Microsoft is no longer content being the silent backbone of the media industry. Heading into the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, the tech giant is pivoting from 'enterprise provider' to more of a software-defined broadcasting leader, powered by Agentic AI and high-profile sports partnerships.

In a recent Q&A with TV Tech, Simon Crownshaw, Worldwide Media and Entertainment Director at Microsoft, discussed the company’s plans for the NAB Show and how he thinks the company’s role in M&E is evolving.

Crownshaw admits that although Microsoft has been a household name for decades, the company wants to do a better job telling its story.

“Microsoft has been a bigger part of the media and entertainment industry—and sports, for quite some time,” he said. “I think we may not be the most vocal about how we engage and where our customers spend time with us, but obviously, we're one of the largest enterprise platforms in the world, and a lot of media companies over the past five years are really looking to extend how they think through that enterprise platform.”

The Increasing Value of Partnerships
Crownshaw says the value of Microsoft’s impact comes through its partnerships with some of the more “pure-play” media tech companies.

“We partner a lot with the likes of Avid and Adobe and we have other extended partnerships with Evertz as well and we’ve partnered with Vizrt and Ross Video, where we spend a lot of the time helping customers think through their production workflows,” Crownshaw said. “And I would argue that, as we've become more and more known for AI and everything else we're doing in that realm, we've now started to figure out ‘how do we bring the kind of core elements of our platform closer to media?’ But also with the expectation that our customers—who either have a traditional linear broadcasting feed or a stream platform—want to leverage more of their linear platform, more of their broadcasting platform, to do more with their enterprise components.”

Microsoft also has a large role in sports broadcasting as well, Crownshaw said.

“We have some pretty amazing sports partnerships; we do a lot of things with the NBA, NFL, the Premier League in the UK, everything from thinking through broadcast production workflows with partners like MediaKind for example,” he said. “And thinking about how we transform processes for SRT feeds using AI optimization of workflows and network components, and infrastructure to deal with issues of disaster recovery, and making sure that we can optimize for personalization at every level.”

Being that live sports is among the most valued franchises in media and entertainment, security is paramount. Although Microsoft retired its Azure Media Services in 2024, moving towards a partner-ecosystem model rather than a first-party service, Crownshaw stressed that its platform continues to emphasize the critical role Azure continues to play throughout its M&E offerings.

“With Azure Front Door, we have PlayReady from a DRM perspective, so for anything running on Windows it’s obviously using PlayReady from a DRM,” he said. “We spend a lot of time with customers, thinking through how they can use that security foundation and obviously, we're streaming platforms with a lot of leakage, whether that be through IPTV or others and working through that in a more rigorous way with new partners—that's the focus of our work with the NBA going on right now. And we're also working through the very first direct-to-consumer experience for the Premier League in Singapore with Premier League Plus.”

A Holistic View
For broadcasters who want to bridge the gap between traditional media and online streaming and social media, Crownshaw says Microsoft has the capability to help its customers view their media ecosystem holistically.

“Traditional broadcasters, especially the ones that we work with, have struggled to figure out how to modernize their technology stack,” he said. “They realize the platform proliferation, the fact that speed of service is really critical—especially if you're trying to compete with TikTok, for example—we spent some time with local broadcasters trying to figure out how we can do multiplatform publishing at the speed and size that like a Tiktok would do.”

“On our end, I think it's realizing that there is a place for everybody and those systems have to modernize,” he added. “There's security around data, there's security around content. There's also speed and agility around the systems that need to update and to be modernized to some degree. We do a lot of analysis on the content that comes in, figure out the metadata that could be deployed, make sure people can search for a faster client, and automate some of those processes. We also work with partners to figure out how to build new architectures.”

NAB Show Buzz
Crownshaw discussed what he thinks will be among the most important conversations will be around artificial intelligence at the NAB Show, including the use of agentic AI in the media production chain via its Copilot AI.

“We're leveraging Copilot to replace some of the automation that goes in or replacing some of the workflows that exist,” he said. “We may use Copilot Studio to build custom copies, where we can use agentic or agent-to-agent type workflows. We can basically start to replace commodity hardware or other processes with Copilot.”

Crownshaw used newsrooms as an example of how Copilot can enhance operations and workflows, highlighting the use of Copilot Studio to build "agent-to-agent" workflows that can replace commodity hardware. In a newsroom setting, this means a producer can task an AI agent to validate archives or run origination tasks automatically, significantly cutting down on manual search time, he added.

Microsoft’s message at the 2026 NAB Show will focus on the company’s role throughout the media chain, from origination to distribution, as well as its role in software-defined production, Crownshaw said.

“Microsoft plays a pretty critical role between what we do from a hyper-converged infrastructure perspective, and enabling the connective tissue between the intelligence of all of the different layers that exist within media—from everything coming directly off the camera, all the way to the the ingestion process, through to the production and through the distribution component,” he said. “I would argue that if you look at the things that we enable across our platform, we play a pretty important role. I cannot overstate the importance of the software-defined broadcasting process that I think we are at the forefront of.”

Microsoft will be in Booth W1731 in the West Hall of the LVCC.

Microsoft executives and tech partners at the NAB Show’s Sports Business Hub (W1867) offered a host of demos showing how advances in artificial intelligence are already producing solutions and deployments that promise to transform the sports industry.

Taken together, the demos and use cases on display at the “Reimagining Sports Media Through AI-Powered Transformation” activation illustrate how far AI applications for the media and entertainment industries have come in just two years.

“AI is powering technologies that are definitely transforming media,” Simon Crownshaw, worldwide strategy director for Media & Entertainment at Microsoft, said. “In 2023 when all of these things start to explode, the reaction was like, ‘Wow.’ Then in 2024 it was more like, ‘how.’ And I’d say 2025 is more like ‘now.’ It’s all about finding the right solutions and making them available very quickly.”

AI technologies are coming of age at a pivotal moment for sports media, Crownshaw said. While sports has become a programming bulwark of broadcast and streaming media as a prime driver of audiences and revenue, players in the sports media ecosystem also face audience fragmentation, rising costs, the need to streamline productions and consumer demands for the kind of interactive experiences, personalization and immediate access to content they’ve grown to expect from social and digital media.

“Sports is a real differentiator,” Crownshaw said. “It drives user behavior; it drives advertising and true commercialization. But there is a real need to modernize how audiences engage with live sports.”

Big-League Demos
The demos, which aim to provide a guided tour of AI’s potential in sports operations and fan engagement, involve such major players as the NBA, Major League Soccer, the NFL, the Intuit Dome (home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers), the Premier League and others. They highlight technologies from Microsoft and a variety of partners and support partners like Bria.AI, Confiz, Globant, Harmonic, MediaKind, Rezzil, Southworks, UICDigital, Bravent, EZDRM and Typeface.

In one demo, Microsoft worked with the NBA to create a real-time AI experience that used generative AI to deliver a personal and realistic commentator for on-the-fly viewing experiences. Another showcases the Major League Soccer (MLS) Sidekick, which provides fans an interactive and immersive platform offering match video highlights, game schedules, scores and advanced player stats.

On-Field Uses
Two others illustrate how new technologies can help professional teams improve their data analytics and play. In a well-known example, Microsoft created the NFL Sideline Viewing System (SVS) that provides coaches and players with real-time data and analytics. In another, Microsoft and Rezzel created data-powered replays for Premier League teams and coaches.

Crownshaw also stressed that these demos show how AI and their other solutions can streamline workflows now and in the future.

“Solutions like the MLS Sidekick aren’t simply for consumer experiences,” he added. “As we automate and make things available like the MLS Sidekick, which is amazing on the consumer side, you get a chatbot experience that will enable users to ask questions about their operations on the back end. They will allow you to interrogate and ask questions about workflows. Where’s the problem? When did it go down? How do I automate certain things or fix problems? Those are examples of the things we’re looking at.”

© 2025 NAB

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a development that has important implications for the ongoing rollout and success of data services and NextGen TV, the FCC has closed its reconsideration of a 2021 ruling on distributed television systems. 

Microsoft had requested that the FCC reconsider the DTS Report and Order that modified the Commission’s technical rules. The modifications were designed to promote expanded use of distributed transmission systems (DTS) by broadcast television stations. The NAB and broadcasters had requested the changes to help broadcasters speed up the deployment of NextGen TV services and the development of data services. 

Microsoft filed a petition in March of 2021 asking the FCC to reconsider that decision because the order would hurt their Airband Initiative to use TV white spaces to provide broadband services in rural areas. It "needlessly worsens an already-difficult environment" for TV white spaces deployments, the filing noted. 

The NAB responded with a May 25, 2021 blog post by NAB deputy general counsel Patrick McFadden blasting Microsoft's efforts to get the FCC to revise the January 2021 ruling, calling Microsoft's Airband Initiative "hot air" and a heavily hyped solution to the rural broadband gap that has not lived up to its promises.

Later in a August 3 filing with the FCC, APTS and the NAB continued their opposition to Microsoft, arguing that “Microsoft’s petition presents no legitimate case for reconsideration and the Commission should promptly deny it.”

