1.
NBCUniversal
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NBCUniversal is an American multinational media conglomerate. It has a significant presence in broadcasting through a portfolio of domestic and international properties, including terrestrial, via the Universal Parks & Resorts division, the company is also the third-largest operator of amusement parks in the world. NBC Universal was formed on May 12,2004 by the merger of General Electrics National Broadcasting Company with Vivendis Vivendi Universal Entertainment, as of March 19,2013, it is wholly owned by Comcast who bought GEs ownership stake. NBC and Universal Television had a long-standing partnership dating back to 1950 and this partnership continued throughout a number of name changes and changes of ownership. NBC Universal Television has its roots in a series of expansions undertaken by NBC. In the late 1980s, NBC began pursuing a strategy of diversification, NBC also had partial ownership of several regional sports channels and other cable channels such as American Movie Classics and Court TV. In 1995, NBC began operating NBC Desktop Video, a news service that delivered live video to personal computers. The following year, NBC announced an agreement with Microsoft to create an all-news cable television channel, a separate joint venture with Microsoft included establishing a news website, MSNBC. com. In 1998, NBC partnered with Dow Jones & Co, the two companies combined their financial news channels outside the US. The new networks included NBC Europe, CNBC Europe, NBC Asia, CNBC Asia, NBC Africa, in 1999, NBC took a 32% stake in the Paxson group, operator of PAX TV. Five years later, NBC decided to sell its interest in PAX TV and end its relationship with PAX owner, in 2001, NBC acquired the US Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, which included the bilingual Mun2 Television. That same year NBC acquired the cable channel Bravo, the sale and resulting merger formed NBC Universal. The new company was 80% owned by GE, and 20% owned by Vivendi, Universal Music Group was not included in the deal and is not part of NBC Universal. On August 2,2004, the divisions of NBC. NBC Studios series bought into the company include the NBC dramas Las Vegas, Crossing Jordan, Universal Network Television bought the Law & Order franchise and The District—in fact, Universal Network Television had co-produced American Dreams with NBC before the merger. Entertainment shows produced by the new group include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Last Call with Carson Daly, and Saturday Night Live. The formation of NBC Universal saw the establishment of NBC Universal Cable, which oversees the distribution, marketing, NBC Universal Cable also manages the companys investments in The Weather Channel and TiVo. The cable division also used to operate NBC Weather Plus until 2008 and it also owned a 50% stake in Canal+ and also owned a 15% stake in A+E Networks until 2012
2.
Comcast
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Comcast Corporation is an American global telecommunications conglomerate that is the largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue. Comcast services U. S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states, the companys headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first Universal theme park outside of the U. S, Universal Studios Japan, opened in 2001, followed by Universal Studios Singapore in 2011. Few new locations are being planned or developed for future operation, Comcast also has significant holdings in digital distribution. In February 2014 the company agreed to merge with Time Warner Cable in an equity swap deal worth $45.2 billion, under the terms of the agreement Comcast was to acquire 100% of Time Warner Cable. However, on April 24,2015, Comcast terminated the agreement, Comcast has been criticized for multiple reasons, the companys customer satisfaction often ranks among the lowest in the cable industry. Critics also point out a lack of competition in the vast majority of Comcasts service area, furthermore, given Comcasts negotiating power as a large ISP, some suspect that Comcast could leverage paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end-user connection speeds. And its ownership of content production and content distribution has raised antitrust concerns. These issues, in addition to others, led to Comcast being dubbed The Worst Company in America by The Consumerist in 2010 and 2014. Despite being publicly-traded, Comcast is a business, with the Ralph J Roberts family owning 33% controlling stake. Comcast is sometimes described as a family business, Brian L. Roberts, Chairman, President, and CEO of Comcast, is the son of co-founder Ralph Roberts. Roberts owns or controls just over 1% of all Comcast shares but all of the Class B supervoting shares, legal expert Susan P. Crawford has said this gives him effective control over every step. In 2010, he was one of the highest paid executives in the United States, Comcast is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also has corporate offices in Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, and Manchester, New Hampshire. On January 3,2005, Comcast announced that it would become the tenant in the new Comcast Center in downtown Philadelphia. The 975 ft skyscraper is the tallest building in Pennsylvania, Comcast has begun construction on a second 1,121 ft skyscraper directly adjacent to the original Comcast headquarters in the summer of 2014. The company is criticized by both the media and its own staff for its less upstanding policies regarding employee relations. A2012 Reddit post written by an anonymous Comcast call center employee eager to share their experiences with the public received attention from publications including The Huffington Post. A2014 investigative series published by The Verge involved interviews with 150 of Comcasts employees and it sought to examine why the company has become so widely criticized by its customers, the media and even members of its own staff
3.
