Tom Butts

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.

Latest articles by Tom Butts

espn

ESPN, NCAA Ink New Eight-Year Media Deal Worth $920M

By Tom Butts published

New agreement includes domestic rights to a record 40 NCAA championships

Sports
Sinclair

CBS Television Stations Add Sinclair Diginets

By Tom Butts published

Distribution agreement expanded to add Comet, Charge!, TBD and The Nest to some of the nation's largest DMAs

Pixabay

Survey: Majority of Viewers Would Switch to Ad-Supported Streaming to Save $5 a Month

By Tom Butts published

More consumers who call themselves intolerant toward ads are saying they would in fact opt for an ad-supported service to save money

Research
Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football Viewership Up 24% in 2023

By Tom Butts published

SPORTS Prime Video’s TNF audience is almost seven years younger than those watching the NFL on linear networks

SPORTS
Edgio

Edgio Appoints Todd Hinders CEO

By Tom Butts published

Former AWS Elemental executive replaces Bob Lyons

People
NBA

Gray Stations to Broadcast Ten New Orleans Pelicans Games This Season

By Tom Butts published

Deal represents latest move away from exclusive pay-TV arrangements

Sports
Comcast

Comcast, Paramount Ink Carriage Deal

By Tom Butts published

Agreement reportedly includes CBS, CBS Sports and other Paramount channels

Frank Beacham

Long-time TV Tech Columnist Frank Beacham Has Died

By Tom Butts published

Journalist covered many of media’s major events over the past 50 years

People
Disney

Disney Ordered to Pay Nearly $600K in FX Copyright Case

By Tom Butts published

Studio accused of using motion capture software without permission

Warner Bros. Discovery

Report: WBD in Merger Talks With Paramount

By Tom Butts published

Combined entity would merge Max with Paramount+ and better compete with Netflix and Disney+

Business
Youtube TV

YouTube TV Testing 'Last Channel Watched' Toggle Feature

By Tom Butts published

Certain subscribers are reporting beta testing

FMC

AI: The Great ‘Disrupter' of 2023

By Tom Butts published

YEAR IN REVIEW Technology’s impact on M&E a double-edged sword

YEAR IN REVIEW
WPIX

Mission, Nexstar Launch NextGen TV on NYC’s WPIX-TV

By Tom Butts published

NEXTGEN TV 51st Nexstar-owned or partner market to launch ATSC 3.0, El Paso and Baton Rouge markets also transition this week

NEXTGEN TV
El Paso

NextGen TV Comes to El Paso

By Tom Butts published

Five new stations launch 3.0 broadcasts

NextGen TV
Money

Advertisers Pull Back from Streaming Buys

By Tom Butts published

Advertisers’ investment in six top streamers is down 8% so far this year

Streaming
Disney

Ampere: A Combined Disney+ Hulu Will Become Content King

By Tom Butts published

Netflix will fall to third place, researcher says

Research
AI

Google Aims to Bypass ChatGPT with Launch of Gemini AI

By Tom Butts published

New platform analyzes images and video in addition to text

SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA Members Approve New Contract

By Tom Butts published

Over 78% voted in favor of new agreement resulting from this year's strikes

Miami

Two Miami TV Stations Launch NextGen TV Broadcasts

By Tom Butts published

Fox's WSVN and ABC's WPLG now transmitting ATSC 3.0

NextGen TV
Stock

U.S. Ad Market Spend to Slow to 4.1% in 2024, Down from 5.7% in 2023

By Tom Butts published

GroupM’s year end report forecasts 5.8% overall growth rate globally

Business
NAB

LeGeyt: Local Broadcast Journalism is the ‘Antidote’ to AI Misinformation

By Tom Butts published

NAB President/CEO warns Senate of threats from generative AI including misinformation, copyright violations, and the burden on local newsrooms

Netflix

Netflix Deploys Machine-Learning-Based Protocol to Improve HDR

By Tom Butts published

Format-agnostic VMAF measures perceptual quality of HDR video signals based on content characteristics rather than display

Streaming
NFL

Sports Rights Owners Come Up Short When Addressing New TV Trends

By Tom Butts published

Survey shows slightly more support for helping traditional broadcasters transition to streaming vs. Silicon Valley companies

Sports
Pixabay

Viewers Increase Their Appetite for VOD During Thanksgiving Break

By Tom Butts published

Although viewing for both streaming and linear TV trended downward, on-demand consumption per viewer was up double digits

Research
NHL

NHL Taps ViewLift to Upgrade NHL TV Apps

By Tom Butts published

Newly-relaunched apps designed to enhance fans’ at-home experience

Sports
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