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The DRM Consortium reported the conclusion of its demonstration and trial of the DRM digital radio standard for proposed use on India’s FM band.

“It was highly successful and generated a lot of interest,” the consortium said in an announcement.

Trials in New Delhi and Jaipur were done for Prasar Bharati (All India Radio). Digital radio advocacy organizations are competing to be chosen for the digitization of the FM band in India; DRM argues that it is the best common solution for all radio bands there, in part because DRM is already used in India on the AM band.

“In Delhi, the [FM] trial demonstrated excellent results when transmitting a single DRM signal, multiple pure digital DRM signals side-by-side from the same transmitter (‘Multi-DRM’ configuration), and also using DRM’s simulcast option by putting on air both an analog FM and a digital DRM signal from a single transmitter,” the organization said.

“The Multi-DRM option proves DRM’s highly economic potential when it comes to frequency and equipment upgrades: A single FM-band transmitter with a bandwidth of 600 kHz can transmit six independent DRM signals (blocks) carrying up to 24 DRM services, e.g. 18 audio and six multimedia services. These can represent up to six independent broadcasters who remain in full control over their individual content and signal configuration.”

In Jaipur, the consortium sought to demonstrate that multi-DRM configurations with four or five DRM blocks, each capable of carrying three audio services plus a multimedia service like Journaline, can use white spaces between two existing analog FM services, while not affecting their reception.

An image from the DRM Consortium shows five DRM blocks signal between two high-power analog FM services as demonstrated in Jaipur.

It said the demonstration showed that the DRM standard, used in the FM band, is backward compatible and that the receiver ecosystem for both AM and FM band services is ready for India’s mass market, “based on in-country know-how buildup and chipset design and production over the past years, which in turn is enabled by DRM being an open standard with all specifications published. Even DRM receiver models made in China today are based on Indian technology and DRM chipsets.”

It also sought to show DRM’s capability of being received on off-the-shelf Android phones using the Fraunhofer DRM MultimediaPlayer Radio App.

The organization has posted a summary of the project and comments on its outcome.

The post DRM Concludes FM Trial in India appeared first on Radio World.

The CEO of Urban One and the EVP/Chief Diversity Officer of NBCUniversal have been appointed to the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Board of Directors.

Both of their terms will begin April 1.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Alfred Liggins and Craig Robinson to the BMI Board of Directors,” said Caroline Beasley, Chairman of the BMI Board of Directors and CEO of Beasley Media Group. “Both Alfred and Craig have achieved incredible success at their respective companies, and they each bring innovative leadership, unique perspectives, and key expertise that will make them invaluable additions to the Board. The entire Board looks forward to working together with Alfred and Craig as we continue our mission to protect and grow the value of our songwriters’, composers’ and music publishers’ creative work.”

Liggins’ leadership at Urban One led to the company’s diversification beyond radio into the cable television and digital media spaces, as well as casino gaming resorts. He is the son and business partner of Cathy Hughes, the Urban One founder and chairperson who today remains a BMI Board Director. In October, however, her role will change to Honorary Director.

At NBCUniversal, Robinson works to define and build a culture that embraces and values diversity in its workforce, culture, content and perspectives.

Robinson earned the role in August 2011, and was formerly President/GM of KNBC-4 in Los Angeles. He joined NBC in 1996.

 

A logo for BetMGM Virginia. Its mobile app is available in 10 states.

Audacy, the company formerly known as Entercom, has made another deal related to its growing investment in sports betting. It signed an agreement with sportsbook BetMGM.

The deal designates BetMGM, a sports betting and gaming platform, as a preferred sports betting partner of Audacy across its sports broadcast stations, apps, digital platforms and the BetQL Audio Network.

“Key partnership details include integrated content across Audacy’s broadcast sports stations, customer acquisition opportunities, and talent endorsements across Audacy’s wide spectrum of local and national sports betting content,” the companies said in an announcement.

[Related: “Entercom Expands Gambling Radio to Chicago”]

The BetMGM mobile app is available in 10 states. BetMGM will provide betting content to fans who tune in to Audacy’s stations, podcasts and shows. BetMGM also will receive preferred access to Audacy talent.

