Tuesday 30th June
Pace
plc appoints its first Chief Strategy Officer
Pace, the independent developer of digital TV technologies for the global
payTV industry, has appointed Scott Sheldon as Chief Strategy Officer.
Scott will join the Pace Executive team to drive development of the Group’s
future strategy in the global market for digital TV technology.
Scott joins Pace from N M Rothschild & Sons where he was a Director
and Global Head of Technology Investment Banking covering hardware, software,
services and semi-conductor clients on a global basis. Before joining
Rothschild Scott was founder and CEO of eMed, a leading US provider of
network-based electronic medical image management software and internet
services.
Neil Gaydon, Pace Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I’m delighted
Scott is joining the Pace team as we work to explore new opportunities
for our technology and expertise. Scott has worked with Pace over a number
of years — he advised on our Pace France acquisition last year where
he brought into play his excellent sector and M&A knowledge, which
when combined with his US commercial background and European and Asian
experience, makes him ideally placed to explore Pace’s future strategic
options.”
Scott Sheldon added: “Pace has experienced significant growth over
the last three years and is very well placed to take advantage of changes
occurring in its large, global and growing markets. I look forward to
joining the Pace team and leading the group’s strategic development
effort.”
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ION Media launches Digital Broadcast Triple Play in New
York and Washington
ION Media Networks today announced the launch of its Digital Broadcast “Triple
Play” in New York City and Washington, D.C. The DTV “Triple Play”
includes the broadcast of the Company’s flagship network, ION Television,
in high-definition, two additional digital networks, plus Mobile DTV.
The successful digital TV transition has enabled new transmission capabilities,
including Mobile Digital Television (Mobile DTV), a new digital format allowing
broadcasters to use subchannels to transmit TV content to mobile devices.
ION is among the first broadcasters to demonstrate the viability of all
three technologies in one broadcast stream in the nation’s largest
TV market and the nation’s capital.
ION’s focus on Washington, D.C. is part of a broader initiative in
support of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a trade group of over
800 commercial and public television stations, working to create a showcase
for Mobile DTV in the nation’s capital to highlight the potential for
expanding broadcast television beyond the living room to all mobile devices
in the digital age.
“Digital technology lets us reach more homes, enables HD quality and
new digital networks, as well as mobile reception,” said Brandon Burgess,
Chairman and CEO of ION Media Networks. “Among all these benefits,
Mobile DTV may prove to be the most significant in the long run, allowing
broadcasters to think beyond the living room and bring live television and
real time information to consumers wherever they may be.”
"The launch of ION's Mobile DTV signals in NYC and D.C. is a pay off
from the industry's efforts to create a unifying technology standard,"
said Brett Jenkins, ION’s Vice President of Technology. "The Mobile
DTV eco system has now developed to the point that broadcasters are able
to launch beta services, and we’re beginning to think through consumer
and business implementations. The work of the Open Mobile Video Coalition
and its broadcast members have made this implementation possible, and we
look forward to working with the industry to capitalize on its potential.”
ION is using technology known as ATSC-M/H, which was developed by the Advanced
Television Systems Committee specifically to enable delivery of television
to mobile and handheld devices. In New York, where the signal is transmitted
from ION’s owned and operated station, WPXN, the mobile stream is broadcast
alongside WPXN’s HD signal and ION’s two multicast channels. But
it has additional formatting that allows it to be picked up by receivers
that are mobile, such as phones or an in-vehicle screen. The signal is “in-band,”
meaning that it uses the existing DTV spectrum allocated to the station.
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