Multichannel News back issues from September 2008:
Olympic Hurdle Trips Cable.(NBC's Olympics viewership)(Market share report)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Moss Beijing Games Help Broadcast Gain 9% for Summer Blame Michael Phelps, but the summer didn't go quite so swimmingly for cable. Up against NBC's deluge of Beijing Summer Olympics coverage, ad-supported cable saw its primetime household share ...
Sticker Shock Hits ShopNBC Shareholders.(ValueVision International Inc. ShopNBC Div.)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Moss Sales Drop 26% in 2Q Irate investors want ShopNBC parent ValueVision Media to shop the beleaguered network around. But management last week said it's trying to lift the home-shopping network's sagging sales by replacing its CEO and bringing in an ...
Comcast Sets Bandwidth Limit.(Comcast Corp.)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler Comcast will cap Internet usage of its broadband subscribers at 250 Gigabytes per month -- a very large amount of data, the equivalent of 62,500 digital songs -- starting Oct. 1. The operator last Thursday posted an amendment to its terms of its ...
Correction.
Sep 01, 2008 ... Staff A Through The Wire item about political convention coverage in the Oct. 28 Multichannel News misidentified ...
BTN Scores Deals.(Big Ten Network distribution deals with cable operators)(Big Ten Network is a regional sports network in the United States)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Mike Reynolds Sports Service Kicks Off Season With 90% Penetration Big Ten Network went into a hurry-up offense last week, scoring a quartet of distribution deals with key cable operators in the final days leading up to the kickoff of the new college season. ...
NBCU Nets Set Record for Winning Beijing Games.(Beijing Olympics coverage)(NBC Universal Inc.)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Mike Reynolds The Olympic flame has been doused and the world's athletes won't unite again until the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but NBC Universal provided strong Nielsen memories from its Beijing coverage. NBCU's various TV properties attracted 214 million ...
Coda.(PPV Network: De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao)(copyright-infringement case)(Comcast Corp.'s digital recording service marketing campaign)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Staff PPV's Next Power Punch Mike Reynolds New York -- Dec. 6 could be the final chance for video distributors to make some green off the Golden Boy. Oscar De La Hoya will battle Manny Pacquiao, considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound ...
Nets Get Their Game On.(distribution agreement between ESPN TV and Time Warner Cable, Verizon Communications' FiOS TV, Atlantic Broadband and Broadstripe)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Mike Reynolds ESPNU HD, The Mtn. Ink Carriage Deals as College Season Nears ESPNU stepped onto the high-definition field last Thursday with four distributors carrying the enhanced college-sports service. Meanwhile, regional sports network The Mtn ....
Review.(Home Box Office Inc.'s new hourlong drama True Blood)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Michael Demenchuk True Blood (HBO, Sunday, Sept. 7, 9 p.m. ET) For a creature as long-lived as a vampire, patience probably isn't a hard trait to cultivate -- and one that would serve a viewer of True Blood , HBO's new hourlong drama about the creatures ...
TBS to 'Meet' New Tyler Perry Series in January.(TBS announces new Tyler Perry series)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Moss Filmmaker Tyler Perry already has one hit sitcom on TBS, and he's looking to bring a second one to the "Very Funny" network. Last week TBS said it had ordered 10 episodes of the new comedy from Perry based on characters from his play and hit movie, Meet ...
Betting On 'Anarchy'.(Sons of Anarchy dramatic series)(FX Networks L.L.C.)
Sep 01, 2008; ... By Mary McNamara FX Takes A Ride On The Wild Side With Biker Drama From 'Shield' Writer On Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 10 p.m., FX ventures into untamed television territory -- again. It's the debut of the network's latest dramatic series, Sons of Anarchy , a reinvention ...
La. Franchise-Law Challenge Freezes Cablers.(Consumer Choice for Television Act)(franchising law)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted A Louisiana state court has slammed the brakes on implementing the opt-out provision for some incumbent cable operators in the state's franchising law, which was to take effect Aug. 15. The state's Police Jury Association, the lobby for parish ...
