Corrections: An NPRM seeking comment on redefining multichannel video programming distributors to include over-the-top services does briefly seek comment on the obligations that go with being a cable system, said FCC Special Counsel for External Affairs Gigi Sohn, clarifying her statement at a Practising Law Institute conference last week (see 1411130040) ... Stéphane Boyera spoke about mobile payments in his role as World Wide Web Consortium Web payments group leader (see 1411140001).
Gracenote launched a connected music solution for the automotive market linking terrestrial radio to online music services in an effort to create a common platform for music sources within a car’s head unit. The technology will be available for 2017 model year cars, Gracenote said in a news release. The multiple choices for music content in a car -- including AM/FM, CDs, satellite radio, Internet radio, subscription music services and music stored on a smartphone -- have created a disparate audio experience in vehicles, Gracenote said. The company’s goal is to offer a consistent user interface across all sources for metadata presented on a vehicle’s display. Gracenote’s solution, Entourage Radio, adds an intelligent layer that “helps identify what songs are being played and the source,” said Gracenote Chief Strategy Officer Ty Roberts. Gracenote Entourage is the underlying technology that enables continuous audio fingerprinting of songs for real-time music recognition, the company said. Being able to identify the audio source in real time enables Gracenote to deliver the correct song, artist and album information, “driver-relevant” cover art and station logos to the automotive display, it said. After a song is recognized, listeners can direct the head unit to play songs that are similar in genre, mood and era, to play additional songs from the artist or add to an existing playlist within a streaming music service, it said. For carmakers, Entourage Radio solves the challenge of fragmentation of entertainment services by market, Gracenote said. Music streaming services have varying levels of popularity and availability by market, and Gracenote’s large catalog of song IDs for streaming services gives carmakers the ability to link drivers to regional music services, the company said. An option within the platform is to use Gracenote’s Rhythm music discovery platform to enable “automatic playlisting” within a local library, it said.
More than 11,000 people attended the Content & Communications World and SATCON event at New York's Javits Convention Center last week, NAB said in a news release. Total attendee registration is based on pre-show and onsite registration, “and is subject to final reconciliation following the event,” NAB said. The previous organizer, JD Events, said last year’s attendance was 6,898, NAB said. There were 324 exhibiting companies, up from about 260 last year, it said. NAB acquired the event last year (see 1312240044)
Global tablet shipments jumped 6 percent in Q3 to 55.2 million units, Strategy Analytics on Thursday said its preliminary findings show. "Although they are still some distance behind market leaders Apple and Samsung, both Lenovo and Asus are demonstrating that innovative form factors provide sufficient product differentiation to drive shipments," the company said. In Q3, Android further consolidated its global market share in tablets, reaching an all-time high of 72 percent share, it said. Windows also reached its highest level of market share at 6 percent "as more models became available from traditional PC vendors and with a full quarter of Microsoft Surface Pro 3 availability," it said. Apple shipped 12.3 million iPads in Q3, a 13 percent decline from Q3 a year earlier and a 7 percent decline from Q2, it said. Few consumers in the developed world are "feeling the need to upgrade" to the latest iPads, it said. The newly announced iPad Air 2 and Mini 3, "plus the retention of older models at lower price points, will stimulate sales in the coming quarters by providing essentially a wider range of iPad availability in terms of price and specifications," it said. Strategy Analytics thinks iPad growth rates "will remain muted until new form factors are introduced," it said. "We believe Apple will win back meaningful high-end market share during the final months of the calendar year."
LG, irked at being left out of an Amazon statement about upcoming Ultra HD streaming content, issued a statement Thursday as a reminder of its role as sponsor of the Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga Cheek to Cheek LIVE! concert recorded in July at Lincoln Center in New York. Michael Paull, vice president-Amazon Digital Video, issued a statement this week saying Amazon Prime members will have access to Ultra HD content on Prime Instant Video “at no additional cost.” Following Paull’s statement, LG said, “What Amazon didn’t mention is that LG Electronics is the official Ultra HD sponsor of the concert and the driving force in bringing this landmark television event to 4K Ultra HD TV owners.” LG referred to its role as a leader in the 4K Ultra HD TV market and said it's “proud of our role in allowing consumers to stream the performance in the highest resolution at no added cost when it becomes available in the weeks ahead.” Meanwhile, as retailers announce 4K Ultra HD TV sales for the holiday season, Amazon still hasn’t said when 4K programming will be available for streaming. “We’re confident that offering Ultra HD content, whether it’s a TV series or a film, will help create the ultimate viewing experience and can’t wait to start making it available this year,” said Paull. In addition to the Bennett and Gaga concert, Amazon will also make available its original series Alpha House, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent in 4K, he said. Amazon will "unveil even more titles that Prime members and customers can watch in Ultra HD later this year and into next year,” Paull said.
