Netflix and Disney+ are seeing a steady increase in foreign-language content, with the strongest markets for programming in Japanese, French, Korean and Turkish, according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.

According to the researcher, non-English-language content accounts for a growing share of platform acquisitions. As of September, more than half of the content acquired by Netflix and Disney+ originated from non-English-speaking countries. Netflix leads in this regard, with 65% of its acquired content non-English, followed by Disney+ at 50%. Japan and South Korea were the leading source countries for Netflix’s non-English acquisitions, while Germany and Japan topped the list for Disney+.

Japanese, French, South Korean and Turkish content present key acquisition opportunities. These markets are identified by comparing the number of titles exported internationally with their overall popularity, with high popularity and relatively low export volumes indicating the greatest licensing potential. South Korean and Turkish content in particular offer promising opportunities for international licensing and distribution, as global demand remains strong while international availability is comparatively limited.

Japanese content has substantial scope for wider distribution, Ampere adds. Only 40% of Japanese VOD content is available internationally. Science fiction and fantasy lead its export genres, driven particularly by anime, which accounts for two-thirds of Japan’s 100 most internationally portable titles in 2026. While the U.S. and South Korea are established destinations, France and Germany combine relatively high popularity with limited imports.

South Korean content remains under-distributed despite its global appeal. Some 45% of titles are available only on domestic VOD services. Romance leads among the country’s most internationally portable titles, followed by science fiction and fantasy. The Middle East and Southeast Asia offer further licensing opportunities, particularly for romance.

Turkish content combines relatively high popularity with limited international availability. Just 30% is distributed internationally, with fewer than 1,000 titles exported. Romance accounts for 43% of Turkey’s 100 most internationally portable titles in 2026. The Middle East is its main export destination, but availability remains limited to around 600 Turkish films and TV seasons. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are priority markets for further distribution.

French films offer opportunities in neighbouring European markets. France has a more-established international distribution footprint, with 76% of its on-demand content available overseas. Films perform particularly strongly on popularity. Germany and the US are key existing destinations, while Italy, Austria and Switzerland offer further potential.

Non-English content remains underexploited despite growing global demand, Tinging Li, research manager for Ampere, said.

“In recent years, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Disney+ have increasingly expanded non-English-language title licensing in multiple markets. Japanese, South Korean, French and Turkish content present the top opportunities for international licensing, with strong audience appeal but still gaps in cross-border availability,Li said. “For content owners and platforms, buying this content can bridge the gap between audience demand and international distribution.”

PLANO, Texas—New Parks Associates research finds that high dynamic range (HDR) is a foundational component of premium video entertainment and gives television manufacturers, streaming services and content creators a way to differentiate themselves through picture quality.

The research is presented in “High Dynamic Range and the Future of Video,” a new Parks white paper developed in partnership with chief Advanced HDR by Technicolor supporter InterDigital.

“HDR gives the entertainment industry a powerful way to make improvements in picture quality,” Parks Director of Entertainment Research Michael Goodman said. “For manufacturers, it helps demonstrate the value of advanced displays. For streaming services and content owners, it provides an opportunity to deliver a more compelling experience and preserve the creative intent of their programming.”

According to the research, several developments are shaping the next phase of HDR, including:

Smart-TV penetration is rising, as 62% of U.S. internet households now have a connected TV device.

• Live sports and gaming is making HDR, with its ability to reproduce bright highlights, detailed shadows and realistic imagery, more relevant.
• Mobile viewing is extending HDR beyond the television, as 24% of weekly video consumption is done on mobile phones and 11% on tablets.
• Tech advances are improving delivery economics, as AI assists in image processing and next-gen codecs like Versatile Video Coding (VVC) simplify workflows. 

The research also identified challenges, including differences in HDR formats, device capabilities and service implementations.

“Consumers may not always know HDR by name, but they recognize the experience it enables: richer color, deeper contrast and a more lifelike picture,” Lionel Oisel, head of video labs at InterDigital, said. “As HDR expands across streaming, live sports, gaming and mobile, the opportunity is to make that premium experience consistent and efficient on every screen. Innovation in HDR, video compression and delivery will be fundamental to making that possible.”

Parks Associates and InterDigital will discuss the research at the Future of Video: Business of Streaming conference, Nov. 17-18, in Marina del Rey, Calif. Registration is available here.

A representative of a group focused on boosting TV and film production in the United States is urging Congress to take action on proposed legislation that would provide incentives to the industry.

In an op-ed published in The Hill, James Babbin, a film and audio producer, actor and member of the Coalition for American Production, voiced support for legislation proposed last month that would provide tax incentives for studios and other media production companies to boost media production in the U.S.

According to its sponsors, the bipartisan Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act could bring hundreds of thousands of production jobs back to the U.S. by establishing a 20% tax credit on labor expenses for American workers on qualifying film and television productions, with bonus credits worth up to 30% for productions that hire in rural or federal disaster areas, work across multiple states, or bring work home from overseas.

Noting that the U.S. film and television annually brings in approximately $9 billion more from overseas than the U.S., Babbin cited industry statistics that showed that the amount of such production is decreasing domestically, with 45% of U.S. films and scripted TV shows being produced outside the U.S., compared to one-third three years ago.

“That is not just a scene change,” Babbin wrote, “it is skilled work, artistry and investment leaving the U.S.”

States have been aggressive going after media production, with Babbin citing Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah and Pennsylvania leading the way among the nearly 40 states that currently offer film incentives.

But that’s not enough, he added.

“A state is not a country. States can influence where projects land; they cannot alone ensure those projects stay in the U.S,” he wrote. “Even strong state programs can be outbid when other countries offer more competitive packages. Sixty-five countries offer national production incentives. Some, like Canada, Australia and Japan, combine them with regional programs, giving them an even greater advantage.

“A federal incentive won’t diminish competition among states; it will strengthen their ability to compete globally while rewarding those that innovate most,” he added.

Babbin also called for transparency, supporting a test that would verify that the act is producing the economic benefits touted in the act.

In the end, Babbin said such legislation is needed because “the industry won’t stand still.”

“Global competition, changing audience habits, and new technologies are rewriting the script,” he concluded. “Disruption isn’t necessarily a threat; it can be an opportunity if America strengthens the infrastructure that generations have built and prepares for the next act.”

The bill is led by Representatives Laura Friedman, Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), Linda Sánchez (CA-38) (CA-30), Brian Jack (GA-03), David Kustoff (TN-08), Judy Chu (CA-28), Mike Carey (OH-15), and Tom Suozzi (NY-03) in the House. In the Senate, the bill is led by Senators Tim Scott (SC) and Adam Schiff (CA).

A one-pager on the bill is available here. Full text is available here.

Traditional sports production followed a one-to-many model, with teams focused on creating one strong program feed before delivering it to rights holders and distribution partners for downstream customization. That model is being reshaped by the new realities of modern streaming—and by audiences who now engage with sports across more platforms and formats than ever before.

The same game can now appear on television, streaming services, FAST channels and social platforms at once. Some viewers want the familiar main broadcast, while others prefer local language commentary, real time statistics, alternate camera angles or creator led coverage. Meeting those different requirements places more pressure on production teams to create several outputs from one event.

Data and metadata are central to managing this change because structured information allows production teams to prepare and distribute different experiences from the same video.

Starting With the Viewer
Sports workflows have traditionally been designed from the camera lens forward, beginning with event acquisition and the main programme before addressing distribution further down the chain. That approach becomes harder to sustain when one production must serve several platforms, markets and viewing preferences.

Future workflows will increasingly begin with a clearer understanding of how, when and where audiences watch content. That information can help rights holders decide which experiences to create and where they are likely to provide meaningful value.

It is now common for an event to support three to five versions, so these requirements need to be considered from the beginning. The main pictures and editorial direction can remain consistent, while commentary, graphics, advertising and presentation are adapted for each destination.

Connecting Data Across the Workflow
Metadata has long supported content discovery, although its role now extends into production and distribution. Sports data, graphics information, SCTE triggers and other in band or out of band signals can support live clipping, replay selection, rights management, advertising, highlights and content versioning.

When this information travels with the video, production systems can prepare different outputs from the same source. One version might carry regional graphics and local commentary, while another includes additional statistics or a different advertising profile. Modular assets and reusable templates can apply these changes without rebuilding the full workflow.

This depends on infrastructure that can move video, metadata and control signals reliably from acquisition through production, customization and delivery. Bringing these stages into a shared IP environment reduces handoffs between disconnected systems and complex multivendor chains, while giving teams clearer visibility into signal health and metadata across the workflow. That makes it easier to manage different versions of an event and identify problems before they affect delivery.

The FCC’s July 2026 vote approving rules for the auction of Upper C-Band spectrum is accelerating this transition, with regional sports networks and large national networks now moving large scale distribution workflows from satellite to IP. While satellite will remain part of many hybrid and backup strategies, IP provides a more flexible foundation for carrying video, metadata and control signals across broadcast and digital services.

Using Automation to Manage Live Operations
Production teams are being asked to create additional feeds and digital coverage while budgets and staffing levels rarely increase at the same pace. Automation can reduce repeated work by using metadata to select audio, apply graphics, manage frame accurate routing, follow commercial rules and prepare the required platform format. Approved, templated configurations can then be reused across a season instead of being recreated for every event. This makes versioning faster and helps teams apply requirements consistently.

Operational control remains essential because every output needs the correct video, audio, graphics and ad signaling throughout the event. Teams must be able to see what audiences are receiving and intervene quickly when coverage moves away from the plan. Organizations can choose software based tools operated by their own teams, managed services or a combination of both. In each model, automation should handle predictable work while editorial decisions remain with experienced operators.

Using Audience Data to Guide Decisions
Audience data can help rights holders decide where customization is worth the investment. An organization can introduce an experience for a particular platform, review how viewers respond and determine whether it provides enough engagement or commercial value to support further development.

Total viewing time remains useful, although rights holders also need to understand how audiences move between services and which experiences support loyalty or revenue. Access to meaningful performance information should therefore be considered when distribution partnerships and rights agreements are developed.

'Immersive, high-quality production and strong editorial judgment will continue to define the quality of live sports coverage. But richer metadata and interconnected IP workflows are giving broadcasters a practical way to adapt that production, assess each version and respond as audience habits change.

PLANO, Texas—An increasing number of U.S. internet households are watching live events or sports through an on-demand streaming service, according to a new report from Parks Associates.

In its new report, The New Live TV Model: Skinny Bundles, Sports, News, the research firm says that 39% are doing so, illustrating the growing role of streaming services in delivering live programming. The expanding mix of options to watch video is changing how consumers find and watch sports, news, and events, as live video viewing is no longer synonymous with pay TV, Parks adds.

The report also found that 25% surveyed watch live video through free ad-supported television (FAST) services and 21% report they don't watch live video at all.

"Consumers value live content but struggle to find and access it," said Michael Goodman, Director, Entertainment Research, Parks Associates. "The challenge for providers is making live content accessible. Sports is a good example, with programming now distributed across multiple services and platforms."

Consumer interest in live sports is growing alongside broad-appeal entertainment. According to Parks Associates consumer research, comedy (60%), drama (56%), and news (50%) are the most popular content categories, while 48% report watching live sports. Subscription VOD (SVOD) services continue to add sports, news, and live events while FAST services build engagement through curated linear channels.

"Competition for viewers is increasingly about more than the content itself," Goodman said. "Providers need to deliver an experience that makes it easy for consumers to find, access, and move between live and on-demand programming."

There was a time when preserving an audiovisual recording meant protecting a physical object. Film reels, magnetic audio tapes, U-matic, Betacam, VHS, Digital Betacam and other professional formats demanded careful handling, controlled environments and, above all, working playback machines.

Digitization changed that relationship. Instead of repeatedly handling an ageing original, archivists could capture its content as digital files, create preservation masters and produce access copies without returning to the carrier. Yet early digital preservation created another dependency: storage media, especially Linear Tape-Open (LTO).

For many institutions LTO became the dependable workhorse: comparatively inexpensive, removable, offline and suitable for large audiovisual collections. But every new generation brought higher capacity, changing drives and a continuing obligation to migrate data before hardware and interfaces disappeared.

LTO is Evolving, Not Disappearing
LTO-7, introduced in 2015, stores 6 TB natively. Current LTO-10 technology has moved to 30 TB and 40 TB native cartridge specifications. The increase is dramatic, but capacity alone does not solve preservation. Backward compatibility is limited, and a current-generation drive cannot simply read every older tape.

That distinction matters. An LTO-7 cartridge is not automatically useless because it is old; if the media is sound and a compatible drive and software remain available, the data may still be recoverable. The preservation risk lies in the shrinking ecosystem around the carrier and the absence of a planned migration path.

The Scanner Has Become a Preservation Workstation
Modern film digitization is no longer merely a telecine transfer. High-end sprocketless scanners can handle fragile material, capture at high resolution and create multiple outputs from one carefully controlled scan. The British Film Institute has described using a Lasergraphics Director 65 capable of handling gauges from 8mm to 70mm and scanning up to 13.5K, while its normal preservation workflow commonly uses 4K with lower-resolution access derivatives.

Professional systems now include Lasergraphics ScanStation and Director platforms, ARRI ARRISCAN, DFT POLAR HQ, Blackmagic Cintel and specialized systems such as Sondor. Choice depends on gauge, shrinkage, perforation damage, sound format, required resolution, throughput and the archival significance of the material.

The key advance is not simply resolution. A contemporary workflow can connect capture, image processing, metadata, quality control and storage so that the preservation master enters a managed repository immediately after validation.

Videotape: The Disappearing-Machine Problem
Videotape remains more difficult. U-matic, one-inch Type C, Betacam, Digital Betacam, VHS and other legacy formats still require appropriate playback equipment. No cloud service can recover a signal from a cassette if the correct machine, heads, time-base correction and engineering knowledge no longer exist.

The urgency therefore lies at the ingest stage. Once the signal has been captured correctly, software can take over much of the repetitive work. FFmpeg supports processing and transformation; MediaInfo identifies technical properties; MediaConch can test files against defined policies; QCTools assists audiovisual signal analysis; vrecord supports preservation-oriented capture; and embARC assists embedded archival metadata.

Automation is valuable, but it is not a substitute for an experienced eye and ear. A technically valid file may still contain a bad transfer, missing programme content, colour errors, audio distortion or incorrect field handling.

Audio: Capture Faithfully, Then Manage Digitally
Audio preservation has followed the same transition. Analog recordings are captured into high-quality digital files, while born-digital recordings should normally retain their original characteristics unless a documented preservation reason requires transformation. IASA guidance supports professional high-resolution capture, with 24-bit resolution and appropriate sampling rates such as 96 kHz for suitable analogue transfers.

Broadcast Wave Format remains useful because it can carry professional audio together with structured metadata. As with video, the objective is to create a trustworthy preservation master once, document it properly and avoid needless re-digitization of the original carrier.

The Real Revolution is Behind the Scanner
The most consequential change is taking place after digitization. Earlier workflows often ended with delivery on hard disks or LTO cartridges. Modern repositories can ingest the preservation master directly into networked or object-based storage and automatically apply integrity, retention, replication and access policies.

Amazon S3 provides archival storage classes, object locking and replication options. Microsoft Azure offers archive tiers and immutable-storage controls. Google Cloud Storage provides lifecycle management, versioning and retention-lock mechanisms. Institutional object stores can provide similar functions without placing the entire collection in a public cloud.

This changes the archivist's daily task. Instead of manually preparing a separate cartridge for each group of digitized files, the institution can define preservation policy and allow software to create and monitor the required copies.

Does Every Digitized Footage Item Still Need a Separate Backup?
Not in the old operational sense. A professionally designed repository can automate replication, checksum creation, integrity checking, retention and disaster-recovery copies. The technician need not manually create and catalogue an additional tape every time a new asset is digitised.

But this does not mean that one stored copy is enough; replication and backup are not identical. A configuration error, malicious deletion, ransomware event or compromised administrator account can affect multiple online copies. A preservation system therefore needs independently recoverable copies, separation of failure domains, controlled permissions and tested recovery procedures.

The modern objective is not "no backup," it is "no unnecessary manual backup." The preservation copy still exists; increasingly, the infrastructure creates, verifies and protects it automatically.

AI Enters the Archive
Artificial intelligence adds another layer. Speech recognition can create transcripts; computer vision can assist scene and object discovery; automated systems can propose keywords, detect shot changes and make large uncatalogued collections searchable. AI-assisted tools can also support restoration tasks such as stabilisation, noise reduction and defect detection.

The archival rule, however, should remain strict: an AI-enhanced or restored version is a derivative, not a silent replacement for the preservation master. Provenance — what was captured, what was changed, by whom, using which process and when — becomes more important as synthetic and generative tools become commonplace.

The Economics Have Changed Too
Traditional preservation budgets were easy to visualize: cartridges, tape drives, shelves, vaults and migration cycles. Contemporary costs are less visible. They include storage capacity, data transfer, retrieval, cybersecurity, software, vendor dependence, staff expertise and the ability to export an entire collection if the service provider changes.

Cloud storage can remove some local hardware burdens, but it is not automatically cheaper for petabyte-scale audiovisual masters. A hybrid model — fast local storage for active work, managed object storage for preservation, and an offline or otherwise isolated recovery copy — may remain the most sensible architecture for many institutions.

What Digitization Service Providers Must Now Offer
The commercial model is consequently changing. A service provider should no longer be judged only by how many hours of film, video or audio it can transfer. Professional competence increasingly covers the whole preservation chain: carrier assessment, calibrated capture, preservation-format selection, metadata, checksums, automated and human QC, secure transfer, repository integration and migration planning.

Contracts should clearly identify who owns the files, who holds the preservation copies, who verifies successful delivery, how long the contractor retains temporary copies, what security controls apply, and what happens after the retention period. A digitization contractor should not become the permanent custodian merely because its server contains the last surviving copy.

This also changes the question of separately charging for LTO backups. If a client already operates a properly managed repository with independent, tested recovery copies, an additional contractor-created LTO set may be redundant. If that tape is the only genuinely independent recovery copy, removing it would be poor preservation practice. The answer lies in architecture and risk, not fashion.

Storage Capacity is Not Image Quality
A larger tape, faster server or more expensive cloud account cannot improve a bad digitisation. Preservation quality begins at capture. Film condition, scanner optics, transport stability, resolution, colour management, audio alignment, signal correction, file format and quality control determine what survives.

The same principle applies to file formats. FFV1, DPX, TIFF sequences, WAV/BWF and professional video containers each have legitimate uses, but none is universally correct. Institutions should select formats according to source characteristics, preservation policy, interoperability and long-term sustainability rather than following a fashionable specification.

Conclusion: Honor The Old, Redesign the New
The pioneers of audiovisual preservation worked in an era when saving a recording often meant saving its physical carrier. Their discipline preserved films, broadcasts and sound recordings that would otherwise have vanished. LTO then provided an important bridge into large-scale digital preservation.

