Amazon has debuted its Fire TV Stick Basic Edition streaming media player in Canada and more than 100 countries and territories around the world.
The player stick comes with 1 GB of memory and 8 GB of storage for apps and games. It also features 802.11ac WiFi and can support High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) for 1080p HD streaming.
Customers can set their default language as Brazilian, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish.
“Last year, we made Amazon Prime Video available to customers globally, and today, we’re building on that momentum as we introduce Fire TV Stick Basic Edition to new customers around the world,” Marc Whitten, VP of Amazon Fire TV, says in a statement. “This makes streaming content from apps like Prime Video fast and easy and we can’t wait to hear what customers think.”
Customers in Canada can access popular content from various providers, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube.
The Fire TV Stick Basic Edition is available for $49.99.
21st Century Fox has reportedly held talks in past weeks to sell most of its assets to Walt Disney.
While the talks are not active and there is no certainty of a deal, they could be revisited again, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
An acquisition would result in a media company focused on news and sports. To avoid antitrust concerns, Disney would not purchase Fox’s sports programming assets, or the Fox News or Business channel, according to CNBC. Fox’s local broadcasting affiliates would also not be part of the deal.
The transaction would leave Disney with significant TV production assets, as well as entertainment networks like FX and National Geographic. A deal would also remove a competitor to Disney’s film studio.
Alticast has added HTML5 support to its Apex virtualization platform for pay-TV set-top boxes.
Alticast says the new feature enables pay-TV operators to render user interfaces and apps on a virtual cloud-based browser and send the images to the client device, allowing for fast deployments and upgrades.
“Delivery of services with maximum efficiency requires a flexible platform that can adapt to differing video requirements,” Joonhee Oh, head of the Cloud Business Division for Alticast, says in a statement. “By adding HTML5 support to Apex, Alticast is creating a highly flexible approach that allows operators dynamically to configure their networks to choose the best possible delivery option — based on video type, time-to-market needs, network capabilities, and other factors — at any given time.”
The new capability means Apex hybrid solutions can be deployed that include both cloud rendering of HTML5 apps, as well as rendering approach that uses Javascript conversion processes to enable delivery of rich animations to STBs.
Security solutions provider Secure Channels has teamed up with GET OUT Executive Producer Shuan Redick to develop its own Entertainment Security Operations Center (ESOC).
The membership-based security hub will provide clients with an automated architecture to prove a secure environment for accessing and sharing entertainment content that is in the works, such as pre-release scripts, and other intellectual property.
“We created this ESOC security platform in collaboration with Shaun to prevent damaging hacks such as the Sony and HBO breaches,” Richard Blech, CEO of Secure Channels, comments in a statement. “By leveraging our proven array of full-spectrum, data security solutions and provide entertainment clients with a secure centralized hub for easily managing content, emails, and film in an automated and permissions-based secure environment.”
The tier 3 data center infrastructure hub is located in Los Angeles and is combined with dark fiber tethering to enable ESOC’s solutions and scalability options.
“I intimately understand Hollywood and the production cycle required for developing intellectual properties for the big screen as well as television, and know firsthand that the industry’s content is not managed securely,” Redick says. “I’m thrilled to be a stakeholder with ESOC and to lend my experience and knowledge regarding the gaps in security and the important business drivers for studios, networks, production companies, and post production houses. ESOC is about not only the improvement of technology and security, but also the implementation. We aren’t asking Hollywood to change how it works, we’re providing all of the players with a secure framework to protect content investments, and their files and emails.”
Secure Channels says membership is priced very competitively and clients can also apply for more cyber security insurance coverage from three major carriers through their membership in ESOC.
