Industry News

A powerful advocate who “is deeply committed to resolving issues that disproportionately impact” African-American and multicultural communities across the U.S. — including access to broadband, AI and civil rights, and media diversity — has been selected to serve as VP of Policy at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC).

BE SURE TO ‘LIKE’ RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Enhancements to Telestream‘s CaptionMaker authoring software and the Vantage Media Processing Platform have been brought to market.

They provide “all the production tools” required by major broadcast networks and content distributors who have standardized on the Interoperable Master Format file-based delivery format.

In particular, CaptionMaker and Vantage Timed Text Flip now support IMSC 1.1, the latest
version of the SMPTE standard for subtitling and captioning.

IMSC is of particular importance in the preparation of IMF packages, and Telestream says no other technology vendor offers workflow automation combined with the caption and subtitle processing capabilities offered in Vantage and CaptionMaker.

“Using CaptionMaker, users can author, edit, encode and repurpose video captions and subtitles,” it says.

Then, using Vantage, they can include these media files in automated workflows for file transformation as needed when creating primary and supplemental IMF packages.

“With CaptionMaker, users create video captions and subtitles for television, web and mobile delivery,” Telestream notes. “CaptionMaker simplifies the process of complying with government regulations, enabling greater access to broadcast content for television, online and mobile viewers. The latest release supports IMSC 1.1 and contains several other enhancements including improved caption and subtitle rendering that makes them crisper and easier to read.”

Also, Vantage Timed Text Flip provides full support for IMSC, including version 1.1. IMSC is
required for IMF packages. Users that need to deliver video content to TV or Internet can
use Vantage and Timed Text Flip to transcode captions and subtitles with their media within
a single, automated workflow. This type of automation can help a variety of organizations
meet government mandates in a file-based workflow.

In addition, Vantage IMF Producer automates the creation of IMF packages from Adobe
Premiere Pro. Using a Vantage panel within Adobe Premiere Pro provides direct access
and significant workflow efficiencies for editors. IMF Producer automates the creation of all
files required in an IMF package from a single output render of an Adobe Premiere Pro
timeline. As well as generating the primary package, editors can create additional
sequences, which become supplemental IMF packages that contain different versions of
audio, subtitles, edit points, Dolby Vision HDR metadata and more.

“As a file-based delivery format, IMF is gaining widespread support from the media industry, so the decision to focus our efforts on developing IMF production tools was straightforward,” says Scott Matics, Senior Director of Product Management at Telestream. “However, these are not just any old IMF productions tools – they reflect Telestream’s outstanding expertise in this area and a great depth of customer feedback.”

One day after announcing it has scored a new affiliation agreement with NBC, the TV station owner formerly known as Gannett has inked a multi-year renewal agreement with Nielsen.

The nation’s dominant audience measurement company has scored a fresh deal with TEGNA, owner of 64 TV stations in 51 markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nielsen will provide local television ratings service for 34 TEGNA local markets with all existing services renewed for these markets and/or extended including Nielsen Arianna, NLTV, Digital in TV Ratings (DTVR), Grabix, Rhiza and Nielsen Scarborough.

Nielsen’s Local TV measurement includes traditional cable, satellite and over-the-air (OTA) viewers, as well as viewers who access linear streams of broadcast content through virtual providers.

“The combination of Nielsen’s Local TV panels plus return path data empowers TEGNA’s customers to activate and measure local media buys with confidence,” Nielsen says.

Nielsen reports viewing across devices and provides direct persons measurement, inclusive of incremental out-of-home (OOH) audiences in select markets via Nielsen’s proprietary Portable People Meter (PPM).

“TEGNA is a leader in the local broadcast industry,” said Catherine Herkovic, EVP and Managing Director of Nielsen Local. “We are delighted to provide continued support to 34 TEGNA markets with measurement services. As part of our client commitment, we will work alongside TEGNA to ensure that each local station has the tools they need to deliver on their business objectives with access to valuable local audiences.”

Beasley Media Group will turn 60 in December 2021 and it has begun the commemoration.

It said it will celebrate throughout the year with a variety of on-air and online activities including archival photos that tell its story on social media channels; top-of-the-hour IDs; artist congratulatory messages; Community of Caring Initiatives in its local communities; and celebratory events in each market on the anniversary.

