WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.— SMPTE today announced its 2026 Honorees, recognizing individuals and organizations whose contributions have advanced media technology and the entertainment industry. The honors will be presented at the annual SMPTE Awards Gala on Thursday, Nov. 19, at the conclusion of the 2026 SMPTE Media Technology Summit at the Pasadena Convention Center.

“I want to congratulate all of this year’s honorees,” says Renard T. Jenkins, Fellows Committee Chair and SMPTE Past President. “Their dedication to SMPTE and to our industry is an inspiration, and their contributions have had a lasting impact on media technology and the people it serves. We are proud to recognize their achievements.”

This year, 32 individuals and organizations will be recognized across 13 SMPTE honors. Among them is the Society’s highest distinction, Honorary Membership, recognizing individuals who have performed eminent service in the advancement of engineering in motion pictures, television, or the allied arts and sciences. Past recipients include Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, George Lucas and James Cameron.

2026 SMPTE Honorees
Honorary Membership will be conferred on John Dykstra, ASC, in recognition of more than four decades of contributions to motion picture imaging engineering. A founding figure in modern motion picture visual effects, Dykstra pioneered groundbreaking technologies and techniques for Star Wars that helped transform visual effects production.

The David Sarnoff Medal is being awarded to Jerry C. Whitaker in recognition of his visionary leadership in the creation and deployment of digital television standards, including ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0.

This year’s recipient of the Progress Medal is Robert P. Seidel, in recognition of his decades of sustained contributions to HDTV deployment, digital television standards, multichannel audio, and the architecture of next-generation broadcast infrastructure.

The Excellence in Education Medal will be presented to Anil Kokaram for his outstanding contributions to academic and extracurricular engineering education.

The Workflow Systems Medal will be awarded to Bruce Devlin, in recognition of his pioneering leadership in the development, standardization and adoption of interoperable media workflows, transforming the industry from tape-based operations to modern file-based and software-defined production.

The James A. Lindner Archival Technology Medal will be presented to Nicholas Bergh in recognition of his pioneering contributions to audio preservation technology.

The Excellence in Standards Award recognizes individuals who have played an active role in advancing SMPTE Standards, activities and processes. This year’s award will be presented to Jerry Pierce (posthumous) and Wade Hanniball, in recognition of their sustained leadership in the development, standardization and worldwide deployment of digital cinema technologies.

Polly Chesnokova, from the AFI Conservatory, will be the recipient of the Louis F. Wolf Jr. Memorial Scholarship, designed to assist students in furthering their undergraduate or graduate studies in motion pictures and television, with an emphasis on technology.

The Journal Award for the best paper originally published in the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal during 2025 will go to Charles Q. Robinson for “Cinema Sound Playback Level and Audience Satisfaction.” Journal Certificates of Merit will be awarded to David Long, Rod Bogart, Spencer Stephens, Catherine Meininger, Joseph Goldstone, Tim S. Kang, Kathryn Brillhart and Jim Geduldick for “Color Management Principles for LED Panels in On-Set Virtual Production,” and to Tania Pouli, Khaoula Ounajim and Daniel Menard for “Evaluating the Energy Impact of Different Dimensions of UHD.”

The Student Paper Award will be presented to Miles Katz for his paper, “Evaluating Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in SMPTE ST 2110 Media Networks.”

In memoriam, Henry (Hank) Mahler will join the SMPTE Honor Roll in recognition of his extraordinary engineering leadership and innovation across broadcast audio, color television, sports production and high-definition imaging.

SMPTE Fellows
Nine new SMPTE Fellows will be recognized at this year’s Gala for their outstanding proficiency and contributions to the motion picture, television and related industries. The 2026 inductees are Zandra Clarke, Jimmy Fournier, Thomas Heritage, Harvey Landy, Steve LLamb, Yukihiro Nishida, C.V. Rao, Allan Schollnick and Marc Zorn

More information about the 2026 SMPTE Honorees, including full award citations and honoree information, can be found here.

For information on SMPTE Awards Gala sponsorships and congratulatory Program Book ads, contact Anthony Catalano.

CESSON-SÉVIGNÉ, France—Broadpeak has launched Click2Cart, which it calls “the next evolution” of its Click2 interactive advertising solution. Click2Cart enables viewers to add products directly to their online shopping cart with a single click of their TV remote during a streaming advertisement.

Click2Cart builds on Broadpeak's Click2 interactive advertising solution that enables viewers to engage with ads and begin the process of purchasing while watching video streaming services. The add-to-cart feature marks a significant next phase, according to Broadpeak, moving beyond click-to-notification features by allowing viewers to add products directly to their online shopping cart, bringing consumers just one click away from completing a purchase.

As performance advertising becomes an increasingly important priority for connected TV, advertisers are demanding the same measurable commerce capabilities available through the world's largest digital platforms. Today, advanced shoppability features remain largely confined to major digital commerce ecosystems and their own advertising environments. Broadpeak Click2 helps overcome these barriers by providing a universal performance advertising framework that interoperates with existing streaming workflows while connecting seamlessly with third-party retail platforms.

“Retail media and shoppable TV are two notable sectors of rapidly-growing opportunity in today’s advertising landscape,” said Paul Erickson, Principal Analyst, Media & Entertainment at Omdia. “Interactive CTV advertising’s potential for brands and publishers has been traditionally limited by challenges such as intuitiveness of user experience and level of performance measurement. Improved integration, experience, and measurability is in the shared interest of advertisers, platforms and consumers alike.”

For publishers, broadcasters and streaming operators, the solution introduces a new category of premium performance advertising inventory, attracting new advertiser demand while creating incremental revenue opportunities that capitalize on the continued growth of ecommerce.

For brands, retailers and retail media networks, Click2Cart creates a direct path from advertisement to purchase, while providing accurate engagement and conversion metrics that bring true performance advertising measurement to connected TV. For viewers, Broadpeak says the experience is "simple and intuitive," allowing viewers to click once using their existing TV remote to add products directly to their shopping cart.

"For too long, delivering true shoppability and performance advertising has only been feasible for a handful of top digital platforms," said Jacques Le Mancq, President and CEO at Broadpeak. "We're giving streaming companies and broadcasters the tools to compete for performance advertising on a level playing field. The industry has been asking for a better way to connect advertisers, retailers and streaming platforms without compromising the viewer experience. Click2Cart makes TV shoppability practical at scale – we’re looking forward to collaborating with customers and their retail partners to push this next phase forward."

Click2Cart integrates with existing streaming advertising workflows and third-party retail ecosystems, with support across standard pre-roll and mid-roll advertising and non-linear display formats including L-Banner. It introduces new engagement and conversion beacons that provide advertisers with accurate performance KPIs and measurement capabilities throughout the purchase journey, according to Broadpeak.

Broadpeak says that when combined with the spot-level ad replacement solution Spot2Spot and nonlinear ad insertion capabilities with BannersIn2, which unlock new ad formats and higher-value inventory, Click2Cart “opens a pathway to revenue growth and true incremental inventory across the 150+ telecom operators working with Broadpeak worldwide.”

Broadpeak will demonstrate Click2Cart publicly for the first time at IBC2026, Sept. 11-14 at booth 1.F83 in the RAI Amsterdam.

OAKLAND, Calif.—Truthset announced an agreement with FreeWheel, a global technology platform for CTV advertising, that will allow advertisers to activate its independently validated Data Rated Audiences (DRAs) across the FreeWheel CTV advertising ecosystem.

The agreement provides advertisers with more accurate and consistent audience activation, while reducing wasted impressions and improving outcomes, the two companies said.

"As CTV continues to scale, the industry needs a more reliable way to connect high-quality audience data to premium video inventory without adding complexity for advertisers or publishers,” said Michelle Eule, executive director of Data and Measurement at FreeWheel, which is owned by Comcast. “This integration helps solve that challenge by giving advertisers and publishers greater accuracy and higher quality audience data across their campaigns.”

The integration allows advertisers to match Truthset’s Data Rated Audiences or DRAs, which are multi-sourced from participating members of its Data Collective and independently scored, to FreeWheel Identity Network. By embedding Truthset’s DRAs into the identity matching and activation process, advertisers can achieve more accurate targeting across premium CTV inventory. Ultimately, advertisers gain greater confidence they're reaching the right people and households to drive stronger campaign performance.

Initially, the integration will support audience activation through FreeWheel's Advertiser Suite, including FreeWheel Buyer Cloud (formerly Beeswax), and Curation Hub, , with broader availability across FreeWheel's unified audience marketplace planned.

This direct integration builds on Truthset's recent partnerships with The Trade Desk, Magnite, Yahoo and Databricks, where Data Rated Audiences are being 1:1 matched to IDs to ensure accuracy is maintained throughout platform and publisher activation. Together, these integrations advance the open web toward end-to-end validation, enabling advertisers to achieve walled garden-level performance while retaining the flexibility of programmatic advertising.

"Premium CTV inventory commands premium pricing, making audience accuracy more important than ever," said Gregg Galletta, President of Truthset. "We’re seeing a shift towards creating a more validated path between audience creation and media activation, to bring walled garden accuracy to the open web."

NEW YORK—DAZN today announced that it is acquiring EverPass Media, a provider of premium live sports content to commercial venues. The acquisition furthers the sports streamers expansion in the U.S. and marks the expansion of DAZN for Business, a dedicated media platform serving bars, restaurants, hotels, and other commercial venues into the U.S.

Founded in 2023 by 32 Equity and RedBird Capital Partners, EverPass is described as “a purpose-built media and technology platform that partners with rightsholders, distribution partners and business owners to unlock access to premium live events and drive business growth. “

The acquisition reflects EverPass' three-year effort to evolve how premium live sports content is distributed to commercial venues. Following completion of the acquisition, EverPass’ technology will serve as the foundation for DAZN’s next generation of commercial venue distribution, and EverPass will formally rebrand to DAZN for Business.

Alex Kaplan, CEO of EverPass, will continue to lead the business as well as take on a larger role within DAZN. RedBird Capital Partners, 32 Equity and TKO Group Holdings will become minority shareholders in DAZN. Existing EverPass customers will continue to receive service and support as usual, with no interruption to their current service as a result of the acquisition.

DAZN has had an ambitious summer with its U.S. expansion, signing exclusive streaming deals with MSG, and NBA franchises Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers just in the past month. It also signed a deal last fall to be the exclusive provider of live NHL games in to 200 countries outside the U.S., Canada and the Nordics.

EverPass has the exclusive commercial distribution rights for NFL Sunday Ticket, which includes every live out-of-market Sunday regular-season afternoon NFL game. In July 2026, EverPass and DirecTV reached a new agreement to collaborate and provide distribution of NFL Sunday Ticket via satellite and streaming, ensuring the commercial marketplace has access to this content across the United States.

In addition to NFL Sunday Ticket and other NFL content, EverPass provides commercial venues with access to programming from leading sports leagues and competitions, including the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NWSL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, MLS, Formula 1, college football and basketball. EverPass also has distribution partnerships with Peacock, Netflix, Paramount and Apple as well as YES Network and Chicago Sports Network.

EverPass has developed an IP-based technology platform purpose-built for multiscreen commercial venues. The platform delivers premium streaming content through one commercial solution and gives venue operators greater flexibility, control and consistency across their screens and locations. Following deal completion, the platform will be the technology and operational foundation for DAZN for Business.

EverPass’ capabilities include centralized management of multiple screens and venues, smart content scheduling, integration with existing audiovisual infrastructure, commercial-grade streaming devices and tools that allow businesses to promote offers, engage customers and measure performance.

The platform is designed to simplify the transition from traditional satellite and cable distribution to streaming, while giving rights holders and content partners a scalable and secure route into the commercial market, the company said.

“This is an important step in DAZN’s journey to become a global home of sport,” said Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN Group. “EverPass Media gives us a proven commercial distribution platform, deep relationships across U.S. venues, and an attractive portfolio of premium rights that perfectly complements our growing U.S. business. DAZN can now serve every type of customer in the U.S.— from individual sports fans using the DAZN app to commercial venues looking to provide the best possible viewing experience for their customers.”

WASHINGTON—FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez has issued a strongly worded statement blasting Media Bureau guidance on political advertising rules that she says unlawfully expands the political entities and groups that qualify for discounted broadcast advertising rates.

She contended that the Media Bureau is now allowing joint fundraising committees and party committees to purchase airtime at the same steep discount, just weeks before voting starts in the fall general midterm election. The discount window opens September 4, 2026.

The issue is an important one for the ad revenue broadcasters can expect in the last half of 2026.

While broadcasters are increasingly reliant on political advertising during election years, the requirement that they provide inventory at discounted rates to an expended group of buyers could hurt revenue and make it difficult for stations to serve their tradition advertising clients.

At the end of March, the Media Bureau issued a Public Notice with guidance on who is entitled to the discounted advertising rates under the “FCC’s lowest unit charge (LUC) requirements. As discussed below, the LUC requirements are applicable to (1) authorized committees, including authorized committees that engage in joint fundraising with legally qualified candidates for federal office, and (2) advertisements that qualify as coordinated expenditures of political parties and legally qualified candidates for federal office.”

This was challenged by the Television Bureau of Advertising, which is funded by broadcasters and on August 13, the Media Bureau rejected the TVB’s petition asking the agency to reconsider its ruling, arguing that the agency hadn’t actually changed any of its rules.

