Five Inventions Transforming the Television Industry

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Oculus Rift user
Oculus Rift user
Researchers and specialists are continually innovating and developing new technologies to improve and enhance the television viewing experience. Here’s an overview of the top five inventions currently attracting a ton of attention for their futuristic methods and concepts.

INAir

The boffins at SeeSpace recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign on March 8 for their INAir augmented television product, raising $177,837 when they only requested $100,000.
INAir
INAir

The device features a special HDMI cable that connects between a TV and a set-top box; communication from a second-screen mobile app then allows a viewer to create an Internet-based overlay on top of whatever is on the screen, providing further content and information about the film or show, e.g. soundtrack data, placed products, sports statistics, related articles, social media connections, etc.

When utilized with a 3D television, the information appears like an Iron Man-inspired hologram in front of the screen.

Oculus Rift

This virtual reality headset was also revealed on Kickstarter, where it quickly ran away with the ball in 2012, securing an incredible $2.4 million in financing. It’s now raised more than $90 million, and in January won the 2014 Best of CES Award. The goggles were initially pitched as something that would revolutionize playing video games, but many people have now found uses for it that involve movies and TV.
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift

The latest prototype offers a 1080p OLED display and motion-tracking system, and the finished item is rumored to be released towards the end of 2014.

Alfonso Cuarón, winner of the Academy Award for Best Director (“Gravity”), visited Oculus VR headquarters, and at January’s Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Chris Milk showed off a documentary made with rocker Beck that allows an Oculus Rift user to feel immersed on stage.

A programmer has created an application called Deskope that provides someone who possesses a TV tuner card the ability to watch TV with their Rift if they so desire.

Sony has already taken steps to come up with a competing product, Project Morpheus.

4K Resolution

Move aside 1080p and 720p of the early aughts, ultra high definition (UHD) 4K resolution is taking over as an industry standard.

The number 4K, or 4,000, is descriptive of the amount of pixels located on the horizontal side of the rectangle. The technical native resolution is 3840×2160, but manufacturers chose to round up for simplicity.
4K Resolution
4K Resolution

The signal is being utilized in television sets, movie screens, cameras, computer monitors and more. Business Insider Intelligence is predicting that 4K Ultra HD will be in 50% of North American households by 2024, and believes that it will be adopted much quicker than HD.

And why would you want a 4K television set? Currently, a 1080p device is capable of containing two million pixels; a 4K device quadruples the quality, with eight million.

Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and M-GO have all announced plans for streaming their content in 4K beginning this year.

OLED

Many homes have become accustomed to their LCD and LED screens over the years, and the next upgrade has arrived: Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED).

What differentiates OLED from its predecessors is its size, refresh rate, energy efficiency and flexibility. The technology also allows for individual pixels to operate and light up separately from one another, versus LED, which requires a backlight. 
Samsung Multi View
Samsung Multi View

Manufacturing OLED panels – which are often curved – is incredibly expensive, however, and as such the cost to consumers is a bit high. Even Samsung’s executive vice president of Visual Display Business, HS Kim, thinks it will “take around three to four years" for the prices to decrease.

The South Korean company revealed their brand new 55” Class (54.6” Diag.)S9C Series last November for an eye-popping, sticker shock-inducing $8,999.99.

And what do you get for shelling out that kind of cash? Two words: Multi View. The television claims to be the first that lets two people concurrently observe different shows with HD video and sound, through the utilization of special 3D glasses that connect to differing signals. One viewer sees and hears a specific program, while the other watches something else.

Amazon’s Set-Top Box

For several months now, it’s been reported that Amazon.com has been working on a brand new set-top box. In March, another scoop came out: it’s not even a box at all. The device is actually a USB dongle that looks like Google Chromecast, and it’s also rumored to support streaming PC games.
Amazon.com
Amazon.com

As the online retailer has yet to officially unveil anything, or release any details, the following information is alleged at this point:

-The operating system will be Google Android.
-The price point is believed to be less than $300.
-A Qualcommm MPQ chip may be powering it.