On August 5, 2024, the FCC reported that “Microsoft filed a request for withdrawal of the Petition stating that it is `no longer pursuing or advocating for the matters raised in the Petition’ and that the Petition may be dismissed.”

In response, the FCC ordered that “the request for withdrawal filed by Microsoft Corporation IS GRANTED, and the petition for reconsideration filed by Microsoft Corporation IS DISMISSED without prejudice. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, should no petitions for reconsideration or petitions for judicial review be timely filed, MB Docket No. 20-74 SHALL BE TERMINATED and its docket closed.”

Sky News UK and Sky Sports News have been taken off air by what’s being described as the ‘biggest IT outage of all time’.

Sky News began to experience problems around 5am and switched to broadcasting documentaries at 7am. It then went completely off-air about an hour later.

The channel returned to air at 8.50am with a much-changed backdrop, and no graphics, autocue or packages. It then went back off air again after a short news update and before resuming at 9am.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Sky News chairman David Rhodes said that the network had “not been able to broadcast live TV this morning. Much of our news report is still available online, and we are working hard to restore all services.”

In its own post on X, Microsoft 365 said: “We’re investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services”.

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike later released a statement in which it said it is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

Australian broadcasters were also forced off air, with both Sky News Australia and ABC hit.

AWS, NOW, Virgin Media, and BT are also among the companies impacted, according to DownDetector.

This story first appeared in our sister publication TVBEurope

NEW YORK—swXtch.io has announced that it will be working with several leading broadcast and IT brands at NAB Show 2023 to demonstrate five use cases showing how customers can quickly and efficiently realize the many business benefits that come with moving broadcast streams to the cloud.

swXtch.io and its cloudSwXtch platform will be featured in three booths (Microsoft, Evertz and TAG Video Systems), where representatives will demonstrate how cloudSwXtch enables such enterprise broadcast workflows as: 

• Channel Assembly and Distribution
• Network Path Redundancy
• Live Production with Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
• Remote Production Collaboration
• Cloud-Path Optimization with Multicast

“We are excited to show NAB attendees how they can use cloudSwXtch to quickly experience the many benefits that come with moving to the cloud,” said Brent Yates, CEO of swXtch.io. “These use-case demonstrations will show how businesses can efficiently manage large volumes of media workflows in ground-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud applications using mission-critical applications running in the cloud.”

Available on leading cloud platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and AWS, cloudSwXtch deploys as a virtual machine with functional and performance parity to bare metal networks. Customers can easily add advanced features to support enterprise broadcast applications. This includes multicast, uncompressed video distribution, dynamic ground-to-cloud bridging, SMPTE 2022-7 hitless merge, global mesh networking, protocol fanout, and more without software code changes on the media application. 

The demos include: 

• swXtch.io at the Microsoft booth (W1259). cloudSwXtch will participate in a multi-vendor demonstration with Cinnafilm, Drastic Technology, and Evertz. The demo will show how the protocol fanout capability of cloudSwXtch can bridge on-premises infrastructure with cloud platforms for live streams and allow cloud endpoints to dynamically request on-prem content. Cinnafilm’s Tachyon Live is integrated within the cloudSwXtch platform enabling live stream standards conversion, such as motion compensated frame rate conversion and up/down/cross conversion in the cloud.  swXtch.io will also show PTP clock synchronization, expanded management and monitoring capabilities for all cloud production workflows. Specifically, integrated PTP capabilities will provide the accurate timing for live switching and video/audio synchronization demanded by live production and playout applications.   
• swXtch.io at the Evertz booth (N2225). swXtch.io will demonstrate how media content creators can access the same features, systems, and processes in the cloud that a dedicated on-prem infrastructure might provide. The demo will highlight cloudSwXtch’s new ground-to-cloud, or “dynamic bridging,” concept for PTP distribution in the cloud, enabling creation of world-class content anywhere there is access to the cloud. With swXtch.io, Evertz is showing the ability to extend PTP (SMPTE ST 2059-2) across the cloud. Using a primary PTP clock source (Evertz 5700MSC-IP) on premise, cloudSwXtch can distribute the PTP signals across the cloud to resources in the cloud and/or remote locations as sources to boundary clocks. MAGNUM-OS monitors and analyzes this PTP flows for performance and reliability. This service is a game changer for remote production applications where a reference clock source may be difficult to obtain. In addition, Evertz has integrated to cloudSwXtch’s open API, providing cloud network health monitoring not previously available and streaming control from on-prem to the cloud.
• swXtch.io at the TAG Video Systems booth (W1542). A joint demonstration with TAG Video Systems will provide insight into how cloudSwXtch can enable a more dynamic monitoring approach as media moves through the cloud to multiple endpoints. That includes reliable QC and live signal monitoring with PTP synchronization of video and audio streams. Visitors will also see how cloudSwXtch supports “by-exception” monitoring, which alerts operators that specific problems have been detected in video and/or audio feeds that require attention. The cloudSwXtch wXcked Eye user interface, new for NAB, provides an advanced user interface with detailed data visualization of network performance. TAG Video Systems will connect to the cloudSwXtch API to unlock complementary video monitoring applications in local, national, and global mesh network configurations, including several public cloud service providers.  

Book NAB onsite meetings and booth tours with swXtch.io at https://www.swxtch.io/nab-2023/. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has moved to block the largest deal in the history of the video gaming industry by filing an administrative complaint seeking to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, which owns such blockbuster franchises as Call of Duty. 

The FTC alleges the deal, which would have made Microsoft the third largest player in the video game publishing industry, would enable the “maker of Xbox would gain control of top video game franchises, enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content.”

In the administrative complaint issued on Dec. 8, the FTC pointed to Microsoft’s record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles, including its acquisition of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks (a well-known game developer). Microsoft decided to make several of Bethesda's titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assurances it had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles, the FTC alleged. 

“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”

The FTC complaint also stressed that Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and Series X are one of only two types of high performance video game consoles and that Microsoft also offers a leading video game content subscription service called Xbox Game Pass, as well as a cutting-edge cloud-based video game streaming service. 

The complaint also noted that Activision is one of only a very small number of top video game developers in the world that create and publish high-quality video games for multiple devices, including video game consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. 

It produces some of the most iconic and popular video game titles, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, and has millions of monthly active users around the world, according to the FTC’s complaint. Activision currently has a strategy of offering its games on many devices regardless of producer.

In a press release announcing the suit, the FTC said that “with control over Activision’s blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers.”

The Commission vote to issue the complaint was 3-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson voting no. 

SEATTLE—Netflix has selected Microsoft as its technology and sales partner to help power the streamer’s first ad-supported subscription offering, which is expected to launch later this year. 

“We’re thrilled to be named Netflix’s technology and sales partner to help power their first ad-supported subscription offering,” said Mikhail Parakhin, president Web Experiences, Microsoft in a blog post. 

“Marketers looking to Microsoft for their advertising needs will have access to the Netflix audience and premium connected TV inventory,” he added. “All ads served on Netflix will be exclusively available through the Microsoft platform. Today’s announcement also endorses Microsoft’s approach to privacy, which is built on protecting customers’ information.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, and Alphabet, which owns YouTube, were top candidates to become partners with Netflix on the new ad supported tier the company announced in April. 

In the end, Netflix settled on Microsoft, which doesn’t own a major streaming service but is a powerhouse in the digital ad business and cloud-based streaming technologies. 

The partnership with Microsoft will allow Netflix to launch the ad-supported tier relatively quickly without having to set up the extensive and expensive tech and sales infrastructure needed for ad-supported streaming. 

“In April we announced that we will introduce a new lower priced ad-supported subscription plan for consumers, in addition to our existing ads-free basic, standard, and premium plans,” explained Netflix COO Greg Peters. “Today we are pleased to announce that we have selected Microsoft as our global advertising technology and sales partner.”

“Microsoft has the proven ability to support all our advertising needs as we together build a new ad-supported offering,” he added. “More importantly, Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time on both the technology and sales side, as well as strong privacy protections for our members.

One of the early problems with live video streaming—first demonstrated at the 1997 NAB Show—was that the images hiccupped and sputtered due to constraints in bandwidth. Yet, even with those annoying imperfections, it was clear from day one that video had a future over the internet. 

Now—25 years later—getting rid of those video interruptions over the net is close to reality. It hasn’t been an easy engineering problem to solve. In live video streaming, it is important to remember that the lower the latency, the less robust the video signal becomes. Low latency video can hiccup, or stop playing completely, after even the tiniest gap in the bandwidth of the stream.

Balancing Act
Since day one, live video streaming has been a balancing act—low latency versus stability of the content stream. (Though things have dramatically improved from the days when virtually every online video was shaky and dropped out frequently.)

Today, depending on the value of the video content, latency takes on varying degrees of importance. With the standard streamed church service or town council meeting, which ranks as the lowest-valued content, segment size can be reduced from 2-4 seconds with little cost or concern. In this class of video, latency can be reduced to between 6–12 seconds.

More valuable, but pre-recorded, broadcast content averages about 5-6 seconds of latency, while demanding real-time content like OTT streaming of live online sports, gambling or gaming demand special low-latency technology. New technologies with complex names are dealing with the latency issue and programming vendors are expected to charge a premium for the service.