It also created a commemorative anniversary logo.

[Read Radio World’s 2015 profile of George Beasley.]

“On Dec. 2, 1961, a young high school principal named George Beasley launched WPYB(AM) in Benson, North Carolina with the vision of providing a voice for the voiceless in the local community,” it wrote in a press release.

“Today, Beasley Media Group is a multiplatform media company providing advertising and digital marketing solutions across the United States with 64 radio properties located in 15 large and medium markets across the country. Beasley also offer capabilities in audio technology, esports, podcasting, ecommerce, and events. Featured on the NASDAQ, BBGI is ranked among the publicly traded media companies in America.”

Beasley Media Group Chief Executive Officer Caroline Beasley announced the initiative.

The post Beasley Highlights Its Upcoming 60th appeared first on Radio World.

Until recently, Liberty Mutual Insurance was a fan of spot cable, using regional efforts to help build its brand. Its “LiMu Emu” spots aimed to attract Millennial and Gen Z consumers, and gain awareness in an ultra-competitive category.

Now, it has turned not only to radio, but to Spot TV.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

While it’s certainly exciting that a big user of Spot Cable has now appeared at Spot Radio, heating up the auto insurance category, the presence of a popular language-learning online platform in the top three advertisers by play count is perhaps the biggest takeaway of the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report.

For the week ending Jan. 3, 2021, Babbel ranks third by play count, behind Bank of America and State Farm.

It is thanks to 55,701 spot plays.

Meanwhile, Liberty Mutual Insurance is present with just shy of 37,500 spots — dwarfed by leader State Farm but ahead of GEICO.

The gecko, Progressive and Allstate are not present in the latest report.

SANTA CLARITA, CALIF. — Travel to the northwest of the greater Los Angeles area, via Interstate 15 or Pearblossom Highway, and you’ll officially reach the “High Desert” — home to dusty, and growing, communities including Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia.

This region, the Victor Valley, is officially ensconced within the vast Los Angeles DMA. But, “local” TV is hardly local, and it’s been decades since a broadcast signal covered the region. Newspapers are largely focused on San Bernardino, to the south or Southern California’s more populous communities.

One radio group decided to tackle the local news void, both on-air and online.

BE SURE TO ‘LIKE’ RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

With the Black Lives Matter movement and its hyperfocus on the African American consumer, Urban One shares skyrocketed in the summer of 2020. While values have receded since that big surge, they are still nearly four times the average price for UONE seen before June 1.

However, there’s a slight problem with Urban One, and the Nasdaq stock market has sent the company a notice that it needs to remedy it. Otherwise, it could face delisting.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has joined a national assembly of experts and organizations working on unified action against the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s being called the COVID Collaborative, and NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith will serve on the collaborative’s National Advisory Council.

The COVID Collaborative is a non-partisan group of the nation’s leading experts in public health, education and the economy working together with associations representing state and local leaders and vulnerable communities to take unified action to defeat the pandemic and sustainably and safely reopen the country.

“Radio and TV broadcasters have devoted tremendous resources to keeping their audiences safe and informed throughout the pandemic,” Smith said. “Now, as vaccines roll out and the nation’s recovery begins, local broadcasters will play an important role in educating and engaging viewers and listeners. NAB looks forward to working with the Collaborative in leveraging broadcasters’ connections to local communities across America to inform the public and defeat the virus.”

COVID Collaborative co-founder and CEO John Bridgeland added, “Having the voice of the nation’s radio and television broadcasters could not come at a more critical time as our country works together to defeat COVID-19 and emerge better and stronger.”

Chaired by former governors Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) and Deval Patrick (D-Mass.), the Collaborative recently announced a “Call to Action Compact” between a bipartisan group of governors calling for a common, comprehensive approach to defeating COVID-19, emphasizing the need for state and local leaders to engage with vulnerable communities to ensure that efforts to defeat the virus are both equitable and effective.

The NAB also recently shared research findings regarding local media’s critical role in educating the public about vaccine distribution. The organization will unveil a toolkit in early 2021 providing the resources, research and messaging local journalists need to effectively educate their diverse audiences.

Davina Sashkin now has something in common with Matthew H. McCormick and Dan A. Kirkpatrick.

That would be her job title at noted Washington, D.C.-area telecommunications, media, and technology law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)