1.
Showtime Networks
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Showtime Networks, Inc. is the subsidiary of media conglomerate CBS Corporation that oversees the companys premium cable television channels, including its flagship service Showtime. In 1984, American Express sold their interest in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications making Warner the new half-owner of Showtime/TMC, in 1985, Warner sold its half-interest to Viacom, making the company wholly owned division of Viacom. In 1988, the company was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc, SNI managed the CBS, Robert Redford and NBC Universal joint venture Sundance Channel until 2008, when it was sold to Rainbow Media. Year in parentheses denotes when each network and channel was brought into the SNI fold, DirecTV does carry Showtime Women and Showtime Next in HD only. 2Channel created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment prior to 1983. 3Flix is only available to DirecTV and other satellite systems. Flix was formerly carried on cable systems in the early and mid 1990s, Flix is now considered a specialty premium service to satellite customers who subscribe to Showtime Unlimited. There are still cable providers that do carry Flix as a service with Showtime. 4Co-owned with the Smithsonian Institution. SNI won a Peabody Award in 2002 for Bang Bang Youre Dead, Showtime Networks at the Internet Movie Database
2.
CBS Corporation
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CBS Corporation is an American mass media corporation focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The president, chief executive and executive chairman of the company is Leslie Moonves, sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBSs majority shareholder and serves as chairman emeritus. The company began trading on the NYSE on January 3,2006, until then, the corporation was known as Viacom, and is the legal successor to said company. A new company, keeping the Viacom name, was spun off from CBS, CBS has its headquarters in the CBS Building, Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, United States. Viacom was created in 1971 as the television division of CBS. However, in 1999, Viacom acquired its parent, by this time also named CBS Corporation. In March 2005, Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies, amid issues of the stock price stagnating, on June 14,2005, the Viacom board of directors approved the split of the company into two firms. The split was structured such that the new Viacom was spun off from the old Viacom, in a sense, this was a repeat of the 1971 spinoff. However, in case, CBS retained virtually all of the prior firms broadcast TV assets. With the split, the two new companies began trading on the NYSE on January 3,2006, investors anticipated Viacom benefiting from the split, but instead, it dropped approximately 20 percent, while CBS rose 9 percent. Announced in January 2006, CBS and DIC Entertainment signed a deal in which DIC bought the Saturday morning airtime as CBSs Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party. In June 2006, DiC added a production partner AOLs KOL, thus block would be called KOLs Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS. On January 24,2006, CBS Corporation, and Warner Bros. announced that they were to create a new broadcast network, the network officially debuted on September 18,2006. The network formally debuted on September 20 with the 2 hour premiere of Americas Next Top Model, the network is the result of a merger of The WB and UPN. CBS Corporation and Time Warner each own 50% of the network, tribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation will contribute its stations as new network affiliates. Three days after the announcement of The CW, on January 27, on May 23,2006, CBS Corp. sold Paramount Parks to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. With this acquisition, Cedar Fair became the third-largest theme park operator, on June 30,2006, Cedar Fair announced that it has completed its acquisition of Paramount Parks from CBS Corporation in a cash transaction valued at US$1.24 billion. The transaction included a 10-year license that allowed Cedar Fair to use the Paramount name in the parks through the 2017 season
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.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
6.
Subtitle (captioning)
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The encoded method can either be pre-rendered with the video or separate as either a graphic or text to be rendered and overlaid by the receiver. Teletext subtitle language follows the audio, except in multi-lingual countries where the broadcaster may provide subtitles in additional languages on other teletext pages. EIA-608 captions are similar, except that North American Spanish stations may provide captioning in Spanish on CC3, DVD and Blu-ray only differ in using run-length encoded graphics instead of text, as well as some HD DVB broadcasts. Sometimes, mainly at festivals, subtitles may be shown on a separate display below the screen. Television subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing is referred to as closed captioning in some countries. The word subtitle is the prefix followed by title. In some cases, such as opera, the dialog is displayed above the stage in what are referred to as surtitles. Today, professional subtitlers usually work with specialized software and hardware where the video is digitally stored on a hard disk. Besides creating the subtitles, the subtitler usually also tells the computer software the exact positions where each subtitle should appear and disappear, for cinema film, this task is traditionally done by separate technicians. The end result is a file containing the actual subtitles as well as position markers indicating where each subtitle should appear and disappear. These markers are based on timecode if it is a work for electronic media. For multimedia-style Webcasting, check, SMIL Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, same-language captions, i. e. without translation, were primarily intended as an aid for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Internationally, there are several studies which demonstrate that same-language captioning can have a major impact on literacy. This method of subtitling is used by television broadcasters in China. Same Language Subtitling is the use of Synchronized Captioning of Musical Lyrics as a Repeated Reading activity, the basic reading activity involves students viewing a short subtitled presentation projected onscreen, while completing a response worksheet. Closed captioning is the American term for closed subtitles specifically intended for people who are deaf and these are a transcription rather than a translation, and usually contain descriptions of important non-dialog audio as well such as or and lyrics. From the expression closed captions the word caption has in recent years come to mean a subtitle intended for the hard of hearing, be it open or closed. In British English subtitles usually refers to subtitles for the hard of hearing, however, programs such as news bulletins, current affairs programs, sport, some talk shows and political and special events utilize real time or online captioning
7.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
8.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
9.
The Movie Channel
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This article is about the American premium cable-satellite television network and sister channel of Showtime. For the unrelated, defunct television channel in the United Kingdom, for the programming format of television channels focused on movies, see movie channel. Not to be confused with the Canadian premium television service The Movie Network, the Movie Channel is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by the Showtime Networks subsidiary of CBS Corporation. The channel, along with its parent network Showtime and sister network Flix, are headquartered at Paramount Plaza on the end of New York Citys Broadway district. The Movie Channel traces its history to the development of Gridtronics, the video-to-cable movie delivery concept was presented by Fuqua and Stern at the 1969 National Cable Television Association Convention. TVC was purchased by Warner Communications in 1972, and gave the service the financial funding, Warner Communications launched the Gridtronics service on April 1,1973. Included among its initial offerings was the Warner Star Channel, a network developed as a vehicle to promote the Warner Bros. film library, Cable providers sometimes experienced technical problems trying to transmit the delivered tapes to viewers, especially when the tapes jammed during playback. m. Eastern and Pacific Time on weekdays and 8,00 p. m. on weekends, Eastern and Pacific, three hours before the transponder space reverted to use by Nickelodeon. On September 14 of that year, American Express reached an agreement with Warner Communications to buy 50% of Warner Cable Corporation for $175 million in cash and short-term notes. On December 1,1979, the network was relaunched as The Movie Channel, on January 1,1980, TMC discontinued its time-lease arrangement with Nickelodeon and became a 24-hour standalone service. At that point, TMC became the first premium channel to air R-rated films during the daytime hours, as the standard for television broadcasts in stereo was a few years away, cable operators had to simulcast the multichannel audio feed as an FM radio signal. Interstitial segments that aired during breaks between films for much of the 1980s included Behind the Scenes, The Heart of Hollywood, Reel Shorts, cities such as ONTV and SelecTV. In addition to the launch of Cinemax as then-HBO parent Time Inc, the three companies officially announced their agreement in principle to acquire interests in The Movie Channel on November 11,1982. Subsequently, in late December of that year, the U. S. Department of Justice launched a preliminary inquiry into the proposed partnership. On January 7,1983, Viacom International added itself as a partner and drafted an amendment to the proposal to consolidate The Movie Channel with the companys own competing premium service, Showtime. Under the revised proposal, the four studios would each own a 22. 58% stake in the two networks, with American Express owning a 9. 68% minority interest. In addition, the consortium would appoint a management team separate from those employed by the two channels – which would continue to operate as separate services – to operate the joint venture, on August 10,1985, after Time Inc. and cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. The subsidiary would eventually be renamed Showtime Networks, Inc. in 1988, hosts appearing on the channel between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s included Robert Osborne, Michelle Russell, Lauren Graham and Joe Bob Briggs
10.