Audacy recently acquired QL Gaming Group and launched the BetQL Audio Network, which it called “fundamental components of this deal.”

Mike Dee is president of sports at Audacy. He made the announcement with Matt Prevost, BetMGM’s chief revenue officer, who described the former Entercom as “a leader in sports radio, digital audio and now the direct-to-consumer betting analytics space.”

 

The post Audacy/Entercom Signs Deal With Big Sportsbook appeared first on Radio World.

No, it’s not a wind-down of its TV operations. But, HC2 Holdings is paring down its assets as part of a capital-raising initiative. This explains why the company has been dominating the deal-making universe of late.

As part of that divestment of non-essential assets, it is agreeing to spin a pair of LPTV construction permits to Larry Morton, the prominent Little Rock broadcast media veteran.

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SAVANNAH, GA. — Travel west of Columbus, Miss., and you’ll reach the city of Starkville. Here, a low-power TV station’s construction permit is being spun.

The buyer? The Columbus-based owner of the market’s CBS affiliate.

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Cumulus Media on Monday made a “DEF 14A” proxy filing with the SEC that revealed the date the audio content and distribution company will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting, in virtual form.

At the meeting, the election of seven board members will be held, along with the ratification to appoint PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP as Cumulus’ independent registered public accounting firm for 2021.

There’s also a non-binding vote on executive compensation. Just how much are Cumulus’ top executives poised to earn?

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The “Tiny Desk Concerts” audio and video podcast series, National Public Radio’s flagship music program, has produced more than 1,000 musical performances with billions of streams on YouTube and audio podcasting platforms since 2008.

But once the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020, three months of scheduled tapings dropped from the books and left staff wondering what to do next.

As a temporary fix to continue delivering performances to its audience, the Tiny Desk team pivoted to a home recording arrangement that they dubbed “Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts.”

Audio engineer Josh Rogosin and the Tiny Desk Concert team put together a one-sheet rider for guests, with instructions and tips for getting a well-recorded signal at home, and jumped into producing the show remotely.

Josh Rogosin with Sony PCM-D50 handheld digital audio recorder and Sound Devices 788T digital multitrack audio recorders.

“What’s happening with a lot of the home concerts,” says Rogosin, “is we’re relinquishing a lot of our control-slash-demands. When everyone comes into the office, there’s no wiggle room when it comes to, ‘Hey, we really want you to try this without monitors, at least to start.’”

The result runs the gamut from simple recordings made on a smartphone or an app like Photo Booth, which is how Norah Jones recorded her performance, to produced, live-in-the-studio recordings.

[Related: “Engage With Listeners Stuck at Home”]

The roots of the series go back to NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” which Bob Boilen began as an internet radio program in 2000.

At a SXSW showcase in 2008, when Boilen couldn’t hear singer-songwriter Laura Gibson over the crowd noise, he invited her to perform at his desk at NPR headquarters in Washington. She called his bluff, and the Tiny Desk concept was born.

Rogosin notes that this was before podcasting really took off. “‘All Songs Considered’ was an internet-only radio show, which, in my opinion, paved the way for podcasting.”

The ethos of the Tiny Desk Concert is to strip musical performances of the studio polish and return them to their core elements, as if the musicians were playing around a campfire. Artists who perform on the program generally don’t get in-ear or wedge monitors, and those whose performances rely on electronics and effects are given a short leash.

“It forces musicians to play quieter and more dynamically, and it also forces them to listen to each other in a much different way,” he says.

“That lends itself to a much different vibe and performance that you’re not used to hearing. Before all this technology existed, musicians got together in a room and they had to play dynamically enough so that they could hear themselves and each other.”

When recorded at NPR, every performance at the Tiny Desk revolves around a stereo shotgun mic — it’s so integral, in fact, that it makes a cameo in the preroll for every video.

Pre-pandemic, Olafur Arnalds and band are shown at the Tiny Desk in 2018. Note the Neumann KU 100 dummy head/microphone array (top center) used for binaural recording.

