New data from Tubular Labs shows that in August of 2023, Tegna’s unique U.S. viewers grew by 43% month-over-month across Facebook and YouTube, partly due to an emphasis on crime-related content, the researcher said. 

Tubular Audience Ratings also indicated that the summer surge took Tegna up to No. 9 among all U.S. media and entertainment properties, shy of Warner Music at No. 8.

Tegna also saw U.S. minutes watched climb significantly month-over-month, increasing 62% across Facebook and YouTube. 

At 291.2 million minutes watched, that put the company ahead of Nexstar and MLB for the month, according to Tubular Labs.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following a decision by Meta to block Canadian news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters have joined with other critics to condemn the blackout as an example of Meta’s “monopolistic” power.

The dispute revolves around the recent passage of passage of Canada’s Online News Act which requires tech giants like Meta and Google to negotiate with producers of news content and potential pay for that content. In response to the law Meta announced on Monday July 31 that it would be removing Canadian news from its popular Facebook and Instagram sites. 

The decision drew immediate condemnation by Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC, who issued a statement saying “Meta’s move to deny Canadians access to domestic sources of trusted news and verified information…is irresponsible and an abuse of their market power.”

In a joint statement on August 4, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt and CAB president Kevin Desjardins also blasted the blackout. 

“As national associations representing broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) strongly urge lawmakers to support legislation that enables news providers to negotiate with dominant digital platforms for fair terms and conditions when our content appears on their platforms,” they said. 

“Meta – a nearly trillion-dollar company – repeatedly chooses to restrict news content for its users to avoid compensating news producers for the value it gains on their vital journalism,” they said. “These retaliatory tactics demonstrate Meta’s monopolistic dominance over the advertising marketplace and its ability to dictate how radio and TV broadcasters, newspapers and others can reach audiences online. Rather than working to ensure its users have access to trusted news and information, Meta is holding news content on its platform hostage.”

“Policymakers should not reward Meta’s coercive behavior,” they concluded. “At a time when misinformation, disinformation and AI-generated content proliferate online, the future of democracy relies on the accessibility of fact-based, trustworthy journalism.”

Tech giants who have been able to use news content for free in their search engines and social media platforms to help build businesses valued at hundreds of billions of dollars have furiously attacked the Canadian law and threatened to remove news content rather than pay for it. 

Both Meta and Google have threatened to remove the content, though only Meta has started the process of removing it. 

Prior to the passage of the Canadian law this summer, Australia passed legislation in 2021 forcing Facebook and Google to pay for the content on their platforms. 

In the U.S., legislation has been introduced in Congress and in California to force large tech companies like Google and Meta to pay for news content but these proposals have not been passed into law.

Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, has issued a public statement blasting Meta for its decision to block Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms in Canada, calling the decision “unjust” and “an abuse of their market power.”

In June, the Canadian parliament passed the Online News Act, which requires tech giants like Meta and Google to negotiate deals for news content.

Tech giants who have been able to use news content for free in their search engines and social media platforms to help build businesses valued at hundreds of billions of dollars have furiously attacked the law and threatened to remove news content rather than pay for it. Both Google and Meta have said they will remove the content.  

On August 1, Meta announced that it would begin a process to block Canadian news content from their Facebook and Instagram platforms in Canada. The changes are expected to roll out over the new few weeks. 

“Today we've begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. Changes will roll out over a few weeks,” a Meta spokesperson posted on the X (formerly Twitter) platform. “As we've always said, the law is based on a fundamentally flawed premise. And, regrettably, the only way we can reasonably comply is to end news availability in Canada.”

In response, the CBC said “this means that people in Canada who have come to rely on these platforms to find and access news and information about their country are now left with only unverified sources in their feeds. This problem is particularly acute in Canada’s North, for Francophones in minority language communities, and for people in rural communities who depend more on Facebook for news.” 

“Meta’s move to deny Canadians access to domestic sources of trusted news and verified information — especially at a time when Canadians are depending on it to stay safe from the harmful effects of unprecedented weather events across much of the country — is irresponsible and an abuse of their market power,” the CBC continued. “CBC/Radio-Canada joins all Canadian media organizations who are calling on Meta to act responsibly by restoring Canadians’ access to news — all news, from all outlets, both public and private — and by negotiating with Canadian media organizations to compensate them for their news content.”

In the U.S., legislation has been introduced in Congress and in California to force large tech companies like Google and Meta to pay for news content but have not been passed into law. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Trade Commission has alleged that Facebook has failed to fully comply with a 2020 privacy order and proposed new protections that would better protect kids and teens. 

The FTC said the social media giant misled parents about their ability to control with whom their children communicated through its Messenger Kids app, and misrepresented the access it provided some app developers to private user data.

“Facebook has repeatedly violated its privacy promises,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company’s recklessness has put young users at risk, and Facebook needs to answer for its failures.”

As part of the proposed changes, Meta, which changed its name from Facebook in October 2021, would be prohibited from profiting from data it collects, including through its virtual reality products, from users under the age of 18. It would also be subject to other expanded limitations, including in its use of facial recognition technology, and required to provide additional protections for users.

The agency noted that this is the third time it has taken action against Facebook for allegedly failing to protect users’ privacy. The Commission first filed a complaint against Facebook in 2011, and secured an order in 2012 barring the company from misrepresenting its privacy practices. 

According to a subsequent complaint filed by the Commission, Facebook violated the first FTC order within months of it being finalized – engaging in misrepresentations that helped fuel the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In 2019, Facebook agreed to a second order—which took effect in 2020—resolving claims that it violated the FTC’s first order. 

The new FTC action alleges that Facebook has violated the 2020 order, as well as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule).

The 2020 privacy order required Facebook to pay a $5 billion civil penalty. The 2020 order also expanded the required privacy program, as well as the independent third-party assessor’s role in evaluating the effectiveness of Facebook’s program.

The independent assessor, tasked with reviewing whether the company’s privacy program satisfied the 2020 order’s requirements, identified several gaps and weaknesses in Facebook’s privacy program, according to the Order to Show Cause, in which the Commission notes that the breadth and significance of these deficiencies pose substantial risks to the public.

The Order to Show Cause also alleges that Facebook violated both the 2012 and 2020 orders by continuing to give app developers access to users’ private information after promising in 2018 to cut off such access if users had not used those apps in the previous 90 days. In certain circumstances, Facebook continued to allow third-party app developers to access that user data until mid-2020.

The proposed changes to the 2020 order, which would apply to Facebook and Meta’s other services such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, include:

• Blanket prohibition against monetizing data of children and teens under 18: Meta and all its related entities would be restricted in how they use the data they collect from children and teens. The company could only collect and use such data to provide the services or for security purposes, and would be prohibited from monetizing this data or otherwise using it for commercial gain even after those users turn 18.
• Pause on the launch of new products, services: The company would be prohibited from releasing new or modified products, services, or features without written confirmation from the assessor that its privacy program is in full compliance with the order’s requirements and presents no material gaps or weaknesses.
• Extension of compliance to merged companies: Meta would be required to ensure compliance with the FTC order for any companies it acquires or merges with, and to honor those companies’ prior privacy commitments.
• Limits on future uses of facial recognition technology: Meta would be required to disclose and obtain users’ affirmative consent for any future uses of facial recognition technology. The change would expand the limits on the use of facial recognition technology included in the 2020 order.
• Strengthening existing requirements: Some privacy program provisions in the 2020 order would be strengthened, such as those related to privacy review, third-party monitoring, data inventory and access controls, and employee training. Meta’s reporting obligations also would be expanded to include its own violations of its commitments.

As part of the action, the FTC has formally asked Meta to respond in 30 days to the proposed findings from the agency’s investigation.

The Commission voted 3-0 to issue the Order to Show Cause.  

The full Order to Show Cause is available here. 

MIAMI—TelevisaUnivision has announced that Univision Noticias’ fact-checking program, elDetector, will partner with Meta on fact-checking by joining Meta's Third-Party Fact-Checking Program.

Univision Noticias launched elDetector in 2016 as the first fact-checking platform in Spanish in the United States. It was later relaunched, during the 2020 presidential campaign, with support from WhatsApp and coordination by the International Fact-Checking Network from the Poynter Institute, as part of the FactChat project, which brought together 12 fact-checking platforms in the United States.

“With elDetector being the first-fact checking platform available in Spanish for the United States, our partnership with Meta will expand our reach in ensuring that Hispanic audiences receive accurate and reliable information,” said Carlos Chirinos, director of elDetector.

Users can access elDetector’s services via the Univision Noticias website, to find checked information about politics, health, and general affairs, from Covid-19 and vaccines to U.S. elections and the war in Ukraine. It also clarifies fake news and conspiracy theories, which will help users clear through the clutter of disinformation and misinformation. 

Spanish speakers can also ask questions directly to the news-checking team by sending text messages via WhatsApp to the number +1(786)685-8284. 

“This partnership emphasizes Univision Noticias’ core value of ensuring that Hispanic audiences are accurately informed and can rely on a news division to enforce their equitable access to correct and trustworthy information,” added José Gonzalo, senior director and editor in chief of Univision Noticias Digital.

“We’re thrilled to welcome TelevisaUnivision into our global fact-checking program,” said Kaitlin McCulley, news integrity program manager at Meta. “We partner with more than 90 fact-checking organizations around the world who review and rate viral misinformation on our platform, and we’re excited to build on our previous partnerships with TelevisaUnivision to help connect Spanish-speaking audiences in the U.S. with reliable information.”

In addition to this partnership, elDetector has sponsorships in coordination with the International Fact-Checking Network to do climate change checks and from WhatsApp to operate the chatbot.

MENLO PARK, Calif.—Meta Platforms, a company formerly known as Facebook, received two blows this week as the Federal Trade Commission sued to block its acquisition of Within and the company's disappointing Q2 2022 earnings report pushed its stock down. 

On July 28th, following the Q2 2022 earnings report on July 27, Meta’s stock was trading down 6.62% at 2:53 p.m. ET.  So far this year, the stock is down 53%. 

Meta reported that revenue fell about 1% to $28.8 billion in Q2 2022 from a year earlier. This is the first time that the company reported a revenue decline since it went public. Net income was also down 32% from a year earlier. 

Daily active users were up 3%, however, from a year earlier to 1.97 billion in Q2 2022 and monthly active users saw a small increase of 1% to 2.93 billion.

The company also reported that it is continuing to lose huge amounts of money on its effort to build its metaverse business. Its Reality Labs division, which includes augmented and virtual reality related consumer hardware, software, and content, lost $2.8 billion in Q2 2022, and has lost $5.7 billion so far this year. 

Meta also faces headwinds in its attempts to further expand that business with its proposed acquisition of Within. 

This week the FTC filed a lawsuit suit seeking to block virtual reality giant Meta and its controlling shareholder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg from acquiring Within Unlimited and its popular virtual reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural. 

“Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top,” said FTC Bureau of Competition deputy director John Newman. “Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within’s popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits.  This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief.”

The complaint noted that Meta is already a key player at each level of the virtual reality sector. The company’s virtual reality empire includes the top-selling device, a leading app store, seven of the most successful developers, and one of the best-selling apps of all time, the FTC said. 

The complaint alleges that Meta is a potential entrant in the virtual reality dedicated fitness app market with the required resources and a reasonable probability of building its own virtual reality app to compete in the space. But instead of entering, it chose to try buying Supernatural. Meta’s independent entry would increase consumer choice, increase innovation, spur additional competition to attract the best employees, and yield other competitive benefits. Meta’s acquisition of Within, on the other hand, would eliminate the prospect of such entry, dampening future innovation and competitive rivalry, the FTC said. 

The Commission voted to authorize staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction by 3-2. Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine S. Wilson voted no. 

A federal court complaint and request for preliminary relief has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to halt the transaction.

LONDON—Despite negative press and recent Congressional testimony by a whistleblower criticizing Facebook lack of action in stopping misinformation, a recent survey from the Pew Research Center shows that Facebook and its other platforms still dominate the social media landscape for news and information. 

The survey, which offers a number of important findings for news organizations planning their social media strategies, found that about 31% of those who regularly get news from social media get it from Facebook, with another 11% of those regular social media users for news getting it from Facebook’s Instagram and 3% from WhatsApp. 

That would indicate that Facebook’s various platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) have about a 45% share among those who get news from social media.  and 

To put those numbers in context, the Pew Research survey also found that the influence of social media as a news outlet remains very important, but is declining. 

It’s survey found that “a little under half (48%) of U.S. adults say they get news from social media `often’ or `sometimes,’ a 5 percentage point decline compared with 2020.” 

Only 19% got their news from social media “often,” a four percentage point decline from 2020, when 23% did. 

In contrast the number of respondents who said they “never” got news from social media rose from 21% in 2020 to 24% in 2021.

Pew asked users of 10 social media sites where they regularly get news on social media and found that about one third of U.S. adults (31%) said they get news regularly on Facebook, followed by YouTube (22%), Twitter (11%), Instagram (11%), Reddit (7%), TikTok (6%), LinkedIn (4%), Snapchat (4%), WhatsApp (3%) and Twitch (1%).

The report also noted that “the majority of regular news consumers of many sites are Democrats or lean Democratic. This may be related to the relatively young age profile of the news consumer base of these social media sites. No social media site included here has regular news consumers who are more likely to be Republican or lean Republican.”

The Pew Research study was based on a survey of 11,178 adults in the U.S. between July 26 to Aug. 8, 2021.

Additional demographic breakdowns and data is available here. 

OSLO, Norway—OTT solutions provider Vewd has announced that Facebook selected Vewd to provide the first web browser in the Portal TV App Store. 

Vewd on Facebook’s Portal TV allows users to access, discover and enjoy more OTT content. Unlike usual viewing experiences, Vewd’s technology, built on Vewd Core (a widely deployed HTML5 SDK) is designed for connected TV devices, with intuitive controls and robust functionality to enable viewing of streaming content not available in an App, the company reported. 

Vewd has also optimized its rendering engine for Portal TV from Facebook, resulting in a fast, intuitive UI that delivers a superior viewing experience. 

Key features of the Vewd browser include: virtual mouse navigation; integrated on-screen keyboard; full screen tabbed browsing; and speed dials for efficient content access

“By working with Vewd, Portal TV from Facebook expanded its streaming video experience to complement its native apps and immersive video calling from the biggest screen in the home,” said Aneesh Rajaram, CEO of Vewd. “We are pleased Facebook selected Vewd to build a video-first content viewing experience for Portal TV to provide another way for consumers to access their favorite content.”

WASHINGTON—Broadcasters are being short changed for their local news content from two of the biggest technology companies, Google and Facebook, according to a new study from BIA Advisory Services. The amount of money that broadcasters lose under these current conditions approaches $2 billion annually.

BIA’s study, “The Economic Impact of Big Tech Platforms on the Viability of Local Broadcast News,” which was commissioned by NAB, found that because large technology platforms exercise their substantial market power, broadcasters are not receiving fair compensation for their content. BIA said that these tech platforms use their market power to advance their own growth at the detriment of local broadcasters, which can put a strain on the viability of local news.

The study focused on Google Search and Facebook News Feed. Through interviews with broadcast group executives and modeling of high economic impact practices, the study found that local broadcasters lose $1.873 billion annually by supplying their content to these platforms.

In addition, the study concluded that no technology platform allows broadcasters to earn equitable revenue based on current practices. It said that algorithms do not properly weigh local broadcast news, “which intentionally and unfairly undervalues the broadcast content in search queries.” The study also noted that broadcast content and local news are often included in search returns and news feeds alongside questionable sources and disinformation, which could potentially confuse users and instill distrust.

“Even though we focused our quantitative analysis on Google and Facebook, the market power of other platforms and services, such as Amazon and Apple, were cited as increasingly undermining the viability of local news media,” said Rick Ducey, managing director at BIA Advisory Services. “The growth of these platforms present the potential for substantial future harm to the industry if not constrained by government action.”

NAB has been pushing for such government action against major tech platforms, saying it puts them at a disadvantage. Last fall, Congress concluded an investigation that big tech can in fact harm the news industry and some legislation is reportedly in the works to help support smaller broadcasters against the likes of major tech companies.

“Radio and television broadcasters play a vital role in providing Americans with valuable news and information, shining a light on the events shaping their communities,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. “Unfortunately, this study makes clear that the competitive advantage of a handful of big tech platforms prevents broadcasters from recouping their substantial investment in local news, putting local journalism at risk. Preserving quality, trusted journalism in communities will require policies that ensure broadcasters are fairly and justly compensated for their valuable content.”

Local broadcasters are expected to be on Capitol Hill this week as part of NAB’s annual State Leadership Conference to advocate for issues affecting the broadcast industry. For more information, visit NAB’s website. 

WASHINGTON—Facebook and Google's market power, especially over digital advertising, has translated to a potential "extinction level event" for local news operations, broadcast, online and print.

That was the underlying message of House Antitrust Subcommittee chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) at a hearing Friday (March 12) on “Saving a Free and Diverse Press.”

Cicilline said his bill to give news content producers an antitrust exemption to negotiate collectively with the largest platforms (the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, or JCPA) was not a substitute for structural remedies to address the market power of a Google or Facebook, but was a short term solution to save trustworthy journalism before is it gone forever.

A Senate version of the bill has been introduced by Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Cicilline painted a dark portrait of local news, saying it was in free fall, in part because of the gatekeeper power of tech platforms. He called that a crisis in journalism that was also a crisis in democracy, and in a time of pandemic when local news is more important than ever.

Of Big Tech, Cicilline said that those gatekeepers can distort the flow of information with the a single change to an algorithm or ad option. With that power, he said Google and Facebook have captured nearly all the digital ad growth in recent years. 

He said local journalism is on life support, and to do nothing was not an option.

Ranking Subcommittee Member Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who co-sponsored the bill, said he was concerned about Big Tech's role in "cancel culture" suppression of conservative speech.

Buck said Congress sat idly by as Big Tech platforms became monopolies but it can't let them become arbiters of truth. He called them "digital kings' that need dethroning and have precisely the kind of power that antitrust laws were meant to address.

Emily Barr, National Association of Broadcasters TV Board chair and Broadcasting & Cable's 2020 Broadcaster of the year, testified at the hearing on the impact of Big Tech on her industry. 

She said their market power undercuts the online ad model for local broadcast news in two ways: 1) Their gatekeeper role prevents stations from generating traffic "independent of their services" and their "take it or leave it" terms of service "leave local broadcasters with a below-market sliver of the advertising revenues that are derived through their products."

She said quality journalism has to compete with "click bait" that is often favored by platform algorithms, that siphon off ad dollars from that quality news product.

In his testimony, David Chavern, president of the News Media Alliance, said Google and Facebook regulate the news media through their dominance. He said hope for a better journalism future is not a strategy, and the current path will lead to the ultimate destruction of quality news. He said publishers need the collective action that Cicciline's bill will provide, but added that may not be enough.

Google did not have a witness at the hearing, but did send a statement that included a line that sounded pretty "take it or leave it." It said: "Every news organization can choose whether they want to be in Google Search and Google News," adding that "most do because it results in valuable free traffic."

But it also said for those who do choose to be in Google search, they have created Google News Showcase, "powered by a $1 billion investment in news organizations." It said that more than 500 publications are part of the showcase, with more being added. It said the company was "committed to finding new ways to continue supporting the news industry."

"Over the past 20 years, we’ve collaborated closely with the news industry and provided billions of dollars to support the creation of quality journalism in the digital age," the tech giant said. "Through both our services and our direct funding of news organizations, Google is one of the world’s biggest financial supporters of journalism."

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of House and Senate members introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act on March 10, which would enable small news outlets to collectively negotiate with online platforms, like Google and Facebook, for use of their stories.

The bill was brought forth by House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), House Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) and Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

The legislation follows a bipartisan investigation into the online marketplace, which found that big tech companies use practices that ultimately harm local news providers, including broadcasters.

According to Pew Research Center, 90% of Americans get news while using a smartphone, computer or tablet, with Facebook and Google accounting for a majority of online referrals for news sources and a majority of the online advertising market. This “digital ad duoply” has contributed to layoffs and consolidation in the news industry, especially for local new outlets, the announcement noted. 

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act will establish a temporary, 48-month safe harbor that allows small news publishers to negotiate collectively with online platforms to protect Americans’ access to sources of online news. Coordination is only allowed if 1) it directly relates to the quality, accuracy, attribution or branding, or interoperability of news; 2) benefits the entire industry, rather than just a few publishers, and is non-discriminatory to other news publishers; and 3) is directly related to and reasonably necessary for these negotiations, instead of being used for other purposes.

“A strong, diverse, free press is critical for any successful democracy. Access to trustworthy local journalism helps inform the public, hold powerful people accountable, and root out corruption,” said Cicilline, who has introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in each of the last two Congresses. “This bill will give hardworking local reporters and publishers the helping hand they need right now, so they can continue to do their important work.”

NAB, who has argued that large online companies are putting broadcasters at a disadvantage for ads, welcomed the proposed legislation.

“NAB commends Reps. David Cicilline and Ken Buck, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Kennedy and their bipartisan cosponsors for reintroducing legislation allowing news publishers such as local broadcasters to collectively negotiate the terms on which their content may be distributed online,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith in a statement. “For too long, a handful of dominant tech platforms have unilaterally set policies impeding media outlets’ ability to reach audiences, attract advertisers and monetize their news content. The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would afford news producers the ability to negotiate a fair return for their local journalism that serves America's communities. We look forward to working with stakeholders and members of Congress on passing this legislation into law.”

