just about any content or experience imaginable. When taking a closer look at why the internet has thrived, privacy has been a critical issue. For ISPs, privacy has been a top priority for more than two decades as these companies have worked hard to successfully preserve and protect the private data of consumers. And
For Millennials, Watching TV Means Something Totally Different
Every Sunday night, my group of friends gathers together, brings snacks, and gets cozy to watch Game of Thrones as it airs. This marks one of the few times in the week that any of us will watch live TV, save for some episodes of Broad City or the news. According to the latest Nielsen Total Audience Report, this is the norm for younger audiences. Viewers age 18-34 watch the smallest amount of live TV, a mere 29 percent of their total media diet, compared to 35 percent for 35-49 year olds, and a whopping 53 percent for audiences age 50 and older. When looking at the total time spent per week
Copa America Breaks Records, Proving Our Love of Both Soccer and Streaming TV
The 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament, a soccer tournament held in 10 different cities across the United States this past month, drew in a record-breaking number of TV viewers. This, the 100th anniversary of the world’s oldest international soccer tournament, took place for the first time outside of South America. For a country long known to lag behind many others in its intensity of soccer fandom, this engagement over several different platforms for both Spanish and English programmers was impressive and indicative of both how we watch sports and how Americans are increasingly falling
Is the FCC About to Put 5G Deployment in the Slow Lane?
During a speech at the National Press Club last week, FCC Chairman Wheeler laid out a roadmap for how the U.S. can be the global leader in the next generation of wireless technology, 5G. The speech highlighted several steps the Commission intends to take over the coming months to pave the way for this new era of connectivity. But one proceeding that the FCC is currently pursuing – the FCC’s Further Notice on Business Data Service (BDS) – could in fact backfire and slow the deployment of 5G if the Commission stays on its current course. 5G networks will rely on substantially more cell sites