1080i
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1080i is an abbreviation referring to a combination of frame resolution and scan type, used in high-definition television and high-definition video. The number 1080 refers to the number of lines on the screen. The term assumes a widescreen ratio of 16,9, so the 1080 lines of vertical resolution implies 1920 columns of horizontal resolution. A1920 pixels ×1080 lines screen has a total of 2.1 megapixels and this format is used in the SMPTE 292M standard. The choice of 1080 lines originates with Charles Poynton, who in the early 1990s pushed for square pixels to be used in HD video formats, within the designation 1080i, the i stands for interlaced scan. A frame of 1080i video consists of two fields of 1920 horizontal and 540 vertical pixels. The first field consists of all odd-numbered TV lines and the second all even numbered lines, 1080i differs from 1080p, where the p stands for progressive scan, where all lines in a frame are captured at the same time. In native or pure 1080i, the two fields of a frame correspond to different instants, so motion portrayal is good and this is true for interlaced video in general and can be easily observed in still images taken of fast motion scenes. However, when 1080p material is captured at 25 or 30 frames/second, it is converted to 1080i at 50 or 60 fields/second, respectively, in this situation both fields in a frame do correspond to the same instant. The field-to-instant relation is more complex for the case of 1080p at 24 frames/second converted to 1080i at 60 fields/second. Both field rates can be carried by digital television broadcast formats such as ATSC, DVB. The frame rate can be implied by the context, while the rate is generally specified after the letter i. In this case 1080i60 refers to 60 fields per second, the European Broadcasting Union prefers to use the resolution and frame rate separated by a slash, as in 1080i/30 and 1080i/25, likewise 480i/30 and 576i/25. Resolutions of 1080i60 or 1080i50 often refers to 1080i/30 or 1080i/25 in EBU notation, 1080i is directly compatible with some CRT HDTVs on which it can be displayed natively in interlaced form, but for display on progressive-scan—e. g. Most new LCD and plasma TVs, it must be deinterlaced, depending on the televisions video processing capabilities, the resulting video quality may vary, but may not necessarily suffer. For example, film material at 25fps may be deinterlaced from 1080i50 to restore a full 1080p resolution at the frame rate without any loss. Preferably video material with 50 or 60 motion phases/second is to be converted to 50p or 60p before display, worldwide, most HD channels on satellite and cable broadcast in 1080i. This also allows local newscasts on these ABC affiliates to be produced in the resolution to match the picture quality of their 1080i competitors
4.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
5.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
Bravo (U.S. TV network)
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Bravo is an American basic cable and satellite television network and flagship channel, launched on December 1,1980. It is owned by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast and headquartered in the Comcast Building in New York City, as of July 2015, approximately 92,295,000 American households receive Bravo. Bravo originally launched as a premium channel on December 1,1980. In 1981, Bravo was available to 48,000 subscribers throughout the United States, a 1985 profile of Bravo in The New York Times observed that most of its programming consisted of international, classic, and independent film. Celebrities such as E. G. Marshall and Roberta Peters provided opening and closing commentary to the films broadcast on the channel, performing arts programs seen on Bravo included the show Jazz Counterpoint. During the mid-1980s, Bravo converted from a service into a basic cable channel. Bravo signed a deal with Texaco in 1992 and within a month broadcast the first Texaco Showcase production. By the mid-1990s, Bravo began to incorporate more PBS-style underwriting sponsorships, in the Encyclopedia of Television, Megan Mullen perceived certain Bravo programs as considered too risky or eclectic for mainstream channels. Those programs were Karaoke and Cold Lazarus, the serials by British playwright Dennis Potter shown by Bravo in June 1997. In 1999, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired a 20% stake in the channel, NBC bought the network in 2002 for $1.25 billion, it had owned a stake in the channel and its sister networks for several years up to that point. NBCs then-parent company General Electric merged the network and its other broadcast, bravos makeover occurred in 2003 with the reality series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which garnered 3.5 million viewers. Bravo Media released its first ever scripted series Girlfriends Guide to Divorce in the half of 2014. A study released in May 2008 ranked Bravo as the most recognizable brand among gay consumers, bravos age demographic is people 18-54, according to the Cable Television Advertising Bureaus cable television profiles. The. by Bravo marketing tag will also be phased out from general use, Bravo utilizes block programming for both new shows and existing ones such as its Fashion By Bravo block. The channel carried no coverage during the 2008 games, as NBCUniversal had acquired Oxygen, during the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bravo served as the exclusive home of the entire tennis tournament. Bravo began broadcasting in the 1080i high definition format in 2007, the format is available on all major cable and satellite providers. Before Bravo broadcast in HD, the current Universal HD launched as Bravo HD+ and it had a completely different schedule than the main Bravo channel and only aired programs produced in HD. An Australian channel called Arena rebranded its on-air presentation in 2008 to align with Bravo as a result of an agreement with Bravo Media, Arena uses the now-former Bravo slogan Watch What Happens and has access to Bravo-produced programming
7.