Gomez rejected those arguments in a statement saying that “In the final stretch of a national election, this FCC is unleashing a flood of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising, just as the Supreme Court has cleared the way for unlimited coordinated spending between parties and candidates, This unprecedented, last-minute decision gives the biggest political spenders an even bigger advantage over everyone else by expanding the candidate-only discount established by law to joint fundraising and party committees, an advantage that will make it hard for anyone else to catch up before Election Day.”

“Broadcasters are being directed to slash prices and sell their most valuable inventory during their busiest and most lucrative season, even as this same FCC has spent months arguing broadcasters need economic and regulatory relief to compete with Big Tech and streaming,” she added. “You cannot claim broadcasters are struggling to survive and then force them into a fire sale on the one thing that could actually help them compete and increase revenue.

Gomez also argued that the move was illegal.

“Even more concerning, this decision was made behind closed doors by agency staff, not by the full Commission, and it contradicts what this administration itself told the Supreme Court less than a year ago about who qualifies for this discount,” she noted. “In direct conflict with the administration’s position, the FCC relies on alleged staff-level guidance that was never provided in writing and that nobody could find, and adopted it with no opportunity for the public to weigh in. The American people should not have sweeping election-year rule changes forced on them in the dark, on the eve of an election, without an opportunity for public input. It is past time this Commission listens to them, not to the billionaires seeking to empty their pockets into dark money groups to try to influence the outcome of this upcoming election.”

In its August 13 dismissal of the TVB's challenge the Media Bureau noted that the “TVB argues that the Bureau’s Public Notice broke new substantive ground, and their Petition thus seeks reconsideration of what they contend is a new and final agency action.”

The FCC’s Media Bureau rejected that argument by contending that “the Public Notice merely reminds the public, going into an election season, of the agency’s longstanding and previous decisions regarding the scope of LUC obligations. It simply collects in one place prior FCC orders and other relevant authority so that a wide range of stakeholders can be aware of existing law. Such a reminder is not a decision or action that can be challenged through a petition for reconsideration.”

In addition, the Media Bureau argued that “insofar as TVB’s Petition takes issue with prior agency guidance, the time for challenging that prior guidance has passed” and “ there is nothing in the Public Notice that reopened those issues or underlying guidance sufficient to provide TVB with a right to challenge them through a petition for reconsideration of the Public Notice.”

The Media Bureau also argued that “the FCC’s existing interpretations of the LUC requirements...further confirms that the Public Notice broke no new ground; it did not change the status quo. As always, if there are particular instances in which a party wishes to challenge a station’s application of the LUC in a specific case, the agency can adjudicate those disputes on a case-by-case basis consistent with FCC precedent.”

The full copy of the Media Bureau’s rejection of the TVB petition is available here.

PARAMUS, N.J.—Sony Electronics and Vitec today announced a strategic global collaboration targeting corporate environments, entertainment venues, hospitality, healthcare, and public facilities by integrating Sony’s Bravia professional displays with Vitec’s IPTV and digital signage platform. The collaboration delivers an end-to-end IPTV and signage ecosystem that enhances visual experience and eliminates the need for external media players, offering a simpler-to-deploy, native Android-based app for Sony’s displays, the companies said.

By integrating Sony’s Bravia professional displays with Vitec’s Avedia IPTV and digital signage platform, the combination offers a player-less IPTV solution directly to the display’s system-on-a-chip (SoC). The Android-based Bravia professional display’s deployment tools offer smooth deployment of Vitec’s Avedia player software directly onto Sony displays without the need for additional hardware. This all-in-one approach reduces installation complexity, streamlines management, and lowers the total cost of ownership for end users, the companies said.

The combined technology, orchestrated by Vitec’s CMS can support thousands of displays—covering a wide range of screen sizes—while maintaining centralized control. From live IPTV channels to interactive signage and targeted advertising, users can adapt content in real time to maximize engagement and revenue opportunities.

“By combining Sony’s world-class display technology with Vitec’s powerful IPTV and signage platform, we are delivering a game-changing solution across many verticals,” said Rik Willemse, Head of Professional Display Solutions Europe, Sony Europe. “This collaboration allows operators and end users to create dynamic, engaging environments while simplifying installation and reducing operational complexity,” said Rich Ventura, Vice President, Professional Display Solutions America, Sony Electronics Inc.

This integration provides robust performance even in large-scale deployments with demanding requirements. Centralized content control, redundancy features, and support for the latest security standards ensure that any setup can rely on the system for mission-critical operation with end-to-end content protection.

“This strategic global collaboration between Vitec and Sony marks the beginning of an evolving collaboration focused on delivering innovative, secure, and scalable IPTV and digital signage solutions worldwide. By integrating our technologies and expertise, we are committed to providing customers with seamless, future-ready platforms and workflows that address the diverse needs of modern organizations,” said Eli Garten, Senior Vice President, Global IPTV and Partner Solutions for Vitec.

In addition to IPTV and digital signage solutions, Vitec’s end-to-end offering includes head-end encoding and streaming, IP gateways and video wall systems to manage, distribute and display content across using any network.

IRVING, Texas—Nexstar Media Group has announced that Brett Jenkins, executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer, will retire from full-time work at the company effective October 1, at which time he will transition to executive advisor, overseeing the completion of several special projects.

“Brett has been an incredible asset for Nexstar over the last nine-plus years,” said Perry Sook, Nexstar’s founder, chairman and chief executive officer. “He has led Nexstar’s technology advancements, overseen our expansion of ATSC 3.0, spearheaded the development and rollout of the company’s connected TV and mobile applications, and been instrumental in the planning and execution of our automated sales technology. Brett has had a distinguished career, and we are pleased he is staying on in this new capacity.”

Jenkins joined Nexstar as chief technology officer in 2017 in connection with the company’s acquisition of Media General. He was promoted to chief technology and digital officer in 2023, responsible for the company’s technology, data and digital operations, as well as the development and deployment of ATSC 3.0.

Prior to joining Nexstar, Mr. Jenkins served as vice president and chief technology officer at Media General from 2014 to 2017, overseeing the company’s information technology and engineering functions. Before joining Media General in 2014, he was vice president chief technology officer of LIN Media.

As executive advisor, Jenkins will provide counsel for Sook and for Nexstar’s president and COO, Michael Biard, and continue to oversee several important projects for the company.

He will also remain actively involved in Edgebeam Wireless, LLC., a wireless data services provider launched in 2025 as a joint venture among Nexstar and three of the country’s largest independent broadcast groups. Jenkins’ current day-to-day responsibilities and direct reports will be reassigned across Nexstar’s deep bench of experienced executives.

“I’m happy to continue working with Brett, especially as Edgebeam continues to ramp-up its commercial rollout,” said Biard. “He is a tremendous resource for Nexstar and a leader in the media industry, recognized repeatedly for his ability to solve complex problems, integrate highly advanced technology systems, and execute major digital initiatives. He’s been an extremely valuable member of Nexstar’s executive team, and we’re grateful for his countless contributions to our success.”

Jenkins is a former member of the Board of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an international, non-profit organization that develops standards for digital television. He has been instrumental in building out Nexstar’s ATSC 3.0 footprint in the country’s top-25 markets.

HPA has opened its call for entries of the HPA Awards Innovation & Technology that will be given out at a ceremony on February 18, 2027 at the HPA Tech Retreat.

Entries are invited in five categories:

• Innovation in Pre-Production
• Innovation in Production & Capture
• Innovation in VFX, Virtual Production & Animation
• Innovation in Post-Production
• Innovation in Distribution & Audience Experience

Entries will be evaluated by an expert judging panels based on innovation, industry impact, technical merit, and adoption readiness, HPA reported.

Submissions are due on October 2, 2026 with judging panels and interviews taking place December 7–11, 2026. Nominees will be announced in January of 2027.

Entries can be submitted here.

The Georgia Association of Broadcasters has announced this year’s GAB Honors Awards recipients.

The four honorees will be presented their awards at the association’s annual convention, GABCON, held Sept. 25–26 at the Gas South District Convention Center in Duluth.

“These four honorees represent the very best of Georgia, from broadcasting and public service to innovation and community impact,” GAB President Randy Gravley said in a release.

Ditty-McLemore Engineering Award: Michael Williams

Michael Williams of WSB(TV) is the recipient of GAB’s award which recognizes contributions to broadcast engineering.

Williams is the senior manager of IT at WSB and has around 30 years of experience in the broadcast industry. He has spent the last 18 years with WSB, beginning as a maintenance engineer before advancing to his current role.

His career with Cox Media Group began 10 years prior to joining WSB, when he worked as a radio engineer.

Golden Mic Award: Estelle Parsley

Estelle Parsley, the vice president of news for WRDW(TV) in Augusta, is the recipient of the GAB’s award that recognizes those whose efforts and support have made a lasting impact on Georgia’s broadcasting industry.

Under Parsley’s leadership, WRDW has earned 10 National Edward R. Murrow Awards, 40 regional Murrow Awards and 14 Southeast Emmys.

Legislator of the Year: Clint Crowe

This GAB award honors a Georgia Lawmaker whose leadership and dedication strengthen local broadcasting and its service to the community.

State Representative Clint Crowe represents Georgia House District 118, which includes Butts County and portions of Monroe and Newton counties.

Georgian of the Year: Jesse Cole

This award is presented to an individual who has made a significant and lasting impact on the citizens and state of Georgia.

Jesse Cole is the founder of Fans First Entertainment and owner of the Banana Ball Championship League, which includes the Savannah Bananas.

[This article was originally posted in our sister publication Radio World. You can read their industry coverage here or signed up for the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter here.]

LONDON—Techex, a specialist in live IP video transport, has tapped Stuart Almond as chief revenue officer.

In his new role, Almond is tasked with driving Techex’s business strategy and development initiatives and supporting its continued expansion as broadcasters and content owners transition to dynamic, cloud-native production environments, the company said.

A 25-year industry veteran, Almond brings experience spanning technology, media and telecommunications, Techex said. He has held senior leadership positions with such companies as Qvest, Microsoft and Sony Professional Solutions Europe.

Techex develops software-defined live IP video transport, transformation and monitoring solutions for Tier-1 broadcasters and media companies. Its specialized software stack—including its tx edge gateway and tx darwin processing framework—enables secure, low-latency live video routing across uncompressed IP, managed wide area networks and public cloud environments.

For more information, visit the Techex website.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now available to Spectrum customers in former Cox markets throughout the Dodgers broadcast territory.

The launch, which follows the close of Charter's acquisition of Cox Communications, is in time for the August 21 game against the Pirates. It brings Dodgers baseball and SportsNet LA's full slate of studio programming to a significantly expanded audience just as the playoff race heats up.

Beginning immediately, subscribers to Contour TV Preferred or Contour TV Ultimate in former Cox markets located in the Las Vegas, Orange County, Palos Verdes and Santa Barbara areas have access to SportsNet LA as part of their TV service.

On Contour TV lineups, the network can be found on channel 50 in Las Vegas, channel 63 in Orange County, channel 54 in Palos Verdes and channel 36 in Santa Barbara.

SportsNet LA's coverage includes live regular season games alongside the network's full lineup of studio programming. Regular season game coverage is led by Joe Davis and Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser, now in their 11th season together as the voices of Dodger baseball, with additional game analysis from Eric Karros, Jessica Mendoza and Dontrelle Willis, and field reporting from Kirsten Watson.

More information on the network is available at sportsnetla.com.

The University of Maryland has deployed Sony FX30 cameras as part of a wider effort to reinvent video journalism and help their students tell more immersive stories, drawing on traditional broadcast journalism, documentary filmmaking and the new techniques and styles of creator journalism.

One example of the how this works comes from Josh Davidsburg, a documentary filmmaker and principal lecturer at the school’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

He says that his early career aspirations leaned more toward the evening news or Hollywood, not PBS. Now, with the help of Sony’s FX30 cinema cameras, he’s firmly rooted in all three communities and he’s helping his journalism students at the University of Maryland (UMD) learn new ways to tell a story.

“Growing up, I was deciding between being a TV journalist like my dad or a movie director because I had a passion for film and cinema,” said Davidsburg. He chose the former, which led to a journalism degree and eventually a teaching position at UMD.

He finds the Sony FX30 is the right camera for the evolving field of “creator” journalism, a unique blend of feature- and documentary-style filmmaking suited for social media and digital platforms from YouTube to streaming services. The camera’s mix of price, functionality and performance made it an ideal fit for UMD’s journalism program.

Davidsburg describes modern-era documentaries as a convergence of journalism and cinema, likening them to the pioneering work of 1970s “new journalism” writers like Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe, who injected literary techniques into their reporting. Newer camera technologies have also dramatically democratized filmmaking. Field cameras once cost $40,000 to $60,000 and required operation by dedicated photographers, not reporters: “I would go on assignment with a photographer and, as the reporter, I couldn’t touch their camera!”

Now cameras with high-end capabilities cost a fraction of these early prices with corresponding drops in size and learning curves, putting them easily in reach of students and reporters at any level.

UMD is expanding its curriculum with a documentary master’s program, a cinematography class, and an upcoming editing class. It’s all part of UMD’s plan to teach students how to combine the traditional “wide, medium, tight” approach to TV news shooting with cinematic techniques that immerse viewers in a story.

