All good things start as an idea
It's difficult to predict the power of a new idea in its infancy, but all good things are born from simple ideas. That’s why we’re launching our first-ever PILOT Innovation Challenge. We want to hear any and all ideas for engaging our communities. We’re issuing the Innovation Challenge because we see opportunity. How might local television [...]
Understanding License Fees
For a content owner, getting paid a license fee used to be a very simple equation of (rate) x (subs). But with numerous types of rates now, numerous types of subscribers, a fast evolving technology infrastructure and the human element involved in this process, the burden on our MVPD and OTT distribution partners is daunting. [...]
NAB Comments on EAS Alerting Paradigm NPRM
On June 8 NAB filed comments on an FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in PS Docket No. 15-94 regarding proposals to modify the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The 75 page NPRM sought comment on many different proposals for establishing what the FCC calls a new EAS paradigm (factoid: there were over 400 question [...]
Determining Value at UNC’s Media Innovation Workshop
Create teams of four people from different local media companies with varying job responsibilities and ask them to create a new, financially sustainable product in 36 hours and you might be surprised by the results. Of course, the likelihood of the team creating something industry-shattering is unlikely. But ask them to focus on their customer [...]
FM Activation in Smartphones: A Three-year Review
PILOT has been tracking the status of FM radio receiver capabilities in U.S. smartphones since 2013, observing sales and pursuing teardown analysis on the top-selling models (i.e., approximately the top 70% of sales, analyzed each calendar quarter). This turns out to be about 20 to 25 different phone models each quarter, which represent the major [...]
TV’s Killer App
On June 1, at 3 p.m. E.D.T, NAB will host a webcast designed to demonstrate the kinds of services and applications that broadcasters can develop using the new ATSC 3.0 standard. In this blog post, NAB’s So Vang and OpenZNet founder Azita Manson provide an overview of what we can expect to see during The [...]