Oxygen (TV channel)
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Oxygen is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Oxygen Media, LLC, a subsidiary of the NBCUniversal Cable division of NBCUniversal, all owned by Comcast. Similar to Lifetime and WE tv, the channel features programming targeted at women, including reality television series, acquired scripted series. As of February 2015, approximately 77.5 million American households receive Oxygen, in early 2014, it was announced that Oxygen would rebrand on October 7,2014 alongside a new logo in an effort to target young female viewers. Geraldine Laybourne was the founder, chairwoman, and CEO. The companys cable network Oxygen launched on February 2,2000, the channel was initially headquartered at Battery Park City in New York City, near the World Trade Center. The networks operations were consolidated in the Chelsea Market, a former Nabisco factory at 15th Street. Oxygens operations are now based at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as part of Comcasts consolidation of its newly owned NBCUniversal properties, prior to 2005, the channel carried a limited schedule of regular season WNBA games produced by NBA TV. The channel later began to focus chiefly on reality shows, reruns, for a time during the talk shows syndication run, Oxygen aired week-delayed repeats of The Tyra Banks Show. The yoga/meditation/exercise program Inhale was the last inaugural Oxygen program on air into the channels NBC Universal era, albeit in repeats, Oxygen has been available on DirecTV for many years, and arrived on Dish Network in early 2006 during that providers carriage conflict with Lifetime. On October 9,2007, NBC Universal announced it would be purchasing Oxygen for $925 million, the sale was completed on November 20,2007. Heading was dropped from the channels visual branding, the logo premiered one week early on June 8,2008. For the 2008 Summer Olympics, Oxygen aired events and programming relating to gymnastics, equestrian. On April 5,2010, Oxygen launched its second night of programming with the fifth-season premiere of Tori & Dean. As part of the re-focusing, the network introduced a new slogan. It was reported that NBC had been in talks with Dick Wolf—producer of the Law and Order and Chicago franchises, to take an equity stake in a re-branded channel that could be anchored by the programs. In February 2017, NBCUniversal confirmed that it planned to re-format Oxygen with a focus on true crime programming aimed towards women, the change will be accompanied by a larger re-branding later in the year, which may or may not keep the Oxygen name. Oxygens new lineup will be built largely around its library of unscripted crime-oriented programming. It is available through most providers
8.
Syfy
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Syfy is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel features science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural, paranormal, drama, as of February 2015, approximately 94.8 million American households receive Syfy. In March 1992, the concept was picked up by USA Networks, Star Treks creator Gene Roddenberry and author Isaac Asimov were among those on the initial advisory board, but both had died by the time the channel finally launched on September 24,1992. Rubenstein recalled, The first thing that was on the screen was Dedicated to the memories of Isaac Asimov, leonard Nimoy was master of ceremonies at the channels launch party, held at the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan. Asimovs widow Janet and Roddenberrys widow Majel Barrett were both in attendance, the first program shown on the network was the film Star Wars. In 1994, Paramount was sold to Viacom, followed by Seagrams purchase of a stake in MCA from Matsushita (a. k. a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. the next year. In 1997, Viacom sold its stake in USA Networks to Universal, Three years later, Diller would sell these assets back to Universal, by then a subsidiary of Vivendi SA. Vivendis film and television production and cable television assets were merged with General Electrics NBC to form NBC Universal in 2004. A high definition version of the launched on October 3,2007 on DirecTV. In 2013, Syfy was awarded the James Randi Educational Foundations Pigasus Award, from 1992 to 1999, the networks first logo consisted of a planet with a ring, which made to look like Saturn, and it has SCI-FI CHANNEL written on it. The networks second logo ran from 1999 to 2002, which dropped the hyphen, the networks third and final logo ran from 2002 to 2009, and was designed by Lambie-Nairn. The logo made its debut on December 2,2002, with the launch of the Steven Spielberg miniseries Taken, the network also launched a new image campaign with the tagline If, which expresses the limitless possibilities of the imagination. Identification bumps depicted surreal situations such as a baby breathing fire, on March 16,2009, NBCUniversal announced that Sci Fi was rebranding as Syfy. The name change was greeted with initial negativity, with people deliberately mispronouncing Syfy as SIF-ee, SKIF-ee, the new name took effect on July 7,2009. Syfy has since added reality shows and edged further from strictly science fiction, fantasy, in Polish, Syfy does not suggest imagination or science fiction, but rather syphilis. Syfys programming includes original made-for-cable movies, miniseries, and series, in the past, the channel concentrated on classic science fiction shows. However, under NBCUniversal ownership, the channel has altered its programming to more mainstream audiences. In 2006, it began airing programs such as Law & Order, Special Victims Unit, ECW, the network had gained significant international attention for its successful original miniseries and subsequent four-season series Battlestar Galactica
9.
