Larger iPhones are creating new feature opportunities for accessories makers, according to new designs announced Wednesday by Belkin and Strong n'Free. The latter’s Tokyo case for iPhone 6 ($75), uses cherry wood veneer, has a magnet to keep the case closed and converts into a stand, the company said. The Berlin model ($60), also in cherry wood for the iPhone 6, has a slit for closed-case calling and also converts to a stand. Weight of the cases wasn’t readily available. Belkin’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases have a grip made of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) that’s said to protect the phone from impact and scratches. The Grip Case for iPhone 6 ($20) is available in a variety of colors and gives full access to buttons and has cutouts for camera lenses, Belkin said. The step-up Folio cases for both phones ($35) have a pocket for card storage and a back that folds into a stand. Availability is October, Belkin said. The accessory maker is also introducing armbands and screen protectors for the new iPhones ranging from $15 to $35, it said.

Dish Network worries that its upcoming over-the-top streaming service would be hurt if Comcast is permitted to buy Time Warner Cable, it told the FCC. Comcast alone could block Dish’s OTT video in Philadelphia and Chicago, but Dish could still survive “if its service was offered unimpeded in the TWC-dominated markets of New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas,” it said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-57 (http://bit.ly/1qizrFI). If Comcast/TWC controls half or more of relevant high-speed broadband lines nationally, “Dish’s ability to offer a mainstream OTT service to the audience most likely to adopt that product at the outset could be greatly, perhaps fatally, curtailed,” it said. The combined companies also will be able to extract lower prices from programmers, which will force programmers to extract even higher rates from smaller pay-TV providers “to compensate the programmers for lost revenue,” it said. Dish also argued that Comcast/TWC will have the incentive and ability to restrict programmers’ ability to grant digital rights to competing pay-TV and OTT video providers. Dish continues to get its facts wrong, a Comcast spokeswoman said. After the proposed transaction, Comcast “will only make up about 35 percent of broadband subscribers nationwide -- and that doesn’t even include wireless broadband which will provide even more competition in the future,” she said. Comcast’s transaction with NBCUniversal has provisions for OTT providers “to access the NBCUniversal content,” she said. Neither Comcast nor NBCUniversal has the ability to control other programmer decisions with regard to OTT services, she said.

The “Grand Alliance” of “fierce competitors” that worked together to develop what became the North American DTV standard was “a great adventure in cooperation and collaboration,” said Zenith Vice President Wayne Luplow, according to the written text of a keynote he gave Tuesday at the IEEE’s International Conference on Consumer Electronics in Berlin. “When you work in an arena where there’s no definitive decision-making process, you conclude that cooperation is the only way you're going to get there,” Luplow said. “It’s a continual give-and-take -- like a marriage -- otherwise, you don’t get anywhere!” When the FCC ratified the Grand Alliance system on Christmas Eve 1996, it was “a profound decision that still ripples throughout our industry,” he said. “On reflection about the Grand Alliance experience, I think there are important lessons to be learned. Listen to what your in-house and out-of-house colleagues are doing. Look for win-win solutions. You can compete forever and end up with nothing that consumers and industry will embrace. It doesn’t have to be a battle to the death, as it was with the Beta and VHS recording wars in which, arguably, the better technology, with the better picture quality, lost. But the consumer-accepted system won out -- the system that could record two hours on one tape.” The next-gen ATSC 3.0 system “will bring new flexibility and new opportunities for over-the-air TV stations,” Luplow said. “Mobility will continue to grow in importance,” and Internet connectivity “is already a standard feature in most big-screen TV sets, merging the immediacy of live TV with the deep catalog of streamed content and the information-rich Internet,” he said. “But I also believe that we must have patience. This stuff takes time. After all, many of our technology transitions have ended up in the dust-bin of history. Transitional waters are sometimes littered with technologies that get thrown overboard. Remember: 8 Track tape? AM Stereo radio? The cassette and the laserdisc?"

Panasonic will mark the 25th anniversary of its Kid Witness News video education program with an awards ceremony at its Newark, New Jersey, headquarters, the company said Wednesday. Panasonic is searching for Kid Witness News “alumni” to share their stories and “career trajectories,” the company said. “Panasonic would like to connect with past participants about how the program influenced their lives, whether they chose to pursue a career in TV or journalism, or if they used skills learned to excel in other fields,” it said. Students from 548 schools in 23 countries participated in the program this year, it said. “By providing a platform and high-definition cameras, Panasonic helps students create, produce, direct, act in and edit videos on subjects such as the environment, peer pressure and drug prevention."