“We blend extensive practical lab work with classroom theory,” Davidsburg said. “Students enjoy the mix because it gets them out of their seats and into the world, actively using cameras rather than just sitting and listening to lectures.”camera screen with content

Currently, UMD has six FX30 cameras and about 40 Sony ENG-style cameras – a mix of the HXR-NX800, HXR-NX5U, and HXR-NX3 models. Journalism students start with the ENG cameras in their first video production course and then “graduate” to the FX30s in cinematography and documentary producing courses.

The balance of field and lab work varies by the course. For example, cinematography classes are roughly half lecture and half shooting exercises. “One day we’re lecturing and the next we’ll send them out on a cinematography scavenger hunt where they have to get shots with shallow or wide depths of field or do a rack focus,” he said.

Right Fit for a Lab

Davidsburg’s personal filmmaking projects were also responsible for bringing the FX30 to the UMD students. He shot his latest documentary, “A Banner Year” – about local, nonprofit newspaper The Baltimore Banner – with Sony’s FX3 cinema camera, which he described as a perfect run‑and‑gun camera with the ergonomics and video‑focused controls to match his shooting requirements.

“When you’re following newspaper reporters who are often dealing with sensitive topics and confidential sources, you don’t want something big and imposing,” Davidsburg said. “I was often filming at night and with the FX3’s low light capabilities, the camera can almost see in the dark.”

Production for “A Banner Year” is complete and plans include submitting the film to festivals. His experience with the FX3 led him to choose the FX30 for his coursework. The FX30 offers many of the FX3’s capabilities but at a lower price and with enough features to give students an entry into the cinematic world.

“The FX30’s ergonomics are great,” he said. “Students aren’t complaining about lugging giant cameras everywhere. The leap in quality from the cameras we were using to the FX30s is incredible. They can go out and come back with a beautiful image that inspires them and gets them excited about this type of work.”

Students find the FX30’s autofocus valuable when dealing with the shallow depth of field of cinema shooting. The camera’s color science with the S-Cinetone picture profile combined with its dynamic range “elevates everybody’s shooting,” Davidsburg said. The UMD program is also pairing the FX30s with Sony wireless audio, and the camera-to-editing workflow is straightforward and compatible with UMD’s editing software.

Most importantly, UMD students are getting a head start on their future careers, gaining valuable hands-on experience that they will eventually apply on a set or in a newsroom.

He added, “If you’re doing documentaries right, you’re taking cinematic techniques and journalistic techniques and combining them to do journalistic storytelling. With these cameras, we’re on that track.”

GENEVA, Switzerland—GlobalM today announced that it is integrating its GMX software-defined media platform with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), bringing together Oracle’s global cloud infrastructure with GlobalM’s technology for live media contribution, processing, and distribution.

The integration will enable GMX Cloud services to run across OCI regions, giving broadcasters, sports organizations, and media companies access to a significantly expanded global footprint for live media workflows, GlobalM said.

At enable improved automation, GMX creates a software-defined media network on OCI, automatically deploying the compute, networking, media processing, and routing resources required for each service. Infrastructure is spun up and configured on demand, point to multipoint contribution and distribution paths are established automatically, and resources can be scaled as requirements change before being automatically released when services finish.

This allows broadcasters to schedule and consume OCI infrastructure dynamically without having to manually build and configure the underlying cloud environment for every production, the company said.

OCI is particularly well-suited to professional broadcast applications because of its high-performance networking and flexible compute architecture. OCI Flexible Shapes allow compute and memory resources to be configured according to individual workload requirements, enabling GMX to optimize infrastructure for applications ranging from SRT and RIST gateways to transcoding, remultiplexing and high-throughput media distribution.

Oracle’s global cloud footprint also complements GlobalM’s distributed architecture. GMX processing and routing nodes can be automatically deployed across OCI locations, allowing contribution feeds to enter the cloud close to their source and receiving broadcasters to connect through infrastructure close to their destination. This helps keep the unmanaged first and last miles as short as practical while the core media workflow operates across managed cloud infrastructure.

The collaboration will also extend GlobalM’s hybrid capabilities. GMX1 processing and routing nodes deployed within customer facilities will be able to operate alongside GMX Cloud resources running on OCI. Combined with Oracle’s hybrid cloud capabilities, this will allow broadcasters to integrate existing facilities with dynamically deployed cloud processing, international distribution, additional capacity, redundancy, and disaster recovery.

GlobalM (1.A11) and Oracle (5.A21) will showcase GMX running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure at their booths during the 2026 IBC Show, Sept. 11-14 at the RAI Amsterdam.

STAMFORD, Conn.—After getting final regulatory approvals last week, Charter Communications has completed its previously announced $34.5 billion transaction with Cox Communications (Cox) and the acquisition of Liberty Broadband Corporation.

The combined company will be by far the largest pay TV and broadband provider in the U.S., serving more than 37 million video, broadband, phone and mobile customers in 45 states.

The two merged cable operators plan to change the company’s name to Cox Communications next year but will operate under Charter’s consumer facing Spectrum brand.

The operator also plans to launch the Spectrum brand, pricing and packaging in all Cox markets.

Also as part of the deal, John Malone’s Liberty Broadband will no longer be a direct shareholder and will no longer designate board members, ending the direct influence of one of the most important pioneers and entrepreneurs in the history of cable TV.

“The addition of Cox to the Spectrum footprint is one that can be celebrated by customers, employees and investors alike,” said Chris Winfrey, Charter president and CEO. “Together, we will bring the best products, at the best price, coupled with the highest level of customer service to more customers across our expanded 45-state Spectrum footprint. And Cox employees will soon have access to all the programs and benefits that have made Charter an employer of choice where its 100% U.S.-based employees can build long-term careers.

The deal creating a much larger operation is also likely to provide new impetus to consolidation among broadcasters who will be looking for ways to strengthen their hand in retransmission consent negotiations with pay TV providers.

In announcing the closing, Winfrey also touched on the issue of consolidation and increased competition cable operators face from 5G providers, noting that, “the market has changed considerably over the past decade, and regional providers like Spectrum are competing with national and even global connectivity and entertainment companies. Today, with expanded scale, we are better positioned to compete and continue investment in our products and service, tools and platforms, and to further the capability and reach of our Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network.”

“When Liberty first invested in Charter more than a decade ago, we saw an opportunity to build scale behind a great management team and operating model,” added Dr. John C. Malone, chairman of Liberty Broadband. “The combination of Charter and Cox creates a stronger, more competitive company to further invest and innovate, while giving Liberty Broadband shareholders a direct interest in its future. I have tremendous respect for the Cox family and its long tradition of entrepreneurial leadership and responsible stewardship, and I look forward to seeing what Chris, Alex and their teams accomplish together.”

More information on the shareholding changes, new products, the combined board and other issues is available here.

A helicopter crash in northern Kenya killed all seven passengers on Wednesday, including a Florida-based executive with Telemundo.

José Alberto Suárez, president and general manager of Telemundo 31, Telemundo 49, and Telemundo Ft. Myers-Naples was among those killed. Suarez worked at NBCUniversal Telemundo’s parent company for 18 years.

Over his 25-year career, Suárez also served as president of other stations including Telemundo 33, Telemundo Fresno, Telemundo Las Vegas, Telemundo Utah, and Telemundo San Antonio. He also worked at NBC Miami as executive producer of non-news programming and specials, including daily entertainment shows, according to NBC Digital.

He had received numerous awards during his career, including a Lone Star Emmy, a Suncoast Emmy, three Emmys for Best Daily Newscast, as well as several Associated Press awards.

The helicopter was owned by Lady Lori Kenya company, which released a statement Wednesday evening confirming the crash and expressing its condolences to the victims. The company said the cause of the crash was unknown and that it would be investigated by authorities.

NBC Newsgroup Chairman Cesar Conde, NBCU Local Chairman Valari Staab, and Telemundo station Group President Jose Cancela expressed their condolences in a joint statement.

“We are heartbroken to learn the tragic news that José was killed in a helicopter accident in Kenya. José was an exceptional colleague who cared deeply about his teams, the communities they served and the important role our stations play in people’s lives. He brought energy, humor, warmth and a strong sense of purpose to his work, and his impact was felt far beyond the stations he led. Our hearts are with his loved ones, and with all of José’s colleagues and friends who are grieving this terrible loss.”

The North Carolina Association Of Broadcasters Inc and Wake Technical Community College’s Broadcast Technology Academy have announced that they’ve received a donation of a fully functioning ENG van from Nexstar Media Group, Inc.’s CBS 17 (WNCN).

The van will be incorporated into the RF Transmission Technician course at the Broadcast Technology Academy, they reported.

The gift also opens up the possibility of additional broadcast classes by the BTA.

In announcing the donation on LinkedIn, NCAB thanked WNCN vice president/GM John Lewis for “leading this gift and Chief Engineer Ryan Gladson and Broadcast Engineer Mary Cobbs, a Wake Technical Community College graduate" for their help in making the donation possible.

William F. Rasmussen, the visionary who co-founded ESPN, has died at age 93 from Parkinson’s Disease.

In 1978, Rasmussen, a former sports broadcaster and public relations executive, and his son Scott started investigating satellite delivery of television. On a Friday afternoon in August 1978, he and Scott were stuck in traffic on Connecticut’s Interstate 84 while travelling to the New Jersey shore. They were discussing possible programming for their newly acquired satellite transponder from RCA. On a lark, Rasmussen blurted out the idea of creating a network devoted only to sports. Sports fans both, father and son instantly thought they had a great idea.

In time, their idea grew from a service showing Connecticut sports to state residents to a 24-hour national sports network. Bolstered by financial backing from the Getty Oil Co., a contract for programming with the NCAA and an advertising agreement with Anheuser-Busch – then the largest sponsorship deal in cable history – the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (changed to ESPN, Inc. in 1984) launched in 1.4 million homes at 7 p.m. ET on Sept. 7, 1979.

In July 1979, Rasmussen was named ESPN chairman, succeeded as president by Chet Simmons, formerly president of NBC Sports. In addition to “SportsCenter,” under Rasmussen’s leadership the network introduced around-the-clock sports programming and coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in the spring of 1980.

From its beginning in Bristol, Conn., with about 80 employees at launch working in one, unfinished building on less than an acre, ESPN has grown to employ more than 5,900 people around the world, providing eight U.S. television networks and the sports programming on ABC.

Rasmussen was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Lois, in 2011 and is survived by two sons – Scott Rasmussen and his wife Laura and Glenn Rasmussen – his daughter Lynn Van Hollebeke and her husband Louie, seven grandchildren, Andy, P.J., Wil, MaryAnn, Donna, Jessica and Sarah, one great grandson, Otto, and one great granddaughter, Adelaide.

After publicly disclosing his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis in 2019, Rasmussen became an ambassador for Parkinson’s patients through both the American Parkinson Disease Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to https://www.apdaparkinson.org.

BALTIMORE—Carol Kellum was named vice president and general manager of Sinclair-owned KPTM Omaha, a Fox affiliate, and KHGI-KFXL Lincoln-Hastings-Kearny, Neb., an ABC-Fox duopoly.

Kellum had been general manager of KTVO Kirksville-Missouri-Ottumwa, Iowa, and KQHA Quincy, Ill.-Hannibal, Mo. Her move to Sinclair’s Nebraska operation represents a return to the company, which formerly owned KTVO and KQHA.

She replaces current VP and GM John Hannon, who will retire at the end of August.

“Carol is an experienced and accomplished broadcast leader with a strong understanding of local markets, station operations and the importance of serving viewers and advertisers across every platform,” said Rob Weisbord, chief operating officer and president of local media, Sinclair. “We are thrilled to welcome her back to Sinclair and know her leadership will be a tremendous asset to our teams in Omaha and Lincoln-Kearney. We also thank John for his years of dedicated service and leadership and wish him all the best in retirement.”

Kellum had been KTVO’s general manager for 11 years and also ran KQHA from 2008 to 2011 and again starting last September. Sinclair sold the two stations to Rincon Broadcasting Group last September.

“I’m excited to return to Sinclair,” Kellum said. “They are forward thinkers and understand the dynamic changes our industry is experiencing and will continue to experience. I look forward to working with the talented teams at KPTM, KHGI and KFXL and building on their strong commitment to the communities they serve.”

DirecTV is updating its user interface with the planned launch of Curated Multiviews, a new feature that brings together live games in a single view, scheduled around what’s on that day.

DirecTV noted that Curated Multiviews are currently rolling out to customers and will be available to eligible customers by August 27.

Each Multiview features live games from networks already included in a customer's package, laid out together and ready to watch. When a Multiview is available for the game a user is watching, that viewer will see a “Multiview” button in the video player.

Users will only see Multiviews for networks included in their packages and games available in their areas.

DirecTV said that its sports team curates each of these Multiview around two ideas: marquee matchups fans may want to follow together and themed slates built around the day’s action.

That could mean an SEC Saturday lineup one weekend or a collection of NFL games airing across CBS and FOX on Sunday, the operator explained.

DirecTV noted that the Curated Multiviews aren’t replacing existing Mix Channels. Those always-on channels bring together a set lineup of live networks in one place, making it easy to keep an eye on sports, news, weather and more.

Curated Multiviews work differently. Instead of occupying a permanent spot in the channel guide, they’re built around specific live sporting events. A Multiview appears when the action starts and wraps up when the games do, with program titles and artwork that make it easy to see exactly what’s playing.

DirecTV noted that Curated Multiviews are currently rolling out to customers and will be available to eligible customers by August 27. As the experience becomes available, users will find Multiviews on the Sports Central carousels.