Smithsonian Channel
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Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between CBS Corporations Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. The service consists of Smithsonian Channel, Smithsonian On Demand, the network’s content is inspired by the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, research facilities and magazines. It features original programming that covers a wide range of historical, scientific. It is also available from On Demand in both high definition and standard definition, as of February 2015, approximately 33.6 million American households receive Smithsonian Channel. The Smithsonian Channel features an array of programming covering science, nature, culture, history, air and spacecraft. They create everything from long-running series to one-off, in depth specials, aerial America showcases each of the 50 states from the air, with special episodes devoted to small towns, the wilderness, etc. Soul Revolution hosted by Morgan Freeman premiered November 16,2008, season two of Stories from the Vaults starring Tom Cavanagh premiered July 12,2009. Starting in September, the 45. 52-carat diamond would be exhibited as a gem with no setting. From August 19,2009 through September 7,2009, the public was invited to vote online for their favorite Harry Winston designed setting, at SmithsonianChannel. com/hope. The winning setting would be announced this fall and the gem would be shown in the setting starting in May, MLK, The Assassination Tapes produced by 1895 FILMS for Smithsonian Channel premiered on February 12,2012 and received a Peabody Award. It premiered on November 9,2014, the Real Story goes behind the scenes of some of Hollywoods biggest movies and displays true stories that inspired some of Hollywoods most famous blockbusters. Smithsonian Channels programming library is distributed by Trifecta Entertainment & Media. Originally only offered in high definition, the Smithsonian Channel HD began airing on DirecTVs new HD lineup on September 26,2007, Dish Network had originally added the HD channel on May 12,2008, until February 1,2009, when Dish dropped it. Then on December 11,2015, Dish began to offer the channel again, in 2010, Smithsonian Networks entered into an agreement with Comcast for broadcast of the channel until 2020. Under the contract Showtime would be able to deny permission to other media producers wishing access to Smithsonian collections, documentarian Ken Burns said of this deal I find this deal terrifying. It feels like the Smithsonian has essentially optioned Americas attic to one company, Smithsonian Channel Notes Official website Smithsonian Institution Showtime Networks Smithsonian Youtube Channel
11.
Flix (TV network)
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Flix is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by the Showtime Networks subsidiary of CBS Corporation. Its programming consists solely of theatrically released feature films released from the 1970s to the present day and it is the only premium television service in the United States that does not operate any multiplex channels that provide additional programming alongside the main service. The network launched on August 1,1992, as a single-channel mini-pay service, Flix originally featured movies from the 1960s to the 1980s, although it would gradually begin to scatter some 1990s film titles onto the networks schedule over time. At its launch, Flix had been one of the last premium channels to restrict the broadcast of R-rated films to the nighttime hours. S. Premium channels – including HBO, Cinemax and Encore as well as sister networks Showtime, three years prior to the channels launch, in 1989, Tele-Communications Inc. made a failed bid to acquire a 50% ownership stake in Showtime from Viacom. Viacom executives insisted that TCI lifted part of the idea for Encore from the companys Showtime Networks division. On June 14,2005, Viacom decided to separate itself into two companies, both of which would be controlled by Viacom parent National Amusements, amid stagnation of the stock price. In 2007, Flix began to broadcast certain R-rated movies during daytime timeslots, in 2006, Showtime Networks entered into a partial deal with Rogue Pictures to broadcast select films released by the studio. Usually films that Showtime holds the rights to broadcast will also run on Flix. Many lesser-known film titles that have not received a theatrical release or were released on DVD or home video are also commonly broadcast on Flix. Films that Showtime has pay cable rights to will usually run on Flix. On October 1,2013, Showtime Networks announced that it entered into a four-year film licensing agreement with Open Road Films to broadcast feature films released by the studio between 2017 and 2020. On January 20,2015, Showtime announced that it entered into a premium television output deal with film, television. The deal encompasses all films distributed theatrically by the studio through 2019, 1992–2007, Movies You Grew Up With 2007–2013, Cool Classics for the Movie Generation 2013–present, Cool Classics
12.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
13.
The CW
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Entertainment division of Time Warner, former majority owner of The WB Television Network. The CW name is a derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations. The network made its debut on September 18,2006, after its two predecessors, UPN and The WB, respectively ceased independent operations on September 15 and 17 of that year. The CWs first two nights of programming – on September 18 and 19,2006 – consisted of reruns, the CW marked its formal launch date on September 20,2006, with the two-hour premiere of the seventh cycle of Americas Next Top Model. As of 2008, the programming lineup was intended to appeal mainly to women between the ages of 18 and 34, although starting in 2011 the network increased in programming that appeal to men. The CW is also available in Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico–U. S, in both countries, some CW affiliates are receivable over-the-air in border areas depending on the stations signal coverage. UPN and The WB both began just as the Fox network had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences, the two networks launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results. However, over the subsequent 11 1⁄2 seasons, both were able to air several series that became quite popular, in the eleven years that UPN and The WB were in operation, the two networks lost a combined $2 billion. CBS chairman Leslie Moonves explained that the name of the new network was formed from the first letters of CBS and Warner Bros, joking, like both UPN and The WB, The CW targets its programming towards younger audiences. CBS and Time Warner hoped that combining their networks schedules and affiliate lineups would strengthen The CW into a major broadcast network. The CW launched with a premiere special/launch party from the CBS-produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros, when Top Model made its network premiere on September 20,2006, The CW scored a 3.4 rating/5 share in the Nielsen household ratings. It scored a 2.6 rating among Adults 18–49, finishing fourth in that age demographic, on May 9,2008, The CW announced that it would lease its Sunday lineup to production company Media Rights Capital. With no first-run programming available to run on Sundays as a backup, the network added reruns of The Drew Carey Show and Jericho, the CW has generally struggled in the Nielsen ratings since its inception, primarily placing fifth in all statistics tabulated by Nielsen. On several occasions, The CW has even been outrated by Spanish language network Univision and this had led to speculation within the industry that CBS, Time Warner or both companies could abandon the venture if ratings did not improve. Executives with CBS Corporation and Time Warner also emphasized their commitment to the network and this, in turn, resulted in the discontinuance of the Sunday late afternoon repeat block that The CW inherited from The WB through its use of the predecessor networks scheduling model. Maatta began reporting to Pedowitz as a result of the appointment as network president. Pedowitz revealed that the target demographic of the network would not change. The network also ordered more episodes of its series and ran them consecutively through the first week of December, starting on September 12
14.
