Date:

January 5, 2023

CES 2023: Xperi, Dolby, NAGRA, Spherex Open the Show

Xperi

Xperi and its numerous subsidiaries kicked off CES in a big way, with hardware, software and partnership news.

Xperi-owned TiVo and Vestel, one of the top three European TV manufacturers, announced that as part of a multi-year, multi-country and multi-million-unit agreement, the first “Powered by TiVo” smart TVs are expected to ship as early as spring 2023 featuring chipsets from MediaTek, a global fabless semiconductor company that enables more than two billion connected devices a year. When released, consumers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Turkey will be able to purchase “Powered by TiVo” smart TVs under brands including Vestel, Daewoo, Regal, Hitachi, Telefunken and JVC.

Xperi announced its new independent media platform at IFA 2022 and welcomed Vestel as its first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partner. Vestel will be utilizing the new TiVo OS, a first-of-its-kind neutral platform, aimed at giving OEMs significantly more control over the user experience to drive brand awareness, engagement, and monetization at scale. Without the limitations of a closed system, the neutral platform returns control to consumers, empowering them to enjoy entertainment on their terms, for the ultimate home entertainment experience.

Vestel’s new line of TVs use “Powered by TiVo” OS, a streamlined smart TV platform with easy content discovery and personalized recommendations. It provides a simple set-up and intuitive user experience, enabling consumers the choice and the control to discover content across their favorite streaming apps.

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Xperi’s DTS subsidiary and IMAX Corporation announced a significant expansion of the IMAX Enhanced ecosystem with SPE’s commitment to release multiple new titles in the IMAX Enhanced format during their respective home entertainment windows over the next few years.

IMAX Enhanced technology is the only way to experience IMAX’s signature picture, sound, and scale outside of a movie theater, combining exclusive, IMAX digitally remastered 4K HDR content and DTS:X premium audio delivered through high-end consumer electronics and streaming platforms.

The IMAX Enhanced program continues to advance its premium content footprint for consumers worldwide with new titles delivered in 4K HDR featuring IMAX proprietary digital remastering (DMR), exclusive expanded aspect ratio (select sequences) and IMAX Signature Sound by DTS, including Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, A Man Called Otto, Madame Web, Gran Turismo, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Equalizer 3, among others.

This will include exclusive IMAX Enhanced and DTS:X UHD box sets (titles to be announced). IMAX Enhanced releases will remain available across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific regions.

Additionally, TiVo and Amlogic, a leading fabless semiconductor company, announced that they have pre-integrated TiVo OSonAmlogic T962D4 and T950D4 chipsets for the U.S. and European markets.

By choosing an Amlogic 4K or 2K smart TV chipset with TiVo OS pre-integrated, TV OEMs benefit from the combined scale and support of critical technology providers, hardware suppliers and advertisers. The cost-effective turnkey solution deploys the award-winning TiVo OS across their smart TV product lines with the global and local video content services consumers require.

Lastly, Xperi announced a partnership with LG Electronics to integrate DTS:X immersive audio technology into LG’s latest OLED and Premium LCD TVs. DTS, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Inc., is dedicated to making the world sound better through its pioneering audio solutions for mobile, home, cinema and beyond. This announcement represents a significant milestone in DTS’s journey to embed DTS:X technology in more devices that create extraordinary experiences for consumers. It also demonstrates LG’s commitment to expand the availability of the DTS solution.‍

NAGRA‍

Content protection and media and entertainment solutions firm NAGRA announced a collaboration with CANAL+ TELECOM – a subsidiary of Canal+ Group operating in Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, Martinique, French Guiana and Reunion Island with 150,000 subscribers – and Otodo – a home automation company that provides telecom operators and service providers with a white label platform enabling smart home services.

To broaden CANAL+ TELECOM’s value-led service offering, NAGRA Scout, the intelligent connected lifestyle security solution, and Otodo’s home automation and control application are connecting to offer first-of-its-kind smart home automation with security aimed at increasing subscriber brand loyalty.