The next stage is not a rejection of those technologies. It is a change in where the intelligence resides. Scanners are better, storage is distributed, integrity checking can be automated, and AI can assist discovery and quality control. The archivist's responsibility moves upward — from handling every copy manually to designing and supervising the rules by which copies are created, protected, verified, accessed and migrated.

For archivists and digitization service providers, the guiding principle should therefore be simple: digitise once, preserve intelligently, verify continuously and migrate whenever necessary. The golden age taught us the value of the original. The digital age must ensure that convenience never makes us forget it.

• FIAF — Film Scanners Forum and technical resources: fiafnet.org
• IASA — Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings (TC-06) and digital audio principles: iasa-web.org
• FADGI — Digitization software and audiovisual guidance: digitizationguidelines.gov
• Library of Congress — Recommended Formats Statement and digital preservation guidance: loc.gov
• LTO Program — technology roadmap, specifications and compatibility: lto.org
• Amazon Web Services — S3 archival storage, Object Lock and replication: aws.amazon.com
• Microsoft Azure — Blob archive tiers and immutable storage: azure.microsoft.com / learn.microsoft.com
• Google Cloud — Cloud Storage lifecycle and retention controls: cloud.google.com
• British Film Institute — contemporary film scanning and preservation workflow: bfi.org.uk

When I saw that Apple was having a new product reveal centered on my beat, home and video products, rather than another big whizz-bang event on phones, tablets and Macs, my reaction was “Finally! AT LAST!” It reminded me of Etta James’s great 1960 rendition of the 1941 classic by Mack Gordon of the same name.

At Last, indeed. Those of us in the video streaming and home technology worlds have long been waiting for new versions of the Apple TV 4K streaming box and Apple’s HomePod products. While streamers such as Roku, Fire TV, Google TV and others have brought out new products while the Amazon and Google Home product universes have seen multiple new products and upgrades.

Yes, Apple has dutifully upgraded their TV OS and fixed some bugs in the products but that only goes so far as new software and stream presentation features eventually require newer, more powerful platforms. The current Apple home products were just getting too long in the tooth with the last Apple TV 4K almost four years old, the HomePod Gen2 dates back to 2023 and the HomePod mini to 2024.

Now, finally, AT LAST. Was it worth the wait? Where does the new Apple HomeView fit into the picture and what are the benefits of the new Apple TV 4K and HomePods? Are they worth the update and what does the new hardware foretell for the future?

NOT THE SAME AS IT EVER WAS
Let’s start with the most anxiously awaited product, the new Apple TV 4K Gen 4. One the hardware side it has a new Apple A19 chip that is said to be 50% faster as a CPU and twice as fast for GPU performance. That gets you through menus faster and with hardware-accelerated ray tracing video performance is improved.

The form factor and dimensions are virtually the same along with the addition of three far-field mics so that you can issue voice commands directly to the unit without having to pick up the remote. The HDR formats are the same although the Dolby Vision profile has been updated to 8.1 and AV1 codec compatibility is added to check and view content using that codec. Wi-FI is updated to 802.11be/Wi-Fi 7 with Bluetooth 6. The new remote is almost that same, but it is also upgraded to Bluetooth 6 and adds “Find My” and Precision Finding for when you lose it under the couch cushions.

Finally, there is only one model, priced at $299 with availability on Nov. 13. Some have noted that this is a $100 increase from the previous model, but with 128GB storage, Gigabit Ethernet and Thread capability as standard the price comparison should really be made to the former model with those features at $249.

For installers, content evaluators and consumers in general, there are some omissions to be noted to somewhat temper the excitement of a long-awaited product. First, the HDMI remains at 2.1, but that is no surprise even though HDMI 2.2 has been finalized chips to support it might not yet be available.

Someone else will be the first out of the gate with that format. Also still missing is 4K/120Hz video, VRR and ALLM. Not dealbreakers but somewhat of a downer for gamers. Somewhat of a shame as the Latency Indication Protocol (LIP) would be nice to have.

On the audio side still missing is DTS:X support. Also, as with earlier models, there is no Dolby Atmos or Dolby True HD passthrough. Instead, the Apple TV 4K decodes it internally to LPCM 5.1 or 7.1 and the height channels are lost. You still get surround sound, but it is channel-, not object- based.

'THE LOVE CHILD' OF AN OLD IMAC WITH AN APPLE WATCH
That’s the new Apple TV 4K, but there were other product introductions that, when this is alL put together, form a refreshed Apple home products suite. Let’s summarize them before seeing where all this takes us.

The “first of its kind for Apple” is the Apple HomeView. Some might call it Apple’s response to the well-established Amazon Echo Show line and similar products it the Google Nest universe, but it is more than that. There is a wall-mounted model and a tabletop version that conjures up a what the love child of an old iMac and an Apple Watch might look like. There is a 7-inch, 1088x1088 Liquid Retina, backlit LCD, touch panel, display with up to 500 nits brightness. The camera is 12MP with Apple’s Center Stage technology.

For audio, in the base of the tabletop model there is a pair of full range drivers in the display’s frame and both a downward firing woofer and dual force-cancelling passive radiators in the base. The wall-mounted version has a pair of full-range drivers but no low frequency driver.

On the hardware side it is powered by the Apple A18 chip, has Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 6.0, Matter and Thread border router support there is a four-mic array for noise suppression and Siri, and USB-C for both power connection and accessories. The camera is 12-megapixels with zoom for chatting if needed.

Both versions list at $299 with availability on Friday, Nov. 13, albeit that the wall-mount model does not include either a mount or power adaptor. There are no VESA mounting holes on the wall-mount version, so you must spend $59.95 for the Standard mount or $129.95 for the AC powered Premium mount that requires installation by an electrician or $179.95 for the PoE Wired version. Both come from Schneider Electric.

At the top-level view, Apple HomeView is the natural integration of the disparate devices in the Apple eco-system into a single device that keeps everyone in the house informed as to what is going on, enables spatial audio listening, video calls via FaceTime, locating family members with Apple devices using Find My, and viewing video content streamed from an iPhone or iPad.

That last item is key, as there are few embedded apps and there is no access to the Apple App store. This isn’t a phone or tablet where you can ask it to play something directly from your favorite streaming service. You do that via AirPlay.

So what is it for? Apple presumably sees this as your home dashboard with face recognition figuring out who is asking what. Yes, you can query it for sports scores, recipes or similar as you can with an Echo or Google device. However, as you will see when the three new products are wrapped together there is much more with the goal of all working together with Siri AI and the inclusion of Matter and Thread in the devices.

The third new Apple product is the HomePod mini 2 with a note that the current, larger, HomePod Gen2 remains in the line $349. As its name implies, the $149 HomePod mini 2 is smaller, but with new features it is quite powerful in a number of ways.

Designed to be both a standalone smart speaker and part of the larger Apple home products system, it, too, is designed to use Apple Intelligence to not only do the obvious music playback, it is part of the Apple home management system taking voice commands for smart home device control, using Sound Recognition to alert you if it hears smoke or carbon monoxide detectors and even sending a notification of that to your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

The hardware side includes significant updates from the original HomePod mini thanks to a Apple S10 chip driving the system, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6. The speaker is a single full-range driver, and the mic array has three far-field capsules. They will feed Siri and Siri AI when the latter is available down the road as a software upgrade.

New is the color-morphing Sound Glow surface at the top of the unit with a capacitive touch surface for control. There are now clickable, mechanical buttons. Colors include white, pink, green, blue and midnight.

A UNIFIED HOME SYSTEM
With those three new products joining the lineup along with the HomePod and the Apple Home Collection from LG starting in December with a Video Wired Doorbell, an Outdoor Camera, a Floodlight Camera. A Smart Thermostat and a Temperature Sensor and a smart thermostat that will become available in December and then a Smart Deadbolt lock and Indoor Camera in January, 2027, the goal is a true, unified system with multiple control points.

One key aspect of these devices and some of their earlier and present cousins is the ability of the new Apple TV 4K to work with a combination of four HomePod mini2 or HomePod Gen 2 products create a full immersive home theater surround system. Even better, with mics now embedded in the Apple TV 4K you can not only talk to it without picking up the remote, the mics and the processor do all the configuration for the multi-speaker system.

Position mapping, delay timing, level setting, room sensing and dynamic EQ are all taken care of automatically. Thanks to the power of the A19 chip a phantom center channel is derived and the software distributes the LFE/bass channel across the speakers wothj the heaviest bass routed to full-sized HomePods if they are at the front to keep deep rumble away from the smaller HomePod mini 2 when used as the rear speakers.

One presumes that other smart home products that already work with Apple devices will continue to work with the new models. The key thing to remember is that it doesn’t work the other way around as the Apple-centric LG products will only work with the Apple devices. Yes, HomeView will respond on its own to anyone, but to set it up a compatible iPhone or iPad is required and the Home Collection products require an iPhone for initial NFC pairing. Similarly, certain personal context requests also require a paired Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad running the latest software and having Siri AI turned on.

Siri AI is at the heart of all of this, and it is clearly new. Will it have growing pains? We’ll see. What will the daily limits for usage, if any be? We don’t know yet. The fine print on all of this says that in the future there will be a fee for “expanded access” but the “when” and “how much” is still to be determined.

If the family is all-Apple with reasonably recent devices everyone should be happy. If it is a “mixed marriage” with a variety of Apple, Android, Amazon and Google Nest devices things should work, but to what extent is something that we won’t know until everyone gets their hands on them.

Put all together, this is a full-on effort to, at least for Apple families, deliver a complete home system including music and content, scheduling, queries on all subjects, view and control of smart home devices, locks, HVAC and cameras. With the HomeView providing the missing piece of the puzzle with an dedicated Apple display device, Siri SI, Apple Intelligence and a new array of smart home products specially tailored to Apple, as our introductory song says, AT LAST. After all, rest of the first lines are “My love has come along, And my lonely days are over, And life is like a song.”

To be certain, Amazon’s Echo and Echo Show devices, third-party Alexa-compatible devices, Google Next Home products and their first and third-party products have quite a lead in this space for smart home devices and smart speakers. The same goes for the increasingly agentic AI functionality of Alexa and Google as the AI and software OS that drives their ecosystems.

Will the alLure of Apple’s industrial design, new product features, Siri AI combined with their tremendous market penetration for phones and tables push these new products to the top? That will be fun to watch and at the very least the competition will undoubtedly lead to better systems for all.

Michael Heiss is a columnist for TV Tech.

A century ago, stations owned by radio manufacturers broadcast to sell receivers. Seventy years later, TVs and radios appeared everywhere. As big as our investment in towers and transmitters is, it is dwarfed (20:1 to 40:1 per Copilot) by the public’s investment in receivers. Broadcasting’s business models have evolved with regulatory, social and ownership changes.

TV most notably now collects most of its revenue from retransmission fees, making an over-the-air (OTA) viewer worth less than half an MVPD subscriber. Half of radio’s distribution is streaming, often making a Web listener worth less than an OTA listener (streaming financials are diverse and complex).

'Creative Destruction'
Whether newspapers, magazines, movies, or electronic media; content has become easier/cheaper to produce and bountiful, fragmenting the audience. Businesses reactively resize to fit their revenue. We are not unique in experiencing this cycle. “Creative destruction” disrupts existing markets and industries paving the way for new products, services, and business models. The right sizing phase is probably the most painful for those functioning in any contracting industry. We have also experienced the amplifying effects of private equity and consolidation.

Now we face a paradigm shift. Merriam Webster’s defines a paradigm shift “as a fundamental change in the underlying assumptions, frameworks, or methods that a community, discipline, or industry uses to understand and operate in the world. It replaces an old model with a new one—not by incremental improvement, but by a wholesale rethinking of what is true or possible.”

Legacy broadcasting has enjoyed a beneficial extremely low friction user experience. Traditional receivers have two controls, on/off/volume and tune. Millions of these receivers still exist and work, but the natural replacement cycle is frequently replacing them with devices capable of an Internetized user experience.

If you have recently rented a new car and asked AI for help using the radio or bought a new TV only to find that OTA TV doesn’t happen without an internet connection and the manufacturer’s content partners like Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Disney+, and Hulu have direct access buttons on the remote, while OTA broadcast is buried in a menu tree, you have experienced Internetization. Google TV/Android TV, webOS, Tizen, Roku TV OS, Fire TV OS, and Vizio’s WatchFree+/SmartCast, Android Automotive, Apple CarPlay, and proprietary OEM OSs and connected car backends can all be Internetized.

Internetized? What’s That?
Until now, US broadcast hasn’t experienced a gatekeeper. It’s not unheard of. North Korean receivers can only receive North Korean stations. Our NextGen ATSC 3.0 encryption unnaturally constricts viewers. Further, audience data once limited to generalized ratings can now be very granular and personal.

Internetized receivers “unlock new untapped revenue streams” for manufacturers and feed the algorithmic big data industry. Until now, relocating eyes and ears to “new media,” was done by attraction. Making it difficult, if not practically impossible, for the audience to receive OTA broadcast and driving them to other services is coercive. Broadcast is only as good as the receivers are.

This is probably why some of America’s major sellers have entered the manufacturing and content business. At least one practically gives away TVs to create or enhance a continuing revenue stream. I recently took home (briefly) a TV that would not operate without an Internet connection, required six button pushes to activate a deceptively labeled OTA function that requires rescanning each time the TV is turned on, then erases the OTA channel map when turned off.

In nearly an hour with friendly customer service that didn’t sympathize with my plight, I was told that “OTA TV was going away, and I probably wouldn’t miss it after I got used to it.” I recently rented a new car—AI and last year’s Youtubes couldn’t tell me how to receive the local NPR station missing from the manufacturer’s connected back-end supplied station list. Eventually, I manually entered the frequency’s digits on a soft keypad. That radio also showed few, often only two, AM stations along RF rich I-95 even after dark. No way to scan the dial, just the manufacturer’s list of stations.

I suppose we are habituated to the Internetization of search engines that favor sponsored results, equipment that can only be repaired via Internet diagnostics with proprietary parts only they can install, and algorithmically driven social media monetized misinformation bubbles.

Even as we resize, nothing confirms the enormous importance of the broadcast ecosystem (the fusion of OTA/Internet/MVPD delivery) like this administration’s strongarm influencing broadcast messaging. Exceptionally, half of all political advertising continues to go to broadcast.

Realistically, because not all OTA receivers will be Internetized, we might adjust to losing in-car listening and living room smart TVs. Smart speakers are a godsend now, but there is nothing that prevents them from becoming more like smart TVs.

Regulations that limit the Internetization of broadcast are not unreasonable (notably, the EU is far less tolerant of Internetization exploitations than we are). Nor is product labeling that indicates the suitability of a receiver for OTA broadcast. Nor are business arrangements where we pay or trade for direct access buttons like Netflix and WatchFree+ enjoy. We could also promote OTA friendly receivers with the fervor we fight for retrans (“call your cable/satellite company and tell them you want…”).

Broadcasting could also be a lot more desirable, essential, and deserving of pinnacle placement. Advanced Emergency Alerting could mature to rival, then exceed emergency apps. Broadcast FM and TV could incorporate timing and location information to backstop and enhance GPS.

Fewer stations might result in better stations that don’t need 38-element mega breaks. It is both a good time to be leaving and a good time to enter an industry that could be experiencing the most interesting time in broadcasting’s history. While a lot is happening, a lot more will happen, and we have a front row seat, and every now and then a voice.

This article originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of The Signal, the Society of Broadcast Engineers bi-monthly member newsletter.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday evening, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., extended an earlier restraining order against the Trump administration’s efforts to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from the White House. The news outlets are suing the White House on the grounds that such a ban violates their constitutional rights.

The DOJ announced on Wednesday it was appealing the decision.

In his decision, Judge Timothy Kelly — a Trump appointee — wrote that the court believed that the news organizations “were likely to succeed on their claims that their hard passes were revoked without due process required under the Fifth Amendment.” The court also held that the ban violates the plaintiffs’ First Amendment protections for freedom of speech and of the press.

In late September, Free Press joined nearly 80 press-freedom groups and news organizations in filing an amicus brief in support of CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

Nora Benavidez, Free Press’ senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights, said, “the district court rightly affirmed longstanding precedent that protects press freedom in the people's house. Donald Trump cannot unilaterally revoke journalists’ press access because he doesn’t like their coverage or questions. Judge Kelly’s strong ruling affirms that presidential cherry-picking of newsroom access violates core First Amendment principles.

“A powerful district court ruling citing strong First Amendment precedent isn't the end, however. Donald Trump has used his bully pulpit to pressure his loyalist FCC to retaliate against news outlets and successfully pushed Congress to defund public media — all while his supporters have threatened judges who uphold the rule of law when cases don’t go Trump’s way. This case is critical to the continued ability for people to hold power to account. Trump’s relentless assaults on the press won’t cease — making it all the more crucial to protect journalists’ right to hold the administration accountable.”

Ahead of NAB Show New York (Oct. 21–22), TV Tech surveyed a group of key exhibitors to find out which tech trends are on their radar and what key products they plan to highlight at the Javits Convention Center, including Alex Keighley, senior vice president of sales, Americas, at Grass Valley.

TV Tech: What do you expect will be the most significant technology trends this year at NAB Show New York?

Alex Keighley: I think we’ll continue to see the industry move toward hybrid production environments. Most customers are not starting from a blank sheet of paper. They have SDI, SMPTE ST 2110, modular infrastructure, software applications, cloud and edge resources, and they need those environments to work together.

Two important developments in this context are the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and open media exchange through MXL [the Media eXchange Layer]. The Dynamic Media Facility is already a reality for Grass Valley customers. AMPP enables this model today, combining distributed production, shared compute, software-defined media functions, orchestration and monitoring across cloud, on-premises and edge environments.

So, I expect openness and interoperability to remain important. Native MXL integration within AMPP makes high-performance media exchange part of the production architecture, helping connect systems and workflows. The broader challenge is how to bring these capabilities together while allowing customers to modernize at their own pace, without abandoning the infrastructure that still works for them.

TVT: What’s your key product announcement for the show, and what problem does it solve?

AK: A key highlight for us at NAB Show New York will be AVORA, which we launched at IBC in September. This will be the first opportunity to see it demonstrated in the United States, both in the Grass Valley booth and the Broadfield booth.

AVORA is a standalone, all-in-one live production solution for teams that need professional production capabilities without assembling a full production stack for every show. It combines switching, graphics, audio, remote guests, content, replay, recording, monitoring, playout and delivery in one system. Teams can prepare, save, duplicate and recall complete productions, with the flexibility to use either visual shot-based production or traditional program/preset operation. Built on the founding principles and technology of GV AMPP, AVORA operates as a standalone Grass Valley solution, not AMPP Lite.

Beyond AVORA, we’ll demonstrate how different parts of the Grass Valley portfolio work together across capture, production, content and playout.

