The company that changed its name to Graham Holdings (CD Nov 19 p21) agreed to sell its headquarters in downtown Washington and land on the same block to Carr Properties for about $159 million. The deal is expected to be completed at the end of March, said the TV station and cable system owner in a news release after U.S. markets closed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1gpcjwY). The company was called the Washington Post Co. and changed its name with the sale of The Washington Post and publishing assets to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Graham Holdings will lease its offices from Carr until Graham moves, a date for which hasn’t been set, a spokeswoman for the media company told us by email Friday.
TiVo may well offer features of its DVR service for integration into “tier one” cable user interfaces in a bid to land agreements with major U.S. cable operators that have eluded the company, said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, after regular U.S. markets closed Tuesday, on an earnings call. TiVo has landed pacts with smaller operators including Atlantic Broadband, RCN, Ono, Suddenlink and Virgin Media, but it hasn’t gained traction in tier one U.S. cable systems, and control of the user interface, Rogers said. “There are large operators who have a particular interest in control of the user interface and we are certainly in a position that we could offer the TiVo service elements that are highly valued to a larger operator’s interface,” Rogers said. “The integrated solution is one of the most sought-after to date. But as to the views of how this is going to evolve and the importance of what we offer,” the potential for adding TiVo features to a cable operator’s user interface “exists for us.” TiVo has agreements with Comcast, under which the cable operator is selling a stand-alone TiVo DVR integrated with Xfinity on Demand in eight markets. And Charter Communications is continuing discussions with TiVo on possibly including its software as a cloud-based service’s interface option, Charter officials have said (CD Oct 11 p3). Among the features that TiVo could integrate into a user interface would be metadata, personalization that allows for the grouping of programs by individual interests, search and recommendation engines, Rogers said. TiVo also could add audience measurement and “certain” advertising capabilities, TiVo Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said. It has moved search and recommendation to a cloud-based strategy, Rogers said. “There are going to be a very small number of tier one cable operators that can make very substantial investments that will carry them through with enough innovation for some period of time,” with internal R&D as their “primary path,” Rogers said. “I see that as being a very limited group and that mindset will be under constant challenges. People who really specialize in this effort can innovate faster than others in the marketplace and provide to other operators a superior service.” TiVo also is moving to have Netflix built into cable set-tops equipped with its software. Netflix in the past has had restrictions in its agreements with movie studios that prevent it from being distributed through cable set-tops in the U.S., but had no such barriers in international markets, Rogers said. While U.S. cable operators have had a “mixed view” of Netflix in the past, “we're hearing they want to include it in their distribution,” Rogers said. “To the extent those restrictions get worked out, we'll be in a position to help out partners implement on that front,” Rogers said. A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.
TiVo may well offer features of its DVR service for integration into “tier one” cable user interfaces in a bid to land agreements with major U.S. cable operators that have eluded the company, said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, after regular U.S. markets closed Tuesday, on an earnings call. TiVo has landed pacts with smaller operators including Atlantic Broadband, RCN, Ono, Suddenlink and Virgin Media, but it hasn’t gained traction in tier one U.S. cable systems, and control of the user interface, Rogers said. “There are large operators who have a particular interest in control of the user interface and we are certainly in a position that we could offer the TiVo service elements that are highly valued to a larger operator’s interface,” Rogers said. “The integrated solution is one of the most sought-after to date. But as to the views of how this is going to evolve and the importance of what we offer,” the potential for adding TiVo features to a cable operator’s user interface “exists for us.” TiVo has agreements with Comcast, under which the cable operator is selling a stand-alone TiVo DVR integrated with Xfinity on Demand in eight markets. And Charter Communications is continuing discussions with TiVo on possibly including its software as a cloud-based service’s interface option, Charter officials have said. Among the features that TiVo could integrate into a user interface would be metadata, personalization that allows for the grouping of programs by individual interests, search and recommendation engines, Rogers said. TiVo also could add audience measurement and “certain” advertising capabilities, TiVo Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said. It has moved search and recommendation to a cloud-based strategy, Rogers said. “There are going to be a very small number of tier one cable operators that can make very substantial investments that will carry them through with enough innovation for some period of time,” with internal R&D as their “primary path,” Rogers said. “I see that as being a very limited group and that mindset will be under constant challenges. People who really specialize in this effort can innovate faster than others in the marketplace and provide to other operators a superior service.” TiVo also is moving to have Netflix built into cable set-tops equipped with its software. Netflix in the past has had restrictions in its agreements with movie studios that prevent it from being distributed through cable set-tops in the U.S., but had no such barriers in international markets, Rogers said. While U.S. cable operators have had a “mixed view” of Netflix in the past, “we're hearing they want to include it in their distribution,” Rogers said. “To the extent those restrictions get worked out, we'll be in a position to help out partners implement on that front,” Rogers said. A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.
