With IP video contribution specialist LiveU announcing the acquisition of Actus Digital, a provider of broadcast compliance and monitoring tools, broadcasters could be forgiven for feeling a chill down their spine. The move dredges up painful memories of one of the industry’s biggest rug-pulls—the clumsy and fatal handling of Volicon by Verizon Digital Media Services. Volicon’s Observer platform was once considered indispensable—deployed by the likes of CBS, Fox, NBC, Paramount, Disney, and major affiliate groups such as Hearst and Tegna. Observer provided multichannel logging, ad verification via timestamp synchronization, loudness monitoring, and signal integrity tools essential to meeting regulatory compliance and maintaining quality of service. Then Verizon bought Volicon in 2016, just weeks before that year’s NAB Show. By January…