On the camera side, we’ll be showing the LDX 180, which brings Super35 cinematic capture into live production, and the LDX 150, designed for high-speed UHD and HD production. Both sit within the same LDX 100 Series ecosystem.

We’ll also demonstrate Event Producer X with an AMPP-connected Korona panel, showing a production workflow for repeatable corporate events such as town halls and leadership communications.

Finally, we’ll connect Framelight X with Playout X to demonstrate the path from media management, editing, review and publishing through to channel delivery.

GV: How does this new solution stand out from what’s available on the market?

AK: I think what makes AVORA different is that it brings the main elements of live production together in one standalone system, without requiring teams to build a complete production setup from separate components for every show.

It covers everything from switching, graphics and audio to remote guests, replay, recording and playout. Teams can also prepare and save productions, then duplicate and recall them for future events, which is particularly useful for organizations producing regular shows with consistent requirements.

There is also flexibility in how teams work. AVORA supports both visual, shot-based production and traditional program/preset operation, so operators can choose the approach that suits them.

And although it operates as a standalone solution, AVORA is built on the technology and principles behind GV AMPP. It draws on Grass Valley’s experience in software-defined production, packaged in a system designed for teams that need an integrated, repeatable production environment.

GV: What makes NAB Show New York so essential for your business, and what brings you back each year?

AK: NAB Show New York gives us the opportunity to meet directly with customers, understand the challenges they are facing and discuss how they can get more from their existing infrastructure while adopting new technologies.

It is also a valuable opportunity to demonstrate how hardware, software and hybrid workflows can work together in practice, and to have conversations about what that means for different production environments.

Each year, the value is in those direct exchanges with customers and partners, understanding their priorities and exploring how our solutions can support the way they work today.

Visit Grass Valley at NAB Show New York in Booth 121.

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—According to a new report from Bango, a third of American viewers surveyed say they would rather watch highlights from a show than every full episode, rising to 43% among Gen Z.

The survey of 2,500 US adults raises a question about how viewers watch TV, according to Bango: Are audience attention spans shrinking, or are they simply looking for different ways to watch? Four in ten Americans (40%) say they would use streaming services more often if they offered short clips from their shows, rising to more than half (53%) of Gen Z, the researcher said.

That appetite is already reflected in reported viewing habits: 37% of Americans say they use their streaming service more often now that it includes vertical video clips, rising to 47% among Millennials.

But a taste for shorter viewing doesn’t necessarily mean less appetite for a good story. More than half (51%) say clips help them discover shows worth paying to watch. For some, the highlights are the attraction, but for others, those few minutes are what persuade them to settle in for the whole series.

Bundles Matter
How people access that entertainment matters too. Alongside the appetite for shorter viewing, 61% of Americans say they would be more likely to keep a subscription if they could get it for less through a bundle, giving streaming services and mobile providers two opportunities to explore: more ways to watch and more affordable ways to subscribe.

For families, the appeal of bite-sized entertainment comes with another question: can children enjoy short videos while spending less time on social media?

More than four in ten Americans (44%) see value in short videos from a brand they trust, while 37% say curated clips would help keep their kids off social media. That figure rises to 47% among Millennials.

The findings come as international restrictions on children’s social media access put alternatives to social platforms under scrutiny. Australia has banned under-16s from social media since December 2025, and the UK government has announced plans to follow suit in 2027, Bango said.

The U.S. findings from Bango suggest an audience for an alternative: curated clips from familiar streaming platforms, giving families another way to enjoy short videos.

That appeal could also contribute to what people feel they get for their money. Four in ten Americans (40%) say original or exclusive short videos could help justify the price of a streaming subscription.

The Story is Still the Thing
An appetite for highlights does not mean audiences have stopped caring about full-length stories, however. In the same survey, 65% of Americans say new episodes of shows they follow are important in their decision to keep paying for a streaming service.

The findings suggest there is room for both: something entertaining to watch in a spare moment and a series worth settling in for, according to Bango CEO Paul Larbey.

“It’s tempting to read these findings as evidence that nobody has the patience for a full episode any more," he said. "But people still value the shows they follow. The opportunity is to give them different ways to enjoy that entertainment, depending on the time and attention they want to give it as well as new ways to discover new shows without having to fully commit.

“For families, there’s another question: can children enjoy short videos without being drawn into a social media feed? Curated, age-appropriate clips from familiar shows could offer another option, particularly as restrictions on children’s social media access take effect.

“Streaming services have stories and characters people already love. Shorter formats could help audiences enjoy more of those catalogues, while getting a subscription through a phone, broadband or banking bundle could make it more affordable to keep. Together, streaming services with bundlers like telcos and banks can give people more ways to enjoy their favorite entertainment at a price that works for them.”

For telcos, short-form entertainment could strengthen the appeal of the streaming services offered through their bundles, giving customers more ways to enjoy the subscriptions they already pay for.

Younger consumers are already using bundles to manage costs: 21% of Gen Z say they have moved from paying for a service separately to getting it through a bundle to save money in the past year.

Consumers also see value in bundling streaming with other services: 23% say a music subscription would make a streaming service more valuable to them, followed by food delivery benefits (20%) and shopping memberships offering free shipping or discounts (19%).

The survey is available here.

InterDigital Inc. and Parks Associates have published a report into the adoption of HDR across the video ecosystem.

The white paper, High Dynamic Range and the Future of Video, explores the continuing evolution of HDR across televisions, streaming services, live production, mobile devices and more, alongside the technologies facilitating its growth. Expanding brightness, contrast and colour to produce images resembling what is seen by human vision, the technology’s adoption is accelerating.

Wider technological advances such as AI-assisted video enhancement, cloud production and next-generation codecs are lowering barriers to its broader deployment, said the report. Now commonplace across on-demand streaming services, HDR has been extended across major international live sporting events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The report’s findings indicate HDR is positioned to become a capability that audiences will expect, across television, live events, movies and more.

Lionel Oisel, head of video labs at InterDigital, said, “Consumers may not always know HDR by name, but they recognise the experience it enables: richer colour, deeper contrast and a more lifelike picture. As HDR expands across streaming, live sports, gaming and mobile, the opportunity is to make that premium experience consistent and efficient on every screen. Innovation in HDR, video compression and delivery will be fundamental to making that possible.”

“HDR technology support has advanced faster than consumer understanding,” said report author Michael Goodman, director, entertainment research at Parks Associates. “HDR is increasingly becoming an expected part of a high-quality viewing experience, and the industry is working to improve interoperability, reduce production complexity and communicate HDR’s value to consumers.”

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

In my February Radio World article “Thoughts on AI and the Law,” I suggested that every station using artificial intelligence should adopt a policy addressing AI use disclosure, consent and compensation, and should obtain certifications from programmers and advertisers concerning their use of AI.

California’s recent legislation — and the rapid spread of similar laws around the country — makes that recommendation more urgent.

That the industry is moving forward with AI is inescapable. However, broadcasters must be careful and open about its use and cannot simply treat it as just another cost-saving production tool. It must be recognized as an issue that can impact your reputation for honesty, and compliance with political broadcast regulations.

California has addressed these issues perhaps more comprehensively than any other state and serves as a good model for broadcasters nationwide, although many other states appear to be following the same path.

California’s Framework
In 2026, the state created a multi-level legal structure that affects many aspects of AI use by broadcasters.

Its regulations address a variety of issues, including synthetic-content origin and changes in its use, known as “provenance,” training, frontier-model safety, mitigating advanced AI risks, privacy and employment discrimination.

Effective in August, the California AI Transparency Act, or CAITA, requires producers of publicly accessible generative-AI with more than 1 million monthly users or visitors to provide a free public detection tool and to embed disclosures in AI-generated images and video and audio content that permanently includes the content’s origin and history.

The law reaches beyond AI platforms. Beginning in 2028, manufacturers of equipment used by broadcasters, such as cameras, mobile phones and microphones, among other things, must automatically embed origin and creation information (called “latent disclosures”) into the recorded content.

In addition to CAITA, California has enacted several statutes and regulations that touch on AI and are now in effect. These address a myriad of issues, including training requirements, safety risk assessments, critical-incident reporting, whistleblower protection and AI-assisted employment decisions.

While most individual stations will not be regulated as frontier-model developers or covered GenAI providers, they need to be aware that these laws affect the tools they buy and that the provenance information (where an object, data or document comes from and how it has changed over time) attached to the AI tools they may use.

Many observers believe that California’s AI laws may influence laws in other states and even, potentially, federal or industry standards.

California Political
With campaign season upon us, it is important to note that California has already adopted disclosure requirements for political ads with AI.

The rule applies to California political committees that create, originally publish or originally distribute qualifying political advertisements. Any advertisements that contain an image, audio, video or other media that was entirely created by AI, and would falsely appear authentic to a reasonable person or was materially altered by AI in a way that would give a reasonable person a fundamentally different understanding of the material, must include, in a clear and conspicuous manner, the following statement: “Ad generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence.”

This disclosure applies to radio and television broadcast ads that contain AI.

For radio, a political spot containing a cloned candidate voice, a fabricated exchange or other qualifying synthetic audio must carry a spoken disclosure. A separate requirement applies to television and online video content governing how the required AI disclosure must be placed and appear.

These disclosure requirements are imposed primarily on the political committee rather than a station that runs it, but stations should be knowledgeable and be certain to inquire of the producer or distributor whether AI was used, so that the broadcaster does not find itself inadvertently airing unlawful content or damaging its credibility.

Idea Gone National
While California is an important example to study, it is far from alone in regulating AI use in political communications.

Thirty-one states have enacted laws regulating the use of deepfakes in political and election communications, according to tracking from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Most state laws include disclosure requirements similar to California. Minnesota and Texas prohibit the publication of political deepfakes a certain number of days prior to an election. Maryland has no time limit and instead prohibits deceptive deepfakes related to the election year-round.

The other 28 states require disclosures on the media, similar to the existing requirement to disclose who paid for a political ad, the AI disclosure requires the ad to state if it contains a deepfake.

Colorado and Utah require additional disclosures in the metadata — descriptive information about a file’s creator, when the file was created and when the file was edited. Some provide civil remedies, while others carry criminal penalties.

This developing regulatory patchwork presents a practical problem for station groups and political buyers. A spot prepared for national or regional distribution may comply with one state’s laws, but not another. The required words, placement and duration may differ. So may the definitions of “AI-generated,” “synthetic media,” “deepfake” and “material alteration.”

Broadcasters therefore should no longer accept a general representation that a political advertisement is “legally compliant.” The representation should address the states and platforms in which the spot will run and should specifically identify whether AI was used to create or materially alter any voice, image or video.

The Section 315 Problem
Political broadcasting law makes compliance with new AI regulations even more complicated for broadcasters.

They retain discretion and can censor noncandidate issue, independent-expenditure and ballot-measure advertisements and can demand corrections. However, a legally qualified candidate’s “use” presents a different problem since the Communications Act prohibits a station from censoring a candidate use.

The Communications Act states clearly at § 312(a)(7) that all legally qualified and bona fide write-in candidates for federal elective office are to have “reasonable access” to broadcast facilities. Those federal requirements do not fit neatly with state laws requiring specified words or visual elements in AI-generated political advertising as the broadcaster is prohibited from censoring the ad and must run them for a candidate for federal elective office provided they contain a “use” by the candidate.

A “use” is defined as any positive use of a candidate’s voice or picture in a context not otherwise exempt under Section 315 of the Communications Act. Thus, any program or commercial that identifies the candidate by voice or picture in a positive way and is not a bona fide newscast, bona fide news interview, bona fide news documentary or on-the-spot coverage of a bona fide news event, cannot be censored by the broadcaster. As a result, the broadcaster is provided immunity from liability for the content of the ad.

However, it cannot be assumed that Section 315 automatically disposes of every question involving state law or station liability. Therefore, to the extent possible, the safest course is prevention. Ask the whether AI was used when the order is placed, explain the applicable disclosure requirements to the buyer and ask that the candidate or committee deliver a compliant spot.

The FCC considered a federal solution in 2024. In MB Docket No. 24-211, the commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that asked whether the FCC should increase transparency in political ads by having political advertisers indicate if AI is being used in the advertisement and make on-air disclosures of AI use. It does not propose the prohibition of such content, only disclosing the use of AI within political ads. It further proposed to require broadcasters and certain other video and audio distributors to inquire whether political advertising contained AI-generated content, make an on-air disclosures and place a corresponding notice in their online political file.

The FCC explained it was attempting to address consumers’ concerns that AI-generated content was leading to a rising tide of disinformation, while also bringing uniformity to the patchwork of state laws and greater transparency in our elections.

The docket is still active with a list of filed comments 49 pages long, but the FCC has not yet acted. So, for now, broadcasters must continue to comply with state-by-state requirements as well as the established FCC sponsorship identification and political broadcasting rules.

A Broader Risk
While the focus is on political advertising in election years, there is a longer-term regulatory risk.

AI-generated voices can duplicate the authentic voices of real people, including a station personality, public official, celebrity or ordinary caller. It can “hallucinate” an apparently authentic interview, eyewitness account, endorsement or news clips. This can lead to increased liability for stations that are using AI to help generate content.

Existing law already reaches much of this conduct. Defamation, false light, the right of publicity, copyright, fraud, deceptive-advertising law and contract rights do not disappear merely because an AI model produced the content. A disclosure that the production of a segment used AI will not cure a defamatory statement, an unauthorized voice clone or a fabricated emergency announcement.

Stations should mandate human editorial review for news, elections, weather emergencies, health information, public safety and any content purporting to quote from or depict a real person. An “AI-assisted” label cannot become a substitute for human verification of factual statements.

The same caution towards AI use applies to entertainment and promotional programming. A synthetic host may be efficient, but the station must determine whether it has the right to reproduce the voice or persona on which the host is based.

Talent agreements should expressly address training, cloning, reuse, derivative voices, post-employment use and compensation. The SAG-AFTRA principles of consent, disclosure and appropriate compensation remain a sound guide, even when a particular employee or contractor is not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Stations should also examine syndicated programs, barter programming, paid interviews, commercials and network feeds for AI use. A station often will not know whether outside material was produced using AI unless it asks. Programmer and advertiser agreements should require disclosure of material AI use and representations that all necessary rights and consents were obtained.

Digital Distribution Changes the Analysis
Broadcasters should resist the temptation to treat their website, app, podcast, streaming channel, connected-TV product and social-media accounts merely as extensions of the over-the-air station. They may be governed differently under relevant law.

As noted above, since Aug. 2, 2026, CAITA has required certain very large providers of publicly accessible generative-AI systems to provide detection tools and content-provenance disclosures. Most local stations that use third-party AI services will not be covered by these requirements, but the analysis could change if a media company develops, substantially modifies or publicly offers its own generative-AI service.

Even where CAITA does not regulate the station directly, it offers broadcasters a new resource to verify compliance. Newsrooms can use provider detection tools and examine provenance information when evaluating suspicious audio, photographs or video. Stations also should preserve — rather than strip — standards-compliant metadata and digital signatures as material moves through editing, traffic, web-publishing and social-media systems.

The 2027 CAITA very large-platform requirements will make that preservation practice even more important for a station group whose digital operation could satisfy the statutory platform thresholds.

California’s Training Data Transparency Act only applies to developers that make generative-AI systems publicly available. A broadcaster that merely uses a commercial AI service ordinarily is a customer, not the developer. A broadcaster that trains and releases a public model using its news archive, announcer voices, photographs or programming may be in a very different position. It also must determine whether it has the rights necessary to use that material for training.

Digital operations raise privacy questions as well. Station apps and websites may collect personal identifiers, location information, listening histories, contest data and advertising profiles. California’s privacy rules now address certain automated decision-making and risk assessments. AI used for targeted advertising, audience profiling, hiring or other consequential decisions can therefore create obligations that ordinary over-the-air broadcasting does not.

A Policy for 2026
Given the expanding state-law patchwork, it is essential that each station have a written AI policy in place. At a minimum, each station should:

• Require political buyers and outside programmers to identify AI-generated or materially AI-altered content in writing;
• Require each buyer to certify compliance with every applicable state disclosure law;
• Route candidate uses that do not comply with AI disclosure requirements to counsel rather than editing material at the station to attempt to comply;
• Require human review of news, emergency, election, health and public-safety content;
• Prohibit unauthorized cloning of employee, candidate, celebrity or other persons voices or likenesses;
• Preserve content credentials, watermarks and provenance metadata rather than stripping them;
• Limit the entry of confidential station, employee, advertiser and source information into public AI systems;
• Address ownership, consent, compensation and post-employment use in talent and vendor agreements, and
• Include separate policy provisions that apply to broadcast, streaming, websites, apps, podcasts and social media.

California’s most important message is not the wording of one disclaimer. It is that broadcasters are entering an era in which they will be expected to know — or at least to ask — whether the voices and information they distribute are real.

AI can help broadcasters remain efficient, competitive and creative. But broadcast’s most valuable asset has never been its ability to generate more content at lower cost. It is the audience’s belief that the station knows and serves its community and can be trusted. Any AI policy should begin there.

This column is provided for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice pertaining to any specific factual situation. Legal decisions should be made only after proper consultation with a legal professional of your choosing.

Read more broadcast law columns from Gregg Skall.

Zixi, Grass Valley, Uplynk and Broadview Software have jointly published a white paper setting out a model for moving broadcast distribution from satellite to IP and the cloud.

Based on a real-world deployment for a broadcaster with a global footprint, The IP convergence framework for distribution sets out a practical, repeatable model for the transition, demonstrating how cloud master control, IP transport, orchestration and streaming work together. The release comes ahead of the US FCC’s upper C-band auction to reclaim 100-180 MHz of spectrum used by broadcasters to deliver content across the United States.

The framework combines four core layers, with each delivered by one of the partners in a unified operating model. Grass Valley provides broadcast operations and playout, with master control and playout running in the cloud. Broadcast-grade delivery of live video over IP is enabled by Zixi, with redundancy built into every path. BroadView Software ensures orchestration and delivery with control of the full workflow via BroadView Nexus, while Uplynk distributes to streaming, FAST and affiliate endpoints from the same chain.

Each of the layers can be independently swapped or scaled, allowing users to adopt in stages rather than a single rebuild. TAG and Zixi Zen Master ensure the same visibility across the chain provided by a traditional master control room.

The model follows the entire workflow, from ingest to cloud master control and distribution, said the partners. Moving master control to the cloud enables teams to retain precision and control while gaining IP flexibility.

Three outcomes are identified: flexibility from swappable layers and the ability to change without infrastructure redesign; reliability from continuous monitoring and redundant workflows; and efficiency through lower storage and transport costs with reduced dependency on fixed hardware.

Eric Black, CEO/CTO, Uplynk, commented, “The C-band transition is forcing a real question for broadcasters – what replaces satellite without sacrificing the reliability they’re used to. We built this framework to answer that question, and we proved it first by moving a broadcaster’s entire satellite operation onto IP and the cloud in production. That combination of broadcast-grade reliability and cloud flexibility is what the industry needs right now, and we’re excited to share how we got there.”

