RIAA said the music industry’s official logo mark for Hi-Res MUSIC -- previously available primarily to high-quality digital download services -- will be available June 1 for adoption by music streaming services. New data packing technologies -- including MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) and MPEG 4 Audio SLS -- “support the streaming of hi-res music files to consumers in a more efficient manner,” said RIAA Wednesday, and will enable licensed services to display the Hi-Res MUSIC logo on their landing page or next to an individual album or track. If the resolution of a recording falls below the required minimum standards of the Hi-Res MUSIC definition at any time, users will be made aware of the change, it said. The announcement was made along with RIAA members Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group in cooperation with the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. The Hi-Res MUSIC logo and accompanying definition were announced in June by the RIAA on behalf of member labels, and focused on digital files and download services that met the definition’s requirements. The program was adopted by download services offering hi-res music including Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez, Blue Coast Music, HDtracks, IsoMike Recordings, ClassicsOnline HD*LL, PonoMusic, and ProStudioMasters, it said. The technologies ensure listeners hear “music that preserves, without loss of information, recordings from sources that achieve a minimum of 48kHz/20-bit resolution,” RIAA said. RIAA Chief Technology Officer David Hughes called the extension to music streaming services “the logical next step, one embraced by music labels large and small, that will provide an optimal listening experience to this growing consumer segment.”
Alaska telcos are battling over a plan to give broadband-oriented USF support to rural telcos and wireless competitors in the state. The Alaska Telephone Association (ATA) and General Communications (GCI) say their Alaska Plan is a consensus proposal to provide wireline and mobile broadband to consumers in remote areas of the state without increasing high-cost support. ATA disagrees with Alaska Communications that the "competitive eligible telecom carrier (CETC) portion of the Alaska Plan should be disapproved, delayed, or subject to ACS's proposed conditions," it said in a filing Monday in docket 10-90. GCI last week responded to Alaska Communications' "repetitive and unprincipled attempts" to "scuttle the Alaska Plan, as it uniquely continues to collect the same amount of high-cost support as it did in 2011, despite the absence of any performance commitments."
Alaska telcos are battling over a plan to give broadband-oriented USF support to rural telcos and wireless competitors in the state. The Alaska Telephone Association (ATA) and General Communications (GCI) say their Alaska Plan is a consensus proposal to provide wireline and mobile broadband to consumers in remote areas of the state without increasing high-cost support. ATA disagrees with Alaska Communications that the "competitive eligible telecom carrier (CETC) portion of the Alaska Plan should be disapproved, delayed, or subject to ACS's proposed conditions," it said in a filing Monday in docket 10-90. GCI last week responded to Alaska Communications' "repetitive and unprincipled attempts" to "scuttle the Alaska Plan, as it uniquely continues to collect the same amount of high-cost support as it did in 2011, despite the absence of any performance commitments."
Samsung’s UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player landed the UHD Premium certification from the UHD Alliance under specs announced for TVs and content at CES (see 1601030003) and later expanded to include Ultra HD Blu-ray players (see 1604120017), the company said in a Tuesday announcement. The UBD-K8500 is the first Ultra HD Blu-ray player sold in the U.S. to earn the certification, Samsung said. Panasonic previously got the certification for its DMP-UB900 Ultra HD Blu-ray player (see 1604130001), but that deck isn't available in the U.S.
Tech investor and San Francisco 49ers co-owner Gideon Yu has been a fan and customer of Bowers & Wilkins for 20-plus years, he told us in a Tuesday interview. Now he’s the company’s executive chairman.
The detonated implosion of the first of two Riviera Las Vegas hotel towers looms in little more than a month, and that would set into motion the first stage of an ambitious plan for much of the next decade to renovate and expand the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in a much-needed "overhaul." So said Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president-operations at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), in an interview. But the project's long-term benefits for CES -- LVCVA's largest annual customer -- are uncertain, said CTA's top CES strategist, who backed LVCVA's renovation proposals last fall before a Nevada gubernatorial funding task force weighing those proposals.
Sandwich Isles Communications asked the FCC to approve a new plan that SIC said would reduce the amount of cost recovery it needs from a National Exchange Carrier Association mechanism, which has been the subject of a protracted fight. SIC floated the plan Thursday as parties responded to a Wireline Bureau invitation to refresh the record in the proceeding, the deadlines for which were recently extended at the company's request (see 1604180032). NECA is evaluating the plan and trying to understand precisely what Sandwich Isles is proposing and what its impact would be, Jeff Dupree, the association's vice president-government relations, told us Friday. The FCC had no comment.
CBP will test automation and prepayment of commercial truck single-crossing fees as part of an effort to eliminate cash and credit card collections, the agency said in a notice (here). "The automation and prepayment option for the single-crossing user fee will reduce wait times, improve primary processing, save costs to truck carriers associated with idling time (such as gas and lost driving hours), and alleviate CBP officers of the administrative functions pertaining to the collection, accounting and transmittal of user fee collections," the agency said.
Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned witnesses “it’s somewhat troubling that quite a bit of money has been spent on this national goal [of broadband connectivity], and Indian tribal governments and communities still struggle to access Internet services.” He spoke during a late Wednesday hearing addressing a GAO report on telecom access on tribal lands (see 1604270065).
Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned witnesses “it’s somewhat troubling that quite a bit of money has been spent on this national goal [of broadband connectivity], and Indian tribal governments and communities still struggle to access Internet services.” He spoke during a late Wednesday hearing addressing a GAO report on telecom access on tribal lands (see 1604270065).