As streaming TV becomes the default viewing option for Americans, the makers of streaming devices are taking the place of cable operators as gatekeepers, deciding what streaming services will be available to viewers. Increasingly the gatekeepers include not only Roku and Amazon but smart TV makers such as Samsung. NBCUniversal is learning that the hard way as it battles to get its Peacock service onto Samsung TVs.

ATSC President Madeleine Noland weighs in on the technology’s COVID-hampered rollout, the importance of peripheral receiver devices for viewers’ embrace and prospective nontraditional uses cases for the spectrum as a broadcast revenue driver.

The encrypted messaging services have become the world’s hottest apps over the last week, driven by growing anxiety over the power of the biggest tech companies and privacy concerns.

When it comes to mobile apps, broadcasters still face a range of options from a single- or multiple-app approach to adopting back-end tech allowing user personalization. But some goals remain constant: keeping users on owned-and-operated mobile platforms over social and monetizing the experience wherever possible.

The pitch for ATSC 3.0, the IP-based broadcast television standard marketed as NextGen TV, often focuses on the 4K resolution it can deliver over the air. But at the online-only CES 2021, industry executives suggested it might appeal more to viewers’ ears than their eyes. “We’ve had a lot of conversations around audio and NextGen,” said Grace Dolan, Samsung VP for integrated marketing, at a “Next Generation Television in Focus” panel Tuesday morning.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a general manager, a creative services director and a maintenance technician for Nexstar, Hearst and Allen Media stations.

WSYX, WCMH, WWHO and WTTE are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology.

Next week’s CES will feature virtualized presentations of new 8K TV sets, streaming technology and ever-improving home video production tools that will be of interest to broadcasters. Veteran consultant Shelly Palmer says smart TVs will take a leap forward, smartphone tech will pause until post-pandemic mobility returns and huge trade shows like CES itself will never be the same again.

Companies must find ways to improve communications between the two departments. That will pay big dividends as you select and upgrade financial management technology. Additionally, this sharing of information should not be limited to managers; it needs to be encouraged among all members of both teams.

In the lead-up to CES, it says the majority of American viewers are expected to have ATSC 3.0 broadcasts available to them by fall.

For broadcasters, 5G represents both a potentially helpful new tool and a competitive threat. The reality of either prospect hinges on how quickly and deeply the technology gets rolled out.

The coronavirus isn’t the only reason that modern day life has moved online, but it the most important reason behind the speed of the overwhelming shift in lifestyle. COVID-19 pushed technology and media to accelerate what was already happening, and that’s why I’ve made these predictions now. I will leave them without supporting documentation, as I prefer them to be conversation starters. Agree or disagree as you will, but please, add to the list.

Technology managers from Sinclair Broadcast Group, WarnerMedia, Amagi and Grass Valley will talk about their progress at designing IP and cloud playout operations during a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar. Set for Thursday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m. ET, the webinar’s speakers will be (clockwise from upper right): Matt Azzarto, director of media technology, Production Engineering Group, WarnerMedia; Srini Srinivasan, co-founder, Amagi; Walid Hamri, senior director of media systems at Sinclair Broadcast Group; moderator Glen Dickson, TVNewsCheck contributing editor, and Karl Mehring, senior director of product management for playout at Grass Valley. Please register here to join the webinar.

Public broadcasters are backing their commercial counterparts’ request that the FCC “clarify” or establish flexibility when it comes to multicast channels, both in ATSC 1.0 and using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard (branded NextGen TV).

This year, TVNewsCheck reported on the deaths of outstanding men and women who shaped television as actors, lawmakers, producers, business people, journalists and on-air personalities. Here’s a look back at some of those influencers.