According to a new survey, IP adoption for live production isn’t quite as far along the road as previously thought. Where it is taking place is in the replacement of ‘like-for-like’ hardware.

The survey—conducted online by TV Tech TVBEurope and Caretta Research—polled both vendors and broadcasters (buyers) to understand more about the extent to which operations are transitioning towards IP-based and software-defined infrastructure and live production.

According to the survey, SDI remains the primary infrastructure approach for 70% of broadcast and media companies, and is used by 90% of the survey’s respondents in total. For those that have made the move to IP, SMPTE ST 2110 is the primary flavor of IP.

Unsurprisingly, many broadcast technology vendors are offering a wide range of support for IP infrastructure in their product lines, with ST 2110 again the primary flavor, followed by NDI.

However, the findings show that buyers are much less IP-centric than technology vendors think, with just 22% of the broadcaster respondents having deployed IP in “most of their operation.”

One unexpected finding is the way buyers see "IP" more broadly than "live video production infrastructure," with streaming ranking as the most commonly-implemented example of technology, probably because streaming has always been IP-first.

In the production environment, master control rooms are first to integrate IP infrastructure, and most likely to be upgraded to IP in the next 12 months. News, in-venue production and—surprisingly—OB trucks are least likely to have seen IP implementations according to the broadcaster respondents.

The most surprising finding from the survey was the preference of almost 50% of buyers for dedicated hardware appliances to run their IP infrastructure for live production. This runs counter to the approach of “early adopters” and suppliers’ belief that 30% of customers are deploying on COTS, compared with 14% of customers themselves.

Almost half of buyers feel the main outcome of IP infrastructure is adding technical complexity (compared with a quarter of their suppliers). Enabling business efficiency is a much lower priority for buyers (16%) than for vendors (39%)

Speaking about the survey’s findings, Robert Ambrose, co-founder of Caretta Research, says: “Our research reveals how adoption of IP infrastructure isn’t as mature as the industry sometimes thinks. While more than half of broadcast and media companies have now deployed ST 2110, it’s still most likely to be found in ‘IP islands.’

“But at a time when broadcasters are under huge pressure to be more efficient, many are at risk of missing out on the real benefits of IP, like enabling more flexible software-defined workflows to make more efficient use of expensive facilities," he added. "It’s crucial that facilities see IP infrastructure as a transformation, not just a like-for-like replacement of SDI routers.”

TV Tech’s November/December issue will include a deeper dive into the survey’s results. Click here to receive a free copy.

Overall, survey respondents represented a broad geographical spread, with 34% from Europe and 37% from North America. Over 70% of those who took part in the survey have more than 10 years of experience in the industry.

Ahead of NAB Show New York (Oct. 21–22), TV Tech surveyed a group of key exhibitors to find out which tech trends are on their radar and what key products they plan to highlight at the Javits Convention Center, including Matt Williams-Neale, vice president of marketing and communications at Appear.

TV Tech: What do you expect will be the most significant technology trends this year at NAB Show New York?

Matt Williams-Neale: Recent conversations at IBC2026 reinforced demand for adaptable infrastructure, and we expect that to continue at NAB Show New York. Broadcasters want to combine hardware, software and cloud according to each workflow, while developments such as DMF [Dynamic Media Facility] and MXL [Media eXchange Layer] for interoperable, software-defined broadcast facilities are part of more practical discussions.

With the upper C-band set for auction by July 2027, broadcasters using C-band satellite capacity need to plan their move to IP now. They want a phased migration that maintains broadcast-grade control and reliable live services.

Live production workflow is equally important as sports coverage expands across more venues and increases in scale. Customers need low-latency transport from venue to production facility or cloud, with secure connectivity and resilience over networks with unpredictable performance. These requirements are shaping investment in remote production as teams look to cover more events without an increase in resources.

TVT: What’s your key product announcement for the show, and what problem does it solve?

MWN: At NAB Show New York, we're highlighting how our X Platform hardware and VX software solutions work together across live event contribution, IP distribution and live production workflows. Broadcasters need to deliver more content while controlling costs and making better use of their infrastructure.

X Platform provides low-latency processing and predictable performance at the venue, while VX extends contribution feeds into the cloud and enables processing and workflow functions to run in software. This gives teams more options for expanding remote production across different event scales.

Hardware-accelerated SRT enables secure transport over unmanaged networks, helping broadcasters transition from satellite, leased circuits and SDI infrastructure. Customers can introduce these capabilities in stages, retaining dedicated hardware where performance is critical and adding software as their production requirements evolve.

TVT: How does this new solution stand out from what’s available on the market?

MWN: Our approach combines X Platform hardware and VX software so customers can choose where to run different parts of their workflow while maintaining control over live production. VX is natively integrated with X Platform, allowing teams to introduce software processing while retaining dedicated hardware where predictable performance matters most.

Support for JPEG XS, SRT and ST 2110 gives customers the flexibility to accommodate changing formats and production models within the same infrastructure, reducing the need to replace systems as requirements evolve. Support for multiple codecs and hardware-accelerated SRT helps us address those requirements across different production scales, including contribution over unmanaged networks.

TVT: What makes NAB Show New York so essential for your business, and what brings you back each year?

MNW: We’re already successful in the U.S., and we strongly believe that there is further room for growth in North America. NAB Show New York gives us an opportunity to speak directly with customers and partners about their investment plans, from satellite-to-IP migration to expanding live event contribution and REMI. The value comes from the quality of those conversations and having the right people involved. Understanding how customers use our technology, where they need more flexibility and what they want us to develop helps shape our product priorities.

A successful show strengthens existing relationships and opens discussions around new projects. It gives us a clearer understanding of how U.S. broadcasters and production companies plan to operate, helping us support their requirements as we continue to grow in North America.

Visit Appear at NAB Show New York in Booth 129.

Brazilian broadcast network SBT has turned to Pebble’s automation platform to launch 24-hour network SBT News and enable future enhancements, including that country’s TV 2.5 standard, interactivity and dynamic ad insertion.

SBT (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão) is Brazil’s third-largest television broadcaster. Headquartered in Osasco, northwest of São Paulo, the network’s owned-and-operated stations and regional affiliates deliver national and local programming.

Pebble, which already serves as the foundation of SBT’s national channel automation, is supporting the broadcaster’s continued modernization of playout.

The project began when SBT’s legacy automation system was approaching the end of its life, limiting its ability to expand operations and improve efficiency. SBT evaluated playout automation solutions from vendors around the world against an extensive set of technical and operational requirements.

Working with its local distributor and systems integration partner Videodata, Pebble developed a comprehensive proof-of-concept demonstration to validate the proposed integrations, workflows and operational efficiencies. SBT said the successful demonstration gave it confidence the new platform could integrate with its existing infrastructure while providing the flexibility required for future development.

Pebble Automation provides precise, real-time control of graphics systems, servers, redundant routing and master control switching across SBT’s channels. It also integrates closely with the broadcaster’s traffic, scheduling and advertising systems.

The platform provides the media management layer, including movement, preparation, validation and approval of content for transmission. Its architecture delivers full redundancy for SBT’s national channels, supporting on-air reliability, operational resilience and continuity.

Pebble Remote provides secure, web-based access for authorized users to monitor and control the playout environment from any location, further increasing operational flexibility. Local and remote users can also access high-resolution content previews directly from their desktops without affecting critical transmission resources, Pebble said.

“First, Pebble Automation provides a much more advanced and user-friendly interface than our previous technology,” said Levy Kroiss Neto, director of TV technology and operations at SBT. “Even more importantly, it brings modern software that makes us much more agile.

“With this project, we are ready for a new generation of TV, including greater interactivity and dynamic ad insertion,” Neto continued. “This is the first stage of a major program to renew our complete delivery infrastructure, and Pebble Automation is the foundation for everything to come.”

The addition of SBT News is an example of that flexibility. The news channel was integrated into the existing Pebble playout environment rapidly and with an excellent cost-benefit ratio, allowing SBT to expand its channel portfolio without requiring a fundamental redesign of its infrastructure.

The wider SBT modernization program is designed to support SBT as television in Brazil moves from TV 2.5 into a new generation, alongside evolving requirements around interactivity, new services and advanced advertising models.

By combining automation, media management, integrated channel control, redundancy and secure remote access, Pebble provides SBT with a flexible foundation that can evolve alongside its delivery requirements.

The Pebble Automation platform at SBT Network Origination first went live at the end of 2025.

More information is available on Pebble’s website.

Not too long ago, pro AV and broadcast equipment occupied two separate worlds, defined by very different production goals and budgets. Today, those separate worlds are merging into one.

This convergence is dramatically reshaping the expectations surrounding wireless microphone deployments. Whether outfitting a corporate boardroom, university lecture hall, or major league sports stadium, end users now demand broadcast-tier reliability from all of their wireless mics.

Mark Donovan, director of commercial applications at Audio-Technica U.S., noted that wireless microphones have transitioned from event-driven tools to core infrastructure in installed AV systems. “Corporate, education, and government environments now expect wireless audio to perform with the same consistency as networked systems,” he said.

Unfortunately, delivering pristine, uninterrupted audio via wireless is becoming exponentially more difficult. As the demand for wireless connectivity in pro AV spaces skyrockets, the spectrum it uses is becoming more crowded. Navigating this increasingly congested RF environment requires a deep understanding of new transmission technologies, rigorous security protocols, spectrum policy and strict deployment best practices.

The most pressing trend affecting the state of wireless microphones today is the severe congestion within licensed frequency bands. The available real estate for wireless audio is disappearing, putting immense pressure on systems integrators to deliver reliable results.

Jens Pilz, Sennheiser’s spectrum policy and standards manager, points to a frustrating disparity between Pro AV and other technology sectors. “Other wireless industries ask for new spectrum with each generation of their technology,” he said. “The Pro AV industry is forced to stick to the same spectrum resources—or lose spectrum while other industries gain it, like Digital Dividend 1 and 2 in Europe [when broadcast TV moved from analog to digital, freeing up spectrum] or 600 MHz in the U.S. [the same].”

Consequently, as governments globally reallocate valuable RF spectrum, often to support mobile data, wireless microphone operators are being squeezed into smaller frequency bands. This reallocation makes finding clear frequencies incredibly difficult, said René Moerch, group director of wireless for DPA Microphones and Wisycom. “The ability to find usable spectrum, what I often describe as ‘parking spots,’ is becoming one of the most critical challenges in Pro AV today,” he explained.

Integrators are facing the same spectrum squeeze. “We [have to] find more channels in less space, both physically and in bandwidth loading,” said Jason Jacquemain, design engineer for American Sound’s Venue and Entertainment Division. “Refining the quality and agility of systems to cope with more crowded RF environments is a frequent challenge that we must overcome.”

According to Donovan, this reduction in available spectrum has forced a shift from convenience to intentional design. “Wireless systems can no longer be deployed casually in professional environments; they require planning, awareness, and a clear understanding of RF tradeoffs,” he said. Donovan noted the industry has been driven to greater adoption of alternative frequency bands, recognizing there is no longer a single “best” solution.

Pushing Limits and Technological Shifts
Is there a hard limit to the number of wireless microphones that can be operated in the same space? No one knows for sure.

"There’s no universal number," admitted Ben Escobedo, Shure’s account executive for professional audio. “The limit is determined by available spectrum, system efficiency, regulatory rules, and RF conditions in the specific location. Ten channels might be easy in one room and impossible in another due to outside RF interference.”

Lacking access to such a number, the best choice for Pro AV operators is to employ a mix of prudent signal coordination, system choices and disciplined deployments that don’t use more wireless microphones than necessary. “That’s why planning and testing matter more than channel count on a spec sheet,” Escobedo told SCN. “Performing an RF site survey is essential to ensuring one can deliver the channel count and performance that the user expects."

To maximize channel counts within these tight constraints, manufacturers are focusing heavily on RF efficiency and RF agility. RF efficiency refers to how many channels can be packed into a single channel (typically 6 MHz in the U.S.). RF agility refers to wideband tuning, which allows wireless systems to scan a massive range of frequencies to avoid interference and congested areas.

Thanks to digital’s better spectral efficiency and advanced security features, the wireless microphone industry’s move from analog to digital has made room for more channels. Plus, manufacturers are introducing novel transmission standards to bypass UHF congestion entirely.

For example, Sennheiser is championing both WMAS and DECT NR+. Short for wireless multichannel audio systems, WMAS is a wideband, bidirectional approach that allows wireless microphones and in-ear monitors (IEMs) to operate within the same section of RF spectrum. DECT NR+ uses the 1.9 GHz range—a band largely exclusive to DECT technologies—to support bidirectional communication adapted for higher audio fidelity.

Pilz views WMAS and DECT NR+ as complementary rather than competitive technologies. "In the core Pro AV world, these are more like tools in a toolbox, and for the right application, you need to select the right tool," he explained. "You shouldn't buy a product based on technology—you should buy the product based on your use case."

Added Donovan: “Manufacturers are addressing RF complexity by both adding capability and reducing user burden. On one hand, systems are becoming more sophisticated, with improved tuning control and coordination tools. On the other, they are becoming more automated, with features that simplify setup and ongoing operation.”

Securing the Signal
Because pro AV and broadcast applications are converging into unified, IP-centric environments, AV systems now routinely reside on corporate IT networks. This shift has raised security demands for wireless audio applications.

“Unencrypted wireless audio is no longer acceptable in many cases for both security and privacy reasons,” Escobedo said. “Whether it's a major financial institution hosting a town hall in NYC or a pop star about to perform at a halftime show, digital wireless systems often provide AES-256 encryption to ensure secure transmission.”

In this heightened security realm, users must understand the distinction between fully digital systems and digital hybrid systems. While fully digital platforms support AES-256 encryption, digital hybrid platforms prioritize absolute RF robustness and long-range resilience over encryption.

As a result, “digital hybrid technology does not support encryption,” Moerch explained. “For that reason, Wisycom solutions are typically deployed in applications where RF performance and audio quality are the top priorities, while environments requiring encrypted transmission, such as corporate or government use, are better suited to fully digital systems with built-in encryption, like the DPA N-Series.”

"Manufacturers are addressing RF complexity by both adding capability and reducing user burden," Donovan observed. "On one hand, systems are becoming more sophisticated, with improved tuning control and coordination tools. On the other, they are becoming more automated, with features that simplify setup and ongoing operation."

Even the most advanced, heavily encrypted wireless technology will fail if deployed without paying attention to today’s congested RF spectrum. "It seems most designers are having to truly relearn the best practices as a result of said overcrowding, limits, and security concerns," said Jacquemain.

To ensure consistent and reliable service, end users and integrators need to adhere to strict deployment strategies.

Assess your real needs first. "A great starting point is a quick reality check on true channel count needs," Jacquemain advised.

Check the spectrum. Never rely on guesswork when deploying wireless microphones. "Knowing what spectrum is available where you’re working is critical, including avoiding DTV stations," Escobedo said. Using software tools like Shure’s Wireless Workbench or built-in system scanners can help find the most useful frequencies.

Place antennas properly. Maintaining strict line-of-sight between the transmitter and the receiver antennas is crucial, because human bodies and structural obstacles absorb RF energy. "Proper antenna spacing is also important for true diversity performance, which is typically around half a wavelength [approximately 20 inches in UHF ranges]," Moerch added.

Be smart about transmission power. Higher transmit power does not automatically equal better performance—it often just raises the noise floor. "In many cases we are finding it is preferred to use lower output power but have a more robust antenna receiving system,” Escobedo said. “Keeping the output power low may allow one to multiplex [reuse] the same frequency elsewhere in the deployment."

Know when not to use wireless. In those situations where microphone mobility is not necessary, it makes sense to use wires rather than going wireless. "A mentor of mine often pointed out that setting up a wireless microphone involves deploying four cables: power, two antenna cables, and an audio cable," said Escobedo. "Sometimes a simple XLR cable to a wired mic can suffice for the intended application."

Despite all this, it's still possible to use wireless microphones successfully through the use of planning, spectrum checking before going live, and leveraging innovative technologies like WMAS and DECT NR+. Just plugging in a wireless microphone system and hoping it works—especially if it's part of a system that's old and outdated—is a risky choice in today’s congested RF spectrum.

Ultimately, as Donovan said, "The most reliable systems are those designed with realism in mind, anticipating challenges rather than reacting to failures."

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand SCN.

BURBANK, Calif.—In the Apple TV series “Pluribus,” nearly everyone on Earth becomes a part of a single consciousness, leaving a world without friction. The “joined” are good at everything because they are everyone, thus, they have the knowledge of every human being. They never disagree. The title of the show nods to the Latin “e pluribus unum”—out of many, one.

For “Pluribus” we had three editors—Skip Macdonald, ACE; Joey Liew; and me—each with our own episodes and unique styles and rhythms. Yet we somehow needed to make every episode feel like a part of the same show. Out of many, one—the Avid version.

Collaborative Minds
Collaboration in post isn’t always as easy as the hive mind might make it look. Our Emmy-nominated composer, Dave Porter, says every editor cuts to their own internal beats per minute, and the first thing he does with a scene is find that editor’s metronome. That’s three different metronomes that somehow need to find a singular tempo. And reconciling those tempos is an important part of our job in editorial.

This is where the technology comes in (but with much less drama than you find on our show). We’ve cut every Vince Gilligan series on Avid Media Composer going back to “Breaking Bad.” The media lives on Avid Nexis, and each editor works in shared projects on top of it. Media Composer’s bin locking sorts out who has control. For example, if Skip wanted something from an episode of mine—a music cue or a visual effect he’d like to match—he can simply access my Editor’s Cut bin and take it.

If I was currently working in that bin, the bin “lock” would show “red” in his view, while mine would stay “green” and neither of us would run the risk of wrecking the other’s work or interrupting a session to ask for control.

Our projects are organized with the same mindset—apply a standard architecture to keep it simple, while allowing for individuality to keep the creativity flowing. Every editor has a preference as to how their scene bins are built. Mine are labeled with scene number, a brief description and an indication as to how many minutes of footage are contained.

Dailies are racked in what Joey calls the “reverse Christmas tree”: A and B cameras side by side; group clips below. Any of us can find Scene 14 in another editor’s project in about 10 seconds, because our architecture is the same. The rest is just down to us editors communicating our intentions clearly with one another—a hive mind doesn’t have to, but we do.

Simplified Workflows
As for what I myself reach for day in and day out inside my timeline, I use nothing more often than Trim Mode. It stopped feeling like a tool a long time ago and has rather become an extension of my thoughts, enabling me to work quickly and intuitively.

Another tool that made me faster is Extend Edit, something Kelley made me learn before I moved on from being her assistant. And for a show where the many must move as one, I absolutely depend on Animatte—whether for simple splits to adjust performance timing or to create enormous composite shots, such as one high angle in Episode 103 that used nine to 10 layers, retiming background actors so they moved in lockstep.

