ALTICAST GEARS UP FOR NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES; NAMES MIKE FALLON PRESIDENT OF ALTICAST AMERICAS

Alticast today announced the appointment of Mike Fallon as president of Alticast Americas as the company positions itself to capitalize on an increased number of technological and geographic growth opportunities in the global pay-TV industry.

Fallon, who previously headed Alticast’s North American customer engagement activities, will assume overall responsibility for Alticast’s business strategy and operational activities in the North and South American markets. John Carlucci, who had served as president and CTO of Alticast US, will devote all of his energies to his CTO role of identifying and productizing new technologies that can drive business results for pay-TV operators.

“Our success with Videotron, our APAC customers and other operators in North America and worldwide have generated numerous new business and technology opportunities,” said Mansoo Han, CEO of Alticast.  “The appointment of Mike Fallon will better enable us to leverage his strategic and leadership skills, while freeing John Carlucci to accelerate the technology solutions that the market is demanding.”

As head of Alticast’s North American professional services efforts, Fallon has helped to drive three consecutive years of increasing revenue growth.  During that time he has worked directly with Tier 1 North American pay-TV operators to determine their business objectives, and has built and leveraged an Alticast team that has expedited the creation of solutions that are meeting customers’ needs.

"Alticast’s best-in-class UX, our device software solutions and our next-generation cloud services platform already are positioned to drive value for our Americas customer base,” said Fallon. "We expect to build on that success as we bring the same CAS and DRM content protection technology that is widely deployed in APAC to the Americas market.” 

Prior to Alticast, Fallon spent eight years with Advanced Digital Broadcast and its Vidiom Systems acquisition.  As director of customer operations he led cross-functional teams that delivered an integrated software/hardware solution that was deployed nationally by Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable. Earlier in his career, Fallon spent three years with ARRIS.  He holds a B.A. from the University of Dallas.

UHD and HDR: Making TV "New and Improved"

Analysts are predicting sales of upwards of 50 million Ultra HD (UHD) televisions over the next five years, and Alticast US President and CTO John Carlucci says it’s easy to see why.

In this video Carlucci talks about how UHD allows the artist’s vision of content to be delivered completely to the subscriber in an uncompromised fashion, and how High Dynamic Range “is a bit like your laundry detergent: It makes your whites whiter, your blacks blacker, it makes all

the colors of the rainbow better.”

ALTIVIEW 3, ANDROID, ATSC TOP ALTICAST EXHIBITS AT NAB 2016

Broomfield, CO – April 13, 2016 – Alticast will highlight how its AltiView, Android and next-generation products and solutions are revolutionizing customer experiences and creating value for service and content providers at its exhibit at the NAB 2016 show April 18-21 in Las Vegas.

In its booth (South Hall [Upper] - SU11605CM) and in a thought leadership forum, Alticast will discuss how KT Skylife, Videotron’s Illico and other services are leveraging Alticast expertise in middleware, UI enablement and other areas to drive new user experiences that can increase subscriber engagement and value.

At NAB 2016 Alticast will show how:

•  The AltiView 3 user experience builds on the proven market success of the AltiView product family, enabling elegant and sophisticated content discovery and bringing a fresh approach to television engagement;
• Its market leadership in developing Android-based set-top box solutions provides operators with increased functionality and versatility, while building solutions for the transition to all-IP networks; and
• Combined technologies from Alticast, S & T and UniSoft enable broadcasters to deliver ATSC Interactive applications, including a new generation of iTV services and advanced advertising applications.

In addition, John Carlucci, president and CTO of Alticast US, will participate on the “How to Build a Compelling User Interface” panel on Monday, April 18 (11:45 a.m.; CMIIP Pavilion).

Media and industry analysts interested in meeting with Alticast executives at NAB 2016 should contact pspr@att.net to schedule a date and time.

ALTICAST TEAMS WITH VIDEOTRON FOR FIRST CANADIAN LAUNCH OF 4K UHD STB

Alticast today announced that its ongoing innovation partnership with Videotron is helping to achieve a milestone for the Canadian pay-TV industry – the first availability of 4K ultra high definition set-top box on a commercial basis throughout a cable system operator’s entire service footprint.

Videotron’s release of the illico 4K Ultra HD PVR has positioned the Quebec operator as a market leader in driving the key ingredients to ultra high definition success: UHD device penetration, the availability of UHD content with the superior color and consumer awareness of the value of the new technology.