The House Antitrust Subcommittee will hold a hearing, “Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press,” on Friday, March 12. Emily Barr, president and CEO of Graham Media Group, is scheduled to testify on behalf of local TV and radio broadcasters.

WASHINGTON—The NAB has positioned itself against another proposal for unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz, this one submitted to the FCC by Facebook, Broadcom, Cisco, Intel and Qualcomm.

The new proposal, filed with the FCC on March 1, seeks for very-low power (VLP) unlicensed device operation in the 6 GHz band. VLP devices would comply with an out-of-band emissions level of -37 dBm/MHz at 5925 MHz and would prioritize operation in the channels above 6105 MHz before beginning operation below 6105 MHz.

In a filing from March 4, NAB stresses its concern that such a proposal could lead to harmful interference to licensed operations, including broadcasters’ ENG operations, as the proposal could see concentrated unlicensed operations in the U-NII-6 and U-NII-8 portions of the 6 GHz band, where ENG primarily operates.

“Given that local newsgathering has never been more important, the commission should be extremely cautious about increasing the risk for harmful interference to broadcast operations,” NAB said in its filing.

NAB says that the proposal acknowledges VLP operations in close proximity to licensed users could cause interference. The organization also says the proposal is inconsistent with the FCC’s previous order approving unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band.

In that order, the FCC denied NAB’s proposal to limit unlicensed operations in 80 of the 1200 MHz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band, saying it would increase the likelihood of interference because unlicensed operations would be concentrated in fewer channels. While it disagrees with the ruling, NAB says that the FCC can’t at the same time reasonably conclude that VLP operations should be concentrated in the portion of the band used by broadcasters.

In the event that the FCC were to approve this proposal, NAB asked that the commission limit power levels to try and ensure licensed operations are better protected. It suggests authorizing a power level of no more than -15.5 dBm/MHz for VLP operations. At a minimum, NAB said, the FCC should constrain VLP operations to this power level in the U-NII-6 and U-NII-8 bands.

NAB also called it premature to expand unlicensed operations in the band until there’s experience with practical interference situations, which it said will be available in the near future.

The complete NAB filing is available through the FCC ECFS. 

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan bill is expected to be introduced to Congress in the next few weeks that is designed to make it easier for smaller news organizations to negotiate with Big Tech platforms, i.e. Facebook and Google, according to a report from Reuters.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, said that this is the first in a series of antitrust bills expected to be introduced to Congress.

NAB and other news organizations have been calling for help to deal with big tech companies, who often use news content to draw users but, according to the news organizations, are not sharing enough of the revenue from advertising.

Google announced earlier this week that it had struck a deal with News Corp. to pay to use its content. Meanwhile, Facebook went the other way, pulling the ability to share news content on its platforms in Australia after a proposed law that would require it to pay news outlets whose content drives traffic to their site.

This bill, according to Reuters, would only cover “small publishers.”

For more information, read Reuters’ report. 

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan investigation into the online marketplace orchestrated by the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee has released a report that finds that big tech companies like Facebook and Google have created a monopoly that has weakened both journalism and our democracy.

According to the report, tech companies use their platforms—where they share news articles—to collect data on news outlets’ readers. They in turn allow advertisers to use this data to target new outlets’ readers, which results in a decrease in value of the ad space on news websites.

This impact has reached local TV and radio broadcasters as well, according to NAB, putting them at a competitive disadvantage for advertising revenue and impeding their ability to effectively monetize their own content online. It also negatively impacts the ability news broadcasters have to invest in, produce and deliver local news and information.

The Antitrust Subcommittee report was led by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.)

“NAB thanks Chairman Cicilline and the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee for its important investigation into the dominant competitive power of digital technology platforms,” said Gordon Smith, NAB president and CEO. “We applaud the Subcommittee for examining the challenges this presents to local media outlets, including radio and TV broadcasters, as they compete online for advertisers and audiences, and the impact of the future of local journalism. America’s broadcasters are committed to working with the Subcommittee and Congress on bipartisan solutions that level the playing field and preserve local journalism.”

In addition to outlining the ways that tech giants are harming local journalism, the Subcommittee’s report also presents possible legislative action to respond to these problems, something that “would help reset the competitive landscape and restore fairness to the online marketplace,” said Laura Bassett, former senior politics reporter for HuffPost and co-founder of the Save Journalism Project.

Among some of these reforms are the elimination of the platforms’ conflicts of interest, strengthening antitrust laws and interoperability and nondiscrimination rules, said Open Markets Institute’s Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard. “At this turning point for our nation, Congress must act immediately, decisively and with courage,” she said.

The complete House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee report is available online. 

WASHINGTON—When it comes to the current advertising market, local TV and radio stations are at a competitive disadvantage compared to digital technology powerhouses like Google, Facebook and YouTube, according to the NAB.

These comments came from NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith in a filing submitted to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. In addition to a disadvantage, Smith says that these digital powerhouses can impede broadcasters’ ability to effectively monetize their own content online.

Per Smith, TV and radio stations rely on advertising revenue to invest in local journalism, but the new competition for advertising makes it a struggle for broadcasters to offset newsgathering expenses.

“The massive shift in advertising to other platforms has profoundly affected local broadcasters,” said Smith. “Stations in mid-sized and small markets with limited economic bases have been disproportionately impacted because any significant loss of revenue has an outsized effect on their ability to pay the largely fixed costs required to operate and to produce or acquire news and other programming.”

These days, broadcasters need to utilize digital platforms to effectively reach their audiences, but Smith points out that they often have little leverage when dealing with digital tech platforms that control access to content, saying the companies have no incentives to adopt policies or practices that promote the provider of other content, including local news.

Serving as the gatekeepers, digital companies can use ranking algorithms or things of the like to determine what content is provided to users and as a result have a lasting impact on a TV or radio station’s ability to deliver local news and information to community members.

Smith also highlights specific advertising policies that negatively impact broadcasters’ news programming. Establishing minimum content lengths for certain classifications, local journalism is often designated in the general “news” category, which can result in excluding broadcasters from more lucrative advertising options, according to Smith. Local broadcasters also have no ability to negotiate revenue split with online platforms, often accepting less favorable terms.

“Receiving cents on the dollar does not enable TV and radio stations to recover the considerable costs of producing local content in the first place,” Smith argued.

In the comments, NAB expressed support for the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which was introduced in the House by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.). This bill would allow for broadcasters to collectively negotiate with digital platforms regarding the distribution of their content online. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Smith’s full comments are available online. 

NEW YORK—The MLS (Major League Soccer) and Facebook are now friends, as the two sides have announced a partnership that will see all MLS matches during the 2020 season have video recaps created for and played on Facebook Watch. Fans will be able to view the latest highlights from the league on MLS’ Facebook Page.

Another aspect of the partnership will see MLS host a weekly Watch Party on Facebook, where fans from around the world can view game recaps and videos as a community in real time. Official Facebook Groups for select teams will also be created.

“Facebook’s innovative Watch Party experience is the perfect place for Major League Soccer fans around the world to exchange views and share their passion for our clubs and palyers,” said Chris Schlosser, MLS senior vice president, media.

In addition, archival clips from top moments in MLS’ 25-year history and player-centric highlights will be available on Facebook Watch.

Facebook struck a similar deal for highlights of the PGA in January of this year.

The MLS content will be available on Facebook through mobile apps, desktops, laptops and a variety of TV apps.

PONTE VERDA BEACH, Fla.—Facebook is hitting the links, as the PGA Tour has announced that it has come to an agreement for the social media company to distribute daily highlight packages to global users through Facebook Watch.

The PGA Tour will publish daily round recaps and player-specific highlights from more than 30 events on the PGA Tour schedule, including The Players Championship and the FedExCup Playoffs. The content will come from tournament telecasts, as well as from the PGA Tour Live OTT service.

Fans can follow the PGA Tour’s Facebook page to stay up to date with available content, which will be posted at the completion of each tournament round. The Tour will also have interactive elements like Facebook Lives and Facebook Watch Parties through its Facebook Group, The Gallery.

Available content will begin with the Farmers Insurance Open, which takes place starting Jan. 23 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.

The PGA Tour and Facebook had previously partnered to offer live streaming coverage of The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs.

MENLO PARK, Calif.—Facebook is looking to turn the home flat screen television into a video calling center with today’s announcement of Portal TV.

One of three new products in the Portal lineup is Portal TV, a device that sits above or below the home TV to bring smart video calling to the public. Equipped with the AI smarts to pan and zoom as callers move around to make sure they stay in the frame, Portal TV also sports Smart Sound, a feature that enhances the voice of the speaker and minimizes unwanted background sound.

Facebook appears to be sensitive to growing concerns among the public regarding privacy and security. To disable Portal TV’s mic and camera requires a single tap or the slide of a switch. A red light by the camera lens alerts Portal TV owners that the camera and microphone are off. A camera cover that physically blocks the camera lens is built-in for added security. As an added nod to privacy, the device’s AI runs locally, not on Facebook servers, the company said.

If the “Hey Portal” voice activation is enabled, the device will listen for the phrase. When detected a short audio recording and voice interaction transcript are sent to Facebook. There, a trained team may review the sample with the goal of improving the smarts of the device and making voice services more accurate, the company said.

Facebook gives users the chance to view, hear and delete any “Hey Portal” interactions. They also can turn off voice storage, it said.

In addition, Facebook has announced that the Amazon Prime Video app is now available on Portal, allowing for users to stream programming through their Portal device. Apps for Showtime, CBS All Access, Starz, Pluto TV, Red Bull TV and Neverthink are coming soon, the company said.

The other two new Portal products, a redesigned Portal and Portal Mini, have a picture-frame shape—the former with a 10-inch HD screen, and the latter with an 8-inch display. Photos and videos can be displayed in landscape or portrait modes. Brightness and color are adapted to the surroundings, and both have a built-in speaker to listen to music when the devices are not being used for a video call.

The Portal Mini ($129), the redesigned Portal ($179) and Portal TV ($149) are available for pre-order, with a Nov. 5 shipping date. Units will be available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Facebook is offering a $50 discount on a bundle of any two.

More information is available online.

AMSTERDAM—Facebook has announced at a variety of updates and new features for Live, Watch Party and Creator Studio at IBC 2019, which concludes Sept. 17 at the RAI Amsterdam.

In a blog describing the move, Erin Connolly, product manager, and Jeff Birkeland, head of Creator & Publisher Experience, wrote the enhancements are aimed at “creating video experiences that put people at the center” and intend to create ways “for publishers and creators to grow, understand their audiences and build deeper connections with their communities through video.”

Updates to Live include rehearsals, trimming, extended duration, simulcasting via the Live API and global availability of Live on Facebook Lite.

Live now enables publishers to send Live video solely to Page admins and editors to make it easier to test new production setups, interactivity and show formats in a rehearsal, the blog said.