MTV Tr3s 'Gets' the Joke.(MTV Networks Inc.)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Multicultural Network's New Image Effort Plays It for Laughs MTV Tr3s is reaching out to viewers in a comedic way with a new image campaign featuring the Austin, Texas-based Latino Comedy Project. The network has created eight spots with ...
Fraud Scheme Calls On Verizon Customers.(Verizon Communications Inc.)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Criminals have co-opted Verizon Communications' brand, sending notices informing consumers they have won a nonexistent sweepstakes in an effort to obtain money or personally identifiable information from recipients. It's a double-pronged fraud, as ...
Comcast Can Get It for You Retail.(contract between Comcast Corp. and Gregg Appliances Inc.)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Philadelphia -- Comcast is expanding its retail presence, signing a deal with HH Gregg, a regional consumer electronics specialty retailer, to add digital cable, high-definition programming services, high-speed Internet and digital voice services to its ...
Cable Sees Capital Losses.
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell Crawford's Funds, Others Trim Holdings of Cable Operator Major institutional investors appeared to be focusing on boosting their positions in satellite TV, telcos and cable programmers in the second quarter, while shedding holdings in some of the more ...
News Corp. Loses Favor Of Funds.(Financial report)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell News Corp. appeared to be on many mutual funds' "sell" lists between April and June. Gordon Crawford's Capital Research sold 5.1 million shares of Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate in the second quarter, trimming its holdings to 50.5 million shares. Cap ...
Event Television in High Demand.(Editorial)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Kent Gibbons, Executive Editor What an August it's been for event television. First the Beijing Games, dubbed the first high-definition Olympics, and now the Democratic convention. NBC Universal -- and cable and satellite affiliates -- did a masterful job with the ...
Talkback.(Brief article)(Column)
Sep 01, 2008 ... Staff This Isn't 'SportsCenter' "Call me old-fashioned, but I could not believe [last week's Democratic National Convention] coverage: they were analyzing things as if it were college sports. I sat down with my sons last night to watch the convention ...
People.(615 Music)(ABI Research)(briefs)
Sep 01, 2008 ... by Staff 615 Music Production-music company 615 Music has added Shelly Walker as Los Angeles-based director of licensing, television-network division. She comes from Megatrax Production Music Library, where she was division manager, broadcast network and affiliate ...
Eyeing Net Management Makeovers.
Sep 01, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Cable Operators Re-Examine Their Bandwidth Practices After FCC Order Cable-company engineers and lawyers are huddling to determine whether to change the way they treat Internet traffic that traverses their pipes. Virtually all large ...
Broadcom Picks Up AMD's Chips.(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler Broadcom, a key supplier of semiconductors used in cable set-tops, modems and other devices, will get a foothold in the low-end digital television market with its acquisition of AMD's digital TV chips business for $192.8 million in cash. Through the ...
ZeeVee: Nifty Idea, But Not EZ.(Column)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Todd spangler What was zee point, again? That question popped into my head as I spent more than two hours setting up ZeeVee's ZvBox, a device that turns your computer into a video channel you can watch on a high-definition TV in the living room. The ...
DOCSIS 3.0 + PacketCable 2.0 = Cross Platform.(Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification )
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Leslie Ellis By now, the channel-bonding feature of the newest cable modem chapter, known in tech-speak as DOCSIS 3.0, should be pretty evident. Benefit: Ramming speed. Channel-bonding is what lets you download a movie, or 40 pounds of encyclopedias, or anything ...
Martin Eyes Networks.
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Ted Hearn Cable Content Faces Its First-Ever Regulation Bid from FCC Washington-- Under Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin, cable operators have felt the lash of regulation. Cable programmers could be next. Egged on by ...
Dish Cites Hefty Retrans Demands.(Dish Network)(EchoStar Communications Corp.)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Ted Hearn Washington-- Satellite-TV provider Dish Network is telling the Federal Communications Commission that large cash demands by TV stations could lead to carriage disputes early next year on the eve of the transition to all-digital broadcasting. ...
