Banana Ball TV (BTV), the production arm for the Savannah Bananas baseball team, has installed three Calrec 36-fader Argo M consoles, three Type R systems, and True Control 2.0, to expand remote production capabilities.

The Savannah Banana exhibition baseball team tours packed baseball stadiums worldwide, using altered baseball rules that favor trick plays, all within a two-hour limit to increase audience engagement. Think Harlem Globetrotters, but for baseball.

This year, the team introduced the “Banana Ball Championship League,” which adds even more opponents and an even busier broadcast schedule covering games across 75 stadiums and 45 states.

Spread across two main control rooms at BTV's remote facility in Savannah, and with flypacks positioned out in the field, Calrec’s flexible audio network sits at the core of a significant expansion of BTV's REMI capabilities. Designed to extend capacity and accommodate future growth, it makes BTV's workflows much more fluid, according to Savannah Bananas’ Head of Technology Matt Webster.

“We’ve seen lots of expansion for the 2026 World Tour season, and part of re-building our facilities from 2025 to 2026 was to expand capabilities and increase overall efficiency,” Webster said. “The Calrec consoles are all being used to support REMI broadcasts; we have Argo consoles in our main control rooms and we deploy the Type R frame in the field in our mobile units and flypacks.

“This gives us a combination of analog, embedded SDI, MADI and Dante, and all the audio is given a first pass mix and level set before it is embedded in our video transmission system back to Savannah. We ensure lip sync is correct on-site, so when it comes back into the control rooms, we just focus on mixing the broadcast as if we are doing it at our home stadium.

“We also have remote control of the consoles via the Calrec Assist GUI for changing things on the fly. The most challenging part of any audio console is how you have to interact with it if you are not standing directly in front of it, but nothing beats having access to a web page; it means we can access any console from inside the stadium to make changes, and I can also work remotely to support all our shows from home and fix issues that arise quickly. It is a game-changer for sure.”

Access to Calrec’s True Control 2.0 protocol, which provides even greater levels of remote control and unparalleled flexibility to scale up when required, gives scope for BTV to further develop its workflows. Webster says he plans to introduce it more as the season progresses.

It demands an audio workflow as dynamic as the Savannah Bananas’ antics on the field, Webster added.

“We want the technology to outpace production,” he said. “It’s all about scale and simplicity, and Calrec allowed us to achieve this in our second generation of REMI workflows. With broadcast consoles like the Argo and Type R, our workflow has dramatically improved. The Calrec equipment allows us to truly make sure we have the best audio – sweetened and observed.

“It brings us a level of consistency that we have been looking for; it just works, and it is simple enough for any audio operator to just jump in and start driving. We have many local audio mixers in the Savannah area that have an entertainment and film focus rather than a broadcast one, but the Calrec consoles have been extremely easy for them not only to make the transition, but to excel.

“It means all our production staff are able to move from room-to-room and from site-to-site and not have any compromises or workflow limitations.”

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced a tentative agenda for the August Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 6, 2026.

While the vote on replacing TV station ownership rules will certainly have the biggest impact on broadcasters, the agency will also be considering opening up more than 200 megahertz of unlicensed spectrum and other items.

The FCC described the items as follows:

• Opening Up More Than 200 Megahertz of Unlicensed Spectrum for D2D Offerings. The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would explore new avenues to allow innovative unlicensed wireless devices to communicate directly with satellites. The item would propose and seek comment on use of certain frequencies available under part 15 of the Commission's rules for communications between Earth and space, including direct-to-device (D2D) services. The NPRM would also propose to clarify that use of part 15 unlicensed devices is permitted within FCC-authorized spacecraft, and seek comment on other scenarios where part 15 unlicensed devices may safely operate in space. (ET Docket No. 26-169)
• Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration. The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to strengthen the Commission’s management and administration of the Universal Service Fund (USF) by reforming and improving USF administration processes, the structure of USF administration, operating costs associated with USF administration, and the impact of USAC’s Board of Directors on USF administration. (WC Docket No. 26-173)
• Replacing the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule. The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would remove artificial barriers to broadcast television’s ability to attract capital and generate revenue, thus enabling broadcast television owners to better fulfill their public interest obligations, including through increased investment in local programming. The Report and Order also enables broadcast television station owners to expand their audience reach, gaining important leverage against national television networks. (MB Docket No. 17-318)
• Promoting Telehealth in Rural America. The Commission will consider a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would seek comment on several improvements to the Rural Health Care Program intended to reduce administrative burdens on program participants and better administer limited program funding given increased program participation and service costs. The accompanying Order would permit the use of previously approved rural rates for funding year 2027 that would otherwise require approval of a cost-based justification. (WC Docket No. 17-310)

The Open Meeting is scheduled to commence at 10:30 a.m. ET in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

Open Meetings are streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live.

Documents relating to each item on the agenda are available here.

The FCC publicly releases the draft text of each item expected to be considered at the next Open Commission Meeting. One-page cover sheets are included in the public drafts to help summarize each item. All these materials will be available on the FCC’s Open Meeting page: www.fcc.gov/openmeeting.

WASHINGTON—Representatives of the AWARN Alliance recently met with Federal Communications Commission officials to stress the fact that NextGen TV devices are designed to receive Emergency Alerts and to rebut findings of a study by Weigel Broadcasting that claimed to have found problems with the ability of ATSC 3.0 devices to receive crucial emergency alerts.

The July 13 meeting, which was summarized in a July 15 letter to the FCC, involved Dave Arland and Kathryn Barnhart of the AWARN Alliance, Media Media Bureau staff (Hillary DeNigro, Lyle Elder, Mark Colombo, Maria Mullarkey, and Evan Baranoff), Allison Howell and Patrick Harty (legal advisor and staff for Commissioner Brendan Carr) and Marcus Maher (legal advisor for Commissioner Olivia Trusty.)

During the meeting the AWARN representatives stressed that their “mission is to save lives and protect communities by leveraging advanced emergency alerting, news, and information powered by the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard” and that they were meeting with the FCC “to clear up a misrepresentation made about the ability of ATSC 3.0 receivers to properly receive and display Emergency Alert System (EAS) messaging.”

AWARN also stressed that “the voluntary Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) capability of the ATSC 3.0 standard is a useful and effective supplement to the EAS already in place, which reaches millions of viewers with broadcast signals. As the AWARN Alliance has previously stated, we reiterated that local stations are the best option for keeping local audiences informed during specific emergencies, including providing geolocation targeted information, maps, multilingual and sign language services, and other capabilities that are anticipated in the ATSC 3.0 standard.”

In addition, AWARN argued that “more than 18.5 million NextGen TV sets and converter boxes can receive EAS Alerts…[C]ontrary to the impression delivered by Weigel Broadcasting during their recent meeting and subsequent ex parte filing , virtually every ATSC 3.0 receiver can easily tune to ATSC 3.0 broadcasts with an antenna and without an internet connection.”

They also rebutted Weigel’s contention that “an internet connection is a requirement for ATSC 3.0 reception…this is not a factual statement. We noted that EAS signaling is present in the actual linear broadcast, and that supplemental data can be delivered through optional AEI capabilities of the standard, which could rely on both broadcast and internet-delivered information. But if a viewer is simply watching a linear program, we stated that viewer will get EAS alerts.”

AWARN also complained that “receivers `tested’ by Weigel were “cherry-picked” to emphasize their point” and that they focused on just two products.

Although AWARN did not mention this, one of those products, HDHomeRun has since upgraded its boxes so they can receive alerts without an internet connection.

“Unmentioned in the selected Weigel reception results is the fact that internet service is not required for ATSC 3.0 reception with the least expensive NextGen TV receivers now available to consumers, including set-top receivers manufactured by ADTH and Zinwell…Further, we pointed out that the submitted analysis only considered advanced “gateway” set-top devices with retail prices that exceed $200, designed for consumers who have broadband connections and who also desire advanced program guides and multi-room viewing capability.”

AWARN also noted that the Zapperbox device that Weigel “tested” is the only device on the market that requires an internet connection to decrypt content, and a Zapperbox software update to change this behavior is already in the works.”

The full discussion is available here.

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order pausing the $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery as she considers a ruling on a preliminary Injunction in an antitrust case filed by 12 attorneys general.

The July 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California pauses the deal for 14 days while she considers a preliminary injunction, which would block the merger for the duration of the litigation and impose substantial costs on Paramount.

“My office and attorneys general nationwide have secured an emergency order blocking the unlawful merger of Warner Bros. and Paramount,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading a coalition of states seeking to block the deal on antitrust grounds. “This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day. …With our lawsuit, we’re fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike.”

As previously reported, the case argues that the deal, the largest in Hollywood history, would combine two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the five major owners of basic cable channels, “inflicting substantial harm on movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences nationwide.”

The deal has been approved by the Justice Department and Paramount had been hoping to close it as early as July 22.

The Federal Communications Commission is currently considering whether to grant the deal an exemption from foreign ownership rules.

PHOENIX, Ariz.—Silicondust has unveiled the release of the latest HDHomeRun app supporting the ability to view television, emergency alert notifications and recordings even if there is an internet outage.

Recently filings in the FCC’s GN Docket No. 16-142, “Authorizing the Permissive Use of the ‘Next Generation’ Broadcast Television Standard,” have seen several parties point out that viewers should continue receiving broadcast television, including Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages, when broadband connectivity is unavailable, said company president and CTO Nick Kelsey.

“We agree that viewers must be able to tune and view broadcast-delivered television channels during an internet outage,” he said.

Silicondust suggested to the commission that broadcasters temporarily transmit broadcast channels without DRM encryption while the ecosystem develops and deploys a broadly compatible solution that preserves television reception during internet outages.

“Silicondust demonstrates that broadcast television can continue to operate during an internet outage using the HDHomeRun video gateway architecture. Our July 9, 2026, FCC Ex Parte filing indicates that the remaining limitation is confined to DRM encrypted channels. That limitation does not affect ATSC 1.0 channels or ATSC 3.0 channels that are not DRM encrypted,” said Kelsey. “No deployable A3SA-approved approach presently enables DRM encrypted channels to be made available to popular player devices with the same Internet-outage compatibility as unencrypted broadcast channels.”

The latest HDHomeRun app updates are available for:

• Roku devices and Roku-based TVs
• Android TV devices and Android based TVs
• Fire TV devices and Fire TV based TVs
• Apple TV devices
• Google TV devices
• XBox consoles
• Apple iPhones and iPads
• Android phones and tablets
• Mac and Windows computers

ATSC 1.0 channels and ATSC 3.0 channels that are delivered via broadcast can be viewed in the event of an internet outage.

The company’s ex parte filing is available online.

The app download is available on the company’s website.

MIAMI—Building on the record ratings produced by its Spanish-language coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo continues to acquire more soccer rights with a major deal for U.S. Spanish-language rights to all UEFA men's club competitions.

The deal with UC3 gives it the exclusive Spanish-language media rights in the U.S. for all UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) men’s club competitions including the UEFA Champions League for three seasons, beginning with the 2027/28 season.

The deal also includes exclusive rights to the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Youth League.

The deal adds the UEFA Champions League to Telemundo's portfolio of premium sports programming including Premier League, Bundesliga, US Men’s and Women’s National teams, Liga MX clubs CD Guadalajara, FC Juárez, and Tigres UANL and Olympic soccer.

Under the agreement, Telemundo will deliver comprehensive live coverage of every UEFA Champions League season across its portfolio of broadcast, cable, streaming and digital platforms, including the Telemundo Network, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo Deportes Ahora, the company's dedicated FAST sports channel.

Telemundo's coverage will include every match of the competition, supported by comprehensive studio programming, expert analysis, original digital content and extensive match-day coverage designed specifically for U.S. Hispanic audiences.

Additional programming details and coverage plans for all UEFA men’s club competitions will be announced closer to the start of the 2027/28 season.

“The UEFA Champions League is the pinnacle of club soccer tournaments, bringing together many of the world's greatest teams and players in one of the most prestigious competitions in sports," said Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, which includes NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Group, NBC News, NBC News NOW and NBCUniversal Local. "We are delighted to partner with UC3 to bring the excitement, passion and drama of the UEFA men’s club competitions to Spanish-speaking fans across the United States. Telemundo's commitment to excellence and its deep connection with soccer audiences make it an outstanding home for the UEFA Champions League."

In announcing the deal, Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA president and chair of the UC3 Board, said that “UEFA club competitions represent the very highest level of club football, and their popularity continues to grow globally. This agreement with Telemundo reflects both the strength of our competitions and the passion of Spanish-speaking fans in the United States. We look forward to working together to deliver unforgettable moments and bringing the drama, excitement and excellence of European football to millions of viewers over the next cycle.”