The console is expected to serve as a rival for Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and Netflix. Content from Amazon Studios, Amazon Instant Video and Amazon MP3 services will probably be involved.

Further information about the “box” should be released any time now.


Author: Brian Cameron

Image credit: Stefano Tinti (Shutterstock)

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Kimmel and Fallon: Entering the Era of Viral Television

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It’s no longer enough to be considered the King of Late Night. In the age of social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and Twitter, twilight TV hosts compete for an audience that isn’t even tuning into their respective shows as they air – and probably won’t ever do so either. NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”) and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live”) now suit up for a comedy battle each evening geared towards acquiring viewers at any time of the day on a range of screens. Perhaps ‘Monarch of Modern Media’ would be a more appropriate title.

Mr. Kimmel has become renowned for his prank sketches, amongst which include a wolf showing up at the Sochi Winter Olympics, a girl catching on fire and a false brand name consumable. The videos of these high jinks almost always spread across the Internet, once as the cons ensue, and again after the joke’s big reveal.

Mr. Fallon, on the other hand, has crafted a strategy that directly involves his celebrity guests. Not content to just interview them, he often convinces the visitor to become involved with elaborate, bizarre and silly bits, like a take on the card game War that utilizes cups of water, charades, and hip-hop dancing. The creative approach has amassed over 15 million views on those three videos in barely the span of a month.


In a March 2014 interview with tech news site Re/code, Kimmel stated “There’s a give and take [between watching online and on TV]. The good part is people become more aware of you, and what you’re doing on your show. The bad part is that — it’s like the same thing that happened to the music industry. You can buy a single on iTunes for $1.29, and you don’t buy the whole album. When I was a teenager, you bought the whole album. But there’s really nothing you can do about it. You can’t fight it.”

And throughout the viral video process, Kimmel has made a few discoveries.
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live

“If you have an attractive women in the video, it seems to increase the views markedly,” he told USA Today.

Fallon, meanwhile, fully embraces the strangeness that is his comedy brand, informing GQ “I'm not doing something sneaky. Inside jokes, I don't like those. We can all ride together, and everyone's on the same thing going, 'Aha, I know where you're going here.' And if we get weird, everyone knows, 'Okay, we'll go for that little ride of being weird.'”

It seems to be working. Approximately one month into his new “Tonight Show” gig, the Nielsen viewer count reveals that he’s not only ahead (4.537 million) of David Letterman (2.761) and Kimmel (2.744), but he also surpasses the previous host, Jay Leno (4.0).




“[The online world] fits in more with me and Kimmel, whereas if I gave David Letterman an iPod, I don’t even know if he would know what it was. Why should he? He’s getting up there. You have to be yourself. That’s the point of it,” said Fallon. “The ultimate goal…is like, have fun, be silly. Be the guy.”

Industry experts and advertisers concur with the television-and-Internet roadmap the two men have been following.

"Cross-platform and viral videos are a necessity for a show like that to succeed… [and] to reach a digital audience that isn't watching on TV," said David Campanelli, senior VP-national broadcast, Horizon Media.

“I think late night hosts now straddle this line between respecting their heroes from yesteryear but also knowing that they are in a different age with a different audience,” stated Mike Farah, president of production for Funny or Die.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The Tonight Show
“These days the secret about late-night shows,” remarked Fallon producer Gavin Purcell, “is that unless there’s a special or something the numbers [of viewers] don’t shift crazy amounts from day to day. But online, people have a second or third or fourth chance to engage with the show.”

Indeed, that is the hidden truth. And Letterman doesn’t even seem to be interacting on this front, completely failing to secure even one million views of any YouTube video.

His big wigs appear to hold a sanctimonious mentality about it.

“We are no longer fighting for recognition. Part of Dave’s genius is what he doesn’t do,” explained “Late Show with David Letterman” executive producer Rob Burnett.