As the world of broadcast TV news moves into the AI era, station groups like Scripps are using the technology not only to help improve news coverage and viewer engagement, but also to reform and enhance how reporters and anchors spend their days—focusing on new workflows and adapting to how consumers stay informed.

That was the impetus behind Scripps Media’s announcement several weeks ago that it would adopt a “digital-first” approach to news coverage, in which it would prioritize streaming breaking news rather than waiting for scheduled daily newscasts. This approach reflects the reality of how consumers get their news—a development that is long overdue, according to Dean Littleton. Littleton recently became president of media for Scripps, combining leadership of the company’s enterprise television and broadcast operations in a newly created role.

The company plans to roll out its new process to a dozen of its smaller markets, with plans to increase deployment to all markets over time.

'We've Got to Change Our Business'
The changes were revealed at the same time the station group announced that 268 positions across the company were being eliminated. Littleton says Scripps had to make these changes, noting that core revenue across its approximately 60 local broadcast TV stations in more than 40 markets and 22 states is down 30%–50% from 20 years ago. The station group announced a nearly 5.4% drop in core revenue in its latest fiscal quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago.

“A year ago we sat down and said, ‘We've got to change our business,’” Littleton told TV Tech. “So we took a step back and said, ‘What is our true north?’ And our true north is journalism. It's the journalism that will sustain us.

“So we looked at all of our processes and completely set about reinventing all of them with a focus on the consumer and how they consume content across broadcast, digital, streaming, and social platforms.”

Littleton says today’s news production process isn’t all that different than what it was 30 years ago and that, despite past promises to focus more on digital and streaming, broadcasters were not moving forward fast enough.

“I remember sitting in these meetings talking about strategy, and as much as we would walk out of those meetings and all say, ‘We're digital-first,’ we'd go right back to working on our 5:00, 6:00, or 10:00 newscast,” he said. “Meanwhile, the consumer left the party in large part, and that's been a mistake. I think we lost sight of the consumer.”

Littleton also wanted to move beyond the walled garden of a station news “app,” calling that approach “overly simplistic.”

He says Scripps needs to go where consumers are when it comes to news—giving them access to “journalism that's delivered on the platforms of their choosing, in formats native to that platform, and delivered on a schedule that fits the consumer's schedule.”

Littleton emphasizes that Scripps is increasing its focus on local news despite the recent layoffs by tapping into new AI processes that automate more of the production process.

“We are essentially reallocating resources from the production of newscasts to the development of journalism,” he said. “[We’re] moving resources from the process of creating the traditional newscast, and then investing in resources to create original reporting in our markets.”

Littleton says he wants to increase the number of reporters in local markets and believes Scripps will expand its local coverage rather than reduce it, as some critics have claimed.

“We'll see more reporters and MMJs, not fewer, with them having geographic beats so that they build expertise, and their stories are told with relevance and context in the communities that they serve,” he said. “And these communities that they're serving often are communities that have been 'news deserts' up until the point that we assigned a reporter.”

“At the end of this process, we'll have more MMJs and reporters overall than what we have today,” Littleton added.

Scripps has developed a new workflow to support its digital-first approach, according to Littleton.

“We've invented a whole new process for operating our newsrooms, where a story gets completed, and the story immediately goes into the live stream,” he said. “The technology that we've built constantly ‘stacks’ and ‘restacks’ the shows on the live stream, and the stories are prioritized based on tags that human beings assign to those stories, so the technology knows how to prioritize the content.

“Therefore, my experience as a consumer watching that live stream at 2:00 in the afternoon is different than it would have been at 1:00, because as new content has moved into the stream, the technology ‘restacked’ it based on priorities that human beings gave it,” Littleton added.

New Role: 'Executive Reporter'
Along with more automated production processes, Littleton also says the management of how news is handled is changing, with the creation of a new “executive reporter” role in each newsroom.

“This person leads the reporting resources inside each newsroom, they have a reporting background, and so their goal is to help improve the storytelling and the journalism, and their focus is on that all day long,” he said. “So we've had to rethink how management works in our newsrooms to support what is an entirely new workflow and process inside our buildings.”

To put the power of AI behind its new news workflow, Scripps developed its own news production platform called "Stacker," according to Christina Hartman, vice president of emerging technology operations at Scripps.

Producers working with Stacker create templates based on their focus—whether it be news, weather, business, or sports—and connects those subjects to local community concerns so news reports better reflect local issues.

“Stacker is the platform we built that is responsive to a template that a producer builds, as a reflection of the content strategy of the newsroom, whether it’s heavy on weather, leading with community connection stories, etc.,” she said. “The producer sets the template, and then Stacker as a platform will read what stories we have available and meet the criteria for slotting in the platform, and then it produces a draft or suggested rundown based on that daypart's template.

“It allows the producer to intuitively move stories around if they don't like the suggested order, or if they want to change some of the timing content, they could do that really easily through the platform,” Hartman added.

Better Use of Time
Hartman reiterated Littleton’s assessment of the need to use AI to free up a reporter’s time during the day.

“The amount of time that our reporters have been able to spend being in the field versus doing the shooting, editing, and versioning for social media and the web—the time spent actually with news gathering has shrunk, and the day has gotten longer,” she said. “We remind people that more and more of your day is going to things that aren't why you got into this business.”

Given the level of automation now involved in news production, Hartman stressed that everything aired is still approved by humans.

“Nothing is published or goes to air without human review and affirmative approval, and everything that we publish or take to air is originally reported, substantively written, and reviewed and approved by a human journalist,” she said. “What we have brought AI in to assist with are really the production components: the versioning, the metadata tagging, the sort of rough-cut edit, and the layout of the rundown in a suggested capacity. So from a guardrails point of view, it's structurally built into the process.”

As Scripp’s chief advocate for AI development within the company, Hartman shares her initial skepticism about AI, noting that when ChatGPT was launched nearly three years ago, her first thought was, ‘how do I keep this as far away from our newsroom as possible?’

“It's why I proposed forming AI governance,” she said. “So we started from sort of a ‘protective condition.’” she said. “What I found though is that if I was writing the guardrail and the rules around use of AI, I better know what I'm doing and be using it so that I can understand what the traps and the and the pitfalls were.”

Hartman responded to criticisms that Scripps is using AI as an easy way out to justify downsizing its news staffs.

“If this were purely a financial exercise, there are many other models that that I will tell you candidly would have been so much easier to pursue,” she said. “We could have dripped down to five-minute newscasts. We could have killed reporting and reporting roles, and maintained the facade of a newscast where you have talent that isn't even local, putting on the appearance of a local broadcast. But none of those alternatives would be true to Scripps’ value and Scripps’ promise to its communities.”

With a digital-first approach, a news story is not a finished product, but rather an evolving element that Littleton believes can help make viewers part of the narrative.

“What we are now seeing our newsrooms do with this process where you create a story and you immediately upload it and it goes into the stream, that happens throughout the day so viewers get to go along with the reporter as they develop a story,” he said. “[As the reporter] walks out of the newsroom, they record video that explains what their story is for the day, and as that story gets updated, those videos are created, and they go into the stream also. So the person watching at home gets to go along with the reporter as the story develops throughout the day.”

The fact that news workflow is being built around AI is not new, but technical changes are just one factor in the decision to the shift, according to Hartman, who characterized the new direction as “as much cultural as it is technological.”

BALTIMORE—Sinclair’s AMP Sports has launched “The Riverside: A Podcast on the University of Tennessee Volunteers,” the latest in its growing portfolio of local college football podcasts.

Hosted by Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer, former Volunteers quarterback Erik Ainge and national champion defensive back Fred White, “The Riverside” launches Aug. 25. The podcast will deliver insider analysis, behind-the-scenes stories, exclusive interviews and candid conversations.

Produced in partnership with Fox 17 Nashville, the video podcast will provide year-round coverage of University of Tennessee sports, with a focus on football.

Long-form episodes will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all major podcast platforms, with new episodes released weekly.

"The Riverside" joins AMP Sport’s slate of college sports podcasts, including those dedicated to covering the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Texas Longhorns, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Michigan Wolverines.

More information is available on the Sinclair website.

CTV unified advertising platform Adte has formed a partnership with Haystack News, that will allow Adte’s brand and agency clients to access advertising inventory on the FAST platform.

Haystack News compiles clips from over 400 news providers and builds personalized "My Headlines" playlists based on one’s location, favorite topics, and preferred media sources.

“With the US political season approaching, audience demand for trusted news content continues to grow,” Adte CEO Yanir Yudovich said. “Our relationship with Haystack News further expands Adte’s premium CTV reach, enabling us to deliver highly engaged, highly relevant audiences for our advertisers."

The 2026 election cycle is expected to reach a record $11.6 billion in spending, according to advertising intelligence company AdImpact. CTV continues its ascent as the fastest-growing media channel in political advertising and is projected to reach more than $2.5 billion (23%) this year.

The partnership further expands Adte's inventory and builds on several other agreements announced earlier this year with C15 Studio’s premium FAST sports channels, Paramount+, and Major League Baseball’s MLB TV streaming service.

Through C15 Studio, Adte gained access to premium FAST sports channels F1 Channel, Yahoo! Sports Network, MotoGP Channel, DP World Tour, Triton Poker, and One Championship TV. Adte also became an approved ad serving vendor across Paramount’s entire streaming platform including Pluto TV, Paramount+ originals, first-run shows, current-season programming, and live sports broadcasts.

The company also renewed its partnership with MLB for the second year in a row. Adte purchased 15-second and 30-second midroll advertising inventory on MLB TV for Adte to make available to its wide base of advertisers.

WASHINGTON—A new Federal Communications Commission report shows that high-speed residential broadband is now more ubiquitous than ever before.

The study found that from June 2024 to June 2025, the number of Americans lacking access to 100/20 Mbps fixed terrestrial broadband service decreased by about 23%.

Over a two-year period, this reduction was approximately 43%. Today, 96.9% of Americans have access to a fixed terrestrial broadband service at 100/20 Mbps, the FCC reported.

The report also cited data showing increased competition. Twenty-three states now have more than 50% of locations served with fixed wireless at 100/20 Mbps, the FCC said.

“President Trump’s policies are delivering great results for Americans in communities all across the country,” Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement. “The data show that speeds are up, prices are down, competition is stronger than before, and the digital divide has narrowed substantially. The FCC is putting policies in place that will further accelerate high-speed builds and extend U.S. leadership.”

The FCC voted Aug. 14 to adopt the agency’s annual Section 706 Report. Section 706 requires the FCC to report on “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” This year’s report is the first spanning the current Trump Administration.

Other key findings include:

• Over a two-year period, the percentage of rural Americans lacking access to 100/20 Mbps fixed terrestrial broadband service decreased by over 44%. Further, with the inclusion of satellite, 100/20 Mbps rural broadband deployment is nearly universally available in rural areas.
• The number of Americans lacking access to mobile 5G with a minimum speed of 35/3 Mbps declined by over 30% over a two-year period. Today, almost 95% of American homes and businesses are covered by 5G at 35/3 Mbps speeds.
• The number of competitive options available to Americans also continues to grow. As of June 2025, 77% of Americans have access to three or more fixed services at 100/20 Mbps, and 43.4% of Americans have access to three of more fixed terrestrial services at 100/20 Mbps.

The FCC also cited data from other sources showing that speeds are up, prices are down, and competition is stronger than before:

• Speeds are Up – Wireless download speeds increased by 51% in 2025. Average upload and download speeds for fixed wireless are up 36.9% and 25.1% respectively between late 2024 and early 2026, according to Ookla data. In rural areas, those numbers show upload and download speeds rose 39.8% and 28.7% respectively.
• Actual prices for wireless service have now fallen four times more during President Donald Trump’s first 18 months in office compared to the same time under President Joe Biden. Prices are declining across the board, with postpaid unlimited plans down 10% over the last year. Fixed prices for the most popular services are down 6% over the last year.
• The percentage of homes and businesses nationwide that have three or more service options with at least 100/20 speed increased 4.85% from December 2024 to December 2025.

More data and information is available here.

A PBS station in St. Louis is taking a data center provider to court to retrieve what the station says is “more than 70 years of history.”

In a lawsuit filed with the Denver District Court against Iron Mountain Data Centers in late July, Nine PBS (KETC) says that Iron Mountain is refusing to release more than 50 TB of archived programming housed at Iron Mountain's data center in Denver. According to the lawsuit, Open Source Storage, the cloud service hosting the archives, went out of business earlier this year and shut off Nine PBS’s access to its material.

Iron Mountain says since OSS owned “the physical services housing the data,” it would not return access to the archives to Nine PBS, according to a story in Current.

The district court judge granted Nine PBS’s request to prevent Iron Mountain from deleting, modifying or overwriting the archives and a hearing was held on Wednesday.

In a statement to Current, Nine PBS Vice President and Chief Content Officer Leah Freemansaid the broadcaster is “committed to ensuring we can recover and restore full access to this valuable content, which Nine PBS rightfully owns, as it holds significant historical importance for St. Louis.”

Nine PBS had a contract with OSS (identified in the lawsuit as OSS’ predecessor’) starting in 2019 and said in its lawsuit that it had not received any response from OSS earlier this year when it attempted to renew its contract for 2026. Although the contract required 30 days notice before termination, the lawsuit claims that OSS abruptly ended Nine PBS’s access to its archives on March 6 and that it was only after this that the broadcaster discovered that the cloud provider had gone out of business.