Through the Wire.(Democratic National Convention's contracted telecom provider)
Sep 01, 2008 ... by Staff Dems Do TV End-Run With Live 'HD' Online The Democrats delivered pixels to the people. The party went unfiltered with its own video feed -- live from the Denver convention -- that it called "high-definition." Indeed, on a small-ish screen it ...
Clearing Room for HD On-Demand.(high definition)
Sep 01, 2008; ... by Chris Gordon, Imagine Communications Video-on-demand has been enormously successful for cable operators. Subscribers have a growing appetite for the service, marketers appreciate its value-added differentiation and the industry welcomes the incremental revenue. While the ...
McCain Wins Nielsen Race.(John McCain)(Brief article)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Mike Reynolds RNC Finale Outdraws Obama's Speech by 500,000 Viewers Republican Presidential nominee John McCain's acceptance speech last Thursday night turned up about 500,000 more viewers than Barack Obama's at the Democratic National Convention the week before. ...
FCC Cuts Small Ops Some DTV Slack.(Federal Communications Commission)(digital television)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Ted Hearn Washington- The Federal Communications Commission has revised its digital-television carriage rules in an effort to accommodate cable systems with limited capacity. The FCC issued the new rules last Thursday, yielding to complaints that the original ...
'Axis' Spins Into the NFL.(National Football League)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Mike Reynolds ESPN Brings Virtual Freeze Frame to 'Monday Night Football' ESPN will bring virtual, freeze-frame replays of game action to its Monday Night Football franchise this season. ESPN Axis, first deployed during the Euro 2008 soccer tournament ...
Weathering the Storm.(FX Networks L.L.C.)(The Weather Channel Inc.)(Turner Entertainment Networks)(Company rankings)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead Cable Originals Start Strong vs. Tough Competition Several cable-network original premieres survived a storm of big ratings-laden events last week to deliver strong ratings performances. TNT raised the bar for series launches as its new ...
Cable Left In the Dark By Gustav.(Cox Communications Inc.)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Systems Assessing Damage from Storm As telecommunications firms begin cleaning up after Hurricane Gustav, one key part of their recovery remained elusive: power. Companies serving the states hardest hit - Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi ...
TiVo's Good, Bad News.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler DVR Maker Back With DirecTV, Waits for Ruling in Dish Case TiVo experienced a bit of agony and ecstasy with the two major satellite-TV operators. The good news for the company that popularized digital video recorders: Three years after ...
DirecTV: HDTV Is Just the 'Ticket'.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead Satellite service DirecTV is hoping more live high-definition offerings and features as well as an enhanced broadband experience will tackle more subscribers for its exclusive 'NFL Sunday Ticket' package, which launched Sunday (Sept. 7). The 17 ...
Cox, Utility Sparked Fires.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Report Faults Cable Operator in San Diego Blaze Contact between a wire used to lash Cox Communications' plant to a power pole and a power conductor owned by the area utility started one of three destructive wildfires in San Diego County, Calif., last ...
Cablevision Lights Up Wi-Fi on Long Island.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler Cablevision Systems went live last week with the first broad rollout of its metro Wi-Fi network in areas of Long Island, a service it is offering free for broadband customers as an enticement to stay plugged into cable. In May, the operator said it ...
Coda.(brodcasting companies spends for political advertising)(Invision services and growth)(Neal Scarbrough appointed at Versus)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Staff Barack Blitz Is Spot On Mike Reynolds New York - Now that the conventions are history, TV viewers can brace for a Barack Obama blitz. The Democratic presidential nominee, wielding record funds from some 2 million contributors, is ...
TV Land's 'Prime' Time.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead New Programming Block Will Target Younger Baby Boomers TV Land in October will offer a new primetime programming block that it hopes will better target younger baby boomers as well as advertisers through original programming and more contemporary ...