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
15.
Video on demand
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IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and personal computers. Internet television, using the Internet, is a popular form of video on demand. VOD can also be accessed via desktop client applications such as the Apple iTunes online content store, some airlines offer VOD as in-flight entertainment to passengers through individually controlled video screens embedded in seatbacks or armrests or offered via portable media players. Some video on demand services such as Netflix use a model that requires users to pay a monthly fee to access a bundled set of content. Other services use a model, where access is free for Internet users. Downloading and streaming video on demand systems provide the user all of the features of Portable media players. Some VOD systems that store and stream programs from hard drives use a memory buffer to allow the user to fast forward. It is possible to put video servers on local area networks, streaming video servers can also serve a wider community via a WAN, in which case the responsiveness may be reduced. Download VOD services are practical to homes equipped with cable modems or DSL connections, servers for traditional cable and telco VOD services are usually placed at the cable head-end serving a particular market as well as cable hubs in larger markets. In the telco world, they are placed in either the central office, the first Video on Demand systems used tapes as the realtime source of video streams. GTE started as a trial in 1990 with AT&T providing all components, by 1992 VOD servers were supplying previously encoded digital video from disks and DRAM. In the US the 1982 anti-trust break-up of AT&T resulted in a number of telephone companies called Baby Bells. Following this the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 prohibited telephone companies from providing services within their operating regions. All of these companies and others began holding trials to setup systems for supplying Video on Demand over telephone, in November 1992 Bell Atlantic announced a VOD trial. The IBM was developing video server code-named Tiger Shark, concurrently Digital Equipment was developing a scalable video server. Bell Atlantic selected IBM and April 1993 the system became the first VOD over ADSL to be deployed outside the lab, in 1994-5 US West went on to file for VOD at several cities. 330,000 subscribers in Denver,290,000 in Minneapolis, many VOD trials were held with various combinations of server, network and set-top. Of these the primary players in the US were the companies, using DEC, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, USA Video, nCube, SGI
16.
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
17.
IPTV
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Unlike downloaded media, IPTV offers the ability to stream the source media continuously. As a result, a client media player can begin playing the data almost immediately and this is known as streaming media. Although IPTV uses the Internet protocol it is not limited to television media streamed from the Internet, IPTV in the telecommunications arena is notable for its ongoing standardisation process. Historically, many different definitions of IPTV have appeared, including elementary streams over IP networks, transport streams over IP networks and these services may include, for example, Live TV, Video On Demand and Interactive TV. These services are delivered across an access agnostic, packet switched network that employs the IP protocol to transport the audio, video, the term IPTV first appeared in 1995 with the founding of Precept Software by Judith Estrin and Bill Carrico. Precept developed an Internet video product named IP/TV, the software was written primarily by Steve Casner, Karl Auerbach, and Cha Chee Kuan. Precept was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998, Internet radio company AudioNet started the first continuous live webcasts with content from WFAA-TV in January 1998 and KCTU-LP on January 10,1998. The operator added additional VoD service in October 2001 with Yes TV, kingston was one of the first companies in the world to introduce IPTV and IP VoD over ADSL as a commercial service. The service became the reference for various changes to UK Government regulations, in 2006, the KIT service was discontinued, subscribers having declined from a peak of 10,000 to 4,000. In 1999, NBTel was the first to commercially deploy Internet protocol television over DSL in Canada using the Alcatel 7350 DSLAM, the service was marketed under the brand VibeVision in New Brunswick, and later expanded into Nova Scotia in early 2000 after the formation of Aliant. IMagic TV was later sold to Alcatel, in 2002, Sasktel was the second in Canada to commercially deploy Internet Protocol video over DSL, using the Lucent Stinger DSL platform. In 2005, SureWest Communications was the first North American company to offer high-definition television channels over an IPTV service, in 2005, Bredbandsbolaget launched its IPTV service as the first service provider in Sweden. As of January 2009, they are not the biggest supplier any longer, TeliaSonera, in 2007, TPG became the first internet service provider in Australia to launch IPTV. Complementary to its ADSL2+ package this was, and still is, free of charge to customers on eligible plans and now offers over 45 local free to air channels, by 2010, iiNet and Telstra launched IPTV services in conjunction to internet plans but with extra fees. In 2008, PTCL launched IPTV under the name of PTCL Smart TV in Pakistan. S. Markets with an IPTV service called Prism and this was after successful test marketing in Florida. During the 2014 Winter Olympics Shortest path bridging was used to deliver 36 IPTV HD Olympic channels, in 2016, KCTV introduced the Set-top box called Manbang, claiming to provide video-on-demand services in North Korea via quasi-internet protocol television. According to KCTV, viewers can use the service not only in Pyongyang, stating that the demands for the equipment are particularly high in Sinuiju, with several hundred users in the region
18.
Verizon Fios
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Verizon Fios is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber-optic communications network with over 5 million customers in nine US states. The name, Fios, is an acronym for Fiber Optic Service, Fios service began in 2005, and networked areas expanded through 2010, although some areas do not have service or cannot receive TV and phone service because of franchise agreements. Verizon was one of the first major U. S. carriers to offer fiber to the home, other service providers use fiber optics in the network backbone and existing copper or coax infrastructure for residential users. Where available, select Verizon Wireless stores also sell Fios services, similar to AT&T offering DirecTV, the early stages of Fios began when Bell Atlantic was testing its video service Stargazer in 1995. This was the worlds first commercial VOD service, which was tested to 1,000 homes in northern VA, during this time there were talks of developing a fiber optic based service. This service was developed at a headquarters located in Reston, Virginia and this will be folded into our deployment of fiber to the curb, Mr. Townsend said, referring to Bell Atlantics plans to deploy a high-tech fiber-optic system. In September 2005, Verizon Communications, announced the launch of its Fios television service, Verizon aimed to replace copper wires with optical fibers, which would allow greater speed and quality of communication. In 2006, Verizon and Motorola partnered to bring its customers home DVR access, in 2006, The Wall Street Journal speculated, Verizon Communications Inc. is fielding offers for. Verizon also has been shopping a package dubbed GTE North that comprises about 3.4 million access lines in former GTE Corp. territories in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, in addition to expanding its customer base, Verizon expanded its services in the first few years. Home Media DVR, a video recorder, was released in 2006. Fios updated its user interface in 2007, allowing customers to access widgets for localized content, such as weather, Verizon announced in January 2008 that one million people subscribed to the service. By the end of 2008, Fios offered more than 150 HD channels, price increases were announced in April 2008, when Fios was available to 6.5 million households. In January 2009, Fios was available to 12.7 million homes, as of June 2009, Fios Internet had 3.1 million customers. Estimates on December 31,2009, were 3.4 million Internet customers and 2.86 million for Fios TV, doug Michelson, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, concluded that Verizon has been overspending to acquire Fios customers. Some viewed the halt in expansion as a violation of Verizons agreements with municipalities and states. In New Jersey, Verizon collected an additional $15 billion in fees from customers, the New Jersey government altered the deal in 2014 to allow Verizon to substitute wireless internet access to fulfill its promise instead. Verizon defended itself, claiming that they had spent $13 billion building fiber optics in New Jersey, critics pointed out that wireless internet was slower and less reliable. In April 2010, Verizon announced that three people were subscribed to Verizon Fios
19.