Iron Mountain told TV Tech that it "has acted appropriately and responsibly at every step to safeguard customer data and honor our contractual commitments to OSS. Throughout this process, we have been transparent with Nine PBS about our role in this dispute, that we do not have access to their data, and we have made consistent efforts to help them resolve the issue."

NEW YORK—Hearst Television has elevated Derek Schnell to vice president, news, responsible for overseeing a group of station newsrooms across the broadcaster’s 27-market footprint.

Schnell will also increase his involvement in Hearst’s companywide editorial strategy and initiatives, reporting to Barbara Maushard, Hearst Television senior vice president, news, and chief content officer.

Since 2024, Schnell has served as regional news director and as news director of KCRA-KQCA in Sacramento, Calif., Hearst’s NBC and The CW duopoly in the California capital. His successor at the stations will be named at a later time, Hearst said.

“As journalism continues to evolve, leaders who honor our values while embracing new ideas are more important than ever,” Maushard said. “Derek is one of those leaders. He is both a journalist’s journalist and journalism futurist. His innovative mindset, exceptional news judgment and unwavering passion for supporting and inspiring journalists have earned him the trust and admiration of colleagues across the company. He is a thoughtful mentor, a creative problem solver and a champion for journalism that makes a meaningful difference in the communities we serve.”

In addition to leading the Sacramento stations’ newsroom, a role Schnell has held since 2018, he provided management oversight and editorial support for Hearst’s station duopolies in Monterey-Salinas, Calif., and Albquerque, N.M. He also spearheaded the company’s news and investigative coverage of Northern California through its partnership with Hearst Newspapers’ San Francisco Chronicle.

As the KCRA-KQCA news director, Schnell added 13 hours of newscasts per week; expanded the stations’ digital, social and interactive storytelling; launched daily Spanish-language content across linear and digital platforms; and increased the stations’ production of specials and documentaries, Hearst said.

Schell has spent his entire career with Hearst, the group said, starting with an investigative internship at KETV Omaha, Neb. He then joined KOCO-TV Oklahoma City, Okla., first as a producer and then as an executive producer. He later served as an executive producer at KMBC-KCWE Kansas City, Mo., before joining KCRA-KQRA in that same capacity. He was later promoted to assistant news director at KCRA-KQRA, then eventually to news director.

Schell studied at the Missouri School of Journalism and worked at KOMU-TV, the university-owned NBC affiliate. He is a graduate of the Hearst Management Institute, the company’s leadership development program.

LOS ANGELES—Cineverse has launched VAUDIO, a new ad tech offering that takes existing podcast, radio or streaming audio commercials and adds the visuals required for television.

This allows advertisers to launch campaigns across connected TV (CTV) inventory without requiring a traditional video shoot.

Advertising partners at launch include A24, Aura Entertainment, NEON, Signature Entertainment, and Well Go USA.

"VAUDIO brings immediate opportunities to brands looking for an easy way to get more out of their campaigns using CTV, and for our supply-side partners, including media owners, platforms and OEMs, who can now unlock new ad formats and creative that support a better viewer experience, increase ad inventory fill, and drive new revenue," said Cineverse president and chief strategy officer Erick Opeka. "The economics matter here too. At steady state, we believe VAUDIO can contribute up to $12 million in annual revenue at a 15 to 20 percent contribution margin, and we are targeting that run rate by the end of our fiscal year. Because VAUDIO is built on IndiCue's existing ad infrastructure and is developed and marketed by the same team, it required minimal incremental investment, and that contribution flows through to the bottom line."

Spearheaded by the executives that joined Cineverse with the acquisition of IndiCue, and built by the company's industry-leading Matchpoint team, Cineverse said that VAUDIO was created to help advertisers reach new audiences in a high-impact, lean-back environment without requiring traditional video production.

VAUDIO transforms existing podcast ads, streaming audio creative, or host-read campaigns into visually-compelling CTV placements that drive awareness and recall.

Three example VAUDIO ads can be viewed at www.indicue.com/vaudio.

"CTV inventory is too often underused or wasted, leading to poor viewer experiences, money left on the table for platforms, and missed opportunities for brands looking to engage with consumers that are increasingly tuning in to ad-supported streaming programming," added Cineverse executive vice president of revenue Nicholas Frazee. "With VAUDIO, advertisers can easily reach addressable audiences by leveraging existing assets, extending the ROI of podcast campaigns, and doing so with content that engages audiences rather than putting them to sleep with repetitive jingles and countdowns. Cineverse continues to integrate IndiCue's monetization and engagement offerings into their broader ad solutions ecosystem, and brands and media companies alike stand to quickly benefit."

ATLANTA—Cox Media Group (CMG) has announced two multi-year NBA local broadcast rights agreements with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets that will see Cox stations and services airing live games from the NBA teams in their local markets.

Under these agreements CMG will air the Orlando Magic in Orlando and across Central Florida on WRDQ-TV 27 and WFTV Channel 9.

In Jacksonville and across Northeast Florida, games will primarily air on the newly created Action Sports Jax TV available on WJAX-TV 47.2, with games also airing on WJAX-TV 47 and WFOX-TV 30.

In Charlotte and across the Carolinas, CMG will air Charlotte Hornets’ regular-season games on WAXN-TV 64 and WSOC-TV. This is the first time in 27 years that Hornets’ games will be broadcast for free over-the-air.

“Local sports belong to the fans and they belong on broadcast television to best serve those fans and local communities,” said Dan York, President and CEO of Cox Media Group. “For decades, CMG has worked to earn trust by delivering essential local journalism, reliable weather, traffic, entertainment, and community-focused programming. Expanding our sports programming is another way we deepen our local connections, allow fans to follow their teams, and create value for local businesses. We are pleased to announce multi-year deals with the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets to bring their games to their local fans over broadcast television.”

CMG expects to share additional schedules, coverage plans, and programming details as each market prepares for the upcoming NBA season and the launch of Action Sports Jax TV.

NEW YORK—IAB Tech Lab has released updates to its Privacy Standards Portfolio that include enhancements to the Global Privacy Protocol (GPP) and the Data Deletion Request Framework (DDRF) Version 2.0.

The updates by the global digital advertising technical standards-setting body aim to reinforce how elements of IAB Tech Lab's Privacy Standards Portfolio work together to help organizations mitigate privacy risk while supporting consistent implementation across the industry. The public comment period will be open until September 11, 2026.

"Privacy requirements continue to change, but that doesn't mean implementation has to become more complicated," said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. "These updates reflect what we've heard from companies putting these standards into practice and help make compliance more consistent, transparent, and practical across the ecosystem."

The proposed GPP updates focus on changes needed to support the Fifth Amended and Restated Multi-State Privacy Agreement (MSPA). They include removing MSPA coverage for the previous state-by-state approach, eliminating Service Provider and Opt-Out Option Modes, removing secondary usage consents, and simplifying notice and choice fields.

The IAB Tech Lab also reported that DDRF Version 2.0 is now finalized following a public comment period that commenced in the fall of 2025. It introduces updates based on implementation experience and regulator questions.

The revisions clarify identity and deletion request JSON Web Tokens (JWT) definitions, improve result feedback and troubleshooting, strengthen framework integrity, and support implementation-specific extensions. Together, these updates are intended to make data deletion requests easier to implement while increasing confidence for both consumers and regulators.

"Organizations implementing these standards have given us valuable feedback on where additional clarity was needed," said Rowena Lam, senior director of product at IAB Tech Lab, IAB Tech Lab. "These updates are intended to make implementation more predictable while helping companies meet growing privacy expectations with greater consistency."

The updates were developed through IAB Tech Lab's Global Privacy Working Group and Privacy Rearc Commit Group (PRCG), reflecting collaboration across the industry. IAB Tech Lab encourages stakeholders to review the proposed GPP specifications and submit feedback during the public comment period to help shape the final standards.

To learn more about the Privacy Standards Portfolio and participate in the public comment process for the GPP and DDRF Version 2.0 specifications, visit https://iabtechlab.com/2026PrivacyUpdates

STAMFORD, Conn.—Charter Communications’ operating brand Spectrum and pay TV operator Optimum have struck new agreements that expand access to local news channels on their systems and provide for closer collaboration on advertising sales.

One of the agreements restores Spectrum News NY1 to Optimum TV customers and News 12 to Spectrum TV customers across the New York metropolitan area in September. In May of 2025, Optimum and Spectrum ended an eight-year-old reciprocal deal that made NY1, which serves the five New York City boroughs, available to Optimum subscribers and the News 12 networks in Brooklyn, The Bronx and suburban areas available to Spectrum customers.

The agreement will also expand the distribution of Spectrum News to Optimum TV customers in Texas and North Carolina.

“Together, we're expanding access to trusted local journalism while creating even greater value for our customers,” said Mike Bair, executive vice president, Spectrum Networks. “Our local news teams are deeply connected to the communities they serve, and we're pleased to bring that reporting to even more viewers while restoring access to iconic local news brands across the New York market.”

“This agreement reflects our continued focus on delivering the content and experiences our customers value most,” said Keith Bowen, president of news, programming and business services, Optimum. “By expanding local news offerings and strengthening our advertising capabilities through this collaboration with Spectrum, we're enhancing the customer experience while positioning our business for continued growth. It's a great example of how two industry leaders can work together to better serve viewers, advertisers and the communities we both call home.”

As part of a separate agreement, Spectrum Reach will provide advertising sales representation for Optimum’s West markets, which include approximately 30 DMAs across the Central, Southern and Western United States.

The arrangement combines Optimum’s relationships and local market expertise with Spectrum Reach’s advanced advertising capabilities, operational scale and multiscreen solutions, creating a more seamless experience for advertisers, the two operators said.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Systems integrator Advanced Systems Group has tapped Eran Binyamin Zeitoun as senior technical program manager, tasked with leading a new business focused on enterprise media asset and storage systems, newsroom computer systems (NRCs) and media infrastructure solutions for broadcasters and media companies.

He joins ASG after 27 years with Dalet Digital Media Systems, where he was senior infrastructure and solution architect.

"Throughout my career, I've always enjoyed partnering with clients to solve complex technical challenges and helping them build solutions that make their organizations more successful," Zeitoun said. "When I spoke with [ASG Director, Enterprise Storage and Systems] Macky Beheshti and [CEO] Dave Van Hoy, I immediately recognized ASG's collaborative, client-first culture. It reminded me of what I valued most early in my career."

In his new role, Zeitoun will provide technical strategy, solution architecture, program management and client engagement to help customers design and deploy scalable, future-ready media workflows, ASG said.

At Dalet, Zeitoun designed and validated enterprise media and IT solutions for top broadcasters and media organizations worldwide, according to ASG.

“Eran has earned an exceptional reputation throughout the media industry for his technical expertise, integrity, and unwavering commitment to client success," said Beheshti, to whom Zeitoun will report. "His ability to bridge complex technology with real-world business needs makes him an outstanding addition to the team. As we continue expanding our enterprise media consulting capabilities, Eran will help ASG clients confidently navigate evolving workflows, modernize their infrastructure, and maximize the value of their technology investments."

Zeitoun can be reached at eran@asgllc.com.

NEW YORK—Gracenote has announced a deal with Fox’s Tubi Media Group that will see Gracenote supply advanced content discovery and advertising capabilities on Tubi Media Group properties, including Tubi and Fox One.

Gracenote's solutions provide unique identifiers, human-verified program metadata, rich imagery and standardized taxonomy that will provide improved content search and discovery capabilities for natural language queries.

As a part of the partnership, Tubi Media Group will also test Gracenote IDs in programmatic bid streams to improve contextually relevant advertising.

"Gracenote has been a valued partner, and this renewal underscores our commitment to innovation for both consumers and for advertisers across our streaming portfolio," said Paul Cheesbrough, CEO of Tubi Media Group. "As Tubi and FOX One continue to scale, we are excited about the future we're building."

"Tubi Media Group's market-leading streaming portfolio, combined with Gracenote's gold-standard content intelligence, make a powerful pairing," said Jared Grusd, CEO of Gracenote. "As the market embraces data and technology to maximize value for viewers and partners alike, Gracenote's curated and human-verified data provides an essential foundation—a definitive source of truth for entertainment experiences that keep consumers engaged."

Tubi recently announced it has reached 110 million monthly active users, with engagement growing 17% YoY and a record quarter of revenue, up 35% year over year.

In addition to record streaming levels during FIFA World Cup 2026, which saw more than 20 million viewers visit Tubi's World Cup Fox Hub, Tubi also announced that it reached an all-time high of 2.3% share of total U.S. TV viewing, according to Nielsen, and that more than 60% of its audience comprised of Gen Z and Millennials, who spend more time on Tubi than watching traditional broadcast or cable television.

Tubi's simulcast of the opening World Cup matches also delivered the most streamed English language opening match in World Cup history.

Netflix has concluded its 2026 Upfront sales in the U.S. with deals from “all major agency partners” that “nearly doubled our ad commitments this year,” Netflix president of advertising Amy Reinhard reported.

Reinhard did not provide specific dollar amounts but said the results were in line with their expectations.

“This Upfront proved that advertisers are more excited than ever to work with Netflix, where they can access the most engaged audiences, with an ad tech platform built to drive results, all centered around series and films that never disappoint,” she wrote in an August 10 blog post.

