Technology360

Weekend readings for #pubmedia

Here is this week’s compilation of links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• must see  Opera TV and BBC HbbTV 2.0.1 live demonstration [video].  Vimeo
• must read  3.0 offers intriguing 4K delivery possibilities.  TVNewsCheck
• Association of smaller cable operators alleges broadcaster hypocrisy on ATSC 3.0.  TVTechnology
• Interview with Pat Butler: Next Cen TV enhances public television’s mission.  ATSC

Broadband/Wireless

• Microsoft’s misguided broadband plan endangers Americans.  The Hill  …and…  Rural groups challenge Microsoft’s spectrum push.
• Repealing net neutrality is easy.  Replacing it will be hard.  Wired
• DirecTV Now is quickly becoming pivotal to AT& T’s wireless business.  Video Nuze
• Verizon urges FCC to confirm states’ right to opt out of FirstNet.  FierceWireless

Digital Video/OTT/vMVPD/VOD

• OTT: The challenges of infrastructure.  TVTechnology
• DirecTV Now is quickly becoming pivotal to AT& T’s wireless business.  Video Nuze
• Analyst: vMVPDs are ‘shaping up to be a truly lousy business.  FierceCable
• vMVPD affiliate deals easier to execute, no less costly.  nScreenMedia

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• Radio executives, take heart – you could be working in TV.  Jacobs Media Strategies
• House bill would give radio stations some repack relief.  RadioWorld
• must read  SVOD adoption up to 64% of homes, with 29% streaming daily.  Video Nuze

Repack/Incentive Auction/Spectrum

• Senate bill would fully fund repack costs.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  House bill would give radio stations some repack relief.  RadioWorld
• Microsoft’s misguided broadband plan endangers Americans.  The Hill  …and…  Rural groups challenge Microsoft’s spectrum push.
• No magic formula for channel sharing amounts.  TVNewsCheck

Strategy/Management

• CPB convenes public TV leaders to help system innovate.  Current
• Verizon urges FCC to confirm states’ right to opt out of FirstNet.  FierceWireless

Television

• must read  Antenna TV plus broadband sweet spot for consumers.  nScreenMedia
• C3 viewership decline steepens; down double digits in Q2.  MediaPost

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, July 23, 2017

Here is the latest compilation of selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed. Lots of good stuff this week.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• Will free-to-air mobile video succeed with ATSC 3.0?  CSI
• Cooperation, compromise key to successful 3.0 transition.  TVNewsCheck
• Sinclair, Nexstar set 3.0 transition agreement.  TVNewsCheck

Broadband/Wireless

• End of net neutrality could affect broadcasters.  Radio Magazine
• Zero-rated data – is it good news for radio?  media.info

Digital Video/OTT/VOD

• Can the TV experience be fixed and compete with SVOD?  nScreenMedia
• Report: Majority of broadband households watching internet on the TV.  TVTechnology
• User experience is the new battleground for video providers.  Video Nuze
• Mobile devices to lift online video viewing by 20% in 2017.  Rapid TV News

Journalism

• must read  Local TV news fact sheet.  Pew Research Center

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• iHeartRadio’s podcasting SVP: Five podcasting predictions.  Jacobs Media Strategies
• Zero-rated data – is it good news for radio?  media.info

Repack/Spectrum/Incentive Auction

• Let’s hope reasonable FCC response to crash of its License Management System extends to repack deadline.  TVNewsCheck
• must read  NAB objects to Microsoft [unlicensed] spectrum request.  TVNewsCheck
• What’s next for TV stations repacked as a result of the incentive auction.  Broadcast Law Blog

Strategy/Management/Business

• must read  How nonprofits can drive healthy growth using social return on investment.  Stanford Social Innovation Review
• FCC deregulation threatens local broadcasting.  Tom Wheeler in Brookings
• Bezos: Six ways traditional media can save itself.  Jacobs Media Strategies
• must read  Two essays on mobile strategy:  Creation and consumption.  Benedict Evans  …and…  Content isn’t king.  Benedict Evans

Television

• must read  Iowa PTV’s Bill Hayes has a thoughtful non-tech article asking, “What are we going to do with TV?” going forward.  TVTechnology  …and…  also read an article that inspired it, “TV: An Interim Summing-Up,” from 1950.  Saturday Review of Literature reproduced at UNZ.org
• Diginets should be safe in 3.0 transition.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Optimistic outlook on multicast prospects.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Economics of a diginet channel.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Pay-for-play is growing diginet strategy.  TVNewsCheck  …and…  Classic TV diginets make the old new again.  TVNewsCheck
• must read Can the TV experience be fixed and compete with SVOD?  nScreenMedia
• Nielsen’s Q1 2017 Total Audience Report.  nScreenMedia  …and…  Nielsen

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, July 15, 2017

Here is another collection of selected links from my @haarsager  Twitter feed posted in the past week.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• 21st century broadcasting, part 2 – the consumer [video interview].  nScreenMedia  …and…  here is part 1 posted last week  …and…  Keynote with NAB CTO Sam Matheny [video].  ITVT
• Could advanced TV be a $100B business?  MediaPost
• In the race for local ad dollars, are big tech plans enough?  MediaPost