AT&T U-verse
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AT&T U-verse, commonly called U-verse, is an AT&T brand of triple-play telecommunications services, although the brand is now only used in reference to the television portion of the services. Launched on June 26,2006, using the FTTP, VDSL, and ADSL communication protocols, U-verse included broadband Internet, IP telephone, and IPTV services in 21 states. On March 27,2017, it was revealed that AT&T is seriously considering closing down the TV service website Uverse. com on May 30,2017. SBC announced its plans for a network and Internet Protocol television deployment in 2004. Beta testing began in San Antonio in 2005 and AT&T U-verse was commercially launched June 26,2006, a few months later on November 30,2006, the service was launched in Houston. In December 2006, the product launched in Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Hartford, Indianapolis, in February 2007, U-verse was launched in Milwaukee. One month later service was initiated in Dallas and Kansas City, in May 2007, U-verse launched in Detroit, Los Angeles, and surrounding areas. Launch continued in Cleveland, Akron, and San Diego in June 2007, the Oklahoma City and Sacramento launches occurred in August 2007. In November 2007, service was started in Austin, in December 2007, U-verse was launched in Orlando and St. Louis. A controlled launch was initiated in Atlanta that month marking the first launch in the Southeastern United States. On December 22,2008, the product debuted in Birmingham, on January 25,2010, AT&T announced that U-verse was available to over 2.8 million households. AT&T Phone was added on January 22,2008, and was first available in Detroit, in 2008, U-verse availability approached 8 million households and over 225,000 customers had been enrolled, with new installations reaching 12,000 per week. By 2009,1 million Phone customers and 2.1 million U-verse TV customers had been enrolled, at the end of 2011, U-verse was available to more than 30 million living units in 22 states and U-verse TV had 3.8 million customers. By mid-2012, AT&T had 4.1 million U-Verse TV subscribers,2.6 million Phone subscribers, by the third quarter of 2012, AT&T had 4.3 million TV subscribers,2.7 million Phone subscribers and 7.1 million Internet. This represents 7% growth quarter on quarter, the actual number of customers is lower, as most customers subscribe to a bundle and so are counted in both categories. On March 29,2016, AT&T announced that it will increase data caps on its Internet service on May 23,2016, the integration of AT&T and DirecTV is set to begin by the fourth quarter of 2016. On May 16,2016, AT&T announced that it will acquire Quickplay Media, on September 19,2016, AT&T announced that the U-verse brand would no longer apply to its broadband and phone services, renaming them AT&T Internet and AT&T Phone, respectively. AT&T delivers most U-verse service over a fiber-to-the-node or fiber-to-the-premises communications network, in the more common FTTN deployment, fiber-optic connections carry all data between the service provider and a distribution node
20.
Streaming media
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Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. A client end-user can use their player to begin to play the data file before the entire file has been transmitted. For example, in the 1930s, elevator music was among the earliest popularly available streaming media, the term streaming media can apply to media other than video and audio such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered streaming text. As of 2017, streaming is generally taken to refer to cases where a user watches digital video content or listens to audio content on a computer screen. With streaming content, the user does not have to download the digital video or digital audio file before they start to watch/listen to it. There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet, as of 2016, two popular streaming services are the video sharing website YouTube, which contains video and audio files on a huge range of topics and Netflix, which streams movies and TV shows. Live streaming refers to Internet content delivered in real-time, as events happen, Live internet streaming requires a form of source media, an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, in the early 1920s, George O. Attempts to display media on computers date back to the earliest days of computing in the mid-20th century, however, little progress was made for several decades, primarily due to the high cost and limited capabilities of computer hardware. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, consumer-grade personal computers became powerful enough to various media. These technological improvement facilitated the streaming of audio and video content to users in their homes and workplaces. The band Severe Tire Damage was the first group to live on the Internet. On June 24,1993, the band was playing a gig at Xerox PARC while elsewhere in the building, as proof of PARCs technology, the bands performance was broadcast and could be seen live in Australia and elsewhere. Microsoft Research developed a Microsoft TV application which was compiled under MS Windows Studio Suite, realNetworks was also a pioneer in the streaming media markets, when it broadcast a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners over the Internet in 1995. The first symphonic concert on the Internet took place at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, the concert was a collaboration between The Seattle Symphony and various guest musicians such as Slash, Matt Cameron, and Barrett Martin. When Word Magazine launched in 1995, they featured the first-ever streaming soundtracks on the Internet.4 in 1999, in June 1999 Apple also introduced a streaming media format in its QuickTime 4 application. It was later widely adopted on websites along with RealPlayer. In 2000 Industryview. com launched its worlds largest streaming video archive website to help promote themselves
21.
Roku
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The Roku Streaming Player, or simply Roku, is a series of digital media player set-top boxes manufactured by Roku, Inc. Roku partners provide over-the-top content in the form of channels, the name comes from the Japanese word roku meaning six. A Roku streaming device gets data via a wired or Wi-Fi connection to an Internet router, the data is output via an audio cable, video cable, or HDMI cable. The device can be connected to any set with appropriate input connections. Roku announced the first Netflix Internet video streaming receiver box—the Roku DVP—on May 20,2008, before Autumn 2010, three versions of the Roku DVP were available, the Roku SD, HD, and HD-XR. The Roku SD only streams standard definition content, the Roku HD streams both SD and HD content. The Roku SD and HD both have an Ethernet connection and built in 802. 11g Wi‑Fi compatible with wireless b, g, and n routers. The Roku HD-XR, which streams both SD and HD content, has built in dual-band 802. 11n WiFi support and a USB port on the back, Roku revamped its lineup of devices in September 2010. The revised HD became the model of the line, offering 720p resolution,802. 11g WiFi reception. The middle of the model, the XD, added 1080p resolution, an enhanced remote with replay capabilities. The top-level XD|S offered component video and optical audio outputs, dual-band wireless N, and a USB port for playing videos, photos, on July 20,2011, Roku updated its product lineup with three new boxes. However, the Ethernet connection and remote with motion control for games are only on the XS model. The Roku Game Remote uses Hillcrest Labs Freespace motion control technology, the Netflix application was revamped for the Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD and Roku 2 XS, the current models now provide the option of subtitles, when the program provides them. On October 11,2011, the Roku LT was introduced as a lower cost, i/O consists of two AV ports, one HDMI, and one 3.5 mini plug composite SD analog. The same content capability is available, except it cannot play games, there is no Ethernet port nor microSD card slot. The feature Roku Search was added on October 29,2012 and this feature allows users to search movie and TV show titles, actors, and directors for multiple services on Roku such as Amazon Video, HBO Go, and Netflix. The feature is available on Roku 2, Roku Streaming Stick, Roku LT. This feature appears to work in the USA
22.