UC3 unites European football’s governing body UEFA and European Football Clubs (EFC) and represents more than 800 top European clubs in rights negotiations.

"Coming off the unprecedented success of Telemundo’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, we are excited to dedicate our expertise and resources to present the very highest level of club soccer tournaments to millions of passionate fans across the United States," said Luis Fernandez, Chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. "We are ready to deliver the best world-class experience for all US Hispanics through the full power of Telemundo’s broadcast, cable, streaming and digital platforms."

ATLANTA—Tyler Perry Studios has announced a multi-year agreement with Synapse Virtual Production to develop and operate a next-generation virtual production facility on its Atlanta studio grounds.

Located on the historic 365-acre Tyler Perry Studios campus in Atlanta, which already includes premier sound stages, expansive backlots, standing sets, and production support facilities, the new virtual production-enabled soundstage will provide filmmakers, television producers, and content creators access to state-of-the-art LED volume technology, real-time digital environments, and advanced production workflows that expand creative flexibility, streamline production, and reduce costs while keeping crews at the center of the process.

As with all other facilities at Tyler Perry Studios, the Synapse soundstage will be available for third-party usage.

By combining modern technology with Tyler Perry Studios’ existing production infrastructure, the studio aims to provide a complete, end-to-end production offering.

The new soundstage is expected to be operational by the end of 2026.

The facility will combine LED volume, advanced camera tracking, and real-time 3D engines such as Unreal Engine with a production-ready operating model designed for real-world schedules and sets. Synapse also utilizes AI-supported tools for look development, asset iteration, and environment capture, helping productions move faster while maintaining creative quality and human oversight. This approach is focused on production-ready execution, consistent on-camera results, and a workflow designed for real sets and real schedules, the two companies reported.

Already operating flagship LED volume stages in Los Angeles, with a New York facility set to open next, Synapse offers end-to-end virtual production services spanning concept development, virtual art direction, real-time processes, on-set stage operations, and post-production integration.

The facility will support productions of all sizes, from feature films and television series to commercials, music videos, livestreams, immersive experiences, and emerging digital media projects.

Synapse’s services and technology ecosystem have been utilized in groundbreaking film and television projects for all the major studios and streamers. Recently, Synapse was a key production service partner for Artist Equity on “The Rip” and “The Accountant 2.” The company has received Clios, London International, and other prestigious awards for their work in advertising.

“I’m paying close attention to what these tools can do, and I’m also thinking about the people who make this industry work,” said Tyler Perry. “This collaboration is about moving forward in a way that keeps crews working and traditional production jobs intact while also allowing creatives new ways to build worlds and tell stories for the big and small screens.”

"Our mission at Synapse is to bridge the gap between imagination and innovation," said Justin Diener, CEO of Synapse. "Partnering with Tyler Perry Studios represents a defining moment for both companies and for the future of content creation. Together, we are building an environment where filmmakers, artists, and creators can harness real-time tools to tell bigger stories, create more immersive experiences, and push the boundaries of what's possible on screen. We are honored to help bring this vision to life alongside Tyler Perry and his incredible team."

YouTube has released a new study showing that in 2025, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over $60 billion to the U.S. GDP and supported more than 540,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

The economic analysis was done by Oxford Economics for the YouTube Report released on July 16.

The study also stressed that the impact is nationwide for both rural and urban areas. YouTube reported that currently all 50 states have at least 10 channels with over 1 million monthly views. Those views translate into business growth: 76% of small- and medium-sized businesses with a YouTube channel say YouTube played a role in helping them grow their customer base by reaching new audiences.

The study also found that 77% of creators say their media and entertainment career started on YouTube.

Other key findings include:

• 87% of viewers report watching music videos, music festivals, or awards ceremonies on YouTube in the last year and 67% of viewers report discussing a YouTube video together with a friend or family member on a monthly basis, rising to 72% for Gen Z.
• 94% of teachers who use YouTube report using YouTube content directly in their lessons and/or assignments, with 81% stating it provides access to educational content that students would not otherwise have. At home, 78% of parents who use YouTube say YouTube (or YouTube Kids for children under 13) provides quality content for their children's learning and/or entertainment.

The full report is available here.

Netflix is reporting record viewing levels in the first half of 2026, with its subscribers watching more than 97 billion hours of programming.

It also released its 10 most popular movies and shows.

Among the movies, "War Machine" was #1 with 147 million hours of viewing, followed by "The Rip" (136 million hours), "Swapped" (131 million hours), "KPop Demon Hunters" (130 million) and "Apex" (129 million hours.)

The ten most popular shows were led by “His&Hers” (104 million hours of viewing), “Bridgerton” season 4 (100 million hours) and “I Will Find You” (64 million hours).

Other highlights included:

• Netflix audiences love to discover and watch new series. Five of the top 10 most-watched shows premiered in the first half of this year, with I Will Find You (64 million) and Teach You a Lesson (48 million) from South Korea both reaching the top 10 less than a month after their releases. The streamer also reported big audiences for new stories such as His & Hers (104M) — the #1 most watched show in the half — along with Run Away (50 million) and Nemesis Season 1 (33 million), which was recently renewed for a second season.
• New seasons consistently drive discovery and viewing of past seasons of a series. The return of Bridgerton Season 4 (100 million) nearly tripled viewing of every earlier season of the franchise (including Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), when compared to the second half of 2025. Together, the entire Bridgerton franchise brought 180 million views in the first half of this year. Netflix also saw a boost in viewership for past seasons of series including ONE PIECE (69 million views across seasons), The Night Agent (63 million views across seasons), Virgin River (54 million views across seasons) and The Lincoln Lawyer (59 million views across seasons).
• Netflix original films continue to draw in huge audiences across genres. The action film slate performed particularly well this half, with The Rip (136 million), Apex (129 million) and Thrash (100 million) among the most-watched. War Machine was the biggest title in the half with 147 million views. Animated films are becoming hits. Swapped came in at 131 million views in the half and is on track to become the second most-watched original animated film ever, behind KPop Demon Hunters (130 million) — which came in at #4 despite premiering over a year ago. Book-to-screen adaptations were also popular with successful films including People We Meet on Vacation (78 million) and Remarkably Bright Creatures (51 million). And Rom-coms like Office Romance (58 million) and Voicemails for Isabelle (53 million) also moved audiences.
• Non-English titles represent more than a third of all viewing on Netflix, with titles from South Korea, Japan and Spain among the most-watched. South Korea continues to deliver a strong slate of titles including Teach You a Lesson (48 million), Can This Love Be Translated? (29 million), The Art of Sarah (26 million), My Royal Nemesis (16 million) and the Season 2 return of the hit series Bloodhounds (24 million). Japan continues to drive viewing with original stories like Straight to Hell Season 1 (10 million) and Sins of Kujo Season 1 (9 million). Spain released several popular titles this half including Firebreak (34 million), The Marked Woman (26 million), Oasis Season 1 (10 million), and from the creators of Money Heist — Berlín and the Lady with an Ermine (28 million).
• India had its highest viewing for a half yet with hits like Dhurandhar (37 million) — the most-watched non-English film in this report — Accused (19 million), Made in Korea (18 million) and Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web Season 1 (16 million). South Africa broke through with global successes like 180 (37 million) for film and The Polygamist Season 1 (17 million) for series. In addition, Netflix reported a number of stories that resonated locally and travel globally including Colors of Evil: Black (23 million) from Poland, Radioactive Emergency Season 1 (22 million) from Brazil, A Father’s Miracle (21 million) from Mexico, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole Season 1 (22 million) from Norway, My Dearest Assassin (18 million) from Thailand, The Big Fake (17 million) from Italy and The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek (11 million) from Denmark.
• Members enjoy a variety of different programming. Must-watch live events brought audiences together in the first half for everything from Kevin Hart’s comedy spectacle with The Roast of Kevin Hart (21 million) to Alex Honnold’s thrill-seeking climb with Skyscraper Live (13 million) and BTS’ monumental comeback with BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG (21 million) that thrilled fans around the world.
• More than half of its members today have watched at least one anime title, where we saw breakouts with new stories like BAKI-DOU: The Invincible Samurai Season 1 (8 million), STEEL BALL RUN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (8 million) and Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (8 million).
• Documentaries of all kinds captivated viewers — from true crime stories like The Crash (65 million), to pop culture sensations like Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model Season 1 (22 million) and epic prehistoric tales like The Dinosaurs Season 1 (32 million).
• Kids & family continues to perform well, with creators like Ms. Rachel, the most-watched kids title at 69 million views across two seasons, plus Mark Rober's CrunchLabs (36 million across four seasons) and newcomers Salish & Jordan Matter (29 million across both seasons) and Danny Go! Season 1 (26 million).

STAMFORD, Conn.—Spectrum Business is simplifying TV remote control for multiple sets in venues like bars and restaurants with the introduction of Spectrum TV Control Pro, a device that controls every screen and keeps them in sync.

“Spectrum TV Control Pro was built for business owners who need reliable, easy-to-manage TV solutions that make a real difference on game day and every day,” said Keith Dardis, executive vice president of Spectrum Business. “With synchronized screens and premium sports programming, we’re making it even easier for venues such as bars and restaurants to create seamless experiences for their customers, all while simplifying operations for their staff.”

Spectrum TV Control Pro provides TV synchronization from one central app-based control to ensure everyone watching the multiple screens sees the same live event at the exact same time. Using an iOS or Android tablet, business owners and employees can manage what's playing on each screen, switch channels on some or all TVs or program upcoming channel changes.

Spectrum TV Control Pro is available to businesses of all sizes, with professional installation that minimizes impact on daily operations. Businesses with TV Control Pro can access video plans like Spectrum Sports Fan TV, Spectrum’s sports video package for bars and restaurants, with additional premium sports content available with NFL Sunday Ticket and Peacock Sports Pass through EverPass.

More information is available on the company’s website.

President Trump criticized ABC and NBC for their decisions not to air his primetime address about his claims of “election fraud” live on Thursday night, saying their actions “should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

When the president announced the subject of his speech would be about “election integrity,” earlier this week, media outlets debated about how to cover it. It was expected that he would dredge up old conspiracy theories that have long been debunked and to which the majority of Americans don't share his conclusion that the 2020 election was "stolen."

Much of what he said last night did follow that pattern along with the announcement that the administration would release new unclassified material that would implicate that China meddled in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

Cable news channels decided their own path of coverage, with CNN fact-checking Trump’s speech in real-time, while MS NOW ran regular programming but broke in with analysis when warranted. Fox News, stung by a 2022 defamation lawsuit that forced the network to fork over $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems, reminded its viewers that it has seen no proof to Trump’s claims.

“Fox News has not seen that evidence yet and is not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of the president’s statement and claims at this time,” a reporter said during the speech.

Tony Dokoupil, news anchor for CBS News, which has come under considerable criticism from Trump’s opponents, was candid in his response to the speech.

“This is a vitally, vitally important topic, and the president has a terrible track record on it,” he said.

While both NBC and ABC chose not to air the speech live, they did break in when appropriate and held post-speech analysis special reports.

The networks’ decisions on whether to air the speech are not unprecedented. Networks have declined to cover certain speeches by Trump’s predecessors as well.

This didn’t mollify the president, though.

‘“They and others in the media are part of a plot,” he claimed. “They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left. They can’t have a great country. And that’s true. You can’t have a great country without free and fair elections.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the president for his threats.

"It is ridiculous to call for broadcasters to lose their license simply for making the same editorial decisions they've made under presidents of both parties," Gomez said. "Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech. This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it."

NEW BERN, N.C.—Wheatstone will demonstrate its VMX virtual mixing platform at IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, in Amsterdam.

The VMX platform is server-based and web-browser accessible for mixing in any environment on a variety of devices, from recessed touch screens in the studio to tablets at the ballpark.

VMX can be installed on an existing server or a dedicated appliance and offers a selection of tiles including basic utility mixers, a simple virtual mixing interface and complete virtual broadcast consoles for the television newsroom or the radio on-air studio, Wheatstone said.

Virtual consoles are accessible through a web browser, allowing users to quickly add newsrooms, control rooms, voicetrack booths and remote mixing instances on demand—complete with backup mirroring synchronized in real time for instant failover.

VMX is AES67-compliant with an easy-to-install setup wizard, the company said. It is scalable from large enterprise systems to the VMX Nano, priced and scaled for remote or emergency broadcast applications, according to Wheatstone.

VMX is part of Wheatstone’s Layers software-based broadcast suite for virtualizing studio functions as an extension of the WheatNet IP audio network.

