Tech Roundup

Two individuals have been selected to head up all direct sales activities and partner relationships for an eight-state region of the U.S. for Utah Scientific, a media tech specialist in routing switchers, master control switchers, and related control software.

A bustling city within the Phoenix DMA has just landed another tech-focused business. Orban, the audio processing company, is housing its Legacy Service Center here. It will be dedicated to providing service to the Optimod 8500 and all products that predate it.

Content providers will need to seek integrated video solutions to minimize costs, streamline processes and provide growth opportunities at every step in the video life cycle. That's the key take away from a new report from video monetization technology and services provider Ooyala, produced in collaboration with U.K.-based Futuresource Consulting.

A French technology company has enhanced its fully automated "visual radio" solution, which was displayed at no less than three exhibit booths at the recent 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

A Dante networking chip designed for mid-channel count audio products has hit the streets. It's available in 8x8 and 16x16 channel options.

Massachusetts-based media technology company Comrex used the Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the recent 2017 NAB Show two officially unveil a pair of new products.

As Pandora Media weighs its options as an ongoing concern, the Oakland, Calif.-based company released its Q1 2017 earnings report on Monday afternoon. Here's the good news: Total revenue grew to $316 million, from $297.3 million, in the quarter. That's thanks to a $3 million year-over-year boost in ad revenue, to $223.3 million. That's where the good news ends for the streaming audio company's Q1 financial report.

On a day when it released Q1 2017 results reflecting a loss of $132.3 million, streaming audio favorite Pandora revealed that it has received a $150 million strategic investment from KKR. However, there's chatter that Pandora won't ever take a penny from KKR, and that it will find a buyer before it engages in a deal relinquishing preferred stock in the company.

Now that Pandora has its long-awaited subscription-based on-demand platform, can it help the streaming audio company grow? What about iHeartRadio, or Spotify, or Tidal, or ... You get it, the market is crowded. Yet, Glenn Peoples, Pandora Media's Music Insights and Analytics chief, is convinced big growth is set to happen between now and 2021. Is he crazy, or is he right on the money?

From the content that's being consumed to the emergence of new distribution outlets and emerging gadgetry, the traditional pattern of media usage and radio listening are changing— in some cases, rapidly. That's the key takeaway from Jacobs Media's Techsurvey13 — "Navigating The Digital Landscape."

Cars.com is driving off from the company formerly known as Gannett before spinning off its newspaper division in 2015. But, prior to the separation into two separate publicly traded entities, Cars.com will make a one-time cash distribution of $650 million to what's now known as TEGNA. Once the spin is done, TEGNA President/CEO Gracia Martore will head into retirement.

With its adaptation of the Margaret Atwood dystopian classic "The Handmaid's Tale" earning accolades -- and new consumers -- Hulu has leaped into the live TV streaming business with the launch of a new beta service and user experience now available to the public.

In an expansion of its lineup of end-to-end live-streaming workflow products that complement its flagship capture cards and hardware encoders, Osprey Video has added 10 new range extender, multiviewer, converter, and video-capture products.

Artel Video Systems, the provider of real-time multimedia delivery solutions, has teamed up with broadcast audio IP networking provider Wheatstone on the end-to-end connectivity of live remote production. The two companies came together at the 2017 NAB Show to demonstrate their joint efforts.

In late August 2016, Sirius XM Canada Holdings expressed its intent to go private. The one thing stopping the privatization effort? The Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Now, eight months, later, the regulatory body has given its consent to the move, which comes despite mid-summer 2016 opposition from dissident investors amid overwhelming support for its move to go private.