Amazon Video
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Amazon Video is an Internet video on demand service that is developed, owned and operated by Amazon. com. Like competitors, Amazon has pursued a number of exclusive content deals to differentiate its service, launched on 7 September 2006 as Amazon Unbox in the United States, the service grew with its expanding library, and added the Prime Video membership with the development of Prime. It was then renamed as Amazon Instant Video on Demand, in the UK, Germany and Austria, Prime Video has been available on a monthly subscription of £5.99 or €7.99 per month, continuing the plan of LoveFilm Instant. The service was available in Norway, Denmark and Sweden in 2012. In 18 April 2016, Amazon split Prime Video from Amazon Prime in the US for $8. 99/m The service also hosts Amazon Original content alongside titles on Video as well. On 14 December 2016, Amazon Video launched worldwide expanding its reach beyond US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan.99 per month for the first six months, the service debuted on September 7,2006 as Amazon Unbox in the United States. On September 4,2008, the service was renamed Amazon Video on Demand, as of August 2014 the service is no longer available for downloading purchased instant videos. On February 22,2011, the service rebranded as Amazon Instant Video and added access to 5,000 movies and TV shows for Amazon Prime members. On September 4,2012, Amazon signed a deal with pay-TV channel Epix to feature movies on their streaming service, additionally, in November 2013, Amazon premiered the comedies Alpha House and Betas, which are original series available exclusively online via the Prime Instant Video service. Amazon offered the first three episodes of series at once for free, with each subsequent episode released weekly thereafter for Prime members. In February 2014, Amazon announced that the service of its UK subsidiary LoveFilm would be folded into the Instant Video service on 26 February 2014. Also in July, Amazon announced plans to expand the service into India, in September 2015 the word Instant was dropped from its title in the US, and it was renamed simply Amazon Video. In November 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was pursuing streaming rights to U. S. professional sports leagues to further differentiate the service, on December 14,2016, Amazon Video expanded into 200 additional countries. In January 2017, Amazon announced the first branded on-demand subscription service for Amazon Channels, the channel, Anime Strike, will feature more than 1,000 series episodes and movies for a $4.99 per month subscription fee. Depending on the device, Amazon supports up to 4K and High Dynamic Range streaming, uHD/HDR rolled out with its original content. Other titles support 1080p streaming with 5.1 Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus audio, for titles available for purchase, the HD option is often offered at an additional price. Customers of Amazon Video can stream on the web using an HTML5 player, in Firefox and Safari, only Microsoft Silverlight is supported. Amazon video is available on Amazons Fire devices, smart phones, tablets, PCs, TVs supporting the service include LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony
23.
Apple TV
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Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and sold by Apple Inc. It is a network appliance and entertainment device that can receive digital data from a number of sources. Apple TV is an HDMI-compliant source device, to use it for viewing, it has to be connected to an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen television via an HDMI cable. Its Wi-Fi capability is used to receive digital content from various iOS apps using AirPlay or directly from the iTunes Store. It plays content from any macOS or Windows computer running iTunes, Apple began to promote the Live Tune-In feature that allows the viewer to ask Siri to tune to live streams of CBS, ESPN, and Disney XD among others that support Live Tune-In. Apple TV was unveiled as a work in progress called iTV on September 12,2006 using a modified Front Row interface using the Apple Remote, Apple started taking pre-orders for Apple TV on January 9,2007. Apple TV started shipping on March 21,2007 with a 40 GB hard disk, Apple released a 160 GB HDD model on May 31,2007, and ceased selling the 40 GB HDD version on September 14,2009. The update allowed the device to rent and purchase content directly from iTunes Store, as well as podcasts and stream photos from MobileMe. Later updates to the Apple TV, iTunes and Remote software added support for the iPad, the second generation Apple TV was unveiled on September 1,2010, and was the first to run on a variant of iOS. The device was now housed in a very small all-black case, the new model did away with an internal hard drive and had 8 GB internal flash storage, enough local storage for buffering purposes, all media was now streamed, instead of synced. The new device could also stream rented content from iTunes and video from computers or iOS devices via AirPlay, All content is drawn from online or locally connected sources. In July 2011, Apple discontinued the Front Row interface for Mac users, in the March 7,2012 presentation that mainly dealt with the third generation iPad, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a third version of the Apple TV. The third generation Apple TV is externally identical to the second generation model and it also supports 1080p content from iTunes and Netflix. On January 28,2013, Apple released a third generation Rev A which included component changes, on March 9,2015, Apple reduced the price of the third generation Apple TV to $69. On October 4,2016, 9to5Mac reported that Apple had phased out the Apple TV3, with Apple Store employees instructed to all units. Shortly afterwards, Apple took down the page for the Apple TV3 from its website. On September 9,2015, Apple announced the fourth generation Apple TV and it is the first major update to the platform since the release of the second generation Apple TV on September 1,2010. Tim Cook took the stage and said The future of TV is apps and he also stated that the Apple TV needed a modern OS
24.
Hulu
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Hulu is an American subscription video on demand service owned by Hulu LLC, a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast, and as of August 10,2016, Time Warner. It is primarily oriented towards television series, carrying current and past episodes of series from its owners respective television networks, the subscription service is, in turn, divided into advertising-supported and mostly ad-free tiers. In 2016, Hulu spun out its content into a joint venture with Yahoo. called Yahoo. View and announced plans for a television streaming service some time in 2017. The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese words, húlú, calabash, bottle gourd, and hùlù, interactive recording, the company blog explains, In Mandarin, Hulu has two interesting meanings, each highly relevant to our mission. The primary meaning interested us because it is used in an ancient Chinese proverb that describes the Hulu as the holder of precious things and it literally translates to gourd, and in ancient times, the Hulu was hollowed out and used to hold precious things. The secondary meaning is interactive recording and we saw both definitions as appropriate bookends and highly relevant to the mission of Hulu. Key executives instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell, Peter Chernin, JB Perrette, Michael Lang, Beth Comstock, the venture was announced in March 2006 with AOL, Comcast, Facebook, MSN, Myspace, and Yahoo. planned as initial distribution partners. Kilar was named the CEO in June 2006, the name Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live, with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their addresses for the upcoming beta test. In October, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12,2008. The first product to launch was the HULU Syndication network, which was designed and developed by the NBC Universal team from New York, on October 29,2007, followed by the Hulu. com destinations site. Hulu began a campaign during NBCs broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII with an initial ad starring Alec Baldwin titled Alec in Huluwood. The ad intended to reveal the shocking secret behind Hulu. Advertisements have since aired featuring Eliza Dushku, Seth MacFarlane, Denis Leary, with its investment came a seat on the board of directors, where Providence was said to act as an independent voice on the board. In October 2012, Providence sold its 10 percent stake to Hulus media owners, ComScore says monthly video streams reached 903 million in January 2010, over three times the figure for a year earlier, and second only to YouTube. On August 16,2010, a report revealed that Hulu was planning an Initial Public Offering which could value the company at more than $2 billion. On June 21,2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that an unsolicited offer caused Hulu to begin weighing whether to sell itself
25.
