Saguna Networks, a mobile edge computing company, closed a financing round Thursday with investments from SoftBank Ventures Korea and Akami Technologies, it said in a news release Thursday. Saguna Networks will use the funding to expand its presence in North America, Asia and Europe and to accelerate product development, it said.
The FCC Media Bureau Policy Division started its 2015 equal employment opportunity (EEO) audits, the commission said in a public notice Wednesday. The commission mailed its first batch of audit letters to randomly selected radio and TV stations Feb. 6, it said. The commission annually audits 5 percent of broadcast licensees’ EEO programs, it said. The notice included a list of radio and TV stations that received audit letters. Stations must post their recent EEO public file report on their website or corporate site, it said.
Cinedigm is partnering with Bright Educational Media to launch Bright, a multiplatform digital “edutainment” channel for children in preschool and elementary school, it said in a news release Tuesday. The channel will launch later this year and be available on multiple consumer devices, it said. The channel’s content will be curated from Cinedigm’s film and TV library and outside producers, it said.
Canada’s broadband companies and third-party video streaming services are competing with over-the-top programming, a Moody’s Investors Service report said. Canadian TV distributors can use traditional channels, the Internet and subscription options to “counter some of the competition from Internet-based programming,” Moody’s said Wednesday. Broadband companies will survive the competition because “most of Canada’s television broadcasters are owned by its broadband companies, which also own the country’s television distributors,” it said. Advertising will continue supporting TV programming, it said.
Cinedigm, partnering with TV4 Entertainment, will offer niche over-the-top channels that TV4 Entertainment will distribute through its online video distribution platform, the company said in a news release Monday. The companies will focus the channels on preschoolers, kids and tweens, it said. The first channel from the partnership will launch later this year, it said.
The FCC Media Bureau extended by two weeks the deadlines for comments on its NPRM on expanding the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor to include some streaming video services, it said in a public notice Tuesday. Comments are now due March 3, replies March 18, the notice said. The extension follows requests last week for a 30-day extension from NAB and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (see 1502060037). “Although the parties seek a 30-day extension, we believe that a two-week extension will give the public enough time to respond to the NPRM,” the PN said.
Cubans with Internet connections and access to international payment methods can now subscribe to Netflix to view a “curated selection” of movies and TV shows for $7.99 a month, the over-the-top provider said Monday. Among the programs available to Cuban subscribers are House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Marco Polo, kids’ shows All Hail King Julien and The Adventures of Puss in Boots and documentaries including Virunga and The Square, said Netflix. In a statement, CEO Reed Hastings said of the Cuban market: “One day we hope to be able to bring their work to our global audience.” Netflix didn’t immediately respond to questions about other specific content availability to the Cuban market or estimated market size.
The FCC shouldn’t set a zero population-served threshold for interservice interference as proposed by NAB or the zero percent interference threshold proposed in the ISIX Further NPRM, said CTIA in reply comments posted in docket 13-26 Friday. Either standard for interference would be “impractical and unprecedented,” CTIA said. Instead, the FCC should adopt a simple “safe harbor” approach to interference prevention, and “decline to adopt proposals that would add even more unnecessary regulatory obligations for wireless licensees,” CTIA said. Block Communications said the commission should slow down in its approach to the incentive auction to deal with the potential interservice interference problems caused by the repacking. “No reviewing court will give the FCC extra points for getting the auction done fast if it fails to adhere to the basic requirements of the Spectrum Act,” Block said. NAB also said the framework of the auction was the problem -- specifically the variable band plan. The FCC also should study the issue of intermodulation interference to DTV signals, NAB said.
The FCC should look for new bands for wireless microphones to use, said NAB and CTIA in comments posted online in docket 14-166 Thursday. “It is critical for the FCC to immediately identify new bands on which wireless microphones may operate,” said NAB, urging the FCC to identify the new bands before the incentive auction ends. The FCC should explore new bands for wireless mics but require unlicensed operations to “cease use of licensed spectrum in areas where a 600 MHz licensee has commenced service,” CTIA said. The FCC should modify rules for unlicensed use so that unlicensed operations “adequately protect the substantial investments of 600 MHz licensees,” CTIA said. CEA also expressed concern about wireless microphone interference: “The Commission must weigh the costs and benefits of expanding access to spectrum for wireless microphone operators and undertake rigorous technical analyses to address potential interference concerns before it decides on any course of action.”
Viewing video has overtaken playing games as the most popular entertainment activity on tablets, said a Futuresource Consulting report that polled consumers in France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S. Some 57 percent of tablet owners in the four countries watch video on their mobile device -- vs. 53 percent who play games -- and 24 percent pay-to-view video content, Futuresource said. The U.S. leads all markets in watching paid-for video on tablets with 34 percent of users paying for video content, it said. Large tablets appear to encourage more viewing, as 62 percent of large tablet users said they watched video on their devices compared with 53 percent of small tablet owners, it said. The TV continues to gain use as a connected device, said the industry research firm Tuesday. Nearly 80 percent of connected TV owners stream video, and 63 percent access a premium video service at least once a week, it said. Households with children under 12 are 20 percent more likely to subscribe to TV services, said the data. Netflix subscribers are four times more likely to own a digital media adapter than Netflix non-subscribers. Twelve percent of households with kids had an UltraViolet account vs. 4 percent of households with no kids, and households with kids outnumbered those without as packaged media buyers and renters by 38 percent to 18 percent. Deleting premium packages from TV subscriptions, known as cord shaving, reached 17 percent of U.S. consumers in October 2014. That was up from 13 percent in September 2013, led by 19- to 25-year-olds and households with children, said the survey. U.S. pay TV subscribers stood at 65 million last fall versus 10 million streaming VOD customers, while 35 million U.S. viewers fit into both groups, it said. Music streaming is the most popular form of music consumption in the four countries, with 29 percent of respondents reporting they listen to free music services and 42 percent to Internet radio stations. The U.S. skewed higher at 50 percent of respondents who reported listening to any type of music service. Only 5 percent of the total base said it pays for a subscription music service. The survey was conducted during September and October with a nationally representative sample of just more than 1,000 consumers in each country.