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US gives Huawei another 90 days to serve existing customers
The US government has granted Huawei another 90 days to buy from American suppliers. The "temporary general license" extension will allow Huawei to continue servicing existing US customers before it is fully blacklisted, Reuters reports. The company now has through November 19th to maintain existing telecom networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets.
PlayStation Vue adds 200 more local broadcasters in time for fall TV
The price for PlayStation Vue may be a bit higher than it used to be, but in quite a few markets it just added more local broadcast channels, which is particularly worthwhile since subscribers can no longer opt out of them to save a few bucks. Sony announced that including 200 recent additions, more than 450 local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates are now streaming. The expansion comes just in time for viewers hoping to cut the cord on cable or satellite and still watch football or network TV shows without adding on rabbit ears. It does get tricky when it comes to using features like the DVR due to rights issues, but Sony's FAQ should explain what is allowed where. For a list of newly-added stations, just take a look here. Sony claims that 97 percent of the US population has access to at least one broadcast station now -- hopefully they're all the right ones to keep you caught up on fall TV.
Dispute over retransmission fees may lead to Fox dropping some affiliates
Just when it seemed like the worst of the retrans disputes had passed, now Fox is going at it with its own affiliates. Bloomberg revealed a letter sent by the chairman of the Fox affiliate board claiming he worried that Fox may not be interested in a deal on par with profit sharing from NBC, CBS and ABC, and the network is now pursuing individual agreements with affiliates instead of dealing with them as one. Fox's side of the story was told in an interview with Broadcasting & Cable by President of Affiliate Sales & Marketing Mike Hopkins who feels like Fox is bringing more value than its currently being compensated for. Check the entire interview to get a feel for his view of the "flawed, out of date network model" -- all in all, we'd suggest keeping your eyes peeled for potential changes in which station carries Fox in your neck of the woods.
How does NBC justify tape delaying the Olympics? Pretty easily
You can't throw a rock on the internet without hitting someone frustrated by NBC's handling of the Winter Olympics. ESPN and The New York Times can barely hide their giggles while posting event results hours before they air and West Coast viewers have to endure an additional delay to watch an event happening in their own time zone. Compare these quotes by NBC Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol, first in 2001, then later in 2008 posted by Deadspin and The Bastard Machine: 2001 - "A domestic Olympics cries out to be telecast live across the entire country as previous U.S. games have been," he said. "I am emphatic that delaying our primetime Salt Lake coverage is a mistake." 2008 - "...the viewers have repeatedly told us that the vast majority of them, well in excess of 80 percent, want to see the Olympics when they're available to see the Olympics. They don't want to see the key events of the day happening at 4 or 5 o'clock their time." Meanwhile NBC CEO Jeff Zucker a.k.a. the guy who keeps Heroes on the air appears completely pleased by the ratings results in this video interview with CNBC embedded after the break. Whether it's still the local affiliates who are to blame or simply a silent majority of tape delay loving Luddites, it doesn't appear NBC plans on changing course for any reason. Still, feel free to drop by their message boards and let them know how you really feel about it, and hope ESPN nabs the rights for future Games.
Waiting for HD syndication on your local affiliates? CBS, Warner and Ascent Media can fix that
We've seen your complaints about many of the syndicated shows that have switched to HDTV broadcasts lately, wondering why they don't show up like that in your area. The fact is, many local affiliates can't / haven't spent the cash on equipment capable of handling all the syndicated programming out there in HD, but Ascent Media, Warner Bros. and CBS are creating a joint venture to fix that, ensuring their hard work creating all that HD (& HD ads, lets not forget) doesn't go to waste. We spoke to Senior VP of Ascent Media Rich Fickle and he broke down the plan where the joint venture will pay for and distribute the equipment to more than 800 affiliates (Which ones? Expect major network affiliates, top 100 markets and many others with a list out before the service launches) that will allow them to receive one MPEG-4 HDTV formatted copy via satellite -- instead of the dual SD and HD feeds distributed currently -- that can then be downconverted for SD broadcasts at their location as well as broadcast the way they were meant to be seen. The equipment will start shipping out in the coming months but it's likely the service will launch around the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year. Who's ready for some remastered Star Trek: TOS, Jeopardy & Seinfeld?