PlayStation Network
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PlayStation Network is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, as of April 2016, over 110 million users have been documented, with 65 million of them active monthly. Launched in the year 2000, Sonys second home console, the PlayStation 2, had rudimentary online features in select games via its online network and it required a network adaptor, which was available as an add-on for original models and integrated into the hardware on slimline models. However, Sony provided no unified service for the system, so support for features was specific to each game and third-party server. In March 2006, Sony officially introduced its online service. A list of supporting features was announced at the Tokyo Game Show later the same year, Sony launched an optional premium subscription service on top of the free PSN service in June 2010. Known as PlayStation Plus, the system provides access to content, complimentary games, regular store discounts. Following a security intrusion, the PlayStation Network had a suspension of operation which began on April 20,2011. Lasting 23 days, this outage was the longest amount of time the PSN had been offline since its inception in 2006, Sony reported that user data had been obtained during the intrusion. Users also received 30 free days of PlayStation Plus, while users who were already subscribed before the outage got 60 free days, in July 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that they had acquired video game streaming service Gaikai for $380 million. The acquisition was later strengthened when Sony acquired the assets of Gaikais market rival OnLive, during 2014, Sony rolled out the service in North America on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in beta form as a means for users to test performance and pricing structures. On December 25,2014, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live suffered network disruption after a denial-of-service attack, both services were flooded with millions of inauthentic connection requests, making it hard for genuine users to establish a connection. Functionality was restored on December 26, with some users experiencing difficulties in the days that followed, on January 1,2015, Sony announced that users would be compensated for the downtime with a 5-day extension to PlayStation Plus memberships. Formerly the gaming provision of the much broader Sony Entertainment Network, while synonymous with gaming, Sony said the PlayStation Network had evolved to become a comprehensive digital entertainment brand. The PlayStation Network is available as both a free and subscription-based service, known as PlayStation Plus, a comparison of free and premium services, Friends list, allowing for 100 friends on PS3 and up to 2000 friends on PS4 and PS Vita. Online gaming, including cooperative and competitive multiplayer, matchmaking and cross-platform play in supported titles, Live from PlayStation, Browse live or archived game streams. Parental controls, limiting access to age restricted content and shopping cart, including block list, Portable ID, A small infographic, showcasing a users Online ID and trophy level, intended for use as a forum signature. Share Play allows users to invite a friend to join their game session
26.
Sling TV
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Sling TV is an American over-the-top internet television service that is owned by Dish Network. Sling TV is led by CEO Roger Lynch, who served as the executive vice president of advanced technologies for Dish Network. The services precursor, the television service DishWorld, was also brought under the auspices of Sling TV LLC and was rebranded as Sling International. Sling TV officially launched on February 9,2015, after offering the service on a basis in January of that year. As of March 2017, the service has approximately 1.18 million subscribers. In November 2014, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen explained that the company planned to launch its OTT service by the end of the year and he explained, the regular linear MVPD business is a mature business. You cant just go back every day and say Im going to raise my rates to make my budget and you have to figure out other revenue streams and get other people to pay for your product and watch more minutes of your product. Dish did not provide any details on when the service would be launched. Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch explained that the service was designed to target the viewing habits of the 18–35 demographic and we would have ended up with $60 or $70 bundles. We dont think that is the way to reach that demographic and we spent a lot of time working with programmers to make sure we had smaller bundles, lower costs and more flexibility. He also noted the importance of reaching a deal to include ESPN in the service, after an invitation-only beta, Sling TV officially launched on February 9,2015. That same day, Sling announced a deal with AMC Networks, allowing networks such as AMC, IFC, BBC America. On February 16,2015, Sling TV announced an agreement to all four channels of Epix as a premium channel option to its customers. The premium channel was added to its service on April 9,2015, Sling TV debuted Sling Latino on June 4,2015. The service features two Spanish-language packages, Paquete Total and Paquete Esencial, customers can purchase two additional add-on packs, Colombia and España. This service does not require the purchase of the Best of Live TV package, in November 2015, the Blockbuster On Demand service by Blockbuster LLC was shut down and all customers were redirected to Sling. Sling TV began offering a Multi-Stream package on April 13,2016 that includes the FOX family of networks and this was attained by dropping ESPN, ESPN2, Disney Channel, and Freeform. Sling TV added FS2, FXX, Nat Geo Wild and Viacom Media Networks channels to the Multi-Stream package, Sling restructured their channel offerings on June 30,2016, creating the Sling Orange single-stream and Sling Blue multi-stream packages
27.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day. This increased to three billion in May 2011, and four billion in January 2012, in February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube was watched every day
28.
Cable television
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This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables, analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A cable channel is a television network available via cable television, alternative terms include non-broadcast channel or programming service, the latter being mainly used in legal contexts. Examples of cable/satellite channels/cable networks available in many countries are HBO, MTV, Cartoon Network, E. Eurosport, the abbreviation CATV is often used for cable television. It originally stood for Community Access Television or Community Antenna Television, in areas where over-the-air TV reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large community antennas were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. The origins of cable broadcasting for radio are even older as radio programming was distributed by cable in some European cities as far back as 1924, Cable television has gone through a series of steps of evolution in the United States and Canada. Particularly in Canada, communities with their own signals were fertile cable markets, as viewers wanted to receive American signals. Early systems carried only a maximum of seven channels, using 2,4,5 or 6,7,9,11 and 13, as the equipment was unable to confine the signal discreetly within the assigned channel bandwidth. The reason 4 and 5 along with 6 and 7 could be used together was because of the 4 MHz gap between 4 and 5 and the nearly 90 MHz gap between 6 and 7. Even though eight channels are listed, in systems that maximized 7 channels. As equipment improved, all channels could be utilized, except where a local VHF television station broadcast. Local broadcast channels were not usable for signals deemed to be priority, later, the cable operators began to carry FM radio stations, and encouraged subscribers to connect their FM stereo sets to cable. Before stereo and bilingual TV sound became common, Pay-TV channel sound was added to the FM stereo cable line-ups, about this time, operators expanded beyond the 12-channel dial to use the midband and superband VHF channels adjacent to the high band 7-13 of North American television frequencies. Some operators as in Cornwall, Ontario, used a dual distribution network with Channels 2-13 on each of the two cables, during the 1980s, United States regulations not unlike public, educational, and government access created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. These stations evolved partially into todays over-the-air digital subchannels, where a main broadcast TV station e. g, many live local programs with local interests were subsequently created all over the United States in most major television markets in the early 1980s. This evolved into todays many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies and miniseries, Cable specialty channels, starting with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, diversified further, and narrowcasting became common. By the late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, by the mid-1980s in Canada, cable operators were allowed by the regulator to enter into distribution contracts with cable networks on their own. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above the basic selection, by subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels
29.
