Multichannel News back issues from June 1994:
Wireless industry still seeks respect.
Jun 06, 1994; ... Everyone loves an underdog, but love won't buy respect.Take wireless cable. Even at a generally upbeat seminar on the industry in late April in New York, Victor Oristano, vice chairman of rising star People's Choice TV Corp., had to fend off an analyst's gibe in Barron's that PCTV ...
Times Mirror goes to Cox for $2.3B. (Times Mirror Co.; Cox Enterprises Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Proving that neither regulators nor skittish telcos have killed the deal market, Times Mirror Co. agreed to sell its cable system division to Cox Enterprises Inc. for $2.3 billion.The deal puts a big valuation on the properties, 12 times the annual running-rate cash flow expected ...
Time Warner loses, NECN wins access ruling. (Time Warner Cable; New England Cable News Channel)
Jun 06, 1994; ... WASHINGTON -- In its first program-access decisions, the Federal Communications Commission last week told Time Warner Cable it could not withhold the Courtroom Television Network from a competitor, but okayed exclusive deals between New England News Channel and cable operators.If ...
Time Warner claims PCS works. (Time Warner Cable; personal communications services)
Jun 06, 1994; ... ORLANDO, FLA. -- Time Warner Cable's Full Service Network in Orlando may be a bit late in coming, but the combined wireless and wired phone system works just fine, company officials announced here Friday.About six months of tests, Time Warner says, have demonstrated it can carry ...
FCC will revise PCS auction rules. (personal communications services)
Jun 06, 1994; ... WASHINGTON -- Reacting to widespread industry concern, the Federal Communications Commission is likely to unveil on Thursday a revised plan for the auctioning of personal communications services (PCS) spectrum blocks.Sources said the FCC is going to scrap the old plan adopted last ...
SW Bell's aggressive cable phone plans. (Southwestern Bell Corp.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Mike Gilliam left Southwestern Bell Corp.'s United Kingdom operation, where he helped build a combined cable television and telephone network, to lead the Baby Bell's newly bought cable system in Montgomery County, Md.Now his task is to build another cable and phone network to ...
Fx celebrates while C-SPAN licks wounds. (fX Network Inc.; Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network)
Jun 06, 1994; ... While executives of fX were basking in the fanfare of what they claimed was the biggest network launch in cable history, the staff of C-SPAN was having one of the worst times-in its history.fX executives said their network, which debuted last Wednesday June 1, launched in 18 ...
Falcon feathers nest with overseas deals. (Falcon Cable Television L.P.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... When Marc Nathanson recently delivered a battle-cry speech urging Philippine cable-casters to seek greater regulatory freedom, he brought the assembled crowd to its feet. One might have thought he was on the campaign trail.But in fact, Nathanson, chairman and CEO of Falcon Cable, ...
EchoStar nails $335M in new DBS financing. (EchoStar Communications Corp.; direct broadcast satellite)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Competition to cable from the sky heated up as direct-broadcast satellite hopeful EchoStar Communications Corp. secured the financing needed to launch its satellites.The junk bond deal raised $335 million to pay for the construction and launch of Echostar's first two high-power DBS ...
Digital chips to carry Macrovision anti-copy system. (Macrovision Corp.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Texas Instrument Corp. has licensed Macrovision Corp.'s video copy-protection technology and will integrate it into TI's line of digital video compression integrated circuits.General Instrument Corp. has tapped TI as its primary supplier of compression chips, which GI will build ...
Time Warner reaches deal on Marlins, Lightning. (Time Warner Cable; Florida Marlins; Tampa Bay Lightning)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Yielding to public demand, Time Warner Cable has agreed to carry Sunshine Network's Florida Marlins baseball and Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games.The deal concludes a two-year public and often bitter standoff between Sunshine and Time Warner over whether the regional sports ...
E! to air Howard Stern's radio show in primetime. (E! Entertainment Television Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... After months of negotiations, E! Entertainment Television has finally signed a deal to bring radio personality Howard Stern back to the cable network.Stern's new E! show will be a half-hour condensed TV broadcast of his syndicated radio show. E! has the rights to do over 200 shows ....
Lock Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island.
Jun 06, 1994; ... Sit down and take a trip where you don't want to go: Rikers Island, New York's giant prison facility.The latest HBO America Undercover documentary Lock Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island takes viewers inside the prison's maze-like structure. It's not a pleasant hour, nor a ...