The growth came from new programming as well as “returning favorites like `Love Is Blind', `Big Mistakes', `Bridgerton', `Emily in Paris', `Nobody Wants This', and `Running Point'”, upcoming feature films and live events like the NFL.

“Upfront demand for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup was also extremely high, as we’ve sold out of game sponsorships and nearly sold out of all available in-game inventory,” she said.

In another major development in its ad sales efforts, Reinhard said that "the Media Rating Council (MRC) has granted Netflix Ads Suite’s first accreditation. We’re proud to have been awarded accreditation across the processing and reporting of US in-stream video impressions amongst connected TV, mobile app, and desktop web."

Reinhard also stressed the importance of a variety of tech advances in the “Netflix Ads Suite, which makes it easy for advertisers to buy with us, offering expanded flexibility, interactivity and reach.”

Those improvements included:

• CTV Marketplace and DSP-Initiated deals extend programmatic buying so that partners can transact with Netflix through any of the demand-side platforms they already use across Google Display & Video 360, Amazon, Yahoo or The Trade Desk.
• Pause Ads are now available to buy programmatically across all DSPs. The Netflix Ads Suite also offers advertisers AI-creative tooling that generates pause ad formats from existing assets.
• Conversion, Reach and Audience APIs offer advertisers AI-driven tooling to drive even stronger results.
• Netflix recently expanded interactive formats to include ‘Send to Phone’ and now offer Frame Ads.

NEW YORK—Roger Keating, a leading figure in the development of digital media and a number of important broadcast industry initiatives, will retire from Hearst Television at the end of 2026.

Over the years, Keating’s career involved leadership roles at some of the most familiar corporate names in television and digital media, where he spearheaded a number of innovative projects. Keating joined Hearst Television in 2008 and since 2016 has served as its chief strategy and business development officer.

He also co-founded and led television-industry consortia like Pearl TV and NewsOn that have helped local broadcasters pursue new businesses.

“Roger brought to Hearst Television his infectious curiosity and keen entrepreneurial instincts,” said Hearst Television president Michael J. Hayes. “He questions orthodoxy and embraces possibilities -- traits that have helped us seize opportunities and energized colleagues industrywide. He’s always celebrated television’s traditional strengths while simultaneously looking ahead -- not just at how audiences consume video today, but how they will use it tomorrow. We are grateful for all he has given to Hearst Television and local broadcasting.”

Keating joined Hearst Television in 2008 to lead its nascent digital media unit. As the company’s senior vice president, digital media, Keating was tasked with recruiting and leading a team to build and operate digital products that deliver local news and weather through desktop computers, mobile apps, social media and eventually streaming platforms. During his watch, Hearst Television digital properties achieved market leadership in most of the markets in which they operate. Digital products have become a significant and fast-growing contributor to Hearst Television’s bottom line.

Keating also co-founded and led television-industry consortia so that local broadcasters could better pursue new businesses that require scale and ubiquity.

Prominent among these is Pearl TV, a coalition of nine station group owners whose 2010 formation helped lead to the advancement of mobile TV, companion viewing apps, interactive advertising overlays and addressable linear ads. Pearl also became an incubator for early-stage companies operating in the broadcast TV space and today plays a central role in TV broadcasting’s game-changing transition to ATSC 3.0-based “NextGen TV.”

In 2015 he co-founded and served as inaugural chairman of NewsOn, an alliance of six broadcast TV group owners to bring local-news content to streaming platforms. Keating has been a persistent advocate for addressable linear advertising through his work on the board of Sorenson Media, as a founding member of OAR and membership in the Go Addressable trade association.

In addition to the Pearl, NewsOn and Sorenson Media boards, Keating served on the boards of ConnecTV, Dyle Mobile, Waitr and Internet Broadcasting. He was also an active participant in the YouTube News Working Group and the Google News Initiative, on both serving as a vocal advocate for the interests of local broadcasters.

Keating moved into the newly created role of Hearst Television’s chief strategy and business development officer in 2016, facilitating the adoption of advanced technologies such as machine learning and generative AI.

“What local broadcasters do is important, and I found my true professional home at Hearst,” Keating said. “I was fortunate to be given important challenges, and to get to work with such a talented set of colleagues. It’s time to pass the baton -- but if I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.”

Before joining Hearst, Keating ran a succession of increasingly large and complex cable TV properties. As an area vice president and, later, senior vice president at Comcast, Keating built Comcast’s Internet Division that pioneered high-speed broadband. As an executive vice president at Time Warner Cable, he merged several acquired cable systems to form that company’s Western Region. Prior to joining the cable industry, as a senior vice president of AOL, Keating was general manager of AOL Travel and AOL Health and also led a team that built and launched the early chat bot AOLbyPhone in 2001.

In 1998 Keating founded the streaming video company Zatso, which worked with TV broadcasters to develop personalized newscasts. Following successful completion of multiple financings, the company grew to over 100 employees and launched in 20 U.S. markets, birthing numerous successful digital-media innovations and careers.

Keating began his career with Mercer Consulting, serving a variety of clients in industries as disparate as defense, bakeries, cosmetics, office furniture, trucking, telecom and computers. He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical/industrial engineering from University of Notre Dame, an MBA from Stanford University and is a graduate of the Hearst Management Institute, Hearst’s executive leadership development program.

In 2018 Keating was the fourth recipient of the National Association of Broadcasters Digital Leadership Award.

Comcast and Disney have reached a new carriage agreement for the NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel that gives Xfinity customers access to the services in the run-up to the start of the NFL season.

The services were removed from the Comcast Xfinity lineup when the blackout began in late April. It was the first carriage dispute since Disney’s ESPN acquisition of the NFL Network was completed in early February.

No formal announcement was made about the agreement and financial terms were not disclosed.

“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to bring NFL Network to our customers in time for the start of the preseason games and to offer NFL RedZone Channel at the beginning of the regular season,” Comcast said in a statement to NBC Sports.

WALTHAM, Mass.—Alyson Stewart has joined IP video transport software provider Zixi as senior director, sales.

In her new role, Stewart will be tasked with driving direct sales and partnerships with broadcasters, media companies and other enterprise clients in the media and entertainment industry. She’ll be responsible for growing new business across Zixi’s direct sales channel, strengthening go-to-market partnerships and supporting customers in their transition of live video workflows to IP-based delivery, the company said.

She joins Zixi from Hydrolix, where she helped establish that company’s enterprise direct sales and partner go-to-market functions.

“Alyson brings exactly the kind of experience and relationships we need as we scale our direct sales and partner motion,” Zixi CEO Marc Aldlrich said. “She has spent her career entrenched in the worlds of media and technology, and her deep understanding of both the programming and operational sides of this business will be a real asset to our customers and our team. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Alyson before, and I know firsthand the value she brings.”

A 20-year industry veteran, Stewart worked for five years in the Media, Entertainment, Games & Sports business at Amazon Web Services (AWS) before Hydrolix. She was also senior VP, global sales, strategy and operations at Gravitas Ventures, an independent film distributor; senior VP of sales for Mediamorph, a media-rights management firm; and worked for 13 years as a sales executive at VOD content services provider Vubiquity, as well as at Starz, The Weather Channel and Turner Broadcasting System.

“I’ve long admired the strength of the Zixi platform and the role it plays in live media workflows,” Stewart said. “I’m excited to join the team and help our customers navigate the shift to IP-based video delivery.”

NEW YORK—The Audio Engineering Society has elected David v.R. Bowles to serve as the group’s new president-elect in 2027.

He’ll join the AES board of directors as president-elect on Jan. 1, then succeed Cesar Lamschtein as the group’s president in 2028. He’ll then serve a year on the board as past president in 2029, followed by a subsequent two-year term as an agency governor.

The society’s newly elected regional vice presidents and governors will serve for two-year terms beginning on Jan. 1, 2027. The new AES vice presidents are: Malik Williams, VP, Eastern Region, U.S./Canada; Jess Berg, VP, Western Region, U.S./Canada; and Merlijn van Veen, VP, Northern Region, Europe.

Newly elected as at-large governors are Helen Caddes, Ivo Marković and Angela Piva. Valerie Tyler was reelected as Secretary.

“As a volunteer-driven professional membership society, the AES board elections are a critical part of our operations,” outgoing AES President Brecht De Man said. “I want to congratulate the elected leaders for 2027 and look forward to working with each of them. I am also very grateful to each and every potential candidate, whether nominated to be on the ballot or not, and hope the Society is always supported by this level of volunteer energy and commitment.”

The members of the 2027 AES board are:

• Cesar Lamschtein, president
• Brecht De Man, past president
• David v.R. Bowles, president-elect
• Valerie Tyler, secretary
• Jayant Datta, treasurer
• Agnieszka Roginska, director

One additional director will be elected by the AES board of governors within the next 60 days.

In addition to the board members, the following AES members will serve on its 2027 board of governors:

• Masataka Nakahara, VP, Asia-Pacific Region
• Merlijn van Veen, VP, Northern Region, Europe
• Piotr Majdak, VP, Central Region, Europe
• Huseyin Hacihabiboglu, VP, Southern Europe/Middle East/Africa Region
• Ezequiel Morfi, VP, Latin American Region
• Malik Williams, VP, Eastern Region, USA/Canada
• Kelvin Grimble, VP, Central Region, USA/Canada
• Jess Berg, VP, Western Region, USA/Canada
• Jamie Baker, governor
• Fariuska Lira Barully, governor
• Leslie Gaston-Bird: governor
• Helen Caddes, governor
• Gary Gottlieb, governor
• Ivo Marković, governor
• Angela Piva, governor
• Bernarda Ubidia, governor

Tom Keller, broadcast pioneer and former executive with the National Association of Broadcasters died July 19, 2026 at the age of 96.

Keller, who began his career in broadcasting as Director of Engineering for WGBH in Boston for 18 years, went on to serve as head of NAB’s Science and Technology department in the 1980s, helping establish the Advanced Television Systems Committee and overseeing the Advanced Television Terrestrial Broadcast Project, which provided transmission/reception of early HDTV technologies used for demonstrations to the FCC and Congress. Keller was a Lifetime Fellow of SMPTE and a senior member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society.

A recipient of NAB’s Television Engineering Award in 2011, Keller spent over 50 years working in the U.S. television broadcast industry, contributing significant achievements to broadcast engineering development and emerging as a leading technical innovator. As president of technology consulting firm T. Keller Corp., he led development and extensive laboratory and field studies of new technologies for broadcasting. Among his accomplishments, Keller created an early computerized captioning system for the hearing-impaired and engineered one of the first Electronic Field Production programs ever produced for network release.

SBE President Kevin Trueblood, CBTE, CBNT issued the following statement:

"Tom's extraordinary career provided the vision and technical leadership that helped shape modern broadcasting. From advancing closed captioning and television audio standards to helping establish ATSC and guiding the development of digital television, his contributions have had a lasting impact on our industry."

Keller, from South Yarmouth, Mass., is survived by six children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

NEW YORK—The New York Jets and CBS New York have inked a multi-year extension of their deal that will provide fans with preseason game broadcasts, Jets shoulder programming, and exclusive team content.

The deal continues their 28-year relationship and re-establishes the station as the official broadcast home of the New York Jets.

The Jets preseason coverage begins on Friday, August 14 when the team hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium (7:00 p.m. ET). On Friday, August 21, the team will make the trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium (7:00 p.m. ET). The final tilt of the preseason slate will be the annual summer contest against the New York Giants (Friday, August 28, 7:30 p.m. ET) in Preseason Week 3.

All preseason games will air on CBS New York and stream on Paramount +.

“For nearly three decades, CBS New York has been a trusted partner in helping us connect with Jets fans across the region,” said Hymie Elhai, president, New York Jets. “This extension builds on that longstanding relationship and allows us to deliver even more access, insight and exclusive content to our fans. From live preseason coverage to behind-the-scenes programming and new team-focused shows, we’re excited to continue bringing Jets football to fans year-round through CBS New York.”

As the 2026 NFL preseason kicks off, the collaboration will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes content produced by “1JD Films,” including preseason and offseason special programming that the station said will bring fans closer to the action than ever before.

Throughout the season, Jets fans can also tune in to a robust lineup of team-focused programming, including “Jets GameDay,” “Jets Late Night,” and “The Official Jets Podcast.” As part of the refreshed programming slate, “Jets GameDay” will replace the former “Coaches' Show,” while “The Official Jets Podcast” will deliver new perspectives and expanded coverage of the team year-round.

"The New York Jets have been an outstanding partner for decades, and we're proud to continue this relationship for years to come," said Johnny Green Jr., regional president and general manager of CBS New York and CBS Boston. "As we extend the partnership past 30 years this reflects our shared commitment to serving fans, and continuing to work together to deliver compelling content and support impactful community initiatives that engage our audiences and Jets fans across the region."

President Donald Trump has nominated Danielle Thumann Severs, who is a senior counsel to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, to serve on one of the two open seats on the commission.

The nomination was sent to the U.S. Senate on Friday, where it will go through a formal process for confirmation.

“Danielle is a dedicated public servant and has consistently delivered policy wins from bridging the digital divide and protecting consumers to advancing public safety,” Carr said on X, congratulating Thumann on her nomination.

“I am deeply humbled and honored by President Trump’s nomination to serve in this role,” Thumann Severs said on X. “I look forward to the Senate confirmation process and, if confirmed, to serving our country with dedication and gratitude.”

Thumann Severs advises Carr on matters before the Wireline Bureau, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, according to her FCC biography.