Satellite television
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A direct-broadcast satellite is a type of artificial satellite which usually broadcasts satellite television signals for home reception. The type of satellite television which uses direct-broadcast satellites is known as direct-broadcast satellite television or direct-to-home television and these services were to use the D-Mac and D2-Mac format and BSS frequencies with circular polarization from orbital positions allocated to each country. Before these DBS satellites, home satellite television in Europe was limited to a few channels, really intended for cable distribution, in 1977, the ITU adopted an international BSS Plan under which each country was allocated specific frequencies at specific orbital locations for domestic service. Over the years, this plan has been modified to, for example, accommodate new countries, increase coverage areas, at present, numerous countries have brought into use their BSS Plan allocations. By contrast, the term DTH can apply to similar services transmitted over a range of frequencies transmitted from satellites that are not part of any internationally planned band. The term DBS is often used interchangeably with DTH to cover both analog and digital video and audio services received by relatively small dishes, a DBS service usually refers to either a commercial service, or a group of free channels available from one orbital position targeting one country. In certain regions of the world, especially in North America, DBS is used to refer to providers of subscription satellite packages, the second commercial DBS service, Sky Television plc, was launched in 1989. Sky TV started as a four-channel free-to-air analogue service on the Astra 1A satellite, by 1991, Sky had changed to a conditional access pay model, and it launched a digital service, Sky Digital, in 1998, with analogue transmission ceasing in 2001. Since the DBS nomenclature is used in the UK or Ireland. News Corporation has a 32% stake in BSkyB, PrimeStar began transmitting an analog service to North America in 1991, and was joined by DirecTV, in 1994. At the time, DirecTVs introduction was the most successful consumer electronics debut in American history, although PrimeStar transitioned to a digital system in 1994, it was ultimately unable to compete with DirecTV, which required a smaller satellite dish and could deliver more programming. DirecTV purchased PrimeStar in 1999 and moved all of that subscribers to DirecTV equipment. In 2008, Liberty Media Corporation purchased News Corporations controlling interest in DirecTV, in 1996, EchoStars Dish Network went online in the United States and, as DirecTVs primary competitor, achieved similar success. AlphaStar also started but soon went under, astro was also started, using a direct broadcast satellite system. Dominion Video Satellite Inc. s Sky Angel launched on a platform in the United States in 1996, with its DBS service geared toward the faith. It grew from six to 36 television and radio channels of entertainment, Christian-inspirational programming. Dominion, under its corporate name Video Satellite Systems Inc. Sky Angel, although a separate and independent DBS service, used the satellites, transmission facilities
30.
Television network
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Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early television networks evolved from earlier radio networks, such networks are commonly referred to by terms such as specialty channels in Canada or cable networks in the U. S. A network may or may not produce all of its own programming, if not, production companies can distribute their content to the various networks, and it is common that a certain production firm may have programs that air on two or more rival networks. Similarly, some networks may import television programs from other countries, some stations have the capability to interrupt the network through the local insertion of television commercials, station identifications and emergency alerts. Others completely break away from the network for their own programming and this is common where small networks are members of larger networks. The majority of television stations are self-owned, even though a variety of these instances are the property of an owned-and-operated television network. The commercial television stations can also be linked with an educational broadcasting agency. It is also important to note that some countries have launched national television networks, on the other hand, television networks also undergo the impending experience of major changes related to cultural varieties. The emergence of television has made available in major media markets. Such a diverse captive audience presents an occasion for the networks and this is explained by author Tim P. Vos notes that policymakers did not expressly intend to create a broadcast order dominated by commercial networks. In fact, legislative attempts were made to limit the networks preferred position, as to individual stations, modern network operations centers usually use broadcast automation to handle most tasks. A major international network is the British Broadcasting Corporation, which is perhaps most well known for its news agency BBC News. Owned by the Crown, the BBC operates primarily in the United Kingdom and it is funded by the television licence paid by British residents that watch terrestrial television and as a result, no commercial advertising appears on its networks. Outside of the UK, advertising is broadcast because the licence fee applies to the BBCs British operations. 23,000 people worldwide are employed by the BBC and its subsidiary, other networks are dedicated to specialized programming, such as religious content or programs presented in languages other than English, particularly Spanish. The largest television network in the United States, however, is the Public Broadcasting Service, some public television outlets, such as PBS, carry separate digital subchannel networks through their member stations. This works as each network sends its signal to many local affiliated stations across the country. These local stations then carry the feed, which can be viewed by millions of households across the country
31.
Flagship (broadcasting)
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Not all networks or shows have a flagship station, as some originate from a dedicated radio or television studio. The term derives from the custom where the commanding officer of a group of naval ships would fly a distinguishing flag. In common parlance, flagship is now used to mean the most important or leading member of a group, the term is primarily used in TV and radio in the United States and Canada. With Kelly and Michael from WABC-TV in New York City Networks Midnight Radio Network from WBAP in Dallas/Fort Worth Events Masters Tournament from WRDW-TV, a flagship radio station is the principal station from which a radio networks programs are fed to affiliates. In the United States, traditional radio networks currently operate without flagship stations as defined in this article, Network operations and those of the local owned-and-operated or affiliated stations in the same city are now separate and may come under different corporate entities. ABC Radio programming is produced by ABC News and distributed by Cumulus Media, Clear Channel Communications follows a similar model, flagship stations WOR/New York City and KFI/Los Angeles are both operated mostly separately from its syndication wing, Premiere Networks. WWRL in New York City was an affiliate of the now-defunct Air America Radio and carries some of its programs but is owned and operated. Originally, Air America Radio leased WLIB as its flagship station, the network would later lease WZAA in Washington, D. C. as its lone self-operated station. Fox Sports Radios flagship station is KLAC in Los Angeles, with which it merged operations in 2009, Sports Radio is flagshipped at KGOW in Houston, its predecessor, Sporting News Radio, was previously flagshipped at WIDB in Chicago. CBS Sports Radio is nominally flagshipped at WFAN, ESPN Radios technical flagship is affiliate WUCS which serves its base of operations in Bristol, Connecticut, though WEPN-FM in New York and Los Angeles station KSPN serve as true flagship stations. NBC Sports Radio has no definitive flagship stations, nash FM, a country music network, is nominally flagshipped at WKDF in Nashville, Tennessee. Both are former AM clear channel operations which have moved to FM, the CKO networks Toronto frequency was re-issued to CBL but the namesake CKO flagship in Montréal is silent, the frequency remains vacant. Some programs such as Imus in the Morning are simulcast on television, others are simulcasted on XM Satellite Radio and / or Sirius Satellite Radio. C. C. Paul, Minnesota On Air with Ryan Seacrest, KIIS /Los Angeles, the show is now on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 100. WOR in New York City was the station of the syndicated programs of Jay Severin, Bob Grant, The Dolans. WGN in Chicago was considered the station for Paul Harveys News and Comment. KABC in Los Angeles was the base of Larry Elder until the show ended its run in 2009. WABC had been the flagship of The Rush Limbaugh Show before Limbaugh moved to West Palm Beach, Florida
32.