Until recently, ultra-low latencies of less than a second were best achieved using UDP-based WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), a free and open source protocol introduced by Google in 2011. It provides web browsers and mobile applications with real time communication via program interfaces. 

Until about 2020, the HTTP approach—a competing method—could not provide a low enough latency for interactivity, so WebRTC remained a popular solution. 

Apple vs. Microsoft (Again)
However, the cost and complexity of encoding and storing the same video file twice for the two main computer platforms—Apple and Microsoft—made processing and storage of content expensive. Two versions of the same video stream had to be made either in advance or instantly. With users accessing streams across iPhones, smart TVs, Xboxes and PCs, this expensive complexity became a major issue.

In 2016, Apple and Microsoft suggested that the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) create a new uniform standard called “Common Media Application Format” to simplify online delivery of HTTP-based streaming media (Fig. 1). It was published in 2018. 

Once the standard was created, manufacturers implemented it quickly. The benefits of encoding, packaging and caching a single container for video delivery was obvious. But CMAF did more than just reduce encoding complexity.

HTTP-based video delivery still lacked the real-time delivery options that viewers wanted. CMAF had to also improve latency. Now, Microsoft and Apple have agreed to reach audiences across the HLS and DASH protocols by using CMAF, a standardized transport container (Fig. 2). 

CMAF represents a coordinated industry-wide effort to lower latency with chunked encoding and transfer encoding. It also supports file encryption and digital rights management. Multiple incompatible DRMs are supported, including FairPlay, PlayReady and Widevine.

Since its creation, CMAF has opened the way for a new generation of low latency technology. These consist of Low Latency HLS (LL-HLS), Low Latency DASH (LL-DASH) and the High Efficiency Stream Protocol (HESP). CMAF works hand-in-hand with these protocols.

LL-HLS, which was announced by Apple in 2020, became the most used technology for streams via HLS. There is a DVB standard for low-latency DASH and there is ongoing work to ensure interoperability for all DASH/CMAF low-latency applications. 

Harmonic and Akamai showed low-latency CMAF demos with a latency of under 5 seconds at the 2017 NAB and IBC shows. Since then, most other encoder and player vendors have integrated the technologies into their products. 

Market Competition
All low-latency systems work in the same basic way. Rather than waiting until a complete segment is encoded—which usually takes between six and ten seconds—the encoder creates much shorter “chunks” that are transferred to the content delivery network as soon as they are complete.

In a new forecast from Rethink TV, a research organization, it is predicted that low latency protocols will quickly find a place in live sports delivery. As time goes on, all content—not just sports—will make use of the protocols, the researcher predicted.

Rethink TV anticipates low-latency delivery will be a very competitive market in the next few years. These low-latency distribution technologies, which can be offered as a premium service to subscribers, are key for a number of competitive video technology vendors and users. Pivotal will be knowing how to optimize both the centralized and edge infrastructure to compete with rivals, the research found. 

As most devices are now totally compatible with CMAF, Rethink TV predicts most will be able to receive video streams packaged in LL-HLS and LL-DASH formats. Competitive forces will drive adoption.

For owners of content, rights holders and streaming services, the reduction of latency for live video can differentiate them from their rivals by dramatically improving the reliability of video service.

This also applies to broadcasters that operate both traditional pay-TV distribution infrastructure and an OTT service. Those broadcasters need to get their latencies down to something nearer their traditional pay-TV competitors.  

Reducing OTT latency is essential, but now for only live content. It will probably remain in the sports and betting arena for the time being. However, all on-demand video programming will eventually migrate to a low-latency technology, probably before the end of this decade. 

BOSTON—While supply constraints cratered tablet sales in Q4 2021, pushing shipments down by 25%, new data from Strategy Analytics shows that some players did better than others. 

Microsoft, for example, cashed in on the need for mobile productivity devices with a massive Surface portfolio refresh that improved sales and pushed it into the ranks of the top global tablet vendors for the first time ever. 

The new report from Strategy Analytics also noted that the supply constraints that hurt the market so badly at the end of 2021 seem to be easing. It cautioned, however, that it wasn’t clear if demand for new tables will continue into 2022 or if frustrated consumers had moved onto other interests. 

“Last year’s pre-vaccine holiday quarter was a tough one to compare against and when you add on the severe supply constraints impacting tablet vendors, it added up to a disappointing quarter,” explained Eric Smith, director – connected computing at Strategy Analytics. “The maddening thing is, demand far exceeded supply at the end of 2021, holding back higher revenues for everyone. There are signs that supply shortages are easing already in 2022, but we are not guiding this situation to end until after summer.”

“For the entire year, total tablet shipments fell just 3% to 183.1 million units,” Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst at Strategy Analytics added. “Demand was steadily high through the year, but supply constraints caught up to all vendors by the end of the year. This is due to two factors. First, vendors prioritized notebook production to meet work-from-home and now hybrid work demand. Second, it was difficult to juggle sourcing components that tablets and smartphones share.”

Apple shipments (sell-in) fell 22% year-on-year to 14.6 million units in Q4 2021, with worldwide market share climbing 1 percentage point to 31% as the vendor outpaced the market

While remaining the top Android vendor, Samsung tablet shipments declined 28% year-on-year in Q4 2021 to 7.3 million units; market share declined by 0.7 percentage points to 16% during the same period, the researchers noted. 

Amazon performed the best among Android vendors with its deep holiday discounts; shipments declined 13% to 5.8 million units and market share grew 1.7 percentage points to 12%

Lenovo tablet shipments broke a nine-quarter streak of growth to fall 17% during Q4 2021 to reach 4.6 million units; market share climbed 1 percentage point year-on-year to 10%

For the first time ever, Microsoft cracked the top five global vendor list with tablet shipments totaling 1.9 million units and a marginal 1% year-on-year growth rate; market share increased by 1 percentage point to 4%

The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, "Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q4 2021 Results" can be found here. 

REDMOND, Wash. and Santa Monica, Calif.—Microsoft has announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, a leader in game development and an interactive entertainment content publisher, in $68.7 billion deal that will make Microsoft the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. 

The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like “Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the world with nearly 10,000 employees.

This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse, Microsoft said in announcing the deal, which is expected to close in fiscal 2023.

The transaction, which is the largest in Microsoft’s history, has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. It is still subject to regulatory review and Activision Blizzard’s shareholder approval. 

Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

“For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. “The combination of Activision Blizzard’s world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft’s technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry.”

The combination will strengthen Microsoft’s presence in mobile, which is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile and will allow Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to work together to make franchises, like “Halo” and “Warcraft,” virtually anywhere they want. 

With games like “Candy Crush,” Activision Blizzard´s mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment, the companies added. 

The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft’s Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 25 million subscribers, Microsoft said. 

With Activision Blizzard’s nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry, Microsoft said. 

The deal will also give Microsoft 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and eSports production capabilities.

DALLAS—AT&T has agreed to sell its Xandr global programmatic advertising marketplace to Microsoft. Financial terms of the deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews, were not disclosed. The companies said that the agreement “builds on a decade-long relationship between Xandr, including its predecessor companies, and Microsoft for delivering global digital media solutions for advertisers.”

AT&T had been looking for a buyer for Xandr for more than a year, according to the Wall St. Journal. When the telco spun off its WarnerMedia Division in a $43B merger with Discovery Inc. earlier this year, AT&T elected to hold onto Xandr (formerly AppNexus), which it had acquired for $1.6B in 2018 as part of its $85B acquisition of TimeWarner.  

Microsoft said Xandr “can shape the digital ad marketplace of the future,” and that Xandr's technology “strategically complements Microsoft's current advertising offerings and will help accelerate delivery of digital advertising and retail media solutions for the open web by combining Microsoft's audience intelligence, technology and global advertising customer-base with Xandr's scaled, data-driven platform.”

"Microsoft's shared vision of empowering a free and open web and championing an open industry alternative via a global advertising marketplace makes it a great fit for Xandr. We look forward to using our innovative platform to help accelerate Microsoft's digital advertising and retail media capabilities," said Xandr's EVP and GM Mike Welch.

"With Xandr's talent and technology, Microsoft can accelerate the delivery of its digital advertising and retail media solutions, shaping tomorrow's digital ad marketplace into one that respects consumer privacy preferences, understands publishers' relationships with consumers and helps advertisers meet their goals," said Mikhail Parakhin, President of Web Experiences at Microsoft.

BERGEN, Norway, and SAN ANTONIO, Texas—Vizrt Group brand NDI today said it now has achieved full compatibility with Microsoft Teams, which allows users to harness the full capabilities of NDI 5-enabled technologies for broadcasts, webinar and other video applications.

NDI 5 is a connectivity and control standard that allows NDI devices to operate on a single IP network for real-time, low-latency video production, Vizrt said.

The enhanced NDI Tools available with NDI 5 unlock new live video production and remote capabilities for Microsoft Teams. These capabilities are easy to enable and configure from Teams through the NDI permissions options within the meetings settings, it said.

