Tech Roundup

The podcast content production universe just got a little bit smaller. YEA Networks parent High 5 Media has taken a majority stake in Spoke Media, an audio content firm with an international footprint.

Wazee Digital's portal designed to help rights holders maximize the value of their premium content by connecting with customers who need "iconic video" has just been relaunched. The provider of cloud-native video management and licensing services now has a whole-new Wazee Digital Commerce tool.

Many tech companies are focusing so strongly on cloud deployments that it almost seems that the answer is "cloud" ... with no one sure of the question. In this Media Information Bureau column, Telestream CMO Chris Osika tackles "the $64 million question for the broadcast industry: How should cloud figure in to the future?"

"GDPR," or the General Data Protection Regulation, is now law within the European Union. You may have received an email or two about receiving emails from various companies, as part of a sweeping rule that some U.S. businesses -- including yours -- may be concerned about. Why? Some wonder if it could happen here. AEI visiting scholar Roslyn Layton has some ideas that are definitely worth your time.

Futuri Media, the SaaS technology working to drive audience and revenue growth for its broadcast media clients, has added the TopLine-MapIt feature to its TopLine system. The tool creates custom maps showing stations’ geographic reach relevant to a potential client’s business.

The association for broadcast and multimedia technology professionals and the Advanced Television Systems Committee has launched a cooperative effort to develop a new Specialist level of SBE certification that will benchmark an individual's proficiency in the ATSC 3.0 System standard.

Triveni Digital spent last week in the Nation's Capital not to lobby members of Congress. Rather, it went to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate an end-to-end, real-time, scalable HEVC workflow with a compression solutions leader at the ATSC Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

Artel Video Systems is welcoming a Key Accounts Manager. He was previously a senior network engineering and operations manager at Verizon and has more than two decades of industry experience.

A Melbourne-based software provider specializing in listener communications and station management has launched their first package ideal for smaller stations and for internet-only streaming audio channels. The company is very much going global with the offering, and wants U.S. clients.

Broadcast Automation and Video Server solutions NVerzion is bulking up its U.S. sales representative team to better serve the Southeast. With the move, a thirty-year veteran is now representing NVerzion through a senior-level tech consultancy he's been steward of.

In an announcement made in the Sinaloan city of Los Mochis, the Emmis Communications subsidiary TagStation LLC revealed that FM radio streaming capabilities via NextRadio are now available across all smartphones in Mexico.

In a move designed to give DISH-owned "skinny bundle" Sling TV "over the top" (OTT) TV service an added boost, a new device that brings together live internet streams and free local TV has been brought to market. The product is marketed with the tag line, "Cut the cord with AirTV and watch TV on your terms."

The capturing of minute-by-minute out-of-home (OOH) audience data on the consumer usage of linear channels has just taken a step forward with the release of Tunity Analytics. The product from Tunity is designed to give broadcast companies and advertisers the ability to see next day (and soon real-time) estimates for "all major competitive channels by venue."

With more and more TV viewers embracing "over-the-top" (OTT) choices for entertainment, sports and informational programming, the need for broadcast TV stations to have their original content everywhere is more essential than ever. To help bring this goal to fruition, a New York-based company has unveiled an online and digital platform that aggregates local TV news and, at the same time, enables local broadcasters to build OTT channels on a new app.

Here's an integration that has everything to do with politics. The audio advertising marketplace known as a2X has been fully integrated with IQM -- a provider that specializes in "voter matching" for liberal politicians and "progressive" causes.  The announcement came as London-based Audioboom called off its offer to purchase Triton Digital.