NAGRA Scout reliably identifies and classifies devices, giving consumers full visibility on everything connected in the home. This information is further used to validate new equipment connected to the network and assess its security level. Easy-to-follow security suggestions help consumers keep their devices and data safe. In addition to home network monitoring and content filtering, NAGRA Scout manages security alerts for illicit threats and delivers home network intelligence to service providers, like CANAL+ TELECOM, that can inform traffic shaping, improve customer service, and ensure optimal individualized experiences for consumers.

Telecom operators, like CANAL+ TELECOM, often support subscribers by providing the secure hub of the connected home. CANAL+ TELECOM’s home application, Ma Maison CANALBOX, developed in collaboration with Otodo, provides a value-added service that enables users to control any connected home device from a single application. Partnering with NAGRA Scout, the telco can offer differentiating new features combining security and automation to ensure an integrated and individual smart home experience.‍

Spherex

Global entertainment technology and data company Spherex is demonstrating its Spherexgreenlight at CES, which is its revolutionary expert-in-the-loop artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solution.

Spherexgreenlight opens borders for content. Using AI, the technology highlights culturally sensitive and objectionable scenes and predicts how a movie or TV show will be perceived by audiences worldwide. Spherexgreenlight ensures that studios, TV networks, and streamers reach the broadest audiences in each local market, comply with content regulations, and avoid censorship – all while protecting their brand reputations and identity – to maximize the value of content.

Led by CEO and co-founder Teresa Phillips, Spherex set out over a decade ago to develop the world’s first cultural playbook for Media & Entertainment. Through mining thousands of policy manuals, historical literature, local film/TV classifications, current affairs, judiciary decisions on sensitive topics (e.g., LGBTQ, sexual violence, self-harm, drug use, and more) in 100+ countries, Spherex has created an enterprise system for screening and annotating content.

While understanding content in video remains a high hurdle in AI, Spherex has implemented a multi-modal architecture that analyzes image/video, audio signals, and text as inputs to generate a unique fingerprint of a title. The content analysts at Spherex hand-curate these models based on specific pieces of content like subjects, objects, events, actions, sounds, words, tone, and more.

Spherex’s ML-based rules engine is the controller that determines how territory-specific rules are applied accurately to a given title’s cultural fingerprint. Blending AI and ML systems with a comprehensive understanding of the cultures and complexities present in the global regulatory environment, Spherex is future-proofing the media and entertainment industry while keeping up with the unprecedented international growth in video content, distribution, and consumption.‍

Dolby‍

Dolby announced it had partnered with multi-platinum, Grammy-winning band Imagine Dragons to present a private concert in Dolby Atmos at Dolby Live at Park MGM on Jan. 5 at 9 p.m. PT.

The concert will benefit Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF), Imagine Dragons’ nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families facing a pediatric cancer diagnosis, and over 35 local charities serving underserved communities in the Las Vegas area.

Imagine Dragons and Dolby are working with TRF to give away thousands of tickets to the team members, volunteers, and people these organizations serve so they can enjoy this special performance.

“Imagine Dragons’ special relationship with TRF moved us, which is why we wanted to find a way to give back to the community that welcomes us with open arms every year for CES, and that we now get to call home with Dolby Live,” said Todd Pendleton, SVP and CMO of Dolby Laboratories. “We can’t wait for guests to experience Imagine Dragons live in Dolby Atmos at Dolby Live for this special one-night show.”

Dolby and Park MGM will be surprising several fans on social media with free tickets to the show along with radio giveaways.

This marks Imagine Dragon’s first-ever, live performance in Dolby Atmos, which guests will be able to experience at one of the most technologically advanced performance installations in the world – Dolby Live at Park MGM.

Dolby Atmos is an immersive audio experience transforming how music is created and enjoyed. At Dolby Live at Park MGM, Dolby Atmos brings live performances to the next level by taking listeners inside the music to reveal details with unparalleled clarity and depth. Whether it’s hearing the layers of instruments move all around, catching the subtle breath a singer takes between lyrics, or being enveloped in a wave of melodies, nothing compares to hearing music live in Dolby Atmos.

Source: MESA M+E Daily

Related Insights

The Global Rules of Content Are Changing

Video Compliance

Regulation

Culture

Across the past eight issues of Spherex’s weekly World M&E News newsletter, one theme has become undeniable: regulation, censorship, and compliance are rewriting the rules of global media. From AI policy to platform accountability, from creative freedom to cultural oversight, content creation is now inseparable from compliance.