She rejoined then-Commissioner Carr’s office in August 2024 after working in the private sector on government relations matters for Crown Castle, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Thumann Severs previously served as legal advisor in Commissioner Carr’s office from March 2021 until July 2023. Before that, she worked as a communications attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Wilkinson Barker Knauer.

In 2016, she earned her J.D. from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, where she was associate editor of the Law Review.

Thumann Severs received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 2013, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Implications

The FCC requires a quorum of three commissioners to conduct commission business, according to the Communications Act. That’s how it has been operating since Olivia Trusty, a Republican, was confirmed by the Senate last year.

The quorum does not have to include members of both political parties. However, the statute limits the commission to no more than three commissioners from the same political party.

“Serving on this commission is one of the most rewarding jobs in government,” Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat commissioner, said in congratulating Thumann Severs on X. “I look forward to continuing our work together, hopefully soon with a full commission of five, the way this agency was built to operate.”

In response to the nomination, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt also congratulated her.

“NAB congratulates Danielle Thumann Severs on her nomination to the FCC," LeGeyt said in a statement. "Danielle is a dedicated public servant who is well regarded across all sectors of the communications bar. Her extensive experience at the Commission and deep understanding of communications policy will serve her well in this important role. We look forward to working with her throughout the confirmation process and, if confirmed, as a commissioner.”

We’ll update this story with more information as it is warranted.

[This article originally appeared in our sister publication Radio World. You can access their extensive tech, business and regulatory coverage here.]

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has appointed Keelin Ferris as Legal Advisor in the Office of the Chairman.

Following Callie Coker’s move into the private sector earlier this summer, Ferris will join the Office to focus on matters before the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

“The FCC works day in and day out on issues ranging from emergency alerts to protecting consumers from scams callers, from disaster recovery to modernizing our communications networks,” Carr said. “Keelin brings her talents and work ethic to the FCC to help us do this critical work for the American people – and it doesn’t hurt that she’s a graduate such an esteemed law school. I am happy to welcome her to the great FCC workforce.”

Prior to joining the FCC, Ms. Ferris was an associate at a creditor’s rights law firm. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Technology and obtained a Certificate in Data Privacy and Communications from the Law and Technology Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science and data science from American University where she played Division 1 soccer.

NEW YORK—Nielsen Holdings has announced a definitive agreement to acquire DoubleVerify in an all-cash transaction valued at about $2.15 billion.

DoubleVerify is a leading software platform that offers solutions for verifying media quality, optimizing ad performance, and proving campaign outcomes.

The deal comes at a time when Nielsen faces increasing competition from a number of other companies and many industry players continue to express frustration with the state of audience measurement in the streaming era.

The combination, Nielsen said, would to provide clients clear, verified, and independent data and would help advertisers improve their campaigns and outcomes.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

“Over the last few years, Nielsen has undergone a fundamental transformation — accelerating product innovation; expanding our platform across the full media lifecycle, from discovery and planning through measurement and outcomes; and strengthening our financial foundation,” Karthik Rao, CEO of Nielsen, said in announcing the deal.

“This combination will unite two organizations focused on strengthening independence and trust in advertising, Rao continued. “Joining forces with DoubleVerify will extend our capabilities deeper into the digital media industry, ensuring that the spend flowing between buyers and sellers is reaching real people in brand-suitable environments, through verified channels. As advertising workflows become increasingly automated, together we can offer publishers, advertisers, agencies, and platforms a truly independent, end-to-end partner that connects trusted audience intelligence with verified media delivery — across every screen, every channel, and every transaction – enabling superior decisions and outcomes.”

“Today’s announcement is an exciting milestone for DoubleVerify,” added Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “As a private entity with the support of Nielsen, we will have access to expanded resources to deliver new, market-leading solutions that drive exceptional value for our customers and partners. DoubleVerify’s MRC-accredited quality signals, in combination with Nielsen’s deduplicated cross-screen audience measurement, will fuel genuine market innovation – a single currency that scores media on both audience delivery and media environment quality. I’m proud of the strong momentum we’ve built for DoubleVerify as the leading media effectiveness platform, the strength of our AI-powered measurement and optimization platform, and the exceptional work of our team.

Nielsen described the key benefits of the transaction as follows:

• Extends Nielsen’s Platform Across the Full Media Intelligence Stack: Nielsen’s platform already spans the entire media lifecycle — from content discovery and audience planning through cross-platform measurement and outcome attribution. DoubleVerify adds the layer of independent verification that the impressions underpinning every campaign are real, viewable, brand-suitable, and free from invalid traffic. Today, advertisers must reconcile these signals across separate vendors. The combination unifies them into a single, integrated platform covering audience, context, and delivery quality.
• Expands Nielsen’s Addressable Market into High-Growth Digital Channels: DoubleVerify sits at the operational core of how digital advertising is bought and sold, with integrations embedded into the day-to-day workflows of the platforms, publishers, and agency groups that execute the world’s largest campaigns. Nielsen products already power media decisions across television, streaming, audio, and sports. By coming together, Nielsen will reach across the full breadth of the $240 billion digital advertising segment, giving clients a better partner as budgets continue to shift toward digital channels. The combination delivers global, end-to-end, independent, transparent measurement and optimization across linear TV, CTV, social, mobile and AI platforms.
• Preserves Independent Verification Standards the Industry Depends On: The combined company will continue to support the open, independent standards that are highly valued by global advertisers. This includes preserving DoubleVerify’s industry-leading capabilities in invalid traffic detection, viewability and brand suitability.
• Helps Enable a Reliable, Trusted Shift to AI in Advertising: As AI-driven planning, activation, and optimization shape how campaigns are built and executed, the combined company will help enable the advertising industry to adopt AI with confidence, with the verified data, outcome signals, infrastructure, and platform integrations necessary to execute the spectrum of advertising workflows.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nielsen will acquire DoubleVerify for $13.60 per share in an all-cash transaction, representing a 30% premium to DoubleVerify’s 60-trading day volume weighted average price as of August 5, 2026. The value per share implies an enterprise value of approximately $2.15 billion for DoubleVerify.

The transaction, which has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, is expected to close by the first quarter of 2027, subject to approval by DoubleVerify shareholders, receipt of required regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

The transaction will be financed through a combination of committed debt financing provided by Barclays, BofA Securities and Citi, incremental equity financing and cash on hand at Nielsen.

Upon completion of the transaction, DoubleVerify will become a privately held company as part of Nielsen and DoubleVerify common stock will no longer be listed on any public market. DoubleVerify will continue to operate under the DoubleVerify name and brand.

Funds affiliated with Providence Equity Partners LLC (“Providence”) that own approximately 11.8% of DoubleVerify’s outstanding shares of common stock as of August 5, 2026, have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction. As part of the transaction, Providence will conclude its investment upon close.

Kevin Trueblood will return for a second term as president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

The association announced the results of the 2026 election for its national board of directors.

Trueblood, who holds CBRE and CBNT certifications and is a member of Chapter 90 Southwest Florida, is the 34th person to hold the role of president. (See a list of all SBE presidents.)

A member since 2008, Trueblood also is a former SBE VP, secretary, treasurer and board member. He is the president of KTrue Media Services, which provides technical solutions for broadcast, digital and IT needs and is based in Fort Myers, Fla. He does that contract work in addition to his full-time job as associate general manager for WGCU Public Media.

The newly elected will be sworn in during the SBE National Meeting next month, held in conjunction with the Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic in Madison, Wis.

SBE has approximately 4,000 members in 117 chapters in the United States, Hong Kong and Eastern Europe; there are members in more than 25 other countries.

Geary S. Morrill, CPBE, AMD, CBNE, of Chapter 91 Central Michigan, has been reelected vice president, and Shane Toven, CPBE, DRB, CBNE of Chapter 43 Sacramento) was reelected to a third term as SBE secretary.

Those three roles were uncontested in the election.

Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, of Chapter 53 South Florida, was reelected treasurer, running against Greg Dahl.

Six people were elected from among eight candidates to serve two-year terms on the board of directors (asterisks are incumbents who return):

• David Antoine*, CBRE, CBNT; Chapter 15 New York City; Charleston, SC
• Dustin Hapli*, CBNE; Chapter 26 Chicago; Chicago, IL
• Joseph Geerling, CPBE, CBNT; Chapter 55 St. Louis; St. Louis, MO
• Jeff Juniet*, CBTE; Chapter 42 Central Florida; Casselberry, FL
• Tom Ray, CPBE, AMD, DRB; Chapter 15 New York City; New Windsor, NY
• Dustin Tatro, CBRE; Chapter 67 North Texas; Abilene, TX
• Those join six others who are in the middle of two-year board terms.

Read a history of the SBE.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

SAN FRANCISCO—Hisense today began offering Dolby Vision 2 on select television sets, with more models to receive firmware updates bringing the High Dynamic Range technology to more Hisense TVs.

Dolby Laboratories’ Dolby Vision 2 will enable Hisense TV owners to notice a difference across all Dolby Vision content. From movies and TV to games and live sports, everything in Dolby Vision will look more captivating and authentic, offering a significant and immediate improvement to their Dolby Vision experience today.

Currently, CANAL+, iQIYI and Peacock have committed to using the expanded palette of Dolby Vision 2.

“Dolby Vision 2 sets a new standard for what television can look like, and today consumers can experience that difference for themselves,” said John Couling, senior vice president of entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. “With this update, the entertainment you love in Dolby Vision now looks even better, setting the stage for even more incredible experiences to come.”

Hisense’s 2026 UX, UR9, UR8 and U7 (U7 pro in the European Union, Middle East and Africa and Central and South America) televisions running Google TV or VIDAA OS will be the first to receive the update, unlocking Dolby Vision 2 over the coming weeks for consumers across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

“Hisense customers expect the best, and Dolby Vision 2 delivers on that promise," said Sonny Ming, general manager of TV product marketing department at Hisense. “The moment users turn on their Hisense TV, they’re immersed in lifelike visuals—delivering the vivid, true-to-life viewing experience Hisense displays are designed for.”

Dolby Vision 2 is available in two device tiers. It builds on the legacy of Dolby Vision, unlocking the full potential of modern displays while delivering a more authentic and uncompromised picture.

Powering all Dolby Vision 2 TVs is a powerful, new image engine, content intelligence and an intensity slider that allows users to control the depth and richness of their experience, the company said.

For premium TVs, Dolby Vision 2 Max adds unique capabilities designed for the highest-performing displays, including Hisense's UX, UR9, UR8, and U7 (U7 pro in EU, MEA, CSA).

Dolby Vision 2 Max features include:

• Authentic Motion, a creative-driven tool that delivers to TVs a more cinematic feel while eliminating unwanted judder and soap opera effects for newly authored titles.
• Light Sense 2, which continuously optimizes picture quality for any lighting environment without compromising artistic intent so that even the darkest scenes in a sunlit room become crystal clear.
• Pro settings that give enthusiasts even more precise control over how their display performs.

More information is available on the Dolby Laboratories website.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—Video production and integration firm QuickLink has tapped Kane Peterson for its North American team as presales, customer success and product development engineer.

In the new post, Peterson is tasked with supporting North American customers with workflow consultation, presales guidance, onboarding and product development insights, the company said.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Kane to the QuickLink family,” QuickLink CEO Richard Rees said. “His extensive industry knowledge and customer‑centric approach make him an exceptional addition to our team as we continue expanding our presence and support across North America.”

A 34-year broadcast industry veteran, Peterson joins QuickLink after 14 years at NewTek, where he supported customers and advanced product capability. He stayed with that company through its acquisition by Vizrt, gaining additional experience in integrated production systems and IP-based workflows, QuickLink said.

“I’m excited to join QuickLink and contribute to a company that’s driving innovation in remote production and broadcast workflows,” Peterson said. “I’ve spent my career helping customers solve real‑world challenges and get the maximum functionality out of their systems, and I look forward to supporting QuickLink’s partners and users across North America as we continue to advance and evolve our solutions.”

QuickLink supplies more than 800 companies with software, hardware and cloud solutions for broadcast-quality multicamera video production and has been recognized with Emmy Awards and the Queen’s Award for Innovation.

For more information, visit its website.

The Walt Disney Co. and TikTok have struck what they call a first-of-its-kind global content-sharing deal that allows users of the social media platform to create content utilizing memorable scenes and moments from Disney movies and shows.

The agreement, which will pilot in the U.S. in the coming months with plans for other markets to follow, will bring a collection of what the two companies describe as “thoughtfully curated Disney-centric fan-created content” from TikTok to the Disney+ app.

At launch, short-form videos from participating creators will be live on both TikTok and Verts on Disney+, and will feature characters and stories from across Disney’s brands including Pixar, Marvel, “Star Wars,” FX and others.

The deal comes as content companies are scrambling to expand their offerings of vertical and short-form video content, which dominate viewing on social media. It also represents a notable embrace of fan-created content by Disney, which has a long history of protecting its brands from unauthorized use by creators, and a push by Disney to expand its connections to the creator economy.

As part of the deal, TikTok will offer participating creators access to assets related to hundreds of films and series from Disney’s library of franchises. Videos created through the program will be refreshed regularly on the Disney+ Verts feed, providing subscribers with another means of discovering Disney-related content.

“The best storytellers are fans first,” Asad Ayaz, Disney chief marketing and brand officer. “That has always been true at Disney, and today, fans are celebrating our stories in entirely new ways. This collaboration creates a new bridge between the stories we tell and the creativity they inspire, giving creators a bigger stage to share what they’ve made, and audiences more to discover on Disney+ every day.”