Universal Kids
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Sprout is an American digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal, all owned by Comcast. Sprout replaced the PBS Kids channel on cable and satellite providers. The networks live programming and wraparound segments are produced at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, the channels operations relocated from Philadelphia to New York City in 2014. As of January 2016, Sprout is available to approximately 56 million pay television households in the United States, Sprout traces its origins to the PBS Kids network, which launched on September 6,1999 coinciding with PBS Kids rebrand that day. Participating stations were required to pay a fee of $1,000 to use the feed. At launch,32 PBS member stations had signed up to use the service, the channel was created, in part, to compete against Nick Jr. and its sister network Noggin. The CTW-produced Dragon Tales, which premiered on the day as the launch of the PBS Kids Channel, was the only exception to this. The channel was not successful and had only reached 9 million households as of 2002, PBS later revived the PBS Kids Channel in 2017, this time with an online streaming option in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel. Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake of NBC Universal in January 2011, as a result, Comcasts interest in Sprout was turned over to NBCUniversal. When Apax Partners sold HIT Entertainment to Mattel on October 24,2011, Sprouts current schedule consists of three programs carried by PBS, acquired programming, and originally produced programming. From its launch until 2015, Sprout aired programs that lasted one segment. Sprout also airs programming blocks that fill most of the networks schedule, under NBCUniversal, programs seen on the network such as The Chica Show have gained increased visibility airing on NBC as part of the NBC Kids block. Despite PBS divestiture of the channel in 2013, Sprout continued to air several PBS Kids programs until their contract with PBS expired on the channels 10th anniversary, September 26,2015. As of 2017, the only remaining PBS Kids programs still airing on Sprout are The Berenstain Bears, Caillou, Super Family Movie Night – Sprouts Super Family Movie Night is the networks movie showcase block, hosted by Richard Karn. The Good Night Show – The Good Night Show is the evening block, airing daily from 6 PM to 9 PM Eastern Time hosted by Nina. It features Hush the Goldfish and Lucy the Firefly, in 2007, Lucy, Light the Way. An animated guessing game, began with the blocks 2007 season, Sunny Side Up – Sunny Side Up is the networks late morning block, airing from 9,00 a. m. to 12,00 p. m. Eastern Time. It features a character named Chica the Chicken, who is also the focus of the spinoff series The Chica Show
10.
USA Network
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USA Network is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the NBCUniversal Cable division of NBCUniversal, itself a subsidiary of Comcast. As of July 2015, USA Network is available to approximately 95.567 million pay television households in the United States, USA Network originally launched on September 22,1977 as the Madison Square Garden Network. The network was founded by cable provider UA-Columbia Cablevision and Kay Koplovitz, the channel was one of the first national cable television channels, using satellite delivery as opposed to microwave relay to distribute its programming to cable systems. Initially, the network ran a mix of college and less well-known professional sports, the channel began its broadcast day after 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time on weekdays and 12,00 p. m. Eastern Time on weekends. That fall, USA began signing on at 12,00 p. m. Eastern Time on weekdays, it added some talk shows. Sports programming began airing at 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time weekdays, in the fall of 1981, USA began its daily programming at 6,00 a. m. Later, in 1982, Time Inc. and Gulf+Westerns Paramount Pictures unit would buy stakes in the venture, the three partners had a non-compete clause that would prevent them from owning other basic cable networks independently from the USA joint venture. Said clause would cause Time Inc. to drop out of the venture in 1987, as the company attempted to buy CNN from Ted Turner, MCA and Paramount subsequently became the sole owners of the channel. In the fall of 1982, USA began operating on a 24-hour-a-day schedule, running a mix of shows, a childrens program. Weekends featured a mix of movies, some drama series and talk shows during the morning hours. Overnights consisted of old films and film shorts, and music as part of a show called Night Flight. One tradition on USA was a lineup of game show reruns mixed in with several original low-budget productions that aired over the years. It began in October 1984 with reruns of The Gong Show, more shows were progressively added soon afterward such as The Jokers Wild, Tic-Tac-Dough, Press Your Luck, High Rollers and Hollywood Squares, along with Wipeout, Face the Music and Name That Tune. In June 1987, the channel debuted another original game show, when it began, the game show block ran for an hour, but expanded significantly the following year. By 1989, the network ran game shows Monday through Fridays from 12,00 to 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time. In January 1989, USA debuted USA Up All Night, a showcase of feature films that aired as part of its weekend overnight schedule. Short news updates, branded as USA Updates, were shown from as early as 1989 until 2000, however, when KYWs news operations were heavily revamped in response to falling ratings in 1991, production of USA Updates was then taken over by the All News Channel. The ANC-produced updates continued through 2000, USA Network has not carried any news programming since the news updates were discontinued, USA Network was the first cable channel to preempted the syndicated market by purchasing a 26 Touchstone films package in October 1989
11.