The new live trimming feature does away with the need for a stand-by slate before action begins. The feature allows users to specify when action should begin or clip the last few seconds of a broadcast, it said.

The Live enhancements also allow publishers to extend the duration of their broadcasts to a maximum of eight hours—up from four—when the Live API is used.

Facebook has added scheduling, replay, new metrics, branded content and global availability of Live Commentating to Watch Party.

The new scheduling feature for Watch Party makes it possible to schedule a Watch Party in advance, thus building anticipation. When scheduling a Watch Party, an announcement post is created to allow people to opt-in to being notified when the party begins, the blog said.

Replays allow viewers to watch after the Watch Party has aired. Two new metrics in Creator Studio for Watch Parties—Minutes Viewed and Unique 60s Viewers, which measures how many viewers watched for at least 60 seconds—are available.

The update to Watch Parties also includes a way for Pages to tag business partners in branded content Watch Parties, it said.

Live Commentating makes it possible for a host to go Live within a Watch Party and share commentary as videos play,

Creator Studio now offers new visualization in Loyalty Insights, a new Distribution metric, 13 new languages for automatic captioning as well as the ability to publish and schedule content for Instagram Feed and IGTV.

The new visualization in Loyalty Insights, which will be available in the coming months, allows publishers and creators to understand which videos are driving return viewers to a Page, it said.

A new Distribution metric assigns a score to the performance of each video based on a Page’s historic average of a variety of metrics.

New auto-caption language support includes Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, Italian, Malay, Russian, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese, according to the blog.

Another new feature enables users to schedule Instagram Feed content in Creator Studio up to six months in advance. Facebook also plans to incorporate drafting and editing features for Instagram Feed and IGTV, it said.

The blog post about updates is available online.

MENLO PARK, Calif.—A year after Facebook Watch was launched globally, the social media platform is reporting that the service is averaging 720 million people monthly, with more than 140 million people daily who spend a least one minute in Watch. It’s average time for daily visitors is more than 26 minutes.

Facebook Watch was designed to connect people as they watch videos, and Facebook says that it has introduced and will introduce ways for users to do this. Among some of its latest services is featuring groups centered on specific content appearing alongside videos, allowing for visitors to join conversations with other fans. New developments are also on their way, including ways to discover videos that are popular with friends and a section dedicated to co-watching experiences for shows or live videos.

Facebook is also expanding its ability for content creators, featuring the ability to have ad breaks in videos in more than 40 countries. New additions include Canada and upcoming support for the languages of Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Swedish and Telugu.

New content development is also key, per Facebook. It is partnering with global publishers in entertainment and sports, including Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, the International Cricket Council, Australia’s Seven Studios and sporting leagues, as well as international sources for the News in Watch program.

Then there is the slate of Facebook original programming, with season and series premieres for “The Real World,” “Human Discoveries,” “Ball in the Family,” “The Birch,” “Sorry for Your Loss” and more. Facebook also launched a program in March to connect content creators and digital publishers that have resulted in a number of new shows that will debut in the coming months.

Fremont, CA - November 15, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that its ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K live production switcher and ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel were used as part of the immersive live streaming workflow at the recent Oculus Connect 5, Oculus’ annual virtual reality developer conference.

Headed by Supersphere, an L.A. based immersive content and technology company, the 4K and 12G-SDI virtual reality (VR) workflow also relied on a number of additional Blackmagic Design products, including six Teranex AV standards converters, a Smart Videohub 12G 40x40 router, six HyperDeck Studio 12G broadcast recorders, five DeckLink 4K Pro capture and playback cards and several Teranex Mini Quad SDI to 12G-SDI converters.

“We have been working with Facebook and Oculus for a while as an immersive streaming provider,” said Jason Diamond, partner and technical creative director, Supersphere. “For Oculus Connect 5, there were some unusual requests. We needed to not only stream the all important keynotes for several hours each day, but we also had to stream more than 10 hours of esports tournament finals into Oculus Venues. We have expertise in immersive esports streaming, and used several tools, including the Blackmagic Design suite, to build custom environments in headset to give a richer esports experience for fans all over the world.”

Available inside the Oculus Go and GearVR headsets, the Oculus Venues platform allows users to attend live events in VR with all the sounds, lights and energy of really being there.

“Our technical workflow was a little different for each style of input. For some sources, especially those coming from graphics cards on the gaming computers, we would use a Teranex AV to upconvert from 1920 x 1080 to Ultra HD for inclusion in the overall 4K environment,” explained Diamond. “All sources would eventually feed into the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K at the heart of our system. We used the ATEMs as the control center and as the primary switching environment for any immersive broadcast. We also routed ISOs and the line cut to the HyperDeck Studio 12Gs for recording.”

“For Oculus Connect 5, we pretty much used every feature the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K had in its bag of tricks; advanced chroma keying, Ultra HD multi viewers and built in SuperSource were all core to our workflow. Additionally, esports by nature has a ton of sources, so the ATEM’s 20 inputs came in handy, and we were maxed out on our console at times,” he added. “Meanwhile, the Teranex AV is just an industry workhorse. It’s famous for ‘anything in/anything out,’ and it’s our Swiss Army knife for formats and conversions.”

The majority of the Blackmagic Design gear is housed in two flypacks purposefully designed for live VR, 360º, 180º and 4K streaming and built on a 12G-SDI infrastructure from the ground up. The flypacks are used on a weekly basis, traveling all over the world for events and shows.

“Our overall philosophy when building our racks is to merge new technology with proven technology and workflows. Multi cam, multi geometry immersive streaming is hard. The trick is to blend the new, sometimes very unusual tools with the stock and trade of broadcast,” said Diamond. “By doing that, we are able to hire talented, experienced broadcast professionals and leverage their decades of experience in producing great shows while bringing in enough new technology to allow the immersive elements to shine.”

He concluded, “Our business started encompassing a fair amount of multi cam immersive live streaming, and we needed to build a reliable, robust set of solutions that would let us do that at a professional level for demanding shows and clients. Blackmagic Design provides products at just the right intersection of price, feature set and performance, allowing a growing company to build professional grade solutions for high end projects.”

Press Photography

Product photos of ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, Teranex AV, Smart Videohub 12G 40x40, HyperDeck Studio 12G, DeckLink 4K Pro, Teranex Mini Quad SDI to 12G-SDI and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

WASHINGTON--NAB has announced several new members of its PILOT program, which promotes technology collaboration between broadcasters and educators, advocates and companies.

The new members include AWS Elemental, an Amazon Web Services Company; Facebook Journalism Project; and Xperi. Members of PILOT collaborate with broadcasters to define key areas for development of innovative technologies and services for media companies with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning; augmented and virtual reality; platform engagement; multi-platform measurement; the connected car; and Next Gen TV.

AWS Elemental is an Amazon Web Services company that combines deep video expertise with the power and scale of the cloud to provide nimble, flexible software-based video processing and delivery solutions. With AWS Elemental, customers can harness the elasticity of the cloud when needed, on demand and with pay as you go services.

Facebook Journalism Project (FJP) was created in January 2017 to establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry. FJP works to collaboratively develop new products and provide tools and training for journalists through partnerships and programs with news organizations.

Xperi Corporation creates technology solutions in areas such as premium audio, automotive, broadcast, mobile computing and communications, memory and data storage, among others. Xperi Corporation brands include DTS, FotoNation, HD Radio, Invensas and Tessera.

PILOT members will also participate in NAB technology program development, conventions and networking events. Other PILOT members include Accenture, Avis Budget Group, Frankly, Google, IBM, Lakana, Nielsen, and Oath.

Facebook has announced the international launch of its Watch platform.

The tech giant revealed on a European press call with TVBEurope that it is also rolling out ad breaks as an open program to more countries around the world, starting with the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the US this week.

More countries will be added in September including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Watch was introduced in the US a year ago to give Facebook users a dedicated platform to find their favourite shows and video creators, and to start conversations with friends, other fans, and even creators themselves.

Facebook has been gradually updating the look and feel of Watch to make the experience more social, and making it easier to see which videos friends have liked or shared, creating shows that have audience participation at their core.

With Watch, users can find the latest videos spanning entertainment, sports, news and more all in a personalised Watch feed. At the top of the Watch feed is the Watchlist, a customisable collection of recent videos from pages a user follows. Users can also save videos from a news feed if they don’t have time to watch it right away.

Facebook’s head of video Fidji Simo made it clear that the platform aims to build new video experiences that put people at the centre, giving them the ability to shape the direction of the content and enabling them to find new video experiences in their Watch feed, like Watch Parties.“Facebook Watch is different because it is built on the notion that video doesn’t have to be a passive experience, and can instead connect you with others,” said Simo. “With Watch we have built an interactive experience that gives you a new level of access and influence. You don’t just watch videos on your own, you can have a two-way conversation about the content with friends, other fans or even the creators themselves. You are truly part of the action.”

"With the global rollout of Watch, we're excited to bring a new distribution platform to our partners around the world, and to help eligible creators and publishers make money from their videos with ad breaks," added head of content and strategy Matthew Henick.

More than 50 million people every month in the US view videos for at least a minute in Watch, and total time spent watching videos in Watch has increased by 14x since the start of 2018.

Watch is now available globally on iOS and Android, and can be found in a user’s shortcuts bar or the “More” bookmark. The service is also available on Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One, and Oculus TV.

MENLO PARK, CALIF. & OGDEN, UTAH--Facebook has hired the seven-person team at social media video developer Vidpresso to enhance interactive elements of its Facebook Live streaming service.

Vidpresso is a six-year old based startup in Ogden, Utah that helps broadcasters and businesses deploy video on social media. Broadcasters, including KSL, KTXL, NBC and Univision along with Buzzfeed, Turner Sports, Nasdaq and TED use its Vidpresso:LIVE platform to adds real-time chats, polling and relevant data from Facebook Twitter, and other social media networks during live broadcasts. CBS was among its earliest customers when it used Vidpresso to display social media posts during the 2013 and 2014 Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parades. 

Facebook did not buy the company outright, according to TechCrunch, but did acquire the company's IP and its staff will be joining Facebook at its offices in Menlo Park, Calif., London and Los Angeles. In a blog post, the company said it will be business as usual for the time being.

“We will continue to help creators, publishers, and broadcasters create great live experiences, and focus on what we’re best known for: Enabling world-class interactive streams on Facebook Live,” the company said. “Our customers who currently use the product will continue to be able to do so following our transition to Facebook.”

The company added that joining Facebook will give them “the best opportunity to accelerate our vision and offer a simple way for creators, publishers, and broadcasters to use social media in live video at a high quality level. We've always wanted to build tools for everyone to create interactive live video experiences.

“By joining Facebook we’ll be able to offer our tools to a much broader audience than just our A-list publishing partners,” they added. “Eventually, it’ll allow us to put these tools in the hands of creators, so they can focus on their content, and have it look great, without spending lots of time or money to do so.”