TBS tries to erase country image. (TBS SuperStation)
Jun 06, 1994; ... In an effort to re-energize TBS SuperStation, the Turner Broadcasting System Inc. network has upped its commitment to non-fiction original programming.TBS is primarily known for its rosters of sitcoms and movies -- Ted Turner recently joked that Nick at Nite's shows used to run on ...
Showtime to double original film production. (Showtime Networks Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... NEW YORK -- Claiming it will become "the largest independent studio in the world," a top Showtime Networks Inc. executive said the company will double its movie production next year.Steven Hewitt, the newly-promoted executive vice president of Showtime Entertainment Group, the ...
TNT unveils '95 original films slate. (Turner Network Television)
Jun 06, 1994; ... LOS ANGELES -- A film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Heidi Chronicles, the third biography of Biblical characters and another Civil War saga are on the production slate for Turner Network Television for 1995.And unlike the film/miniseries Gettysburg, they will all ...
Fans Rocket complaints at Warner Cable of Houston. (Houston Rockets)
Jun 06, 1994; ... The Houston Rockets' recent playoff success has been bittersweet for Warner Cable of Houston, as technical problems in delivering Rockets pay-per-view playoff games have drawn the ire of subscribers and the city's mayor.The system offered more than 3,000 refunds and a free PPV ...
Toughman, De La Joya fall flat for ops. (World Toughman Championships; Oscar De La Hoya)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Citing competition from the National Basketball Association playoffs and an overabundance of pay-per-view boxing events in the last month, both operators and event distributors reported disappointing performances for two late May events.Showtime Event Television said buy-rates for ...
TVN to test eight-channel PPV. (TVN Entertainment L.P.; pay-per-view)
Jun 06, 1994; ... TVN Entertainment Corp. will test its eight-channel TheatreVisioN Plus pay-per-view service in Cablevision Systems Corp.'s Boston system beginning this summer.The test, which will offer eight continuous hits channels to Cablevision's 110,000 subscribers, is TVN's first venture from ...
N.J. system dances with devils. (New Jersey Devils; Monmouth Cablevision)
Jun 06, 1994; ... The New Jersey Devils may not have reached the Stanley Cup Finals, but for a New Jersey system offering Devils playoff games on a pay-per-view basis, the semi-final round was just as sweet.Monmouth Cablevision, which sold SportsChannel New York's telecasts of the Devils-New York ...
Hulk Hogan to appear in WCW July wrestling event. (World Championship Wrestling)
Jun 06, 1994; ... In an effort to increase buy-rates for its World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events, Turner Home Entertainment has signed former World Wrestling Federation attraction Hulk Hogan to appear on its telecasts.Hogan, who has not performed in a PPV wrestling show in over a year, ...
SkyConnect expanding its digital offerings.
Jun 06, 1994; ... SkyConnect, while still courting local cable ad sales managers for spot-ad delivery, has just completed several deals that will permit it to expand its scope to include the digital distribution of dedicated ad channels, programming and pay-per-view movies."It opens up a larger ...
Greater Media to join Massachusetts regional ad zone. (Greater Media Cable Advertising Inc.; Continental Cablevision Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Greater Media Cable, as a result of its fiber-link agreement with Continental Cablevision Inc., will join an existing special "super zone" that's been selling regional advertising in the Boston market."We'll become part of that fiber zone, and we're looking forward to working with ...
TV Data sharpens ad sales tool. (TV Data Technologies Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... TV Data Technologies, whose bread and butter is providing TV programming listings, is trying to use its database to expand into the local cable ad sales business.Queensbury, N.Y.-based TV Data is pitching clients and trying to set up test markets for SpotData, a sales tool that ...
Some ops gaining ground with Music Choice.
Jun 06, 1994; ... Executives at Music Choice believe they may have finally found the elusive "how," as in how to sell digital audio into homes at a rate higher than 2 percent.Their optimism is based on results from test systems which have abandoned traditional, telemarketing-heavy, blanket promotion ...