Wheatstone will demonstrate the VMX total virtual mixing experience at IBC 2026 stand 8.A51, along with its WheatNet IP audio network of virtual and fixed consoles, talent stations and intelligent I/O access units.

More information is available on the company’s website.

WASHINGTON—Forty-seven House Republicans have sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission's Chair Brendan Carr urging the agency “review of the TV Parental Guidelines to ensure that children are not being indoctrinated with radical gender ideology behind their parents' backs.”

The July 13 letter was sent in response to an ongoing FCC probe into how existing content ratings for children might be updated. In announcing the effort with a Public Notice seeking comments on the issue in April, the FCC asked whether the ratings should be revised to include warnings about “transgender” content.

That has prompted a number of filings by conservatives and conservative groups asking the FCC to flag LGBTQ+ content and transgender content.

The NAB and the MPA have filed comments defending the current system, while progressive and liberal groups blasted the FCC probe as an attempt to censor LGBTQ voices.

In its filing Free Press wrote that the FCC proceeding is a “meritless and invalid attempt” to “chill LGBTQ+ content with which its current Chairman may disagree.”

In the July 13 letter from Republican House members blasted Democrats for defending transgender rights and contended that “American children and families are under attack. Parents deserve full transparency from television and streaming services regarding unwanted sexual content in programming rated for children, and it is our intention to provide them with the tools and information they need to make informed choices for their families.”

“Democratic opposition to protecting our children is divorced from reality,” the letter said. “Sex-rejecting content should never be targeted at children. Democrats go so far as to state explicitly in their letter [to the FCC] that transgender content in media will `improve self-acceptance’ among children experiencing gender dysphoria and confusion. American families do not need to expose their children to indoctrination, which can cause mental health disorders. We should be fighting to uphold families' rights to protect their children from harmful ideology, not grooming children behind their parents' backs in the name of `self-acceptance.’”

The letter also noted that two of the Republicans had introduced legislation on the issue that “would codify the FCC's efforts by requiring neutral disclaimers indicating that a program contains certain gender ideological themes.”

The full letter is available here.

LENEXA, Kan.—The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) has announced a new agreement with Minerva, a provider of cloud-based IPTV and OTT platforms, that will expand the range of technology solutions available to independent operations and to work to improve their video offerings and strategies.

Minerva powers video services for Tier 2 and Tier 3 operators, delivering a comprehensive platform that integrates subscriber management, content aggregation, and user experience into a single, cohesive solution.

The deal will give NCTC members access to a cloud-native platform that serves as the control and experience layer between video infrastructure and end-user devices. It enables operators to deliver a unified, branded viewing experience across live TV, on-demand content, streaming services, and more.

“Our role is to ensure members have access to the right partners and solutions to stay competitive in a rapidly changing video landscape,” said Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC. “Minerva brings a strong track record of supporting broadband operators with modern IPTV and OTT solutions, and this partnership expands the options available to our members as they evolve their video strategies.”

Minerva’s platform is designed to allow operators to maintain ownership of the customer experience, with tools to customize the user interface, integrate multiple content types into a single experience, and deliver consistent viewing across devices— including smart TVs, streaming platforms, mobile, and web. It also includes built-in capabilities such as cloud DVR, catch-up TV, and AI-driven content discovery, designed to increase engagement, improve retention, and unlock new monetization opportunities.

“We are excited to partner with NCTC to support its members as they modernize their video offerings,” said Mauro Bonomi, CEO of Minerva Networks. “Our platform was built to help operators deliver a seamless, high-quality entertainment experience while maintaining full control of their brand and customer relationships. Together with NCTC, we look forward to helping members accelerate their transition to next-generation TV services.”

Minerva and the NCTC said that the partnership will be particularly valuable for operators transitioning from legacy video platforms to IP-based delivery, as well as those looking to launch new OTT offerings like NCTC Broadband TV. Minerva’s cloud-based approach supports faster deployment timelines and reduces operational complexity, while providing a scalable foundation for future growth.

The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) is a Kansas-based, not-for-profit corporation comprised of more than 650 independent broadband and cable operators serving one-third of the connected households in all 50 United States and territories. The NCTC negotiates content, connectivity, and technology solutions for its member companies that create operational efficiencies, new products, and revenue streams for sustainable growth. For more information, visit: nctconline.org.

RICHARDSON, Texas—Aurora Networks has announced that Liberty Puerto Rico has expanded its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network architecture using solutions from Aurora.

More specifically, Liberty has deployed Aurora Networks’ RD2322 operating as Remote MACPHY (RMD) in the NC4000 optical node. The distributed access architecture technology will improve network performance and lower latency while streamlining network operations

For Liberty Puerto Rico’s fixed services subscribers, this network enhancement is designed to improve connectivity experience with an infrastructure built for multi-gigabit speeds and a future-ready path toward 10G services to residential and SOHO consumers.

By bringing key network functions closer to homes and businesses, Liberty delivers lower latency, enhanced gaming performance, seamless high-quality streaming, and greater consistency during peak usage periods.

Aurora also reported that the upgrade enables Liberty Puerto Rico to operate its network more efficiently by minimizing infrastructure footprint and reducing energy consumption across operational sites. These gains support the development of a more sustainable and resilient network, reinforcing Liberty’s commitment to delivering reliable, high-quality broadband services to customers while helping meet the evolving connectivity needs of communities across Puerto Rico.

“This network enhancement underscores our commitment to delivering an enhanced broadband experience for customers across Puerto Rico, supported by capabilities that will enable speeds of up to 10 Gbps,” stated Chuck Page, vice president of technical operations, Liberty Puerto Rico. “By boosting capacity and responsiveness, we are delivering more reliable performance today while paving the way for next-generation, higher-speed services.”

“The deployment of our Remote MACPHY solution, building upon Aurora Networks’ existing technology within Liberty Puerto Rico’s network, exemplifies our commitment to helping service providers drive meaningful value for both operators and their subscribers,” added Guy Sucharczuk, senior vice president and president of Aurora Networks. “We are proud to support Liberty Puerto Rico as it enhances capacity, improves operational efficiency, and strengthens service reliability across its footprint. This expansion reinforces the importance of Remote MACPHY in enabling operators to modernize HFC networks, optimize costs, and deliver high-performance broadband services to meet increasing demand.”

WALTHAM, Mass. and PHILADELPHIA—Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver C-band replacement solutions for linear broadcasters and content distributors. The collaboration brings together the end-to-end video management capabilities provided by Comcast Media360 with the Zixi Software Platform to give operators a direct migration path from C-band satellite to IP-based content distribution, they said.

With the C-band satellite transition underway, programmers and distributors are exploring solutions to migrate linear workflows to IP while maintaining the kind of reliability, rights compliance, and affiliate distribution control that C-band has historically provided. At the core of the joint Zixi and CTS solution is a technical integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360, which provides customers with a 24/7 managed service backed by the proven reliability and scale of Comcast Technology Solutions.

“The C-band transition is not a distant deadline for our customers. It is a decision they are making now. Working with Comcast Technology Solutions means that we can offer broadcasters a solution that does not ask them to trade rights compliance and reliability for IP flexibility. The integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360 is the kind of joint engineering that makes a real operational difference," said Marc Aldrich, CEO, Zixi.

"Broadcasters are looking for ways to operate their linear channels more efficiently while continuing to scale distribution as part of their C-band transition efforts,” said Bart Spriester, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Streaming, Broadcast, and Advertising at Comcast Technology Solutions. “Comcast Media360 helps make that possible across broadcast and IP workflows and, together with Zixi, delivers a satellite replacement option that gives programmers and distributors a manageable path to IP and unlocks new monetization opportunities."

Notably, CTS’ linear rights management normalizes rights metadata using the SCTE 224 standard, enabling content providers to manage alternate content delivery, ad insertion windows, and audience-based content restrictions across broadcast and streaming destinations. Zixi ZEN Master orchestrates the live video workflow across cloud or hybrid network environments, with native support for SCTE-35/224 signaling, blackout enforcement, and schedule-driven source switching.

Together, the integrated platforms can provide broadcasters a single, intelligent, rights-aware distribution chain that combines signal orchestration, affiliate distribution, and rights enforcement enabling new monetization and distribution capability, while removing the dependency on satellite infrastructure and maintaining compliance and control.

As C-band satellite capacity is reclaimed and transition deadlines approach, the need for end-to-end IP workflows has become a near-term business imperative for broadcasters, the companies said, adding that the combined Zixi and CTS solution gives broadcasters a migration path that preserves existing investment in rights management infrastructure while moving to the flexibility and cost structure that IP distribution offers and simplifying the path from ingest to monetization.

NEW YORK—XR (Extreme Reach) has launched XR One, which it is billing as a first-of-its-kind AI-powered advertising operations platform.

The offering provides brands and agencies with a single place to manage every stage of the advertising lifecycle in ways that the company says will give marketers greater oversight into the ads they make, the money they spend, and the performance of their creative investments on various platforms.

In announcing the platform, XR also released a new study of some of the challenges faced by advertisers that the platform is designed to address:

• Advertising teams are being asked to do more with less: More than 80% of marketers are producing more ad content than a year ago, while 70% of them are doing so with the same or fewer resources.
• Campaigns routinely launch late: 98% of marketers attribute late campaigns launches to internal bottlenecks and approvals.
• Budget overruns are the norm, not the exception: 70% of marketers on both the brand and agency side regularly exceed their production budgets.
• Creative asset waste is a significant and underacknowledged challenge: Nearly half of marketers say 30 to 40% of the creative they produce never gets used.

“With XR One, advertising operations is no longer a series of back-office tasks, it's the backbone of modern advertising,” said John Batter, CEO of XR. “We’ve connected every stage of the advertising creative process into a single platform, giving marketers a clearer view of what they’re making, what they’re spending and how their campaigns are performing. That’s a level of visibility brands and agencies have never had before.”

AI is built into every corner of the platform, helping marketers make better decisions from production planning to launch. XR AI insights can recommend the right ad formats for every channel, uncover production savings for specific vendors and predict how creative choices, from locations to casting, will impact budgets and audience performance. The result is greater confidence and more effective campaigns from the very start.

The XR ONE Platform will benefit brands and agencies with:

• End-to-end production project tracking, from creative briefs, bids and budget approvals to payments and cross-platform delivery.
• Centralized cost management across all marketing teams and agencies, removing team silos and organizational chaos.
• Audit-ready financial trails and ERP integrations that keep finance and compliance aligned.
• Advertising delivery and ROI visibility that connects what is spent on a creative asset and campaign to how they are used in-market.

XR One features four connected applications, giving marketers one place to manage how ads are planned, produced, paid for and delivered. XR Costs helps teams’ onboard partners, manage approvals and track budgets. Once creative is produced, XR Assets becomes the central place to securely store and manage every version. XR Rights helps marketers stay on top of celebrity and artistic usage rights, while XR Delivery ensures ads reach every destination, from linear TV and CTV to digital and social channels.

The full XR State of Ad Ops Report here.

Learn more about the XR ONE platform here

SAN FRANCISCO—The non-profit media organization CatchLight has announced a new equipment initiative with Sony Electronics (Sony) that will put powerful professional camera and video tools directly in the hands of local visual journalists.

The effort aims to help local newsrooms facing limited staffing and shrinking resources as they attempt to grapple with the growing demand for visual reporting.

Through the initiative, Sony will provide 24 professional Alpha camera and video kits to select CatchLight Local member newsrooms, including 16 CatchLight Local Fellows and Report for America Corps Members.

Each kit includes professional equipment, including full-frame cameras, telephoto zoom lenses, digital shotgun microphones, and external flash with wireless radio control.

“Access to high-quality camera equipment is one of the greatest barriers to entry for visual journalists who help us better understand the world around us,” said Elodie Mailliet, CEO of CatchLight. “This partnership with Sony helps close that gap by equipping visual journalists with the resources they need to document the people, issues, and events shaping their communities.”

In addition to equipment kits, Sony will also provide access to Sony Pro Support memberships, technical support representatives, and online training sessions that can be accessed through CatchLight’s learning library.

“Sony looks to collaborate with organizations with similar goals and CatchLight’s mission couldn’t be better aligned with our joint purpose to help empower emerging visual journalists,” said Theresa Alesso, president, Imaging Products and Solutions Americas, Sony Electronics. “By providing access to in-demand professional imaging technology, as well as industry connections and placements, we’re proud to help support an initiative that is elevating careers and enhancing storytelling while fulfilling a need in local newsrooms – for the benefit of all.”

CatchLight seeks to establish the long-term sustainability of visual journalism by working with partner newsrooms and community-based visual journalists to provide information to the public. Annually, CatchLight provides three fellowships and field grants to develop long-form storytelling projects and engage audiences.