Of course, this statement directly conflicts with some thoughts Burnett posted in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" forum a year earlier, when he responded “We have not delved into [viral videos] so much and I'm not even sure why” to one questioner, and “YouTube is a real mixed bag…the downside of course is, if you train people that they can always get things like Joaquin Phoenix on Youtube [sic], they don't have to watch the actual show,” to another.

It might be time to re-think that, Rob. Your competitors and media peers have reached totally opposite conclusions.

The highly sought-after 18-49 demographic ratings show Letterman, at 0.56, is being decimated compared to Kimmel (0.73) and Fallon (1.34), the current leader.

Fallon’s success is allowing him to sign lucrative advertising deals with companies like GE.

Losing out on a large share of the audience really doesn’t look too “genius” on Letterman’s part.



Author: Brian Cameron

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Here’s Everything New for March Madness 2014

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In addition to the traditional NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship broadcast on CBS, TNT, truTV and TBS, several other options are being offered this year, particularly for second-screen users.

The NCAA March Madness Live App, appearing in the Windows Store, Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore and Google Play outlets, will feature a variety of new ways for sports enthusiasts to become engaged with the games, including live streaming, an improved bracket system, social forum and digital television listings of all the events.

AT&T will be presenting an official North Texas NCAA Men’s Final Four App, and while the exact content hasn’t been released yet, it will likely resemble 2013’s Atlanta-inspired version, which offered game times, fan gatherings, Bracket Town activities and maps.

For 2014, March Madness will be available from several more online sources than in the past, consisting of websites like ncaa.com/marchmadness, CBSSports.com and bleacherreport.com

Also new this year: the “teamcast.” TNT and truTV will offer separate Final Four simulcasts of each game custom-tailored per team, each with their own specific announcers and camera angles. For example, if a Duke fan wanted to hear game commentary from a local supporter or celebrity, he or she would select the channel airing it from that perspective to receive those insights.

“I think it’s something that the future of media may end of [sic] being,” said Turner President David Levy. “There are going to be situations where you do this, when there’s what I would call a dominant fan base around certain teams.”

NCAA March Madness Live App
NCAA March Madness Live App
“The concept was borne out of the popularity and the incredible passion people have with their college basketball teams and schools and we wanted to provide some kind of alternate viewing -- trying to give people a different perspective, if you will,” he continued in a call with reporters. "And constantly trying to push ourselves internally. What can we do differently for the fans and what's happening differently in the media landscape?"

Furthermore, CBS Outdoor has allied with TBS to launch a digital network throughout New York City’s subway system, which has 10 66 in. tall LCD screens placed at high-traffic stations designed to display coverage of all 67 March Madness games, as well as promotions for all the broadcast networks.

March Madness will officially begin on March 18, 2014 at 6 p.m. EST on truTV; the Final Four and championship competitions will take place April 5 and 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, located a mere stone’s throw from FYI Television. All sorts of fun festivities are planned for Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex residents, including music festivals, practices and Conan O’Brien show tapings.



Author: Brian Cameron

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Unraveling the Mysteries of TV Metadata

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Many people are under the impression that cable operators, satellite companies and telecoms are responsible for developing the TV listings and schedules that display and convey all of their favorite information in their on-screen guides. They would be surprised to learn that this isn’t the case, as those businesses actually purchase and license that sort of data from others, as do newspapers and mobile apps.

Over the years, FYI Television has transformed the methodology behind carefully crafting and constructing television and entertainment metadata into a finely tuned art, which is then viewed by millions of interested eyes each day. Here’s an inside look at the highly demanding process.


Schedule Arrival

Every day, television networks and stations from all across the globe digitally submit their scheduling information, which generally features air dates and times, show, movie and episode titles, ratings, program lengths, actors, synopses and more, to FYI’s Dallas-Fort Worth headquarters in a variety of different file formats, often PDFs, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and an assortment of text documents. 

These schedules are then systematically sorted, classified and redistributed to squads of skilled individuals who must utilize their technical prowess to interpret them. 

On occasion, additional information is found through thorough and extensive Internet research.

