Technology “Allowing the UHF spectrum to be program). Given that even premium inefficiently used cable channels are often part of larger makes little sense packages bundled with broadband today and will and phone services, it can be more make even less trouble than it’s worth to drop HBO sense in the future” once the latest season of Game of Thrones ends. With its kids’ content and $15-a-month standalone service, HBO is betting it will keep attracting Form and function Innovator Edward Knightly viewers, whether they’re cable cusWatch, an app that can be installed on a smart TV Age 46 tomers or cord cutters. or remote control to increase Wi-Fi bandwidth by Co-founder of three-yearHulu, which relies more on ads than up to six times, recycles idle or unused spectrum old startup Vuum and typically given to ultra-high-frequency (UHF) TV the other streaming services, has been professor at Rice University channels. in Houston less enthusiastic about kids’ shows. Children’s programming and ads can make for an awkward match online. Background Global 1. Origin Knightly and TV channel wireless-data traffic When YouTube launched a kids’ grad student Xu in use grew 69 percent last service earlier this year, it came under Zhang began work year, Cisco Systems attack from advocates who opposed on the UHF Wi-Fi app estimates, reaching 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Unused at Rice in 2013. about 2.5 exabytes showing ads to kids. Hulu includes Spectrum (2.5 billion gigabytes) shows from Nickelodeon and Cartoon a month. 24 Network and offers a kids’ channel through its paid service, but only Routing Once connected 3.7 percent of its shows are for chilto a TV, the app tracks dren, SNL Kagan found in its October use of each slice of the survey. Hulu declined to comment. UHF spectrum and directs smartphones and tablets to “Blending of children’s programthose the TV isn’t using. ming content with advertising material on television has long been prohibited because it is unfair and deceptive to children,” a consortium of consumer advocacy groups wrote in an April complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. “The fact that children are viewing the videos on a tablet or smartphone screen instead of on a television screen does not make it any less unfair and deceptive.” Seth Shafer, an analyst with SNL Kagan, says Hulu and its advertisers may be concerned about Funding Grants totaling $500,000 further blowback. 2. from Intel, Cisco, and Skepticism about running the National Science ads on kids’ programming Foundation, among others, have covered online has contributed to the project’s costs. the rise of niche subscription services like the Sesame Price Within a year, Go website, which offers a library of 28 Vuum says it plans to start selling modems videos and games featuring Sesame using parts of Street characters for $4 a month. Shafer Rerouting When viewers put Watch’s technology on a channel that requires an says that if these services can get a kid for about $500. occupied frequency, the app hooked on a show, mom or dad will can shift other devices to a likely do what it takes to keep the epidifferent frequency in less than two seconds, so users sodes streaming. “If my two-and-a-halfwon’t notice interruptions. year-old [were] deprived of Curious George,” he says, “my life would be Next Steps such living hell.” —Joshua Brustein Chief Executive Officer Ryan Guerra says Vuum is in talks with several Internet providers to test its technology over larger areas. The Federal The bottom line To become more Communications Commission authorized a small public test of the Watch indispensable, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon are app in Houston last year, but would have to approve broader implementation. expanding their collections of kids’ shows. Still, for now, “it looks quite promising,” says independent wireless analyst Chetan Sharma. —Olga Kharif Edited by Jeff Muskus
Innovation UHF Wi-Fi
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