CatchLight is supported by a number of philanthropic funders and partners, including: Arnold Ventures, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Enlight Foundation, The John S and James L Knight Foundation, Kresge Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Press Forward, Report for America, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and their education partner PhotoWings.

STOW, Ohio—Audio-Technica has introduced the 20 Series Control Application, a Stream Deck plug-in designed to provide streamlined control of compatible Audio-Technica USB microphones directly from Elgato Stream Deck devices.

Developed for streamers, content creators, podcasters, gamers and audio production professionals, the application delivers fast access to essential microphone functions through customizable Stream Deck keys, dials and foot pedals.

Compatible with the Audio-Technica AT2020USB-X, Audio-Technica AT2020USB-XP and Audio-Technica AT2040USB microphones, the 20 Series Control Application allows users to mute and unmute microphones instantly, adjust microphone input levels, and, for AT2020USB-XP users, control Automatic Gain Control (AGC) and Noise Reduction (NR) functions directly from the Stream Deck interface.

The plug-in integrates with the Elgato Stream Deck ecosystem through simple drag-and-drop configuration, enabling users to assign controls to specific keys, dials or foot pedals and customize layouts to match individual workflows for streaming, recording, gaming, podcasting or content production.

Among the plug-in’s key functions is instant mute/unmute control, allowing users to silence or reactivate their microphone with a single press. The feature is especially useful for live streamers and gamers; it can also be assigned to compatible Stream Deck foot pedals for convenient hands-free operation.

The Virtual Fader function enables precise microphone input adjustment directly from the Stream Deck interface. Users can configure the control to set fixed microphone levels or increase and decrease levels incrementally using keys or rotary dials.

For users of the AT2020USB-XP microphone, the application also provides direct access to the microphone’s onboard AGC and Noise Reduction functions. AGC helps maintain a consistent output level regardless of changes in speaking or singing volume, while the Noise Reduction control allows users to select from multiple levels of ambient noise suppression or disable the feature entirely depending on their recording environment.

The Audio-Technica 20 Series Control Application is available now through the Elgato Marketplace.

For more information, read a recent blog from the company.

PLANO, Texas—New research from Parks Associates' Broadband Market Tracker shows broadband subscriber losses among the largest cable providers continue to lessen as operators strengthen customer retention efforts and expand converged broadband and mobile offerings.

Leading cablecos, including Comcast, Charter Spectrum, and Altice, lost an estimated 280,000 combined broadband subscribers during the first quarter of 2026, an improvement from an estimated decline of 320,000 subscribers in Q1 2025.

During the same period, cable MVNOs added approximately 830,000 combined mobile subscriptions, highlighting continued consumer interest in bundled connectivity services.

"The competitive landscape has shifted from winning subscribers at any cost to keeping existing customers through better pricing, simplified service offerings, and integrated connectivity," said Kristen Hanich, senior director of research, Parks Associates. "Providers are investing in strategies that reduce churn while strengthening the value of broadband through mobile bundles and improved customer experiences."

The research also found that providers are introducing new programs designed to address key causes of customer churn, particularly during household moves and service transitions. Competition is also intensifying around pricing and bundled offerings.

"Optimum introduced a promotion guaranteeing $25 per month for 300 Mbps fiber service for five years for new customers, while encouraging additional savings through mobile and TV bundles," Hanich said. "Starlink replaced its $499 upfront hardware purchase with a monthly equipment fee, lowering the initial cost of adoption and shifting more expense into recurring monthly service."

The data from Park’s Tracker service also found continued momentum toward converged connectivity services. During the first half of 2026, both AT&T and Verizon introduced integrated home internet and mobile offerings that simplify billing and strengthen customer loyalty.

Current adoption of this bundle is now at 26% of all US households, according to Parks Associates. These unified service models reflect a broader industry strategy to increase customer lifetime value while reducing subscriber churn.

The Broadband Market Tracker provides ongoing analysis of broadband subscriber trends, competitive strategies, pricing, fiber, cable, fixed wireless, satellite broadband, and converged service offerings across the US market

‍Waymark has announced that Cox Media Group (CMG) is deploying Waymark's AI-powered video platform at stations in nine markets.

By combining multiple generative AI models, Waymark has developed an end-to-end video creation platform that allows anyone to produce ready-to-air commercials suitable for TV, streaming, and digital platforms.

That makes it easier for local advertisers and businesses who might not have the tools to create traditional ads, which in turn can help increase local ad sales.

The deal adds Cox Media Group to Waymark’s growing roster of national broadcast and media partners, which includes Comcast, Spectrum Reach, FOX TV Stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, E.W. Scripps, Gray Media, Paramount, and Nine Entertainment (Australia).

“What we’re seeing with Cox Media Group represents how broadcasters help clients grow and unlock revenue,” said Alex Persky-Stern, CEO of Waymark. “When a platform can help reps open doors, close deals, and deliver finished creative, the impact compounds. CMG’s teams have proven that video drives campaign revenue throughout the sales cycle.”

As part of the agreement, CMG stations are tailoring Waymark to its own workflow and market conditions to shorten sales cycles and increase the number of local businesses running television campaigns.

“We’re always looking for ways to help our clients meet and exceed their business goals,” said Darren Moore, CMG’s chief sales officer – TV. “Waymark helps us have better initial conversations, reduce the time between those conversations and the advertising launch, and create targeted and compelling content. We’re better – and our clients share in that – because of Waymark.”

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—SMPTE has launched its 110th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising initiative that honors a legacy of achievement while investing in the organization's vision for the future.

The campaign will support strategic initiatives that advance SMPTE's Standards, Education and Community programs, ensuring they continue to drive innovation, develop industry talent and connect the global media technology industry.

“As we ring in our 110^th anniversary year, there’s a lot to celebrate and a lot of work still to be done,” said SMPTE president Rich Welsh. “Our industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, from AI-driven and cloud-based workflows to new approaches for content creation, distribution and even authenticity—making SMPTE’s role more vital than ever. This campaign represents a commitment to investing in initiatives that strengthen the foundations of our industry and ensure SMPTE continues to support current and future generations of media technologists.”

The SMPTE 110th Anniversary Campaign will help position SMPTE as a leader in the global media technology community into its next century. Campaign support will advance programs that expand access to technical knowledge, democratize standards access, support responsible innovation in AI and emerging technologies, cultivate the next generation of leaders, deepen local and global community engagement and ensure SMPTE remains prepared to address the evolving needs of the industry for decades to come.

“SMPTE has brought the global media technology community together for 110 years,” said Sally-Ann D’Amato, SMPTE executive director. “Today, more than ever, the industry needs a trusted community where people can share expertise, exchange ideas and address the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of media technology. SMPTE brings together media companies, creators, technologists, educators, students, and leaders from across the industry, and the 110th Anniversary Campaign will help ensure SMPTE continues to serve as that vital resource for the industry, powering another century of innovation.”

More information is available on SMPTE’s website.

WASHINGTON—ATSC has completed a major revision of its A/85 Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television, marking the first comprehensive update to the industry reference since 2013.

ATSC said the revision, which expands the guidance beyond traditional television to address today's hybrid broadcast and streaming environment, is designed to help media organizations comply with loudness requirements and maintain a high quality viewing experience as they continue to transition toward IP-based and hybrid broadcast-broadband delivery models.

"As audiences increasingly consume content across both over-the-air and streaming platforms, maintaining a consistent listening experience has become more important than ever," said Madeleine Noland, president of ATSC. "This update to A/85 gives the industry practical, contemporary guidance that reflects today's production and distribution workflows while preserving the high-quality viewer experience broadcasters have worked to deliver for many years."

The newly revised ATSC Recommended Practice modernizes the document with numerous technical clarifications and introduces two important new annexes:

• Guidance for establishing and maintaining consistent loudness for streaming media services using both metadata-based and non-metadata-based audio codecs.
• A new Loudness and True Peak Quick Reference designed to simplify implementation for engineers and content providers.

More specifically, the revised A/85 Recommended Practice provides recommendations for audio measurement, monitoring, production, metadata management, dynamic-range control and loudness management throughout the content creation and delivery chain. By incorporating lessons learned from more than a decade of implementation, as well as addressing emerging streaming workflows, the document helps ensure consistent audio presentation regardless of how viewers access content, the ATSC reported.

The revised A/85 Recommended Practice can be downloaded here: https://www.atsc.org/atsc-documents/type/1-0-recommended-practices/

WASHINGTON—In a move that could fundamentally reshape the broadcast industry and usher in a wave of consolidation, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on August 6 on an Order that repeals the FCC’s 39% national television multiple ownership rule.

Chairman Brendan Carr announced the move in a op-ed in Breitbart and the decision was immediately applauded by broadcasters and the NAB who have lobbied for decades to eliminate the rule.

The Commission, however, won’t be voting on an outright appeal of the 39% national television multiple ownership rule. Rather, the FCC will vote to replace the national cap with a granular, case-by-case review.

The agency said that this will allow the FCC to approve deals that promote the public interest while allowing the agency to reject any deals that do not meet that standard. This action will foster a competitive media market, enhance localism, and promote investment in trusted sources of news and information.

In the op-ed, Carr blasted national media and broadcast networks by arguing that the American public had lost trust in their “partisan” news coverage and described the decision to eliminate the ownership rules as a way to reduce their market power.

“New York and Hollywood interests have steamrolled those local TV stations and the broader media market in recent years in ways that run directly counter to the regulatory framework that Congress and the FCC put in place,” Carr said.

Carr also placed the decision in the context of his ongoing attacks on what he sees as "biased" programming because larger local station groups would have more power to preempt network programming.

"Local TV stations today lack the power to preempt or refuse to air national programming that does not fit their communities’ values," he wrote. "National programmers are now charging local TV more and more for the privilege of airing their shows. Local TV stations are struggling to find the resources to produce live, trusted, and local news programming. Many local broadcast TV stations are getting hollowed out as a result and turning into little more than mouthpieces for programming produced in New York and Hollywood. That is not what Congress or the FCC intended."

The FCC's lone Democrat Anna Gomez signaled her intention of voting against the proposed Order in a statement saying it was bad policy and unlawful because the FCC does not have the authority to lift the cap.

“This unlawful effort to hand control of the public airwaves to billionaire buddies of this administration will destroy local newsrooms, silence community reporting, and drive-up costs for the American families who depend on local stations for news and emergency alerts," she said. "A free and diverse media landscape depends on real limits on how much of the public airwaves any one company can control, and this FCC is now poised to allow local broadcasters to sell those airwaves off to the highest bidder. Congress set the 39 percent national ownership cap in federal law, and only Congress has the authority to raise or eliminate it. The Commission cannot waive away that limit simply because these corporate behemoths want to get out from under it.”

Broadcasters, however applauded the proposal.

In response to the announcement, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said “NAB applauds Chairman Carr and the FCC for moving forward with consideration of an order to eliminate the national television ownership cap. This reflects the understanding that decades-old ownership restrictions that apply only to broadcasters – and none of our competitors – are out of step with today’s media marketplace.  Eliminating  the  broadcast ownership cap will empower local stations, ensuring they can better compete, invest and serve their communities with the most trusted and freely available news and information, premier sports and entertainment.” 

A spokesperson for Nexstar also praised the upcoming vote by saying, “The FCC's decision to review the national television ownership cap is a welcome and long-overdue step toward bringing broadcast regulation into the modern media marketplace. These rules were last updated before Netflix streamed a single movie, before the first iPhone, and before Instagram existed, and they continue to single out local broadcasters based on a competitive landscape that disappeared with the VCR. No one would suggest limiting the reach of YouTube, Amazon, or CNN, yet local broadcasters are still forced to compete under rules written for a different century. Modernizing these outdated regulations will help ensure broadcasters can continue investing in local journalism and providing the free, trusted news and information that communities across America rely on every day.”

In a statement, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said that: “It should not be controversial to suggest that changed facts should lead to changed rules. We commend Chairman Carr for considering action to modernize the FCC’s rules setting the national ownership cap – and for his continued leadership in looking at ways to preserve local news by taking proactive steps to empower local broadcasters. Given the undeniable change and disruption to the media ecosystem, updating these rules to reflect the current landscape is common sense.”

The draft Order was no available when this article was posted on July 15. The FCC said the draft order will be made available on July 16 at https://www.fcc.gov/August2026.

As broadcasters await a decision from the FCC to shut down the current ATSC 1.0 broadcast format, the industry’s leading lobbyist is reiterating its support for ATSC 3.0, (aka “NextGen TV”).

