NEW YORK—Fox Television Stations (FTS) and Amazon are teaming up to distribute FTS’s local news content across Amazon’s devices. Effective immediately, FTS will provide 17 24/7 local, free, ad-supported television (FAST) channels, one from each market covered by the Fox Television Stations, through the Amazon News app on Fire TV and Alexa on Echo Show devices. 

“This important collaboration with Amazon further solidifies our commitment to bring FTS’s powerhouse local news content to as many people as possible,” said Jeff Zellmer, Senior Vice President, Digital Operations, Fox Television Stations. “We know that choice and accessibility matter to our viewers and this launch is another key step in our overall strategy and goal of giving our viewers the live and on-demand content from the stations they love.”

This collaboration began in March 2022 with the initial distribution of LiveNOW from FOX and FOX Soul FAST channels. In December 2022, FTS’s local news content debuted across Amazon products with the distribution of the first five stations: WTXF FOX 29 Philadelphia, KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, KSAZ FOX 10 Phoenix, WJBK FOX 2 Detroit, and KMSP FOX 9 Minneapolis. 

The remaining 12, WNYW FOX 5 New York, KTTV FOX 11 Los Angeles, WFLD FOX 32 Chicago, KDFW FOX 4 Dallas, WAGA FOX 5 Atlanta, KRIV FOX 26 Houston, WTTG FOX 5 DC, KCPQ FOX 13 Seattle, WTVT FOX 13 Tampa Bay, WOFL FOX 35 Orlando, KTBC FOX 7 Austin and WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee, are now available across Amazon products, such as Fire TV and Echo Show devices. In addition to live content, FTS is also distributing local news video on demand (VOD) clips.

Amazon’s News app on Fire TV is a free and customizable news aggregator supported with advertising. The app comes built into the Fire TV experience on all Fire TV streaming media players and smart TVs in the U.S. When viewers open the News app on the Fire TV home screen for the first time, they can select the news that matters most to them from national and local sources.

Customers in the U.S. can also watch local news channels in 250 cities from more than 300 local news providers on Echo Show devices. With this update, Amazon says Alexa will make it easier to learn about the latest news stories in local communities from Fox Local News—all hands-free. Just say, “Alexa play Phoenix news,” “Alexa play Seattle news,” etc. to get started.

Fox Television Stations owns and operates 29 full power broadcast television stations in the U.S. including stations located in nine of the top ten largest designated market areas (DMAs)

The latest must-have in our household was an Amazon Echo. However, the Echo and Alexa performed perfectly for a short period and then abruptly stopped working. When aroused thereafter, Alexa would reply “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble connecting to the Internet right now.” After much googling and calls to Amazon and my ISP I was ready to present the rogue bot to Reggie, the family pooch, affectionately referred to as “the Shredder.” Luckily, I found an obscure blog from a hero (in my book) who had the same issue and crucially, as it turned out, the same router. He suggested splitting the 2.4G and 5G Wi-Fi networks, turning off linking and giving them separate SSID names. Put the iPad and Echo on 5G and everything else on 2.4G. Bingo ... it worked! Bob Marley for the rest of the evening, or what was left of it!

It struck me that our experience has parallels explaining the reticence by some towards the rollout of IP in the broadcast industry. Pure SDI workflows consist of several interconnected boxes. When pictures don’t emerge, it is usually obvious which box is the culprit. Likewise, IP networks comprise multiple boxes/devices, but here successful deployment doesn’t just rely on signal transport compliance to adopted standards (i.e. ST 2022-6, ST 2110, etc.), but at the device configuration layer, as well. Accommodating alternative Ethernet port configurations, speeds and other modes introduces considerable device inter-dependency at setup. One incompatible setting and you’ll have blank screens. In our case, the solution (or at least the fix) resided not in the newly added Echo (as I initially diagnosed with my SDI hat on), but settings in the router. All this could be enough to put anyone off, but in truth, IP is brilliant! I’m not going to rollout all the benefits I’m sure you’ve heard before but ― The Echo, Alexa and Amazon’s music database ― how about that for resource sharing?