DirecTV
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DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider based in El Segundo, California and is a subsidiary of AT&T. Its satellite service, launched on June 17,1994, transmits digital television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America. Its primary competitors are Dish Network and cable television providers, DirecTV provides television and audio services to subscribers through satellite transmissions. Services include the equivalent of local television stations, broadcast television networks, subscription television services, satellite radio services. Subscribers have access to hundreds of channels, so its competitors are cable television service, most subscribers use reception antennas which are much smaller than the first generation antennas, which were typically a few yards across. Advances in antenna technology, including fractal antennas, have allowed a reduction in antenna size across all industries. Receiving equipment includes a dish, an integrated receiver/decoder and a DirecTV access card. Consumers who purchase DirecTV subscribe to various packages of DirecTV programming for which the subscriber pays a monthly fee, additional monthly fees may include a protection plan, DVR, additional receivers, HD channels, and other premium channel packages. A subscriber also can order pay-per-view and video on demand events, all programming distributed by DirecTV is delivered to its broadcast centers in Castle Rock, Colorado, and Los Angeles, where it is then digitized and compressed. The resulting signal is encrypted by DirecTV to prevent its unauthorized reception, DirecTV then transmits these signals to several satellites located in geostationary orbit. As of the quarter ended September 30,2012, DirecTV U. S. had 19.981 million subscribers, for the same period, DirecTV Latin America ended with 9.666 million subscribers and revenues of US$1.577 billion. In addition to serving residences, DirecTV offers service to bars, restaurants, hotels, dorms, the company also offered mobile service for cars, boats, and RVs as well as aircraft in cooperation with Connexion by Boeing. On November 30,2016, DirecTV Now, an internet streaming TV service was launched, in 1953, Howard Hughes created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to which he transferred full ownership of Hughes Aircraft. Ostensibly created as a medical research foundation, HHMI was accused of being used by Hughes as a tax shelter. Following Hughes death in 1976, HHMI was incorporated in 1977, in 1984, the court appointed a new board for HHMI, which proceeded to sell off Hughes Aircraft to General Motors on December 20,1985, for an estimated $5.1 billion. General Motors then merged Hughes Aircraft with its subsidiary Delco Electronics to create Hughes Electronics Corporation, the new subsidiary was initially composed of four units, Delco Electronics Company, Hughes Aircraft Company, Hughes Space and Communications Company, and Hughes Network Systems. Stanley E. Hubbard founded United States Satellite Broadcasting in 1981 and was a proponent for the development of direct-broadcast satellite service in the United States. USSB was awarded five frequencies by the FCC, at the coveted 101 degree west satellite location, Hughes Communications, Inc. was also awarded 27 frequencies at the same 101-degree location
12.
Dish Network
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Dish Network is an American direct-broadcast satellite service provider. The company provides satellite television, satellite Internet access, audio programming, as of November 2016, the company provided services to 13.7 million television and 580,000 broadband subscribers. The company has approximately 16,000 employees, the company is headquartered in Meridian, Colorado, though the postal designation of nearby Englewood, Colorado is used in the corporate mailing address. In January 2008, Dish Network was spun off from its parent company EchoStar. The company began using Dish Network as its brand in March 1997, after the successful launch of its first satellite, EchoStar I. That launch marked the beginning of its television services, and EchoStar has since launched numerous satellites. EchoStar continues to be the technology partner to Dish Network. Joseph Clayton became president and chief officer of the company in June 2011. Clayton remained in the position until March 31,2015 when he retired leaving Ergen to resume the post, Dishs main service is satellite television. Its offerings are similar to satellite and cable companies. Viewers can choose from a series of bundles, paying more money for more channels. A la carte programming is available, however limited other than Premium channels, the company is currently working on diversifying its offerings. With its purchase of Blockbuster LLC, it now owns the Blockbuster trademarks and has used its intellectual property agreement to offer streaming, Dish Anywhere is Dishs subscriber-only streaming video service, which includes HBO and Cinemax programming. In May 2012, the American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Dish second among American television providers and it weighs ten pounds, is protected from weather, and automatically searches for a signal. The only satellites that are compatible with the Tailgater are at Dishs 119,110. In March 2012, Dish began offering a video recorder called Dish Hopper that can automatically record all prime time programming on the four major television networks. The other half is for video on demand, a Hopper feature, called AutoHop, enables customers to view these programs without commercials, subject to time restrictions. AutoHop has attracted enthusiasts, critics, boycotts and legal action, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show Dish won an award for their AutoHop feature on the Hopper
13.
Foxtel
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Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating a duopoly in cable television, a monopoly in direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV catch-up services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between News Corporation and Telstra, both of the owning companies are 50% shareholders. It shares many features with the Sky service in the United Kingdom, including iQ, the program guide, a similar remote control. On 23 October 1995, Foxtel commenced a 20 channel service, in May 1998, Australis Media, the owner of a satellite television service known as Galaxy, was declared insolvent. In February 1999, Foxtel began offering its own service to new customers. Publishing and Broadcasting Limited bought half of News Corporations shares in October 1998, in 2002, a Content Sharing Agreement between Foxtel and Optus Television was approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The Austar shares have been suspended on the ASX as of 16 April 2012, the takeover was completed on 24 May 2012. News Corporation acquired Consolidated Media Holdings in November 2012, bringing its stake to 50%, on 15 June 2015, Foxtel officially agreed to buyout 15% shares in Ten Network Holdings, pending the approval from the ACCC. Prior to the acquisition, Discovery backed out from bidding partnership with Foxtel, as of 2012, Fox Sports channels, in particular Fox Footy, average between 90,000 and 300,000 + viewers for NRL/AFL matches throughout the week. The highest rated light entertainment shows are The Simpsons most weeknights on Fox8 with around 110,000 viewers, A&E has also recorded healthy audience numbers for its TruTV & A&E US syndicated shows from the US – Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn, and Storage Wars. BBC UKTV also consistently rates well with British soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street, Foxtel transmits its cable service via Telstra hybrid fibre-coaxial cable into the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth metropolitan areas, along with the Gold Coast. Foxtel on Mobile launched on Telstras Next G Network in late 2006 and is now available within Telstra Next G coverage areas, in 2002, Foxtel and Optus Television agreed to a content-sharing arrangement. Programming competition between the two companies has now dissipated, prior to its acquisition by Foxtel in 2011, Austar, a regional pay television operator, also carried most Foxtel programming. In April 2008, Foxtels penetration into Australian homes passed 30% and this penetration rate is significantly lower compared with market penetration rates in the US and in Western Europe. This is due to the fact that Australian pay-TV fees are significantly more expensive, Foxtel announced its maiden annual profit in 2006, more than 10 years after it commenced services. The installation and maintenance of Foxtel services is Telstras responsibility, in many markets Telstra has outsourced installation and maintenance to large communications contractors, including ABB Communications and Siemens-Thiess Communications Joint Venture. In 2007, Network Ten formed an agreement with Foxtel to allow them to carry a version of Tens programming. Included in the deal is electronic program guide data, which allows Foxtel iQ users to schedule recordings on Ten, before the agreement, Ten was carried in an analogue format on cable only
14.