Organization

Talented teams of editors, each of whom has been assigned a collection of stations, pore over the schedules and input the data into FYI’s customized software for proper organization. As each station’s listing grid is arranged uniquely, analysis can be required. Programs are assigned attributes such as labels (new, repeat, HD, etc.), genres,  categories (Western, News, Sci-Fi), seasons/series and episode numbers for further optimization. 

As an airing time could be canceled or altered at the drop of a hat, it is paramount that editors keep up regular communication with their contacts to verify everything.

Descriptions

A separate crew, comprised exclusively of dedicated writers, ensures that each title receives multiple summaries of varying lengths based upon the acquired information. All summaries are scribed in-house with a neutral, fact-based tone to denote impartiality.

Many networks send descriptions that are either incredibly verbose, or, just the opposite, too concise. It takes more than a modicum of moxie to prepare a synopsis that perfectly encapsulates what occurs in a film, show or special.

Another devoted unit works on illuminating biographies for celebrities and cast members, which is exactly the kind of information people seek on their second-screens.

Image and Media Content

A group of committed media experts acquires a vast array of images – showcards, promotional artwork, official logos, episodic stills, celebrities and more – to reinforce, enrich and strengthen the information.

These images are deftly shaped, sized and catalogued.

Distribution

When TV listings metadata is requested by a client, it’s compiled accordingly and sent out all over the world for display via television screens, mobile apps, newspapers, computer monitors, specialized files and more – in just about any sort of personalized way imaginable!

The data can be easily assembled due to persistent program IDs, which allow everything to be interconnected.


Viewers are then able to successfully discover what’s on, who’s responsible and how they became involved.

FYI Television’s mechanisms for metadata creation and structuring are truly unparalleled. 


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How Amazon, Hulu and Netflix are Re-Shaping the TV Landscape

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It’s hard to believe it was only last year that Netflix’s original series “House of Cards” debuted, quickly receiving nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe win for Best Actress.

Similarly, their other acclaimed show “Orange is the New Black” also earned accolades, acquiring a Satellite Award for Best Cast in a Television Series and a People’s Choice Award nomination.

Likewise, online retailer Amazon recently launched a foray into television programming, achieving critical success with political comedy “Alpha House,” which also secured Satellite Award nominations.

And Hulu has been a linchpin in the OTT industry for nearly six years, continually reaching new heights.

As TV thrives in the 21st century, these innovative businesses are completely re-shaping the television landscape, for the better. Here’s a look at their techniques and what they’ve been doing to shakeup the industry.

Netflix

The streaming service, which describes itself as a “movie and TV series network,” brought binge-watching to the mainstream, allowing viewers to use this television model to select and choose how many episodes they watch at a time.
House of Cards
House of Cards

"You can appreciate so much more, you can catch so much more, you can understand the inner workings of these stories if you view them in more concentrated chunks than you can if you watch them as they come out,” Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told TechRadar.

In November, Netflix revealed a new interface in a forward-looking exercise.

“We wanted to think about ‘What is the future of television? Where is the future of television in an on-demand world?’” stated Chris Jaffe, Netflix’s vice president of product innovation, at the time.

The browsing system upgrade provided more images and program information.

Additionally, Netflix has increased the value of a television series finale – if a show is canceled before it’s obtained a true conclusion, it’s probably not going to be purchased by the service (as viewers enjoy a show with an actual final episode), which in turn deprives networks of a big payday. It’s officially become important for networks to sell their properties to the business – a great example being their recent deal with CW.

Amazon.com

Last month, Amazon.com announced 10 different new pilots for the public to vote on, which gave ordinary people a chance to decide which concept(s) will advance into development. In 2013, they did the same thing with 14 pilots. This form of crowdsourcing allows them to simultaneously pick up publicity for their efforts while also streamlining the traditional development process.
Alpha House
Alpha House

The company also reviews what consumers are currently checking out, and utilizes that data to inspire them.

