SES Video’s Frank Hoffmann: “As the business environment becomes more complex and challenging, broadcasters have a greater need to adapt and be flexible. Cloud-based video solutions for services like playout are seen as a promising way to achieve this flexibility and easy scalability — the idea being that using cloud playout will allow media companies to launch “pop-up channels” faster, deliver traditional and OTT content more efficiently, and ensure they have a low-cost, reliable disaster recovery strategy in place.”

The end of the decade is upon us and time to take a look at how the last 10 years impacted broadcasters. As usual, it’s a mixed bag of successes and a few failures, illustrating the rocky path for our industry as we transition from television as we knew it to a whole new paradigm.

Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellite technology that the iPhone maker could use to beam internet services directly to devices, bypassing wireless networks, according to people familiar with the work. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years, said the people.

Dr. Monisha Ghosh joins the commission from the National Science Foundation. Her background includes extensive experience with wireless technologies, HDTV and cognitive radio for TV white spaces.

TVNewsCheck brought together executives from all the major station groups — and one soon-to-launch cable network — for a two-day event this week exploring the latest intersections of news and technology. Complete video coverage of its many panels and interviews is available now. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

As television news broadcasters move to expand their reach into web, mobile and OTT platforms, they are adopting a number of tools and strategies including more automation, better collaboration tools and, in some cases, internal software development. L-r: Gray’s Mike Fass, Avid’s Ray Thompson, Fox’s Emily Stone and ABC’s Fabian Westerwelle. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Moving to smaller physical footprints — or moving hardware completely from expensive urban environments to less expensive real estate — is a big driver in the transition to IP networking. But at the same time, some of the country’s biggest news operations still want to keep high-value content close by to ensure quick access for breaking news coverage — and that can mean sticking with on-premise storage. L-r: ABC’s Marcy Lefkovitz, Meredith’s Tom Casey, CBS’s Jeff Birch and Masstech’s Mike Palmer. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

OTT executives from CBS and Sinclair are finding local content — and breaking news — has been winning over viewers on their streaming services. L-r: NBC’s Saleem Malkana, Sinclair’s Scott Ehrlich, CBS’s Adam Wiener, Fox’s Steve Chung and TownNews’s Susan Bell. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Gary Wordlaw, the local TV news veteran who has been tapped to oversee all content for the new Black News Channel, says the new service will strive to “just tell the truth, report the facts of the story.” (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

The GM of Fox’s Washington duopoly is overseeing moves into podcasting and other new media, something he calls a survival necessity. “We’re competing with everyone, and for every dollar that we can get, so, to me, you have to have more places to monetize.” (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Some might say it’s too soon to begin selling the sizzle of Next Gen TV. Perhaps, but being early isn’t stopping T-Mobile from promoting its 5G service. No longer will it be enough for stations to promote upcoming programming; it will soon become as important, if not more so, to sell the benefits of the 3.0 wireless network — in other words “the sizzle.”

The winners of TVNewsCheck’s Social Media Excellence Awards demonstrate some of the many ways the still-emerging medium can be used to benefit both viewers and the stations. L-r: TVNewsCheck’s Michael Depp; Social News Desk’s Kim Wilson; ABC Owned Television Stations’ Michael Koenigs; WJLA’s Caroline Patrickis; KABC’s Hanna Maxfield; and KKYV’s Lindsey Grewe and Tony Keith. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

News organizations need more people covering more territory as well as a heightened awareness of how better to avoid mistakes and protect themselves against deep fakes, according to a panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum. L-r: Brian Scanlon, AP; Barb Maushard, Hearst; Cameryn Beck, Scripps; and Jamie Burgess, Microsoft News Labs. (Photo: Wendy Moger-Bross)

Next year should see broadcasters making advances in the continuing move to IP, greater use of cloud platforms and significant progress for two new wireless technologies: ATSC 3.0 and the various 5G services being rolled out by wireless carriers. Above, a Sony camcorder and prototype 5G transmitter were used to test camera backhauls over Verizon’s 5G network during a recent NBC NFL broadcast.

TV manufacturer Vizio has debuted Vizio Ads, a new business unit that will let brands, agencies and advertisers purchase TV ad inventory across the Vizio SmartCast platform. Ad inventory will be available within the launch and discovery environment, partner OTT apps and throughout Vizio’s WatchFree service.

A “very sophisticated” cyber attack on the software running KHQ’s news broadcasts has journalists at the Cowles Spokane, Wash., NBC affiliate reading off paper scripts and resorting to technical workarounds for video. “It’s very late ’90s all of a sudden in here,” said Traci Zeravica, director of content and communications for the station.

Currently in Phase 7 of its broadcast incentive auction repack, the FCC said that as of Dec. 6, 697 of 987 stations being repacked (71%) have moved off their pre-auction channels, with 79% of those having fully transitioned to permanent facilities.

America’s Public Television Stations is turning to an FCC rulemaking in an attempt to aid its five-year quest to involve public TV stations in a new national emergency communications system. “To leave public television stations … on the sidelines of the FirstNet infrastructure is to ignore a robust, reliable and ubiquitous partner whose public safety capabilities have proven effective in a variety of critical use cases,” APTS told the FCC in comments.

New Jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for news producers at various Scripps stations acros the country, including an assistant news director for KUSI in San Diego and an IT network administrator for WINK in Fort Myers, Fla.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings at Hearst’s KCCI Des Moines, Iowa, for a sales manager, broadcast IT manager and a research director.