Since it was launched three years ago, Facebook Live has hosted more than 3.5 billion broadcasts an more than 150 billion reactions to Live video.

DALLAS—On the same day that the Emmy Awards announce their nominations for the 2018 season, a new report suggests that an increasing number of viewers are watching “alternative content” on Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and other video websites, and that such habits constitute another of the numerous threats to traditional pay TV.

In its report, “360 Deep Dive: Alternative Content Consumption,” Parks Associates defines “alternative content” as user-generated video, livestreaming, short-form videos and web vide series that are available via social networking, video sharing or similar apps or sites. On average, U.S. broadband households watch two hours of alternative content on a computer each week and nearly one-half of U.S. broadband households watch user-generated content on a monthly basis, with more than 10 percent watching livestreamed content.

[Read: Younger Viewers Gravitating To OTT TV Services: Study]

"Alternative video is an important part of the video landscape, and it competes with other video options for a share of consumer attention," said Brett Sappington, senior director of research, Parks Associates. "Approximately one-half of households with a TV watch video from YouTube and similar sites on their TV set. In fact, more households watch online video from an app such as YouTube than watch video from a TV channel app."

Parks Associates data about alternative content consumption shows that adoption of pay TV declines as the frequency of user-generated content consumption increases. This correlation poses a future threat to pay-TV providers as younger respondents are far more likely to watch user-generated content, which could potentially impact their future pay-TV habits and perspectives according to the research firm.

"Younger consumers are far more likely to create their own content as well as watch user-generated content," Sappington said. "For these viewers, the creation of content is as much a part of the entertainment experience as is watching video. Increasingly, traditional content producers and service providers are leveraging alternative content in order to connect with audiences and draw viewers. Some are partnering with individual web celebrities and influencers who often have a disproportionately large influence on the user-generated side of the alternative content space."

Additional data from the research reveals:

• At present, only 7% of U.S. broadband households watch sporting events via livestream.

• Consumers who view user-generated content are much more likely than those who never watch it to have an OTT service.

• Almost one-quarter of broadband households have posted videos to some type of content site or app within the last 30 days.

• Alternative content compromises more than two hours of online video watched weekly on a computer.

Four researchers at the University of Washington have collaborated with Google and Facebook to turn video into fully interactive holograms.

The team of researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm capable of transforming 2D football clips into 3D reconstructions.

They use video of matches, track the movements of each player individually, and then map the players into 3D models. These 3D models have been extracted from the video and projected as a 3D representation onto a football pitch on a table top - allowing the audience to watch the match without the need of a screen.

Viewers can watch the game from multiple angles and the 3D replay will also be available a few minutes after the match ends.

“Our goal is to enhance the viewing experience of sports,” Konstantinos Rematas, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “Instead of watching a soccer game or highlights on a flat 2D screen, we convert the original video into 3D and visualise it in augmented reality. Essentially the game becomes a hologram, where you can move around and look from different viewpoints, generating a more immersive experience.”

“The next steps are about increasing the quality of the game reconstruction,” Rematas continued. “In particular, we want to estimate precisely the location of the ball and reconstruct better the players — occlusions, full 3D shape estimation, [and more].”

You can read the researchers' paper here.

Facebook has begun trials of new video compression technology AV1.

The social networking site said in a blog post that the trial “allows engineers and the general public to view sample AV1 content today.”

Facebook is testing delivering AV1-encoded video over MPEG-DASH on Chrome Canary, an experimental version of the Chrome browser.

The initial trial is using an earlier version of AV1, but Facebook said it plans to switch to the official AV1 release version once major web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox have implemented the new codec.

Facebook also said AV1 has some caveats, as it requires longer encoding times than current alternatives because of the increased complexity.

To help to overcome the slow performance of the AV1 encoder, Facebook is using a “segment-based encoding approach” that splits the video into smaller segment files.

“In the context of distributed video encoding and processing, per-segment tasks are executed in parallel for every video segment of a given input video so that it allows us to speed up the overall AV1 encoding almost linearly with the number of tasks allocated to the encoding cluster,” Facebook engineers Daniel Baulig and Yu Liu said.

 Visit our NAB Show social hub at www.tvtechnology.com/social and stay up to date with show news. To join the conversation, use Twitter hashtags #myNAB2018 and #NABShow, or email your links to tvtech@nbmedia.com.  

PHILADELPHIA--Facebook took the field to exclusively live stream on Wednesday afternoon's New York Mets-Philadelphia Phillies baseball game, part of the social media company’s new streaming agreement with Major League baseball announced last month.

Both Facebook and the league are hoping the live streaming package will entice younger viewers to tune into the game as well as baseball fans who might look to sneak in an inning or two on their work computers.

More importantly for the TV sports business, the agreement marks the first time one of the four major sports leagues has provided a digital service with exclusive rights to stream live, regular season games. National and regional sports networks will be shut out of telecasting Facebook’s 25 weekly afternoon baseball games.

[Read: Facebook, MLB Play Ball On Weekly Broadcast Of Games]

“I do think it’s a watershed moment for the fact that the rights were even granted – it’s a huge testament of the importance of mobile/social viewing for the sports fans and sports enthusiasts,” said Tania Yuki, CEO and founder of social media research company Shareablee. “I think for a long time the sports industry has been conservative with streaming viewing, and this is just a sign of things to come with content being more available – its all about breaking down barriers.”

Facebook, Twitter--which debuts its MLB live game streaming package on April 5-- and other digital companies have become very aggressive in going after live sports rights, and are expected to be major players when major sports TV rights come up in the next few years. Facebook and Amazon have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring rights to the WWE’sRaw and SmackDown when those rights come up in 2019, and could be players for UFC content when Fox Sports’ TV rights agreement with the mixed martial arts company expires later this year.

As for Facebook’s MLB package, Yuki says the metrics revolving around how many viewers are watching the game will go a long way toward determining whether the exclusive package hits a home run for Facebook and the league.

“The proof is going to be in the pudding in terms of how many people are going to tune in live,” Yuki said. “[Streaming services] have always been really great in aggregating viewer attention over time, but the next step will be making sure that they can bring those audiences together specifically when the games are happening. Certainly the audience and the interest are there." 

This article originally appeared in TV Technology sister publication, Multichannel News.

NEW YORK--With giants such as Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft in its corner, the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) has released the 1.0 version of AV1, a next-gen, royalty-free codec that claims to have a 30 percent bit-rate efficiency edge over current-gen technologies like VP9 and HEVC.

The consortium is releasing AV1 in the hopes that it will deliver improved bandwidth efficiencies amid the move to video formats with more pixels (like 4K and 8K), better pixels (High Dynamic Range and Wide Color Gamut), as well as the emergence of 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) apps and services that need to be smooth and are poised to ratchet up bit rate requirements on TV screens, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Though AV1, which is also claimed to have a 65% bandwidth savings over AVC/H.264, could eventually find itself a home inside set-top boxes and, perhaps even further out broadcast TV signals, it’s expected to initially find adoption on web browsers and other types of OTT streaming devices.

Though AV1, which is also claimed to have a 65% bandwidth savings over AVC/H.264, could eventually find itself a home inside set-top boxes and, perhaps even further out broadcast TV signals, it’s expected to initially find adoption on web browsers and other types of OTT streaming devices.

“Video is changing the way the internet is evolving,” Gabe Frost, the executive director and a founding board member of AOMedia and a principal engineering manager for Microsoft’s operating systems group, said in an interview.

Another chief aim for AV1 and its royalty-free model is to eliminate some of the pricing uncertainty that has enveloped codecs like HEVC, which has been saddled by multiple patent pools and little in the way of uniformity on rates.

The current codec market is “gummed up” due to the cost uncertainty, Frost said, and has likewise caused friction between technology innovators that those that want to charge for patented technologies that can help them.

AOMedia, launched in 2015, was formed with the core idea that the underlying video codec technology had become a commodity, and that a royalty-free model represented the best path forward.

“We all use it; it all gets baked into silicon,” Frost said.

The plan with AV1 then focused on how a new approach, despite being royalty-free, could still “create a viable business model to move the industry forward, with some certainty around the costs of producing these codecs,” he explained.

[Read: Report: HEVC Poised To Become Codec Of Choice]

While that idea was spawned by early meetings with Microsoft and Google, it later expanded to include several other in the ecosystem, including chipmakers, distributors, web services companies and video equipment makers that would be willing to provide their intellectual property under the royalty-free model.

Examples of founding members of AOMedia include Amazon, Apple, ARM, Cisco Systems, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix and Nvidia. Promoter members include Adobe, CableLabs, Bitmovin, Hulu, Vidyo, and Broadcom, among others.

Frost said every member company of AOMedia signs an agreement that licenses the essential technology that’s used in the final AV1 codec on a royalty-free basis. And those that implement it likewise sign a cross-patent license agreement that says they’re free to use AV1 at no cost, but that if they hold any essential patents, those are licensed to other AOMedia members on a royalty-free basis.

“We wanted to make sure we had a licensing infrastructure set up where we could create a durable, royalty-free ecosystem,” Frost said, noting that companies with patents used for codecs such as HEVC and H.264 are free to license those same patents under other terms, such as those that are governed by AV1.

The hope is that the model will accelerate the adoption cycle of VC1 and spark advancements across software, silicon, devices and connectivity and push the market forward for all stakeholders.

“Royalty-free doesn’t mean that people aren’t making money off the technology,” Frost said.

[Read: ITU, ISO Prepare For Next-Gen Video Codec]

As for near-term expectations, Frost said desktop browsers will start to support AV1 later this year, and see it start to show up on devices such as gaming consoles towards the end of 2018 or into 2019.

In a presentation about the release, AOMedia noted that AV1 would be “coming to a screen near you,” with examples that included Twitch, Facebook, Android, Amazon Prime Video, Chromebook, Chrome, Google Play, Netflix, Windows, Xbox One, Daydream (Google’s VR platform), Skype, and YouTube.

“It will be 2020 when we see it available on all new silicon that comes out,” Frost predicted.

Michelle Abraham, senior analyst, media and communications at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the buy-in among a wide number of companies and players gives AV1 a “good opportunity” to make waves in the video codec market.

She sees its greatest opportunity coming from video streaming and OTT, but doesn’t expect to see it widely used by broadcasters, who typically go with technologies that are tied to international standards bodies.

There’s also a question about whether the latency requirements of broadcasters will be suited to AV1, at least in its initial release.

AV1 will be getting some play at next month’s NAB show in Las Vegas, including demos on April 10 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the South Upper Hall Destination NXT Stage.

A panel is also slated for April 11 starting at 3:20 p.m. at the North Hall (N257) that will feature Microsoft’s Gabe Frost, Google’s Matt Frost, Intel’s Zach Hamm, Bitmovin’s Stefan Lederer, Microsoft’s David Rudin, and Netflix’s Mark Watson.