In “Pluribus,” the joined never disagree because there is nobody left to disagree with—free will and individuality have been replaced by one common consciousness. Fortunately, Skip, Joey and I have maintained our individuality, found our singular voice in the cutting room by working together in Avid Media Composer, and the season is better for it. Because we never need to hunt for media or wait for someone to finish working in a bin, we can instead focus our efforts and ideas on the story, applying our unique tempos and reconciling them. Out of many, one.

More information is available on Avid’s website.

SANTIAGO, Chile—As Chile’s exclusive free-to-air rights holder for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Chilevisión was responsible for delivering reliable, high-quality coverage of one of the world’s most demanding live sporting events. We also wanted to give viewers access to an enhanced 4K Ultra HD experience while continuing to use the production infrastructure supporting our core HD service.

To achieve this, we worked with Appear, pay-TV operator ClaroVTR and cloud-video enhancement specialist Pixop to create a hybrid ground-to-cloud architecture. The deployment combined Chilevisión’s broadcast environment with Pixop’s cloud-based video enhancement platform hosted in AWS cloud infrastructure, enabling ClaroVTR to offer a dedicated 4K channel to subscribers throughout the tournament.

Premium Service Without the Heavy Lift
Our starting point was Chile­visión’s live 1080i HD-SDI program feed. Replacing the complete production chain with a native UHD system would have added significant cost and complexity. Instead, we used our existing feed as the source for cloud-based enhancement, allowing us to introduce a premium service while retaining our existing infrastructure and operational practices.

An Appear X20 sat at the heart of the contribution chain, encoding the 1080i signal using High Efficiency Video Coding and securely transporting it from our facilities to AWS cloud infrastructure using Secure Reliable Transport.

For live sports, this connection needed to deliver consistent performance with low latency. Appear’s hardware-accelerated SRT technology provided a robust link between our on-prem operation and the cloud, helping us maintain the quality and resilience required for continuous live coverage.

Once the feed reached AWS, Pixop’s AI-powered platform enhanced it in real time. The processing included deinterlacing, restoration, super-resolution upscaling and image optimization, transforming the interlaced HD source into a high-quality 4K UHD signal.

The enhanced output was then transported back from the cloud. A second Appear X20 received and decoded the signal, preparing it for downstream delivery by ClaroVTR.

Each partner had a clearly defined role: Chilevisión originated the live program feed; Appear connected the broadcast and cloud environments; Pixop performed the video enhancement; and ClaroVTR delivered the finished channel to its subscribers.

This open ecosystem was essential, allowing us to bring specialist technologies together within one end-to-end chain, rather than depending on a closed architecture or replacing systems that were already performing effectively.

An event on the scale of the World Cup places considerable demands on live production and distribution infrastructure. We needed the solutions we deployed to be technically robust, operationally flexible and capable of moving high-quality video between SDI and cloud environments without introducing unnecessary delay.

The X Platform brought these requirements together through high-density HEVC encoding, low-latency SRT transport and straightforward cloud integration. It provided the bridge between our facilities and the processing resources in AWS, while fitting into the wider architecture developed with ClaroVTR and Pixop.

The signal path remained clear throughout the project. Our HD-SDI feed was encoded and carried into AWS as an HEVC SRT stream, enhanced in real time and returned as a decoded 4K output for distribution. This made the system easier to manage and operate during the high-profile live event.

Crucially, it allowed us to adopt cloud processing where it provided a specific benefit without moving every part of the production chain off-premises. We could preserve the reliability of our ground-based infrastructure while accessing the flexibility and specialist capabilities available in the cloud.

Scalable Path to HD
This project demonstrated that broadcasters can introduce new cloud-based services without undertaking a wholesale infrastructure replacement. By using the Appear X Platform to connect established broadcast technology with AWS processing, we added a dedicated 4K service practically and efficiently.

The deployment transformed our live 1080i feed into an enhanced UHD channel for ClaroVTR subscribers, giving Chilean audiences a new way to experience the World Cup. It also established a flexible model for future projects that need to combine the reliability of broadcast infrastructure with the processing capabilities of the cloud.

More information is available on Appear’s website .

ADELAIDE, Australia—At KOJO’s global postproduction and FX operations, moving large volumes of media is fundamental to our business. Each year, we transfer hundreds of terabytes of data ranging from large-format camera files captured on set through to final 4K masters delivered to distributors worldwide.

Historically, media of this scale was shipped on external hard drives or RAID systems. Using Signiant Media Shuttle allows us to accelerate transfers and deliver projects with greater speed and ease while eliminating the risks associated with transporting physical drives. Those shipments can experience significant delays and, in some cases, be lost altogether. Faster and more reliable transfers also help our clients meet demanding production schedules and delivery commitments.

Shooting ‘Jimpa’
Recently, we completed dailies and picture postproduction services for the feature film “Jimpa,” directed by Sophie Hyde, and starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow. Principal photography took place predominantly in Amsterdam, with additional filming in Adelaide, Australia, and Helsinki.

KOJO’s Adelaide facility served as the postproduction lab. During the European legs of the shoot, Signiant provided a flexible and reliable way for us to receive terabytes of camera data from Europe in Australia.

At the end of each shoot day, the camera data had to be backed up and processed so editorial could start cutting the following day. Signiant’s flexible storage options allowed us to establish a project-specific portal using an Amazon S3 cloud bucket. We could configure the storage location in Europe, enabling the Amsterdam DIT to upload camera data more reliably and efficiently than if the storage had been tied to our physical location in Australia.

Once the data was uploaded, I downloaded it to our local servers and verified it against the supplied checksum files and set reports. From there, I completed our usual dailies processing, generating viewing files for client review and editorial media for the assistant editor to sync and prepare. Alongside editorial feedback, we also provided media-clearance reports back to set. The DIT uploaded the camera data in packages of approximately 2 to 4 TB. Signiant allowed both teams to upload and download data around the clock across two time zones.

Over the five-week shoot, we transferred approximately 160 TB of data between Europe and Australia. Every upload and download through Signiant was secure, reliable and completed at speed.

We adopted a similar workflow for another feature film, “Wicker,” directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson and starring Alexander Skarsgård and Olivia Colman. Filmed in Budapest, the production required a secure off-site backup of its camera media. Although we did not provide full dailies processing on this project, using Signiant, we were able to transfer approximately 6 to 8 TB per shoot day to Australia, where the media was verified, archived and securely stored as a secondary backup.

Meets Stringent Signal Requirements
Signiant Media Shuttle has been KOJO’s preferred solution since July 2020. With TLS encryption, multifactor authentication and other robust security protocols, it meets the stringent security requirements of major studio productions. Combined with exceptional support from our account manager, it gives us, and our clients, confidence that valuable production media is protected throughout every transfer.

Ultimately, Signiant allows us to operate as a truly global postproduction partner, securely connecting productions anywhere in the world with our facilities in Australia and enabling our teams to deliver world-class picture postproduction without the barrier of geography.

More information is available on the Signiant website.

Anyone who has worked in the broadcast industry long enough has at least one story of taking something off the air—and when it happens, the pressure immediately kicks in to restore service as quickly as possible. In practice, that may involve hardware swaps, signal redirection and even repatching inputs and outputs.

Those time-sensitive situations don’t often allow for someone standing by to capture all the changes being made in the moment. And even when it is not an on-air emergency, sometimes changes need to be made rapidly, established processes fall by the wayside and documentation suffers from neglect.

Maintaining good documentation is central to any mission-critical system and this doesn’t change in the world of AI. Decades ago, systems design, maintenance and troubleshooting primarily involved working with purpose-built hardware and centered around signal flow. Systems were often planned on a chalkboard and designed on a drafting table.

Now, the scale and complexity of the systems have grown significantly. The introduction of computers to media brought with it powerful tools for creativity and efficiency, but also the complexity of software-based systems. Now, with the transition to IP, the documentation complexity compounds further.

And, as we step into the AI-infused future, both the complexity and potential for bad data increase yet again. We face a world where we must document virtualized systems and complex, nondeterministic software such as AI agents as they spread through our organizations. Modern approaches to media systems documentation are needed.

Our challenge lies now in the rapid expansion of documentation scope. The format we are familiar with is the AutoCAD detailed design drawing. This format has proven useful to illustrate signal flow and the physical layer. However, it can rarely capture all the important, logical details such as network configuration data.

The traditional broadcast drawing is insufficient. Just like during the transition to computer-assisted design many decades ago, those who embrace new methods and tools early on will benefit the most in the new documentation paradigm.

Shifting From Drawings to Data
Images, drawings and diagrams have always been one of the most effective ways for humans to interact with complex datasets. Computers, by contrast, are better suited to process huge amounts of numeric data. AI is now able to help us bridge these two worlds. Soon, many design engineers will be using AI to produce system designs. There are guaranteed to be differing opinions, but one principle is clear: data and visualizations both remain essential.

Drawings can be created from the data, and data can be updated instantly with changes made to drawings and even the real-world telemetry of system changes. A single source of truth becomes obtainable. Models can be trained on device configurations, network connectivity patterns, and efficient infrastructure design.

This means the right tools will be able to suggest requirements, develop high-level designs and, with human oversight, output the broadcast design artifacts for complete systems.

For teams that are not bound by legacy industry norms, it creates an opportunity to evolve into a completely new world of design processes. Consider Netbox, an open-source tool for network documentation upon which Deloitte has built a broadcast toolset called Ndox.

Database-backed approaches aren’t new. AutoCAD has a database under the hood. But unlike AutoCAD, Netbox and Ndox are aligned with the underlying data model. Instead of just lines and rectangles, it’s a relational database of cables, devices and IP addresses. This approach allows users to keep drawings or new visualizations in lockstep with design information because they are generated directly on demand from the live database.

The IP Documentation Challenge
Data is intrinsic to modern broadcast documentation. What once was a stack of printed drawings now requires a folder of spreadsheets. The maintenance of that data is frequently where broadcasters encounter long-term challenges. And it is getting harder.

Just 10 years ago, IP addresses might have been stored in a basic Excel spreadsheet. However, with the introduction of ST 2110, this has quickly snowballed into a collection of spreadsheets to manage all the multicast signal data.

We now need more than just accurate records. We need a proactive means of validating, managing and identifying conflicts in the current system. To meet the constantly evolving needs of a modern broadcast facility, closing the loop between design, commissioning and ongoing monitoring becomes necessary.

The key is to go beyond system design and create a design system. This is the premise of tools like Ndox—a nexus of information for hardware, virtualization and all the connections between. This is also the point where AI has the potential to greatly enhance data quality, or if inadequate controls are in place, to corrupt it.

Where AI Fits, and Where it Creates Risk
AI significantly decreases barriers to entry for building tools that can manipulate critical systems. This offers many advantages but also introduces the risk that users less familiar with system intricacies may inadvertently compromise them. Even if users find AI assistance helpful, at the macro level, ungoverned AI usage may increase data silos and documentation sprawl. It can also lead to new operational risks.

AI can improve documentation, but to do so it must be folded into structured data processes and governance. We do not need hundreds of spreadsheets to be replaced by hundreds of custom-built, vibe-coded apps that do not talk to each other.

AI is starting to become a powerful tool to replace the tedious, manual efforts of engineers. However, AI has limitations. For example, the need to compress context can easily lead to loss of relevant data. To leverage AI properly, the best approach is to limit a given use to a narrowly defined scope.

AI works best at solving problems in small pieces. AI can’t yet grasp the decision-making factors of the technicians who have built today’s broadcasting facilities. Technology on its own will not replace human creativity and judgment.

As always, the theme here is change. Technical evolution is always underway. The challenge for you is to find that right moment to jump into the next wave. For documentation, that time is now.

John Footen is a managing director who leads Deloitte Consulting LLP’s media technology and operations practice. Lukas Odhner is senior engineering management leader at Deloitte, leading the development and adoption of Ndox, a database-driven design tool used by the Deloitte Media Solutions practice to accelerate the design and deployment of multiple greenfield broadcast facility builds. Julie Fleischman is a consultant in Deloitte’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications practice.

ATLANTA—Fox First Run produces and distributes syndicated programming for stations nationwide. With “25 Words or Less,” hosted by Meredith Vieira, we saw an opportunity to make a familiar daytime game show even more engaging and give viewers a more meaningful, active role in the program.

Beyond reaching our affiliate station partners, we also wanted to meet audiences wherever they are, delivering the same experience across Xumo Play and YouTube to allow people to watch and participate on the platforms they use every day.

During this past May, we ran a live syndication initiative for “25 Words or Less LIVE,” originating from Parlay Studios in Jersey City, N.J. During the run, we produced more than 38 live broadcasts, with two editions each weekday delivered to 18 stations across major U.S. markets, including many Fox owned-and-operated stations.

Live Syndication Workflow
Live syndication has very different operational requirements from distributing prerecorded programming because every station must receive the program at the right time and be ready to take it live. The workflow also needs to accommodate the requirements of different markets and platforms without disrupting the viewer experience.

Latency was one of our main challenges because audiences receive programming through several delivery routes, each with different characteristics. For a live show built around audience participation, the broadcast and streaming experiences need to remain in sync so viewers can respond collectively to what is happening on screen.

We worked with XR (Extreme Reach) and LTN to build the workflow for this run. XR managed the show’s distribution through its cloud-based syndication platform, while LTN connected the production facility with participating stations through managed IP transport and master control services. The stations themselves were equally important to the project—taking a live syndicated show in the middle of the day requires an expert staff and operational capacity at the local level.

Going live allowed us to build interaction directly into the program rather than treating it as a separate digital activity. Working with Tagboard, we incorporated live comments, gameplay and direct audience participation while the show was on air. Our “Super Fan” initiative helped viewers build a closer connection with the program, while live games offered prizes created specifically for the audience. Through the “Big Bet Challenge,” viewers could use virtual coins to predict the outcome of the game, while fans could chat live with Meredith during the broadcast. Viewers could respond to the action and participate as it happened, while stations supported the experience through social media and local promotions.

These efforts paid off. Stations and viewers loved it. We had incredibly positive feedback on the one-hour live editions, which increased awareness and encouraged loyalty by giving audiences more reasons to return and participate. That connection is increasingly valuable as viewing habits continue to spread across broadcast and digital platforms. It keeps audiences coming back.

Power of People
Live viewer participation with syndicated programming isn’t new. For decades, audiences have called in to weigh in on live programming, but participation was often limited by busy phone lines and tape delays. This project demonstrated how modern, cloud-enabled distribution can support live, interactive programming with the reliability national television requires.

The four-week run also showed us the power of people, and that technology cannot solve every challenge on its own. A national model depends on stations having the staff and operational capacity to take a live program during the day. Wider adoption of these kinds of live initiatives will require an approach that works for affiliates with different resources, particularly those in smaller markets.

This was the type of innovation we enjoy most at Fox First Run—using creativity and future-ready technologies to help engage viewers in meaningful ways. We’ll continue exploring live and interactive programming where it fits the format and station requirements. Live always has been, and will remain, a huge differentiator in broadcast.

More information is available on the LTN Global website.

MEXICO CITY—As a post producer at Caffeine, a global creative postproduction studio with a presence in Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York, my team and I work on projects for some of the world’s leading content providers and streaming platforms, as well as many independent films from Latin America and the United States.

Caffeine was co-founded by CEO Adrián Geyer, and we offer editorial, color grading, VFX, motion graphics, sound design and finishing for a diverse clientele. At the heart of our post workflow is DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud.

Matching the Dark Scale of the Narrative
Recently, I worked on “Aquí hay dragones” (“Here Be Dragons”), a dystopian, preapocalyptic feature film directed by Iria Gómez Concheiro. Set in Mexico, the film is wrapped in a dark and tense atmosphere of totalitarian government and social betrayal. At the center of the story is a strong female character whose journey drives much of the film’s emotional and narrative force. What fascinated me about this project was the immense challenge of bringing such a dark, visually ambitious and complex world to life, requiring a postproduction infrastructure capable of matching the scale of its narrative.

As the online and digital intermediate editor, I was the technical and creative bridge, keeping fluid communication across all the departments at Caffeine. My main responsibility was ensuring that the media conformed perfectly and that the transitions between editing, VFX and color grading in DaVinci Resolve Studio were completely seamless.

The main challenge in post was connecting our head colorist, working remotely, with two of our in-house colorists and me. To achieve this, we deployed a dedicated point-to-point network for high-speed media transfer and collaborative remote workflow with Blackmagic Cloud.

This workflow is used exclusively for independent projects; projects for streaming platforms follow their own required security protocols and workflows. Using path-mapping mirroring, our media was automatically synchronized across locations the exact moment it was ingested into the project. This allowed our remote head colorist to conduct real-time remote grading sessions on DaVinci Resolve Studio with the DP, who was sitting in our grading theater at Caffeine. This allowed the DP to see the live changes at maximum quality and with no perceptible latency while the colorists worked.

Simultaneously, I was able to handle conform and intermediate finishing tasks natively. This unified ecosystem meant we could manage late editorial updates, handle finishing fixes and fine-tune color without bottlenecks.

Agility, Security and Speed
The overriding benefit of our workflow was unmatched agility, security and collaborative speed. In traditional workflows, remote color-grading and multidepartment collaboration often results in downtime, massive storage duplication and constant file rendering. With DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud, nobody ever had to stop operations. Our local and remote team worked as if they were in the same room, drastically reducing delivery times while maintaining the highest creative standards.

Tools such as Offline Reference and Viewer Background were lifesavers, allowing us to quickly check alignment and detect any accidental blanking issues in the frame. On the finishing side, the Compare With Current Timeline feature was indispensable, as I was able to spot changes instantly and conform the new scenes without disrupting the ongoing color work.

On the online and finishing sides, the sheer versatility of DaVinci Resolve Studio allowed me to perform essential cleanup tasks directly within the Fusion page using tools like Paint and Patch Replacer. Handling these fixes within my linear timeline streamlined our finishing dynamics, eliminating the need to generate external plates for a separate VFX department and significantly reduced machine downtime and rendering overhead.

Generally, managing a nonlinear, multi-location workflow under tight deadlines without halting operations is a challenge, but thanks to Blackmagic Cloud’s real-time synchronization and DaVinci Resolve Studio’s all-in-one architecture, we accommodated late editorial adjustments seamlessly. We resolved complex VFX cleanups, screen inserts and remote color grading on the fly, transforming what is usually a stressful bottleneck into a smooth, everyday routine at Caffeine.

More information is available on Blackmagic Design’s website.

In my August column, I explored cloud resource monitoring—placing emphasis on private clouds, data centers and cloud structure—and introduced the needs and requirements for scalability and monitoring. As a brief review and to set the tone for the conclusion, the definition of scale has multiple interpretations.

Scale
“Scale” can mean “size,” or the dimensional physical property usually associated with ground space. Scalability refers to that space’s ability to (easily) expand to house more space, equipment or growth.