Since last October, when the FCC voted on a proposal to determine a date when to sunset ATSC 1.0, debate has swirled around the timing of the shutdown and what consumer protections will be in place to ensure viewers don’t lose access to free over the air broadcasting. The commission is expected to announce a final decision by the end of 2026.

The NAB, which has promoted NextGen TV as a way for broadcasters to better compete in the increasingly complex TV landscape, told the FCC six months ago that continuing uncertainty over the lack of a date is hampering progress.

“The record developed here confirms that the Commission’s central task is no longer to debate whether NextGen TV is worth pursuing—stakeholders across the ecosystem recognize that it is—but to decide whether the transition will be allowed to succeed through an orderly, coordinated framework, or instead be stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures, all to the detriment of the viewing public,” the NAB said in comments filed with the commission in February.

Currently approximately 76% of U.S. households can receive a NextGen TV signal, according to the ATSC. In April, Pearl TV Group, a consortium of broadcasters and tech suppliers, announced the launch of an initiative to develop consumer converter boxes that could retail for under $60.

The association has also launched a campaign to help preserve live sports on free over the air TV, again noting the increased competition from streaming giants.

The ability to access live sports over free TV, competition from Silicon Valley and the very survival of broadcasting were tied together in NAB’s latest blog. The association also took aim at viewers who criticize the content protection aspects of ATSC 3.0, with many claiming that certain devices on the market don’t carry the necessary software to decode DRM-protected signals.

“ATSC 3.0 includes security and service-protection mechanisms as part of its technical framework, just as modern communications and entertainment platforms routinely protect their content and distribution systems, the NAB said. “There is an important reason for these protections. Broadcasters invest substantial resources to secure sports, entertainment and other high-value programming. They also invest every day in local journalists, meteorologists, production professionals and the technology needed to keep communities informed and safe.”

“Without reasonable safeguards, unauthorized businesses can capture local stations’ signals and resell them at scale without permission or compensation,” the association added.

NAB also criticized the possibility that the broadcast industry could be saddled with outdated technology, impacting its competitiveness.

“Requiring broadcasters to operate a decades-old standard forever would effectively make free, over-the-air television the only major communications platform that is never permitted to modernize,” it said. “That would not protect viewers. Over time, it would leave viewers with an increasingly outdated service while streaming platforms, wireless providers and global technology companies continue to innovate.”

NAB’s latest blog can be accessed here.

Hitomi Broadcast will introduce Spectra, a new HDR color verification tool as well as its Matchbox Panorama timing solution at IBC2026, Sept. 11-14 at the RAI Amsterdam. Expanding its capabilities beyond timing and synchronization, Spectra helps engineers confirm that color remains accurate as pictures move through complex production and distribution routes, the company said.

Live workflows now carry more formats and versions through the same facility, including SDR and HDR outputs from a single production. As signals pass through converters, routers, processors, LUTs and software workflows, one configuration error can leave the program technically wrong even when the picture looks acceptable during initial checks.

“In the pressure of set-up, errors in a video source can be missed because there is a recognizable picture,” said Russell Johnson, Director at Hitomi. “If the color path is wrong, that problem can travel through the workflow and affect the final program.

“Engineers are dealing with more sources, more formats and more delivery paths than ever before,” Johnson added. “With MatchBox, we made timing checks fast, objective and simple. With Spectra, we are applying the same thinking, giving teams certainty that the image is being handled correctly before it reaches the viewer.”

Hitomi’s color verification solution generates a defined set of test colors at the source, sends them through the normal program route and analyzes them at the end. By comparing the received colors with the expected result, it can highlight incorrect LUTs, unexpected conversions and routing errors between SDR and HDR paths.

That gives engineers a fast, objective check which reduces reliance on visual judgement alone and helps catch configuration errors before they become visible on air, according to the company.

MatchBox Panorama will also make its IBC debut following its launch at the 2026 NAB Show in April. Matchbox provides a wide view of timing throughout the entire production workflow of a live broadcast. Panorama brings timing measurements from across complex production workflows into one central view, helping teams identify where delay is being introduced across facilities, remote production and software-based environments.

MatchBox Panorama is a standalone software product designed for larger production environments. It is already proven within the Grass Valley AMPP ecosystem, with further integrations with other manufacturers to be released soon.

Hitomi will be in Stand 10.A40 during the show.

BINGAM AM RHEIN, Germany—Remote production specialists DMC Broadcast Solutions has taken delivery of two software-defined outside broadcast (OB) trucks from Broadcast Solutions.

The entire signal processing and delivery workflow of the trucks is powered by Grass Valley AMPP software.

“We have been at the forefront of remote production, seizing the operational, environmental and commercial benefits of keeping our talented staff and technicians at our production bases rather than travel to site,” said Jens Envall, chief innovation officer at DMC Production. “But we also recognize the fundamental challenge with the conventional view of remote production: bringing all the signals back to a control room calls for a lot of bandwidth, for very high levels of stability on that bandwidth and for very tight controls of latency.

“So, we came up with a concept we call ‘reverse remote production’ where all the switching and processing happens on site, in an outside broadcast truck, but the control of that equipment happens in the central production suite,” said Envall. “When we spoke to the team at Broadcast Solutions, they got the idea immediately, and together we moved rapidly from sketches to two trucks on the road, covering premium events like 3.Liga soccer in Germany and ATP tennis in Sweden.”

The compact trucks offer operational space if there is any need for on-site production control. There is also a data center running the AMPP processing and GRID network. Alongside these capabilities, there is room in the fixed-axle truck to carry all cameras, lenses, grips and other equipment to sites.

This means that what once required two articulated trailers for a conventional outside broadcast—an OB truck and a tender truck—can now be replaced with a single fixed axle truck, slashing the carbon footprint of the operation, BI said. At the same time, the whole reverse remote production system requires only 100 Mbps of internet connectivity, a tiny fraction of what’s needed for conventional remote production.

Each truck supports up to 16 cameras, with Grass Valley LDX98 cameras supplied by Broadcast Solutions as part of this contract. They connect via a traditional tailboard and stage boxes. Currently, the trucks support 1080p native signals in SDR and HDR and are 4k Ultra HD-ready.

Internally redundant Cisco Systems routers manage the signals with the majority of processing carried out by the pair of Grass Valley AMPP servers with NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and 11 TB of local storage per server, providing full replay and super slo-mo capability. Audio is mixed with a Calrec Argo M36 console.

External connectivity uses around 25 Mb/s for low-latency control and data between the site and the production center, and another 25 Mbps for monitoring using WebRTC multiviewer streams. Program outputs are delivered from the truck, typically by a 25 Mbps SRT stream, leaving comfortable headroom in a typical 100 Mb/s public internet connection.

“This has been a great project, driven by close collaboration with DMC,” said Zlatan Gavran, chief operating officer at Broadcast Solutions. “They came to us with their outline concept for reverse remote production, and together we spent a long time working out how to realize the ideas using AMPP software.

“The result is something that has never been done before,” Gavran said. “A true software-defined outside broadcast unit, delivering the highest quality output while controlled from anywhere in the world. It uses cutting-edge technology like the GRID (MXL) network and software tools, but presents them in familiar form so that EICs, technicians, experienced operators and directors feel immediately at home.

One of the new OB trucks will be on display at IBC 2026 in the outside exhibit area, stand 0.A03.

More information is available on the Broadcast Solutions website.

BOTHELL, Wash.—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), the Video Services Forum (VSF) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have announced the second IPMX Product Testing and Certification Event.

Scheduled for Aug. 24–28 at the EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the week-long gathering is open to AIMS and VSF member companies and will expand the growing IPMX-certified product ecosystem while introducing formal certification of new capabilities developed as part of the IPMX roadmap.

The Geneva certification event follows a "dirty hands" interoperability session scheduled for July 20–24 at the Matrox Video facility in Montreal, Canada. That members-only session will give AIMS participants hands-on testing of new IPMX developments ahead of the formal certification event, continuing the model of pre-certification interoperability work that has proven effective throughout the IPMX program.

The August event will introduce certification for capabilities that have been in active development prior to the launch of the full realized standard in 2026. These include Host Key Exchange Protocol (HKEP) and HDCP handling for protected content, and the Privacy Encryption Protocol (PEP) security layer, which enables interoperable content encryption across multi-vendor deployments. HEVC and AVC compression profiles, which have seen strong industry interest in enabling efficient transport across existing infrastructure, are also progressing toward certification.

“The first certification event in January established that IPMX works across vendors at scale,” said Sam Recine, IPMX Pro AV Working Group Chair at AIMS. “The August event is where we take the next steps, expanding the certified product base and validating the capabilities that integrators and end users have been asking about since certification launched. Each event builds on the last, and the momentum we’re seeing from member companies reflects real confidence in where IPMX is headed.”

IPMX is a set of open standards and specifications designed to bring ST 2110-based media transport and NMOS-based control to a broader range of markets, including Pro AV, live events, corporate media, education, and beyond. Building on the certified product base of 48 products from 11 manufacturers introduced at ISE 2026, the certification program continues to evolve with new capabilities that address the practical requirements of deployed systems.

More information about AIMS and its work is available at www.aimsalliance.org.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, and CINCINNATI—Scripps Sports has signed an agreement with Volleyball World for the U.S. domestic broadcast rights for all 64 games of the 2027 Women’s Volleyball World Cup for Ion and Scripps Sports.

The deal, which covers English- and Spanish-language rights for all tournament games, was facilitated by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E), the exclusive sponsorship and media rights sales agency for the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup. Volleyball World is the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup organizing committee.

As part of the deal, Ion, FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup 2027 and Horizon Sports & Experiences will collaborate on title and presenting sponsorship sales packages.

The 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup adds to Scripps’ growing portfolio of women’s sports rights, including the WNBA, NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League), PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) and Premier Women’s Rodeo (PWR).

“The FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup is a premier global tournament that showcases the incredible athleticism and competitive intensity of the world's best volleyball players,” Scripps Sports President Brian Lawlor said. “We’re thrilled and honored to bring the 2027 event to ION and to the millions of loyal and passionate volleyball fans across the United States.”

The three-week tournament will feature 32 national teams in competition in the U.S. and Canada in August and September of 2027.

The deal comes amid growing interest in volleyball and women’s sports. The 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup will also play a significant role on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, with the three highest-finishing national teams that have not already qualified securing their places in L.A.

While live sports have become a bulwark of broadcast programming, a new analysis of sports viewing shows that viewers of the NFL and other popular sports are skewing older, with more than half of the NFL’s casual viewers being older than 55.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, approximately three-quarters of Americans watch live sports, with football dominating viewership at 53%. The analysis reveals that casual sports fans, who watch less than five hours weekly, comprise 44% of NFL viewers and that these casual viewers represent a significantly older demographic, with half being adults over 55 years of age.

After football, the Winter Olympics (41% of Americans), Summer Olympics (38%), baseball (36%) and basketball (38%) were watched by the largest percentage of the population.

Other key highlights include:

• Casual sports fans dominate the NFL viewership landscape, accounting for 44% of all NFL viewers, the highest percentage among major professional sports leagues. These casual viewers, defined as watching less than five hours of sports per week, represent 53% of total sports viewers and demonstrate a distinctly older demographic profile, with 51% being adults aged 55 and older and only 18% being young adults under 35.
• Major league viewership shows consistent patterns across baseball, basketball, and hockey, with approximately one-third of MLB, NBA, and NHL viewers classified as casual sports fans. The NFL attracts 48% of US internet adults for regular-season games, followed by MLB at 34%, NBA at 29%, and NHL at 19%, demonstrating football's substantial lead in overall market penetration.
• Age distribution reveals stark contrasts between casual and engaged sports fans, as moderate sports fans (5-10 hours weekly) and avid fans (over 10 hours weekly) share very similar demographic profiles. Both segments consist of approximately one-third young adults under 35 and one-third adults aged 55 and older, contrasting sharply with the older-skewing casual fan base.
• Total media consumption correlates directly with sports viewing intensity, as avid sports fans spend an average of 7.2 hours per day watching TV and video programming compared to 4.9 hours for casual sports fans. The data indicates that increased sports viewing displaces entertainment content such as movies, TV series, and documentaries, while news programming consumption remains consistent across all fan segments.
• Football maintains its position as America's dominant sport, with 53% of Americans watching football (NFL or NCAA), significantly outpacing other major sports. Baseball and basketball each attract approximately 36% of Americans, while ice hockey draws 20% viewership. The recently-completed Winter Olympics attracted 41% of US internet adults, demonstrating strong interest in major sporting events beyond traditional league play.

It was a near miss last week for several radio stations as a fire in southern Colorado burned out of control.