Sharp built Verance’s Cinavia watermark detectors into its Aquos TU-UD1000 4K set-top box, the first such implementation in an Ultra HD set-top, Verance said Wednesday. Global penetration of Cinavia-enabled devices surpassed 168 million as of June, an increase of 49 percent from June 2013, it said. The partnership with Sharp follows other Cinavia 4K “device integrations” that will help “pave the way for broader consumption of 4K movies, TV shows and other high-value content through secure Cinavia-enabled devices as we partner with other studios and device manufacturers,” Verance said. An audio watermark embedded in motion picture soundtracks is detected by the Cinavia-enabled device, which differentiates between legitimate and unauthorized copies of content, it said. When viewers play back legitimate content or their own personal video recordings, playback is unaffected, it said. However, if they try to play a copy of a Cinavia-protected movie illegally captured from a theater, digital download or streaming service, ripped from a Blu-ray or DVD, or otherwise obtained from an unlicensed source, the device detects this unauthorized use and blocks its playback, it said.

On the eve of the CEDIA Expo in Denver, Leviton acquired BitWise Controls, a supplier of control and monitoring systems for residential and commercial facilities, Leviton said Tuesday. Leviton has been carrying BitWise automation controllers for some time “and is excited to welcome them into Leviton,” the company said. The entire BitWise product line will be absorbed into “the Leviton family of solutions,” it said. The acquisition means Bitwise and Leviton installers “now have affordable solutions for home theater, restaurants, boardrooms and classrooms that are modular and expandable,” it said. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed, but BitWise CEO Lance Beck will join Leviton in an unspecified role, Leviton said.

LG celebrated iPhone 6 launch day by offering new LG G3 smartphone customers a free extra battery with purchases made through Sept. 22 (http://bit.ly/1CNRdEE). LG used the promo to highlight that its battery is replaceable -- unlike the iPhone’s -- and has what it called “one of the industry’s longest battery” lives. Participating customers will get the “leading flagship smartphone,” and in addition, “they can easily open up their LG G3 and pop in a fresh battery whenever they want,” LG said. The limited-time offer is valued at $70 and is available through any carrier or authorized retailer, LG said.

There’s a high degree of confidence among media professionals that Ultra HD programming will become “the de facto norm” for TV viewing within the next decade, but there’s skittishness on their willingness to commit to programming decisions, said an Intelsat survey report released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/WEanvB). Intelsat commissioned research firm Market Connections to canvass Intelsat’s media customers in July on their awareness of and plans for Ultra HD content demand, development and distribution, the report said. Researchers interviewed 77 media professionals from 24 countries, and found that 85 percent believe 4K TV programs will become mainstream within 10 years, it said. However, “it appears that when it comes to making firm plans” for offering Ultra HD programming, “there are many decisions yet to come,” it said. While 23 percent of those canvassed indicated plans to launch 4K programming within the next four years, 54 percent either have no plans to launch such services or have not yet decided whether to do so, it said. Forty-two percent have made the decision to launch a 4K service and have a specific time frame for its rollout, it said. “Competitive differentiation, support for existing linear channel models, and attracting new subscribers were cited as the top media industry benefits of introducing” Ultra HD programming services, the report said. “Today’s multi-screen viewing environment provides consumers with a wealth of options for consuming content, and ... media companies are looking for ways to continue to deliver an exciting and differentiated experience to their existing linear channels."

Revenues in Barnes & Noble’s Nook segment plummeted 54 percent to $70 million for fiscal Q1 2015 ended Aug. 2, the company said Tuesday in an earnings release (http://bit.ly/ZfKmo7). Within the Nook unit, device and accessories sales plunged 79 percent to $18 million for the quarter, while digital content sales fell 24 percent to $52 million, it said. Nook EBITDA losses narrowed to $5 million from $55 million in the year-ago quarter due to cost-cutting efforts last year, the company said. Those included a $7 million benefit on the settlement of device parts and components liabilities and $6 million on lease adjustments for the relocation from its Palo Alto, California, facility, it said. Barnes & Noble continues to make progress on the planned separation of its Barnes & Noble Retail and Nook Media businesses by early next year and has been exploring various options including discussions with partners to “potentially restructure existing agreements” and with “potential third-party partners,” it said. Overall for fiscal Q1, Barnes & Noble had a loss of $28 million versus $87 million in the year-ago quarter, while sales dipped to $1.2 billion from $1.3 billion for the period.

Amazon said Prime members in the U.S., U.K .and Germany can view Prime Instant Video on Android phones after downloading the latest update of the Amazon App for Android (http://bit.ly/1qCxB1h). Android smartphone users will have access to more than 200,000 movies and TV show episodes via the Prime Instant Video player app at no cost in addition to Prime membership, which was raised in April to $99 per year, the company said Tuesday.