Nice Above Fold - Page 382

  • Aereo takes another lump in search for legal legitimacy

    Internet TV service Aereo’s bid to find a workable business model suffered another legal setback Thursday, with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruling that a federal district court judge will determine whether the company qualifies as a cable operator. After losing a U.S. Supreme Court copyright fight in June to a group of commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, Aereo has tried to recast itself as a cable operator. Doing so would allow it to carry content if it pays networks for programming. Aereo initially launched as a subscription service, using banks of dime-sized antennas to capture broadcast signals and convert them into streaming video distributed over the Internet.
  • Chicago/Midwest Emmys find broadcast home on WYCC

    This year’s Chicago/Midwest Emmy awards will be televised for the first time in 25 years by WYCC PBS Chicago. WYCC plans to cover the November 1 award ceremony with a two-hour live special and additional content streaming online. “We’re looking for this to actually be a very large, beautiful production, rivaling that of a national production,” said Paul Buckner, general manager at WYCC. According to Buckner, the station is working with the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the group that presents the annual regional Emmys, to find a host, presenters and live performers. The station plans to announce the host and performers Sept.
  • NLRB to resolve contested union election at Baltimore's WYPR-FM

    A dispute over unionization at Baltimore’s WYPR will be resolved by the National Labor Relations Board. WYPR staff voted July 30 on whether to seek representation from broadcast union SAG-AFTRA. Nine voted in favor and 11 against, with seven votes contested by one of the parties, according to an NLRB official who requested anonymity when commenting on an ongoing proceeding. The NLRB will review the contested votes to determine their eligibility, with the vote recounted only if at least three of the contested votes are determined eligible. SAG-AFTRA can only enter the workplace with a majority vote. The NLRB plans to issue a report on the disputes next week, including recommendations on how to resolve standing objections.
  • Project crowdsourcing health care costs finds partners in pubmedia

    A former New York Times reporter teams up with WNYC, KQED and KPCC to cut through the mystique surrounding the cost of health care.
  • WFYI expands to Terre Haute with rebroadcast deal

    Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media will expand to the Terre Haute, Ind., market next month through a rebroadcast deal with Indiana State University. Terre Haute–based Indiana State University owns a pair of signals in the city, WISU-FM 89.7 and WZIS-FM 90.7. Under the noncash deal announced Wednesday, the university will move the student station from WISU to WZIS, with the 13,500-watt WISU rebroadcasting WFYI’s news/talk programming starting in mid-September. WZIS, formerly WMHD-FM, was previously owned by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute and aired music programmed by students. Indiana State bought the 1,400-watt station in June for $16,465, according to FCC records.
  • Friday roundup: WYPR union effort stalls; Downton Abbey reportedly bans modern undies

    Plus: Mike Starling starts an LPFM station, and NPR's creative director talks about her work process.
  • Carolla settlement with Personal Audio averts trial for podcast patent case

    The company says it no longer intends to sue podcasters who make only "modest amounts of money" from the technology.
  • Thursday roundup: Kerger takes Ice Bucket Challenge; NPR's Kramer shares ideas for engaging members

    Plus: Poynter visits St. Louis Public Radio's newsroom, and Vme tries sponsored content.
  • Conn. network strikes deal with LocusPoint on proceeds from spectrum auction

    The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network plans to relinquish the spectrum assigned to WEDW-TV in Bridgeport, one of four stations in its statewide network, in the FCC’s upcoming auction, according to documents filed with the FCC. Under its agreement with spectrum speculator LocusPoint Networks, the pubcaster received an undisclosed cash payout from LocusPoint and will share a portion of its future auction proceeds with the company. Financial details of the contract, approved by the network’s board of trustees in June 2013, have been redacted from FCC records due to a mutual confidentiality agreement. Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc. is among the sole-service public TV licensees identified in a July CPB white paper warning of the creation of a “white area” — the loss of PTV broadcast service — if pubcasters choose to auction off their spectrum.
  • Final NPR newsmag clocks will take effect Nov. 17

    NPR has released the final versions of the new clocks for its newsmagazines and set a date of Nov. 17 for their implementation. The network unveiled proposed clocks in July after more than a year of work that involved staff and representatives from member stations. The clocks are the second-by-second scheduling of what happens when during the newsmagazines, including newscasts, music beds and funding credits. They also affect when stations can insert their own local content. NPR had initially planned to introduce the new clocks Sept. 22 but delayed their implementation after hearing concerns from stations and the Public Radio Program Directors Association.
  • NAB challenges parts of FCC's plan for spectrum auction

    The National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Monday to challenge part of the FCC’s spectrum incentive auction order filed last week. NAB said it had no alternative but to file the lawsuit because the order as written could leave broadcasters footing the bill for tower relocation and other expenses when the spectrum is repacked. NAB also aims to have the court direct the FCC to drop a study that it plans to do ahead of repacking to determine broadcasters’ coverage areas. NAB said following the study, which would use a different methodology from previous surveys, could harm its members.
  • Met declares season on schedule after latest union agreement

    The opera house is on track to premiere its 2014-15 season as scheduled, with public radio broadcasts to follow.
  • Join a webinar today on audio levels with Adam Ragusea, presented by AIR and PRX

    Current contributor Adam Ragusea’s July commentary “Why you’re doing audio levels wrong, and why it really does matter” has become one of our most popular posts in recent months. Today Public Radio Exchange and the Association of Independents in Radio continue the conversation with a webinar on audio levels hosted by Ragusea and American Public Media technical coordinator Rob Byers, whom Ragusea interviewed for his Current piece. The hourlong session starts at 1 p.m. Eastern time; register here.
  • Sherlock, Downton Abbey lead PBS to eight wins in Creative Arts Emmys

    Sherlock: His Last Vow won four of the eight Creative Arts Emmys awarded to PBS programs by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences during the Aug. 17 Primetime Emmy gala celebrating technical achievement. Sherlock, a BBC production that aired on WGBH’s Masterpiece, picked up its four wins in the miniseries or movie categories. Editor Yan Miles won for outstanding single-camera picture editing for a miniseries or movie, and Director of Photography Neville Kidd won the Emmy for cinematography in a miniseries or movie. The detective drama also won awards for sound editing, with statuettes given to supervising sound editor Doug Sinclair; sound editors Stuart McCowan, Jon Joyce and Paul McFadden; Foley editor William Everett; and Foley artist Sue Harding.