Lifetime Taps Ex-NBC Exec.(JoAnn Alfano appointed )(Brief article)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead JoAnn Alfano, a former NBC programming executive and a creative force behind the network's breakout comedy hit 30 Rock , will take over the programming reins at Lifetime Networks. Alfano replaces Susanne Daniels as Lifetime executive vice ...
Review.(Lincoln Heights )
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead LINCOLN HEIGHTS (Season 3) (ABC Family, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 8 p.m.) After an almost yearlong hiatus, ABC Family returns its popular family drama Lincoln Heights for a third season. Several new twists and turns are in store for the ...
Martin's Fall Offensive.(Kevin Martin)
Sep 08, 2008; ... By Ted Hearn With November Election, FCC Chief Battles Against Time Washington- Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin isn't expected to go gentle into that good night. Many in the cable-TV industry expect Martin, a Republican - who could ...
Eye on New Ion Brand.(Ion Television)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted Network Thinks 'Positively' in Bid to Skew Audience Younger At Ion Television, it's out with the older-skewing programming and in with contemporary dramas that executives hope will help lower the network's demographic. The new focus is ...
WE, Expo Trade Vows.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted WE TV has exchanged vows with The Great Bridal Expo, a 30-year-old trade show which brings soon-to-weds and wedding vendors together, a partnership that will allow the network and the expo to leverage their respective brands. WE, which devotes 40% ...
More Join Dolan Party.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell Institutions Buying Up More of Cablevision Harbinger Capital wasn't the only hedge fund to beef up its position in Cablevision Systems in the past year. At least one new institutional investor has emerged through Securities and Exchange Commission ...
Liberty Plans 'Hard Spin' on Stock.(Liberty Media Corp.)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell Liberty Media said last Wednesday that its board of directors has authorized a 'hard spin' of its Liberty Entertainment tracking stock, a move that will convert the tracker into a separately traded public entity backed by hard assets, including Liberty Media's ...
BTN, Rivals Drag on Mediacom.(Big Ten Network)(Brief article)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield lowered his rating on Mediacom Communications last week to 'neutral' from 'buy,' citing increased expectations after recently raising guidance and rising programming costs. In a report, Greenfield wrote that his ...
Cable Is Bustin' Out All Over.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead, Programming Editor September is upon us, which means the annual ringing of school bells, the return of pro football and - the debut of cable network original series. OK, the latter is not a traditional rite of fall - in fact, cable usually goes ...
Talkback.(briefs)
Sep 08, 2008 ... by Staff Way to Go On Wi-Fi 'Cablevision Systems is taking on the Kryptonite-like municipal wireless proposition, and it's doing things large. Or maybe that should be 'long.' Because Long Island is the site of the cableco's brand-new Wi-Fi access network, covering ...
People.(briefs)(.2 Network)(ActiveVideo Networks)
Sep 08, 2008 ... by Staff .2 Network Clark Morehouse has joined digital broadcasting network .2 Network as senior vice president, chief revenue officer. He comes from Tribune Entertainment, where he was executive VP, general manager. ActiveVideo San Jose, ...
Comcast Sells Net Videos.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler Operator Jumps Into Digital Downloads With Fancast Store The Comcast Interactive Media team was busy over the Labor Day weekend with the launch of the Fancast Store, an electronic storefront that offers more than 3,000 digital downloads of TV shows ...
Quick Hits.(contract between Verizon Communications Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.)(The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers announced its first conference in Canada)(Brief article)
Sep 08, 2008 ... by Staff Verizon Picks Yahoo As Preferred Portal Staff New York - Verizon Communications inked an expanded deal with Yahoo , which will provide an integrated, co-branded Verizon-Yahoo portal as a 'preferred starting point' for the telco's new subscribers ...
How 'Managed' Video Manages Cost Savings.