Capitol Hill and the wireless industry have been hailing NTIA’s announcement Monday that the Department of Defense and NAB reached a deal that will allow DOD to move forward with its plan to largely vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band and move operations to the 2025-2110 MHz band. The deal, in which DOD agreed to work around broadcasters’ needs on the 2025 MHz band, would allow the FCC to eventually auction commercial access to the 1755 MHz band (CD Nov 26 p1). Industry stakeholders told us they see the DOD-NAB deal as a sign that federal agencies and industry are becoming more invested in spectrum sharing -- and the agreement could have implications for spectrum beyond the 1755 MHz band.
TiVo may well offer features of its DVR service for integration into “tier one” cable user interfaces in a bid to land agreements with major U.S. cable operators that have eluded the company, said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers Tuesday on an earnings call.
Best Buy is Intel’s retail partner for the Intel Experience pop-up stores launching in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles this week, Intel Channel Development General Manager Sean Ludick told Consumer Electronics Daily on a walkthrough of the first store to open in New York’s Nolita neighborhood. Consumers can’t buy directly from the store and take products home, but they can buy products through a dedicated Best Buy landing page and have products shipped from there. The goal of the store is not to generate retail sales but to give consumers a chance to interact with the latest Intel-based devices, Ludick said.
NTIA said in a letter to the FCC Monday it “fully supports” the Department of Defense’s sharing proposal to partially vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band, and it laid out a specific plan to change allocations in the 2025-2110 MHz band to make the plan work. NTIA’s plan reflects an agreement between DOD and NAB in which DOD agreed to work around broadcaster needs, an NTIA official said during a background briefing with reporters. DOD agreed in July to move some of its operations to the 2025 MHz band in order to free up the 1755 MHz band for commercial use, but discussions between the department and NAB broke down because CTIA wanted to reallocate 15 MHz of the 2025 MHz band to its members. Talks later resumed after CTIA said it would not push for reallocation on the 2025 MHz band (CD Oct 30 p2). The agreement is an outgrowth of those renewed negotiations, the NTIA official said.
A new study commissioned by the Competitive Carriers Association argues that small geographic licenses, such as Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), are the proper size for the FCC to sell in the incentive TV auction. The study says spectrum licenses are analogous to plots of land. “If all plots were 50 acres, parcels in Manhattan would be too expensive and too large for most; this might compel buyers interested in a small parcel in Manhattan or a parcel in New Jersey adjacent to Manhattan to bid for land they don’t want,” the study said. “For carriers who are compelled to bid for wrong-sized spectrum license packages, the added cost may be sufficient to discourage their participation; or if they do participate, they are less likely to offer successful bids; or if they are successful, they will have fewer resources available to deploy services using the spectrum. In each case, the efficiency of the auction and the larger goals of the process suffer.” The study (http://bit.ly/188O86m) was written by the Summit Ridge Group, a valuation and financial advisory service. “Smaller licenses will allow carriers of all sizes the opportunity to target and bid on an area of spectrum that makes business sense for their company,” said CCA President Steve Berry. “All carriers need access to spectrum and should be afforded a meaningful opportunity to participate in the upcoming auction, and offering smaller license sizes like CMAs will ensure smaller rural and regional carriers will be able to participate at auctions alongside the largest carriers.”
Thuraya started VIPturbo Module, which lets product developers accelerate development timelines and lower costs for new satellite terminals. Developed by SRT Wireless, VIPturbo Module is being used “to develop terminals for the maritime, land mobile and aeronautical markets,” Thuraya said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/19DKGun). It supports circuit-switched voice, fax, standard IP and other platforms, it said.
The Xbox 360 returned to the top of the home videogame console sales chart in the U.S. last month, but the 3DS remained the best-selling videogame system for the sixth straight month when factoring in handheld systems, according to NPD’s latest videogame sales data. The PS3 outsold the 360 and Wii U in September as the Microsoft console’s reign as the country’s top-selling home console ended after 32 straight months (CED Oct 21 p6).