End-to-end IP Portfolio

I pondered, while walking the Shredder, what might have improved our Echo/Alexa experience. I considered the broadcast IP solutions we offer at Grass Valley. GV’s extensive IP portfolio means you can source all the main IP devices, including a COTS IP switch (GV Fabric), from a single manufacturer. That’s everything, end-to-end, including Direct IP enabled cameras, switchers, standalone or modular video and audio processing devices through to IP multiviewers and IP-to-HDMI display converters. Surely things would have been a lot easier in my case if there were an equivalent single supplier in the domestic device market. Just like Grass Valley does for IP, everything would have been tested and device interoperability would have been verified. If nothing else, there’d be just one phone number to ring and no hopping between vendor service departments with each telling you to ring another. There’ll never be a single supplier for domestic devices, but it’s a nice thought.

Open Standards-based IP

On reflection, all my home devices must have adhered to formal networking standards for there to have been any chance of them working together. It’s inconceivable that this wouldn’t be so. Indeed, particularly in the domestic market, new standards must accommodate existing ones to prevent installed-device obsolescence. You’d think the same would be true in the broadcast industry, but with IP standards being slow to materialize, many proprietary and semi-proprietary IP solutions have emerged. That may be satisfactory in the short term, but it can lead to customers being tied to a specific vendor or vendors when upgrading or re-purposing, or necessitate potentially expensive custom software drivers for incompatible device additions and new control surfaces.

Today, customers want flexibility, ease of deployment and their IP systems to be future proof right from the start. From the beginning, Grass Valley adopted an open standards-based approach to IP for both signal transport and at the control layer. The underlying structure and topology of Grass Valley's IP solution, GV Orbit, was specifically designed to ensure ease of adoption of SMPTE and AMWA NMOS standards as they are released and ratified. The open architecture approach is now proving to be absolutely the right course, ultimately giving customers choice and keeping them in control.

Dynamic Orchestration

There were a few irritating things when adding the Echo and re-configuring my home network. All the devices had different (obviously) user interfaces, some of which were not particularly intuitive. I could put up with that, but perhaps most annoying was the need to reboot the router each time when making what seemed minor changes. This is something Grass Valley has really gotten right for the broadcast world.

The new GV Orbit Dynamic System Orchestrator for SDI, hybrid or pure IP systems amalgamates configuration, control and monitoring into a single unified package with a similar look and feel on all user screens. GV Orbit doesn’t restrict you to using all its functions and features if it doesn’t suit your workflow. You may, for example, have an existing router-control system with hardware panels installed that you don’t want to change. GV Orbit offers third party access via its northbound control facility using standard industry protocols. A clue to perhaps the best feature and benefit of GV Orbit is in the word “Dynamic.” In short, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get!). GV Orbit allows you to make changes to your system on the fly, whether that be adding or removing devices, reconfiguring signal flows or simply renaming controls or indicators. There’s no more file copying or system downtime while waiting for system controllers to re-boot. Real-time, live-updating means fast & efficient deployment and re-purposing, saving valuable time and money! It makes GV Orbit perfect for OB (outside broadcast) environments, or any continually revolving production scenario. GV Orbit is supplied on a 24” deep 1RU server with all software pre-installed.

Finally, I can report that the Shredder had to make do with one of my old slippers, but at least he could chew on it listening to Bob Marley, courtesy of Alexa. Research conducted (circa 2017) by the Scottish SPCA and the University of Glasgow in the UK found that reggae and soft rock came out as the best genres for reducing a dog’s stress, barking and heart rate.

LOS GATOS, Calif.—Losing your Roku remote in the couch is no longer as big of a concern for customers with an Alexa-enabled device, as Roku devices are now compatible with the Amazon tool. Through the new Roku skill for Alexa, Roku streaming player and Roku TV owners in the U.S. can now control their systems with their voices.

Using an Alexa-enabled device—Amazon Echo, Echo Show, Echo Dot, Echo Spot and Echo Plus—Roku users can pause a show, launch a streaming channel and search for entertainment by calling on Alexa. Roku TV users will be able to turn on their TVs, change the volume, mute the TV, switch inputs and change channels if an OTA antenna is connected.

Roku devices must be running Roku OS 8.1 or greater to be used with Alexa. Set up is done through the Alexa app.