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Leslie Ellis In case you missed it, Cablevision's business arm, Optimum Lightpath, is up with a 'managed video service as a complete Ethernet solution for video.' On the business-services front, it's a big deal. What's 'managed' about it? Here's what's ...
Putting a Mark on Content Security.(Survey)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Craig Kuhl Watermarks Are Now a Key Piece of the Digital Rights Management Puzzle As theatrical films and other content proliferate across multiple screens and platforms, digital-rights management and such complementary technologies as watermarking have never been ...
Comcast Returns Fire.(Comcast Corp.)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Ted Hearn Largest U.S. Cable Operator Sues FCC On Network Management Washington- Comcast last Thursday sued the Federal Communications Commission in a federal appeals court over the agency's recent ruling that the cable company had mismanaged its broadband network ...
Web Ad CEO Quits After Privacy Inquiry.(chief executive officer)(NebuAd chief executive Bob Dykes has resigned his post)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler NebuAd chief executive Bob Dykes has resigned his post after the 'behavioral targeting' Web-advertising company became a focus of a congressional inquiry into the privacy practices of cable providers and telcos that were testing its system. Dykes ...
Through the Wire.(Insight Communications Company Inc.)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Linda Haugsted and Todd Spangler Dove Hunters Blast Away, Knocking Out Insight Subs Resilient fiber optic plant can withstand hurricane-force winds, water and floods - but still fall victim to the whims of trigger-happy hunters. Insight Communications ...
Ex-TiVo Exec Helps ITV Go Mobile.(TiVo Inc.)(Interview)
Sep 08, 2008; ... by Kent Gibbons Morgan Guenther, former president of TiVo, is CEO of AirPlay, a San Francisco startup marketing a play-along-with-TV game that's built around the mobile phone. Subscribers (who pay a $2.99 monthly fee) play against each other, predicting, via text message, what's ...
Wilmington Goes First.
Sep 15, 2008; ... by Ted Hearn N.C. Market Passes DTV Transition Test Washington-- Wilmington, N.C., last week became the first U.S. city to complete the transition to digital television. By all accounts, the event was a smashing success. But the question now is: What about ...
TWC Dips Into Online Downloads.(Time Warner Cable Inc.)
Sep 15, 2008; ... by Todd Spangler Teams With Comcast On Road Runner Store The two biggest U.S. cable operators have decided that if people are going to download video entertainment over the Internet a la carte, they should be in the game. Time Warner Cable is getting ready ...
Sticker Shock for Startup.(Viacom-led entertainment network)
Sep 15, 2008; ... by Linda Moss Viacom-Led Movie Service Seeks Hefty Digital-Basic License Fee A new, Viacom-led entertainment network, first announced as a premium service, is instead trying to get traction as a digital-basic channel, with a license fee of $1 to $1.50 per subscriber, ...
Cablevision: Ready to Roll on Network DVR.(digital video recording)
Sep 15, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell Just weeks after winning a court appeal that paved the way for its network digital video recorder product (dubbed the RS-DVR), Cablevision Systems chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said that the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company could begin trials for a service ...
Bar Raised, But Not Enough.(National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications)(Survey)
Sep 15, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead NAMIC Study Finds Cable Lagging Telcos In Workforce Diversity Efforts The cable industry has made gains in minority employment over the past two years, but some of its numbers fall well short of its telco competitors, according to a new National ...
TWC Brings Africa To New York City.(Time Warner Cable Inc.)(Brief article)
Sep 15, 2008; ... by R. Thomas Umstead The Africa Channel will launch in the Big Apple Sept. 18 on Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey. The independently-owned network, which features news and information, travel and lifestyle, music and feature films and special events from ...
Mediacom Buys Out Longtime Backer.(Mediacom Communications Corp. buys Shivers Investments)
Sep 15, 2008; ... by Mike Farrell Mediacom Communications said last Monday it had reached a deal to buy back 30% of its outstanding stock from a longtime investor in exchange for non-strategic cable systems with 25,000 subscribers and about $110 million in cash. Shivers Investments, a ...