Digital Video/OTT

• Roku is leading Amazon, Google and Apple in the media streamer race.  Business Insider
• must read  How to launch an OTT app.  MediaPost
• Pay-TV, streaming preferences almost even.  Rapid TV News
• must read  Connected TV just a normal part of the U.S. home.  nScreenMedia
• Nearly 3/5ths of U.S. broadband households take Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.  Rapid TV News  …and…  Netflix is in half of all U.S. broadband households.  FierceCable

Repack/Spectrum/Incentive Auction

• Broadcasters turn in $2.1B for reimbursement.  TVTechnology  …and…  Stations’ repack expenses to hit $2B.  TVNewsCheck
• Top 15 markets by incentive auction take.  TVTechnology
• FCC needs to implement ‘rocket docket’ for wireless spectrum, and fast.  The Hill
• must read  If at first you don’t succeed, you’re Microsoft pushing its magical white space broadband.  The Register   …and…  LPTV/translator organization: Microsoft’s white space plan would destroy community TV.  Broadcasting & Cable  …and…  To close digital divide, Microsoft to harness unused television channels.  New York Times
• Shared spectrum: Path to wireless expansion.  Multichannel News
• As the digital divide grows, an untapped solution languishes [EBS, née ITFS].  Wired

Television

• The future of TV metrics.  TVTechnology

This week’s readings for #pubmedia, July 10, 2017

Here are this week’s selected links from my @haarsager Twitter feed.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• 21st century broadcasting, part 1 [video interview].  nScreenMedia
• ATSC 3.0: A new value-added approach for emergency information.  TVTechnology

Digital Video/OTT/VOD

• Six OTT technologies to reshape the business of streaming.  nScreenMedia

Strategy/Management/Business

• Noncoms ask FCC for some content deregulation.  Broadcasting & Cable

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

• must read  Here’s what happened the last time audio producers got better data.  NiemanLab  …and…  Will data make podcasts better, or will it stifle the creative process?  Jacobs Media Strategies
• Radio is not dead.  Here’s why.  Bob McCurdy in Radio Ink
• must read  Threats are real, but benchmarks point to healthy public radio system.  Mark Fuerst in Current
• Study finds 600+ FM stations could be affected by TV repack.  Radio World
• must read  The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research.  National Public Media
• Radio seeks smart speaker home audience.  Radio World

Repack/Incentive Auction/Spectrum

• Post-repack: Key challenges and solutions.  Broadcasting & Cable
• Study finds 600+ FM stations could be affected by TV repack.  Radio World
• Don’t lose sight of SFNs in deadline push.  TVNewsCheck

Weekend readings for #pubmedia, July 1, 2017

If hot dogs and fireworks aren’t enough for you this long weekend, here are some selected links of interest from my @haarsager Twitter feed this past week.  --Dennis

ATSC 3.0/HbbTV

• Opinion: Latest U.S. broadcast standard will founder on mobile industry indifference.  Peter White in TVTechnology
• 25 ATSC 3.0 Things (in rap lyrics).  Deborah McAdams in TVTechnology
• ATSC 3.0 standards: Are we done yet?  TVTechnology

Cable/MVPD/Pay-TV/Cord-Cutting

• must read  Skinny bundles to herald new age of pay-TV as a third of U.S. consumers willing to stream services.  Rapid TV News  …and…  Cheap digital TV packages are cannibals – and could push traditional TV to its worst subscriber losses on record.  Business Insider   …and…  Online TV continues to usurp pay TV value proposition.  nScreenMedia
• Is cord cutting accelerating in 2Q?  CableFax

Digital Video/OTT/VOD

• U.S. VOD subscribers are far from homogenous, say researchers.  Rapid TV News
• Virtual MVPDs help boost TV business.  MediaPost
• must read  By 2021, one-third of TV homes will carry nontraditional services.  MediaPost  …and…  Kagan sees pay-TV subs dropping to 82M by 2021.  Broadcasting & Cable …and…  U.S. multichannel services cede ground to OTT content from virtual service providers.  Rapid TV News  …and…  Multichannel subs seen falling through 2021.  TVNewsCheck
• Glossary: Get to know the new language of over-the-top television.  Digiday
• Hulu: No longer third in a two-horse race.  Rapid TV News

Journalism

The News Quality Scoring Project: Surfacing great journalism from the web.  Frederic Filloux in Monday Note

Radio/Podcasting/Digital Audio

NPR is reinventing itself. Here’s how it could change for the better.  Poynter  …and…  Accross the U.S., NPR is reorganizing its member stations around regional hubs.  Poynter

Advice to radio CEOs: Be quick but don’t hurry.  Jacobs Media Strategies

Repack/Spectrum/Incentive Auction

• T-Mobile to foot repack cost for displaced public TV translators.  TVTechnology

Strategy/Management/Business

• When disaster strikes, public broadcasting delivers.  John McCoskey in TVTechnology