Chosen for its “bright, airy and realistic” characteristics, the Sennheiser MKH 418-S picks up speech, vocals and musical instruments from a distance, well outside of the camera shot. Rogosin has evolved the production to include additional shotgun mics, as well as the ability to run direct-outs from keyboard and bass amps. He records to up to three Sound Devices 788T (24-bit/48 kHz) eight-channel recorders for eight, 16 or 24 channels of audio.

From there, Rogosin imports the raw files into Pro Tools for light treatment from Waves and iZotope plug-ins before mastering in iZotope Ozone.

“Every Tiny Desk Concert, in terms of level, is mastered and matches every other Tiny Desk Concert, so if you go into a binge situation, hopefully you’re not fiddling with your volume dial between concerts, because everything is mastered to the same specifications.”

Rogosin also ensures the podcast has the same specs as the video version of the program, with a target of –16 LUFS with a peak at –2.

“NPR has [NUGEN] audio software, so I try to master as close as possible to what the robots are going to do to it once I upload it to our CMS. [The] audio robots analyze the file and level it, basically, so when it pulls up in our podcast feeds across the network, it will match.”

Rapper 2 Chainz performs from his nail salon in Atlanta.

Although Boilen never intended for the series to leave his actual desk at NPR, by adapting to the constraints of the pandemic, Rogosin and team have been able to deliver new performances to music-hungry audiences.

“You’ll see in some of the comments, ‘This is really cool and thank God we have this, but we can’t wait to get back to the real Tiny Desk,’” Rogosin says.

“There’s something about that space, the live-audience aspect — it’s just NPR employees — and also what we have them do by not relying on any sort of crutches.”

The post Tiny Desk Series Works From “Home” appeared first on Radio World.

A decade ago, the first U.S. video marketplace report from Comcast-owned FreeWheel was released. Now, its 10th anniversary edition has been released, with a detailed look at viewership trends for an industry in transition.

FreeWheel’s key takeaway from its latest report? “As people’s consumption of media has fragmented across devices over the past 10 years, many have returned to the living room …”

But, are they watching your TV station?

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Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) and the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) have signed an agreement to enable adoption of ATSC standards for broadcast services on mobile devices in India.

It’s an important-enough pact for Sinclair Broadcast Group’s President/CEO to have issued a congratulatory comment.

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On Oct. 27, 2020, T-Mobile President/CEO Mike Sievert delivered a bold prediction in a video presentation recorded at the company’s Bellevue, Wash., headquarters. It was the latest “Un-carrier” move for the company, one that sought MVPD cord-cutters. “Just like we changed wireless for good, now we’re going to change TV … for good,” he proclaimed.

Just five months later, Sievert and T-Mobile have abruptly abandoned the heavily promoted T-Vision VMVPD service. As of today, it’s yielding that segment of the wireless carrier’s business to Alphabet Inc.

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Dielectric said that with the repack of U.S. TV stations “fully in the rearview mirror,” it has reorganized its RF department and promoted Mike Spugnardi to director of RF systems and components.

It plans to emphasize “new product designs that reflect changing customer needs in today’s reduced UHF spectrum in the United States, as well as making products more efficient for international TV and radio customers.”

[Read: Federico D’Avis of Dielectric Retires]

It credited Spugnardi with leading its strategic repack initiatives as its TV antenna manufacturing manager. “His successful strategy ensured that more than 1,000 repack customers were transitioned to new channel assignments within very tight timelines,” it stated. The announcement was made by Cory Edwards, director of OEM, distributor and southeast Asia sales.

Dielectric said it will expand its team of senior RF engineers and mechanical designers. Among its priorities is to optimize its bandpass filters for TV Channels 14 to 36, “which represent the post-repack UHF band in the United States and much of the global broadcast market.”

The post Dielectric Reorganizes RF Department appeared first on Radio World.

Entercom, one of the biggest names in U.S. commercial radio, will change that name to emphasize its focus on the broader world of audio.