“For years, we’ve worked with our close partners at Microsoft to bring NDI support to Microsoft Teams. This announcement, thanks to NDI 5, delivers full integration between Microsoft Teams and the best broadcast equipment available,” said Andrew Cross, president of global research and development at Vizrt.

“Whether virtualizing a townhall meeting or sales event, producing a professional grade broadcast or sharing a high school production with a broad online community, NDI 5 and Microsoft Teams empowers users to make most of every moment — and share it professionally with larger audiences,” he said.

NDI 5 will be available and compatible with Microsoft Teams by the end of October, it said. 

More information about Teams is available online. A download of and more information about NDI 5 is available online.

WASHINGTON—America’s Public Television Stations and the National Association of Broadcasters have filed a brief with the FCC opposing a petition submitted by Microsoft Corporation asking the Commission to revise its rules governing Distributed Transmission Systems (DTS).

The controversy, which could have important implications for the deployment of NextGen TV broadcasts and services, revolves around the FCC January 13 Report and Order updating its DTS coverage rules.  

The order expanded the permissible range of signal spillover and replaced the subjective “minimal amount” language used to describe spillovers, giving broadcasters more flexibility in the placement of DTS transmitters. This flexibility  could help with DTS deployment and help ATSC 3.0 services reach their full potential.

In a May 21 filing with the FCC, Microsoft detailed a number of complaints about the order and argued the order would hurt their Airband Initiative to use TV white spaces to provide broadband services in rural areas. It "needlessly worsens an already-difficult environment" for TV white spaces deployments, the filing noted.

This was quickly attacked by the NAB. 

A May 25, 2021 blog post by NAB deputy general counsel Patrick McFadden blasted Microsoft's efforts to get the FCC to revise a January ruling, calling Microsoft's Airband Initiative "hot air" and a heavily hyped solution to the rural broadband gap that has not lived up to its promises.

In the new August 3 filing with the FCC, APTS and the NAB continue their opposition to Microsoft, arguing that “Microsoft’s petition presents no legitimate case for reconsideration and the Commission should promptly deny it.”

“Microsoft’s petition asks the Commission to elevate Microsoft’s parochial interest in television white spaces (TVWS) technology above the public interest in allowing broadcasters to make more efficient use of spectrum and provide improved service to viewers,” the two groups wrote. 

The filing argues that the TVWS initiative has been a failure, with “fewer TVWS devices operating in the United States today than there were four years ago....[M]ost companies previously supporting TVWS technology have abandoned it for other unlicensed spectrum opportunities, leaving Microsoft as the sole major proponent of the technology.”

Meanwhile the brief notes that “broadcasters...are moving forward quickly with ATSC 3.0 deployments and are already planning DTS deployments to improve service to consumers.” 

"The Commission cannot in good conscience bar broadcasters from making real-world investments to improve service to viewers based on nothing more than more empty promises,” from Microsoft, the groups argued. “We urge the Commission to promptly deny Microsoft’s petition for reconsideration.”

The two groups also opposed Microsoft’s proposed waiver standard. 

ARLINGTON, Va.—The Consumer Technology Association has announced that Microsoft will serve as the technology partner for CES 2021, which for the first time will be an all-digital event. This will include solutions, support and the underlying cloud technologies needed for bringing CES 2021 content to virtual attendees.

The CES conference brings together the global tech community, sharing information on the latest technology development, new products and industry leaders’ insights. Microsoft is providing its Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Power Platform systems to support the conference’s exhibitor showcases, media events, programming, networking events and more, per CTA.

Gary Shapiro, CTA president and CEO, said they selected Microsoft for its “technical expertise, global scale and experience in creating compelling digital event [sic].”

The all-digital CES 2021 is scheduled to take place from Jan. 11-14, 2021. Registration will open on Dec. 1. For more information, visit www.ces.tech.  

WASHINGTON—Broadcasters have scored a victory in the debate with Microsoft over how the FCC should allow for more unlicensed broadband in the so-called white spaces between TV channels.

The FCC had signaled it wanted to allow more flexible use of the TV band by broadband providers, pushed by Microsoft—which petitioned for the changes to the Airband initiative to use white spaces spectrum to extend rural broadband access. Advancing rural broadband is an avowed priority for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Given that the FCC was likely to have the votes to expand unlicensed use—the Democratic commissioners historically support expanded unlicensed use—the National Association of Broadcasters have worked with Microsoft on a compromise on four of five big relevant issues, but the fifth, allowing higher-powered unlicensed device use on channels adjacent to TV channels, had been the sticking point. NAB opposed it while Microsoft backed that use.

According to a draft of the item to be voted at the FCC's October public meeting, the FCC declined "at this time to allow higher power operation by white space devices when operating within the service contour of an adjacent channel TV station." It also said it would not change the methodology it used to protect authorized services—licensed TV broadcasters—from unlicensed signal interference.

While Microsoft and broadcasters had come to some meeting of the minds on other issues, the computer company remained opposed to broadcasters retaining the first channel adjacent to a TV station's channel as a buffer between stations and unlicensed users, something broadcasters said they need to protect against interference, certainly in the near term. 

The FCC has given them that near-term buffer. 

“The draft order would provide greater flexibility for white spaces operations without undermining the fundamental principle that unlicensed operations must not cause interference to licensed services," said NAB spokesperson Anne Marie Cumming. "We commend the Commission staff for their hard work on this item and their commitment to a consensus-based approach.”

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Avid has announced a five-year renewal of its cloud collaboration agreement with Microsoft.

During the term of the new agreement, Avid will continue to develop and deploy its cloud-based solutions on Microsoft Azure. Avid and Microsoft inked their first collaboration agreement in April 2017. 

“Avid is very proud of its early strategic collaboration with Microsoft Azure, which has driven the era of cloud-based media creation beyond experimentation to today’s first large-scale commercial deployments with some of the most exciting media and entertainment brands,” said Jeff Rosica, CEO and president of Avid. 

The renewal maintains the mutual commitments of the companies as well as investments in technology, product development and go-to-market efforts, Avid said. 

Several media workflows currently running in the cloud, including collaborative editing, content archiving, active backup and production continuity have grown out of the collaboration, the company said.

Both Avid and Microsoft have responded to the need of many Avid clients to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic by aiding the transition of production personnel to cloud-based workflows so they can work from home. Among the solutions is the Avid | Edit On Demand virtualized production environment that leverages Avid Media Composer for editing and Avid NEXIS storage running in the cloud, the company said.

“I’m very pleased that our shared accomplishments also prepared us to be ready to respond swiftly and keep Avid customers at work when the global health pandemic hit the industry overnight,” said Rosica.

“Building on the lessons learned during this pandemic, the companies are well prepared for what we believe will be an accelerated pace of cloud adoption—entering a new phase of innovation to provide broadcasters, film studios and post houses of all sizes with more powerful technology solutions to enable flexible remote working, ensure better business continuity and allow content creation teams to collaborate faster, more easily and on a much bigger global scale.”

More information on Avid’s cloud solutions is available on the company’s website.

WASHINGTON—The NAB does not want the FCC to tinker too much with the proposed adjustments to the rules governing TV white spaces that it worked out with Microsoft, arguing that doing so could jeopardize existing and future TV services.

TV White Space (TVWS) refers to the portions of broadcast television bands that are not used by TV stations. In February, the FCC unveiled a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow wider use of TVWS by other devices while also, the FCC claims, protecting TV reception from interference.

The NAB, in comments filed on May 4, said it is in general support of these proposals thanks to its collaboration with Microsoft, however it warns the FCC of overstepping and undoing that work. NAB offered three specific instances where this could happen.

The first is that the FCC should not—and legally cannot, according to NAB—seek to rewrite Part 15 of its rules, which ensure unlicensed operations don’t cause interference, in an attempt of “balancing policy considerations.”

“The commission’s foremost consideration in this process must be ensuring that the rules it adopts will not set the stage for harmful interference to existing or future broadcast television operations—not simply expanding the opportunities for a technology that has thus far failed to live up to its alleged promise and produce meaningful results,” the NAB’s comments read.

The NAB continues by arguing the FCC should adopt Microsoft’s proposed coordination requirement for TVWS operations where the HAAT (heights above average terrain) exceeds 250 meters rather than substitute its own judgement. The proposal currently suggests that Microsoft’s proposal, which includes identifying and notifying TV licensees using the TVWS, is too burdensome. NAB says that the proposal was modeled after the FCC’s Part 101 procedures and “sets forth a reasonable process to help ensure that broadcasters actually receive notification of the proposed operations and that they have a realistic opportunity to observe how those operations actually affect service in the real world.”

The last point the NAB makes is that the FCC should not allow higher power operations on first-adjacent channels to TV operations. “There has not been a single development in white spaces deployments or technology that would warrant revisiting the relevant rules at this time,” NAB wrote.

PLUS: Senators Push for FCC Action on White Spaces

“The commission should take a measured approach to loosening its rules to facilitate TVWS operations in this proceeding,” NAB wrote. “While we agree with most of the proposals set forth in the NPRM, we urge the commission to adopt the special coordination procedure Microsoft proposed in its petition for rulemaking, and not to make any changes to the existing rules governing first-adjacent channel operations.”