Cox: Omaha test must stress customer needs. (Cox Enterprises Inc. Cox Cable Communications' interactive television services in Omaha, Nebraska)
Jun 06, 1994; ... NEW ORLEANS -- Cox Cable Communications' forthcoming interactive test in Omaha, Neb. must walk a fine line between hype and reality, according to Lynne Elander, manager of pay-per-view for the MSO in Atlanta."We have to be in the business of under promising and over delivering," ...
Ops, ESPN give World Cup local touch. (cable system operators; Entertainment and Sports Programming Network)
Jun 06, 1994; ... ESPN and its affiliates want to ensure their viewers get a kick out of World Cup soccer.The network is working with cable systems to promote the soccer championship locally, said Joan Wilson, director of marketing for affiliate sales and marketing for ESPN.The World Cup, ...
FCC clears networks' marketing payments.
Jun 06, 1994; ... The Federal Communications Commission will not penalize cable operators for receiving payments that existing basic networks make to promote themselves in local systems.Although the action does give some indication as to the FCC's feelings on the matter, the ruling is a somewhat ...
Neel: USTA will not block telco legislation. (United States Telephone Association president Roy Neel; telephone companies)
Jun 06, 1994; ... WASHINGTON -- Local telephone companies have no plans to block communications legislation despite the industry's serious concern with a Senate bill that is nearing a vote in committee.United States Telephone Association President Roy Neel denied reports last week that local phone ...
DEC plans to open digital programming center.
Jun 06, 1994; ... Seeking to establish its media server platform among programmers as well as regional telephone companies, Digital Equipment Corp. will open a Digital Content Center in Tarrytown, N.Y., this summer.It is the first of half a dozen such facilities DEC plans to open for use by digital ...
Wireless telephony enters ex-Soviet bloc.
Jun 06, 1994; ... International Telcell, a wireless video system operator in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, will this fall deploy wireless telephone equipment manufactured by DSC Communications.The telephony launch to roughly 1,000 residents within Georgia, Uzbekistan, Romania ...
Operators say telcos overstate VDT earnings. (video dial tone)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Cable operators charge that new details released by two telephone companies planning video dial tone service show the services will lose money and may be improperly controlled by the phone companies.Ameritech Corp. and U S West Inc. are the first two phone companies forced to ...
PacBell wins long distance victory in California. (Pacific Bell)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Pacific Bell has convinced half the California legislature that it should be allowed to enter the long-distance telephone business within California.The state Assembly voted 60-1 recently to support PacBell if it enters the long distance market. Legislators were apparently swayed ...
Many questions loom over Apstar's new launch schedules. (APT Satellite Company Ltd.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... HONG KONG -- Orbital slot difficulties and internal political rifts at the APT Satellite Co. Ltd are casting some doubts over the company's two Apstar satellites scheduled to lift off this year.The questions, in turn, are creating a level of uncertainty over the plans of a number ...
Disney Channel plans to launch network in India. (Walt Disney Co. Walt Disney Studios)
Jun 06, 1994; ... The battle for a slice of the 8 million-household Indian cable market has been joined by the Walt Disney Co., which has signed a joint venture agreement with the diversified Modi organization of Bombay to create an advertiser-driven channel.Detailed plans for the ...
U.K. partners split into two network camps. (Associated Newspapers Inc.; SelecTV)
Jun 06, 1994; ... LONDON --The struggle to launch cable-exclusive channels in Britain hit another bump in the road last week when Associated Newspapers and SelecTV plc called off their partnership to start a major new service.However, the split could actually pay off for cable operators because the ...
Canadians choose telcos over cable as provider. (telephone companies)
Jun 06, 1994; ... MONTREAL --Most Canadians would prefer to deal with telephone companies rather than cable operators if the two industries were to both offer similar services on the information highway.That's according to a recent study conducted by Opinion Search Inc. of Ottawa, Ontario. ...
Malaysia lifts ban; takes the DirecTV high road. (ban on backyard satellite receivers)
Jun 06, 1994; ... The Malaysian government is lifting its ban of backyard satellite receivers in 1996 and allowing the establishment of a high-powered satellite service.Malaysia is one of very few countries in the region to ban individuals from owning satellite receivers. Even so, there are believed ...
Bell Canada finalizes Jones agreement for $275M. (Bell Canada International Inc.; Jones Intercable Inc.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... After a long delay, Bell Canada International Inc. cut a definitive agreement last week to acquire a total 30 percent of Jones Intercable Inc. for $275 million, a mild reduction from the original price.However, the final agreement discloses that Bell Canada will pay affiliated ...