LAS VEGAS—LG Electronics believes its 2019 flagship OLED TVs are moving to the head of the class.

This year’s lineup, encompassing the Z9, W9, E9 and C9 series, promise optimized content and enhanced picture and sound thanks to the company’s second-generation a9 Gen 2 intelligent processor, and a deep-learning algorithm developed from a database of over one million visual cues. Together they “recognize” content source quality and determine the best upgrade method for visual output, LG said.

[Related: CES 2019 Preview: Your TV Wants To Control Your Home]

The new processor also automatically adjusts brightness based on ambient light conditions, taking into account the way the human eye perceives images in different lighting.The a9 Gen 2 processor can further refine HDR content by adjusting the brightness to add contrast, detail and depth of color to dark scenes in brightly-lit rooms, LG said.

Stay up to date with all things CES-related with one-click access to TWICE’s CES Hub.

On the sound front, quality is augmented by an intelligent algorithm that can up-mix two-channel audio to deliver what LG described as “convincing virtual 5.1 surround sound.” Meanwhile, the a9 Gen 2 chip can optimize output based on content type for clearer-sounding voices, adding further realism to the sets’ Dolby Atmos sound signature.

The platform’s smarts also extends to digital assistants, which this year includes Amazon Alexa in addition to the built-in Google Assistant, first made available on the 2018 models with ThinQ AI. Pressing the Amazon Prime Video button on the TVs’ Magic Remote allows users to manage smart-home devices, ask questions and access Alexa’s tens of thousands of skills.

Voice control also comes into play via LG’s own ThinQ AI smart platform, which now boasts a new conversational voice recognition feature that understands context and allows for more complex requests.

LG’s latest OLED series will be on display next week at CES 2019 in the company’s Central Hall booth, #11100.

Next week at CES 2019 we should expect to see a growing number of manufacturers introducing smart-home connectivity into their TVs in the form of voice activation. This latest innovation combines the ease of voice commands for TV control with myriad other functions that expand the television’s abilities by integrating it with the rest of the smart- home ecosystem.

Of course several brands, including Samsung, LG and Sony, already offer the ability to control connected devices in this way. But this we will likely see manufacturers show off some new relationships between their TV brands and the companies behind voice assistant technology, most noticeably Google Assistant software.

Stay up to date with all things CES-related with one-click access to TWICE's CES Hub.

So far, voice assistant technology comes to TVs in two formats. One type offers built-in assistant capabilities, which operate through a voice-enabled remote and do not require a standalone device. The second format does not have voice-assistant technology built into the TV itself, but does allow the user to control the TV through the use of a separate device such as an Amazon Echo. TVs with this format are commonly identified as “compatible with” various voice assistant operating systems, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

In contrast, Amazon formed an exclusive partnership with Best Buy’s private-label Insignia brand and the Hisense-licensed Toshiba badge last year, which limits its prospects for expansion. However, many additional brands are nonetheless compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, including Haier, Hisense, LG, Sony and Vizio. We can expect to see more TVs added to this list this year, and perhaps even an additional player if Roku expands its voice control capabilities beyond the television. As for Samsung, the brand remains content with its proprietary Bixby technology to the exclusion of all others.

What results from the addition of this software is an integrated system that lets TV users speak into a voice-enabled remote to control the TV, as well as conduct any of the other functions available on a standalone virtual assistant device. In practical terms, this turns the television into a giant control center for the smart home at the same time that appliances, home audio, thermostats, security cameras, lighting and many other once-standard household devices are gaining new functions and abilities through the addition of virtual assistant software.

Point is, these smart-home products need some sort of external control source. Traditionally this was accomplished via a mobile app and later with the additional option of voice-controlled smart speakers. Now, with the integration of virtual assistants into the TV itself, the TV has the potential to become the control hub of the smart home, although the industry has yet to establish a need for the television to fulfill this role in the home. The convenience of an always-available smartphone or an always-on voice controlled speaker cannot be overstated, and the TV industry has yet to proffer a compelling reason why the TV is more suitable for this purpose than a smaller device.

The market may have an uphill battle on its hands in this regard, although TV manufacturers will be doing their best to drown out any doubts at CES.