The Aspen Acres wildfire came within several hundred feet of the Camp Jackson tower that contains critical emergency and commercial radio equipment, according to reports

The fire near Rye, Colo., has consumed nearly 100,000 acres of the San Isabel National Forest in the Wet Mountains. It also burned hundreds of homes across Pueblo County. As of Monday afternoon it was about 36% contained, according to news reports.

Semi-retired independent broadcast engineer Michael Baldauf, a Radio World contributor who helps maintain the broadcast site, told Radio World the fire came within a tenth of a mile of the mountaintop facility.

Camp Jackson is situated at an elevation of about 8,600 feet. The tower hosts broadcast antennas for KTPL(FM), WAY-FM’s KRWA(FM) and K-Love’s KWRY(FM) and KRNX(FM), all of which air Christian programming.

Baldauf said the stations have been off the air since power was cut to the tower site around July 1, shortly after the Aspen Acres fire started.

The site has achieved some prominence during the Aspen Acres fire, serving as a critical vantage point and infrastructure anchor for containment operations.

Baldauf himself lives about 10 minutes away but he was evacuated from his home two weeks ago.

He says the fire has burned through the foothills and is burning across the mountain face. As of Monday his home and Camp Jackson appeared to be safe barring a change in wind direction.

“The Sheriff’s Department escorted me up there last week. It all looks fine, but everything had a layer of pink dust on it from fire retardant. It was a very close call,” Baldauf told us.

“I turned off all the circuit breakers in the building so when power is eventually restored, the transmitters won’t automatically start back up. That way I can make sure they are ready to go.”

The four radio stations remain off air, Baldauf said, but the site is approximately 60 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, which has FM signals carrying Christian programming that can serve the Rye area.

He serves as a contract engineer for several of the stations. In the winter, he snowshoes into the site to perform maintenance duties.

“I’m the eyes and ears on the ground here. WAY-FM and K-Love have broadcast engineers in Colorado Springs, but this is so remote that it’s hard to get to.”

Camp Jackson was built in the early 1980s. There is no TV on the tower, Baldauf said, but there are several government agency repeaters.

Baldauf says it’s possible that Camp Jackson received protection from firefights because it had been used by the YMCA as a summer camp for underprivileged youth for about 50 years. The site has a medium-size lodge and some additional outbuildings.

“The fire service is looking to protect property and lives, so having the YMCA camp buildings there likely increased their attention to the area,” he said.

The Colorado Sun reported on Monday that the fire could burn for months.

[This article originally appeared in our sister publication Radio World. Their coverage of the industry is available here.]

McLEAN, Va.—Tegna has promoted Scott Gill to vice president of operations, responsible for overseeing engineering, technology and sports operations across the group’s 64 local stations.

He’ll be tasked with leading efforts to strengthen station performance, modernize infrastructure and support the delivery of the company’s journalism product across broadcast, streaming and mobile platforms.

Gill, who joined Tegna in 2012, was most recently head of technology and sports operations.

[Also Read: Court Denies Stay of Nexstar-Tegna Merger]

“Scott brings a unique combination of operational expertise, technical leadership and innovation to this position,” said Kurt Rao, Tegna executive vice president, chief technology and digital products officer. “He's played a critical role in advancing our stations’ technology, and he has the expertise we need to strengthen our operations as we continue to shape the future of local media.”

As head of technology and sports operations, Gill defined and executed technological and operational strategies across Tegna’s broadcast station while supporting its NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB and other live sports properties, as well as nationally syndicated programming.

He also directed and managed Tegna’s drone and helicopter technologies and pilot operations.

“I’m excited to take on this new role leading tech and operations teams across Tegna,” Gill said. “Local journalism depends on strong technology. I look forward to working with our station leaders to strengthen the tools our newsrooms rely on to serve our communities.”

Before joining Tegna, Gill worked for 10 years in field operations at Fox News Channel. He also worked at Harpo Productions on The Oprah Winfrey Show and at several TV stations and production facilities. Outside of broadcasting, he is a former emergency medical technician and a pilot, Tegna said.

As broadcasters continue transitioning to IP-based workflows, industry leaders are exploring new approaches that could improve interoperability, collaboration and operational flexibility.

At the heart of these discussions is the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and related Media eXchange Layer (MXL), emerging frameworks intended to help broadcasters determine how the next generation of software-defined workflows could work.

The topic was explored during a panel hosted by the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), in conjunction with the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), featuring moderator Steve Reynolds, CEO, Imagine Communications, and guest speakers Naveed Aslam, senior vice president of Production Technology and Engineering, CBS/Paramount; John Mailhot, senior vice president of Product Management, Imagine Communications; Willem Vermost, senior IP media technology architect, EBU; and Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear.

“Much of media processing now runs in software, in a combination of on-premises and in the cloud,” Reynolds said. “And so, if everything is now moving to software, we have to ask the question: are we still designing our facilities in the right way?”

Panelists said DMF was created to address this question, driving the industry forward while solving key business challenges such as how to improve efficiency and allow broadcasters and their partners to share “very expensive resources” amongst more productions.

“I think, from our perspective, SMPTE ST 2110 and IP-based workflows have largely been understood and embraced as being the next industry evolutionary step,” Aslam said. “From our perspective, the DMF initiative is truly the key to start unlocking the practical and technological benefits that we can derive from an IP infrastructure, the opportunities that arise from that, and it just truly starts to give us an opportunity to explore what IP workflows can be.”

The panel explained that neither DMF nor MXL are meant to replace SMPTE ST 2110, the technical standards that gives broadcasters a means to transport broadcast-quality signals over IP networks, enabling them to scale workflows and providing a foundation for interoperability.

Rather, all three are designed to work together: DMF provides a framework for the next generation of more dynamic, software-defined facilities, while MXL provides a specific mode for connecting applications and services, effectively enabling interoperability inside of a computing cluster.

“It’s really the goal of the DMF to organize those upper layers so that you can actually have a dynamic facility,” Mailhot said. “I think that 2110 and MXL will work together to achieve that, but there’s a lot of work to do to fill in all those blanks.”

“If we work in an asynchronous way, suddenly more media functions can be run than ever before. Within the same time frame, of a frame, multiple operations can be run,” Vermost said.

“If you look at it from that point of view, it seems like a revolution. But, if you look at it from your broadcast plant and how you operate it, it’s an evolution. We’ll get there step by step.”

Panel discussion is available on demand on NABA's YouTube channel.

For most of broadcast history, captioning was treated as a metadata problem. QC systems checked whether caption data was present, whether files were correctly formatted, and whether character encoding was valid. If a CEA-608 or CEA-708 stream was embedded and a sidecar file — SCC, SRT, WebVTT — was properly formed, the asset passed. Whether the captions accurately reflected what was spoken was largely outside the scope of automated review.

FCC requirements in the United States and emerging mandates across Europe have moved from nominal compliance gates to substantive quality standards. Caption files that pass every technical check can still fail on accuracy, synchronization, or readability.

What broadcast and streaming organizations need is content-level validation: verifying that captions are accurate, properly timed, readable, and ready for multiplatform delivery. Captioning is becoming part of the broader media intelligence layer — one that evaluates a caption track against the content it accompanies, treating accuracy, timing, readability, and compliance as properties the system actively measures.

Caption Accuracy Starts With the Audio Track
The practical difference between metadata validation and content validation shows up in what each one misses. A traditional QC pass confirms that a caption file is present and well- formed. It does not detect dialogue that was misheard during transcription, lines that were omitted, or text that lags consistently behind speech — all failure modes that reach viewers and, increasingly, regulators.

Content-intelligent captioning systems work directly with audio. Modern automatic speech recognition (ASR) models transcribe spoken dialogue from the audio track, producing a reference against which existing captions can be checked, or generating a new track directly. Current-generation ASR achieves word error rates below 5% on standard broadcast dialogue — comparable to experienced human transcribers, and substantially lower than error rates produced under the time pressure of manual captioning at scale.

Accurate transcription addresses what is said; alignment addresses when it appears. AI alignment engines analyze audio waveforms to synchronize caption timing against actual speech, accounting for pace variation and pausing that fixed-offset methods miss. Captions that drift from dialogue constitute a real accessibility failure, and automated alignment catches those errors systematically across an entire content library. These systems can also surface compliance risk before delivery, flagging assets where timing drift, word error rate, or reading speed exceeds regulatory thresholds.

How Captions Render on Screen
A caption that is correctly transcribed and timed can still be difficult to follow if segmented poorly. Breaking mid-phrase or mid-clause forces viewers to piece together meaning across display windows. This presents a functional problem for all audiences and a more significant one for viewers with hearing impairments who rely on captions as their primary communication channel.

Rather than breaking text at fixed character counts, machine learning models identify natural language boundaries, such as clause endings, breath pauses, and semantic units, then segment accordingly. The result is captions that read more naturally. Emerging standards reflect this: quality evaluation is increasingly extending from file validity to content readability, including reading speed, display duration, and caption segmentation.

A complete evaluation also requires reference to the video frame. Text that covers a speaker's face, obscures on-screen graphics, or overlaps burnt-in text creates problems that fall outside the scope of transcription-level review. Managing visual placement has traditionally required frame-by-frame manual review or post-production adjustment — both slow and unsystematic at the scale modern workflows demand.

Video analysis integrated into current captioning platforms detects faces, on-screen graphics, and critical visual elements, then adjusts caption positioning automatically. These tools can also prevent captions from spanning scene-change boundaries, a source of visual discontinuity invisible to metadata validation. The caption track is evaluated against the full audio-visual context of the content it serves — a quality assurance step that operates where file-level checks end.

From One Validated Track to Many
Once a base caption track has been validated, the same content intelligence can carry through to multilingual delivery. Machine translation pipelines generate multilingual versions from that source track without a proportional increase in localization effort. Additionally, systems incorporating large language models can preserve timing, segmentation logic, and reading-speed compliance across the target language, so translated tracks inherit the quality properties of the source without a separate QC cycle.

Broadcast, OTT, and streaming platforms each impose distinct caption format requirements, and a caption track that passes QC for one delivery destination may fail for another. Generating and validating multiple output formats — SCC, WebVTT, TTML, and others — within the same pipeline means format-specific compliance is confirmed once, upstream, before distribution splits across platforms.

Accuracy That Compounds With Use
One persistent limitation of traditional captioning pipelines is that errors recur without systematic correction. When a captioning process mishandles a recurring term, such as a character name, an athlete, or a brand, that error propagates across multiple assets with no mechanism to resolve it at the source.

Content-intelligent platforms address this through a continuous learning loop. When operators review and correct AI-generated captions, those corrections are captured and used to fine-tune the underlying model. Over successive production cycles, the system becomes progressively more accurate for that organization's specific content mix, speakers, and terminology. This provides a meaningful advantage over static vendor relationships, where the same errors resurface without correction.

Moving Quality Decisions Upstream
These capabilities move captioning from a production checkpoint into a media quality system. Content-intelligent workflows generate structured, validated caption data that feeds directly into MAM systems, localization platforms, and distribution pipelines. The caption track arrives at each stage as a verified asset, ready for use without additional QC. That changes where quality decisions happen. Compliance risk is surfaced before delivery.

Multilingual tracks inherit the quality properties of the source. Format-specific requirements are confirmed once, before distribution splits across platforms. The underlying shift is from discovering caption failures at the point of delivery, where correction is costly and timelines are unforgiving, to catching them at the point of production.

TV Tech is now accepting nominations for the IBC2026 Best of Show Award.

The awards are open to IBC2026 show exhibitors and offer a valuable platform for companies to raise awareness for the new products and solutions they will be launching or showcasing at the RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 11-14.

Participating brands include TV Tech, TVBEurope, Radio World, AV Technology, Installation, Sound & Video Contractor and ITPro. Each publication announces its own list of winners, which will be announced at the show.

All award entrants will receive a placard at the show for display, with winners receiving an additional placard to display their success.

The nomination page includes answers to frequently asked questions. Deadline for entry is August 28th.

ATLANTA—WUPA Atlanta has launched “CBS News Atlanta At Noon,” a live weekday newscast providing viewers with additional breaking news, weather and community-focused coverage.

The July 13 launch continues the station’s steady growth in local news programming since it debuted its news operation last September. WUPA brands itself on-air as CBS Atlanta.

“Since launching our local news operation, we have remained focused on building a strong community-centered news brand for viewers across metro Atlanta and North Georgia,” said Tom Canedo, president and general manager of CBS Stations Atlanta. “Adding a live noon newscast is another important step in that growth, giving audiences more opportunities to access trusted local news, weather and information throughout the day.”

The newscast is anchored by T.J. Anthony and meteorologist Johnathan Myers.