Austar
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Austar was an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity was subscription television but it has also involved with internet access. It was founded in 1994 under the name Community Entertainment Television, Austars television subscriber base grew to 747,148, making it the largest subscription television operator in regional and rural Australia. Austar provided subscription television services in a area of approximately 2. 4m homes, one-third of Australias total homes. Austar also operated a cable network in Darwin. Austar is now owned by Foxtel, which acquired the company in 2012, since the acquisition, Foxtel has progressively merged all operations into a national system. In mid-to-late 2013, Foxtel merged all accounts to Foxtel and removed the MyStar related online services and this was the last step in the merge. In November 2013, the Foxtel iQ units were available with satellite connections for those who wished to replace their MyStar units. The transition was completed in 2014, when all Austar branding was replaced with the current Foxtel moniker, Austar was involved with providing services to Sega Channel in Australia in partnership with Sega Ozisoft, a joint venture between Sega and Ozisoft. The Austar shares have been suspended on the ASX as of 16 April 2012, the takeover was completed on 24 May 2012. Austars main business was subscription television, serving customers outside of the metro areas. It took programming from both Foxtel and Optus services, and operates on a digital platform, Austar Television was available in 2.4 million homes in regional areas of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and all areas of Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Subscriber numbers to Austar Television were second behind Foxtel, delivery methods include utilising the Optus C-Class Satellite Optus C1 and a digital cable network in Darwin. Austar Featured on Demand used to deliver Austar shows – on demand – to the MyStar each week free of charge with a MyStar subscription and it has since been replaced by Foxtel on Demand. Austar AnyWhere was Austars online TV service, which allowed customers to watch or download full-length programs online, Austar Anywhere closed on 30 June 2013. MyStar was launched to existing subscribers in late 2007, with a launch to both new and existing customers in February 2008. The last MyStar was the model T500, however, only two tuners can be used because the processor is not capable of handling all four tuners at once. It featureed a 160 GB hard drive, with 120 GB user accessible and it could record 60 hours of content
15.
Sky Television (New Zealand)
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Sky Network Television Limited is a New Zealand pay television satellite TV provider. It is also a wholesale channel provider to New Zealand cable television provider Vodafone and terrestrial pay television service Igloo, on 31 December 2015, Sky had 860,445 subscribers, making it the largest pay television platform in New Zealand. Despite the similarity of name and services, such as Sky Go and My Sky+ shared with its British equivalent, Sky, the company was founded by Craig Heatley in 1987 as Sky Media Limited. The first Sky subscriber was former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Jonathan Hunt, according to Helen Clark, the concept of a pay television service was new to New Zealand and Sky had early problems. These included viewer acceptance of subscriber television and it faced difficulty in educating retailers and customers on the use of the original decoders. However, this problem was eased with the introduction of easier-to-use decoders that allowed greater viewer flexibility, Sky originally launched in early 1990 as an analogue UHF service. Subscribers required UHF set top box and UHF aerial both of which were supplied by when joining Sky, the signal was sent with the picture scrambled, the decoder was used to unscramble the picture. The Sky Movies channel was the channel broadcast in NICAM stereo. The original channel lineup consisted of just three channels, Sky Movies, Sky Sport and Sky News, Sky rapidly won long term rights from US sports network ESPN as well as CNN and HBO providing it with a supply of sports, news and movies for the three channels. Sky News screened a mixture of CNN International and BBC news bulletins, the Sky News channel was later discontinued and became branded as a CNN channel. In 1994, Sky launched two channels, Discovery Channel and Orange, Orange later became known as Sky 1. Discovery Channel broadcast on an already used by Trackside. Orange broadcast from 4 pm onwards each day with Juice TV screening outside of Oranges broadcast hours, Cartoon Network shared the same channel as Orange from 1997 to 2000 screening between 6 am and 4 pm with Orange screening after 4 pm. In 2000, Cartoon Network was replaced with Nickelodeon, later, funding allowed Sky to extend its coverage throughout most of New Zealand, In 1991, the company expanded to Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch. Then in 1994, the company expanded to Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Southland and Otago, followed by the Wairarapa, Taupo and its final UHF expansion, in 1996, was to Taranaki, Whangarei, and eastern Bay of Plenty. Following the launch of the satellite service in 1998, Sky began reducing services on the UHF platform. NICAM stereo was eventually removed from Sky Movies, the CNN channel was discontinued in 2004 with the UHF frequencies issued to Māori Television, Sky switched off its analogue UHF TV service on 11 March 2010 at midnight. Sky used a portion of the freed up UHF and radio spectrum to launch its joint venture, Igloo, the remaining unused spectrum was relinquished back to the Government and will be recycled to support new broadcasting ventures
16.
