CBS Sports’ production team took home the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Special for last year’s coverage of the Masters golf tournament. This weekend, the team will get a chance for a repeat with what is typically the first major of the season but was rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. “To coin a phrase,” says CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus, “this is going to be a Masters unlike any other. The course is going to look different. It’s going to feel different. And there are going to be no patrons, so it gives us an opportunity maybe for some new and different camera angles. We’re excited about that.”

Signaling another level of consolidation for the cable industry, its two biggest engineering trade groups are on the path to merging. SCTE-ISBE and CableLabs have signed a letter of intent and appear well on the way to combining forces by Dec. 10.

A pair of TV station GMs will join the head of news services for Gray Media Group and two technology experts to examine how local TV news organizations are contending with growing demand for local news in an increasingly competitive media ecosystem. Set for Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. ET, the webinar will feature speakers (clockwise from left): Bob Ellis, VP-GM, WJXT-WCWJ Jacksonville, Fla.; Lew Leone, SVP-GM, WNYW-WWOR New York; James Finch, director of news services at Gray Television; Craig Wilson, product evangelist for broadcast and media enterprise at Avid; moderator Glen Dickson, contributing editor, TVNewsCheck; and Paul Adrian, CEO and co-founder of Latakoo. Register here. 

Apple has unwrapped a new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini, its first products using the M1, the computer makers’ first chip designed specifically for the Mac. With Tuesday’s news, some in the production community were encouraged by the potential of the new tech for many content creators.

NBC Nightly News returned home Monday, Nov. 9, after more than six months of anchoring remotely and from alternate setups — and introduced new on-set video wall graphics and a new approach to blocking the show that follows its Decision 2020 editions from Studio 1A.

Slingbox has reached its endpoint, with Sling Media announcing that all Slingbox products and services were discontinued on Nov. 9, and will permanently be taken offline on Nov. 9, 2022. Sling Media, a subsidiary of Dish, said the decision is being made to “make room for new innovative products so that we can continue to serve our customers in the best way possible.” This will not include any new Slingbox products.

A 35-year broadcast industry veteran, Mack has taken on roles of increasing responsibility over his 30 years at Harris Corp. and GatesAir. In his new role, he will oversee all global sales activity.

Augmented reality has had a prominent role in election coverage in the United States, but it was pared down a bit for this year’s 2020 general election, while internationally it was giant.

Broadcast playout continues to have a mix of installation types even as the pandemic accelerates change. Broadcasters’ size, reach, audience and operational goals must all be considered to chart the best course.

New tools are making it easier for viewers to submit video — and transfer rights — to TV stations. Groups like Gray and Tegna say simplified UGC has boosted engagement, and expanded coverage without increasing staff. Above, user-generated content appeared throughout Gray Television’s WECT Wilmington, N.C.’s coverage of the Surf City Fire story last year. (Source: Jacob Robert Younce)

Tegna’s independent KONG plans to begin NextGen TV broadcasts for itself and co-owned NBC affiliate KING in early December, with KONG serving as the host, or lighthouse station.

Under the terms the companies are discussing, retail giant Walmart would promote TV sets running Comcast software, and would get a share of recurring revenue from Comcast in return.