KickApps, a provider of on-demand social media, video player and widget platforms, announced an agreement with Hearst-Argyle Television to power user-generated content (UGC) and social-media functionality on the company’s nationwide network of television station Web sites. KickApps will provide the infrastructure and front-end, enabling the company’s Web sites to create and manage hyperlocal Web experiences with social, interactive, dynamic, distributed and data-informed features. more…
The previous column introduced you to the cooling requirements of some broadcast spaces. Now we’ll look at the most important television space — the machine room. This is the heart of all content production centers. If this room goes down, so does all production and transmission. more…
As part of the FCC’s nationwide DTV transition assistance effort, hundreds of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members will be part of a $90 million project to help viewers get their DTV boxes running. AmeriCorps NCCC members will focus on groups the FCC has targeted for special attention, including low-income individuals, minority communities, non-English speaking consumers, senior citizens, consumers with disabilities and individuals living in rural areas or tribal lands. more…
The previous column reviewed the basis for this series of articles called “It’s not easy being green.” We continue now with a discussion of a video facility’s most important operating spaces, the master control room (MCR) and the machine room. more…
It was time for my regular dose of unreality.
For that slap against the head with Washington speak, I headed to the transcripts of the March 26 hearings on the DTV transition. Reading a few dozen pages of bureaucratic drivel usually sufficiently dulls my senses.
Reading the words (hearing them is even worse) of bureaucrats often tests the bounds of one’s credulity. I’m not saying all bureaucrats lie. They don’t. However, bureaucrats when taken as a whole more resemble politicians than normal humans. Bureaucrats are quick to deny responsibility for any failure, but equally as quick to claim credit for anything positive that’s happened. more…
Not so long ago, a TV station’s rack room was an area housing multiple racks filled with a dozen chassis-powering graphics, intercom systems and signal distribution equipment. These devices consumed perhaps 10A per rack, generated little heat and were generally ignored.
The real broadcast action was in the master control room (MCR). Here one would find multiple tape machines, perhaps a library tape machine for automation, gulping enormous amounts of power. Also there would be the master control switcher and film chain, each with an additional operator and perhaps a dozen or so video monitors located around the room. One operator was responsible for handling several tape decks. The area was abuzz with activity. more…
According to many, okay some, the NAB convention will highlight mobile TV applications, showing live demonstrations (again). Lest those in the broadcast industry think we are the only ones pushing mobile TV, it is worth a bit of effort to see what other giants in this space are saying and have planned. more…
Cable operators have for years tried to implement targeted advertising. This year, TANDBERG Television (exhibiting at NAB booth SU5108) has both a new product and a technology demonstration that appear to support that goal. Both solutions can be viewed in the TANDBERG Television booth at this year’s show. more…
As if computer viruses weren’t bad enough, it now appears there’s a new variety of viruses and worms just waiting to attack your digital television. The newly-discovered virus is similar to the Conflicker C virus that experts claim will be activated on April 1. While researchers don’t yet know exactly what will happen when the Conflicker C virus activates, the issue is serious enough that Microsoft has offered $250,000 to anyone who can help find the code’s author.
While researching the Conflicker C virus, I was tipped off that another bug was about to launch itself onto the video scene. This bug is called Pentonion, but rather than being spread among computers, this bug is being spread to DTV sets across America. My tipster said that the FCC has received a secret report on this potentially destructive virus, but is hesitant to release the news because of the widespread scare and economic damage it might cause. My unnamed source said the report was given to the commission on January 20. If that’s true, then why wasn’t it released to the public? I wanted to find the answer to that question. more…
If you’re irritated by all the snipes popping up on your TV screen, you better chill because more are coming. According to The Diffusion Group, 76 percent of consumers think that having a widget toolbar on their TV set would be valuable. Only 11 percent think that would be a bad idea. more…
KickApps, a provider of on-demand social media, video player and widget platforms, announced an agreement with Hearst-Argyle Television to power user-generated content (UGC) and social-media functionality on the company’s nationwide network of television station Web sites. KickApps will provide the infrastructure and front-end, enabling the company’s Web sites to create and manage hyperlocal Web experiences with social, interactive, dynamic, distributed and data-informed features. more…