This article originally appeared in TV Technology sister publication, Multichannel News

NEW YORK—Baseball season is almost here, and with it comes the traditions we all know and love; the smell of fresh cut crass, the crack of the bat, and a weekly game available on Facebook. The latter is a new addition to the 2018 baseball season, as MLB and Facebook are expanding the partnership they began in 2017 that will now see Facebook produce and broadcast a weekly game—25 in total—that will exclusively be distributed on Facebook Watch in the U.S. via the MLB Live show page.

The weekly afternoon games will be produced by MLB Network’s production team for Facebook Watch and will be available across supported devices, including mobile phones and connected televisions. MLB Network is planning to showcase new in-game production elements designed for watching, sharing and interacting on Facebook.

Specially curated content that goes along with each game broadcast will be produced and distributed by MLB, including on-demand highlight packages for all regular season games and club-specific weekly recap packages for all 30 teams. These will also be available on Facebook.

[Intel, MLB Close Three-Year Deal for VR Experiences]

Details on broadcast talent and social integrations will be announced at a later date.

The premiere of the weekly broadcast will be on April 4 with a matchup of the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets at 1:10 p.m. ET. The complete schedule for April has already been announced and is as follows: Milwaukee Brewers vs. St. Louis Cardinals, April 11 at 1:15 p.m.; Kansas City Royals vs. Toronto Blue Jays, April 18 at 4:07 p.m.; and Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies, April 26 at 1:05 p.m. Each additional monthly broadcast schedule will be announced during the season.

Fans can add games to their Watchlists by following the MLB Live show page.

BURBANK, CALIF.—Before the first envelope is handed out at the Oscars this year—hopefully the correct one this time—fans can watch the stars arrive on the red carpet on Facebook. For the second year in a row, “The Oscars: All Access” will be live streamed by Facebook, with the content available on The Academy’s show page on Facebook Watch, The ABC Television Network Facebook page, Oscar.com and ABCNews.com.

The show is produced by the Academy and ABC, and with the live stream from Facebook it will offer viewers red carpet, backstage and audience footage, as well as live “look-ins” on the Oscar telecast. Additional features for those watching the live stream may include a digital autograph from stars on the red carpet; viewers can engage in conversation on the Oscars Movie Club page on Facebook; and the Academy show page on Facebook Watch will share special “The Oscars Insider” content leading up to the ceremony.

[Facebook to Live Stream Golden Globes Red Carpet]

“The Oscars: All Access” will be hosted by Sofia Carson, Chris Connelly, Ben Lyons, Andan Kirk and Wesam Keesh. The live stream will begin at 6:30 p.m ET on Sunday, March 4.

The 2017 live stream of “The Oscars: All Access” won an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within an Unscripted Program.

The 90th Academy Awards will air on ABC at 8 p.m. ET on March 4.

NEW YORK—Instagram has taken over from Facebook as the top social media platform for TV engagement. According to ListenFirst's “State of Social TV” report, in 2017, Instagram overtook Facebook in engagement for the first time as organic reach of media posts on Facebook declined 40 percent and social-branded content outperformed all other TV posts by 42 percent.

"The growth of TV social audiences presented a new advertising opportunity in the form of branded content. So, naturally, Facebook's recent announcement about changes to its News Feed has put a lot of media companies on edge," said Jason Klein, co-founder and co-CEO, ListenFirst. 

"The unique insights in this report can help media companies better prepare for the Facebook changes to come, and also presents advertisers with a compelling reason for continuing to partner with media companies on social branded content.

Key points from the report include:

· Decline in Facebook organic reach does not mean less people see content from media properties: While Facebook organic reach declined by 40 percent in 2017, the number of people who saw a TV post organically declined by only 13 percent, meaning TV posts reached audiences beyond a TV page's fan base

· Instagram surpassed Facebook as the number one most engaging platform: Instagram grew 41 percent in engagement in 2017 while Facebook engagement declined by 25 percent

· Instagram's fan footprint across TV pages grew 11x from 2014 to 2017 topping 256 million followers, nearing Twitter's 283 million users

· Social engagement for streaming programs grew 13x from 2016-2017, while broadcast and cable programs grew by 6x and 5x, respectively, during the same period

· Social branded content published by TV pages outperformed non-branded content by an average 42 percent in 2017 and generated 9x more engagement than what an advertiser generated on its own page

This story first appeared on TV Technology's sister publication TVB Europe. 

SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—Facebook and the Golden Globes are now friends, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and dick clark productions have announced a new partnership with the social media website to serve as the exclusive live streaming platform for the official red carpet pre-show for the 75th Golden Globe Awards. The partnership will also include exclusive red carpet and backstage content on Facebook and Instagram.

“The HFPA Presents: Globes Red Carpet Live” will be a two-hour pre-show that features interviews with nominees and celebrities. Facebook 360 videos will also be captured and shared on the Golden Globes Facebook page. The pre-show will stream from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET and will be hosted by AJ Gibson, Jeannie Mai, Scott Mantz and Laura Marano. The Instagram Story will be hosted by Marano as well.

Exclusive video and photo content from backstage will be capture through the Instagram immersive studio experience shot by photographer Ramona Rosales and will be posted in real time. The HFPA will also incorporate a community driven Q&A into the backstage press room, where select questions will be sourced via Facebook and live streamed on the Golden Globes Facebook page.

The 75th Golden Globe Awards will take place live on Jan. 7 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET with host Seth Meyers.

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook has scored NFL content, as the two have announced a multi-year deal that will see NFL videos and other content by available to fans through the Facebook Watch platform. The NFL will create game recaps and official highlights from all 256 regular season games, followed by streamed recaps and highlights of the playoffs and Super Bowl.

To find out more, read the full story on TVT’s sister publication B&C.

AMSTERDAM—Facebook product director Daniel Danker, who delivered an opening keynote address at IBC yesterday, said that video was “exploding” on Facebook, with video content making up 50 percent of all the company’s mobile data traffic. “We expect it to grow to 75 percent in the next five years,” said Danker.

Facebook launched original video platform Watch two weeks ago in the U.S., enabling users to find serialized content on the platform, with Danker describing how the social network has been working with publishers to produce content for the platform.

“Watch also allows publishers to create groups that connect them with their audience, enabling them to engage with their community between episodes—particularly through the comments section.”

Danker said that genres such as reality TV, live sports and comedy are going to be significant.

He also listed some of the experimental new content that Facebook was trailing on the platform, including; “Humans of New York,” a weekly series based on a photo-blog by Brandon Stanton; a behind-the-scenes series “Hala Madrid” about Spanish football team Real Madrid; and “Returning the Favor”—a series based on ordinary Americans who do good work.

“Any producer can find a loyal audience on Watch,” said Danker. “Shows are presented to users based on their interests, so it’s personalized, with users given the chance to connect with shows their friends are watching. Plus there’s a watch list so you don’t miss anything.”

Danker confirmed that Facebook is to expand the Watch platform to international territories, allowing more broadcasters “to discover communities of passionate fans”.

“It’s a new platform, which allows broadcasters to make something bespoke for the Facebook audience,” he added.

Facebook has been trialling 6-7 minute videos on the platform, and the platform has hosted live sports such as Major League Baseball.

“It’s interesting to see the reaction—and how a community is built around live sports. We are seeding the ecosystem with commissioned content from publishers to see what works.”

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication TVB Europe. 

NEW YORK—Facebook and YouTube views will become an official measuring source for Nielsen Digital Content Ratings, per a new press release. TV and digital publishers will now receive credit for video content distributed on Facebook, YouTube and Hulu with their reported audience numbers.

For enabled publisher clients, videos distributed on Facebook and YouTube will receive credit in Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings. Hulu, meanwhile, will provide select media partners with credit for current series content distributed on the platform. Data evaluation is set to begin this month.

“Through capturing this audience, Nielsen is providing publishers, agencies and advertisers with a better picture of today’s media consumption, with comparable metrics,” said Megan Clarken, president of product leadership at Nielsen, in the official release.

Nielsen will provide content owners and distributors with the same visibility to data for all distributed video content.

NEW YORK--I attended a conference on sports broadcasting late last year. One particular session caught my attention. “How Social Video Will Change the Way You Create Content” brought together leaders from across sports, all whose companies’ names began with the letter N: NBA, NBC Sports Group, New York Giants, and NASCAR.

Alliteration notwithstanding, the session was a high-level clinic on producing content for social media, in particular Facebook Live. The discussion ranged across what makes compelling social video, how to attract and grow an audience on social media, and how to make videos appear “genuine.” It was clear these entities have spent considerable time and effort to reach for the pinnacle of social video success—viral videos that set them apart from the crowd and reach large audiences.

The talented panel taught me much, but as I left the room, several questions occurred to me. I think these point to some gaps in the way we are thinking about video for social media:

1) What do we mean when we say ‘social video?’

There seems to be a generally accepted belief that almost any video delivered via a social platform is, by default, “social.” That implies we can simply take the traditional one-way TV model and apply it to this new delivery platform. Content might be editorially tweaked to make it feel more authentic to the social media generation, but the approach to social is fundamentally familiar.

Doesn’t that miss the point of “social” media? Webster defines “social” as “likely to seek or enjoy the company of others.” To my mind that suggests that social video should be a bidirectional experience that directly involves the audience’s actual voice within the program. Content providers intuitively acknowledge this when they encourage audiences to participate in chat around the content.

When posts and texts appear as graphics in a program, it is recognition of the need to involve the audience, but there is still distance between the content and the audience.

2) Okay, but why does an organization want to create social video in the first place?

When I ask this question, I receive fairly stock answers. For the sports folks in the session, social video focuses on fan engagement, letting audience members feel they are getting a look behind the scenes and insider knowledge that proves they are plugged in.

But pushed to explain in terms of tangible value, the responses can be compelling, but not particularly concrete. One hears about numbers of people who “like” or “share” the material or maybe some statistics on dwell time and millions of views. Some producers respond that expanding their social presence and gaining “followers” builds a novel “two way” relationship with the audience that can be used to test new concepts and receive almost instant feedback on ideas. I question whether that is enough of a return to sustain the investment in these operations long-term. That leads me to my third question:

3) Can all the effort going into social video reap a monetary reward?

Monetization was not discussed at the session. I suspect few of the panelists worry about direct reward. If more people watch the game, that’s a meaningful benefit for an organization where audience size correlates with revenue. This leads me to assume that their social video operations are funded by the promotional budget.

As entertainment companies and content creators, it surprises me that they willingly forgo the opportunity to profit from their product. The challenge is to figure out what such monetization might look like. Facebook already puts ads alongside content on its platform and some fortunate content creators do get paid for their contributions, but there are indications that this may be at an end. Twitter has announced revenue splits, and we may see this from other social media platforms, but this approach requires a pre-roll, which may impact views on what is intended to be viral video.