DStv
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DStv has around 8 million subscribers, with the majority being in South Africa and Nigeria. 1986, Pay-television came to South Africa when an analogue, single-channel service, for almost seven years, all M-Nets operations were handled by a single company. 1993, Naspers created a company, Multichoice, which was to handle the business arm of M-Net, such as decoder sales, subscriber services. 1995, Multichoice announced that it was launching a new digital, satellite service in South Africa and, on 6 October 1995,2000, Launch of W4 Eutelsat satellite with Ku-band services to sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. 2001, Launch of Indian and Portuguese bouquet,2005, The DStv PVR decoder and DStv Compact is launched. DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa cross the 1 million mark,2006, MultiChoice launches BBBEE Share Scheme, Phuthuma Nathi. 2007, Channel Shuffle on 1 October, moving channels around to 3-digit numbers,2007, Launch of DStv Select and of entry bouquet DStv EasyView. 2008, Launch of DStvs first High Definition decoder the HD PVR, XtraView,2009, HD channels - SuperSport 1 HD, Discovery HD Showcase are launched. 2010, DVB over IP and DStv on Demand service launched, as well as the HD PVR 2P,2011, DStv BoxOffice & DStv Mobile launched. 2011, GOtv, a new pay television offering on digital terrestrial television platforms is established in a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also launched a new DStv Family bouquet 2013, DStv subscribers across Africa reach 6.7 million,2014, The new channels, Lifetime, Nicktoons, Nick Junior, Vuzu Amp, M-Net Edge and Glow are launched. BBC Earth HD replacing BBC Knowledge channel 184 and will be available on DStv Premium on 1 September, BBC First as a new channel 119 on DStv Premium on 18 October. Alongside BBC World News and the new additions to DStv Compact BBC Lifestyle,2015, Popular Christian station Emmanuel TV launches on DStv. 2015-2016, The launch of ID Xtra on DStv from 5 January 2016 to replace Investigation Discovery,2016, TBN launches on DStv replacing Rhema tv from 4 March. M-net Movies stars was renamed M-Net Movies All Stars. M-Net Movies Action and M-Net City began broadcast in HD. CBS Drama and CBS Action stopped airing on 20 October, while AMC and True Movies 1 will stop airing on the 11 and 12th of November respectively. DStv MobileX DStv Mobile DVBH and Bomba DStv 20th Century Fox generations DStv has a range of decoders manufactured by Altech UEC, the latest decoders allow subscribers to use XtraView. This allows a subscriber to link two decoders under a subscription fee, to increase the viewing environments. The Standard Decoder is DStv’s entry level HD single view decoder and it has XtraView capability, where it can be linked to itself, the HD PVR or the HD EXPLORA
17.
TrueVisions
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TrueVisions is Thailands leading cable satellite television operator. Now owned by the True Corporation, the company was known as the United Broadcasting Corporation and also known as UBC-True. International Broadcasting Corporation was the first national cable TV provider established in 1989 by Thaksin Shinawatra, after having granted a 20-years concession to provide subscription television service by MCOT, IBC began broadcasting its programmes via super high frequency microwave using MMDS. Its first DTH service began in 1995 after their request for expansion was approved. In 1997, South African-Dutch company, MIH Limited bought 16% stake in IBC, iBC’s content mostly came from other countries such as HBO, CNN and ESPN. UTV began providing its CATV service in Bangkok Metropolitan Areas in September 1995, the service was offered on its high quality hybrid fiber coaxial network which began deploying in 1994. The cable technology allowed a number of channels to be offered, with high quality sound and picture, by 1997 hybrid fiber coaxial cable network passed an estimated 800,000 homes. In 1997 UTV sold the infrastructure component of its business to its sister company Asia Multimedia Company Limited. This allowed UTV to focus on content and subscriber management service delivery, due to an economic crisis since 1997, in February 1998, IBC signed a merger with UTV to form United Broadcasting Corporation in order to survive the crisis by decreased the operation costs. In November 2005, True Corporation announced it would take over UBC plc. It will buy 30. 59% stake from MIH Holdings and launch an offer for the 221 million shares outstanding at 26.5 baht per share. In April 2006, UBC has rebranded to UBC-True following the take over completion, UBC was delisted from SET on 11 April 2006. On April 2,2006, UBC-True announced that it was launching the documentary channels Explore 1, Explore 2, UBC-True also announced the entertainment channels, G-Square and UBC Preview, followed by two music channels, Majung TV and True Music. On 24 January 2007, UBC-True was rebranded as TrueVisions, also known as TrueVisions UBC along with an announcement of its rights to Premier League. After a long fight on piracy, TrueVisions switched its content encryption system to VideoGuard on 12 July 2012 and it also upgrade its video encryption from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 which can be used with a new HD set-top box which was launched in October 2011. Premier League has been the one of its content for years until it lost the rights to the newcomer, CTH. TrueVisions airs 6 beIN Sports channels after completed a negotiation with the Qatar-based sport network, regular programming was gradually returned to the channels over the course of the next several weeks. On 1 April 2013, TrueVisions dropped Star World along with Channel M from its platform and this was because Fox International Channels no longer offered them on an exclusivity basis
18.
