New Digital Media Stars and the Phenomenon Behind Their Success
Kids and their videos these days. They’re all over the place, on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook–those bite-sized pieces of entertainment that go viral and have everyone talking. Roll your eyes all you want at those kids, but the greatest “aha” moment in the Internet and television world is that there’s actually a strategy behind the creation and success of a lot of these digital media stars, said Evan Shapiro, Executive Vice President of NBCUniversal during a late afternoon session at INTX. Shapiro kicked off an hour-long conversation with Whistle Sports Director of New Channel Partnerships
The Future of Live Broadcast News in an On-Demand World
As NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell noted in his opening remarks to #INTX2016, every screen is now a television. That’s a double-edged sword. As more opportunities exist to consume video everywhere, the concept of traditional broadcasting is in upheaval. Entertainment programming has started to respond to this disruption rather successfully with shows like “Fargo” or “True Detective,” which take a cinematic approach to television. “[Entertainment] television is becoming more like the movie business,” Andy Lippman, Associate Director of the MIT Media Lab, said today at the opening talk in
Is the FCC’s Set-Top Box Plan Technology Neutral? Spoiler Alert: It’s Not
At a press conference following the FCC’s April 28 public meeting, Chairman Wheeler took the opportunity to call out NCTA for raising concerns about his proposal that would impose significant new rate regulation on competitive providers of business data services. According to the Chairman, the cable industry has long advocated technology neutral regulation and he suggested we were being hypocritical when we questioned his purportedly technology neutral approach to business data services. We explained in response that the Chairman was incorrect and that NCTA had long advocated a technology
CommScope Talks on Delivery of Gigabit Speeds
An Interface by Any Other Name…
Over the last ten years there has been an explosion in devices, apps, and content marketplaces, all champing at the bit to deliver ever-improving TV experiences. This revolution has birthed the terms cord-cutter, cord-shaver, and cord never. It’s disrupted the way content is traditionally distributed and completely redesigned the interfaces we use to watch TV. It may seem superficial, but these interfaces may be the most critical part of the modern streaming video experience. Whether you’re using a Roku, an Apple TV, an Amazon Fire, a Chromecast, or one of the dozens of other streaming boxes
Winter is Coming for Set-top Boxes: How Game of Thrones and the FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal are Intertwined
Last night, HBO’s wildly popular Game of Thrones returned for its sixth season. We won’t provide any spoilers for those who haven’t yet watched the show but we will highlight an aspect of the show that is important for tech policy and the FCC’s set-top box mandate. That aspect is how the show can be watched via so many sources, from different providers, as part of different packages and on many different devices. Last night, you could have watched Game of Thrones via the following devices besides the TV in your living room–smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, streaming set-top boxes like Roku
The FCC Set-Top Box Mandate is Not Only Unnecessary but Legally Unsustainable
Twenty years ago, watching TV meant sitting at home in front of a television set, probably in the living room. It came through a box sitting next to the TV, and if you wanted to watch TV in a different room that it meant setting up a different box and a different connection. Today, apps, tablets, smartphones, streaming services, TV Everywhere technology, and near-ubiquitous Wi-Fi have given consumers more choices than ever as to where, when, and how they watch TV. These innovations have come from all kinds of service providers and tech companies, all of which are innovating rapidly and to
White House May Think Weighing in on Boxes is Good Politics, but It's Bad Government
This morning, the White House published a blog on an ongoing FCC proceeding discussing the future of TV technology and weighing in on what kind of set top box you should have in your home. We are disappointed that White House political advisers are choosing to inject politics and inflammatory rhetoric into a regulatory proceeding by what is supposed to be an independent agency. Consumers and regulated companies have the right to expect decisions affecting their businesses are made based on sound analysis of the record and not the political interests of the executive branch. To see the White
Discovery VR is Celebrating the Story that is Earth
Discovery has long been known for telling the story of all that is Earth. And while that core story hasn’t changed, the way the network is telling or will tell that story in the future will only get more intimate, personal, complimentary, and exciting. Launched last August, Discovery VR features content that not only plays off some of Discovery’s on-air programming, but that also spans several of Discovery’s linear and web-native networks and content that is independent of Discovery as well. Audiences can dive under water in the Bahamas and swim with sharks from the angle of a diver, up close
Pivot TV: The Network Inspiring Millennials to Social Action
Earlier this year, a documentary called Codegirl aired on Pivot TV and showed the experiences of young girls around the world in their quest to design life-changing mobile apps. The program, however, seemed to serve a dual purpose. One was of course to inform viewers of the various social issues impacting different regions of the globe. The other was to mobilize the younger generation, particularly women, to effect social change around them through the pursuit of careers in what is usually a male-dominated STEM field. And therein lies what makes Pivot a network unique among the rest: the call