NAB’s full comments are available online. 

WASHINGTON—Broadcasters want to take a closer look at the FCC’s rules when it comes to Distributed Transmission Systems, aka single frequency networks, and its service limits.

This is the early take away from comments filed in regards to a joint petition from APTS and the NAB that specifically asks the FCC to amend its rules regarding DTS for the ATSC 3.0 rollout. Nearly all of the comments submitted to the commission’s ECFS are in support of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the subject, the only dissension thus far comes from Microsoft.

The computer company is the only commenter as of yet to outright oppose the joint petition. Even so, its comments explain that it supports the idea of using SFNs to better utilize the ATSC 3.0 standard, it just does not feel new rules are needed.

“[W]e believe the commission was fundamentally correct in its Next Generation Broadcast Television Standard Report and Order when it concluded that ‘the rules the commission already has established to authorize a DTS station generally are adequate to authorize an ATSC 3.0 SFN station.’ Thus, while we support the use of DTS, we do not support the rule changes proposed in the petition, which appear to go well beyond what is needed to fill coverage gaps within broadcasters’ service areas,” Microsoft wrote. It was the only submitted comments to outright oppose the joint petition.

Ark Multicasting Inc., while ultimately supporting the petition, also warned against “unintended consequences that could freeze technology and markets.”

Most of the comments support the concept that SFNs will be better suited to provide better reception for ATSC 3.0.

“The NEXTGEN TV rules adopted by the FCC build upon an existing license framework that, while perhaps reasonable for ATSC 1.0 transmissions, needlessly limits the ability of broadcasters to take full advantage of the next-generation standard,” Nexstar’s comments read. “The Commission should take this opportunity to remove that limitation and provide broadcasters with the flexibility to fully embrace single frequency networks to expand the delivery of local content and maximize the efficiency of their assigned spectrum.”

All of the filed comments can be read on the FCC’s ECFS page.

WASHINGTON—As broadcasters continue to figure out their strategies for making the transition from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0, Microsoft has made its thoughts clear on one potential strategy—granting a second channel for ATSC 3.0 simulcasts. Microsoft says “there is no evidence that there is any true need for these extra simulcast channels.”

That statement came from a ex parte letter from Paul Margie, Microsoft’s counsel, to Marlene Dortch of the FCC. The company’s stance came after an Oct. 15 meeting between Microsoft representatives, their counsel and members of the FCC’s Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology in regards to a Joint Petition for Rulemaking about the use of the next-generation broadcast television standard.

While saying it supports ATSC 3.0 and its potential benefits for consumers, Microsoft also states that “granting a second channel to every license in the country for voluntary ATSC 3.0 simulcasts in unnecessary to the transition.”

The letter says that there is plenty of unused spectrum and available simulcast partners in urban areas to assist with the transition, while in rural areas it argues the costs of having a second channel may be prohibitive for many.

“Broadcasters initiated the ATSC 3.0 transition with the express representation that no additional spectrum would be necessary. Further, doubling the spectrum holdings of every broadcaster in the nation, without an auction or an end date, is inconsistent with FCC spectrum policy and would undermine the FCC’s policy of improving broadband connectivity in rural communities.”

This petition is related to one that Microsoft put before the FCC in the spring asking for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for changes it suggested to the 2014 rules regarding use of white spaces between channels in TV’s licensed spectrum. At the time, while agreeing with some of Microsoft’s proposals, the NAB said that it strongly opposed higher power operations on the first-adjacent channel to broadcasters licensed service with the current generation of receivers.

The full letter can be read here.

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

REDMOND, Wash. & BURBANK, Calif.—A new collaborative effort between Disney and Microsoft will strive toward developing new production and post-production processes—or as the company’s put it in their combined press release, from “scene to screen”—for content via the cloud.

The two companies have agreed to a five-year partnership that will see Microsoft become an innovation partner with the Walt Disney Studio’s StudioLAB as they develop new ways to create, produce and distribute content via the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Avid is also working closely with Disney and Microsoft on these developments.

Using Microsoft’s cloud alliance with Avid, the companies say they have already produced media workflows that are currently running in the cloud, including collaborative editing, content archiving, active backup and production continuity. Using Avid products like Avid MediaCentral, MediaCentral | Cloud UX, Nexis | Cloud storage and Avid Media Composer—all of which run natively on Azure—are said to provide the foundation for transforming content creation and content management.

“The combination of Azure’s hyperscale capacity, global distribution and industry-leading storage and networking capabilities with Disney’s strong history of industry leadership unlocks new opportunity in the media and entertainment space and will power new ways to drive content and creativity at scale,” said Kate Johnson, president of Microsoft US. “With Azure as the platform cloud for content, we’re excited to work with the team at StudioLAB to continue to drive innovation across Disney’s broad portfolio of studios.”

WASHINGTON—NAB told the FCC this week in comments responding to a Petition for Rulemaking filed by Microsoft regarding changes to Television White Space rules that it can support four out of five of the technology company’s requested modifications, which the association wishes to see as part of “a focused Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.”

Agreement centers on higher power limits for TVWS operation in rural areas, antenna height, allowing geofenced and fixed TVWS operations on mobile platforms and use of TVWS for narrowband Internet of Things IoT applications.

However, NAB urged the commission to postpone consideration of a rule change sought by Microsoft to authorize higher power operations on first-adjacent channels to TV broadcasters until the transition to Next Gen TV services has advanced.

NAB agrees with a Microsoft proposal to boost TVWS radiated power in rural areas from the EIRP limit of 40 dBm to 42 dBm in areas where at least half of the allocated TV channels within the intended band of operation are unused for TV service and available for white space use and a fixed white space device is sufficiently separated from protected operations.

The association also agrees with the company’s proposal to allow TVWS operation from antennas 500 meters above average terrain subject to a couple of restrictions to protect broadcasters. Those include adjusting the distance separating the antennas from protected services in line with existing commission methodology and a special coordination requirement for antennas higher than 250 meters.

In accepting Microsoft’s geofencing proposal, NAB noted that existing rules allow geofenced operations for Mode II personal/portable TVWS devices. The company is seeking “an analogous rule that would permit fixed TVWS operations on platforms (such as vehicles) that operate within a pre-defined area on channels determined [to be] using the interference protection rules that would apply throughout that area,” NAB said in its filing.

These devices would be required to check their location every 60 seconds while in operation and could not be located on aircrafts, ships or satellites, the filing noted. They also would be restricted from using channel availability information when within 1.6 km of the boundary defined for their operation.

Related to rules supporting TVWS use for narrowband IoT applications, the tech giant is seeking several rule changes to allow simultaneous narrowband transmissions so long as they do not “aggregate to produce total conducted power levels above what the Commission’s rules presently allow in a 6 MHz-wide channel,” the NAB filing noted.

Proposed protections include a listen-before-talk requirement, a ban on continuous video or audio transmission with a maximum transmission limit of 10 seconds per hour and a limit on total power density in any 100 kHz slice of a 6 MHz channel “to no more than existing limits for TVWS operations adjusted for that bandwidth,” the filing said. Subject to these protections, NAB supports the company’s proposal, it added.

However, NAB disagrees with Microsoft’s proposal to authorize higher power operations on first-adjacent channels to TV broadcasters. “Microsoft bases this proposal in part on the assumption that Next Gen TV receivers ‘will be more robust to adjacent-channel interference than the ATSC 1.0 receivers’” the agency previously analyzed. Further, the need to upgrade to new DTV receivers as part of the Next Gen TV transition offers an opportunity to “reduce their susceptibility to adjacent-channel interference,” the association recounted from the Microsoft petition.

In its comments, NAB rejected these assertions, saying “there is no evidence that Next Gen TV receivers will prove less susceptible to interference than existing receivers.” Even if this were true, the Microsoft proposal is “premature” until the installed base of DTVs is replaced with 3.0 receivers, NAB said.

The association added that requiring consumer electronics manufacturers to build receivers that are more robust to accommodate TVWS operation on channels adjacent to those in use by broadcasters is “unsupported.”

Including this proposal in the proceeding will only create delays, NAB said, adding that the agency can take up the proposal “when the Next Gen transition has made further progress and Microsoft’s assumptions regarding receivers can be verified or disproven.”

LOS ANGELES—Verizon Digital Media Services and Microsoft have teamed up to offer a VDMS global streaming platform on Microsoft Azure.

The full enterprise of the Verizon streaming service will be available on Azure and work in combination with Azure’s services to support broadcasters and content providers. The new offering will support the accelerated consumption of online media and OTT services.

Verizon will work with Microsoft to integrate Azure Media Services, Microsoft AI and Microsoft machine learning technology to increase the personalization and experience for viewers.

Microsoft plans to assist with the awareness of the platform through its own salesforce.

Examples of the streaming platform and how the Verizon and Microsoft technologies work together will be on display at both company’s booths (VDMS, SU3605; Microsoft, SL6716) at the 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

WASHINGTON—Microsoft is expanding its Airband Initiative, which uses unlicensed "white spaces" spectrum in the TV band to deploy broadband to rural and underserved communities, and wants the government to contribute some money to incentivize that expansion, with the money going to deployment 'partners' like ISPs.

