Category: Broadcast

Sweeping changes are coming to a massive program that aims to bring high-speed internet to everyone in the U.S., after the Trump administration rejected one of the initiative’s key policy goals.

The new rules for the $42.5 billion program change the way states will evaluate competing proposals, which areas are eligible for funding, and how long states have to award the grants. The announcement in early June upended months of planning and left Pennsylvania officials scrambling as they race to meet a newly accelerated timeline for getting the money out.

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Standard Journal

AI has been creeping into just about every corner of tech lately, from chatbots in your browser to smart image-editing tools. Adobe has been riding that wave hard. Earlier this year, the company gave its Firefly web app an upgrade, packing it with its own AI models for generating images and videos, plus a handpicked lineup of third-party AI solutions. Now, it’s taking things mobile, making it way easier for creators to tap into those tools straight from their phones.

Adobe just dropped the Firefly app for free on iOS and Android, and it’s bringing all its web-only AI magic straight to your phone. Now you can whip up visuals and short videos on the fly with no desktop needed. If you’re new to Firefly, it is basically Adobe’s creative AI toolbox. It lets you dream up images, videos, and more just by typing what you want or tweaking what you already have.

The new mobile app brings that same creative punch to your phone, letting you mess with tools like Generative Expand, Remove, and Fill right in your pocket. Fun fact: Generative Fill also made its way into the Photoshop mobile (beta) earlier this month.

And it gets better, with Adobe bringing in a whole lineup of third-party AI models. So you’re not stuck using just Adobe’s own tools anymore. Now you can create with AI from Google Imagen, OpenAI, Luma AI, Runway, Pika, Ideogram, Flux, and more—all from one place, with one subscription.

Adobe is also cranking things up a notch with Firefly Boards by adding video generation into the mix. If you haven’t heard of it yet, Firefly Boards is Adobe’s AI-powered space for brainstorming. It recently made its debut at Adobe Max, and now it’s getting even cooler. You can remix your own video clips or create fresh footage from scratch using Adobe’s Firefly video model, or tap into other big-name tools like Google’s Veo 3, Luma AI’s Ray2, and Pika’s text-to-video solution.

The Firefly mobile app packs the same creative punch as its web version, meaning you can turn stills into videos, whip up fresh visuals from text, or tweak specific parts of an image with tools like Generative Fill and Generative Expand. When we took it for a spin, it consistently kicked out four distinct image variations per prompt, and honestly, they held up pretty well.

If you have a Creative Cloud subscription, you can start a project on the Firefly mobile app, stash it in the cloud, and jump back in later on your desktop or the web. However, like the desktop version, some of the AI tools on mobile tap into your Firefly credits. You’ll get a stash of those each month with your Creative Cloud plan, or you can grab more with a separate Firefly credit subscription. Android Police

Veteran actress and filmmaker Renuka Shahane has voiced her concerns about the shifting dynamics of the Indian film industry, particularly the growing preference for OTT platforms over theatrical experiences.

Reflecting on the current state of cinema, she highlighted how changing audience habits are affecting the fate of content-driven films, leaving many filmmakers and producers in a tough spot. Speaking to IANS, Shahane acknowledged that the landscape has changed drastically for filmmakers, producers, distributors, and theatre owners alike.

Highlighting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’ actress noted how the compulsory halt in film production and the closure of cinema halls pushed audiences toward OTT platforms. Drawing comparisons with the pre-pandemic era, Renuka Shahane pointed out that before Covid, audiences were more willing to support a wide range of narratives — not just large-scale entertainers.

“Actually, it’s a very scary situation for filmmakers and producers especially, even for distributors, theatre owners. The situation in Covid, of course, it was a compulsion. All of us had to just stop work. So, for two years, we were watching content only on OTT platforms. That’s how they became so popular all over our country. But, you know, before that, I feel where our industry was concerned, Hindi film industry, I’ll talk about, I’m not very well versed with any other industry, but whether it was Marathi or whether it was a Hindi film industry, a lot of narratives, which were not necessarily mass entertainers, were doing very well before the advent of Covid,” the actress explained.

However, Renuka expressed concern that the audience’s mindset has changed post-Covid. With many viewers now preferring to wait for films to release on streaming platforms, theatre footfall has taken a hit — especially for mid-budget or content-driven films. “Only larger-than-life subjects are now kind of seen by people in theatres,” she said, adding that even OTT platforms are hesitant to pick up films unless they have had a theatrical release.

Renuka Shahane expressed, “A lot of families who used to regularly buy tickets and go to theatres are now waiting for films to come on OTT. Therefore, only larger-than-life subjects are being watched in theatres. For the rest, it’s a very dicey situation because OTT platforms are not picking up films unless they are released theatrically.” Ap7am

The terrestrial system of communication or the mobile services will remain for at least next 10 years even though satellite communications (Satcom) like Starlink have come in , which will be expensive as of now.

When it comes to tariff rates right now Starlink has to look for affordable rates for the Indian market because unlike other markets, India is quite price sensitive and will not be able to afford it at current rates.

Otherwise, the government will have to work out some subsidies to provide Satcom services to the remote areas, AK Bhatt, Director General, Indian Space Association (ISpA) said.

“The bigger story is, will Satcom replace terrestrial communication as an alternative in the next 10 years? That is a big no because there are two developments taking place in parallel – one is, direct-to-device is becoming more closer to the users because users want ubiquitous communication so all companies are developing that…Secondly, for any Satcom player to become competitive with the terrestrial players, it requires them to really change the model of business,” he said.

Bhatt’s comments came after reports of Starlink, which recently received the initial licence from the Indian government for its operations, indicates an initial upfront payment of around ₹30,000 for the hardware and a monthly fee of around ₹1,000 for unlimited data. For corporates or business houses, the internet plans could be much more expensive than these rates.

“Nobody will buy (at such rates), not even a so called high net worth individual (HNI)…For India, why do you have to subsidise it, why you have to operate Satcom? That is to overcome the digital divide because the games are much more indirect. So, that will have to be done in some form by the government,” he noted.

As of today, Starlink is not providing services in India, but at any cost if it has to capture the market, it will be ready to do it because Elon Musk, has a long term plan, Bhatt said.

“Ultimately, it is numbers (users) which will offset it. But, despite that he (Musk) cannot replace the terrestrial market as of now,” he said adding that Satcom services are much more expensive because it is expensive to put these satellites in the sky and they need to be serviced or recycled every five years.

On June 6, the Elon Musk-owned Starlink received the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which is a crucial permit to start commercial operations in India.

The company will be granted spectrum for trials in the next few days.

Starlink is the third operator to get the GMPCS licence, after Bharti (Airtel)-backed Eutelsat Oneweb and Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio Satellite Communication. All three of them will be competing in this new space of communication in India. The fourth player, Amazon’s Kuiper is still awaiting approvals from the DoT. The Hindu Business Line

The Palestinian Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fibre optic cable it blamed on Israel.

“All internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fibre optic line in Gaza,” the PA’s telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.

“The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fibre optic cable.

“The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday”, it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza “for weeks and months”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were “directly targeted by occupation fores”.

It said the internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.

“The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organisations to respond to humanitarian cases.”

Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, told AFP that “mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity” in Gaza for the time being.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads. AFP

Roku shares snapped six straight sessions of gains, as the stock closed over 4.6% down at $76.71 on Thursday.

The San Jose, California-based streaming company gained over 9% in the preceding six sessions. The stock has risen more than 6% so far this year, compared to the over 2% rise in the broader S&P 500 Index.

ROKU is up 12% over the past one month. The stock closed 0.7% higher on Wednesday at $80.48.

Looking at Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating, ROKU has a Hold rating with a score of 3.29 out of 5. The company received A+ for growth, while it got a C+ in the prospect of profitability.

Turning to the Wall Street community, 15 analysts gave ROKU a Buy and above. 15 analysts have given the stock a Hold recommendation, and one recommended Strong Sell.

Seeking Alpha analysts are also bullish and see the stock as a Buy.

Roku, in May, beat Wall Street’s estimates with its first quarter results, with revenue increasing more than 15% during the quarter.

A recent Seeking Alpha analysis by Stone Fox Capital pointed out that Roku continues reporting rapidly improving financials, but the biggest risk for the company is the shifting landscape in the streaming market, leading to another platform replacing Roku. MSN

Elon Musk’s Starlink has received a licence to launch commercial operations in India from the telecoms ministry, two sources told Reuters on Friday, clearing a major hurdle for the satellite provider that has long wanted to enter the South Asian country.

The approval is good news for Musk, whose public spat with President Donald Trump threatens $22 billion of SpaceX’s contracts and space programmes with the U.S. government.

Starlink is the third company to get a licence from India’s Department of Telecommunications, which has approved similar applications by Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio to provide services in the country.

Starlink and the Department of Telecommunications did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit in February to the United States, where the two discussed Starlink’s launch plans and India’s concerns over meeting certain security conditions.

Starlink has been waiting since 2022 for licences to operate commercially in India, and although it has cleared a major hurdle, it is a long way from launching commercial services.

It still needs a separate licence from India’s space regulator, which Starlink is close to securing, said a third source with direct knowledge of the process without giving details.

Starlink will then need to secure spectrum from the government, set up ground infrastructure and also demonstrate, through testing and trials, that it meets the security rules it has signed up for, one of the two sources said.

“This will take a couple of months at least and will be a rigorous process,” said the person, adding that it can only begin selling its equipment and services to customers once it gets an all clear from Indian security officials.

Indian telecom providers Jio and Bharti Airtel, in a surprise move in March, announced a partnership with Musk to stock Starlink equipment in their retail stores, but they will still compete on offering broadband services.

Musk and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio clashed for months over how India should grant spectrum for satellite services. India’s government sided with Musk that spectrum should be assigned and not auctioned.

India’s telecom regulator in May proposed satellite service providers pay 4% of their annual revenue to the government for offering services, which domestic players have said is unjustifiably low and will hurt their businesses. Reuters

In today’s world, having a stable phone and internet connection is one of the first priorities. This is especially true for inside your home, where you need a stable connection to get on with your daily life. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is working on a solution to provide better connectivity inside your home.

Speaking to PTI, TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said that the regulator is taking an initiative around rating of properties on digital connectivity.

“Today when you or anyone buys or rents a flat or office premises, and the moment you occupy it, the first problem that you may encounter is connectivity. You buy an expensive flat, or rent an expensive flat, when you move in, you find that your mobile is not working or you don’t have internet connectivity in all the rooms,” he said.

He said that house owners or tenants may not get a satisfactory connectivity even after struggling for months.

“In today’s world, when your entire social, professional, economic life needs digital connectivity, this becomes a serious constraint, and the person starts looking for solution – they struggle for days, sometimes weeks, or sometimes even longer, and at time they don’t even get good, satisfactory solution,” Lahoti was quoted as saying by PTI.

TRAI’s initiative to rate connectivity inside your home
The TRAI chairman said that connectivity issues can be solved if the builder provides engineered solutions inside the buildings.

“This can be solved by providing engineered solutions inside the buildings. It is important that property developers now start working on these lines.”

The TRAI in October last year came up with the “Rating of Properties for Digital Connectivity Regulations, 2024” to provide better connectivity inside homes.

Last month, TRAI released the draft manual for assessment of rating of properties for digital connectivity under these regulations.

“In order to nudge the property developers to provide good digital connectivity inside building premises, and to keep a prospective buyer or tenant informed about the (connectivity) quality that he or she is going to get, we have come out with this regulation,” Lahoti said.

“We have already issued the regulation for the rating framework,” he added.

Providing updates of the new system, the TRAI chairman said, “We have also initiated the process of empanelling agencies that can do the rating (as a digital connectivity rating agency). The calling of the application is already underway.”

He added that the TRAI has received applications from five entities expressing interest in being empanelled as digital connectivity rating agencies (DCRAs) who will evaluate properties according to the regulator’s prescribed rules and norms.

“We have received applications from five agencies in this regard, showing interest in getting empanelled. We have also issued a draft manual on the rating system so that there is a uniform, standard, transparent process for the rating, which is known across all the rating agencies and property managers who are seeking the rating,” he said.

“It is for any property manager to approach a rating agency and get the rating,” Lahoti noted.

Digital connectivity has also become crucial, especially for 5G and, in future, the 6G networks, which use high frequency bands for delivering ultra hi-speed data, but get attenuated due to walls and building materials. LiveMint

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has received applications from five entities expressing interest in being empanelled as digital connectivity rating agencies (DCRAs) who will evaluate properties according to the regulator’s prescribed rules and norms, according to Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti.

TRAI is hoping for an early launch of the entire system, with Lahoti noting that the first round of empanelment could take place as soon as this month.

Some projects and properties have already started making enquiries about the rating system, he told PTI.

The proposed ‘star rating’ system will evaluate properties on digital connectivity, similar to green building or energy efficiency rating systems.

New as well as existing buildings can be rated under the proposed system, and TRAI hopes that framework may even nudge builders to “retrofit” existing buildings with good digital connectivity infrastructure to get a favourable rating.

To support this, TRAI is developing a digital platform and final property assessments will also be published on the regulator’s website.

Over time, TRAI expects the digital connectivity rating system to become a standard and key selling point for developers, builders on the one hand, and buyers or tenants on the other, given connectivity demands at workplace and homes.

At present, dense construction in urban areas also makes connectivity a challenge in many locations.

“We have already issued the regulation for the rating framework. We have also initiated the process of empanelling agencies who can do the rating and the call for application is on. We have received applications from five agencies who have shown interest in getting empanelled as DCRAs.

“We have also issued a draft manual on the rating system so that there is a uniform, standard, transparent process for the rating, which is known across all the rating agencies and property managers who are seeking the rating. After that, it is for any property manager to approach a rating agencies and get the rating,” Lahoti said.

Last month, TRAI released the draft manual for assessment of rating of properties for digital connectivity under the Rating of Properties for Digital Connectivity Regulations, 2024.

According to TRAI, the rating manual will enable adoption of uniform assessment methodology by the Digital Connectivity Rating Agencies for rating of properties.

It will also provide a standard reference for the property managers for creation of digital connectivity infrastructure (DCI) in their properties.

Buildings shall be evaluated based on defined parameters in the regulation — fiber readiness, mobile network availability, in-building solutions, and wi-fi infrastructure, service performance among others.

The regulator had also submitted its recommendations to the government on ‘Rating of Buildings or Areas for Digital Connectivity’ in February 2023, with an aim to create an ecosystem for building of DCI as a part of any development activity.

TRAI has also released the regulation Rating of Properties for Digital Connectivity Regulations, 2024 in October last year to bring a framework for rating of properties for digital connectivity. The idea is to promote creation of good digital connectivity through a collaborative and self-sustainable approach.

“The two things — regulations and policy framework are not contingent upon each other, they are complementary. The regulation is already in force, and the rating of properties can start. The policy framework enabling provisions in the national building code and in the model building bylaws, can process concurrently,” he said.

Industry estimates show that more than 80 per cent of the data consumption takes place inside building premises, Lahoti said, emphasising that robust and reliable digital connectivity inside buildings is essential to meet connectivity requirement and consumer expectations.

“This is very important as far as the telecom quality is concerned. The provision of in-building solution inside the building premises will complement the network being provided outside by the telecom service providers,” Lahoti said.

Digital connectivity has also become crucial, especially for 5G and, in future, the 6G networks, which use high frequency bands for delivering ultra hi-speed data, but get attenuated due to walls and building materials.

“Today, when anybody buys or rents a flat, or maybe rents office premises, and the moment they occupy it, the first problem that they may encounter is connectivity. Imagine buying or renting an expensive flat, and when you move in, you find that your mobile (connectivity) is not working, or you don’t have internet connectivity in the rooms…

“In today’s world, when your entire social, professional, economic life needs digital connectivity, this becomes a serious constraint, and the person starts looking for solution… But the good thing is that all this is solvable by providing engineered solutions inside the buildings,” he told PTI.

Emphasising that it is important that property developers now start working on these lines, Lahoti said, “In order to nudge the property developers or the project proponents to provide good digital connectivity inside built premises, and to keep a prospective buyer or tenant informed about the quality that he or she is going to get, we have come out with regulation.” There is no limit on the number of DCRAs who can be empanelled so long as agencies qualify the stipulated norms, Lahoti said.

“The rating itself will be in form of star rating. So a property meeting all the norms and in the highest range will get a five-star rating… the property with poor digital connectivity may get one star. This is very similar to our green building rating system as well as the energy efficiency rating of appliances where star ratings are available, and you can make out by way of rating how where the appliance or the property stand,” he said.

TRAI is keen to roll out the entire system “fast”.

“If we get the right initiatives from various project proponents, in this regard, in a matter of few years, people will become aware about this, and more and more properties will look to get this rating,” the TRAI chief added. PTI

Syria’s government is in talks with regional telecoms companies Zain, Etisalat, STC and Ooredoo for a roughly $300 million project to develop the country’s fibre optic communications network, a senior Syrian official and a second official said.

The talks with the Gulf Arab companies are part of growing global investor interest in Syria’s economy following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last month that Washington would lift Syria sanctions.

The Syrian project, dubbed SilkLink, aims to rapidly overhaul outdated communications infrastructure and set the country up as a potential “north-south and west-east digital corridor,” the telecommunications ministry said.

Saudi Arabia’s STC declined to comment. Qatar’s Ooreedo, the UAE’s Etisalat and Kuwait’s Zain did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The deadline to submit proposals for the project is June 10.

The two officials declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the talks.

After 14 years of civil war and decades of Western sanctions, Syria’s infrastructure shortfalls include some of the world’s worst internet connectivity. It means many users are forced to use costly mobile data instead of a wireless connection to get basic tasks done online.

Syria’s new rulers aim to make rapid progress in improving public services almost six months after they ousted former strongman Bashar al-Assad.
Their efforts have included signing last week a $7 billion power memorandum of understanding with a consortium of companies led by Qatar’s UCC Holding to develop 5,000 megawatts of electricity.

Syria also signed an $800 million MOU in May with DP World to develop Tartous port, two weeks after signing a 30-year deal with French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM that includes building a new berth at Latakia port. Reuters