Entercom Communications Corp. is transitioning its brand name to Audacy, effective immediately. It also will “sunset” the name of its digital platform Radio.com.

The new corporate name Audacy emphasizes the role of audio in the company’s business; it also has echoes of “audacity.” The company’s stock ticker symbol will change from ETM to AUD in early April.

[Read Radio World’s recent special report about how radio companies are defining themselves around on audio: “For Radio, Audio Is the New Now”]

“Over the past three years,” it stated in the announcement, “the company has purposefully evolved into a scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment organization with the country’s best radio broadcasting group and a leadership position in virtually every segment of the dynamic and growing audio market — including broadcasting, podcasting, digital, network, live experiences, music, sports and news. Audacy is also the #1 creator of original, premium audio content.”

The announcement was made by Chairman, President and CEO David Field. He said the company has “transformed into a fundamentally different and dramatically enhanced organization.”

Here’s how it now positions itself: “Audacy engages over 170 million consumers each month across its connected platform including the Audacy app and website, over 230 radio stations across 47 markets, influential chart-topping podcasts and premium live music experiences.”

In the announcement, Entercom listed activities over several years that built in this direction.

It acquired CBS Radio, “building scale as one of the two largest radio broadcasting groups, with unrivaled leadership in news and sports,” and it launched Radio.com. It acquired Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, “establishing Audacy as one of the three largest podcasting publishers,” and established important podcast partnerships with companies like HBO and Netflix. Most recently it acquired Podcorn, a “podcast influencer marketplace.”

In sports it also acquired QL Gaming Group and built a partnership with FanDuel. And it made partnerships with Apple, Google, Amazon and Twitch “to enable its listeners to connect seamlessly with Audacy audio content wherever and whenever they want it.”

The company also made several related announcements. It created a podcast partnership with singer Demi Lovato and new podcasts and projects including shows from Boomer Esiason, Big Tigger and “The Rich Eisen Show,” as well as a revamped “Loveline.”

“Additionally, a number of original podcasts will launch exclusively in a bingeable window on Audacy’s app,” it stated.

It also announced partnerships with BetMGM for sports betting and entertainment and with Irving Azoff’s Global Music Rights to add on-demand and interactive features.

The post Entercom Changes Its Name to Audacy appeared first on Radio World.

A multi-platform broadcast and content company delivering sports betting news, analysis and data to consumers from the Las Vegas Strip since 2017 — known for its ties to the Musberger family — has been plucked by a Boston-based digital sports entertainment and gaming giant widely known for its daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media offerings.

Vegas Sports Information Network, Inc. (VSiN) is being acquired by DraftKings Inc.

It’s a major acquisition, and one that will enable DraftKings, which is live with mobile and/or retail sports betting in 14 states, to further build out its content capabilities. As DraftKings sees it, the deal “will augment VSiN’s ability to broaden their audience alongside the expansion of legal sports betting in the U.S.”

Commenting on the deal, DraftKings co-founder, CEO and board chairman Jason Robins said, “VSiN creates authentic and credible content that resonates with sports bettors at every level, whether they’re experienced or new to sports betting. In addition to its brand equity among sports bettors and engaging talent roster, VSiN also has an established infrastructure that DraftKings can immediately help expand, in the hopes of adding value to consumers who are looking to become more knowledgeable about sports betting.”

VSiN develops, produces, and distributes up to 18+ hours of live linear sports betting content each day. In addition to its 24/7 stream, VSiN’s original content is accessible through multiple video and audio channels including Comcast Xfinity, Sling TV, fuboTV, Rogers’ Sportsnet, MSG Networks, NESN, AT&T Pittsburgh, Marquee Sports Network, a dedicated channel on iHeartRadio and TuneIn, as well as terrestrial radio stations throughout the country, and its growing slate of podcasts and betcasts.

VSiN’s current talent roster includes veteran sportscaster Brent Musburger; Michael Lombardi, a former NFL executive; Gill Alexander, host of the “Beating the Book” podcast; and Pauly Howard and Mitch Moss, co-hosts of VSiN’s popular morning show “Follow The Money.”

