The largest trade show in the Americas must be a great place to show off new products, right? Wrong. The International Consumer Electronics Show is quickly becoming a launch pad for products that fall flat. When the annual conclave kicks off next week, organizers expect more than 140,000 people – roughly the population of Syracuse, […]
Telecommunications
Charter adds Turner Networks to TV Everywhere fold
Charter’s TV Everywhere platform received a big boost with the recent addition of video content, both online and via mobile apps, from Turner Entertainment Networks. With the new agreement, more than 4 million Charter subscribers now have access to more than 500 hours of video entertainment from the likes of TBS, TNT, truTV, Cartoon Network […]
Clearwire’s got capacity to share
Clearwire’s got capacity in the 2.5 GHz band, and it’s here to share it – at the right price. That sums up part of the message during a fireside chat with Clearwire CFO Hope Cochran at the Citi conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. The event was webcast. Much of Clearwire’s traffic is driven by […]
Sigma Designs, Quantenna team on design for networked STB
Sigma Designs is offering a reference design for a set-top box that incorporates a Wi-Fi router based on Quantenna’s 802.11n 4 x 4 MIMO technology. “By adding Quantenna’s highly reliable Wi-Fi video delivery to our portfolio, we now can provide our customers with the most complete connectivity solution in the industry,” said Thinh Tran, CEO […]
Verizon Wireless posts record Q4 iPhone sales; profits suffer
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said Wednesday that the company sold a record 4.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, but its success came at a cost. The strong sales of the device – more than double the 2 million Verizon Wireless sold during the third quarter – are expected to take a chunk out of […]
MetroPCS inks broadcast mobile TV deal
The long-nascent market for broadcast mobile television got a boost today when MetroPCS Communications announced that it will be the nation’s first wireless operator to offer its customers the service. The company will start selling an Android-based Samsung smartphone later this year equipped with an ATSC chip, the hardware needed to receive broadcast mobile television […]
Broadcom gears up for CES with Sling, MoCA 2.0 SoC
Broadcom has a full dance card of TV Everywhere and connected home offerings for next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show, including six system-on-a-chip (SoC) MoCA 2.0 products and the integration of Sling Media into a SoC platform. With the integration of EchoStar’s place-shifting Sling Media software into Broadcom’s BCM7425 dual HD transcoding MoCA 2.0 gateway […]
Lawmakers want probe of Huawei sales to Iran
Six lawmakers have asked the State Department to investigate whether Huawei and other infrastructure vendors violated U.S. sanctions against Iran by selling telecommunications equipment to the Middle East nation. The officials said in a newly released letter sent Dec. 22 by Rep. Sue Myric’s office that media reports suggested that China-based Huawei provided the Iranian […]
Verizon reverses on $2 fee for one-time payments
After a customer backlash, Verizon Wireless dropped a plan to start charging $2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit or debit cards. In a statement on its website, the company said “customer feedback” prompted the decision to drop the “convenience fee” it wanted to introduce on Jan. 15. […]
FCC approves AT&T purchase of Qualcomm spectrum
The week before Christmas, the Federal Communications Commission approved wireless carrier AT&T’s $1.93 billion purchase of unused wireless spectrum from Qualcomm. AT&T said a year ago that it planned to buy the spectrum to add capacity to its 4G network, which it has been rolling out across the country. The network’s higher speeds make it […]