For instance, in computing, Lenovo describes scale as a system’s ability to handle growing amounts of work, data or users without losing performance or stability.

When discussing storage—such as disk drives or arrays—core scaling is described as vertical scaling, or “scaling up.” To scale up is to add more power, such as faster CPUs or GPUs, more memory or larger storage capacity, especially on a single machine or server.

Horizontal scaling, or “scaling out,” means to add more individual computers or servers to share the workload.

Other meanings in computing include “UI scaling,” image scaling or using a mathematical multiplier to convert a range of numbers or values to fit a specific digital format.

Cloud Scaling
Cloud scaling is the ability of cloud computing infrastructure to dynamically adjust resources—like computing power, storage or network bandwidth—either up or down to match changing workloads.

Unlike traditional, chassis-centric physical servers (or frameworks), which typically require manually adding physical components as in hardware upgrades, cloud environments scale almost instantly using automated software.

Fig. 1 shows a breakdown of how clouds scale, the mechanisms they use and how that differs from traditional infrastructure.

Clouds scale, in part, like computers or storage (i.e., horizontally, vertically or diagonally)—as described earlier—with diagonal scaling adding a dynamic, real-time element.

Dynamic Scaling
All clouds need to behave dynamically—that is, to expand or contract in reaction to the needs or demands of clients using their services. Diagonal scaling is a hybrid of vertical and horizontal scaling in which a system first scales horizontally, adding more instances until it hits a limit.

Those instances are then upgraded vertically to larger sizes to handle even more intensive workloads. Often, the larger size means bringing on additional equipment that waits in standby until the management system calls upon it, or when the software that requires those services demands it.

Road maps, associated in part with artificial intelligence, will be a system’s ability to “self-scale.” Here, a cloud enables DevOps pipelines to automatically allocate computing resources based on real-time traffic and, as demands spike, the system employs “auto scaling” to ensure the application doesn’t crash.

Monitoring
Both human and machine-based monitoring systems must interchange and, in turn, support commercial and technical scalability to accommodate rapid growth and evolving needs. Bugs will trigger other routines that can automatically change flows, spin up alternative code sets and even halt the testing process while another fix or solution can be deployed to serve as corrective actions.

This further enables the active system to avoid large up-front commitments and to prefer solutions that scale easily as needed. Alternative solutions can then demonstrate immediate value without extensive proof of concept.

“Technical scalability” promotes easy expansion without significant additional effort or cost—up front or downstream.

Service Mechanisms
Automated systems are engineered into the cloud “package” specific to the service provider and are typically key marketing and performance factors. Such systems depend on automation to make these transitions “seamless” and usually “hands-off” for users, except in specific cases in which the cloud model has been contracted to scale based upon various factors.

Those factors can include overruns or the need to meet time-constrained deadlines or demands, using tools such as “load balancers,” which act as traffic directors that sit in front of the application. As new servers are added (via horizontal scaling), the load balancer (Fig. 2) automatically starts routing a portion of the incoming user traffic to them, so that no single server gets overwhelmed.

Another tool available is serverless computing. This form of scaling (such as AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions) is where developers write code and the cloud provider handles everything else. If zero people use the app, zero servers run. If 10,000 people trigger the app at the same second, the cloud instantly runs 10,000 parallel copies of the code.

Remember that scaling is the system’s capability to handle growth, focused on long-term capacity planning or meeting a specific high-demand baseline.

However, while often used interchangeably with scaling, elasticity is the speed and fluidity with which the system handles both spikes and drops in real time (focused on immediate adaptation to fluctuating demands). Fluidity means the smooth, seamless and automated movement of resources as they expand and contract in real time. Zero human intervention is the action where cloud (and AI) systems need to shrink and expand automatically based on live demand, without needing a human to manually approve or configure new servers.

Instant adaptability refers to “continual availability,” “load predictability/reactivity” and “reactional monitoring”—each are key parts of a cloud’s enterprise solution. For example, when an app goes viral on social media, compute resources must flow into the system within seconds to handle the spike. When the “viral” rush ends, those resources must drain away just as fast.

Cost efficiency is where cloud providers advertise that “you only pay for what you use.” The system is engineered with a fluid infrastructure and automatically changes the scale of service, with the cost dynamics (aka billing) remaining flexible. As a result, the cloud provider seldom leaves expensive, unused servers sitting idle when traffic is modest, but it is ready to provision those servers and bring them online nearly instantly.

A robust monitoring platform should also have a large ecosystem of free, vendor-backed integrations. Open-source solutions often require ongoing maintenance and custom integration efforts. Many startups lack comprehensive, supported integrations. They prefer vendor-backed integrations from stable, established companies to ensure support and reliability.

Up-to-Date Documentation
Good and current documentation is essential for quick setup and ongoing maintenance, whether for cloud-only or AI applications. Clear, up-to-date, software-centric documentation supported in the cloud will allow for both manual and automated diagnostics reporting and analysis. Complete documentation should be detailed, accessible, and include human-readable screenshots. It should be linked to those subroutines for quick reporting that can be married into an AI training process.

By employing a large language model (LLM), testing and monitoring systems can quickly locate and isolate both the code and the instructions to speed diagnosis and corrective identification. By using an LLM library of diagnostic processes, anyone can be tagged into the testing process, alleviating the need for specialized subject matter experts during nominal testing, unnecessarily spinning up changes or manipulating core systems.

Configurable Monitors and Alerts
Monitoring tools should allow for easy configuration of persistent, reliable monitors and alerts, i.e.:

• Monitors should adapt to infrastructure changes without breaking.  
• Tag-based queries should enable comprehensive and flexible alerting.  
• Persistent alerts should ensure continuous monitoring regardless of environment changes.

Real-Time and Collaboration Integration
Alerts must be efficiently routed to the right stakeholders, consisting of project managers, SMEs and software owners. Avoid alerts buried in email or unsupported notification systems. They must integrate with downstream tools like PagerDuty, ServiceNow or customized workflows. Centralized monitoring should support combined infrastructure and DevOps process alerts for faster troubleshooting.

Developer Access Without Infrastructure Exposure
Developers often need access to performance data without risking security or compliance violations. Key practices include:

• Providing secure, read-only access to logs, metrics and traces. 
• Giving developers access to relevant troubleshooting data without having to wade through cloud infrastructure access policies.
• Creating safe environments where developers can monitor code and deployment integration securely to speed infrastructure development and flow, reducing risks from failure or security compromises.

Monitoring tools should integrate relevant data from all phases of the DevOps cycle—often in real time—rather than requiring teams to linger on lengthy reports that require multiple sign-offs before moving through each step of the diagnostic model set.

Comprehensive enterprise DevOps monitoring requirements for the cloud will likely evolve through each cycle and should be thought of in future uses and applications. This is especially useful where a system can self-train cloud servers to move through effective procedures, minimizing no results and unnecessary repetitive processes.

NEW YORK—Ads aired during Spanish-language television broadcasts were 50% more impactful than English-language TV ads over the past year, according to research released today from EDO.

The research, presented in the analytics firm’s third annual “Spanish Language TV Outcomes Report,” is based on 1.3 million ad airings and 332 billion impressions across 631 brands. EDO said it applies the same measurement standard to each advertiser, network and language, giving the industry a single, comparable view of what's actually driving outcomes across an increasingly fragmented TV landscape.

The report comes following 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage and Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny performing a solo headline Super Bowl halftime show—two contributors to a landmark year in Latino culture, EDO said.

The average Spanish-language ad was 24% more effective than the average English-language ad on a per-person, per-second basis—even after controlling for audience size. That edge held across genres, with Spanish-language content outperforming English-language programming by 44% in scripted entertainment, 48% in news and 9% in reality programming.

“Spanish-language TV (SLTV) is no longer just the most overlooked opportunity in advertising—it’s also one of the fastest-growing,” said Laura Grover, senior vice president and head of client solutions at EDO. “For years, the average SLTV ad has delivered more bang for the marketer’s buck by driving stronger engagement than the average English-language TV ad. But over the past year, this delta has grown even wider, delivering stronger outcomes across brand categories and measurable business impact for advertisers.”

The report also highlights standout brand performance during the World Cup. Telemundo's on-screen hydration-break sponsorships, a first for the tournament, drove 39 times as much impact as a typical ad on English- or Spanish-language TV.

McDonald’s ads during the hydration break were 438% more effective than the average SLTV World Cup advertiser, while creative from Airbnb and Ford both outperformed the World Cup field by triple digits.

The value didn't end when the final whistle blew. Only 19% of creatives that debuted during the World Cup ran elsewhere on SLTV afterward, EDO reported, but those that did kept performing, driving 43% greater effectiveness than the SLTV average when airing during soccer coverage post-tournament and 15% more during nonsoccer programming.

The “Spanish Language TV Outcomes Report” is available for download.

NEW YORK—Multiscreen TV ad campaigns deliver a 2x incremental return on ad spending and drive 2.4 times more web visits compared to using only one or the other, according to new research from Comcast Advertising.

The ad division of Comcast today released its latest “Multiscreen Performance Report,” which reflects the evolution of its flagship multiscreen TV advertising report.

The report demonstrates how advertising impacts outcomes throughout the buyer journey by combining Comcast Advertising campaign data with insights from independent measurement sources to examine performance across attention, reach consideration, and website activity for advertisers of all sizes.

It also found that sports streaming campaigns, fueled by events like the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, March Madness, and the FIFA World Cup 2026, had a 52% unique reach, capturing hard-to-reach households 10x more effectively than TV alone.

“Advertisers are under more pressure than ever to prove their media dollars are performing, which is often measured only during conversion. In reality, it starts earlier: when quality access meets the right data to capture true attention,” said Dawn Lee Williamson, chief revenue officer for Media Solutions at Comcast Advertising. “When TV and streaming are paired together, it helps brands capture attention and stay top-of-mind to help drive the measurable results they need. We hope this research helps advertisers make more informed decisions about where and how to invest their media dollars.”

Other report findings:

• Attention to ads drives memory of brands. Compared to social media, TV exposure leads to 36% more time viewing an ad and 2.2 times higher brand recall, and;
• Traditional TV delivers 71% of unique multiscreen; streaming delivers 21%. There is 8% overlap between the two, demonstrating advertisers need to leverage both to maximize reach, and;
• Multiscreen TV campaigns generate 2.4x more website visits than single-tactic campaigns and are 105% more efficient at delivering those visits, and;
• The impact of addressable advertising delivered a 38% incremental sales lift because it was 2x more likely to reach the target audience and increase delivery among priority households.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Utopai Studios, an AI-native global entertainment studio today introduced the all-new PAI, its production intelligence platform for professional film and television, and Utopai X, its video generation model. Together, PAI and Utopai X combine advanced video generation, production context and filmmaker-led workflows in a unified production system designed for feature films and television series, the company said.

Developed inside an operating film and television studio, PAI is built around the requirements of professional production. The platform helps filmmakers plan shots, develop assets, generate footage, review takes and manage revisions while keeping the production’s screenplay, characters, locations, assets and creative decisions connected throughout the process.

Utopai X provides the video generation layer within PAI and ranks No. 2 globally on Artificial Analysis’ Text-to-Video Leaderboard With Audio, with an Elo score of 1,150, nine points behind the No. 1-ranked model, according to the company, which adds that Utopai X is also the highest-ranked model from a U.S.-based company on the leaderboard.

Artificial Analysis evaluates video generation models through blind human-preference testing, in which participants compare outputs without knowing which model generated them. Those preferences are used to calculate the Elo scores that determine the rankings.

Utopai X is designed for professional production, with strengths in complex visual behaviors including reflections and caustics, as well as world understanding and high-level spatial consistency. These capabilities help maintain visual continuity and environmental coherence as shots become more complex.

Within PAI, a screenplay can be analyzed and organized into scenes and shots while characters, locations, objects, visual references and production decisions remain connected to the project. Production Assistants, Utopai Studios’ AI agents within PAI, use that context to help filmmakers plan shots, develop ideas and create new iterations, while filmmakers determine what to create, keep and revise.

Filmmakers can develop a shot within PAI, use Utopai X to generate footage and compare multiple takes in the same production environment. Previous versions remain available as the work develops, and selected footage can move into the editing process and established post-production workflows including Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve.

Utopai Studios is already applying PAI and Utopai X to its own film and television productions, including “The Most Serious Fart,” the upcoming animated feature written and directed by Mike Bender.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—A majority of state residents polled wants Alabama Public Television (APT) to continue its relationship with PBS, but among those who expressed an opinion slightly more than half perceived a political leaning in its coverage.

The findings, part of a poll conducted by the firm Cygnal, were released Sept. 29 coinciding with a public meeting of the Alabama Educational Television Foundation Authority (AETFA).

An article by Ben Sessoms on the website Alabama Reflector website reported that at an October 2025 meeting of AETFA, an authority commissioner said he opposed PBS programming due to perceived political bias.

According to the Cygnal poll, of the 363 respondents that offered an opinion, 32% said APT programming leans politically liberal, 20% perceived a conservative bent and 47% said the programming is generally balanced. A total of 237 of the poll’s 600 respondents were unsure.

The poll also asked respondents about whether or not APT stays within the bounds of state law prohibiting the broadcasters from carrying propaganda, attempting to influence legislation or engage in political campaigns. Of the 341 respondents answering the question, 218 said the broadcaster stays within the requirement. A total of 123 said it does not, and 259 were unsure.

When it comes to news fairness, respondents gave APT high marks. Among those who watch APT coverage of the state legislature, “PBS NewsHour” and “Capitol Journal,” 158 found coverage to be fair and even-handed, while 73 thought it was unfair or one-sided. A total of 202 said they do not watch APT news programming, and 167 were unsure.

Despite the mixed bag when it comes to political leaning and news fairness, most respondents (54%) said they favored maintaining support for PBS programming, while 18% were against it, and 28% were unsure.

The poll of 600 Alabama citizens was conducted Sept. 20-23. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. Known registered voters were interviewed via live phones and SMS, and the survey was weighted to a general population universe, Cygnal said.

The latest in the ongoing battle between the Trump administration and the media erupted in late September, with the White House TV pool members—NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox—saying they would stop providing pool coverage of presidential events.

The organizations were prompted to do so because of President Donald Trump’s Sept. 18 decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Three days later, the three media organizations sued to reverse the ban.

To save a bit of time and guard against forgetfulness, it seemed wise to ask Google Gemini to “list the actions of the FCC and other federal departments or agencies against TV organizations during the second Trump administration.”

Nine items popped up, including the early license-renewal review and threats against ABC/Disney; an equal-time rule challenge involving ABC O&O KTRK-TV Houston and “The View”; news-distortion inquiries into CBS related to the editing of a 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, then a presidential candidate; the defunding of public television; and several others.

Regardless of one’s political leanings, it’s safe to say the state of affairs between the media and the Trump administration can at best be described as strained. All of this makes one wonder whether the Federal Communications Commission, which has an open notice of proposed rulemaking on the transition to ATSC 3.0 and sunsetting of ATSC 1.0, can set aside any animosity that may have festered as these skirmishes with the media have unfolded.

To date, the regulator has shown its ability to do so. Look no further than the national broadcast ownership cap, widely regarded as the industry’s No. 1 priority going into Trump’s second term. In August, the FCC adopted a report and order replacing the 39% cap with a new approach based on case-by-case reviews.

Of course, there has been one legal challenge and more are expected, but the fact the agency rose above it all may bode well for broadcast TV as the FCC moves forward on what may be the industry’s No. 2 priority for this administration. That’s not to suggest broadcasters will get everything they want from a rulemaking on the 3.0 transition and 1.0 sunset, but it at least demonstrates the agency—and its flesh-and-blood commissioners, each with his or her own thoughts, experiences and biases—has the capacity to consider the issues in the NPRM fairly.

Setting aside the ongoing feud between the administration and media, it’s important for regulators to remember what’s riding on a successful 3.0 transition. A rulemaking that establishes a date or dates certain to sunset 1.0 and authorizes broadcasters to flip the channel-sharing script to free up additional TV spectrum is necessary if the industry is to reach its full potential in serving the public interest.

Freeing up additional spectrum by sunsetting 1.0 will enable broadcasters to devote bits they do not have today to delivering emergency alerting and information messages far superior to today’s Emergency Alert System. Devoting additional spectrum to 3.0 will even enable terrestrial delivery of precise timing data to back up vulnerable satellite-based GPS service.

Time will tell if the FCC can continue to rise above it all. One can only hope.

ESPN delivered its most-watched WNBA regular season ever in 2026, marking the third straight year that regular season viewing set records.

Across 29 games, the WNBA on ESPN networks averaged 1.37 million viewers, up 17% year-over-year.

ESPN presented 17 games this season, averaging 1.24 million viewers, up 32% year-over-year, while 12 games on ABC averaged 1.56 million viewers, up 9% year-over-year.

The historic season also delivered significant growth among younger audiences. Viewership among persons 2-17 increased 29% year-over-year, while persons 18-24 grew 27%.

Non-Indiana games averaged 984,000 viewers, up 24% year-over-year and its WNBA Countdown show averaged 595,000 viewers, up 27% year-over-year.

The record-setting season was highlighted by five games averaging more than 2 million viewers. Those games were:

• Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream – Aug. 16, ESPN: 2.58M viewers
• Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky – Aug. 8, ABC: 2.56M viewers
• Indiana Fever at Minnesota Lynx – Aug. 2, ABC: 2.52M viewers
• Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever – May 9, ABC: 2.49M viewers
• New York Liberty at Indiana Fever – Aug. 11, ESPN: 2.01M viewers

Indiana Fever-Atlanta Dream on Aug. 16 led all WNBA games across ESPN networks this season and became the most-watched WNBA regular-season or postseason game ever on cable.

SAN FRANCISCO—Local television news faces a stark generational divide, according to new consumer research released by #FutureOfTV.Live, a quarterly research initiative from Ring Digital.

Just 10% of 18–24-year-olds watched local TV news during the previous week, compared with 64% of adults 65 and older—a 54-point gap.

Daily television viewing shows a similarly large divide: 31% among 18–24-year-olds versus 81% among adults 65 and older.

The findings are part of the Fall 2026 #FutureOfTV.Live Report, based on a September survey of 1,376 U.S. adults, weighted by age and gender to U.S. Census population data.

"The challenge for local broadcasters isn't simply that pay TV is declining. It's that the next generation of viewers is developing an entirely different relationship with news and television," said Brian Ring, founder of Ring Digital and #FutureOfTV.Live. "The question is increasingly how broadcasters bring their programming into those new viewing behaviors—and then turn discovery back into tune-in."

The Fall 2026 research is sponsored by Big Blue Marble, a cloud and streaming solutions provider serving sports, news and broadcast clients globally.

The report covers a range of topics—vertical video, interactivity, and mobile video news—as part of a larger exploration of news audience behavior.

Among respondents who watched a local newscast, 35% said they last watched through a pay-TV service, compared with 18% through social media or YouTube, 13% through a free streaming app, and just 7% through the station's own app.

