Distribution

Yahoo Bids for Hulu: Report

Joins List of Several Bidders for Site
By: George Winslow (Broadcasting & Cable) May 24 2013 - 4:14pm
Joins List of Several Bidders for Site
 

Following its $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo has put in a "formal proposal to buy Hulu," according to Reuters, which cited two anonymous sources.

MSOs Eye More Wi-Fi

Comcast Launches in Atlanta; Shaw Sets Edmonton Expansion
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 24 2013 - 4:09pm
Comcast Launches in Atlanta; Shaw Sets Edmonton Expansion

The Wi-Fi train keeps chugging along at Comcast and Canadian cable MSO Shaw Communications.

Following a recent deployment in Chicago, Comcast has begun to deploy a Wi-Fi network in Atlanta that will provide free access to Comcast cable modem subscribers and consumers who get broadband from “CableWiFi” roaming partners Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks, Cox Communications and  Time Warner Cable.

ACC's Board Elects Time Warner Cable's Surratt as President

Group Also Slates New Board Members, Officers for 2013-2014 Term
By: MCN Staff May 24 2013 - 2:18pm
Group Also Slates New Board Members, Officers for 2013-2014 Term
 

The board of directors of the Association of Cable Communicators has elected Anthony Surratt, group vice president, corporate communications, Time Warner Cable as the group’s president and a member of the executive committee.

Surratt, who was elected during the organization’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., began his term at the conclusion of Forum 2012 and will serve as ACC president until the conclusion of Forum 2014.

Verizon Kicks Off Free ‘On Demand Marathon’

Memorial Day Weekend Binge-Fest is FiOS TV’s ‘Biggest Free Event Ever,” Verizon Exec Says
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 24 2013 - 9:25am
Memorial Day Weekend Binge-Fest is FiOS TV’s ‘Biggest Free Event Ever,” Verizon Exec Says

Looking to boost overall VOD usage and perhaps nudge customers to buy more paid, transactional on-demand fare later on, Verizon FiOS TV today kicks off an On Demand Marathon that provides free access to more than 1,700 movies and north of 50 full season of TV series from networks such as NBC, HGTV, Food Network, HBO, Starz and EPIX. 

Multiplatform World: TV Everywhere Complexities Remain Daunting

Operators and Programmers Must Strive to Simplify and Unify their Backoffice and Workflow Systems
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 24 2013 - 8:16am
Operators and Programmers Must Strive to Simplify and Unify their Backoffice and Workflow Systems

New York – Pay TV operators continue to expand their TV Everywhere offerings, but the underlying systems are becoming increasingly complex as content is targeted to more devices and required to handle a growing variety of video and metadata formats.

It’s a daunting task, but one that needs to be handled, if pay TV operators are to keep pace with the changes that their viewers are demanding.

Comcast's David Cohen: U.S. Broadband Is World Class

Says Companies Have Invested $1.2 Trillion in Past Couple of Decades
By: John Eggerton (Broadcasting & Cable) May 23 2013 - 4:23pm
Says Companies Have Invested $1.2 Trillion in Past Couple of Decades

Comcast EVP David Cohen stood up tall for U.S. broadband Thursday (May 23), saying Americans "are getting world-class broadband from competing companies, and it’s getting better every day."

He ascribed to parochial agendas the "running down" of U.S. broadband buildouts by some critics and members of the press who he said use "selective statistics" to back "unsupported hypothesis" that high-speed is not "first rate."

Multiplatform World: Comcast's Strauss Says VOD Poised For More Growth

Exec Points to Gains on Usage, Promotional and Monetization Fronts
By: Mike Reynolds May 23 2013 - 12:08pm
Exec Points to Gains on Usage, Promotional and Monetization Fronts

New York -- Comcast’s video-on-demand programming is poised for growth on several levels.

Matt Strauss, senior vice president of digital and emerging platforms at Comcast Cable, speaking at NewBay Media’s "TV in a Multiplatform World" event here Thursday, said the platform’s viewership, promotional and monetization aspects are accelerating.

BlackArrow Jumps in Cable’s Canoe

Licensing Deal Targets National Programmers, Looks to Accelerate Rollout of VOD Dynamic Ad Insertion
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 23 2013 - 7:32am
Licensing Deal Targets National Programmers, Looks to Accelerate Rollout of VOD Dynamic Ad Insertion

Formalizing a working relationship that goes back about two years, Canoe, the MSO-backed advanced advertising firm, will announce today that it has licensed BlackArrow’s advertising campaign management system as part of a strategy to help Canoe’s national cable network partners accelerate their ability to insert ads dynamically into VOD content.

Financial terms of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed, but the accord centers on BlackArrow Affiliate, a platform for programmers that manages dynamic ad insertion (DAI) in set-top-delivered VOD services.

Comcast's Wi-Fi Network Blows into Chicago

MSO Lights Up More than 1,000 Hotspots As MSO Kicks Off Free Wi-Fi Promo
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 23 2013 - 6:55am
MSO Lights Up More than 1,000 Hotspots As MSO Kicks Off Free Wi-Fi Promo

Comcast confirmed it has deployed more than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the Chicago area and is offering free access to them to non-customers for a portion of the summer.

Shazam Auto-Tags the iPad

Revamped Audio-Recognition App for Apple Devices Can Automatically Trigger Interactive TV Apps and Ads
By: Jeff Baumgartner May 23 2013 - 6:32am
Revamped Audio-Recognition App for Apple Devices Can Automatically Trigger Interactive TV Apps and Ads

Shazam is breaking out a revamped interactive app for iPads that introduces  an important, new “auto-tagging” element that can recognize music and audio from TV shows and TV ads playing in the background  without requiring any manual intervention by the user.

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