“We created VSiN as a destination for sports bettors to find the most credible content to help inform their wagering decisions,” VSiN CEO Brian Musburger said. “Harnessing the power and network of the DraftKings brand will allow us to reach an even wider audience with our unique content.”

DraftKings’ vision is for Brian Musburger and his leadership team to continue to manage day-to-day operations while maintaining editorial independence.

Meanwhile, DraftKings says it “intends to fully integrate VSiN’s current employee base located in Las Vegas, including its on-air talent, into its 2,600 person global workforce.”

Since opening a Las Vegas office in January 2020, DraftKings has grown its local employee base by 132%.

More from the RBR+TVBR Archives:

RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast: Bill Adee, VSiN Adam Jacobson Bill Adee is the Principal and COO of VSiN. It’s grown quickly since the spring of 2017, when Adee joined the Musbergers to launch VSiN. He shares the latest on how things continue to roll — even through the COVID-19 pandemic — in this freshly produced InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM. LISTEN HERE VSiN Bets On iHeartMedia By Spurning SiriusXM Adam Jacobson Subscription-free sports betting audio content is poised to reach more listeners on more devices. That’s the promise VSiN and iHeartMedia are sharing, as the nation’s No. 1 audio media company has expanded its partnership with the Las Vegas-based sports information network dedicated to bettors and wagering statistics. The result is a loss for SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Skyview Networks Bets On A Big Sports Gaming Pact RBR-TVBR One of the nation’s foremost sports betting information networks has partnered up with a key sports audio company “to further gain market share and sponsorship opportunities.” The partnership comes despite the lack of wagering on live sporting events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shut down all Las Vegas casinos.

Although podcasting has surged in popularity in recent years and is a major growth segment for the radio industry, television companies are just now tipping their toes into the audio arena.

With the dynamic insertion of ads along with podcast measurement and the podcast industry’s continuing consolidation all impacting radio and TV in some way, how added ears can translate to dollars for legacy linear media is at the heart of this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.

To learn more on the subject, RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson chats with Sean King, an executive vice president with Veritone One. 

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Sean King, Veritone One” on Spreaker.

In a major rebranding move that leaked out via social media late Monday, Entercom Communications has changed its name to Audacy.

The shift from Entercom, a name that dates to October 1968, is effective immediately.

Much has changed for the company founded by Joseph Field. Today, it is led by his son, Chairman and President/CEO David Field. And, under the younger Field, Entercom grew.

On November 17, 2017, that growth reached its apex, as Entercom completed its tax-free merger with CBS Radio. Then, a new logo was introduced.

Now, nearly 3 1/2 years after a transformative transaction that saw slow growth at legacy CBS Radio stations due to what Field believed was neglect under its previous owner, a whole new identity has been revealed.

Audacy addressed the company’s evolution since the Reverse Morris Trust-fueled merger with CBS Radio, which saved the former Entercom from a big tax bill from Uncle Sam. Among the big moves: growth in podcasting with the August 2019 acquisition of Cadence13 and Pineapple Street, and a wholesale relaunch of the Radio.com app that came with the CBS Radio merger. There’s also the acquisition of QL Gaming Group and a partnership with FanDuel, fueling its position in Sports Talk audio content delivered via key radio stations like WFAN in New York and via the Radio.com platform.

Speaking of Radio.com, that name will be “sunset,” with a rebrand to Audacy on the way.

Cadence13, Pineapple Street Studios, BetQL and recently acquired podcast influencer marketplace Podcorn remain market-facing brands.

With some self-promotion, Audacy said in a statement released Tuesday (3/30) at 9am Eastern, “Over the past three years, the company has purposefully evolved into a scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment organization with the country’s best radio broadcasting group and a leadership position in virtually every segment of the dynamic and growing audio market—including broadcasting, podcasting, digital, network, live experiences, music, sports and news. Audacy is also the No. 1 creator of original, premium audio content.”

In a prepared statement, David Field said, “We have transformed into a fundamentally different and dramatically enhanced organization and so it is time to embrace a new name and brand identity which better reflects who we have become and our vision for the future. ‘Audacy’ captures our dynamic creativity, outstanding content and innovative spirit as we aspire to build the country’s best audio content and entertainment platform.”