It had initially planned to bring access to 2 million people by July 2022, but Microsoft President Brad Smith announced in Washington Tuesday (Dec. 4), that it was ahead of schedule and was upping the ante to 3 million by that date.

He said that by December of next year the initiative would be in 25 states and added that the company would continue to "advocate for public policies to accelerate the investment in TV white spaces technologies that are needed."

[Read: Microsoft’s White Space Redux]

The FCC is currently working out the framework for the additional white spaces spectrum sharing made possible by the broadcast incentive auction. Broadcasters are concerned that the FCC needs to do more vetting of the process, particularly the database managers responsible for making sure that broadband service avoid the licensed TV services in the band. The National Association of Broadcasters declined to comment on the expansion, which Microsoft is arguing the government should invest in as well as clear the regulatory runway.

"As we deepen our commitment to bringing broadband to rural America, we believe the country can raise its ambition as well," Smith blogged.

"We think it’s time to look at how the country spends public money and re-target a small portion of those funds in ways that will close the broadband gap more quickly. To date, almost 90 percent of the money spent by the federal government on rural broadband has been spent on laying fixed lines, primarily fiber-optic cables — a solution that costs at least three to four times more than wireless technologies. We think there is a better way. If the federal government reallocates just a small additional fraction of public money toward incentives for TV white spaces devices, it will help accelerate adoption, bring costs of devices down and help the ecosystem lift off."

Smith said Microsoft isn't asking for the government handout, which makes sense given that the company is one of the largest in the world. "None of this funding would go from the government to Microsoft," he said, "but it would be available to the telecommunications partners [ISPs] whom we are working to assist."

But he is also looking for regulatory help.

"Moving faster will also require updating federal regulations governing the use of TV white spaces to free up this often unused and plentiful spectrum for rural broadband," he added.

 Smith says the government needs to get a move on. "It took 50 years to electrify the nation," he says. "The millions of Americans waiting for broadband don’t have the luxury of time." Broadcasters, by contrast, want the FCC to pause long enough to make sure that licensed broadcasters won't be harmed in the rush to unlicensed broadband.

Microsoft, which has long eagerly eyed the low-band TV spectrum, also joined with ACT: The App Association and various rural and education groups to form the Connect Americans Now (CAN) coalition to push for closing the rural divide using TV white spaces.

Introduction:

Intercom systems are used in fixed and mobile broadcasting, entertainment, houses of worship and other applications that require coordination of real-time production. Systems consist of a central audio router, matrix, plus user devices connected to the matrix, such as keypanel control interfaces. In this article, we will be focusing on the matrix itself, in particular how current and future needs translate into requirements on the products themselves.

Connecting a wired matrix:

Even today, analog connections are a very common way of connecting keypanels to matrix intercom systems. Since each keypanel requires a dedicated connector, the size of breakout panels and the number of required physical connectors grows in linear proportion with the scale of the system. Also, without additional equipment it is not easy to concentrate the traffic from multiple analog keypanels into a single cable. That means every keypanel requires its own homerun cable all the way back to the matrix. Cabling and installation man-hour costs add up quickly as a result.

With the advent of digital audio over IP, that has changed. Switches can be used to decentralize traffic. The matrix no longer requires a dedicated physical connector for each keypanel. Two standards dominate digital audio over IP. Today, Audinate’s Dante is the dominant standard, supported by hundreds of hardware vendors. Recently, AES67 has been introduced to allow interoperability between various standards, including Dante.

Requirement1: The matrix must support digital audio over IP, in a ubiquitous format.

Bridging the distance: In broadcast applications, remote reporters are often connected to the intercom system through IP audio. For remote connections, digital audio over IP must be compressed and/or transmitted in a format that accommodates higher network latencies. Most suppliers offer technologies that compress the original audio from several Mbps down to a few tens of Kbps.

Requirement2: System must provide mechanism for digital audio to be sent over long distances.

Requirement3: If Requirement 2 can be fulfilled with retained audio quality, that is preferable.

Analog connections: Audio over IP offers countless advantages over traditional analog technologies, but this view ignores one very important reality: there is a huge base of legacy analog keypanels out there. Keypanels make up somewhere between two thirds and three quarters of the total intercom system investment, so users need to know if their analog keypanels can work on a new matrix.

Requirement 4: My analog keypanels have to work on the new matrix.

In many markets, two-wire technology is still used in many applications. To connect a two-wire system to a matrix, a special converter box is typically required, unless the matrix has two-wire ports.

Requirement 5: It should be possible to connect two-wire, without the need for special adapters.

As a consequence of digitalization, analog-only keypanels will slowly phase out. Matrices need fewer connectors for analog keypanels, but they still need some.

Requirement 6: The matrix needs to have some analog connectors, without a breakout panel.

Space is scarce, and so is cooling: Everything gets smaller. New products have perhaps 10 times the processing power of older generation products. That frees up some rack space. Both rack space and cooling are concerns in a truck or a broadcast equipment room. We’ll formulate three requirements based on these insights: smaller rack space footprint, low power consumption, and cool running temperatures.

Requirement 7: Space is a scarce resource. The less rack space needed for the matrix, the better. A single rack unit is ideal.

Requirement 8: New equipment should use less power than old equipment. Users should expect a new matrix to use less than half of the power of an older system. Switching power supplies should operate at 120 or 240 V AC, 50 or 60 Hz.

Requirement 9: Significantly reduce empty rack space required around matrix for cooling.

Setup, configuration & maintenance: Installing the matrix hardware is only part of the work. After it has been installed into the rack and cabling connected, it needs to be configured. Configuration is usually done on a separate computer, connected to the matrix over IP, running dedicated software from the matrix vendor. In the United States, Windows-based computers still dominate. A simpler work flow could also consolidate setup, configuration, and maintaining, into a single application—or better yet, through secure webpage access.

Requirement 10: Setup, configuration, and maintenance software should run on a normal Windows-based computer or be available through secure webpage access.

Ethernet-enabled devices must address potential vulnerability to hacking to prevent them from being used as gateways for people wishing to access sensitive data or cause disruptions.

Requirement 11: Ethernet-enabled equipment must have built in state-of-the-art IP security to prevent illicit access, loss of data, and system disruption.

In a house of worship, theater, or small television station, full-blown configuration software might cater to advanced options that are not required in a simple setup with just a matrix and a few keypanels.

Requirement 12: An optional simplified configuration should be available through a web interface or on the front panel interface of the matrix itself.

Scaling the system: Intercom matrix products are almost always designed to allow for system expansion. A modular intercom typically consists of a frame and card-slots. Cards can be added to the frame as more ports are required. However, modular frames typically use two or more rack units. As a result, true modularity is hard to reconcile with Requirement 7. A matrix designed to fit in a single rack unit can still be expandable. First, it may be possible to enable more ports without adding hardware. Second, it may be possible to achieve larger capacity by interconnecting multiple units.

Requirement 13: My matrix capacity should be able to grow by enabling additional ports, provided the hardware can support it.

Once the system reaches the maximum capacity of a single matrix, there should be a mechanism for expanding further.

Requirement 14: When the hardware limit is reached in a single rack unit, there should be an option to grow further by adding more hardware.

Today, an intercom matrix investment assumes you know exactly what you need 6-12 months from now. An intercom user has to purchase a card specific to one format, often for a specific number of ports. That is not really user-centric; it’s hardware-centric and it limits the maximum frame expandability.

Requirement15: The system should offer the flexibility to reallocate ports, independent of hardware type. If ports are no longer needed for one hardware standard, they should be reclaimable for use via another.

In a truly cost-effective solution, it should be possible to grow simply by adding another matrix, without first having to spend money on a new box or card to make the interconnection possible.

Requirement 16: Ideally, a user should be able to expand their system by simply connecting another matrix to my existing one. No additional boxes or cards should be required.

Reliability: High reliability can be achieved through redundancy. Any of the following subsystems can be redundant: power converters, main processor, switching fabric, expansion cards, and connectors—up to and including the frames themselves.

Requirement 17: My matrix has to have redundancy.

The backup unit should take over automatically if the primary fails.

Requirement 18: If my primary matrix suffers a catastrophic failure, the backup matrix should take over automatically.

It should be noted that for devices that use an analog connection—such as analog keypanels—automatic switchover is not usually possible. In case of a failure, a technician would have to move those connectors from one frame to the other.

Future-proofing your investment: A matrix should have a long useful life. In a modular matrix, it is possible to add new cards to accommodate new technologies. In a single rack unit form factor, it may be more realistic to consider new firmware as a means of “teaching” a matrix new functions. To support modern IP networks, all NICs (Network Interface Controllers) should be gigabit-speed at a minimum.

Requirement 19: A matrix is a long-term investment. It has to be future-proof, with the expectation of improved firmware as new technologies become available.

Requirement 20: All NICs should support gigabit-speed at a minimum, preferably more.