Could we attach embedded sponsorship to viral content? It’s all a bit squishy at the moment. Facebook, for example, has new rules for identifying third party sponsored content on Live. This should not discourage anyone. We’re just at the beginning of seeing how this opportunity might work.

Posting something to really ‘Like’

Most of what is termed social video by the industry retains the legacy of the impermeable wall between the viewer and the program. The model is that of a one-way medium, but today’s audience craves two-way interaction. We can now poke holes in that barrier, invite the audience into the program and let them share their experiences and points of view. That’s social.

We are starting to see this. Last year Jimmy Kimmel’s Wall of America put live video callers on national television. Major League Baseball’s Chatting Cage invites sports fans to click a button and join conversations with their sports heroes. The Tea, on Wet Paint, is an ongoing daily twenty-minute gossip show airing on Facebook Live that invites callers to join the discussion (disclosure: The Tea is powered by technology from the Video Call Center of which I am CEO). 

There is great experimentation underway. A new form of television is being born as creators break away from traditional one-way content, expand the conversation with their audience, create organic benefits for their team or channel, and pursue financial return on their contributions.

I cannot wait to attend next year’s conference!

Larry Thaler is the President of Positive Flux, a consulting firm that specializes in helping media companies take advantage of the rapid changes occurring in the industry. He can be reached via TV Technology.

WOODLAND HILLS and MALIBU, CALIF.—The radio frequency folks at Facebook say they’ve achieved a data rate of 20 Gbps over millimeter-wave technology at a distance of more than eight miles. According to Abhishek Tiwari of Facebook Connectivity Labs, the RF team recently hit the 20 Gbps mark over 2 GHz of bandwidth using “custom-built components” and 105 watts of DC power total at the transmitter and receiver.

“To put this in perspective, our demonstrated capacity is enough data to stream almost 1,000 ultra-high-definition videos at the same time,” Tiwari wrote in a Facebook Engineering Blog entry posted Thursday.

MMW technology, designed for use in the extremely high frequency range of 30 to 300 GHz, is the next frontier of broadband and cellular networks. (See, “FCC Opens Higher Frequencies to Phone Companies,” July 14, 2016.) FB is experimenting with millimeter-wave technology “to provide connectivity in areas without traditional infrastructure and reliable power sources,” Tiwari said.

The 20 Gbps data rate was achieved over a millimeter-wave (MMW) link between the rooftop of FB’s lab in Woodland Hills to a Malibu mountaintop 8.2 line-of-sight miles (13.2 kilometers) away. Each location was equipped with E-band gear supporting data rates from 100 Mbps to 3 Gbps, depending on weather conditions.

System equipment included balanced mixers, frequency multipliers, isolators; custom-built amplifiers with “10 times the transmit power” of an E-band commercial-off-the-shelf amplifier, as well as custom-made polarizers, transducers and RF components said to “have more than twice the bandwidth of available off-the-shelf RF communications systems.”

In an effort to keep power consumption in check, the team developed “post-amplification spectrum multiplexing,” using many, smaller, more efficient amplifiers versus one large, low-efficiency version. A two-foot parabolic antenna was used at the transmit end and a four-footer was used at the receive site. The 3 dB beam width of the four-footer was around 0.2 degrees, requiring accuracy within 0.07 degrees to achieve 20 Gbps.

“This is equivalent to a baseball pitcher aiming for a strike zone smaller than the size of a quarter,” Tiwari said.

Calibration was done using the sun, yielding an algorithm that will support installations around the world. Conical scanning was further employed for high-precision aiming.

Ultimately, FB intends to use MMW links to connect a fleet of solar-powered drones designed to provide broadband coverage over a “60-mile-wide area on the ground,” at data rates up more than 30 Gbps.

The proposition requires overcoming significant technological challenges, Tiwari said. Among them, the inverse power-efficiency ratio of MMW amplifiers, the nonaerodynamic nature of parabolic antennas and atmospheric moisture.

“Specifically, rain and humidity could result in very high attenuation for terrestrial MMW links and could severely compromise their availability,” he said.

FB is currently flight-testing it first-generation air-to-ground 20 Gbps link on a Cessna flying at up to 20,000 feet. The next generation of FB’s MMW link will support 40 Gbps and is on deck for flight-testing in early 2017.


Also see…
Nov. 7, 2016
“Millimeter Waves Travel More Than 10 Kilometers in Rural Virginia 5G Experiment”
The team detected millimeter waves at distances up to 10.8 kilometers at 14 spots that were within line of sight of the transmitter, and recorded them up to 10.6 kilometers away at 17 places where their receiver was shielded behind a hill or leafy grove. 

March 22, 2016
“Google Approved for Millimeter Wave Testing Across U.S.”
As of March 17, the FCC has granted permission to Google to perform airborne and terrestrial millimeter wave testing throughout the U.S.

Nov. 24, 2014
“Millimeter Wavelength Radios, Advanced Laser Technology Provide Gigabit/second Links”
A new technology developed by AOptix… combines a millimeter wave radio and infrared laser. The two devices are mounted on a tower or building in a box roughly the size of a coffee table and provide data rates up to 2 Gbps over distances up to 10 km, even in fog and rain. 

Oct. 20, 2014
“Samsung Unveils Plans for 4.6 Gbps Wi-Fi”
Samsung says it has developed commercially viable 60 GHz millimeter-wave band Wi-Fi technology using the 802.11ad standard that enables data transmission speeds up to 4.6 Gbps.

LONDON—Back in April, Twitter secured the $10 million rights to broadcast ten Thursday night NFL games online, free of charge. What made the move so ground-breaking was the ease in which a non-sports platform suddenly snapped up the rights to air the biggest sport in the U.S. Bearing in mind, of course, that the pinnacle of the social media company’s sporting content prior to this was Boring James Milner and the occasional rant from Piers Morgan. Publicity stunt, or statement of intent?

Fellow social media giant Facebook launched Live in August last year, initially limited to celebrities and other verified Facebook users, such as journalists. By Christmas, however, it had rolled out the feature to the general public. Usage has been gathering pace ever since, and, considering its interest in purchasing the NFL rights before Twitter swooped, it appears its video content is going only one way: traditional broadcast.

But where has this sudden interest come from? When did the crosshairs begin to focus on video?

Gareth Capon, CEO of Grabyo, announced as an official live streaming partner of Facebook at the F8 Conference in April, explains: “(With Live) Facebook have found that they’re generating more engagement, interactivity and sharing that they have with other formats. They’ve doubled down their efforts on providing the capabilities for partners to go live stream into Facebook to create new audiences and new engagement and utilize the vast audience on that platform to be able to distribute the content very quickly to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.”

FOOTBALL RIGHTS: WORTH EVERY PENNY?

The war for Premier League coverage rages on, and, despite jumping from £2.79 million per game in 1997 to a whopping £11.07 million per game for the upcoming 2016-17 season, the rising price tag shows no signs of slowing.

Despite this, Google secured a deal with BT in May to broadcast the 2016 Europa League and Champions League finals free via YouTube.

The digital giant has previously shown no signs of wishing to partake in the live sports market, but this move suggests a change in strategy.

However, speaking at the DTG Summit in May, Stephen Nuttall, senior director of EMEA for YouTube, moved to quash the idea of competing in the sports market, stating, “We are not a buyer of rights. We are very good at distributing content to the largest possible audience. We are a technology company, we do a great job of creating tools that broadcasters can use to tell their stories to largest possible engaged audience. That is what I expect we will continue to focus on. Our whole model is about partnering with people to allow them to make the greatest possible success out of their content.”

Regardless of YouTube’s stance on competing directly, it does pose the question; if Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can generate the same kind of audiences on their platforms as any pay-TV channel (and they can), why bother investing in much more expensive television broadcasts?

Securing global rights and monetization, it would seem, are two stumbling blocks.

Capon adds, “The challenge is that it needs to be new, bespoke, rights unrestricted content. The content goes out and it’s available for free. There are no very clear monetization models around this yet, other than tagging branded videos.

Such deals, then, may be mere experiment: probes to gauge popularity with viewers.

Capon explains, “It’s such an interesting way of sharing live feeds. It’s promoted quite heavily within the Facebook newsfeed, so the opportunity for you to see that is quite high. The chance of you joining the stream is greater; that’s what’s different and what is not even possible in the traditional OTT or TV environment.

EURO 2016: THE LAST TV-EXCLUSIVE?

With such large sporting events hitting the small screen in 2016, it appears likely that the recent European Championships in France will be the last major international football tournament to air exclusively on television.

Dror Ginzberg, co-founder and CEO of Wochit, says, “Despite BT Sport paying a record £897 million for Champions League and Europa League TV rights, it made the unprecedented move to partner with YouTube to air both finals for free.

“Combining traditional TV with online platforms will give UEFA and FIFA, the powerbrokers of football, an unprecedented opportunity to earn much more revenue from rights selling, while also opening the door to a host of new commercial opportunities. It is really now only a matter of time until we see future European Championships and World Cups online.”

All it all, it’s safe to say that the digital revolution has left TV fragmented, and rights deals in a tangled mess. In the long term, however, viewers have the power. If Facebook continues to host billions of users on a day-to-day basis, then it’s surely only a matter of time before mainstream content, whether in rivalry or collaboration, begins to filter through onto social media.

With such varied expert views and hypothetical scenarios, it would appear we can arrive only at that frustrating, age-old conclusion: time will tell. One thing is certain: as long as these emerging platforms have a say on the matter, Sky is most certainly not the limit.

This story first appeared on TV Technology's sister publication TVB Europe. 

STAMFORD, CONN.—Facebook and Instagram won’t be competing for medals, but they are getting in on the Olympics action as NBC Olympics has announced a partnership with the social media sites to provide unique content to fans. This will be the third straight Olympics that NBC has utilized Facebook, but the first to include the Facebook-owned Instagram.

NBC Olympics and Facebook will create a “Social Command Center” in Rio. The Command Center will capture Facebook Live content, including interviews with athletes and NBC Olympic commentators. Short-form videos will also be published on both Facebook and Instagram, including highlights and interviews. Tune-in information will also be provided to make viewers aware of events on NBC’s TV coverage.

Another feature of the partnership includes a daily recap video for U.S. Facebook users. A slow-motion video will also be published on Instagram daily, as well as share highlights and video through Instagram’s Search & Explore video channels.

NBC Olympics plans to incorporate Facebook and Instagram posts from many athletes, celebrities and news makers in its coverage. This will include Ryan Seacrest highlighting buzzed about content from the two platforms on his late night show each night.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro and go from Aug. 5-21. 

Read more about how broadcasters are covering the Rio Games at our Live@TheRioOlympics social media hub.

ARLINGTON, VA.—The Consumer Technology Association has announced that Facebook and Twitter are its latest members. The two companies join other social media, app and service providers in the trade association that seeks to represent the entirety of the consumer technology industry.

