COLUMN: What is WABE (Western Association of Broadcast Engineers) to the organization’s new president, Tessa Potter? “Many of us in Canada work alone and are part of small teams, with little access to the industry outside of our daily tasks list of repairs, installs, and maintenance,” writes Potter in her New Year’s message. “WABE to me has always been a gathering space for technical folks working in media to share what is in their toolbox, explore new ideas, and have an open forum to talk about our industry. I think that real experiences and in-person connections are what help us continue to find fulfillment in our work.” Read more here.
Nextologies has acquired The Video Call Center (VCC), which the Markham-headquartered company says will help it expand its remote production division. The new division will retain the VCC brand and continue serving the New York company’s existing client portfolio. In 2020, faced with their partners’ urgent remote production needs, Nextologies developed NexToMeet, their browser- and mobile app-based remote production solution, an instant web/mobile to SDI video network that allowed them to execute numerous events, including UFC, XFL, WWE, NBA SpaceX, Top Rank Boxing and American Idol. With the VCC acquisition, Nextologies says it brings on an experienced remote interview team as it expands into the remote workflow and production area. As part of the transaction, which was finalized Dec. 23, Nextologies is licensing the global patent portfolio amassed by VCC and held by its affiliate Video River Group LLC.
Octave Communications has been appointed as a Canadian representative for Sacramento-headquartered Jampro Antennas. The Quebec-based engineering consulting firm will also represent Alan Dick, the oldest antenna company in the UK, beginning as part of BBC and EMI and now a leader in manufacturing antennas, combiners, filters, towers, and broadcast infrastructure services for digital and analogue video and audio systems.
NAB Show will host a new conference, presented by TVNewsCheck, entitled “Programming Everywhere: The Content Event for Linear, Streaming and Syndication” on April 15 at NAB Show in Las Vegas. The day-long event will bring together TV station group senior executives, programming, news and marketing leaders, syndicated programming executives, and technology and streaming media leaders to tackle issues like the changing economics of syndicated programming, the relationship between FAST channels and the evolution of broadcasting, transforming television news and strategies for building a programming everywhere business. Participants will also consider their No. 1 challenge: creating more content for a multimedia audience, and how technologies like artificial intelligence, the cloud and IP production platforms can free up creative talent while streamlining costs. More info and a full agenda are available here.