Added TikTok Global Head of Entertainment Dawn Yang: “Creators are at the heart of everything we do at TikTok. Their creativity extends the life of films and shows into conversations that fans discover and share. Together with Disney, we’re bringing the authentic creator expression of the TikTok community to Disney+, inviting audiences to experience the shared creativity that makes fandom so powerful.”

Through the jointly run Disney Creator Ambassador Program, Disney and TikTok will also help creators unlock special rewards and provide increased visibility, access to exclusive events and career development pathways, the companies said.

Disney said that this tiered program reflects its commitment to building relationships with the next generation of creative talent in partnership with TikTok.

In announcing the deal, Disney noted that fan-created content continues to play an increasingly important role in how audiences discover, engage and celebrate entertainment.

According to internal TikTok data, fans shared an average of 6.5 million film and TV-related posts on the platform each day last year. Nearly half of users said they went on to watch a movie or TV show on a streaming service or television after discovering it on TikTok, according to the platform.

NEW YORK—The New York Giants have expanded an agreement with WNBC (NBC 4 New York) and WNJU (Telemundo 47) for the 2026–27 NFL season, adding additional preseason programming.

New programming for this season will include three, 30-minute pregame shows, sponsored by Quest and airing on WNBC and NBC 4 New York’s digital platforms prior to each preseason game.

Fans will also be able to watch a Spanish-language telecast of the Aug. 22 Giants-Miami Dolphins preseason game on WNJU and all Telemundo 47 platforms.

This season, fans can also watch on Telemundo 47/WNJU the exclusive, Spanish-Language preseason broadcast, presented by GGL, of the preseason matchup between the Giants and Dolphins on all Telemundo 47 platforms.

Miguel Gurwitz and Rolando Cantú, the Spanish-language announcers for “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video and NBC “Sunday Night Football” on Telemundo Deportes/Universo, will call the Giants-Dolphins game.

"Our expanded partnership with NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47 reflects our commitment to bringing Giants fans closer to the team through innovative, year-round content across every platform," said Nilay Shah, senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy for the New York Giants. "From exclusive training camp access at The Greenbrier to enhanced preseason coverage and Spanish-language broadcasts, we're creating more opportunities for fans throughout the tri-state area and beyond to connect with the Giants in meaningful ways."

WNBC will air three Giants preseason games locally, presented by Tri-State Cadillac:

• Saturday, Aug. 15 – Pregame show at 12:30 p.m. and kickoff at 1 p.m.: Minnesota Vikings vs. New York Giants at MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.) (WNBC only)
• Saturday, Aug. 22 – Pre-game show at 3:30 p.m. and kickoff at 4 p.m.: New York Giants vs. Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium (Miami) (WNBC and WNJU)
• Friday, Aug. 28: Pre-game show at 7 p.m. and kickoff at 7:30 p.m.: New York Giants vs. New York Jets at MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.) (WNBC only)

WNBC’s preseason broadcasters will feature Giants radio voice Bob Papa along with former Giants players and analysts Carl Banks, Phil Simms and Howard Cross.

The partnership extension will also continue the station's exclusive program, "All-Access: Giants Training Camp" presented by Hospital for Special Surgery. New episodes will air on Saturdays on WNBC beginning Aug. 8 and on digital and streaming platforms.

“The Coach Harbaugh Show” will premiere Saturday, Sept, 12th and feature an interview with Harbaugh previewing the upcoming matchup, a strategy segment with Carl Banks and player interviews. On-demand episodes can also be found across all Giants digital platforms.

Big Blue fans in the tri-state area can exclusively access this preseason content on:

• NBC 4 New York/WNBC/Giants.com: Aug. 15, 22, and 28 preseason game broadcasts and the weekly training camp special will be available on WNBC (Channel 4), on nbcnewyork.com and the NBC 4 App.
• Telemundo 47/WNJU: The Aug. 22 broadcast of the Giants-Dolphins preseason game will be available in Spanish on WNJU (Channel 47), on telemundo47.com, and the Telemundo 47 App.

NEW YORK—Hearst has announced a deal with subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company to acquire Disney’s 50% interest in A+E Global Media for approximately $1.2 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in September, at which point A+E Global Media will become a wholly owned Hearst business within its Entertainment group.

A+E Global Media, launched as A&E (the Arts & Entertainment Network) in 1984, today reaches more than 414 million households across 200 territories in 40 languages. It's brands include A&E, Lifetime, The History Channel, LMN, FYI and Vice TV.

The deal reduces Disney's exposure to the declining cable network sector, which has been buffeted by cord cutting and will give Hearst greater control over A+E, which in recent years has been working to diversify its revenue streams.

“We thank our Disney colleagues for decades of successful partnership,” said Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst. “We look forward to supporting Paul Buccieri and A+E Global Media’s leadership team as they continue to make must-see programs and innovate around the great History, Lifetime and A&E brands.”

Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of A+E Global Media will continue to run A+E.

“In a media environment defined by fragmentation, A+E Global Media's advantage is the strength and versatility of our brands, our strong partnerships and our vast library of owned assets,” Buccieri said. “As we continue extending our storytelling globally across all platforms with IP that travels to every screen and form-factor, we believe we are well suited for whatever opportunities may come next. I also want to express my deepest thanks to Hearst, The Walt Disney Company and to our board members — both recent and past — for their guidance and support over the years.”

A+E Global Media, launched as A&E (the Arts & Entertainment Network) in 1984, today reaches more than 414 million households across 200 territories in 40 languages, and its well-known brands include A&E, Lifetime, The HISTORY Channel, LMN, FYI and VICE TV.

Hearst’s minority stake in ESPN is unaffected by the deal.

It also owns 35 television stations; 30 daily and 50 weekly newspapers; digital services businesses; and more than 200 magazine editions around the world.

The deal reduces Disney's exposure to the declining cable network sector, which has been buffeted by cord cutting and will give Hearst greater control over A+E, which in recent years has been working to diversify its revenue streams.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has elevated Michele Ferreira to chief business officer, a new role overseeing the company's business systems and operational functions.

In her new post, Ferreira, formerly vice president of ASG’s Systems Integration team, will oversee enterprise resource planning (ERP), information technology, purchasing, logistics, and other core business operations, the company said. She reports to Chief Financial Officer Amy Zeno.

Her new focus will be on ensuring that ASG’s people, processes and technologies remain aligned with its long-term strategic goals, the company said.

"Michele has been instrumental in helping ASG build the operational foundation of our system integration team and supporting its growth,” ASG President Dave Van Hoy said. “She has a unique ability to align people, processes, and technology in ways that strengthen how we operate and, ultimately, how we serve our clients.”

As VP of Systems Integration, Ferreira led the development of that business’ operational infrastructure, strengthening project management processes, improving delivery operations, and implementing business tools to enable greater efficiency, ASG said.

“My goal is to ensure that the systems supporting our business evolve in alignment with the needs of our customers,” Ferreira said. “As we continue to improve our business operations, from ERP and IT to purchasing and logistics, we're establishing a solid foundation for greater growth across the company.

“This role gives me the opportunity to connect people, processes, and technology across the company so we can work smarter, measure our progress more effectively, and provide an improved experience for our clients,” she continued. “I’m excited about the opportunity to expand and improve how we execute the many systems we deliver and services we bring to our clients. My passion for this industry grows as I can have an impact on ASG’s breadth of services and what our clients do every day.”

Ferreira can be reached at mferreira@asgllc.com. For more information, visit ASG’s website.

A person is scrolling through social media and stops on a video of a real human being making a plausible claim. Nothing about the clip looks obviously fake. The lighting feels normal. The voice sounds right. It may even be genuine footage.

How does that person decide whether to believe it?

That is the real question now: not whether media can be manipulated—we already know it can. Not whether synthetic media will continue to improve; it will. The harder question is how belief gets formed when authentic-looking media is abundant and context is fragile amid constant technological innovation.

Since my column “Content Provenance: Audience Trust Is at Stake” in the December issue of TV Tech was published, confidence in the telecom sector continues to fall. According to a 2025 Gallup poll, a record-low 28% of Americans expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in mass media (see chart below). The conversation around the importance of the verifiability of content authenticity, i.e. content provenance, has become pivotal.

This article does not argue that provenance can solve the trust problem; that challenge depends on a multitude of factors, including effective marketing, brand and customer strategy, as well as human emotion, environment and temperament. Rather, we argue that provenance is now a necessary infrastructure for making digital content more transparent and defensible. The need for authenticity is not coming soon; it is already here.

Over the past two years, meaningful progress has been made on provenance technology. The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) is an industry standard for attaching provenance metadata to digital content so people can verify where media came from and whether it has been edited. It has become the center of gravity for content credentials.

As synthetic media becomes easier to create, and AI-generated images and videos become more commonplace, regulators are beginning to insist on machine-readable transparency. Article 50 of the European Union AI Act becomes enforceable on Aug. 2, and California’s AI transparency rules are moving in a similar direction. For media companies, provenance is more than a best practice. It is a capability they will need to operationalize.

Why Trust Cannot Be Engineered
People trust institutions. They trust familiar people. They trust sources their communities already recognize. They trust what aligns with their prior experiences more readily than what disrupts them. And while technology may modify some of these patterns, it does not replace them.

This is why propaganda still works in a world where authenticity tools are improving. A message does not need to be fake to be manipulative. It only needs to be framed effectively, repeated often enough and delivered by a messenger the audience is predisposed to trust. Conversely, a piece of information can be authentic in a narrow technical sense and still mislead. A real clip can be selectively edited. A true quote can be stripped of context. A genuine image can imply something false.

This is the core limitation that provenance cannot solve.

C2PA is designed to certify the history of content, not its inherent truthfulness. It can help establish where a file came from and whether its recorded history has been altered. It does not determine whether the message is honest, persuasive, manipulative or fair. It is a transparency layer, not a truth engine.

The news industry has been dealing with versions of this problem for years. User-generated content has long been highly valuable and highly risky. It feels authentic because it is often captured by real people in real moments. But that makes it easy to over-trust. “Shot by a real person” is not the same thing as “reliably framed,” “fully contextualized” or “immune from manipulation.” In some ways, that is precisely why provenance matters. In other ways, it is precisely why provenance is not a silver bullet.

AI Makes the Problem More Visible
AI has not so much created the trust problem as made it harder to ignore. For broadcasters, the more immediate issue is not whether AI can generate convincing content. It is how to preserve confidence in the provenance of content as it moves through increasingly complex production and distribution chains.

The healthiest relationship with provenance is pragmatic: use it to strengthen verification, not to outsource judgment.

That becomes especially important in broadcasting because the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Content may be signed at capture, but downstream platforms and intermediaries can still strip or distort metadata during re-encoding or distribution. In practice, that means provenance can disappear before the audience ever sees it. For broadcasters, that means provenance technologies cannot be treated as a point solution. It must be operationalized across capture, editing, publishing, metadata management and governance.

C2PA is not a trust substitute. It is an enterprise capability that supports trust at scale.

The future is unlikely to produce a universal trust layer that makes belief automatic. That is asking too much of any technology. What it can do is provide better information.

For media executives, this creates a practical agenda.

First, treat provenance as infrastructure. Second, start where the risk is highest, especially around UGC and breaking news workflows. Third, build governance around what you capture, expose and retain. And fourth, prepare for provenance to become part of compliance architecture, not just editorial experimentation.

That is where the real opportunity lies. Not in claiming technology can manufacture trust, but in building systems that make trust easier to earn and easier to defend.

Technology can tell us where information came from. It cannot tell us what to believe. Even if it could tell us what to believe, would we?

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) has announced that Charles Einolf of the U.S. will receive its 2025 Jules Cohen Award.

The Jules Cohen Award is the society's highest honor, recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the broadcast industry and shown unwavering integrity and professionalism, as well as a sustained commitment to sharing knowledge for the benefit of colleagues and the industry as a whole, IEEE BTS said.

The group said Dr. Einolf has demonstrated exceptional technical leadership and service to broadcasting throughout his career in several influential roles.

From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Einolf served as deputy drector of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). Under his leadership, the ATTC produced objective, technically rigorous test results that were instrumental in the adoption of the Grand Alliance digital television system, which ultimately became the foundation for the ATSC digital television standard. The ATTC's reports were recognized for their depth, accuracy and professionalism. Dr. Einolf consistently stood behind the integrity of the findings, even when the results generated controversy, earning the respect and trust of colleagues throughout the industry.

Dr. Einolf also represented the U.S. on the ITU Study Group 6 delegation, where he played a key role in advocating for the preservation of broadcast spectrum. His technical expertise, thoughtful leadership and clear, well-reasoned contributions were instrumental in protecting critical spectrum resources for the broadcasting community, the group said.

In addition, Dr. Einolf served multiple terms on the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Administrative Committee (AdCom). During his tenure, he exemplified the highest standards of integrity, professionalism and dedication to advancing broadcast technology. His leadership and service have benefited not only broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers, but ultimately the millions of viewers who rely on broadcast television every day.

Historically, this award has been made as part of the BTS’s Fall Symposium activities. However, there was no Fall Symposium event in 2025.

As a result, both the 2025 and 2026 awards will be made at the society’s Oct. 27–28 tech conference, rebranded this year as the “IEEE BTS Broadcast Technology Forum.”