After months or more of saying it was "gearing up" for 4K content delivery (see 1312160069), DirecTV pulled the trigger Thursday when it said it will become the first multichannel video programming distributor to deliver 4K VOD to customer homes when it launches Ultra HD programming Friday. With additional satellite capacity, DirecTV also plans to launch "linear" 4K TV services in 2016, an executive said Thursday at the SatCon conference in New York (see 1411130033). Its initial offering will consist of "a variety of new releases, popular films and nature documentaries in 4K," the company said in its announcement. Samsung will be its exclusive CE 4K "launch partner," DirecTV said. In addition to owning a DirecTV-ready Samsung 4K TV, DirecTV subscribers will need an Internet-connected DirecTV Genie HD DVR (model HR34 and above), DirecTV said. For more than 20 years, DirecTV "has been changing the way people watch TV as the first to move the industry from analog to digital to HD and now the ultimate TV experience with 4K TV," said DirecTV Chief Technology Officer Romulo Pontual. "The picture quality and depth of detail that 4K provides is nothing short of remarkable and we will continue to expand our 4K lineup as consumer demand grows and evolves." DirecTV chose Samsung as its launch partner because it’s "the leading brand" in Ultra HD, DirecTV said. DirecTV spokeswoman Jade Ekstedt emailed us Thursday to say she was looking into our question whether the company will use any of the brands it has trademarked -- 4KN, 4KNET and 4K Network -- to trumpet the new VOD service with Samsung. As for how long the exclusivity with Samsung will last, she declined comment, saying: "We don't publicly disclose the terms of our agreements." Until Thursday, DirecTV had declined to discuss its specific ambitions in 4K, other than to promise it will be there in a big way as it was with HD. In May, in discussing his company’s proposed buy of DirecTV, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hailed DirecTV as having "more HD channels than anybody, and a really clear and elegant path to Ultra HD" (see 1405200030). Some 20 movies in 4K from Paramount and K2 Communications will be available at launch, including Forrest Gump and Star Trek (2009), with more titles to be announced soon, DirecTV said Thursday.
Wearable electronics are poised to become a $25.2 billion global market, with a volume of 142.6 million units, by 2020, based on a 26 percent compound annual growth rate through the end of the decade, said Allied Market Research in a report. North America currently has the largest share of the global wearables market, but Europe will grow the fastest to become the largest market by 2020, it said. It estimated that wearables were a $4 billion market globally last year. The market is dominated by large players such as Adidas, Google and Nike, but companies like Fitbit and Jawbone "have raised a lot of capital through funding based on their business ideas and are now competing with large players in the wearable electronics space," it said.
Live Nation Entertainment and Vice launched a live music platform Thursday, the companies said in a joint news release. The platform will be distributed via mobile, TV and online, the release said. Vice will work on content and programming and both parties will focus on marketing and sales, it said.
CEA President Gary Shapiro used a news conference Tuesday at the CES Unveiled New York conference to announce that CBS President Les Moonves will keynote the Brand Matters workshop at CES on Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. at the theater in the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas. Shapiro hailed Moonves as "an innovator" who "does things differently," and is "leading his company to the next digital era." Two years ago, Shapiro blasted CBS for "practicing effective censorship over CNET’s editorial staff" when it ordered CNET to pull Dish Network’s Hopper with Sling DVR from consideration for its Best of CES awards (see 1301140063). CNET is an affiliate of CBS, which like ABC, Fox and NBC, has sued Dish in federal court seeking injunctions that would bar the AutoHop feature in ongoing litigation. When we asked Shapiro at the Tuesday news conference about the irony of inviting Moonves to keynote CES two years after blasting CBS for "denying CNET readers full access to information about an exciting innovation" in the Hopper with Sling DVR, he responded with a long answer about how he and CEA have long defended CES as "a very big tent." In retrospect, the dust-up with CBS over CNET was a "tiny issue," though CBS’s actions were "not pleasing to us" at the time, Shapiro said: "I have a personal philosophy that I never make these issues personal. I know that today we may disagree with someone, but tomorrow they’ll be our ally. That’s how we succeed in the business world." At CES, "people disagree with CEA’s position on any issue -- net neutrality, any other issue -- and we invite them to come onstage and present it," he said. "We treat them fairly and respectfully, and that’s indeed why we have over 100 associations supporting CES as our ‘allied associations,’ and their names are posted." CBS representatives didn’t comment.
Gilat unveiled its satellite-cellular hybrid terminal. The SkyEdge II-c Libra terminal was designed to enable mobile network operators to extend their broadband reach beyond the limits of their existing mobile or DSL infrastructures, Gilat said Wednesday in a news release. The terminal allows direct-to-home service providers to enrich their offerings by adding broadband services, it said. The terminal includes a standard receive-only antenna, low-noise block converter and a self-install option, which reduces deployment-related expenses, it said.