“Atlanta viewers want timely local information they can rely on throughout the day,” CBS Atlanta News Director Shawn Hoder added. “Launching ‘CBS News Atlanta At Noon’ gives us another opportunity to deliver breaking news, weather and community-focused reporting while continuing to grow our local news presence in the market.”

All CBS Atlanta newscasts are produced using advanced augmented reality and virtual reality technology, creating immersive storytelling experiences that help viewers better understand weather events, breaking news and complex topics.

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Mission Systems and Technology Office has announced that it is working with SpectraRep to evaluate how broadcast television datacasting could serve as a resilient and redundant pathway for delivering NOAA Weather Radio audio and data to transmitters and digital devices.

More specifically, as part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), NOAA/NWS and SpectraRep, LLC will assess whether existing digital television broadcast infrastructure can enhance the distribution of NWR content, particularly during periods when other networks may be disrupted.

The project will also examine opportunities to expand endpoint delivery options to reach modern digital and mobile platforms without altering or replacing existing NOAA Weather Radio services.

“NOAA/NWS is looking forward to collaborating with SpectraRep, LLC to evaluate innovative approaches for delivering NOAA Weather Radio content via datacasting and other pathways for modernizing access to NOAA Weather Radio content,” says George Jungbluth, Director for NWS Mission Systems and Technology Office.

For more than 50 years, NOAA Weather Radio has been a critical component of the nation’s public warning infrastructure, providing continuous forecasts, watches, warnings, and emergency information to communities, emergency managers, and partner organizations.

Television datacasting uses a small portion of a digital TV broadcast signal to securely transmit data as a one-way service that is unseen by television viewers and the general public. Digital television datacasting is designed for very high availability—exceeding 99.9% annually nationwide—making it a potential candidate for improving continuity of operations during emergencies, NOAA said.

As part of the research, SpectraRep, will also work with NOAA/NWS to better understand the current NOAA Weather Radio workflow, including how content is generated and transmitted.

Using NOAA/NWS content and technical expertise, SpectraRep, LLC will configure a demonstration showing how live NOAA Weather Radio content can be securely transported through a local television broadcast partner and delivered to a NOAA endpoint(s), such as a NOAA Weather Radio transmitter.

SpectraRep, LLC will also share access and seek feedback on their AlertNowM mobile solution which can tap into multiple transport paths—including radio, broadcast datacasting, and internet sources—on a single mobile platform.

The results will be used to develop strategies for strengthening NOAA Weather Radio’s resiliency and expanding access for digital audiences nationwide, NOAA said.

ALBANY, N.Y.—The New York State Broadcasters Association has named Heidi Raphael its president and CEO.

Raphael, currently chief communications officer of radio and digital media company Beasley Media Group, will direct the NYBSA’s government relations and advocacy efforts in Albany and in Washington, D.C., the group said.

The Western New York native succeeds David Donovan, who is transitioning out of the group’s president and CEO role later this year after 15 years as its leader.

“We are thrilled to welcome Heidi Raphael as the next President and CEO of the New York State Broadcasters Association,” said NYSBA Chairman Chris Musial, the vice president and general manager of WBBZ-TV Buffalo. “Heidi brings an exceptional combination of leadership experience, industry knowledge and passion for broadcasting. We are confident she is the right leader to guide NYSBA into its next chapter while continuing the outstanding work David Donovan has led over the past decade and a half.”

Raphael joins the NYSBA after a 30-year career in broadcasting, communications, public affairs and industry advocacy. During her decade-long tenure at Beasley, she led the company’s communications strategy, strengthened its industry presence and supported its major corporate initiatives and strategic growth efforts, NYSBA said.

Prior to Beasley, Raphael was with privately held broadcaster Greater Media for more than 20 years, rising through the corporate ranks to become senior VP, corporate communications, the NYSBA said.

LOS ANGELES—The proposed $110 billion merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance faces a new legal challenge with the filing of an antitrust lawsuit by 12 attorneys general.

The antitrust lawsuit alleges that the deal could reduce theatrical film production, harm movie theaters and give the combined company the power to raise programming prices for cable channels. All of the attorneys general are Democrats.

In response a spokesperson for Paramount derided the lawsuit as "a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws" that "is wrong on both the facts and the law."

Paramount also defended the deal for creating a larger company that could better compete with Netflix and big tech companies.

"The practical effect of this lawsuit is to shield those dominant streaming platforms like Netflix and technology companies from much needed competition while preventing the significant benefits this transaction will deliver for consumers, creators, workers, and the broader Hollywood economy," Paramount said.

In the lawsuit, the 12 attorneys general argue that the proposed merger, the largest in Hollywood history, would combine two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the five major basic cable channel owners, extinguishing competition between Paramount and Warner Bros., and inflicting substantial harm on movie theaters, basic cable distributors and, ultimately, audiences nationwide. In the U.S. alone, if allowed to merge, the combined titan would control nearly one-third of theatrical motion pictures, and nearly one-third of basic cable programming.

In a statement, California attorney general Rob Bonta said “the unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S…Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices — it also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences.”

The lawsuit highlights growing antitrust activism by states in response to what they see as weak enforcement by the Trump administration. The Trump Department of Justice quickly approved the merger.

California and some of the other states involved in the Paramount/WBD suit are also involved in an antitrust Federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of California that has temporarily halted the Nexstar/Tegna merger. That lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in July of 2027.

If this suit causes similar delays, it would be costly for Paramount, which has promised to pay shareholders $650 million for each quarter the deal is delayed beyond October.

In this lawsuit, attorney general Bonta leads a coalition of the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington as plaintiffs.

In response to the suit, the Writers Guild of America applauded the attorneys general and said "The merger of two of the largest Hollywood studios will reduce competition in our industry, leading to fewer jobs, lower wages for entertainment workers, less variety of programming, and higher prices for consumers."

In its defense of the deal Paramount also noted that "We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs."

"The combination of Paramount and WBD will create a stronger, well-capitalized, creative-first media company that is better positioned to compete with companies like Netflix that have come to dominate the industry for audiences, premium content, and creative talent.," the statement continued. "Put simply, any attempt to block this transaction undermines the very principles antitrust law is designed to promote: more competition, more choice for consumers, and more opportunities for creators and workers."

The full filing is available here.

LOS ANGELES—Global broadcast design agency Girraphic selected Vizrt graphics for mixed martial arts promotion MVP’s premiere event, streamed on Netflix May 16.

Broadcast live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., the 18,000-seat arena’s graphics lit up the venue, creating an immersive experience for fans at the event and bringing Netflix viewers closer to the action.

The venue’s Halo Board LED displays, augmented reality (AR) graphics, and every visual element were designed and operated by longtime Vizrt partner Girraphic. The agency specializes in virtual production and augmented graphical integrations.

“In live sports, you never know what’s going to happen,“ Girraphic CEO, North and South America Nathan Marsh said. “That anticipation brings fans to the edge of their seats, and visual elements on every screen should meet the magic of the moment. By counting on Vizrt technology, our teams were able to bring our collective vision to life, engaging the Netflix MMA fans in the venue and at home.”

A unified graphics workflow ensured the production team had the flexibility needed to deliver for both Netflix viewers and fans in the arena—all controlled from a single interface. Broadcasters, rightsholders, streamers and leagues are shifting strategy to handle more productions for more audiences in less time and with fewer added resources.

Essential to the workflow was the Viz Engine 5 real-time 3D graphics rendering and compositing engine, Vizrt said. Combined with Vizrt’s Viz Multiplay video wall and multiscreen control platform, the Viz Engine 5 enabled the team to create an original experience for every live event. Viz Multiplay enables the control of every display from a single interface, with playout available in any aspect ratio.

The solution blends prerendered animation, live video feeds and real-time broadcast graphics into a unified production workflow, Vizrt said. making the management of giant LED displays in venues of all sizes simple and solid. At the heart of both solutions is the reliability to not only support but also uplift productions, the company said.

More information is available on the Vizrt website.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — As media technology workflows become increasingly software-defined, IP-based, and interconnected, organizations need professionals with the skills to implement, manage and support them. To help meet that need, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is expanding access to practical, industry-focused education through open standards, foundational learning, instructor-led education, and hands-on training.

Building on its open-access Standards Library, SMPTE's education offerings help professionals progress from learning the fundamentals to applying them in real-world IP media environments. The journey begins with the free, self-paced ”Essentials of Media over IP (EMIP)” course available on-demand, and continues with the instructor-led “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110” virtual course, beginning July 21.

Developed in collaboration with EVS, the free EMIP course introduces the fundamentals of IP networking for media. Participants can then continue with “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110,” where live instruction, demonstrations, and interactive discussions explore the standards, technologies, and workflows used in professional IP media facilities.

Graduates of Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 are eligible to participate in the SMPTE ST 2110 Practical Lab, an immersive hands-on experience developed in collaboration with Lawo. Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 is a prerequisite for the Practical Lab, where participants configure, synchronize, test, and troubleshoot IP media systems using technologies from leading industry partners including Lawo, Arista Networks, Meinberg, Bridge Technologies, Matrox Video, AJA Video Systems, Macnica, Leader Electronics, NVIDIA, Embrionix, and others.

The course is led by Willem Vermost (EBU), Wim Van Roy (Lawo), Gerard Phillips (Arista Networks), Chris Lapp (Cisco) and Leigh Whitcomb (Meinberg). Guest lecturers include Felix Poulin (Radio-Canada), Andreas Hildebrand (Lawo), Olivier Ettlin (Simplexity), Pedro Ferreira (Bisect), Stefan Ledergerber (Simplexity) and François Legrand (Radio-Canada).

“Making SMPTE standards freely accessible was the first step,” said Maja Davidovic, director of education at SMPTE. “We’re building on that foundation with a connected learning experience that takes professionals from foundational knowledge to practical application, helping them develop the skills needed for today's evolving media technology landscape.”

Beyond its online courses and hands-on training, SMPTE delivers immersive education through the SMPTE Roadshow at NAB Show New York, technical programming at IBC and the annual SMPTE Media Technology Summit, giving media professionals opportunities to continue developing their expertise throughout the year.

Registration is now open for the next session of “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110,” beginning July 21. Learn more and register here.

MUNICH—ARRI announced today that it is selling its global equipment rental business in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America to H2 Equity Partners. Illumination Dynamics—ARRI’s lighting and power equipment rental business—will remain part of ARRI and is not included in the transaction.

Coming several months after ARRI announced that it was being acquired by Riedel Communications owner Thomas Riedel, ARRI said the divestiture “is a planned and significant element of ARRI’s long-term strategic development.”

ARRI said that a key rationale for the transaction is to resolve a structural conflict of interest between ARRI’s manufacturing business and its own rental business: as a manufacturer of camera and lighting technology, ARRI supplies customers and partners worldwide, some of whom compete with its rental activities.

Through this transaction, ARRI said it will sharpen its focus on the development, production and commercialization of innovative camera, lighting and software-based technologies, thereby strengthening its role as an independent and trusted technology partner to the global media and entertainment industry.

“This transaction is a milestone in ARRI’s strategic transformation and future positioning,” said Thomas Riedel, owner of ARRI as well as founder and owner of Riedel Communications and the Riedel Group. “It enables us to direct our investments even more specifically toward the further development of our technologies and new growth areas. At the same time, it allows the rental business to continue to develop independently and to unlock additional market potential.”

The management buy-out is led by ARRI Rental's existing UK-based leadership team of Dana Harrison, Russell Allen and Tamim Essaji, in partnership with H2 Equity Partners.

Dana Harrison and Andy Shipsides will continue their leadership responsibilities in the respective regions and will, together with their teams, ensure long-term customer relationships and operational continuity. Harrison will also serve as CEO of the global rental business.

The new standalone rental group will transition to its own brand after a customary transition period.

With the end of the World Cup approaching and the start of football season coming up in August, DirecTV and E.W. Scripps have announced a new multi-year agreement that will return 54 local broadcast stations owned and operated by the station group to DirecTV’s streaming, satellite, and U-verse customers.

The agreement ends a five-week blackout affecting millions of customers across 36 Nielsen DMAs, including Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Nashville, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and others.

“These agreements recognize the enduring value of local television stations as essential infrastructure for American communities,” said Adam Symson, Scripps’ president and CEO. “Our stations save lives with severe weather alerts, provide critical emergency information during natural disasters, deliver local news that informs and holds power in check, and unite communities through live sports that no other platform can replicate."

“Fair compensation from distribution partners ensures we can sustain these essential public services for millions of Americans who depend on us for accessible, trusted connection to what matters most in their daily lives," he added.

While the agreement ends the dispute, DirecTV continued to criticize the process of negotiating new retransmission consent agreements with station groups.

