Hey there. Welcome back to the week in Playback. Watch any good movies lately? Maybe A Christmas Carol to get you in the mood for the holidays? I swear this is relevant for this week. Sure, we’re all fans of at least some form of entertainment around here, be it audio- or video-based, but there’s just something in the air that tells me some things are changing in that front, and it’s not just the Christmas spirit.
According to some research from Moffet Nathanson, it seems like Pay-TV services aren’t going the way of the dinosaur just yet. In fact, the company reported that for the first time since 2017, good-old-classic pay-TV posted some solid growth in the face of streaming’s dominance. It’s a weird note to hit right as that Warner Bros., Netflix buyout is heating up.
I’d be hard pressed to say I’m surprised, though. It’s no secret that people have been getting very frustrated with streaming as of late between price hikes, account sharing crackdowns and some of the worst segmentation you’ll see outside of the animal kingdom (that’s a insect joke for all none of you out there who were a biologist in another life).
Don’t call it a comeback, though. I’d say it’s more a deal with the devil from pay-TV’s perspective, as the gains posted largely had to do with broadcast services being bundled with a variety of streaming services. At the end of the day: people just want to be able to get to all their shows without too much of a hassle.
That said, it seems the jokes about reinventing cable are starting to become a reality. Just think about it, apart from the pay structure, is getting a broadcast service bundled with paid streaming services really all that different from pay-per-view? I suppose more work needs to be done to centralize everything. But hey, if you’ve been here long enough, you know this is where we say “that’s where integrators come in.”
Tell you what, let’s wrap up this Playback and get back to whatever our regularly scheduled viewing is (mine’s The Chair Company right now). We’ll dig a bit more into the research , as well as another report from Lutron, a new Firewall from Firewalla and WiiM’s follow-up to its debut speaker from earlier this year. We’re three weeks out from 2026, so thanks for catching up with us during this busy time of year.
The Week in Playback
- WiiM Just Expanded Its Wireless Speaker Lineup with the Leaner Sound Lite
- Firewalla Debuts Portable Wi-Fi 7 Firewall Built for Zero Trust Anywhere
- Lutron Report Positions Lighting and Shading as the New Design–Tech Bridge in Luxury Homes
- Pay-TV Subscriber Levels See First Growth Since 2017, Report Says
- Leon, Sony Have a New Designer Frame for the BRAVIA 7
A WiiM Away from a Whole-Home Setup
Wireless whole-home audio continues to be the hot ticket in the home, and this week, WiiM thought it time to step back into the fray with a new speaker release.
The WiiM Sound Lite is exactly what it says on the tin: a version of the original Sound that is solely focused on the performance aspect with few other bells and whistles.
The idea, according to WiiM, is that (with a smaller price tag for similar performance) this speaker gets used to help fill out sound systems throughout the home.
The open platform model WiiM is taking with its streaming options also means this speaker can facilitate just about anything from Google Cast to LNS.
Light Builds a Bridge
Thanks to a report from Lutron released earlier this week, the company seems confident enough to say: Yes. Lighting and shading really is helping technology bridge the gap between it and design in modern homes.
According to the report, a large portion of that has to do with the fact that nowadays, designers are shaping room layouts with light in mind, putting integrators in a unique position for having those conversations on a project.
As Los Angeles-based interior designer Huma Sulaiman notes in the report, “Layered, human-centric lighting remains the gold standard… shifting with mood and time of day.”
This designer-first emphasis reframes lighting as both the foundation and the expressive medium of a space.
A Firewall for Sketchy Airport Wi-Fi
Firewalla announced the Firewalla Orange on Wednesday, which, according to the company is built on the idea of “Zero Trust anywhere.”
The unit includes two 2.5 GbE ports and supports up to 50 wireless clients over Wi-Fi, which, combined with the hardware’s advanced routing capabilities, is meant to provide fast, stable connectivity while maintaining a robust security stack.
The device also comes pre-loaded with a VPN server that supports WireGuard and OpenVPN, in addition to having a separate VPN client for selective routing.
Pay-TV: Not Dead Yet
A report put out from Moffett Nathanson earlier this week revealed that while pay-TV may still be in decline, that degradation is narrowing.
Charter Communications managed to secure some subscriber gains by bundling its broadcast services with streaming platforms like Disney+, Discovery+ and Max. Craig Moffet, author of the original report, called the move “transformational” for charter.
Meanwhile, YouTube TV continued to see gains to its service, though that, too, saw a shrinking of the gains.
For the time being, it seems as though a full transition over to streaming might not be here just yet, leaving integrators to continue operating within hybrid media environments.
Leon Turns the BRAVIA 7 into a Work of Art
The Solé frame is the latest piece of designer tech accessory to come out of Leon, designed exclusively for the BRAVIA 7 from Sony.
Following up last year’s Studio Frame, the Solé TV Frame is crafted from premium aluminum and comes in three curated finishes—light wood grain, dark wood grain, and linear black.
The longstanding partnership between Leon and other TV manufacturers has seen the company essentially add the finishing touches to art TV lineups for partners who themselves don’t have the infrastructure to make the design elements.
Rob Anders, CEO and Co-Founder of Niio, the digital art platform that runs on the BRAVIA, said, “Together with Leon and Sony, we’re transforming the television into something far more meaningful—a living canvas for digital art and culture. This collaboration redefines what a screen can be in the modern home.”