Cable stock rebound seen as a long time coming.
Jun 06, 1994; ... NEW YORK -- While cable stocks appear to have bottomed out, Wall Street executives believe a true rebound is months away.Since January, investors have suffered a 25-30 percent power dive in MSO stocks and a somewhat milder 20-30 percent drop in programming shares at a time when the ...
Dolan cutting Sutton Capital price 9 percent. (Sutton Capital Associates Inc.; Cablevision Systems Corp.)
Jun 06, 1994; ... NEW YORK -- Sutton Capital Corp. has agreed to reduce the price of its sale to Cablevision Systems Corp. by 9 percent in the face of the second round of cable rate rollbacksSources familiar with the deal said that the 170,000-subscriber MSO cut its price to $423 million, down from ...
Advertising is key to cable's future. (Forum ) (Column)
Jun 06, 1994; ... There is a growing concern in the advertising and cable communities about the impact the emerging new communications technologies will have on the future of television as an advertising medium. Most of this concern can be traced to the fact that most of the focus in countless press articles, ...
Service Electric restores, then removes, MSGN. (Service Electric Cable Television Co.; Madison Square Garden Network)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Citing rate restrictions due to the Cable Act, a New Jersey Service Electric system last Thursday dropped Madison Square Garden Network after reaching a carriage agreement only two days earlier.The system's move surprised executives at MSGN, who thought they had reached a carriage ...
Price wasn't right: Goodson exits game network. (Mark Goodson Productions exits Game Show Network)
Jun 06, 1994; ... Game show producer Mark Goodson Productions, which held an equity stake in the forthcoming Game Show Network, has pulled out of its network partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and United Cable Video Partners.Michael S. Brockman, senior vice president of business affairs ...
States sue Comcast for negative option. (Comcast Corp.)
Jun 13, 1994; ... In the first round of a sweeping investigation into cable operators' marketing practices, eight states sued Comcast Corp. charging that the MSO's a la carte tier and wire maintenance plans have been illegally sold on a negative option basis.The lawsuits are part of an examination ...
It's mixed bag as ops set new rates. (cable operators)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Cable operators struggled last week to finish calculating their new rates as most systems surveyed ended up cutting their rates less than the additional 7 percent the FCC was seeking.In the second round of FCC-mandated changes, few operators raised rates as some had after the first ...
Saatchi exec turns down CAB's top slot. (Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising research expert Betsy Frank; Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau)
Jun 13, 1994; ... NEW YORK -- The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau is back to square one in its search for a new president after Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising research expert Betsy Frank turned down the job last week, according to sources.Because of a strange quirk of fate and timing, the CAB lost ...
Times Mirror sale perks market. (Times Mirror Cable Television Inc.)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Cable operators looking to exit the business breathed easier as the heated auction of Times Mirror Corp. showed that the system market is far from dead and that buyers are willing to pay up for the right properties.Cox Enterprises Inc.'s $2.3 billion agreement to acquire Times ...
New glitch emerges in FCC forms.
Jun 13, 1994; ... An error in instructions for calculating rates under cost-of-service filings prompted a lobbyist representing several MSOs to seek an emergency extension of a key July 15 deadline for compliance with new rate rules.Fleischman & Walsh attorney Stuart Feldstein Thursday asked the ...
FCC approves new PCS action rules. (personal communications services)
Jun 13, 1994; ... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission last week unveiled a new plan to auction the airwaves to promote the widespread deployment of a new class of low-cost mobile wireless communicators.In a 5-0 vote, the FCC scrapped the plan it adopted last September in favor of a ...
Multichannel names Katz programming editor. (Multichannel News; Richard Katz)
Jun 13, 1994 ... NEW YORK -- Multichannel News is pleased to announce that Richard Katz has been promoted to programming editor.Since October 1993, Katz, 28, has served as programming editor, East Coast, for Multichannel News and programming editor for sister publication Cablevision."Few ...
Draw, pardner: shootout in Jackson. (Jackson, Missisippi's cable television system operators)
Jun 13, 1994; ... It's high noon in Jackson, Miss.This capital city and its outlying areas are facing a competitive climate that is taking hold increasingly across the U.S. Residents can now, or soon will be able to, choose between the veteran cable system and three other video providers in and ...