“[W]e are frustrated that broadcasters use blackouts as a tool to force us to accept unwarranted rate hikes that consistently exceed normal, inflationary increases, and by a lot,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer at DirecTV. “At a time when affordability matters more than ever, families are too often asked to pay more while receiving less…[A]s ownership becomes concentrated among a handful of ever-larger broadcasters gaining stations across new and within their existing markets, those expanded stations become increasingly powerful and further unbalanced negotiating tools. The more markets and major network affiliations a broadcaster controls, the greater its ability to withhold programming from the very communities it is meant to serve.”

“Consumers should never lose access to essential local television because of a carriage dispute,” he added. “It's time to modernize the system so it rewards service to local communities—and not consolidated market power—by returning to the original purpose of broadcasting of putting viewers’ interests first.”

Separately, DirecTV is part of an antitrust lawsuit in California seeking to block the Nexstar/Tegna merger that would further consolidate the industry.

Broadcasters have long argued that consolidation is necessary to help them compete with big tech companies who already dominate the ad and streaming businesses.

MILWAUKEE—The Milwaukee Bucks will return to a full-season over-the-air television for the first time in 31 years, with 2026-27 preseason and regular season games airing on MY24 and statewide affiliates as part of a deal with the Rincon Broadcasting Group.

“We’re excited to bring the Bucks back to MY24,” Rincon Broadcasting Group CEO Kern Dant said. “This is more than a television partnership. It’s the return of a Milwaukee tradition. Welcome home, Bucks fans.”

MY24 first served as the over-the-air broadcast home of the Bucks from 1988-94.

With the new deal, viewers in the Milwaukee area will be able to watch Bucks games over-the-air on MY24 and on most major cable systems and YouTube TV during the 2026- 27 season.

The over-the-air broadcasts will tip off on MY24 during Bucks games at the 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, beginning on Sunday, July 12, against the San Antonio Spurs at 8 p.m. CT. The Bucks will then play the Phoenix Suns on Monday, July 13, at 9 p.m. CT and the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, July 15, at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Good Karma Brands will work with the Bucks to lead media and advertising sales and develop a full state-wide network of affiliates, helping connect advertisers with one of the NBA's most passionate fan bases through the new statewide video broadcast network. The Bucks will also develop a direct-to-consumer streaming service to further expand access to Bucks games, with additional details to be announced at a later date.

“This season marks an exciting return to our roots as we bring Bucks basketball back to full-season over-the-air television for the first time in more than three decades,” said Bucks and Fiserv Forum president Josh Glessing. “We’re grateful to our partners at Rincon Broadcasting Group for helping us make Bucks games more accessible to our fans throughout Wisconsin.”

MONTREAL—Game Creek Video, one of North America’s largest mobile production providers, has reached an agreement with Grass Valley to purchase 10 fully configured K-Frame production switchers as part of a two-year fleet expansion program.

Two K-Frame systems have already been delivered, with the remaining eight scheduled over the next two years.

Game Creek serves major professional sports leagues and premium live event productions across the United States. , and the agreement continues a long-standing relationship between the two companies.

“We have always invested in technology that gives our clients the flexibility and performance they need for the most demanding productions,” said Pat Sullivan, president and founder, Game Creek Video, which produces major professional sports leagues and premium live event productions across the United States. “The K-Frame platform and its fully IP-native configuration reflects our commitment to serve our demanding customers by building customers by building a fleet of trucks ready for modern live production workflows.”

Each K-Frame system will be deployed with a Kayenne 4ME control surface and configured identically, featuring nine MEs and a fully loaded 192×96 IP-architecture. The common specification provides Game Creek with a consistent operational framework across its fleet to support high-end sports and entertainment productions.

“The combination of scale, reliability and IP capabilities made K-Frame the right fit for our next generation of trucks,” said Jason Taubman, senior vice president of technology, Game Creek Video. “Standardizing on a common architecture gives our engineering and production teams the same unique capabilities, regardless of which truck is on-site.”

Grass Valley will showcase its latest live production solutions, including the K-Frame production switcher family, at Booth 219 at the 44th Annual IDEA Conference, taking place 12–15 July at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.

LONDON—NEP Europe has announced a new multi-year agreement with Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS) to remain the broadcast services provider and detailed how it used a number of innovative technologies to produce The Championships, Wimbledon 2026, which continues at the All England Lawn Tennis Club through Sunday, July 12.

"What makes this relationship successful is a shared commitment to continually improving how The Championships is delivered," said Ed Tischler, managing director, NEP UK. "Working alongside WBS, we've evolved the host broadcast operation by finding smarter ways to work, embracing new technologies and giving both teams greater flexibility to innovate. This new agreement reflects the trust we've built together and, most importantly, the commitment of our people who continue to push the operation forward every year."

"Our focus is always on delivering the highest-quality coverage of The Championships for rightsholders around the world while continuing to evolve how the event is produced," added Paul Davies, associate director of broadcast, production, and media rights at The All England Lawn Tennis Club. "NEP has worked in close collaboration with our team to refine workflows, adopt new technologies and continually improve our production approach. That shared commitment to innovation has strengthened the host broadcast operation and provides a strong foundation as we continue to enhance coverage of The Championships in the years ahead."

In making the announcement, NEP also detailed a full range of technical services from across the content supply chain that are being used to deliver the broadcast feed to rightsholders around the world.

The 2026 deployment expanded the use of SMPTE ST 2110 infrastructure across The Championships grounds, with NEP's TFC broadcast control system serving as the central orchestration layer that coordinates workflows across the production. Together, they enable more agile production workflows, streamline replay operations and provide more efficient deployment of engineering and production resources.

Supporting the production are two IP-powered UHD HDR outside broadcast units, a large-scale IP flypack serving 11 production galleries and seven automated courts, and an integrated workflow featuring more than 150 cameras, 32 EVS replay servers, NEP's MediaBank media asset management solution, graphics, quality control and new video review capabilities. More than 350 engineering, operational and commercial specialists from NEP are supporting the delivery of The Championships, along with the Qualifying Competition at Roehampton.

Specialty cameras were also used to expand court coverage. NEP's AI-powered Tr-ACE robotic camera system provided automated capture across Courts 4–7 and 9–11 while enabling a single operator to manage complete on-court coverage. For the first time, Centre Court and No.1 Court also feature NEP's Nucleus camera system, delivering ultra-high-quality 4K super slow-motion images that bring fans even closer to the action.

In addition, Creative Technology (CT), NEP Group's live events solutions division, is delivering one of the largest visual technology deployments at The Championships, with 74 LED displays installed across multiple venues, including the iconic Henman Hill. CT also manages live content production for public viewing areas, helping create an engaging spectator experience throughout the grounds.

VALHALLA, N.Y.—Fujifilm this week unveiled the Fujinon GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR (GF19-35mmT3.5), adding a second Fujinon cinema power zoom lens for the GFX System.

With a native G-mount, the GF19-35mmT3.5 provides the widest angle of view available in the GF format, offering filmmakers at all levels of production a large-format cinema zoom with expanded cinematic versatility and exceptional optical performance in a compact, lightweight design, Fujifilm said.

GF19-35mmT3.5 pairs with the Fujifilm GFX Eterna 55 camera, particularly alongside the Fujinon GF32-90mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR lens. Those lenses have identical exterior dimensions, allowing for shared accessories for seamless rig setups.

The two lenses also have standardized zoom and focus functions. This enables a streamlined filming style that minimizes equipment requirements and crew workload, enhancing production efficiency and expanding creative flexibility.

“GF19-35mmT3.5 not only continues Fujinon’s legacy in optical design, but as the first expansion of the GF cinema zoom line, it emphasizes Fujifilm’s commitment to products designed specifically for filmmaking,” Fujifilm Holding America Director of Brand and Product Marketing John Blackwood said. “The expansive large-format angle of view helps preserve natural perspective across the frame, allowing filmmakers to anchor their vision for cinematic storytelling.”

Designed for immersive, location-based storytelling involving scale, movement and reliability, the GF19-35mmT3.5 pairs an ultrawide 19-to-35-millimeter focal range (equivalent to 15–28 mm in 35-mm film format) with purpose-driven optics, consistent geometric rendering and minimal focus breathing.

Purpose-built for G-mount, the compact lens is about 8.74 inches (222 mm) and weighs 4.6 pounds (2.1 kilograms).

The Fujinon GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR lens will be available beginning July 23 for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $5,499.95.

More information is available on the company’s website.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has launched a redesigned Spot Center website that makes it even easier for local radio and television stations to access high-quality public service campaigns from trusted nonprofit organizations.

Local broadcasters have a long history of serving their communities beyond news and entertainment by being involved in local issues and organizations with PSAs, volunteer efforts, education or fundraising.

The NAB's Spot Center is designed to support that mission by providing stations with educational resources to inform and engage their audiences.

The improvements to the site aim to provide a cleaner, more intuitive experience where broadcasters can browse, download and voluntarily air public service announcements on issues affecting their communities, including heatstroke, Alzheimer’s and drug-impaired driving.

More specifically, the NAB’s Spot Center includes:

• Broadcast-ready public service materials for local stations.
• Free-to-use campaigns available at no cost to broadcasters.
• Credible content from established organizations on important public issues.

More information on the new Spot Center is available here.

ORLANDO, Fla.—Media technology company FreeCast has unveiled FreeCast Cities, a new direct-to-consumer streaming platform designed to deliver local streaming experiences tailored to each of the 210 U.S. Designated Market Areas (DMAs).

FreeCast Cities, already in beta testing, combines local television, free streaming channels, premium television services, on-demand entertainment and subscription management into a single consumer experience accessible across supported televisions, mobile devices, computers and connected streaming platforms.

FreeCast Cities is marketing itself as: "One City. One Login. All Your Television."

Each FreeCast Cities market is intended to provide a locally branded streaming destination. This destination will feature participating local broadcast television stations, using FreeCast's Broadcast-Enabled Streaming Technology (BEST), alongside hundreds of free FAST channels, free ad-supported movies and television programming, optional premium entertainment services and integrated subscription management capabilities.

The platform also incorporates SmartGuide, FreeCast's universal discovery engine, enabling users to search across supported live television, streaming services, connected subscriptions and on-demand programming through a single interface. Through MediaPay, eligible subscription services may be purchased, managed and billed within one account, creating a simplified consumer experience.

FreeCast said it expects the platform to include DirecTV residential offers, providing eligible consumers with the ability to add premium live television programming, sports, movies and other content through internet delivery without requiring a traditional home satellite dish or additional dedicated receiving hardware.

The company will introduce the platform in phases. It said it expects to introduce individual city launches on a market-by-market basis, generally in groups of about one to three markets at a time, as commercial agreements, broadcaster participation, content availability, operational readiness and related deployment milestones are completed.

Each market launch is expected to be announced individually, allowing consumers, broadcasters, advertisers and commercial partners to understand the unique local programming and services available within each participating community more fully.

"Television has become increasingly fragmented across dozens of applications, subscriptions and devices," said William (Bill) Mobley, CEO of FreeCast. "FreeCast Cities was developed to simplify that experience by bringing local television together with streaming services, premium entertainment and subscription management into one unified platform. We believe introducing markets individually will allow us to work closely with local broadcasters and partners while delivering a more localized experience for consumers."

FreeCast Cities is built upon the same enterprise Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) infrastructure the Company offers telecommunications providers, broadband operators, municipalities, multifamily communities, hospitality providers, broadcasters and other commercial organizations. The consumer platform represents an additional application of that technology while maintaining compatibility with FreeCast's broader commercial ecosystem, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

A U.S. District Court yesterday denied a stay of the FCC Media Bureau’s approval of the merger of Nexstar and Tegna TV station groups, while a California judge set a trial date for lawsuits filed by DirecTV and state AGs, which are challenging the transaction.

Since announced in August 2025, the merger has faced opposition from other media companies, public interest groups and state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit in March, attempting to block the merger.

The merger, valued at $6.2 billion (when it was announced), would create a behemoth in the local broadcasting industry with 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television DMAs.

The acquisition closed in March after approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In its decision announced yesterday, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. denied a request for stay of the FCC’s approval, noting that harms that could come to the Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania and other appellants were “either not irreparable or not certain.” The court noted that a separate preliminary injunction in the Eastern District of California already obligated Nexstar to hold Tegna assets separate, operate stations independently, and maintain existing MVPD relationships.

Meanwhile, a California judge set a trial date of July 9, 2027 in a case that combines appeals to nix the merger from DirecTV and by attorneys general from 12 states. The court also set for discovery to close April 15, 2027 and the final pre-trial conference and hearing for June 23, 2027.

In a tweet on X yesterday, Nexstar said it “looks forward” to having its day in court to defend the deal.