“You can just see what’s working on the site, and then that gives you a little context, you know? That these things are resonating,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “It's not just a focus group. It's thousands of people. It makes a difference.”

In summer 2013, Amazon Studios rolled out a groundbreaking tool, “Storyteller,” that permits screenwriters to submit their script into a digital system that transforms it into a storyboard, complete with customizable characters that allows others to learn about their tale in a more visual manner.

And anyone can be an Amazon Studios screenwriter – all it takes is the click of a mouse to register an account and send in a script via their website.

Hulu

In 2008, Hulu was listed as an invention of the year in TIME magazine, after previously overcoming denouncements and guffaws from the Internet punditry.

After getting official backing from networks to stream their shows on-demand, the company unleashed several innovations over the years.
The Awesomes
The Awesomes


Originally known as a “disrupter” of the television industry, the service hopes to work in tandem with cable and satellite operators under the guidance of new CEO and former FOX executive, Mike Hopkins.

Hopkins has been busy restructuring the management team, hiring NBC’s Peter Naylor as senior vice president of sales in February, and announcing former Mouse House VP of digital distribution, Tim Connolly, as Hulu’s new head of distribution on March 4.

"A big part of realizing Hulu’s objectives is our platform strategy—our goal is to be everywhere, on every device where our users want to watch TV,” stated Hopkins.

One original show gaining traction at the moment is “The Awesomes,” a 2013 animated series helmed by freshly-cemented “Late Night” host Seth Meyers, and featuring a variety of “Saturday Night Live” players as the voice cast.

Hulu trumpeted that it would be renewed for a second season back in September.

What happens next?

Time may or may not be a flat circle, but the march ahead accelerates, regardless of its shape.
Zach Seward over at Quartz suggests that all three of these services should be “fully integrat[ed]” into future television devices, which would let consumers avoid switching inputs.

Netflix is already taking steps to become involved with set-top boxes, with mixed results.

It will be intriguing to see if they’re ultimately rewarded in this endeavor, and if the others follow suit.

Author: Brian Cameron

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What Are People Doing With Second Screens?

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As the usage of second screens has greatly altered the way viewers watch television, the real question is what exactly are people doing with these second screens, and how can advertisers monetize it without becoming distracting?

Rob Gelick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS Interactive Digital Platforms, acknowledged that “engagement on the second-screen is now an established behavior for fans” in a recent interview with social TV website LostRemote.

According to a January 2014 survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association and National Association of Television Program Executives, 79% of respondents acknowledged that they utilize a second device.

In February 2014, Nielsen released similar findings, in that 84% of viewers utilize tablets and smartphones while sitting in front of the tube.

Telecom market analyst Infonetics Research discovered that 47% of pay-TV providers prefer tablets for multiscreen participation, and it is believed that will increase to around 89% by next year.

So, with all of these audience members regularly using tablets and smartphones, what specifically is capturing their attention on them?

Facebook and Twitter are two bulwarks that interest viewers. Social analytics agency SecondSync found that 60% of Facebook primetime programming interactions occur as a broadcast airs, but from an “intensity standpoint,” Twitter can claim the gold medal. The company learned in their own survey that viewers using Twitter had a 53% TV ad recall, as opposed to 40% who did not use second screens.

Nielsen’s January report revealed that large percentages of second-screen users fall into three main categories: web surfers, online shoppers and show information-seekers.

MEF, an international mobile content community, stated in their February 2014 Global Consumer Insights report which surveyed 10,000 respondents, that 69% of second-screen users made a purchase in 2013.

In TiVo’s 2013 Social Media and Multitasking Survey, 27%, the biggest share of viewers, reported using their devices to “search the Internet for information.”

For advertisers to successfully craft an experience around these behaviors, “a campaign needs to leverage social data, factor in location, and think about context and the emotional state of the consumer,” disclosed Michael Hayes, chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer at mobile advertising firm UberMedia.

Market research business Parks Associates found that 60% of second-screeners use their devices to watch anywhere from 1-5 hours of video per week, and estimate that in-app advertising revenues will be around $5.6 billion by 2017.