The report also found mobile news consumption is substantial. Based on the data, #FutureOfTV.Live estimates 108 million U.S. adults watch news video on their phones daily. Among surveyed mobile news-video viewers, Facebook and YouTube Shorts each reached 46%, followed by TikTok at 37% and Instagram Reels at 33%.

The research also tested possible solutions to the challenges this shift presents. It reports a positive audience reaction to low cost, high ROI interactivity used in CNN's late-night programming. It also tests a "TikTok meets TV Guide" concept designed to use short-form, vertical video discovery to drive viewers into live and linear programming.

The full report is available here. Read the full research and analysis at #FutureOfTV.Live.

New data from Parks Associates shows that the number of standalone streaming services continues to decline in the U.S. market, with the research company’s Streaming Video Tracker reporting ten US streaming service profiles were phased out in Q2 2026 as many services rebrand and reorganize their content and brands.

Notably, Paramount Skydance ended BET+ as a separate service and consolidated that content within its flagship Paramount+ streaming service.

The Streaming Video Tracker also started tracking two new services last quarter, OG Network and TrueTVplus.

Overall, there were 336 standalone streaming services in the U.S. down from 366 in 2022.

Recent market changes highlight an active streaming market where services are closing, consolidating, or moving content to different distribution models, the researchers noted.

In particular, the market has been active regarding sports content, as providers experiment with the best strategies to capture sports fans and viewers:

For example, FIFA+ moved to DAZN, RidePass now operates solely as a FAST channel and FanDuel Sports Network shut down its television channels and streaming operations.

“Streaming services continue to experiment with the best ways to reach and monetize audiences,” said Michael Goodman, director, Entertainment Research, Parks Associates. “The movement of content from standalone apps to larger platforms and FAST channels shows how quickly distribution strategies are changing.”

In its monthly updates, the Streaming Video Tracker analyzes the strategies and emerging market trends when providers move content into larger offerings or launch new services:

• BET+ has been phased out by Paramount Skydance, and its content library has migrated to Paramount+ under a dedicated BET Hub.
• CTV Throwback and Movies moved to Crave.
• OHL Live transitioned its digital streaming content to FloHockey.
• Barça One was replaced by Barça Play, which is integrated into FC Barcelona’s app and website.
• OG Network and TrueTVplus were added to the tracker in Q2 2026. OG Network operates as an AVOD and FAST service, while TrueTVplus launched as a FAST platform with programming across sports, independent films, documentaries, and lifestyle content.

Parks Associates will host the industry webinar “Streaming Video: Churn, Loyalty, and Competition” on September 24, where the firm’s analysts will share research and comment on market trends and the implications for service providers and content owners.

While the introduction of AI-enabled smart glasses has prompted widespread privacy concerns, a new report and survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan finds that AI-enabled smart glasses are beginning to move beyond an emerging technology category and into everyday use.

The research, which highlights reported impacts on productivity, accessibility, and broader consumer experiences among US adults, found that more than 4 in 10 U.S. online adults’ expressed interest in or already own smart glasses. In addition, one in six owners use smart glasses to help manage a disability, with features supporting vision, hearing, and cognitive needs.

"Smart glasses are often discussed as a future technology, but many owners are already reporting practical benefits,” explained Neil Barbour, industry analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Our findings suggest the category is beginning to evolve from another wearable device into a platform for contextual AI assistance, with applications spanning productivity, creativity, accessibility and everyday life.”

Other key findings include:

• The report shows that families adopt at nearly twice the general-population rate.
• 44% of smart glasses owners report greater productivity at work and at home, with hands-free access to information and communication cited as core benefits.
• More than a third of owners say smart glasses help them stay present in the moment, and nearly one in five reports spending less time looking at their phone.

As major streaming services work to control programming costs, a new study finds that streaming series are struggling with cancellation rates that are higher than broadcast TV.

“The Show Must Go Off," a new report from Luminate that takes a closer look at renewals and cancellations in a post-peak TV landscape, finds only 44% of streaming series were being renewed by the major SVODs.

In contrast broadcast networks’ renewal rates are now significantly higher than those of streaming services and cable channels, a reversal of the once-conventional wisdom that series would have an easier time surviving on streaming than on broadcast TV.

The networks renewed 65% of their output in 2025, Luminate reports.

New streaming hits are also in serious decline, with freshman series falling from half of U.S. scripted output on the major SVODs in 2022 to 42% in 2025. HBO Max was the only major service where freshman series increased as a share of total premieres in 2025, while only Apple TV and Prime Video increased their number of new shows.

That figure, however, excludes limited series.

The study also found that despite its reputation for aggressive cancellations, Netflix actually renewed the most shows among the major SVODs from 2022 to 2025, renewing about 50% of its U.S. slate on average.

Audience retention across a full season is the single strongest predictor of renewal or cancellation when it comes to streaming series. Shows have a much stronger chance of renewal if more than half of the viewers who start a season end up finishing it, with cancelled series in our dataset averaging 44% retention.

The Luminate streaming viewership data also indicated that SVOD shows with more than 50% audience retention between their season premiere and finale are usually renewed, but each service has a different benchmark for what they’ll accept; Apple TV appears to accept the lowest retention, particularly for prestige series like The Studio (28% over 120 days).

WASHINGTON—America's broadband providers invested $92.6 billion in U.S. communications infrastructure in 2025, a 3.4% increase over 2024 and the third-highest annual total since 2003, according to the 2025 Broadband Capex Report released by USTelecom – The Broadband Association.

Cumulative industry investment now approaches $2.3 trillion since 1996, extending the strongest sustained era of network investment on record.

The report ties this investment to a fundamental shift in how networks are used.

Average monthly broadband usage reached 767.4 gigabytes per subscriber in 2025, up 9.9% year-over-year, and Cisco projects AI and agentic AI adoption could drive a 6.6-fold increase in consumer network traffic by 2035.

More strikingly, upstream usage—prompts, photos, video and sensor data flowing back into the network—rose 21.7% in 2025, more than double the growth rate of overall traffic, as networks built for one-way streaming adapt to an increasingly two-way, AI-driven internet. Fiber's ability to deliver matching capacity in both directions, the report notes, makes it central to that shift, along with the 5G, fixed wireless and satellite networks that depend on fiber backhaul.

“Fiber isn't just wiring for today's internet – it's the load-bearing infrastructure for whatever comes next,” said Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom.

“In 2025, providers extended an era of historically high broadband industry investment—expanding rural reach, modernizing wireless networks, adding capacity, and pushing fiber deeper into communities,” the report states. “At its core, this investment reflects broadband providers' sustained commitment to ensuring that the opportunities created by American innovation reach every community.”

The full report is available here.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—New research indicates that in the streaming subscription businesses, not all subscribers are equally valuable. According to Hub Entertainment Research’s “Decoding the Default” 2026 study, the more engaged users are, the more likely they are to stay and the less likely they are to churn and drop subscriptions.

This has important implications for the problem of subscribers churning in and out of subscriptions, which increases marketing and retention costs.

The HUB researchers found that the clearest signal of that engagement is whether a viewer considers a service their default, which is to say it is the service they turn on first when they want to watch something.

Being the default service not only drives usage. The new Hub data indicates that across paid streaming, free ad-supported services, and live TV, a viewers' default services are far less likely to be canceled, often remain in households for years, and are the ones consumers are most likely to personalize and make their own.

More specifically the survey found that viewers’ default source is the last one to get cut. When viewers are forced to imagine keeping only one service, being someone’s default source is worth two to six times as much loyalty as simply being used.

Among all Netflix users, 28% say they’d keep it if they could only keep one service. Among users who call Netflix their default, that jumps to 62%. The gap is even wider for Disney+: 10% of all users would keep it alone, versus 61% of users for whom it’s the default — more than six times as loyal.

“This data illustrates why streaming’s metric of success is shifting from subscriber numbers to engagement,” said Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub Entertainment Research and one of the study authors. “It also suggests the benefits that might come from combining Fox and Roku, and partnerships like Peacock and YouTube Premium, or Netflix and TF1 in Europe. These all create combined services that have more than one ‘starting point’ than either platform does by itself. And if you give viewers a compelling reason to start with your service, they will use your service more and stick around longer.”

Default services are also long-lived: nearly 70% have kept the same one for more than two years, Hub reported.

The no-contract streaming era has made viewers notoriously fickle when it comes to subscription-hopping. But once a service becomes “home base” for TV, that relationship is much more stable. More than two thirds (69%) say they have subscribed to their current default source for more than two years.

The survey also found that viewers invest time to make their default “their own," which in turn makes them more sticky.

Most viewers say they’ve spent time making their default service “their own,” by creating profiles, building watchlists, and customizing the app settings. This is especially prevalent among younger viewers (a segment particularly hard to retain).

More specifically, two-thirds (68%) of viewers overall agree they’ve made their default source “their own” through a profile, watchlist, or saved preferences. Among viewers under age 35, that rises to 79%, compared with 62% of viewers 35 and older.

These findings come from Hub Entertainment Research’s “Decoding the Default” 2026 study, based on a survey of 1,600 U.S. TV viewers ages 16-74 with broadband access, U.S. census balanced, conducted in August 2026. It is part of Hub’s ongoing series of syndicated Hub Reports.

As live sports proliferates on streaming platforms and more viewers are watching live sports, new research from Premion and Advertiser Perceptions finds that demand for live sports streaming/CTV ad inventory is also growing.

The survey found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of advertisers plan to allocate budget to live sports streaming/CTV advertising over the next 6–12 months, driven by engaged fans and major live events. Agency demand is even stronger, with 79% planning to invest, compared with 65% of marketers, the study found.

At the same time, the study also indicated that advertisers also want better measurement, stronger proof of ROI and simpler ways to navigate an increasingly fragmented sports marketplace as they ramp up those investments.

“Live sports continues to deliver something incredibly valuable for advertisers: passionate audiences showing up in real time,” said Blake Hebert, head of publisher operations, Premion. “As more sports viewing moves to streaming, advertisers want to capture that engagement with greater precision, accountability and local relevance. The opportunity now is to make live sports easier to access, measure and prove across an increasingly fragmented landscape.”

Six in 10 advertisers (61%) say reaching highly engaged sports fans during live events is a top reason for investing in live sports streaming, making it the leading investment driver. More than half (52%) also point to capitalizing on live sporting events that draw large audiences.

The appeal goes beyond engagement and scale. 41% cite aligning their brands with premium live sports content, while 40% are looking to extend the reach and impact of linear TV campaigns and 37% want to connect with streaming-first or cord-cutting sports fans. The findings reinforce streaming’s growing role in extending linear reach and connecting advertisers with shifting sports audiences.

57% of advertisers rank audience delivery and geographic reporting down to the local market among their most important measurement capabilities, higher than any other capability tested. That local focus signals that advertisers want to know not only that they reached sports fans, but that they reached the right audiences in the markets that matter, the researchers reported.

Accountability also ranks high. 52% prioritize attribution following exposure to live sports advertising, while 49% prioritize transparent reporting across publishers and inventory sources. Another 49% prioritize measuring incremental reach beyond linear TV. The expectation is clear: prove audience delivery, quantify streaming’s incremental reach and connect exposure to outcomes.

The survey also found that four in 10 advertisers (40%) are investing in live sports streaming to extend the reach and impact of linear TV campaigns, while nearly half (49%) prioritize measuring incremental reach beyond linear TV.

The findings underscore how streaming and linear are increasingly working hand in hand. As sports audiences spread across screens, streaming helps advertisers extend linear reach while adding greater targeting and measurement, the researchers said.

In terms of barriers to investment, the survey indicated that cost is the top obstacle to greater live sports streaming investment. That factor was cited by 44% of advertisers, with difficulty measuring campaign performance and ROI close behind at 41%.

Other hurdles reflect the complexity of today’s sports marketplace. 35% cite a lack of transparency into campaign delivery and reporting, while 34% point to the complexity of buying across multiple publishers and platforms. Another 34% cite limited access to premium live sports inventory.

Notably, just 23% cite difficulty reaching sports audiences at sufficient scale, the lowest-ranked challenge. The gap is telling: reaching sports fans isn’t the primary obstacle. Cost, proving performance and navigating a fragmented marketplace are the bigger hurdles to greater investment.

“Our research shows advertisers already recognize the value of live sports streaming. The next step is removing the friction that can hold back greater investment, from buying complexity to transparency and ROI. Solving those challenges will help advertisers get more from live sports,” added Hebert.

Premion commissioned Advertiser Perceptions to survey 302 U.S. advertising decision-makers from August 3–11, 2026. Respondents were involved in media brand selection decisions and represented companies or clients with at least $1 million in planned advertising spend over the next 12 months. The sample included both agency and marketer respondents from the Advertiser Perceptions AdPROs Community and trusted third-party partners.

The full report is available here.

ESPN is reporting strong viewing numbers for its U.S. Open coverage, with Sunday’s US Open Men’s Championship match between Ben Shelton and eventual champion Alexander Zverev attracting an average audience of 3.2 million viewers on ABC, the largest viewership on record since ESPN began televising the tournament in 2009.

Viewership peaked at 4.0 million from 5:30-5:45 p.m. ET.

Earlier, Saturday’s Women’s Championship, won by Elena Rybakina over Aryna Sabalenka, averaged 2.7 million viewers, peaking at 3.2 million from 6:30-6:45 p.m. The audience was up 13% year-over-year (YOY) and was ESPN’s largest since 3.4 million watched Sabalenka and Coco Gauff in 2023.

The Men’s and Women’s championships combined to average 3.0 million viewers, up 9% YOY.

The All-American Friday night Men’s semifinal match between Shelton and Frances Tiafoe averaged 3.1 million viewers, peaking at 3.7 million between 10:45-11 p.m., the largest Men’s semifinal audience on record for ESPN. The earlier semifinal match with Zverev defeating Karen Khachanov averaged 1.2 million, with the two semifinals combining to average 2.2 million viewers, up 19% YOY.

Overall, the event ranks as ESPN’s most-viewed US Open since 2022. The two-week long tournament across ESPN networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) averaged 1.2 million viewers, a 4% increase YOY.

Other key viewing figures include:

• ESPN delivered its largest US Open opening day audience ever on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, 914K avg. viewers, up 13% YOY. Action on ABC averaged 1.25M avg. viewers, up 7% vs. 2025.
• The second round drew 834K avg. viewers on ESPN/ESPN2
• Third round across ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1.1 million, up +27% from last year and also standing as the most-viewed since 2022. ESPN2’s Saturday daytime telecast averaged 1.0 million viewers, up +31% from the comparable telecast last year, while ESPN2’s prime window (1.1 million viewers) was up +43%.
• Through the completion of the third round on Saturday, Sept. 5, ESPN had recorded its most-viewed since 2022 (avg. 846K)
• Third round viewership was boosted by Serena and Venus Williams competing in doubles during primetime, attracting an average audience of 1.2 million (peak 2.2 million from 10-10:15 p.m.) as they lost a three-set match to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint.
• Tournament average (through Women’s Semifinals): 1.0 million viewers, up 2% YoY, ESPN’s most-viewed US Open since 2022
• Quarterfinals average: 1.3 million viewers
• Tuesday primetime Quarterfinals window (7:30 p.m. – 3:40 a.m.): 1.6 million viewers, featured latest-finishing match in US Open history
• Women’s Semifinals: 2.2 million viewers, up 24% YoY, most-watched US Open Women’s Semis in ESPN history
• Women’s Semifinals peak (9:45-10 p.m. ET, Gauff vs. Rybakina): 2.6 million viewers

As a veteran of 25-plus IBC Shows over the past nearly 30 years, I can attest that navigating the annual gathering has its own particular quirks that distinguish it from the NAB Show, particularly the tone of the locale. Apart from the fact that Amsterdam is the “wet and humid” show and NAB is the “dry” show (but only when talking about the climate), IBC also represents a more relaxed tone that reflects the nature of the ancient city itself.

Nevertheless, most of the themes were similar, and before we set our sights on the next gathering (NAB Show New York), I wanted to share some of my thoughts around the central themes:

AI: IBC reported 41,225 attendees for the show, which ran Sept. 11-14 at the RAI Amsterdam, down 6% from 2025. Although consolidation, particularly among U.S. broadcasters, is often cited as one of the main reasons for the decline, I also think it represents a cooling off from the past three or four years, when interest was higher after COVID. (That’s not to mention that the number of attendees from the U.S. has declined since trade shows resumed in 2022.)

But I also think artificial intelligence is playing a role, as more processes become automated. I was reminded of this after hearing Grass Valley Chief Technology Officer Ian Fletcher’s rule that “complexity doesn’t go away, it just moves around.” As the process of media management, production and distribution becomes more automated and software-based, more people are moved out of the media production chain.

Seeing a software demo on the show floor can certainly have more impact than over Zoom, but is it still worth the cost of travel?

This is an ongoing issue that won’t be resolved by the oft-repeated trope that those same people who were doing rote tasks are simply being moved to other areas where they can “focus on other more important work.” Attrition is real and growing.

Collaboration: In our industry, companies have a long history of partnering with competitors, but that seems to be increasing—and this is more of a reflection of the increasing focus on software.

Nowhere was this better illustrated than by the growing influence and impact of MXL (Media eXchange Layer), a critical component of the EBU’s Dynamic Media Facility initiative. Tech demos showcasing partnerships between Grass Valley and Lawo, Matrox and EVS, as well as multivendor demonstrations at the Techex, Qvest and AWS stands, just to name a few, demonstrated how quickly MXL is moving beyond the proof-of-concept stage toward real-world deployment.

The EBU-led MXL initiative also received significant recognition at IBC, winning an IBC 2026 Innovation Award in the Content Creation category. The growing number of vendors incorporating MXL into commercial products and demonstrations suggests the technology is increasingly becoming part of the broader software-defined media ecosystem.

Cybersecurity: Alarmed over recent news of disruptions created by “rogue” AI agents, the security of media production systems was also top of mind for many attendees. As more media and media processing moves into the cloud, concern over potential vulnerabilities increases. This has prompted more production to become hybrid-based, with certain content and processes stored both in the cloud and on-prem.

It has also led to more interest in “MCP,” or Model Context Protocol, a framework that allows customers to establish guardrails to limit information accessible to AI agents.

Tariffs: The “T-word” was back, having been overshadowed by AI and the memory and chip shortages that were the talk of earlier shows. With many of the media tech industry’s largest companies based in Canada, President Donald Trump’s recent imposition of a 50% duty on targeted goods has forced some vendors to raise prices. And although some goods are exempt and vendors are attempting to absorb costs, the tariffs—along with the continued pressure on memory and chip availability worldwide—are cause for concern. However, the increased influence of software-defined production is helping to ameliorate the impact.

I’ll share more of my thoughts about my conversations with IBC exhibitors in the October issue of TV Tech.

