New York City public broadcaster WNET will launch the All Arts streaming platform and cable and broadcast channel Monday, it said Wednesday, with original programming, acquired programming and archival WNET content. It said All Arts in the New York City area will be part of the Comcast, Charter Communications, Altice's Cablevision and Verizon FioS lineups and available over the air; in the rest of the country, All Arts content will be available via web browser and an app for iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

“Consumer lab” testing in the ATSC 3.0 Phoenix model market (see 1812060027) found “strong appeal” for next-generation TV features that could increase broadcast TV viewing and drive sales of new 3.0-capable TVs, said Pearl TV Tuesday. Pearl commissioned Magid to test consumer reaction to the new service and found 3.0 likely could induce viewers to start watching broadcast programming, even if they don't currently do so, said Pearl. The testing found the “combination” of 4K video, HDR and immersive audio has “the broadest appeal," said Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle. Other findings: (1) 91 percent of consumers said they would be "interested" or "very interested" in using a service like 3.0; (2) Consumers said they find 3.0's “enhanced audio” features especially appealing, including the ability to “customize audio tracks”; (3) 80 percent of consumers said they would be “interested" or "very interested" in buying a 3.0 TV or add-on device.

Verance will partner with Fincons Group to speed and expand the development of ATSC 3.0 in the U.S. and HbbTV in Europe, said the companies Tuesday. ATSC adopted the Verance Aspect audio watermark technology for 3.0 nearly four years ago (see 1504030030), and Aspect "is currently being adapted for use within the HbbTV ecosystem," they said. Fincons is a systems integration company that partnered to develop several over-the-top service offerings in Europe, including the Mediaset Play OTT platform launched in Italy during last year's World Cup. The companies' initial projects will focus on accelerating “readiness” of 3.0 and HbbTV in both markets, they said: “Examples include the identification and development of leading consumer offerings, business modeling, proof of concept and market trial management, retailer education, and service lifecycle management and operations.” By deploying Aspect, “programmers gain cross-platform audience measurement data and new revenue opportunities such as audience targeting and addressable advertising,” said Verance. “Viewers gain more personalized and interactive experiences; device manufacturers gain a new opportunity to market and sell TVs; and advertisers gain linear measurement and attribution capabilities.” Without Aspect, the "reach and scale" of "Next Gen TV experiences" will be "significantly smaller," said Verance. "In 2020, only 20% of ATSC 3.0-enabled connected TVs in the U.S. are expected to be able to receive Next Gen TV experiences without Aspect. This is because the metadata and triggers required for these experiences are not carried by cable operators due to their different transmission protocols. Aspect enables this information to be automatically recovered by the TV regardless of distribution path."

Former CBS CEO Les Moonves told the company Wednesday he's exercising his option under his Sept. 9 separation agreement to demand binding arbitration to dispute the board firing him for cause and denying him $120 million in severance, said CBS in an 8-K SEC filing Thursday. Directors decided Dec. 17 that CBS had grounds to fire Moonves for cause for “willful and material misfeasance,” violating CBS policies and failing to cooperate with the company's independent investigation into sexual misconduct (see 1812170050). CBS doesn't plan to “comment further” until the “arbitration proceedings” are complete, it said.

Sinclair launched free, advertising-supported streaming service Stirr that will include live local news and sports. It said Wednesday Stirr will carry 20 national networks to start, including Cheddar, NASA TV and Outdoor America, with original channels including Stirr Movies and Stirr Sports to follow. It said by year's end, it should have more than 50 linear networks. The broadcaster will add a local channel, Stirr City, with live news, local and regional sports and entertainment programming from its local station.

