CTA started an “active project” to update its seven-year-old CTA-2037 standard on measuring TV power consumption, said Brian Markwalter, senior vice president-research and standards, in a statement. How to measure TV energy use by up-to-date standards became a hotbed of discussion in March when EPA announced it would deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found not to be comparably energy-efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences,” versus testing done using the existing IEC 62087 test clip standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission. Members of the CTA working group (R4 Working Group 13) tasked with revising CTA-2037 “want to ensure that the revised standard measures TV power in the way consumers “typically watch television,” said Markwalter.

Fiat Chrysler received a retroactive waiver of FCC rules on accessibility of user interfaces for some of the automaker's vehicles made without an accessible rear entertainment system. More than 7,100 Dodge Journey vehicles were shipped without the audio files necessary for accessibility functions required by user interface rules due to a supplier error, and a Media Bureau order Monday said the company made good-faith effort to address the unsold ones, requiring any dealer first update the computer code allowing audio accessibility before selling one of the affected Journeys. The bureau granted the manufacturer a permanent waiver for the 4,400 noncompliant Journeys already sold as long as the company complies with consumer notification efforts within 30 days of grant of the waiver, letting them know about the free software update. The bureau said it received no comments or replies on the petition (see 1706200065).

The FCC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had scheduled a nationwide test of the emergency alert system at 2:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday, said FEMA and the FCC in a joint reminder Monday. "Periodic testing of public alert and warning systems helps to assess the operational readiness of alerting infrastructure, and to identify any needed technological and administrative improvements," FEMA said. Broadcasters will have to file a quick report within 24 hours of the test, and a more-detailed report by Nov. 13, reminded Davis Wright in a blog post. The FCC said broadcasters affected by recent hurricanes have until then to file both reports (see 1709220061).

Shooting virtual-reality content that won’t make viewers sick requires camera operators limiting “vertical bobbing,” Richard Mills, Sky VR Studios technical director, told SMPTE webinar participants. “Those of you who get seasick or travel-sick know that if you are in a car and not looking out the window, then the up-and-down, rolling motion of the car can very quickly lead to sickness,” Mills said Thursday. “There’s disparity between what our eyes are seeing and what our bodies are doing. The type of motion which affects us most of all is the vertical movement of the head.” Videogame chase scenes, "to give the impression of motion, do sometimes have a virtual camera that bobs,” Mills said. “That’s fine, because we’re viewing it in a screen, and outside the screen, we see the real world.” When donning a VR headset, “we are totally enclosed within that world, with no exterior reference,” he said. Sky uses PlayStation VR consoles and head-mounted displays to quality-control 360-degree content, Mills said.

The FTC cleared the way for Disney to raise its stake in BAMTech to 75 percent, said an early termination notice ending the transaction’s Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period. A year after spending $1 billion to acquire 33 percent of BAMTech as the springboard to launching ESPN- and Disney-branded subscription streaming services, Disney announced Aug. 8 it will pay $1.58 billion more to buy an additional 42 percent of the streaming-technology company (see 1708080065).

Gracenote linked with Connekt and Ensequence to bring interactive capability to linear TV advertisements and other programming, it announced Tuesday. The first company's technology identifies ads in real-time using frame-by-frame image recognition, so Connekt and Ensequence can instantaneously deliver a corresponding graphical overlay. The technologies create “limitless” opportunities for TV advertising, said Kelly Abcarian, Nielsen senior vice president-product leadership. Gracenote didn't respond to questions on privacy.

Programmer Entertainment Studios is launching an over-the-top subscription platform, Sports.TV, that aggregates various independent sports networks, it said Monday.

Roku agreed to pay $3.5 million to buy all outstanding shares of a privately held Danish technology firm to “enhance” its “player product offering,” the company said in an amended S-1 registration statement filed Monday at the SEC for its initial public offering (see 1709050080). Roku didn’t identify the firm it acquired Sept. 6 -- five days after filing its original S-1 filing. Roku signed an independent contractor services agreement Sept. 12 with Neil Hunt, who joined the Roku board in August after an 18-year career as Netflix chief product officer, the filing said. The contractor agreement will pay Hunt $5,000 for each day he provides consulting services to CEO Anthony Wood, not to exceed $120,000 in any “rolling” 12-month period.

Linear pay-TV operators are running out of time and options in the face of changing technologies and consumer viewing preferences, Moody's said Tuesday. It said higher churn rates and mounting subscriber losses are likely as cable operators and broadcasters deal with shifting demographics, less consumer availability of disposable income and the lack of "appointment" TV beyond expensive sports programming. It said virtual MVPDs are making inroads while the linear pay-TV industry has avoided trying to reinvent the platform, and competitive issues are growing with increased original programming spending by subscription VOD operations and companies like Apple and Facebook planning to commission original content for their video platform. Moody's said "the nail in the coffin" for linear pay-TV will be content companies increasingly going directly to consumers, with subscriber losses likely to be 3 to 4 percent annually in coming years vs. 2 to 3 percent now.

Service bundling is a “high priority” area for Pandora, said Naveen Chopra, chief financial officer and interim CEO. Responding to a question at an investor conference last week on whether Pandora is looking at bundles similar to Spotify and Hulu's, offering a student subscription to both for $4.99, Chopra expressed interest in working with over-the-top content providers, whether wireless carriers, traditional video players or broadband providers. Digital assistant platforms “are growing like wildfire,” Chopra also said, predicting the evolution of the voice market will be a lot like the mobile ecosystem that built audiences through many applications.