NEW YORK—Nielsen has launched a data-enrichment solution within Nielsen Marketing Cloud to help publishers and brands combine their customer data with Nielsen's insights inside secure data clean rooms to sharpen ad targeting.

The solution became available on Sept. 15 for Nielsen Marketing Cloud clients in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

“Every company has valuable customer data, but there is often a massive blind spot about key audience attributes beyond their store, website or platform,” Nielsen Marketing Cloud General Manager Kirsten Cummings said. “For the first time, we’re allowing clients to use our deep Nielsen Marketing Cloud audience intelligence in their own secure cloud environments to build a more accurate picture of that customer so they can better personalize and target their campaigns. This marks the beginning of a broader initiative to make Nielsen Marketing Cloud’s media intelligence more accessible, actionable, and interoperable than ever before.”

In recent years, the industry has seen a shift toward the use of first-party data, which can often be incomplete or fragmented, Nielsen said. The solution will help customers maximize their use of Nielsen Marketing Cloud’s media intelligence database including consumer habits and media consumption data. This results in audience profiles that are ready for targeted campaigns and leads to more accurate segmentation, optimized campaign planning, and better programmatic ad inventory management, Nielsen said.

The solution is backed by Nielsen Marketing Cloud’s intelligence, which has more than 60,000 behavioral, demographic, media consumption and psychographic attributes, the company said. It also utilizes Nielsen Marketing Cloud’s ID spine, which helps resolve device fragmentation so brands can reach the right audience across their screens.

CHANTILLY, Va.—BIA Advisory Services has updated its 2026 U.S. Local Advertising Forecast and is now projecting that total local ad revenue will reach $186.1 billion, up $1.6 billion (+0.9%) from the firm's April 2026 estimate of $184.5 billion and approximately 9% year over year from 2025.

The increase is driven primarily by higher political ad spending heading into the midterms, along with continued strength in mobile.

The stronger than expected political ad spend is particularly good news for local TV stations as most of the growth has been flowing into TV station broadcasts and TV station digital platforms, the researchers said.

Overall, BIA is now projecting the TV over-the-air and TV digital/OTT ad revenue will hit $19.8 billion in 2026.

The firm also released a preliminary outlook for 2027 that sees growth in mobile and underlying local ad growth, particularly in Legal Services vertical, that will offset the end of the election cycle in 2027 and keep next year’s local ad spend essentially flat compared to 2026.

Excluding political advertising, the 2026 forecast is now $176.4 billion, up $0.3 billion (+0.2%) from the prior estimate of $176.1 billion and 3.9% over 2025, reflecting steady, broad-based growth across the underlying local ad market.

“Political spending came in higher than we anticipated in April, with most of the incremental spending flowing into TV OTA and TV OTT,” said Senan Mele, vice president of forecasting and data analysis, BIA Advisory Services. “Legal Services was also notable in this update, reaching $9.3 billion, up 4.6% from the prior forecast. Despite higher media costs and a more fragmented media environment, law firms continue to invest heavily in television, both linear and streaming, where the ability to reach large audiences and generate qualified leads continues to drive demand.”

BIA now projects $9.7 billion in 2026 for local political spending, up from $8.4 billion in the April forecast, which is an increase of $1.3 billion concentrated almost entirely in video. TV OTA and TV OTT together captured $1.2 billion of that increase, reinforcing broadcast and streaming video's role as a preferred vehicle for political campaigns.

The new data shows that mobile keeps compounding, and AI reshapes search.

Mobile remains the largest local media category tracked by BIA, projected to grow to $45.3 billion in 2026 (excluding political), an 8.9% year-over-year increase. This growth comes as competition intensifies in A.I.-fueled search advertising, a category that local advertisers have traditionally relied on to reach consumers across mobile devices.

“Google, OpenAI, Amazon, and Apple are all positioning themselves to capture a larger share of advertising tied to AI-powered search,” said Mike Boland, executive in residence, BIA Advisory Services. “Google’s Gemini is increasingly becoming an extension of its advertising business, while OpenAI, Amazon, and Apple are developing their own approaches to monetize search and discovery. For local advertisers, the bigger question is where consumer intent will emerge and which platforms will capture it. Mobile will be a critical battleground as that shift unfolds.”

BIA also highlighted some of the growth categories heading into 2027.

BIA's first look at 2027 projects total local ad revenue of $186.5 billion, essentially flat versus 2026. About $9 billion in underlying, nonpolitical growth is expected to nearly offset an $8.6 billion decline in political spending as the election cycle ends. Political spending is projected to fall to approximately $1.1 billion in the 2027 off-cycle year.

BIA’s Mele explained that “political spending will decline sharply after the midterms, but the underlying nonpolitical market has continued to grow and should offset much of that decline. We expect the overall local advertising market to remain essentially flat in 2027, with continued growth across core categories helping to support the market in an off-cycle year.”

Beneath that stable topline, several categories are projected to grow well above the market average. Real estate leads at +9.8%, followed by leisure and recreation (+5.9%), automotive (+5.1%), restaurants and food (+4.4%), and financial services (+3.7%).

“2027 makes clear that the underlying growth in local advertising is broader and more durable than the political cycle alone would suggest,” said Rick Ducey, managing director, BIA Advisory Services. “Political spending has accelerated the market and delivered a strong two-year period for broadcast and streaming video, but the more important story is what happens beneath that surge. Core categories continue to expand their investments across an increasingly diverse media ecosystem. That sustained, multi-platform demand, and the media channels that capture it, will shape the next phase of local media.”

For more information on the data, which comes from BIA ADVantage and to access the updated forecast, contact advantage@bia.com to request a demonstration.

As broadcasters transition to remote and hybrid production, KVM systems are undergoing a major evolution.

In our latest TV Tech Guide to KVM & Remote Workflows, we explore how IP infrastructure and cloud technologies are reshaping KVM operations—and why these systems remain crucial for delivering a low-latency, reliable, and seamless production chain.

To access the Guide click here.

Your Fall Planning Guide Is Now Available!

As the industry enters the busy fall season, TV Tech is taking a look at the new gear and technology that has been introduced over the past six months. In these pages, we're highlighting the hardware, software and services in an easy-to-use format, giving you the essential information you need in an era of "doing more with less."

Access the Guide here.

VIENNA—In the runup to IBC2026, the 10th annual Video Developer Report from video streaming solution provider Bitmovin highlights some of the major issues facing streaming media that will be top of mind at the show, with live latency and costs ranking as the industry’s top two problems.

The report finds that low latency for live streaming has overtaken controlling costs and is now the number one concern for 36% of respondents, making it the top challenge facing video teams today. This is followed by controlling costs at 35% and maintaining consistent monitoring and analytics at 28%. Finding the root cause of streaming issues and ad insertion are also major challenges for video providers today (both at 27%).

The latest edition of the report also indicates that AI has stopped being an add-on feature and is now deployed across the entire stack, often with agents operating the workflow.

Of the 486 respondents, 98% report using AI or ML for video with nearly half (46%) using AI tools every day. Only 2% report no plans for AI at all, with 4% of respondents not AI tools at all.

Audio transcription, translation and foreign dubbing are the most common applications cited by respondents (48%), followed by content recommendations (34%), visual quality and optimization (30%), and then tagging and categorization, personalization, and scene, shot boundary and ad placement opportunity detection, all come in joint fourth place (28%).

The report also highlights how expectations around low latency have shifted over time as the cost and complexity of delivering low latency has become clear.

In 2020, 60% of respondents expected low latency of less than five seconds, but that's now down to 16%, while 28% expect latency under 10 seconds. That said, sub-second latency still matters in certain use cases such as live sports, betting, auctions and interactive formats. It is this commercial need for more efficient video delivery that is driving the interest of MOQ. The report highlights that 28% of respondents plan to use MOQ in the next 12 months.

“It’s hard to believe that we’ve been producing this report for 10 years, and what a rollercoaster ride the last decade has been for the video industry,” Stefan Lederer, CEO and co-founder, Bitmovin, commented. “As we proudly present the 2026/27 report, it’s clear that AI is running the video stack, advertising is the primary revenue engine, QoE and observability have become foundational layers, and the business case for MOQ has never been stronger. But what really stands out this year, is just how fast the technology is developing - the last 3 months alone have reshaped what is possible for video developers to build and achieve. I can’t wait to see what another 10 years of the Video Developer Report will bring.”

This year's edition draws on insights from professionals across broadcast, OTT, and beyond, and for the first time includes analysis and contributions from industry analysts Jan Ozer and Dan Rayburn, alongside input from Bitmovin's partners and customers.

The Bitmovin Video Developer Report 2026/27 Edition is now available for download.

Bitmovin will be exhibiting at IBC from September 11-14 (hall 5, stand 5.F72). For more information, and to book a meeting, visit: https://bitmovin.com/ibc/.

New data from Parks Associations finds the Ruku player and operating system remains the most popular streaming media system in the U.S. with 43% of Americans reporting that a Roku device is their most-used streaming media player.

The Parks Associates’ Tech Ecosystem Dashboard, which includes data and analysis from surveys of 8,000+ US internet households, also found that 17% say their primary smart TV runs on Roku OS.

The Parks researchers noted that Fox Corporation’s planned acquisition of Roku for $22 billion highlights the strategic value of owning the platform that connects consumers to content, advertising, and streaming services.

“Roku’s strength is its reach across the connected TV experience,” said Michael Goodman, research director, Parks Associates. “Its position across smart TVs and streaming media players gives the platform influence that extends beyond any single hardware brand.”

More specifically, the Fox-Roku acquisition would bring strategic value to both companies. Fox brings premium live content, including sports and news, as well as Tubi, while Roku brings its operating system, The Roku Channel, Frndly TV, Howdy, advertising capabilities, and first-party data. Fox reports that Roku reaches more than 100 million streaming households globally.

The combination also strengthens Fox’s position in the growing free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) market. Tubi and The Roku Channel give the combined company two major ad-supported streaming properties, while Roku’s platform provides additional opportunities to connect content discovery, audience data, and advertising across the TV experience.

In the Parks top ten list of U.S. FAST streaming services, Tubi ranked as #1, followed by The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Samsung TV+, Xumo Play and LG Channels.

“Competition in video is now about who owns the relationship with the viewer,” Goodman said. “Content remains critical, especially live sports and news, but the platform determines how consumers discover that content and how providers engage and monetize audiences. The Fox and Roku combination brings greater control over how consumers access and discover content while expanding opportunities for viewer data, advertising, and distribution.”

With the NFL season starting on Weds. Sept. 9, a new study from Guideline is projecting another year of hefty ad sales growth, with 8% growth in ad revenue for the 2026-2027 season compared to last year.

Guideline is projecting that total ad revenue will hit $6.3 billion, with the inaugural Thanksgiving Eve game expected to generate $48 million in revenue.

That comes after 7% YoY growth in ad revenue in the 2025-2026 season, which hit a record $5.9 billion. Regular season ad revenue was up 6% YoY last year while playoff ad revenue was up 13% YoY.

"Overall ad demand looks healthy headed into the 26/27 season,” explained Sean Wright, chief insights and analytics officer at Guideline. “Upfront commits are pacing up double digits ahead of where they were last year, partly driven by increases in pricing, partly in a surge of new ad budgets. We'll see how much ultimately gets booked but right now, the regular season is shaping up to be another potentially record setting year."

Guideline also reported that in 2025-2026, streaming-exclusive games accounted for 13% of full-season revenue, nearly double the 8% share from two seasons ago. Overall, streaming-exclusive network ad growth was up 6% YoY in last year’s 2025-2026 season.

LONDON—While a new study from Ampere Analysis documents the ongoing decline in new orders for TV series, the research also shows that orders for new linear TV series has been more resilient than streaming VOD and that the new orders for scripted programming on linear TV actually grew in recent years.

The new report from Ampere Analysis found that between 2022 and 2025, US-produced linear orders fell 26%, a smaller decline than streaming counterparts, which fell 41%.

Very notably, the research also found that linear scripted series orders actually rose 11% in a slightly different time frame between 2023 and 2025, with a particular focus on renewing reliable franchise comedies such as “The Simpsons” and “American Dad.”

"In the post-Peak TV era, the traditional seasonal development cycle from linear broadcasters in the U.S. is evolving,” explained George Evans, senior researcher at Ampere Analysis. “With streaming players now accounting for a greater share of content spend globally, free-to-air linear commissioners in the US have adopted a more flexible approach to ordering, putting fewer titles through the development and pilot process and instead working more responsively year-round. By responding more dynamically to audience appetite and leaning on scripted franchises with established fanbases, broadcast TV can continue to prove its worth in the seemingly streamer-dominated US market."

More specifically the report found that between 2022 and 2025, U.S.-produced linear orders fell 26%, from 1,773 to 1,304, compared with a 41% decline in streaming orders, from 1,144 to 678. Linear Scripted series orders subsequently increased 11%, from 236 in 2023 to 262 in 2025.

Overall, free-to-air (FTA) channels have fared better than Pay TV.

Pay TV subscriber numbers have declined by 56% since 2016, as consumers switch to streaming. This drove a 33% decline in series orders between 2022 and 2025, down from 1295 to 877. In contrast, free-to-air broadcasters such as NBC, ABC, and CBS saw series orders drop 13% over the same period, from 408 to 352. Thematic Pay TV channels, particularly those focused on specific niches, such as Food Network and HGTV, have struggled to maintain ordering levels.

The report also highlighted changes in traditional TV development cycles. US Commercial free-to-air broadcasters are shifting away from the traditional seasonal development cycle of Q4 script orders and Q1 pilot orders, towards year-round development and 'straight-to-series' orders, committing to an entire season without first testing a pilot, the study found.

In addition, U.S. broadcast networks have shifted towards more disciplined primetime commissioning strategies. Since 2024, 52% of new scripted series orders have been franchise-based, reflecting a more disciplined approach to primetime commissioning.

The strength of broadcast programming can also found on streaming platforms. Around 50% of both linear and non-linear TV viewers enjoy genres such as comedy, action & adventure, crime & thriller, and drama. This alignment supports complementary commissioning strategies across broadcast and streaming. Primetime series from ABC, CBS and NBC generate strong engagement on Hulu, Paramount+ and Peacock, respectively, extending their value beyond linear TV.

“Despite the continued growth of streaming, broadcast television remains an important part of the US media landscape,” explained Eric Kurtsel, research manager, SME Media at Ampere Analysis. “Post-Peak TV, broadcast networks are taking a disciplined approach to primetime commissioning, focusing on proven genres and franchises that can connect with audiences across platforms. Viewers continue to engage with broadcast series on streaming platforms, suggesting their value extends beyond linear television and reinforcing broadcast TV’s foundational role in today’s content ecosystem."

LONDON—New data from Ampere Analysis shows Asia has become the world’s biggest region for first-run streaming scripted series orders for the first time, leaping two places from third to secure the top spot in the first half of 2026. More than one-third (36%) of first-run scripted TV orders from the leading global streamers now originate in APAC, the highest six-month share on record.

The new Ampere study also found that the APAC region surged ahead of North America and Western Europe in H1 2026 for the volume of new scripted TV commissions from the six leading global streamers - Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix and Paramount+. The region secured 70 first-run scripted commissions during the period, versus 46 for North America, 44 for Western Europe, and 34 for all other regions combined.

Cyrine Amor, senior research manager at Ampere Analysis, explained that “APAC has become increasingly important to global streamers for two reasons: it offers attractive opportunities for subscriber growth, while Asian content is increasingly finding audiences far beyond its home markets. India, South Korea and Japan remain at the heart of commissioning activity, but growth in markets such as Taiwan and the Philippines shows how widely streamers are now looking for locally produced content with regional and global potential.”

Of all streamers’ first-run scripted TV orders, 36% now originate from the APAC region, the highest six-month-period share to date. The rise is primarily driven by Amazon’s and Netflix’s commissioning activity in the region. In the same period, their combined first-run orders in Western Europe and North America remained almost flat compared to H1 2025.

India led the region with 25 orders, the highest increase among APAC markets, fueled by Prime Video’s commissioning push across multiple Indian languages. South Korea remained the region’s second-largest market by volume, where Netflix continues to lead commissioning activity among global streamers.

In terms of genre, one-third of these commissions were Crime & Thriller. Drama hit a new record of one quarter of commissions. Meanwhile, the Sci-Fi & Fantasy genre, which led by volume share in H1 2025, fell sharply.

Newer entrants to the streamers' regional subscriber acquisition race also stood out in this commissioning shift, the Ampere study stressed.

Taiwan and the Philippines experienced unusually high volumes of streamer orders, with nine and seven new scripted series commissioned respectively during the first half of 2026. In Taiwan, Netflix quadrupled its new scripted series orders compared to last year, including the medical drama “How to Survive Med School” and the influencer-led crime investigation “Million-follower Detective.” In the Philippines, Amazon led the charge with five new series announcements over the past six months, including the romance drama “The Loyalty Game.”

Recent successes such as Netflix’s Thai original “My Dearest Assassin” and Korean original “The Great Flood” demonstrate the potential for locally produced APAC content to travel beyond its home market. Streamers are also using licensing to capitalise on this demand, with Prime Video further expanding an existing multi-year worldwide distribution deal with CJ ENM in 2026, Ampere reported.

The commissioning surge reflects different stages of streaming growth across APAC. In more established markets, including India, South Korea and Japan, new productions are being used to both attract and retain subscribers while also targeting increasingly receptive regional and global audiences. In emerging streaming markets such as Taiwan and the Philippines, first-run commissioning is being used to support subscriber acquisition.

PLANO, Texas—Having a live TV bundle option is still important to half of all consumers surveyed in a recent Parks Associates report.

In the research firm’s latest consumer research The New Live TV Model: Skinny Bundles, Sports, News, 27% of US internet households prefer a live-TV bundle combined with their favorite streaming on-demand services, while 24% prefer a skinny bundle combined with their favorite streaming services. In total, 51% prefer a package that combines live TV with their favorite streaming services.

"Consumers are not necessarily choosing between live TV and streaming. Many want access to both in one package," said Michael Goodman, Director, Entertainment Research, Parks Associates. "Providers have the opportunity to offer greater flexibility to their consumers while making it easier to access the content they value."

Parks Associates also noted that 68% of streaming pay-TV subscribers (vMVPD subscribers), including consumers using services such as YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and DirecTV Stream, like the idea of a skinny bundle—a pay-TV or streaming channel package that includes a limited number of core channels, typically focused on specific content types (e.g., entertainment, sports, or news). It is priced below traditional all-inclusive TV packages.

The findings show consumers continue to value live television, but their expectations for how it is packaged are changing, according to Parks. Smaller channel packages combined with streaming services can provide a middle ground between traditional pay TV and streaming-only options.

"Skinny bundles offer providers an opportunity to address consumers who want to maintain access to live television but are increasingly sensitive to the cost and size of traditional channel packages," Goodman said. "The strongest opportunity is retention. These packages can give existing subscribers another option before they decide to cancel service entirely."