Though ATSC 3.0 TVs for the U.S. market weren't featured at CES, the “ingredients” for a 3.0 launch in 2020 “were prominent in private demonstrations and press coverage,” wrote Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-research and standards, in Wednesday's ATSC’s newsletter, The Standard. Examples he cited included Sony’s demonstration, “with a focus on ATSC 3.0,” of a TV remote-friendly “application-authoring environment that allows broadcasters to share a common user interface while integrating individually customized digital services from broadcast and broadband,” said Markwalter. The demo showed “integration of captured RF sources and encapsulated data” from digital over-the-top services, “illustrating how customization for individual broadcasters is possible with a common user interface and application-development framework,” he said. The system supports use of all application programming interfaces prescribed in A/344, said Markwalter. That's the 3.0 specification document that describes a receiver’s interactive content functionalities.

A proceeding to determine rates webcasters pay for non-interactive public performance of sound recordings is being delayed by the partial federal shutdown, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Tuesday. Though the Copyright Royalty Board is operating, the Federal Register is accepting only vital notices such as those connected with public safety, Oxenford said. Since notice of the proceeding’s opening has to appear in the FR, it will be delayed, Oxenford said. When the proceeding starts, it’s likely to involve broadcasters that stream their signals, small commercial webcasters and noncommercial webcasters, but it’s not clear if interactive streaming services like Pandora will be involved, Oxenford said. “Will they participate in the upcoming case, or have they negotiated direct deals that cover their more traditional webcasting services along with their interactive services?"

The proposed C4 FM class could help small and rural radio stations, said Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in December we received from a stakeholder and confirmed Monday. “There are potentially hundreds of stations in the U.S. -- including approximately 20 radio stations in Mississippi -- that may be eligible for a Class C4 designation if created." The FCC released a notice of inquiry on C4 in June (see 1809110051). “I appreciate your recognition of the need to consider modernizing or updating the Commission’s rules to help improve the quality of FM service in an evolving media marketplace," Wicker wrote.

It should be “unthinkable” for the FCC to reject diversity groups' calls for broad changes to equal employment opportunity rules, said Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig in calls with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel, show filings for dockets including 18-23. The draft order on eliminating broadcaster midterm EEO reports doesn’t address the broad EEO reform requested by the diversity groups (see 1901030039) because it would involve “far-reaching substantive changes to the Commission’s EEO rules,” the draft said. “The NPRM’s focus was on improvements to EEO compliance and enforcement.” The agency shouldn’t reject a proposal for being “substantive and far-reaching enough to cure the horrible persistence of racial and gender discrimination in broadcasting,” Honig said. The “proper course of action” would be to issue the proposals out for more comment as a Further NPRM, he said. Since the EEO proposals are more than 15 years old, any further comment should be sought on an expedited schedule, Honig said. He rejected language in the order that would tout FCC transfer of EEO enforcement from the Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau and additional EEO audits as steps toward EEO change. That's no substitute for “anti-cronyism” EEO enforcement and data collection, Honig said. The commission didn't comment Friday.

Though CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus predicted at NAB Show New York that broadcasting live sports in 4K or 8K would take the same slow, methodical migration path as HD (see 1810170060), 4K and 8K cameras figure prominently in the network's plans to telecast the Super Bowl Feb. 3 from Atlanta, it said Thursday. In so doing, CBS will continue “its long tradition of introducing innovation and technology to the sports broadcasting industry at the Super Bowl,” including when in February 2004 it became the first to broadcast the Super Bowl pregame, game, halftime show and postgame show in HD. This year, for the “first time ever on any network” in the U.S., CBS will use “multiple” 8K cameras for the telecast, plus 16 cameras with 4K “capabilities,” it said. The 8K cameras will use a “unique, highly constructed engineering solution” to give viewers “dramatic close-up views of the action” from the end zones, it said. The “bonanza” of 4K cameras “will provide additional live game camera angles, and give the production the ability to replay key moments of the game in a super slo-motion and an HD cut-out with zoomed-in perspectives with minimal resolution loss,” said CBS. Its Super Bowl plans also include using a live, wireless handheld camera showing augmented-reality graphics and “up-close camera tracking on the field,” it said. “This will allow the camera to get closer to these virtual graphics in a way that gives viewers different perspectives and angles including never-before-seen field level views of these graphics.”