Astro (television)
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All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator is a Malaysian direct broadcast satellite Pay TV service. Astro was granted a license as a sole Pay TV provider by the Malaysia federal government until 2022. Until then, it will be the only DBS provider in Malaysia and its only with their allies is HyppTV, a IPTV service by TM who carry their 5 Astro channels. As of September 2014, astro provided services to four million subscribers. Astro is an owned subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks plc. Bhd. Astro launched the first High Definition broadcast in Malaysia in December 2009 under the brand Astro B. yond. Following the launch of HD, Astro B. yond PVR was introduced in June 2010 and Astro B. yond IPTV in April 2011 followed by Over-The-Top service, on 18 February 2012, Astro introduced NJOI as an entry-level DTH satellite TV service. It is the first non-subscription-based satellite TV, as of February 2015, NJOI has 24 SDTV channels,5 HDTV channels and all radio channels. Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, was issued a license in 1995 to operate MEASAT, MEASAT in turn launched ASTRO, Malaysia’s digital direct broadcast satellite service. He is estimated to have a net worth of over US$7.4 billion, Malaysia’s privately owned FM stations exhibit similar ownership patterns as television, and is largely controlled by Ananda Krishnan. Five of the seven stations are owned by Airtime Management and Programming Sdn, Bhd. AMP additionally operates four “FM” services that are available only via digital direct broadcast satellite. AMP is also a division of Krishnan’s ASTRO, not forgetting that Ananda Krishnan also has control over the telecommunication company Binariang Bhd. that owns two satellites Measat-1, Measat-2 and now Maxis Communications Berhad. Astro utilises 11 high powered Ku-band transponders on MEASAT-3 and 6 high powered Ku-band transponders on MEASAT-3A to transmit its signal across Malaysia, MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3A are owned by MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of MEASAT Global. Astro and MEASAT Global are related parties, MEASAT-3 was launched into orbit in Dec 2006 at 91.5 degrees east, entered commercial service on 1 February 2007 and has a design lifetime of 15 years. MEASAT-3A, which also has a lifetime of 15 years. Both satellites are controlled from the Measat Teleport and Broadcast Centre located in Cyberjaya, a backup satellite control facility is located at the All Asia Broadcast Centre. On 1 January 2003, Astro Showcase was launched as a channel showcasing Southeast Asian movies. The following year, Season Pass was launched, showing games and these two have now became pay-per-view channels under the Astro Box Office name and new logo was launched, the uppercase Philips ASTRO was changed to the lowercase astro
19.
Dialog TV
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Dialog TV is a direct broadcast satellite pay TV service provider based in Sri Lanka. A fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Axiata PLC, Dialog TV was launched in July 2005 under the name CBNsat and it was later renamed to Dialog TV in February 2007 after the company was acquired by Dialog Axiata PLC. Dialog TV currently has over 700,000, Dialog TV has coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka, Nepal and neighboring countries through the Intelsat-12 satellite. Dialog TV is a provider of Standard Definition TV, High Definition TV, Dialog Television currently offers 144 TV channels, including 7 HD channels. Dialog TV offers 2 payment options for customers to receive their service, per Day Packages allows the customer to pay a daily rental fee ranging from Rs.3 to Rs.12 for a limited number of channels. Alternatively the Postpaid payment method has 5 package options with a rental fee of between Rs.699 to Rs.1949 for higher number of channels. Dialog Television offers you the convenience to choose additional Channel Packs varying from Movies, Sports, Entertainment, Edutainment, daily Pass gives you access to all of Dialog Television channels for a day, two days, one week or one month. Subscription via USSD or SMS from your mobile, ON or OFF your Dialog Television Channels from the comfort of your home via SMS. Dialog Television brings you the latest digital revolution, Dialog Television HD DTH service, with great picture quality, incredibly vivid colors, sharper images and stunning surround sound, this new service will give you a breathtaking entertainment experience. Customers will have to plug in a USB drive to their decoder & start recording. Dialog Television, announced the launch of its home theater innovation aimed at providing Sri Lankan movie. Branded as the 7th Circuit, this channel carry pre-cinema movie premiers based on a pay–per–view model, Dialog TV expresses its hopes to soon expand their digital network to other neighboring countries. Dialog TV signed an agreement with ESPN and Star Sports on 7 March 2006, the Zee package was launched in January. Al Jazeera English was launched on 19 April 2007, replacing the SET channel, in March 2007, Dialog TV won exclusive rights to broadcast the Cricket World Cup 2007 in Sri Lanka. Dialog TVs third transponder was launched in late April 2007, the third transponder is now available on Dialog TV for all subscribers, and all except one of the new channels are launched. The STAR package was launched on August 3,2007, STAR Cricket was added on August 7,2007. A software upgrade was tested on 8 June, although it only updated to the June 1,2006 software, the 2007 July update was made available on July 18,2007. This update changed all logos and names on the software to Dialog TV from the previous CBNsat
