Victoria Advocate from Victoria, Texas • U6

8B USA TODAY Charter and media company Viacom has reached an agreement to keep channels such as BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon on the cable TV system. But Verizon and Univision remain at odds on what the telecom giant should pay to have the Spanish language channel on its Fios TV system. Charter, which is the second- largest U.S. cable company with 16.6 million pay-TV homes, and Viacom extended talks after their current deal over how much Charter should pay Viacom for its programming expired last Sunday. Viacom channels remained on systems during the talks.

The two companies on Wednesday released a joint statement they had reached an agreement in principle. subscribers will continue to have access to networks, without disruption, while we nalize the statement said. Among areas served by Charter Spectrum: Austin, El Paso and Corpus Christi, Texas; Cincinnati and much of Ohio; Milwaukee and much of Wisconsin and New York state; Asheville, N.C., Louisville; and the Los Angeles area, including Palm Springs. Verizon and dispute over the Fios TV system led to Verizon removing Univision from its network Monday afternoon. The TV and Internet provider said that Univision had proposed increase of more than double what they charge for access to their channels provided Univision a reasonable offer to continue providing our customers access to their channels.

Unfortunately they rejected that offer and as a result we no longer have rights to bring them those In a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, Univision President and CEO Randy Falco charged Veri- zon with not acting in good faith and removing its channels from Fios two minutes before the end of an extension that had kept Univision on since the deal expired Sept. 30. have urged Verizon to immediately re-engage and negotiate a long-term renewal that is fair to both Verizon and Univi- he wrote. Falco noted that the action comes at a time when the U.S. Hispanic community is seeking coverage of natural disasters both domestically and abroad that have had a impact on our viewers and their Deal will keep channels on Charter Meanwhile, Verizon remains in dispute with Univision Mike Snider USA TODAY Trevor Daily Show and other Comedy Central programming will stay on Charter stations as part of an agreement in principle reached last week.

EVAN AGOSTINI, LOSANGELES MasterCard customers need to search for apen anymore when they make purchases with the credit card. The credit-card giant is making it official, eliminating the need to sign for purchases made on the card at retail, as of April. Whether to sign or not will now be an optional decision for merchants in the U.S. and Canada. Already, many merchants require signatures for purchases.

the need for signature is another step in the digital evolution of payments and payment says Linda Kirkpatrick, executive vice president of U.S. market development division. In a blog post, she says research showed the company that most folks believed it would be easier to pay, and that checkout lines would move faster, without signatures slowing them down. important step will improve the customer experience and eliminate inefficient, ineffective and costly processes for the retail merchant community and their said Laura Townsend, senior vicepresident of operations for the Merchant Advisory Group, a consortium of retailers interested in new ways to make payments. and improved digital authentication methods are emerging, which bring better security to the payments ecosystem.

Elimination of signature will help pave the way for adoption of these MasterCard says some of retail transactions made through the card require signatures. The signature originally was designed as a security precaution, to prove that you indeed made the purchase. But MasterCard notes that chips, biometrics and tokens use newer and more secure methods to prove identity. MasterCard customers have to sign receipts Credit-card giant says it uses newer, more secure methods to prove identity MasterCard says about of retail transactions currently require signatures. MARK LENNIHAN, AP important step will improve the customer experience and eliminate inefficient, ineffective and costly processes for the retail merchant community and their Laura Townsend senior vice president of operations for the Merchant Advisory Group Jefferson Graham USA TODAY Sonos is upping the volume in the smart speaker race.

Already well-known for its great-sounding wireless home speakers, Sonos is bringing to market the whole home speaker system with built-in voice control using digital voice-commanded assistant Alexa. The new speaker, the $199 So- nos One, due out Tuesday, raises the bar for good-sounding smart speakers. But it has competition on the way from Apple and Google, both set to launch their own increasingly sophisticated speakers in December. Apple will have the $349 HomePod Siri-driven speaker, and Google comes in with the $399 Home Max speaker. Sonos has staked out some potentially territory at its price point.

It comes in below those future competitors, but a bit more than the new Amazon Echo speaker, out Oct. 31 for $99.99. Amazon has given a nod to better- sounding music in that new model, touting its Dolby process for improved music playback. At home over the past several months, enjoyed the Amazon Echo that placed on the counter bisecting our kitchen and dining room. smarts, helped along by intelligence, quickly won over my wife, who might have nixed a traditional speaker as simply clutter.

Sonos One is like an Echo on steroids. For starters, Sonos One is as smart as an Echo. Sonos worked with Amazon on incorporating the AI assistant into the speaker, and its six microphones constantly listen for your queries of Alexa. Once setup, you simply talk to Alexa through the Sonos One: shuffle songs by Tom or play the new song by When it comes to music, the Sonos One hits a high note, outperforming the Echo. Added depth comes in the tumbling drums and guitar work at the start of Bob Everything is Broken it delivers a richer rendition of the horn-infused and percussion-driven rally at the heart of Steely Aja also more oomph in the bass beats of Wild Thoughts track featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.

Beyond just better sound, the Sonos One will control music throughout your home, wherever you have Sonos speakers deployed. So I could ask the new So- nos One, which sat on a sideboard in the dining room, to play my Steve Winwood playlist on Amazon Music Unlimited in the living room. And you can do this throughout the home in other rooms. And, of course, you can ask the Sonos One those everyday questions, such as the weather and was Babe career batting Note: If you already have an Amazon Echo or Dot speaker and Sonos speakers, you can update the Sonos app and wirelessly connect an Alexa-enabled device to direct music to any of your current Sonos speakers (of course, your older Sonos speakers talk to you). Like other Sonos speakers, the newcomer can be used as a solo three-dimensional speaker or paired for stereo sound or used with other Sonos products such as the larger speaker Playbar TV soundbar speaker and Sub subwoofer speaker To get your speakers and Alexa on the same page, you upgrade the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet.

The app walks you through connecting your speakers to your home wireless network. also download the Alexa app, if you already, and enable the Sonos skill within the app. You will also want to add other music apps within Alexa such as Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, Spotify and TuneIn. Looking forward, the Sonos One is going to get smarter. By end, Sonos plans to let Alexa have full voice control of Spotify.

As of now, you cannot ask Alexa to play Spotify tracks or playlists, but you can pick Spotify tracks, albums or playlists in the Sonos app and then ask Alexa to pause, skip or adjust the volume using your voice. And you can similarly operate more than 80 other music services, including Google Play and Soundcloud, using the Sonos app. Next year, Sonos also plans to update its software to allow the new speakers to work with Google Assistant and Siri using AirPlay 2, too. So if you sure which AI assistant ultimately make nice with, the Sonos One is a sound purchase that sounds good now and in the future. Sonos worked with Amazon on incorporating the AI assistant Alexa into the speaker, and its six microphones constantly listen for your queries.

SONOS SONOS SOUNDS SMARTER WITH ALEXA ON BOARD Mike Snider USA TODAY The $199 Sonos One, due out Tuesday, raises the bar for good- sounding smart speakers The Sonos One is going to get even smarter. By end, Sonos plans to let Alexa have full voice control of Spotify. TECH.