DBS services pledge June 23 launch date. (direct-broadcast satellite)
Jun 13, 1994; ... DBS is coming this month, its backers promise, despite some last-minute tinkering to make sure the system is "perfect."The three biggest promoters of high-powered, direct-broadcast satellite services -- Hughes Communications Inc.'s DirecTv, Hubbard Broadcasting Inc.'s United States ...
Northern Telecom shelves ADSL for fiber/coax hybrid. (asymmetrical digital subscriber line)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Northern Telecom last week acknowledged it will shelve its asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) investments and instead shunt those resources into "productization" of its hybrid fiber/coax designs for broadband service carriage.Several regional Bell operating companies, ...
America Online's case open to cable. (Interview)
Jun 13, 1994 ... Steve Case has had quite a ride as president and CEO of America Online Inc. He runs the hippest, fastest-growing computer on-line service, tripling its subscriber base in the last year to 800,000. He's fended off Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, whose interest fueled a huge runup in ...
Canada opens door to 10 new niche cable nets.
Jun 13, 1994; ... OTTAWA -- One of the most anticipated contests in the Canadian television industry drew to a close last week with the award of 10 new niche cable channels -- several of which have U.S. company involvement.The Canadian cable industry was both relieved and confused by the selection ...
FCC finds broadcast sports siphoning is not an issue.
Jun 13, 1994; ... WASHINGTON -- In a final report approved unanimously last week, the Federal Communication Commission found no significant shift in sports programming from broadcasting to cable.In the 1992 Cable Act, Congress asked the FCC to study "sports migration" in the 1992 Cable Act. The ...
Hewlett-Packard buys test supplier. (CaLan Inc.)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Hewlett-Packard Co. will fortify its presence in the cable TV test and measurement market through an agreement last week to purchase CaLan Inc., a privately owned test equipment supplier located in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.The acquisition will be completed by July 1, H-P ...
TCI-BMG breakdown may foster Viacom talks. (Telecommunications Inc.; Berstelmann Music Group; Viacom Inc.)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Tele-Communications Inc. last week confirmed that it has scrapped plans to create a music video channel in conjunction with Bertelsmann Music Group, a subsidiary of Germany's Bertelsmann AG.The two companies had announced plans last September to create a network to compete with ...
Fax about Cuba trip prompts MTV Latino to fire staffer.
Jun 13, 1994; ... Apparently reacting to a complaint from a right-wing Cuban exile organization, MTV Latino fired an employee last week.While MTV's official version and that of the ex-employee are sharply different, both agree on one thing: Maria Romeu used an MTV Latino fax machine to transmit ...
Absolutely Fabulous.
Jun 13, 1994; ... While Comedy Central has gotten a good buzz from programming such as Politically Incorrect, and Mystery Science Theater 3000, the network hasn't translated that buzz into ratings. The comedy genre should be mass appeal, but a niche service like The Learning Channel often equals or beats ...
Broadband: let the revolution begin.
Jun 13, 1994; ... Sometimes the mind just won't multitask anymore and instead locks up and loops again and again to something silly. Today, it's the '70s film Don't Start the Revolution Without Me, an 18th-century, mistaken-identity, comedy-of-errors formula featuring two Gene Wilders, two Donald Sutherlands ...
Time for cable telephony?
Jun 13, 1994; ... The cable industry may be ready for telephony prime-time.To wander the floor at the New Orleans convention center three weeks ago was to encounter repeated vendor affirmations that, indeed, the cable industry is poised technically to jump into the voice business just as soon as the ...
Playing well with others. (broadband access line product business)
Jun 13, 1994; ... For vendors, forming new alliances will be a major key to grabbing a share of the multibillion-dollar pie.ON ITS FACE, the broadband construction revolution would appear to offer a 10-year bonanza for all manner of products -- perhaps longer, given the virgin territory abroad. But ...
Lenfest's Philly News Channel has different bent. (Lenfest Communications Inc.'s Lenfest Programming Services)
Jun 13, 1994; ... Lenfest Programming Services, a division of Lenfest Communications, is testing its new Philadelphia regional news service The NewsChannel and hopes to roll the service out to operators this summer.The NewsChannel, which is being tested in Lenfest's Suburban Cable system in central ...