Investors in Roku saw their shares drop in value again last week after Jeffrey Wlodarczak, an analyst at Pivotal Research, noted that the streaming company can't compete with cable companies' strategy of offering free equipment and services to customers to stem the cord-cutting tide. Roku stock had initially climbed rapidly, but has been declining in value since the beginning of September.
Ryan Seacrest has signed a deal with ABC to host "American Idol" for its 18th season, joining judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. The Emmy-winning Seacrest has hosted "American Idol" since the show began its run in 2002, and also produces and co-hosts ABC's "Live with Kelly and Ryan," and "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest".
Security experts warn about the possibility of scammers gravitating away from emails to use deepfake voice imitation software in phone calls. Frank Gillman of Vertex Advisors Group recommends alerting employees to call the IT department if a call seems fishy, noting, "it's pretty hard to truly imitate a natural cadence to a conversation when you're talking to a machine."
Comcast has added the sports-oriented digital platform DAZN to the cable company's broadband-based Xfinity Flex, with plans to bring the $20-a-month service to its Xfinity X1 platform in the fall. The agreement, DAZN's first with a leading US cable provider, is part of Comcast's strategy of integrating web-based content into its own services.
AMC's "Walking Dead" franchise has "decades and decades" of staying power if the concept is managed adroitly, Josh Sapan, the organization's CEO, said, noting that the original series has spawned two spin-offs and a potential theatrical film. Sapan also touted how AMC's ability to control its content has positioned the company to sell original shows to third-party distributors and steer them toward the company's own subscription-video-on-demand outlets.
Tiffany Craig and Greg Ramirez, respectively a reporter and photographer from KHOU in Texas, helped to rescue a mother and two children stranded in an SUV amid rising floodwaters due to Tropical Depression Imelda in Houston. Staff at KBMT in Beaumont, Texas, continued to update viewers on local flooding caused by Imelda, even as they were evacuated from the television station because of the very floods they were covering.
A growing number of Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates are criticizing Facebook, Google and other big tech companies and calling for greater regulation -- and in some cases, dissolution -- of tech giants. Silicon Valley has historically been socially liberal, but much of big tech has retreated from its relationship with Democrats as left-wing lawmakers pressure tech giants to increase wages, protect users' data and pay more taxes.
Charter began providing the small and mid-sized business market with wireless service "within the past two weeks," company head Tom Rutledge said at an investors conference. The company reported signing up about 500,000 subscribers to its mobile virtual network operator plan since last July.
Cox Communications has undertaken a low-key effort to sell a streaming player to its broadband-only subscribers for $5 per month, a customer service representative confirmed. The cable company licensed the technology for its Contour Stream from Comcast and based it on that company's Xfinity Flex platform.
Over-the-top sources are catching up to live TV in terms of the amount of time North Americans spend viewing their content, TiVo notes in its second-quarter Video Trends Report, which surveyed 5,340 people in the US and Canada. Just over half of the respondents said they watched OTT-delivered shows for an hour or longer each day, compared to about 66% who watched that much over live TV.