Tech Roundup

"Hey Alexa ... wake me up with my favorite radio station!" That's a reality top digital publication Engagdet has brought to the attention of Silicon Valley and the online universe. Are radio broadcasters smart enough to see what they do about the smart phone as the next-gen alarm clock?

What is the future for broadcast radio in the dashboard of vehicles big and small on the roads across America? It's a question many have asked, and remains one of great importance to broadcast media's C-Suites. Now, the NAB is helping to bring clarity to what lies ahead for AM and FM while consumers are on the road by presenting an hour-long webinar on Thursday (12/14) featuring key thought leaders on the digital dashboard.

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has given its thumbs-up to the Advanced Emergency Alerting (AEA) specification developed by Monroe Electronics as part of the A/331 standard. With the Dec. 6 approval of the A/311 Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection standard, announced Wednesday), AEA is now an official function within the ATSC 3.0 suite of next-generation broadcast transmission standards.

Live broadcast and events will generate over $545 billion in direct revenues in 2018. That's a key takeaway from the 17th edition of the "Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions” report from Deloitte, released today. The report also looks at the "adlergic" audience, and how this may impact -- if at all -- digital media and ad revenue. Meanwhile, young adult TV viewing is predicted to decline yet again.

The former president of Maple Leaf RF Systems & Service has been appointed Eastern Region Account Manager/Television Products for Electronics Research Inc. -- known across the industry as ERI.

ChyronHego has released the latest version of its PRIME Graphics platform. Version 2.6 of PRIME Graphics, a 64-bit, all-software rendering engine, includes such enhancements as 16-bit color and full, 10-bit I/O, a new Scene Camera effect, additional codecs for recording inputs, and advanced touch-screen features.

Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee Inc. (ATSC) have elected three industry executives to serve on the ATSC Board of Directors for three-year terms that begin in January 2018.

For radio industry executives looking for a further push of NextRadio or TV executives looking for new ways to push video to consumers via smartphones, availability in the Google Play store may be a tad more valuable than that in the iTunes Store -- based on the latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar Digital that serves as a provider of multiscreen digital advertising has launched a new technology that leverages proprietary audience and inventory data from all 171 Nexstar broadcast TV stations and 2,000 direct publisher integrations. 

Calkins Media’s over-the-top (OTT) business and mobile app technology, which enables media organizations to grow their audiences with branded channels on all of the major streaming platforms, has a new owner.

The owner and operator of TV stations in 26 DMAs across 39 states has inked an agreement with GatesAir to support multiple stations it owns that are affected by the TV spectrum repack.

In May 2017, Nexstar Media Group officially christened a newly created position at the broadcast TV company by announcing the hiring of a "proven ad technology and business strategy" executive. Today, Anthony Katsur is riding high as Nexstar's SVP/Platforms. He spoke with RBR+TVBR's Weekly Tech Update on his efforts to bring small and mid-sized media publishers and businesses ways to maximize revenue across every available channel.

Audio codec manufacturer Tieline Technology has released a new version of Report-IT Enterprise v3.5.xx, which supports streaming live, studio quality audio to all N/ACIP 3326 compliant codecs in SIP mode.

The recent removal of the FCC requirement for stations to have a physical presence in the community assigned to each station license prompted featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner to pen a column illustrating his thoughts on the rule change. Here's what he has to say on the subject, now available to Weekly Tech Roundup readers.

Want to hear that song from TV On The Radio on your television? There's now an easier way to get the task done, thanks to a newly forged partnership between Comcast and iHeartMedia.