PricewaterhouseCoopers further discovered that 69% of users are willing to interact with a relevant mobile ad.

Based on all of this information, perhaps the ultimate app would allow a second screen user to research program cast info, purchase related merchandise and view informative videos, with either ads integrated into the videos themselves or serviced via some sort of overlay. This would seemingly satisfy both consumers and advertisers.

FYI Television has the metadata available to power such an innovation, as well as allow targeted advertising to be provided to television viewers. Find out more by clicking below.

Author: Brian Cameron

Image Credit: Goodluz (Shutterstock)

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The Real Loser in the Comcast-TWC Merger

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On February 13, 2014, television service providers Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Cable Inc. announced a transaction that would combine the two businesses. In most negotiations, there tends to be a victor and a loser that succumbs to defeat.

In the case of this particular alliance, only one group is truly getting a raw deal: the paying subscribers who seek reliable and accurate information about their TV programming.

While FYI Television appreciates the services offered by Comcast and TWC, recent Twitter posts indicate that there are insufferable issues with their data - which can easily be remedied. And we're fully aware that these blunders are inclined to be the fault of their main supplier, and not the cable companies.

We understand that no data firm is 100% perfect, but as a company that values friends and family members, and cares first and foremost about the experience the consumer is receiving, we believe this needs to be addressed accordingly, for general community improvement. The data could definitely be better.

Let's review a few examples.


This viewer was looking for information about the 1995 action film, “Mortal Kombat,” based on the eponymous martial arts video game and rated PG-13 by the MPAA for “some violence,” among other reasons, while perusing the HBO Zone channel.

However, instead of learning about what actors are starring or even receiving a proper summary, the viewer is provided with a listing for entirely the wrong movie, Spencer Halpin’s 2009 documentary “Moral Kombat,” a movie that, coincidentally, analyzes video game violence.


While watching AMC, this viewer was trying to locate a synopsis covering 1997 multiple Academy Award-nominated James Cameron film, Titanic. Unfortunately, all of the information they were greeted with was inaccurate. The actors, paltry two star rating, MPAA rating and summary all belong to a 1996 CBS miniseries.


And it’s not just incorrect ratings, actors and descriptive content that’s disgruntling viewers. Sports fans hoping to see the correct images and logos for the beloved teams that they support are expressing their frustration as well. The NBA is not the NHL.


In this case, Canadian jazz crooner Michael Bublé was somehow confused for iconic basketball player Michael Jordan. How does this even happen?

But the sheer madness does not stop here. It gets worse. Much worse.


At 11 a.m., a viewer of Showtime Extreme discovered that instead of 2010 Australian drama ”Tomorrow, When the War Began,” an adult movie having a title and steamy summary that has absolutely nothing in common with the aforementioned film was somehow listed. Not only is this inaccurate, it’s eyebrow-raisingly inappropriate as well.

Obviously, and sadly, these quick examples clearly illustrate what even more audience members will likely be receiving on their EPGs.

Luckily, at FYI Television, there are several methods for ensuring that these sorts of embarrassing errors, mistakes and mishaps don’t happen with the metadata.

Content Categories

FYI Television utilizes a specialized not rated, adult-oriented category to directly distinguish between films and shows that belong on a station such as Hallmark, versus something that should really appear on the Playboy channel.


Title Confirmation

Before an adult title can be inputted into a live program schedule, FYI Television editors are required to verify the selection via software prompts before the information is permanently saved and distributed.


Specific Genres

FYI maintains a system of numerous genres to differentiate between programs that may only feature sexual content, as opposed to an all-out explicit title.

Learn more about FYI Television’s accurate, flexible metadata by requesting further information from one of our talented experts.

We encourage Comcast to strongly contemplate fixing the inaccuracies surrounding their EPG guide. And if the inaccuracies are not Comcast's, but result from their current data provider, then we highly recommend considering an alternate provider. 

According to subscribers, they could certainly use an upgrade.

Author: Brian Cameron



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