TV Technology - January 7, 2009 - (Page 6)

NEWS 48-Hour Film Project Returns LAS VEGAS NAB Show organizers and the 48 Hour Film Project announced the 2009 48HFP tour will begin at the NAB Show, April 18-23 in Las Vegas. The 48HFP competition, established in 2001, promotes filmmaking, creativity and teamwork by providing participants with a compelling topic and prop and giving them two days to write, shoot and edit their film. More than 35,000 filmmakers from 75 cities will participate in the 2009 48HFP competition. The tour will officially begin with the Las Vegas city competition, which kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 17. Filmmakers will complete their films by 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 19. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges including leading filmmakers, movie critics and pro- ducers, and the winners will be screened at a local Las Vegas theater. A special screening of the 2008 competition winners will take place in the NAB Show Content Theater. Beginning in 2010 the NAB/48HFP partnership will bring Filmapalooza, an awards event honoring the competition’s top film submissions, to the NAB Show. “The NAB Show and Content Theater provide a tremendous opportunity for our artists to showcase their work before the industry’s most influential content creators, digital innovators and entertainment technology leaders,” said 48HFP Coproducer Liz Langston. DTV Education Escalated Like a political campaign in its final weeks, broadcasters and advocates for viewers are making a final push to get as many latecomers as possible hooked up to DTV. With millions of households still unprepared for the February transition, and the government facing the prospect of running out of converter box coupons, the campaign is moving from the airwaves to the ground. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, for example, using a $1.65 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is opening outreach centers in seven cities, in languages including Arabic in Detroit, Spanish in San Antonio and Hmong in Minneapolis. (The others are Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Ore., and Seattle.) A similar grant of $2.7 million went to the National Association of Area Agencies for Aging. “Unfortunately there is a disproportionate number of underserved communities that are being impacted tremendously by the transition to digital TV,” said DeeNice Rhodes, executive director of the Urban Progressive Foundation, at a panel discussion on the subject. She said 35 million homes still had some reliance on free TV and called the impending shutoff a “sleeping giant” crisis for the incoming administration. Chris MacLean, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, said his member stores are staffed, trained, stocked and ready to sell converter boxes. MacLean would like people to buy antennas if they need them as well. He also called the goodwill, wealth-sharing and holiday spirit of ordinary people to help fill the gaps. Coupons can be transferred (but not sold), so folks who don’t need coupons can give extras to the needy. “It’s going to take everybody pitching in a little bit,” he said. Meanwhile broadcasters amped up their “soft” analog shutoff simulations, including a relatively nationwide (42 states and Washington, D.C.) shutoff Dec. 17, with more planned as the big day approaches. NAB said it was also establishing its own call center for February, to supplement the efforts of the FCC, statewide broadcaster associations and individual stations. An estimated 400 television stations across the country have already participated in DTV consumer readiness testing, including market-wide and statewide tests. NAB NAB NAB initiatives. “With nearly a quarter of homes equipped with high definition televisions, the demand for high definition content will only increase.” Washington, D.C. has the top HDTV penetration among the top 18 markets in the country, with 31.1 percent, followed by Boston (30.5 percent) and New York (30.2 percent). Detroit has the lowest penetration among the top 18 markets, with 20.9 percent. HDTV owners watch 54 percent more sports than non-HDTV owners, Nielsen found. Nearly 25 Percent Now Have HD NEW YORK Nielsen reported last month that HDTVs are now viewed in 23.3 percent of all U.S. television households—and that’s before the full effect of the holiday shopping season. The rate is up from just 10 percent of homes with HDTV in July 2007, when Nielsen began tracking HDTV status. “The accelerated penetration of HDTV can be attributed to a number of factors, including the lower prices for high definition television equipment, the increased availability of high definition programming, and purchases of new television sets in anticipation of the digital transition set for February of 2009,” said Steve McGowan, Nielsen senior vice president for client research Broadcasters are finding analog viewers wherever they are. HDTV HDTV HDTV formats, Starz may support more delivery methods to its affiliates and offer a wider selection of content. “Staying competitive in the entertainment business means offering what viewers want, often before they know they want it. For Starz, that means we are constantly seeking ways to expand our programming options and searching for new technology to increase our competitive edge,” said Ray Milius, senior vice president of programming and IT operations at Starz. Starz Demands Tandberg ATLANTA Starz Entertainment has selected the MediaPath Secure Content Delivery System from Tandberg Television to deliver the content for its on-demand services. The upgrade provides Starz with DVB-S2 satellite delivery and other enhanced features, enabling Starz to deliver more content to its affiliates at faster rates. Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, and MoviePlex On Demand are now delivered from Starz to its affiliates using the Tandberg Classic MediaPath system. Since MediaPath now supports MPEG-4 AVC and virtually all other For several of the tests—including those in New York, Los Angeles and Washington—Bob Miller, director of technical operations, in the Local Media Division of NBC Universal, has been processing data on a daily basis from the broadcasters’ combined automated call center and sending it back to the stations, the better for them to refine their outreach with. “It’s a very, very large undertaking,” he said “We’ve got a long way to go in educating folks.” NBCU worked with ION Media Networks early on to get local broadcasters in several markets to agree on how and when to do the tests, which wasn’t easy. But once the soft shutoff tests occurred, the stations realized the world hadn’t ended, stations weren’t barraged by calls, and they agreed that they should look at the data and do more tests, said Miller. “These readiness tests are a great innovation by broadcasters that brings information about the transition to viewers who need it and gives DTV technology a trial run,” said Jonathan Collegio, NAB vice president for the DTV transition. VOD Federal Frequency VOD Federal Frequency VOD Federal Frequency 6 January 7, 2009 • TV Technology • www.tvtechnology.com http://www.tvtechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TV Technology - January 7, 2009

TV Technology - January 7, 2009 NFL Enters a New Dimension Mobile DTV Looms Large in 2009 Contents A ‘Flexible Framework’ Doing More With Less ‘X’tra-Streamlined Finish Line in Sight for BAS Transition Ahead of the Relocation Curve DTV Transition Survival Guide ENG and the Lines of Communication DTV Transition Survival Guide Who Do We Really Work For? Obama to Expand Internet Access The Wizard Takes a Holiday The Solid-State Disk Revival To Light the Ear... or Not Hulu Gets It Right—the First Time User Reports—Video Servers & Recording/Controllers Reference Guide Product Showcase Classifieds Marketplace TV Tech Business

TV Technology - January 7, 2009

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