Dynamic trunk allocation: Matrix technology must support a solution for distributed networks where the total number of ports exceeds the limits of a single matrix. The inter-matrix signaling required is vendor-specific, as is any additional hardware required. Transmission capacity between matrices is often referred to as trunks. Special nodes may be required to calculate the optimum path between two matrices, to allow calls to get through via an alternate path, even if all direct trunks are busy. This is referred to as trunking.

Requirement 21: If the existing intercom system uses trunking to interconnect multiple sites, the new matrix should be able to communicate with its trunked matrix infrastructure.

Conclusion

The advantages of IP-based intercom systems are clear. The needs of your particular intercom installation should cover the 21 basic requirements proposed in this article, plus any specific needs dictated by your productions.

Fredrik Borjesson is a Senior Product Manager at RTS. John Ball is a Systems Engineer at Microsoft Production Studios. 

LEAWOOD, KAN.—A lot crosses my desk on a daily basis, and there are times I see curious connections between seemingly unrelated items.

Usually, I keep these thoughts to myself, viewing them mostly as whimsical musings. But this month I thought I would share one that I hope inspires broadcasters and the lawyers and lobbyists in Washington, D.C., they depend on.

I am talking about the value of perseverance.

First, consider One World Trade Center (1WTC) in New York City. As of this writing, five stations are on air, according to John Lyons, assistant vice president of The Durst Organization, which is responsible for the building’s broadcast RF infrastructure.

They include WNJU, which is channel-sharing with WNBC, Ion’s WPXN, WCBS and Fox Television’s WWOR. Within the next 60 days, Lyons expects Fox’s WNYW and public broadcaster WNET to begin transmitting from 1WTC, as well.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy. As I have previously reported, high winds and freezing weather frequently postpone scheduled work to mount antennas, transmission line and other associated items. As things stand, Lyons is targeting late spring for the last of the antenna work to be complete.

[Read: Details Emerge About 1WTC Transmitter Lineup]

While wind and weather delays may have modified the completion schedule, one thing hasn’t changed. That’s the determination to persevere and re-establish the site to its previous stature as a premier TV transmission site in the nation’s No. 1 television market.

The same day I spoke with Lyons, NAB reply comments crossed my desk that were in reference to Microsoft comments regarding FCC’s Further Notice on Next-Gen TV. Microsoft is asking for the agency to give unlicensed white space devices favorable treatment in the few unused TV channels that remain following the repack.

[Read: Microsoft’s White Space Redux]

TV broadcasters, however, may need those vacant channels during an ATSC 1.0-to-3.0 transition to continue fully serving legacy DTV viewers while rolling out Next-Gen TV services. That doesn’t even take into account the LPTV stations with secondary licenses that should be given priority over unlicensed white space devices once the full-powers are setup for their transition.

When I think about a company with a nearly $700 billion market cap (on its way to $1 trillion market cap according to some Wall Street analysts) going up against the broadcast industry, my recommendation is take a page out of Lyon’s book: persevere.

There surely will be blustery days ahead and this won’t be the only fight, but a successful 1.0-to-3.0 transition is too important to do otherwise.

NEW DELHI—A new partnership between Prime Focus Technologies and Microsoft has come to be in the attempt to strengthen PFT’s Clear hybrid cloud-enable Media ERP suite. Clear, which PFT reports handles up to 1.5 million hours of content, will now be combined with Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services to be implemented across global regions covered by Azure.

This deal will begin with the immediate migration of all consolidated data storage to Azure before the migration of core Clear Media ERP to Azure couple with Microsoft’s Cognitive Services. The companies plan to work together on the go-to-market approach, which will seek to help clients migrate to the cloud.

Clear will now be available through Azure’s 42 regions, allowing M&E organizations to manage workflow orchestrations across the entire content supply chain of one system, including processes like acquisition, review and approval, cataloging, QC, mastering, distribution, promos and localization.

REDMOND, WASH.—Computer companies, led by Microsoft, have formed the Connect Americans Now coalition and are seeking to access the so-called TV white spaces to close the rural digital divide. Broadcasters, meanwhile, want more of the broadcast spectrum to simulcast ATSC 3.0 signals, as well as low power and translators displaced in the post incentive auction repack looking for new spectrum homes.

Find out more by reading the full article on TVT’s sister publication B&C.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—Microsoft delivered a proposal to the FCC to use white space “vacant channels” in the broadcast spectrum range below 900 MHz to create a rural broadband service. Working with other computer industry stalwarts who were “ready to commit substantial resources,” Microsoft vowed to pursue a “White-Fi” system to expand internet access at a low price into areas that traditional wired and wireless Internet Service Providers were ignoring.

In mid-July, Microsoft President Brad Smith updated the TV white spaces proposal to an overflow Washington audience.

That was in 2007. 

In the past decade, Microsoft tried several times to establish a two-way inroad into the broadcast spectrum, pushing for the 802.11af WiFi standard that enables wireless Local Area Networks to operate in the TV white spaces (TVWS) spectrum on VHF and UHF bands. The standard, adopted in 2014, has a data rate of nearly 27 Mbps in a six-MHz channel.

But enough about decade-old visions.

‘CLOSE THE RURAL BROADBAND GAP’

In mid-July, Microsoft President Brad Smith updated the TV white spaces proposal to an overflow Washington audience, which included members of Congress, FCC staff and other policy makers. The company’s new “Rural Airband Initiative” envisions a three-channel system that would reach more than 23 million Americans at a cost of less than $12 billion, a fraction of the price of fiber optics or 5G wireless technology, Smith said.

The two-way wireless technologies used in the TVWS system would use the same frequencies for both downstream and upstream transmissions, similar to other time division duplex technologies, a Microsoft spokesperson told TV Technology.

Smith set a July 4, 2022, goal for the Microsoft plan to “close the rural broadband gap.”

“The necessary standards are in place” and “innovative business models” are being developed, he said with bold bravura. “This is now ready to scale. It is time for a new company to set a new course.”

The ambitious plan immediately triggered a backlash from broadcasters, low-power TV advocates (who were trying to assess how they figured into the plan) and endorsements from high-tech organizations. Earlier this month, a bipartisan coalition of 43 members of Congress sent a letter to the FCC also supporting the measure.

“We believe that the television white spaces (TVWS) have strong potential to revolutionize broadband internet accessibility in rural areas,” the representatives said in their letter. “TVWS allows a broadband internet connection to cover 9 miles, while navigating the physical terrain that at times can make wireless broadband connectivity difficult. Because of this range, these internet connections are extremely cost-effective requiring minimal infrastructure investments, and are far more dependable than the limited connections that many rural areas currently have.”

The regulatory battleground on which the Microsoft plan will be examined is still unclear, although a Microsoft spokesperson told TV Technology that the company “is already participating in the FCC’s relevant proceedings impacting the availability of TV white spaces and has filed several ex parte letters and other submissions with the FCC.”

In his presentation at the Media Institute monthly luncheon, Smith cited the importance of including low power TV in the plan, pointing out that recent spectrum reallocations have created 210 MHz for broadcasters, 140 MHz for mobile carriers and only 18 MHz for “public” services. He said that federal and government funding “will accelerate this work” to distribute the proposed services.

Smith said that the proposal—running on what he called “underutilized broadcast TV airwaves”—would cost $8–$12 billion nationwide to reach rural areas, which he deemed “more affordable” than fiber optics or Fifth Generation (5G) wireless broadband ventures that could cost up to $50 billion. Smith said that Microsoft will offer a free license for some of its white spaces technology to “stimulate the market,” including community investments.

The proposed system will be able to carry data at speeds up to 400 Mbps, Smith said as he showed prototype receivers now operating at 25 Mbps and 40 Mbps. He said that Microsoft has run about 20 projects worldwide reaching 185,000 users, insisting that “this technology is ready to take off.”

Smith explained that by bundling white space spectrum from several channels, throughput speeds could go even higher, bolstering his push for more bandwidth.

‘THE HEIGHT OF ARROGANCE’

On the day before the public presentation, Smith posted a blog offering some details of the plan, which was then covered in detail in a New York Times story. Those revelations prompted the National Association of Broadcasters to issue a statement several hours before Smith’s speech, denouncing Microsoft’s Rural Airband Initiative as “the height of arrogance.” NAB’s preemptive attack focused on the plan to use broadcast spectrum, although Microsoft “refused to bid on broadcast TV airwaves in the recent FCC incentive auction.”

When TV Technology asked Smith about the NAB invective during a Q&A session after his long but sparsely detailed speech, the Microsoft executive said he did not want to “hurl insults at each other.” He proposed that Microsoft “should sit down with [NAB President/CEO] Gordon Smith” to see how they could “work together” on Microsoft’s vision to bring digital education, telemedicine, agribusiness and other data services to rural America.

“We all have the opportunity to learn from each other,” Smith said.

LPTV: ‘THIS FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT’

The role of LPTV is a major factor, since many rural venues are served by LPTV and translator services.

“The vacant channel order is dead on arrival, simply because it doesn’t work.... It takes channel availability away from low power,” Mike Gravino, director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition told TV Technology shortly after Microsoft’s announcement. “To get a channel in a larger market, you might have to displace several low powers. This will raise new problems.”