Feature film
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A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
33.
Television program
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It may be a single production, or more commonly, a series of related productions. A limited number of episodes of a show may be called a miniseries or a serial or limited series. Television series are without a fixed length and are divided into seasons or series. While there is no defined length, U. S. industry practice has traditionally favored longer television seasons than those of other countries, a one-time broadcast may be called a special, or particularly in the UK a special episode. A television film is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video, a program can be either recorded, as on video tape, other various electronic media forms, played with an on-demand player or viewed on live television. Television programs may be fictional, or non-fictional and it may be topical, or historical. They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy, a drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures, except for soap opera-type serials, many shows especially before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little. If some change happened to the characters lives during the episode, because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order. Since the 1980s, there are series that feature progressive change to the plot. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time television series to have this kind of dramatic structure. While the later series, Babylon 5 is an example of such production that had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run. In 2012, it was reported that television was growing into a component of major media companies revenues than film. Some also noted the increase in quality of television programs. When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew. Then they offer it to the networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series. They want very much to get the word out on what types of shows they’re looking for, to create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they pick up the show to air it the next season, sometimes they save it for mid-season, or request rewrites and further review
34.
Boxing
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, however, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from. In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, however, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
35.
Mixed martial arts
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Mixed martial arts is a full-contact combat sport that allows both striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground, using techniques from other combat sports and martial arts. The first documented use of the mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The term gained popularity when newfullcontact. com, then one of the largest websites covering the sport, the question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various mixed-style contests took place throughout Japan, in 1980 CV Productions, Inc. created the first regulated MMA league in the United States, named Tough Guy Contest, later renamed Battle of the Superfighters. The company sanctioned ten tournaments in Pennsylvania, however, in 1983 the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill prohibiting the sport. In 1993, the Gracie family brought vale tudo, developed in Brazil from the 1920s, later, individual fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style. MMA promoters were pressured to adopt additional rules to increase safety, to comply with sport regulations. Following these changes, the sport has increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing. In Ancient Greece there was a sport called pankration, which featured a combination of grappling and striking skills similar to found in modern MMA. Pankration was formed by a combination of the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. Fighters, also known as pankratists, fought until a fighter submitted, according to E. Norman Gardiner, No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration. From its origins in Ancient Greece, pankration was later passed on to the Romans, the mid nineteenth century saw the prominence of the new sport savate in the combat sports circle. At that time, French fighters wanted to test out the sport against the traditional styles of its time. However, the English team still won the four other match-ups during the contest, since then other similar contest also occurred by the late 19th to mid-20th century between French Savateurs and other combat styles. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman Wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. In September 1901, Frank Paddy Slavin, who had been a contender for Sullivans boxing title, knocked out future world wrestling champion Frank Gotch in Dawson City, Canada. The judo-practitioner Ren-nierand who gained fame after defeating George Dubois, would again in another similar contest against Ukrainian wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Another early example of mixed martial arts was Bartitsu, which Edward William Barton-Wright founded in London in 1899, merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules, including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission
36.
Stand-up comedy
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Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian. In stand-up comedy, the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine, some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in clubs, bars and pubs, nightclubs. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD, in stand-up comedy, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial for the comedians act. Audiences expect a stand-up comic to provide a stream of laughs. Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious, a stand-up comedy show may involve only one comedian, or feature a headline or a showcase format. This is followed by one or two middle or featured acts, who perform 15- to 20-minute sets, followed by a headliner who performs for longer, a showcase format may still feature an MC. Bringer shows are another opportunity for amateur performers, the performer must bring a specified number of paying guests in order to get stage time. The guests usually have to pay a charge and there is often a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered. These shows usually have a showcase format and this type of show gives comedians better exposure than open mics because there is usually better audience turnout and industry professionals sometimes go to watch. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows, gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example, usually has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City usually has six-person bringers. As the name implies, stand-up comedians usually perform their material while standing, stand-up comedy has its origin in classic Parrhesia in 400 BC used for cynics and epicureans in order to tell the reality without censorship. Stand-up comedy in the United Kingdom began in the halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlains Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship, the act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil. The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form, the rise of the post-war comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead, alternative circuits had evolved, such as working mens clubs. The alternative comedy scene began to evolve
37.
Brand
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A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising, however, the term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that ‘brand’ now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors, the key components that form a brands toolbox include a brand’s identity, brand communication, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding strategies. Brand equity is the totality of a brands worth and is validated by assessing the effectiveness of these branding components. To reach such an invaluable brand prestige requires a commitment to a way of doing business. A corporation who exhibits a strong brand culture is dedicated on producing intangible outputs such as customer satisfaction, reduced price sensitivity and customer loyalty. A brand is in essence a promise to its customers that they can expect long-term security, when a customer is familiar with a brand or favours it incomparably to its competitors, this is when a corporation has reached a high level of brand equity. Many companies are beginning to understand there is often little to differentiate between products in the 21st century. Branding remains the last bastion for differentiation, in accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable asset on a corporation’s balance sheet. The word ‘brand’ is often used as a referring to the company that is strongly identified with a brand. Marque or make are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle, a concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a associated with a commodity. The word, brand, derives from Dutch brand meaning to burn and this product was developed at Dhosi Hill, an extinct volcano in northern India. Roman glassmakers branded their works, with Ennion being the most prominent, the Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th century. Blind Stamps, hallmarks, and silver-makers marks are all types of brand, industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red-triangle brand as the worlds first trademark. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, which has stamped or carved its bricks with the same proto-logo since 1731, cattle-branding has been used since Ancient Egypt. The term, maverick, originally meaning an un-branded calf, came from a Texas pioneer rancher, Sam Maverick, use of the word maverick spread among cowboys and came to apply to unbranded calves found wandering alone
38.
Paramount Plaza
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Paramount Plaza is a 48-story skyscraper on Broadway in New York City that houses two Broadway theatres. In 2007 it was listed as number 46 on the list of tallest buildings in New York City, the Uris Building, designed by Emery Roth and Sons, was built in 1970 on the site of the former Capitol Theatre movie palace. It was developed by the Uris brothers, who, at the time, Building the tower demonstrated a confidence in the Times Square neighborhood, which was then in decline and dominated by sex-related businesses. The 669 ft tower that occupies most of the block west of Broadway between West 51st and West 50th Streets has interior space of 2,241,000 sq ft. It was originally called the Uris Building for the developers, a smaller theatre operated by the non-profit Circle in the Square company is also in the space. Portions of The King of Comedy and Silent Movie were shot there, the Uris Theatre was eventually renamed the Gershwin. The southern of the two plazas on Broadway has a gymnasium and an entrance to the 50th Street subway station of the New York City Subway. Between November 1998 and January 2012, the northern one housed Mars 2112, the name of German financial services company Allianz was recently affixed to the top of the building on all four sides. Other tenants include Warner Music Group, Showtime Networks, and the law firm of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP
