Just over 8 in 10 U.S. TV households subscribe to pay-TV service, according to a new estimate from Leichtman Research Group (LRG). That’s down from 87% in 2011, but level with an 82% reading in 2005. Furthermore, 14% of those who paid for pay-TV subscriptions in the past year don’t have them anymore, according to...Learn More

Five Roku streaming media players were launched yesterday, including the Roku Express and Roku Express+, which offer low-cost 1080 pixel HD streaming. At a MSRP of $39.99, Roku Express is the company’s smallest streaming media player, Roku highlights in a press release. A step up, Roku Express+ lists at an MSRP of $49.99 and includes...Learn More

Average monthly broadband usage in U.S. homes is 190 gigabytes per month, according to a new report from iGR Research. More than 95% of this traffic is video, researchers said. “TV has become a personal activity,” said Iain Gillott, president of iGR research, in an interview. “If you have four people in a household now,...Learn More

Three U.S. and one Australian city joined the US Ignite Smart Gigabit Communities Program, the federal public-private non-profit partnership announced Sept. 26. Adelaide, Australia became Smart Gigabit Communities’ first international partner, joining Albuquerque, New Mexico; Salisbury, North Carolina; and Washington, D.C., US Ignite highlights in a news release. An initial set of 15 U.S. communities...Learn More

Regional carrier GVTC has completed their initial GigaRegion FTTH expansion project, which brings gigabit capable services to over 20K homes. The city of Boerne was recently completed five months ahead of schedule, and added approximately 1,600 premises to the project. “With this accomplishment, our GVTC GigaRegion partners of Bulverde, Gonzales and Boerne are all-fiber cities,...Learn More

The IT industry is making progress when it comes to securing information and communications systems from cyber attacks, but practices in several critical areas, such as privileged account security, third-party vendor access and cloud platforms are undermining them, according to a new global cyber attack survey commissioned and released by cyber security company CyberArk. More...Learn More

Which carrier offers the best airport wireless service? According to the latest Root Metrics data, AT&T and Verizon Wireless took top honors at two of the five busiest airports out of 50 studied – Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and Chicago’s O’Hare. Verizon won outright at LAX in Los Angeles, while AT&T garnered a first-place award outright at...Learn More

Verizon plans to test 5G wireless technology in a fixed implementation in rural as well as urban and suburban areas in trials beginning next year, said Verizon Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo today. Initially rural 5G didn’t appear to be part of Verizon’s plans, as the company originally talked about the...Learn More

The U.S. ranked thirteenth  in a new study of residential broadband costs by country. The study was conducted by Internet and telecommunications market research specialist Point Topic. Researchers analyzed more than 5,000 fixed broadband tariff rate schedules spanning more than 300 operators in 94 countries. Using purchasing power parity (PPP) to adjust broadband subscription prices...Learn More

Frontier has a goal of offering a triple-play bundle of voice, video and data using its home-grown Vantage video offering in 50% of the company’s local service footprint, said Frontier President and CEO Dan McCarthy today. In the remainder of its territory, the Frontier video offering will be satellite-based, leveraging the company’s existing relationship with...Learn More

Nearly $5 million in USDA funding for telemedicine and distance learning was announced this week. The agency said it would invest $4.7  in 18 distance learning and telemedicine projects that will provide health care, substance misuse treatment and advanced educational opportunities in 16 states. “These investments will help provide better health care and educational opportunities...Learn More

Why subscribe to a traditional pay-TV service when you can watch all the movies and shows you care to on demand by signing up for cheaper OTT subscription streaming services? That’s increasingly the point of view being taken by young adults (20-25), the single largest group of pay-TV “cord nevers” highlighting a Millennial video preference,...Learn More