TV eyes Facebook integration

TVNZ is working with Facebook to deliver New Zealand's first 'social television' experience, according to TVNZ.

The partnership will see the integration of online social networking with broadcast content for TVNZ's new channel U. TVNZ unveils U, a new commercial free-to-air digital channel, on 13 March. It features real life and factual entertainment programming, targeted at Kiwis aged 15 to 24.

The channel will be a commercial operation and will replace the current advert-free TVNZ6. TVNZ's head of digital media and channels Eric Kearley says TVNZ is delighted to bring New Zealand its first true 'social television' experience through the Facebook integration.

Japanese electronics manufacturer, JVC, is making significant advances in scaling down the projector technology needed to make the experimental broadcasting format called Super Hi-Vision practical for commercial use, says Projector Point.

The technology - which would create higher-than-high-def television capabilities - creates 7 680 pixel by 4 320 pixel pictures that have 16 times the resolution of today's high-def TV and four times the resolution of a 4K (projector-quality) digital cinema.

The set-up remains large and cumbersome, but JVC unveiled a new projector last week that contained all the capabilities in a model that is less than half the size and a quarter of the weight of previous incarnations.

Bonneville International has entered into an agreement to sell its three Chicago radio stations - WTMX-FM, WDRV-FM and WILV-FM - to Minneapolis-based Hubbard Broadcasting, writes the Chicago Sun-Times.

Hubbard also is buying Bonneville stations in Washington DC, St Louis and Cincinnati. Altogether Hubbard is acquiring 17 Bonneville stations for $505 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in May.

As part of the deal, Salt Lake City-based Bonneville's two top radio executives, CEO Bruce Reese and chief operating officer Drew Horowitz, will join the radio management team at Hubbard, which currently operates just four radio stations in Minneapolis, in addition to 12 television stations in Minnesota, New York and New Mexico.