Audacy Chief Marketing Officer Paul Suchman added, “This moment is not just a change of sign, but a sign of change. Our new brand encapsulates who we’ve become in audio and will guide our forward aspirations. We are bringing it to life across all touchpoints inside and outside the organization and look forward to delivering on its promise every day.”

A BET ON DIGITAL

With the Entercom Twitter handle changed early Tuesday, ahead of the official announcement, to @audacycorp, a new chapter begins for a company with roots in radio that today made several announcements that signals its intention as of today to be an audio media company.

First, Audacy says it has signed Demi Lovato to an exclusive podcast partnership with Cadence13. It will be produced by OBB Sound, the audio division of OBB Media, and SB Projects. Further details are set to arrive in May. A revamped “Loveline,” pioneered by Audacy’s KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, will debut this summer, in addition to new podcasts and digitally delivered projects from Boomer Esiason and The Rich Eisen Show.

Audacy also has a partnership with BetMGM in place, and this follows a similar partnership announcement revealed last week that ties Audacy with Rush Street Interactive.

Lastly, Entercom has a royalties agreement in place with Irving Azoff’s Global Music Rights (GMR).

A NEW WALL STREET IDENTITY

What happens to ETM?

It’s going away.

The company’s ticker symbol will change from “ETM” to “AUD,” and this is expected to occur on or about Friday, April 9.

— Additional reporting by Ed Ryan

With the spectrum repack fully in the rearview mirror, Dielectric has promoted its TV Antenna Manufacturing Manager to Director of RF Systems and Components.

The new role is part of the company’s shift in strategy to better serve broadcasters in the post-repack world.

Earning the promotion is Mike Spugnardi, who applied his extensive Dielectric experience
to lead all strategic repack initiatives around inventory control, production planning and
maximizing capacity.

“His successful strategy ensured that more than 1,000 repack customers were transitioned to new channel assignments within very tight timelines,” Dielectric says.

Now, Spugnardi is poised to bring that same strategic focus to the company’s RF Systems
and Components division. This includes new product designs that reflect changing
customer needs in today’s reduced UHF spectrum in the United States, as well as making
products more efficient for international TV and radio customers.

“Mike’s emphasis on the finer details was a primary reason we were so well-prepared for
repack, which was arguably the busiest period of Dielectric’s nearly 80 years of existence,”
said Cory Edwards, Director of OEM, Distributor and Southeast Asia Sales at Dielectric. “He is now leading the charge with an emphasis on new products and existing product redesigns, particularly around our UHF TV filters.”

Edwards says many of these changes optimize Dielectric’s bandpass filters for Channels 14 to 36, which represent the post-repack UHF band in the United States and much of the global broadcast market. In addition to redesigning existing filters, the company is adding models to serve increasingly common power levels. This includes 5kw and 22kw models that will allow Dielectric to provide more efficient single-filter designs for these power level requirements, while providing additional headroom to accommodate the higher peak powers of ATSC 3.0.

Spugnardi will lead a newly expanded team of senior RF engineers and mechanical
designers, which Edwards says will “strengthen our bench for a new RF era.” He is also
leading the charge on developing new internal technical resources.

As expected, Univision Communications on Tuesday formally launched its streaming channels-based and VOD service created specifically for U.S. Hispanic audiences.

The launch follows the recent acquisition of VIX, the largest Spanish-language ad-supported VOD streaming service for Latin American audiences and U.S. Hispanics.

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The recently formed Independent Broadcasters Association has forged a partnership with a top distributors in the broadcast and multimedia space. This gives member radio stations access to parts and service and new inventory.

The agreement is with Broadcast Depot, and brings member-only deals to IBA stations.

“Our goal is to provide a one stop shop for members of the IBA, where they can utilize
Broadcast Depot as a resource for knowledge, service, planning and equipment
acquisitions,” U.S. sales manager Tim Jobe said. “It has also proven beneficial for us and
our clients to have a partnership with Balboa Capital where we can present financing
options and jump the hurdles that usually slow projects and reaching goals.”