Leveraging Alticast’s expertise in middleware and UI enablement, the illico 4K Ultra HD PVR allows delivery of high-value 4K content, while retaining features that are products of the close working relationship between Videotron and Alticast. These include multi-room PVR capabilities, interactive applications and seamless integration with Videotron’s state of the art back-office systems.

“The ability to combine the richness of 4K content with managed network Quality of Service will be a significant differentiator for pay-TV,” said John Carlucci, president and CTO, Alticast US. “By being the first operator in Canada to bring 4K STBs into subscribers’ homes, Videotron is continuing the leadership that sets it apart from competitors and enhances the value of service bundles.”

“The tremendous promise that 4K UHD holds for our customers can only be realized by true commitment on the part of the entire industry,” said Pierre Roy, Vice-President Engineering, Research and Development. “Alticast and our other technology partners have helped us to create the technical foundation that had already generated market enthusiasm and satisfy customer demand for UHD services.”

Envisioning an ‘Awesome’ Future for Pay-TV

With online video viewing and Internet of Things strategies on the rise, which technology giants are best positioned to be at the hub of it all?  We believe that the answer may be the pay-TV operators that already are bringing entertainment and broadband services to the home.

In “Alticast Has a Vision For the Future of TV (And It’s Awesome),” CED Magazine discusses how our AltiView 3 user interface and other capabilities that are on the way can position an oft-overlooked device -- the pay-TV set-top box – at the center of the connected home.

Following up on our compelling demo at CES 2016, the CED piece discusses AltiView 3’s contextual ability to “create a web of interrelated viewing selections” based on previous viewing, preferred genres and even program musical soundtracks.  It also supports the emergence of 4K content for leading operators such as our customer, Videotron.

In addition, the piece explains how we’re working on Wi-Fi capabilities that can make STBs the “single gateway into the connected home,” enabling monitoring of smart appliance, sensor and other devices and creating what our U.S. president and CTO John Carlucci calls a “data storm” that can be monetized by pay-TV operators.

The technology on the horizon is transforming how consumers interact with the myriad of devices in their homes.  We look forward to working with our pay-TV operator partners to ensure that are at the center of that innovation.

TV Emergency Alert Available for Visually Impaired

Written by John Carlucci, Alticast President and CTO

2016 will be the first full year in which Americans will be furnished with Emergency Alert Messages both visually and aurally. In 1990, the American’s with Disability Act was passed to “remove barriers and empower people” (http://www.ada.gov), to include access to emergency information system. The Emergency Alert System conveys emergency communications via the TV to indicate encroaching weather, earthquake or other emergency event. This latest update delivers information not only with an onscreen visual scrawl, but also with an “audio scrawl” that leverages a secondary audio channel. 

Information on the changes in the system that were put in place late last year can be found at the FCC web site ( https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-1366A1.pdf). 

The Demise of CableCARD Opens Major New Benefits for DCAS

If you haven't yet seen this, click on the link below to watch John Carlucci, President and CTO of Alticast, North America, discuss the demise of the CableCARD.

http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?7vcbw-l8b24-rn3gdw8&_v=2

Alticast Appoints John Carlucci President of North American Operations

Cable Industry Veteran Guides Alticast to Greater Success in the Growing North American Cable Market

Alticast, a global partner for the delivery of media entertainment, has promoted its CTO John Carlucci to the newly created role of President of Alticast North America. With more than two decades worth of experience in the cable industry and over 20 patents to his name, Carlucci is widely recognized as an expert in the digital television field and will continue to serve as Alticast’s CTO in addition to taking on the duties of President.

For three years Carlucci has been Alticast’s CTO, playing a key role in the development of the company’s products and solutions.  A pioneer of next-generation user experiences, Carlucci’s work includes Emmy Award-winning, industry-leading designs for both Start Over/Network DVR and switched-digital video (SDV) applications.

“John was the obvious choice when we decided to create the position of President” says Alticast CEO Won Cheol Kang. “His experience, track record of success and outstanding technical expertise make him ideal to serve both as President and CTO and to drive Alticast to even greater achievements.”

Carlucci previously worked for Time Warner Cable (TWC) as the Vice President of Engineering for Polycipher, where he led the cable industry joint venture’s engineering department. Through this he developed security standards and infrastructure for next-generation video networks as well as architected “everything-on-demand video systems” for cable.