1. Platforms Tighten Control Through Age and Safety Laws

U.S. states such as Wyoming and South Dakota have enacted age-verification laws that mirror strict internet safety rules already seen in the U.K., signaling a broader legislative trend toward restricting access to mature material.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s audiovisual regulator ordered Roblox to suspend chat functions and hire Arabic moderators to protect minors—an example of government-imposed moderation replacing voluntary compliance.

Elsewhere, Instagram’s PG-13 policy update illustrates how platforms are preemptively adapting before new government rules arrive.

2. Censorship Expands — Even as Its Methods Evolve

Censorship remains pervasive but increasingly localized. India’s Central Board of Film Certification demanded one minute, 55 seconds of cuts from They Call Him OG, removing what they considered violent imagery and nudity.

In China, the horror film Together was digitally altered so that a gay couple became straight using AI. Responding to Malaysia’s stricter limits on sexual or suggestive content, censors excised a “swimming pool” scene from Chainsaw Man – The Movie.

Israel’s culture minister threatened to pull funding from the Ophir national film awards after a Palestinian-themed film about a 12-year-old boy won best picture.

3. AI and Content Creation: Between Innovation and Oversight

AI remains both catalyst and controversy. Netflix announced new internal policies limiting how AI can be used in production to protect creative rights and data ownership.

OpenAI’s decision to allow adult content on ChatGPT under “freedom of expression” principles sparked industry debate about whether platforms or creators set the moral boundaries of AI. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman emphasized in a statement, the company is “not the moral police.”

Meanwhile, California passed the Digital Likeness Protection Act to combat unauthorized use of celebrity images in AI-generated ads.

4. Governments Target Global Platforms

The Indonesian government is advancing a sweeping plan to filter content on Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ Hotstar, and others using audience-specific content suitability metrics.

At the same time, the U.K. and EU are reexamining long-standing broadcast rules, with Sweden’s telecom authority proposing the deregulation of domestic broadcasting to encourage competition.

These diverging approaches—tightening in one market, loosening in another—underscore the growing fragmentation of global compliance standards.

5. Compliance as Competitive Advantage

The real shift is strategic: companies now see compliance as value creation, not red tape. As Spherex has argued in recent Substack articles, The Hidden Costs of Non-Compliance in Video Content Production and Why Content Differentiation Matters More Than Ever, studios and creators who anticipate regulatory complexity and make necessary edits on their terms while remaining true to their stories can reach more markets and larger audiences with fewer risks.

In other words, understanding compliance early has become the difference between limited release and global scale.

Conclusion

From new age-verification laws to AI disclosure acts and streaming filters, regulation now defines the boundaries of creativity. The next evolution of media will belong to those who can move fastest within those boundaries—leveraging compliance not as constraint but as clarity.

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Spherex Wins MarTech Breakthrough Award for Best AI-Powered Ad Targeting Solution

SpherexAI

Contextual Advertising

The annual MarTech Breakthrough Awards are conducted by MarTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the world’s most innovative marketing, sales, and advertising technology companies.

This year’s program attracted over 4,000 nominations from across the globe, with winners representing the most innovative solutions in the industry. This year’s roster includes Adobe, HubSpot, Sprout Social, Cision, ZoomInfo, Optimizely, Sitecore, and other top technology leaders, alongside in-house martech innovations from companies such as Verizon and Capital One.

At the heart of this win is SpherexAI, our multimodal platform that powers contextual ad targeting at the scene level. By analyzing video content across visual, audio, dialogue, and emotional signals, SpherexAI enables advertisers to deliver messages at the most impactful moments. Combined with our Cultural Knowledge Graph, the platform ensures campaigns resonate authentically across more than 200 countries and territories while maintaining cultural sensitivity and brand safety.

“Spherex is leveraging its expertise in video compliance to help advertisers navigate the complexities of brand safety and monetization,” Teresa Phillips, CEO of Spherex, said in a statement. “SpherexAI is the only solution that blends scene-level intelligence with deep cultural and emotional insights, giving advertisers a powerful tool to ensure strategic ad placement and engagement.”