“This fight is our fight,” Gravino said grittily. Describing the Microsoft plan as “fantastic” (as in “fantasy”), he characterized, “everything is fantastic except the enabling mechanism. Our licenses cannot be revoked because we don’t have any place to move.” He said that if the vacant channel order were to happen, that could displace [channels] in the middle of the displacement process... of the repack.”

“We cannot introduce that kind of complexity into the repack,” he added.

By early August, Gravino had laid down his weapons. In a member newsletter blast, the coalition said it was “declaring a truce to end the vacant channel war over LPTV spectrum rights.” Gravino told TV Technology that his intent is “to make love, not war with the tech companies.” 

Referring to spectrum, Gravino said, “If they want it and we got it, let’s make a deal.” Although he would not amplify the status of his group’s discussions, Gravino said “the coalition is in active talks with those who want to use spectrum.

By mid-August we’ll be able to announce a plan for a public common for lowband spectrum uses,” he said.

Separately, the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance, a coalition of full and low-power TV stations designed to “promote the efficient and effective use of all television broadcast spectrum,” said the Microsoft plan would “destroy” hundreds of LPTV and translator stations, which are not protected in the repack. ABTA said its prime concern is that Microsoft would get access to rural airwaves while ABTA member stations are awaiting their assignments after full-power channels are assigned in the repack. It recommended that the FCC withhold action on the Microsoft plan until the repack and displacement windows for LPTV and translator stations is completed.

ABTA also acknowledged that TVWS and NextGen TV are “excellent partners,” but that there should be time to establish the ATSC 3.0 IP operations before use of vacant channels is authorized.

CHALLENGERS WHO SUPPORT MICROSOFT’S PLAN

Consumer Technology Association President/CEO Gary Shapiro complimented Microsoft for “generously offering” to bring broadband access to rural America, including “training for new jobs and volunteer Microsoft time, patents and expertise.”

“They are suggesting an incredibly cost-efficient way of getting broadband to most of the rural community needing broadband,” Shapiro told TV Technology. “We look forward to understanding any regulatory changes needed to begin deployment of services using TVWS devices and are excited that this promising technology will see more widespread global use.”

Public Knowledge, an advocacy group, also endorsed the proposal. Senior Vice President Harold Feld pointed out that until now “the cost of equipment [for TVWS] has discouraged widespread adoption,” also noting that “resistance from the National Association of Broadcasters has consistently delayed FCC action.”

“Microsoft’s proposal to ‘seed’ TVWS technology guarantees that if the FCC will prioritize rural broadband over broadcast lobbyists, we can solve the digital divide and make affordable broadband available to all Americans,” Feld added. “It’s time for the FCC to put broadcast lobbyists on mute and manage the public airwaves for the benefit of the public.”

FreedomWorks Foundation, which calls itself “an online community of 6.9 million that promotes market-based solutions to public policy issues,” said, in a filing to the FCC proceeding just before the Microsoft announcement, that it supports FCC actions that would “unleash free-market TV white space Internet services.” 

THE DETAILS AND PARTNERS

Microsoft characterized its proposal as a blend of “broadband and cloud computing” which would start with 12 TVWS projects in 12 states in the next 12 months (Washington, Arizona, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, George, Virginia, New York and Maine.) Smith said that the first phase could connect up to two million people in rural areas.

He suggested that the initial efforts would trigger “community investments,” vowing that Microsoft will stimulate the market “by licensing our technology,” based on 39 patents, including 14 dealing with white space delivery. He indicated that some of the patents would be licensed at no cost.

“We want to be a catalyst,” he said.

Smith envisioned that white space technology in major urban markets would incentivize equipment makers to enter the business, which would spur expansion into rural areas. He described use of Channel 37, which the FCC has approved for sharing with wireless medical telemetry systems, and pointed to the “vacant channel proceeding” (described in the white paper booklet he distributed) as proving that even more spectrum will be available for the Microsoft proposal.

Current transceiver units are priced under $800; Smith said prices would fall to $200 or less. They will be able to carry data at speeds up to 400 Mbps, he said, with initial models now operating at 25 Mbps and 40 Mbps.

Smith explained that by bundling white space spectrum from several channels, throughput speeds could go even higher, bolstering his push for more bandwidth.

LUFKIN, TEXAS—The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance believes that Microsoft’s push for reserving channels in the broadcast band for unlicensed use for promoting rural broadband would “destroy” hundreds of LPTV and translator stations. With these stations not protected as part of the TV station repack, ATBA believes that the fewer remaining channels that exist means more LPTV and translators that will be left homeless.

Read the full story on TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News.

WASHINGTON—Microsoft President Brad Smith revealed the company’s “Rural Airband Initiative” that would use TV white space spectrum at a Media Institute luncheon on July 11. The goal of the plan, according to Smith, is to “close the rural broadband gap.” Already the plan has drawn criticism from the NAB.

To find out more, read Gary Arlen’s full write-up on TVT’s sister publication B&C.

WASHINGTON--Microsoft is pushing the FCC to reserve a "white space" channel in every market in the repack of TV stations following the incentive auction, and broadcasters aren't happy.

Last month, Microsoft execs met with commissioner aides and FCC staffers to argue that was important to enable internet access for rural and underserved communities, and next week Microsoft president Brad Smith is scheduled to talk up "tapping into unused spectrum" as part of a national rural broadband strategy at a Media Institute luncheon July 11.

In response, the National Association of Broadcasters, fired back in a blog post by auction point man Patrick McFadden.

Broadcasting & Cable has the rest of the story.

LOS ANGELES—Verizon Digital Media Services announced that it is extending its relationship with Microsoft to make cloud-based storage from Microsoft Azure available to all Verizon Digital Media Services Edgecast Content Delivery Network users. Azure Storage will now power Verizon Store, the cloud-based origin storage offering on the Edgecast CDN, providing a convenient option for scalable object storage.

Edgecast CDN customers can take advantage of Azure Storage as part of a single platform from only one vendor. Verizon Digital Media Services maintains a simple billing model closely aligned with customers’ monetization models, charging on volume stored, and not on transactions, transfers or egress costs.

Verizon Digital Media Services and Microsoft already feature customized APIs within each other’s platforms and highly integrated network interconnections that allow the two platforms to seamlessly work together. Azure and the Edgecast CDN integrated in 2014 and a number of Microsoft web properties, including Xbox and Skype, utilize the Edgecast CDN.

NEW YORK—Microsoft Azure has earned a spot at the Olympics, as NBC Olympics has announced it will utilize the system to provide cloud encoding and hosting with video workflows. Azure will be tasked with providing streaming services for NBCUniversal and NBCOlympics.com for the second time, having previously done so for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

By using the Microsoft Azure, NBC Olympics will be able to provide live and on-demand multiplatform streaming coverage to a variety of connected devices, including connected TVs, tablets, smartphones, and PCs. The streams will be available through the NBC Sports app, which can be downloaded for free via Android, iOS, Roku, Amazon, Windows 10 tablets, Xbox, Windows Phone, PC and Mac.

Microsoft has additional services that it is providing users especially for the Olympic Games. Among these are a daily schedule, athlete information and predictions from Bing and a new Interesting Outlook calendar functionality on Outlook for enabling viewers to add specific events to their schedules.

The 2016 Summer Olympics take place in Rio de Janeiro starting Friday, Aug. 5 through Aug. 21.

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

HAMBURG, GERMANY—Felix Richter of Statista visualized the trajectory of Microsoft's cloud revenues, on track to hit more than $20 billion in fiscal 2017 (running through June, 2018). The target was set last year by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for the company's commercial cloud services, including Office 365 commercial, Azure, Dynamics Online, and others, Richter noted.



You will find more statistics at Statista

MULTIPLE CITIES—A team of Microsoft researchers are well on their way to creating a holodeck. The scientists have achieved what they're calling "holoportation," a kind of Skype call that places people in remote locations in the same room using 3D modeling and virtual-reality technology.

“‘Holoportation’ is a new type of 3D capture technology that allows high quality 3D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed, and transmitted anywhere in the world in real-time. When combined with mixed reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in their physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face-to-face communication,” the team’s Website.

Check it out.

REDMOND, WASH.—Microsoft served up a video vision of the future of football viewing via its virtual reality HoloLens space-age headgear.

“What if game day was no longer confined to your television screen, but covered your room and took over your coffee table? Today, we shared a glimpse of that future in a brand new concept video unveiled at the Super Bowl 50 panel discussion, ‘The Future of Football: How Technology Could Shape the Next 50 Years of the Game, ’” wrote Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Windows and Devices Group this week on the Windows blog.

The glimpse includes a faux living room with reasonably good-looking, HoloLens-bedecked cast members seeming to crush gnats in mid-air between their fingers but are really moving and activating features that do things like make an animated, virtualized field of play show up on the coffee table, or manifest a life-size, computer-generated Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson trying to get through the whole experience with a straight face.

We know this to be a shameless plug for the Microsoft head wrap, but it is undeniably cool. We just wonder how soon it will become obsolete enough for the ordinary among us to afford it.