AT&T added programming from RFD-TV to its U-Verse lineup. RFD-TV’s programming focuses on agriculture, equine and the rural lifestyle, along with country music and entertainment, the companies said Monday in a news release (http://on.mktw.net/1usEGld). It launched on Channel 568 in the U200 package in standard definition, AT&T said. It will launch in HD later this year, it said.
DirecTV and Raycom entered a new carriage agreement after the DBS company’s subscribers lost the broadcaster’s stations last week due to a carriage dispute (CD Sept 3 p17). Raycom will be working over the next few days to finalize the full agreement, it said in a news release Sunday (http://bit.ly/1oZ08sy). Subscribers were able to see Sunday’s NFL season-opening games, DirecTV said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1BnmWek).
Delivery of Ultra HD content through the Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA) initiative involves “a technology that will liberate high-quality content for consumers, allowing them to move it easily from device to device,” Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn told Samsung’s IFA news conference in Berlin. Fox Home Entertainment, SanDisk, Warner Home Entertainment and Western Digital are founding members of the SCSA, working to fashion “an open ecosystem” of 4K content that one could buy at retail or download for storage or playback on any number of brands of Ultra HD TVs that support that ecosystem, Samsung has said. Eighteen companies also belong to the SCSA as “contributing” members, the group’s website said (http://bit.ly/1t40L7U), but LG Electronics and Samsung are the only TV makers. Other contributing members are Akamai, ARM Holdings, Comcast, Cryptography Research, Cisco, Discretix, Dolby Labs, DTS, Inside Secure, Irdeto, Marvell, MediaTek, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Saffron Digital and Seagate. Ultra HD movies “are super-large files,” Dunn told the news conference Thursday. “How can you move them quickly and efficiently to your Samsung curved UHD TV? SCSA will help solve this. Our high-quality content will only be available in UHD on devices like Samsung’s that commit to SCSA technology. And that’s why Samsung customers can look forward to our entire summer lineup in UHD.” Without mentioning a time frame for releasing content through the SCSA initiative, he rattled off three titles: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Fault in Our Stars. X-Men: Days of Future Past debuts Sept. 23 on digital download and Oct. 14 on Blu-ray and DVD, and The Fault in Our Stars debuts Sept. 16 on Blu-ray and DVD. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has no street date yet. Samsung is one SCSA backer that has speculated the group wouldn’t have anything concrete to announce further on its Ultra HD content ecosystem until CES. Asked to provide specific details on what Ultra HD content Fox might release through the SCSA initiative and when, Danny Kaye, Fox executive vice president-research and technology strategy, responded Thursday in an email: “Sorry but nothing more just now.”
DirecTV urged Raycom to let DirecTV customers see opening weekend NFL games and upcoming NCAA football games while the companies continue to negotiate a carriage deal. Raycom stations were pulled from DirecTV’s lineup this month due to a carriage negotiation dispute (CD Sept 3 p17). DirecTV subscribers were to be able to view Thursday’s NFL opener at NBCSports.com, it said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1uoNokG). The direct broadcast satellite company said it was ready to compensate Raycom the final price that the parties agree upon for the days its customers are permitted to see Sunday’s NBC, CBS or Fox NFL coverage, and the NCAA games that took place over the weekend. Raycom offered Thursday to make the games available to DirecTV customers, “but DirecTV turned us down,” said Susana Schuler, Raycom senior vice president. “We're doing all we can to bring the local stations back,” she said in an interview. It’s unfortunate that DirecTV refused the offer, but “we remain hopeful that DirecTV will put their subscribers first and do the right thing, so viewers will see NCAA and NFL games this weekend,” Raycom said Thursday in a news release.
The Fox Sports GO app will live stream 97 regular season NFL games, along with four NFC playoff games. The games will be available on tablets through the app and on desktops at www.FoxSportsGo.com, Fox Sports said in a news release Wednesday (http://foxs.pt/1nXW64c). NFL games aren’t available through the app on mobile phones due to league restrictions, Fox Sports said.
The World Teleport Association is accepting survey responses for its 2014 Top Teleport Operator Rankings. The report ranks companies operating teleports for commercial purposes, including independents, satellite carriers, fiber carriers and technology providers, WTA said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qglR4y). The survey doesn’t include broadcast networks, it said. “Rankings are based on total revenue from all sources and on year-on-year growth."
Gannett got federal regulatory clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act to take full ownership of automotive website Cars.com, the company said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1pNNB1d). Gannett already owned 27 percent of Cars.com’s parent Classified Ventures, and agreed to pay $1.8 billion for the remaining 73 percent (CD Aug 6 p16). The sellers include former Washington Post owner Graham Holdings, and newspaper publishers McClatchy and Tribune.
Gracenote said it bought film and TV information and services company Baseline for $50 million (http://bit.ly/1qozazG). The acquisition strengthens Gracenote’s existing video metadata by adding movie and TV information for more than 300,000 movies and TV projects, information on nearly 1.5 million TV and film professionals, and box office data for 45 territories, it said Wednesday. Baseline’s subscription-based The Studio System platform expands Gracenote’s reach into the studio and TV network communities with data and services targeted to entertainment industry professionals, Gracenote said. Baseline’s licensed data powers video search and discovery features and TV Everywhere apps for satellite operators, on-demand movie services, Internet companies and online streaming providers including Hulu and Vudu, it said. Gracenote was bought by Tribune Media Co. earlier this year.
Audible Magic joined RGB Networks to offer ad insertion that lets cable and direct broadcast satellite operators replace ads embedded in streams lacking advertising markers. The technology is particularly applicable outside the U.S. “where ad markers such as SCTE-35 cues are often not included in broadcast content,” Audible Magic said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1u131zm). When ad content is detected in the broadcast stream, Audible Magic’s technology signals RGB’s ad marking device that injects SCTE-35 cues into the transcoded system, it said. Ad insertion equipment responding to SCTE-35 cues “can then be utilized downstream to enable ad replacement that is invisible to the viewer yet cost-effective to implement,” it said. SCTE is the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.
A petition asking the Obama administration to protect journalists' “right to report” in the digital era was launched by the Committee to Protect Journalists Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1rMWbig). The petition seeks three commitments from the administration: a presidential directive banning the “hacking and surveillance” of journalists and media organizations; putting limits on “aggressive prosecutions” of journalists and whistleblowers; and preventing the “harassment” of journalists at all U.S. borders, it said. The petition was signed by individual reporters, news organizations and free speech groups, including The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it said.