This recognition underscores Spherex’s commitment to building the next generation of AI solutions where cultural intelligence, relevance, and brand safety define success. The award also highlights the growing importance of cultural intelligence in global advertising. As audiences consume more content across borders and devices, brands need solutions that go beyond surface-level targeting to connect meaningfully with viewers. SpherexAI provides that bridge, empowering advertisers to scale campaigns that are not only effective but also contextually relevant and culturally respectful.

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YouTube Thumbnails Can Get You in Trouble

YouTube

Creator Economy

Here’s Why Creators Should Pay Attention

When we talk about content compliance on YouTube, most people think of the video content itself — what’s said, what’s shown, and how it’s edited. But there’s another part of the video that carries serious consequences if it violates YouTube policy: the thumbnail.

Thumbnails aren’t just visual hooks — they’re promos and they’re subject to the same content policies as videos. According to YouTube’s official guidelines, thumbnails that contain nudity, sexual content, violent imagery, misleading visuals, or vulgar language can be removed, age-restricted, or lead to a strike on your channel. Repeat offenses can even result in demonetization or channel termination. That’s a steep price to pay for what some may think of as a simple promotional image.

The Hidden Risk in a Single Frame

The challenge? The thumbnail is often selected from the video itself — either manually or auto-generated from a frame. Creators under tight deadlines or managing high-volume channels may not take the time to double-check every frame. They may let the platform choose it automatically. This is where things get risky.

A few seconds of unblurred nudity, a fleeting violent scene, or a misleading expression of shock might seem harmless in motion. But when captured as a still image, those same moments can trigger YouTube’s moderation systems — or worse, violate the platform’s Community Guidelines.

Let’s say your video includes a horror scene with simulated gore. It might pass YouTube’s rules with an age restriction. But if the thumbnail zooms in on a blood-splattered face, that thumbnail could be removed, and your channel could be penalized. Even thumbnails that are simply “too suggestive” or “misleading” can get flagged.

Misleading Thumbnails: Not Just Clickbait — a Violation

Another common mistake is using a thumbnail that implies something the video doesn’t deliver — for example, suggesting nudity, shocking violence, or sexually explicit content that never appears in the video. These aren’t just bad for audience trust; they’re a clear violation of YouTube’s thumbnail policy.

Even if your content is compliant, the wrong thumbnail can cause very real problems.

The Reality for Content Creators

It’s essential to recognize that YouTube’s thumbnail policy doesn’t exist in isolation. It intersects with other rules around child safety, nudity, vulgar language, violence, and more. A thumbnail with vulgar text, even if the video is educational or satirical, may still result in age restrictions or removal. A still frame with a suggestive pose, even if brief and unintended in the video itself, can be enough to get flagged.

And for creators monetizing their work, especially across multiple markets, the risk goes beyond visibility. A flagged thumbnail can reduce ad eligibility, limit reach, or cut off monetization entirely. Worse, a pattern of violations can threaten a channel’s long-term viability.

What’s a Creator to Do?

First, you need to know how to spot the problem and then know what to do about it. Second, you need to know if the changes you make might affect its acceptance in other markets or countries. Only then can you manually scrub through your video looking for risky frames. You can review policies and try to stay up to date on the nuances of what YouTube considers “gratifying” versus “educational” or “documentary.” But doing this at scale — especially for a growing content library — is overwhelming.

That’s where a tool like SpherexAI can help.

A Smarter Way to Stay Compliant

SpherexAI uses frame-level and scene-level analysis to flag potential compliance issues — not just in your video, but in any frame that could be selected as a thumbnail. Using its patented knowledge graph, which includes every published regulatory and platform rule, it will prepare detailed and accurate edit decision lists that tell you not only what the problem is, but also for each of your target audiences. Whether you're publishing to a single audience or distributing globally, SpherexAI checks your content against YouTube’s policies and localized cultural standards.

For creators trying to grow their brand, monetize their work, and stay in good standing with platforms, that kind of precision can mean the difference between success and a takedown notice.

Want to know if your content is at risk? Learn how SpherexAI can help you protect your channel and optimize every frame — including the thumbnail. Contact us to learn more.

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