In addition, Facebook will join CTA’s Disruptive Innovation Council, which engages policymakers and the public on the benefits that companies bring to the marketplace. The council is made up of Airbnb, Boingo, DJI, Expedia, Google, GoPro, Lyft, MC10, Nest, Pandora, TripAdvisor, Uber, WebMD and Yelp.

CTA, which reports to have more than 2,200 members, says it provides services, networking opportunities, research and other benefits to support the growth of the industry and advocates for pro-innovation public policies. It is based in Arlington, Va.

HACKENSACK, N.J.—Facebook recently launched its Facebook Live API, which allows for live streaming of video content to the social media site’s users. Huffington Post is using this new feature to deliver HD content and is leveraging LiveU’s Solo technology to do so.

The “plug and play” technology is a live stream bonding system that can connect automatically to Facebook to deliver high-quality broadcast streams. Solo uses LiveU Reliable Transport protocol’s integral adaptive bitrate and forward error correction technology. The system can be controlled remotely through a web interface or smartphone. In addition to Facebook, LiveU Solo can connect directly to other CDNs and OVPs, including YouTube Live.

According to the press release, Huffington post has used the LiveU Solo system to stream footage of the primary campaigns, interviews, and post TV show chats.

LOS ANGELES—Fox Sports is launching a new talk show shot entirely on iPhones and iPads and simultaneously live streamed on four platforms—Facebook, Periscope, YouTube and Fox Sports Go.

Fox Sports said the endeavor was believed to be the first-of-its-kind “quadcast.” The program, entitled “Outkick the Show,” is hosted by Fox Sports College Football Insider Clay Travis and is being live streamed Monday-Friday at noon Eastern.

“Outkick the Show” is an extension of Travis’ blog, “Outkick the Coverage.” The new program features Travis giving his take on the headlines of the day in sports and pop culture, interviewing guests, and answering real-time questions from fans on Facebook and Periscope. One of Travis’ earliest guests was SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, with whom he discussed Sankey’s first job and his thoughts on the SEC this season.

“Outkick the Show” is live streamed using three iPhone 6s and an iPad Mini affixed to a specially modified tripod, which allows Travis to operate the technology by himself.

The design allows Travis to travel with the technology and live stream the show virtually anytime and anyplace. Plans call for Travis to take “Outkick the Show” on the road to several major sporting events in the coming year.

Travis said that rather than doing a live radio show, the quadcast and live stream scheme gives him much greater freedom.

“At one point, you needed a physical radio station with a large antenna to speak to the masses,“ he said. ”Now you don’t. All I need to reach the masses is a Wi-Fi signal. Basically I want to make consuming ‘Outkick the Show’ as fun and easy as possible. And I think this is the answer. If you have a Wi-Fi connection or a phone, you'll have access to ‘Outkick the Show.’”

The concept was a result of a brainstorm between Travis and Fox Sports Digital executives, who wanted to capitalize on the growing influence of live streaming apps like Periscope, as well as the ubiquity of social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to distribute and promote the show.

Fox Sports has been experimenting with social media and streaming apps, most recently using Periscope to stream the NFL Draft in April. (See “Fox Sports to Use Periscope for NFL Draft Coverage.”)

“Outkick the Show” will also be available to all users of Fox Sports Go and will not require a pay-TV subscription.

Travis, a former lawyer, started “Outkick the Coverage” in 2011 as an SEC-centric news and opinion blog. He manages the content and also makes regular appearances on Fox Sports’ college football studio programming and FS1’s signature program Fox Sports Live.

The podcast of the show reached No. 1 on iTunes in Sports & Recreation a day after it launched in 2013, Fox Sports said.

MENLO PARK, CALIF.—‘Star Wars’ fans can now have the ability to get closer to that galaxy far, far away than ever before thanks to a new virtual reality video that was released on Facebook last week. Part of the new 360 Video feature on Facebook, the ‘Star Wars’ video allows viewers to get a 360 degree view of the planet Jakku, which will be featured in the upcoming ‘Star Wars Episode VII,’ as they speed through the wreckage of a Star Destroyer with just the touch of their finger or cursor.

Currently Facebook 360 videos are only available on PCs and Android devices, but Facebook intends to release them on iOS devices in the coming months.

To experience the ‘Star Wars’ virtual reality video for yourself, click here.

Tom Butts,

Editor-in-Chief

tbutts@nbmedia.com
Most broadcasters who are integrating more social media into their programming—both on-air and online—are doing so in managed and measured ways that emphasize relevancy and effectiveness. In other words, before taking the plunge, TV stations are trying to determine what is “just enough” or “too much,” as well as formulating specific plans when engaging with their audiences through services such as Facebook, Twitter and similar popular networks.

This is the conclusion of last month’s report from the Radio Television Digital News Association, in which the organization partnered with Hofstra University to survey about 150 TV news directors about the growing use of social media in broadcasts. The annual survey showed that stations are developing specific plans for dealing with social media, including setting up schedules for staffers to post (with a de-emphasis on automation and emphasizing more targeted efforts), and hiring new staffers focused solely on social media. A common element however, is that most are moving forward with specific goals in mind. Some stations are more interested in engaging with their audience through online “conversations” while others are using social networks to provide a behind-the-scenes look at their facilities. Twitter seemed to be the most popular social media network, although Facebook also rated high.

TBS staff members work on social media postings.
Sports networks are also measuring the effectiveness of their social media efforts. ESPN is well known for its active engagement with its audience via social networks but regional sports networks are also getting better connected with their viewers as well. As Mark Smith reports on our p. 1 story on social networking in sports programming, network directors are trying to strike a balance between knowing when and where to integrate it into their schedules. Some are incorporating it into all of their programming while others reserve it for special events. “There’s a fine line between using it to enhance your broadcast and overdoing it,” said one RSN producer.

The same RTDNA survey also asked stations about their mobile efforts and found that, unexpectedly, stations have slightly pulled back on their mobile efforts than in the previous annual survey. Last year, more respondents were focused on developing strategies while this year, the emphasis was on execution. Weather and mobile news streaming apps were the most popular services cited in the survey.

As the RTDNA survey illustrateS, broadcasters are not standing still when it comes to using social media and mobile apps. But unlike their online counterparts who often burn out too quickly, they’re planning ahead, and using their expertise in programming and demographics to more fully engage with their viewers.

BALTIMORE—Too much? Not enough? Or just right?

Those seem to be the key questions concerning the proper use of social media, not just by the public, but by sports networks during sporting events and other programming. Some employ it so often that they also air actual programs dedicated to the day’s posts and comments; others pick-and-choose moments, programs and moments in programs when it’s time to go social.

So, the approaches by the various sports nets can be… well, varied, just as there are a variety of companies that provide software for distribution and aggregation to the market.

DRIVING TRAFFIC

Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia has a partnership with Oracle, and thus employs its Social Relationship Management product. “We use information we glean from the software to digest the analytics created by posts and traffic on our web site,” said Todd Berman, senior director of digital media for the regional sports network. Additionally, the RSN uses Hootsuite “to monitor what people in our market are talking about,” Berman said, and to find out what might be trending and for security management.

The strategy at CSN Philly is two-fold. “We want to drive traffic to our web site and people to our broadcasts. Social is a huge part to what we do,” he said, noting that the sports net even airs a program, “End Game,” specifically to address posts and trends on social media. 

Berman said his department even created an account for Philadelphia Flyers fans on Twitter “so they can get exclusives from behind the scenes,” including still pictures, graphics and questions. “We also send scoreboards out during the games, so if a fan isn’t in front of their TV, they know what’s happening,” he said, “and when the Flyers introduced their new coach, fans could watch on TV or on Periscope,” an online streaming tool.

How important has streaming become at the sports net? “Every show we have incorporates social media, in some way,” he said, noting “This landscape is evolving very quickly.”

Fox Sports North believes in a measured approach to combining its sports coverage with social media, saving it for special events like "Hockey Day Minnesota."

True, but not every RSN uses social media as frequently. Consider the case of Fox Sports North in Minneapolis, where Trevor Fleck, the coordinating producer, spoke of the more reserved approach.

“We save it major events, like opening day and the playoffs,” said Fleck, looking back to last year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which was held at Target Field in Minneapolis. “We did it on the nine days leading up to the event. We also integrated social media into coverage of Hockey Day Minnesota, from 9 a.m. until about 2 a.m. the next day,” he said. “That’s been our biggest day of using it. Our second channel was totally dedicated to social media that day.”

Fox Sports North employs ChyronHego’s Duet for graphics, likewise for its social media platforms. On Hockey Day Minnesota, it also incorporated Spredfast, which aggregates various feeds.

Fleck feels that the occasional use of social media heightens its impact. “There’s a fine line between using it to enhance your broadcast and overdoing it,” he said. “It can be planned or happen organically, if a play goes viral,” etc.

So for now, it’s a case-by-case situation. “We had a social media reporter a couple of years ago,” he said, “but now she’s just a regular reporter, since all of our reporters are up to speed with how to distribute social media.”

A HAPPY MEDIUM

At Root Sports Northwest, Executive Producer Jon Bradford and company seem to have found a happy medium with the RSN’s approach. “We just do a couple of things,” said Bradford, “because we want to interact with, rather than push or pull from, our viewers.”

Roots Sports Media, the regional sports network for the Seattle Mariners, conducts a "Twitter Tuesday" contest with fans.

That includes Twitter Tuesday, when the Seattle Mariners’ broadcast team of Dave Sims and Mike Blowers conduct “Inside the Game” and ask fans to share their baseball knowledge. Then also ask one trivia question during the pregame show and four more during the game; that results in 500-700 hundred responses that are sorted via hashtags.

Root works with software creator/social media aggregator Tagboard on the “Ask Root” segment, where viewers are queried about where they are and what they’re doing during the broadcasts; and the “Ultimate Fan” segment, where the team polls viewers from states in the Pacific Northwest as to why that might be them.

Speaking of pushing and pulling, Turner Sports works with several large platforms, including Virzt, as well as startups. And like Root, they seem to have found a good place in the social media world by picking their spots, too.

“Sports and social media have a very natural, symbiotic relationship. Nothing is forced,” said Morgan Dewan, senior director of social media for Turner Sports. “Our producers [understand] how to weave social media reactions, commentary and content into the broadcast. Our goal is to never do social media integrations for social media’s sake. We want to enhance the storylines and provide compelling content for our analysts to react to.”

Most of Turner Sports’ social media integrations happen during its studio shows, including “Inside the NBA,” when it’s easier for the host to [address] the conversation taking place across social, according to Dewan. She adds that she and her crew have learned a great deal from “Bleacher Report,” another part of the Turner Sports portfolio. “They’re exceptional at this and have built a very impressive push/pull system, which connects their social properties to their app and [web] site,” she said.

Dewan stressed that, as a sports media company, it’s important for Turner Sports to understand where, and how, fans are consuming content. “We break down type of posts by day of week and time of day,” she said, “so that we can be more deliberate in our coverage and publishing cadence.”