The IBA presently boasts membership of 1,500 independently owned radio stations.

IBA President Ron Stone, who heads Adams Radio Group, says, “This was one of the most important partnerships we wanted to solidify for IBA members. Having an equipment provider that can respond quickly, provide industry leading prices and provide our members with potential finaancing when needed was incredibly important.”

A Forrest Breese is flowing through the Western United States for clients of Point Source Audio.

No, that’s not a typo. That’s the name of the new regional account manager at the Petaluma, Calif.-based company.

Point Source Audio expanded its sales team with the addition of Breese as Account Manager for the Western U.S. He’s a familiar face to California’s pro audio industry for many years and brings with him considerable experience from previous roles with manufacturers, distributors, integrators—and on stage as a musician.

As a gigging bassist since the age of 13, Breese has been around the music and pro audio industry for most of his life. Starting his professional career as a manufacturer’s rep, Breese has worked across just about every aspect of the industry from sales to integration, and has extensive experience working with a number of microphone brands.

He is based in Southern California.

“We are delighted to welcome someone of Forrest’s knowledge and experience into the Point Source Audio family,” said Yvonne Ho, Point Source Audio’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “He has an incredible grasp of the technology and our industry so he will immediately be a valuable resource for all of our customers and dealers in the Western region. He will bring a lot to the Point Source Audio community and I know he can’t wait to get out there and meet everyone.”

To learn more about Point Source Audio products, visit www.point-sourceaudio.com.

Friend MTS, a global provider of content protection services, has launched 4th Generation ASiD, an enhanced and extended set of subscriber-level watermarking solutions that address a wide range of content protection scenarios to secure high-value content and revenue across all types of broadcast and OTT devices, clients and apps.

With an increasing need for content owners, broadcasters and operators to tackle real-world piracy, Friend MTS has also included ASiD OTT Edge-switched, a new smart server-side A/B variant solution with an additional robust method of watermarking premium content that works to protect Live and VOD assets from illegal redistribution.

“We are at the forefront of developing and deploying real world end-to-end content protection solutions at scale for our valuable sports and entertainment customers, which is important now more than ever as the pandemic continues to shape the piracy landscape as well as the technology needs to combat this prevalent issue,” Friend MTS CEO Jonathan Friend said. “These new watermarking and monitoring solutions with enhancements to help our customers protect their valuable content in a larger industry effort to drive subscriber growth and safeguard revenue.”

Friend MTS’ advanced subscriber identification watermarking (ASiD) now includes:

ASiD Embedded (Enhanced): Offers accelerated watermark generation in certain devices (especially those without functional FPUs), and optimisations to enable memory and CPU-efficient watermark parameters for different content types (UHD, HD, linear channels vs on-demand content, etc).

ASiD OTT Client-composited (Enhanced): Introduces a new collaboration mechanism between headend and client, and improved intelligence feedback to take action on bad actors. The solution now offers higher precision of session identification and stronger support for cloud PVR, as well as a new feature to enable variable per-device watermark parameters for different content and playback types to enable optimised watermark compositing based on individual client devices’ capabilities.

ASiD OTT Edge-Switched (New): Based on the proprietary algorithms, ASiD OTT Edge-switched benefits from other Friend MTS’ best-in-class mature technologies and offers accelerated watermark extraction working in conjunction with the company’s distributor-level watermarking solution, Distribution iD.

The new and enhanced 4th Generation ASiD solutions remain fully compliant with the MovieLabs Specification for Enhanced Content Protection, including 4K/UHD and HDR content, and provide robust Live and VOD content protection.

As a family of advanced forensic watermarking solutions, Friend MTS’ ASiD OTT offerings share the optional ASiD iQ enhancement that monitors for fraudulent user behavior, flags bad actors, and enables content owners and service operators to react in real-time.

As a result, Friend MTS proactively prevents content theft and other business-affecting activities such as credential or account sharing by revoking access to compromised accounts.