Multichannel News back issues from November 2008:
Good Numbers, Bad Results.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell Despite 10% Upticks In Revenue, Cash Flow, Comcast Takes Hit Comcast kicked off the third-quarter earnings season with less of a bang than some investors apparently had hoped - but the punishment it received did not carry over to other cable stocks. ...
Cox to Go Airborne Once More.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler After Pivot's Bust, Will Debut Wireless With Sprint in '09 Cox Communications, which scrapped the Pivot mobile-phone service developed by a consortium of cable operators this year, plans to debut its own refashioned wireless services in 2009. ...
LIN, Time Warner Settle Up.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Moss Bitter Monthlong Retrans Fight Ends In a Cash Settlement After a messy month-long battle that included station blackouts, Time Warner Cable and LIN TV last week finally reached a retransmission-consent deal, with the broadcaster claiming it had been ...
Louisiana Opt-Out Provision in Judge's Hands.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Local governments and video providers should find out by today (Nov. 3) if a Louisiana state court judge will accept language in the state's new franchising law that allows incumbent operators to opt out of current local contracts. The law was ...
Senators Press NFL on Access to Games.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn Urge Gridiron League to Expand Its Definition of 'Local Market' Washington- A group of U.S. senators is pressuring the National Football League into giving local broadcast TV viewers greater access to games shown on the league-owned NFL Network, a ...
Networks Lose Dual-Carriage Challenge.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn Washington- A federal appeals court ruled last Friday (Oct. 31) that a group of cable networks, including C-SPAN, couldn't challenge the Federal Communications Commission's decision to force cable operators to carry certain TV stations. A three-judge ...
Muni Cites Retrans Abuse.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Moss Lafayette, La., Startup Files Complaint Over Broadcaster Demands A municipal cable system set to start up next year in Lafayette, La., has filed a complaint with federal regulators against broadcasters in its market, alleging they aren't negotiating ...
Netflix Gets TiVo'd.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Teaming up for their biggest end-run yet around cable TV, TiVo and Netflix announced a pact under which customers with Internet-connected DVRs can access Netflix's library of more than 12,000 titles. The two companies said they initiated a test of the ...
Weinstein Claims Sabotage.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Moss 'Runway' Producer Claims Bravo Didn't Promote Departing Show Project Runway 's producer has accused Bravo of trying to diminish the hit reality show's future value by failing to promote its fifth season - the last before it was slated to move to ...
Clarification.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Staff The URL for Food Network's Web site, www.foodnetwork.com was misstated in a story in ...
For the Record.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Staff Fuse Gets Rock Hall of Fame Night Staff New York - The Fuse music-video network said it signed a three-year deal to air the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, starting with a live broadcast of the four-hour ceremony from Cleveland's ...
Coda.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Staff MTV Videos Hit the Web R. Thomas Umstead New York - Feeling nostalgic for the classic '80s video 'Video Killed The Radio Star'? MTV is featuring The Buggles' iconic video - the first ever played on the 27-year-old channel - on the Web ...
Putting Faith in Reality.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by R. Thomas Umstead Gospel Music Channel Will Add a Trio of New Unscripted Series Gospel Music Channel will be singing the praises of the reality genre as the four-year old service looks to increase viewership and ratings over the next year. The 40 ...
Reviews.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by George Vernadakis and R. Thomas Umstead WHALE WARS (Animal Planet, Friday, Nov. 7, 9 p.m.) Animal Planet's new seven-part series Whale Wars combines elements of wildlife documentary, reality TV and even high-seas adventure. The show follows the Sea ...
Breaking Free.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Lured by a Bounty of Online Video and Digital Broadcasts, More Cable TV Customers Are Cutting Their Service hen Gordon Reeder got a 10% price hike on his Comcast cable TV service, the 49-year-old electronics engineer from Hillsboro, Ore., cancelled ...
Politically Interactive.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted CNN's Local Promos Are Drawing 'Shout-Outs' In MSO Markets This political season, football fans have been waving foam fingers reading 'CNN=Politics' toward a stadium Jumbotron featuring a tune-in message from Wolf Blitzer. Partisans in ...
Chance at an HDTV Set Boosts Buy Rates.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Systems participating in TVN Entertainment's third 'Watch and Win' sweepstakes saw an increase in buy-rates from 56% to 93% for the seven-week period, plus a 'halo effect' of higher buy-rates for titles that weren't specifically promoted in the campaign, the ...
Food Extends Print Foray.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Food Network is following its success in newer media - TV and online - with a venture into old media, specifically publishing. The channel and its publishing partner, Hearst Magazines, have decided that the success of the initial edition of Food ...
Scripps Homes In on Revenue.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell 'Lifestyle' Networks Are Holding Their Own Despite Downturn In the Economy Scripps Networks Interactive is still bucking downward trends in advertising, reporting strong growth in domestic ad sales despite the dismal economic climate. SNI, ...
Analyst Says Telcos Need Equipment.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell Major information-technology projects initiated by telcos and cable operators before the September stock-market meltdown are still going as planned, but overall spending is coming under greater scrutiny and some discretionary projects are being cut or deferred to ...
Operators, Reconnect.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Mark Robichaux, Editor in Chief In our cover story this week, technology editor Todd Spangler reveals a tiny yet growing segment of the population that may soon change the way some of the largest media companies do business. Viewers, empowered by new online tools, ...
Talkback.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Staff Only a Few Know When to Fold 'Em It's not often one is able to read what a programmer really feels about their hit shows ('Reading A Show's Life Line,' Oct. 27). Can someone pick the brain of the top executives at The CW and take Smallville off the air? In ...
People.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Staff Alan Ett Entertainment agency Alan Ett Creative Group has named Peter Isacksen president, heading future marketing and development for its Newdance division. He was the founder of Los Angeles production house Radio With Pictures. Avenue ...
Web Video Grows Up.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler AOL Picks Brightcove; Akamai to Deliver Online High-Definition The maturing Internet-TV infrastructure sector is now well beyond startup-land, as providers suit up for even bigger corporate jobs. Time Warner's AOL unit last week said it ...
Time Warner Cable Licenses ITV Code.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Time Warner Cable signed a five-year agreement with interactive-TV software developer BIAP to use the vendor's set-top-based software as part of an advanced-advertising platform. The license agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, ...
TV That Fits In Your Pocket.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Test Drive: AT&T's MediaFLO-Powered Mobile Video Platform If you can't stand to be away from television for even a few minutes, AT&T's Mobile TV might be just the thing to soothe your media itch. The service provides 12 or more live ...
A History of Picture Quality.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Leslie Ellis Here's one that just never gets old: Picture quality. For marketers of HDTV service, picture quality is the differentiator that comes after 'more channels.' For bloggers, picture quality elicits a steady flow of commentary and frame-grabs ...
Cable Joins 'White' Fight.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn NCTA Opposes Use of Vacated TV Spectrum by Wireless Devices The cable industry, concerned a change in federal spectrum policy could result in fuzzy TV pictures, is seeking a postponement on the use of portable wireless broadband devices on empty broadcast ...
AT&T Yields on Fees.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn Washington- As a provider of a startup Internet-protocol television service, AT&T has been exempt from paying regulatory fees used to help fund the Federal Communications Commission's $313 million budget, much to the displeasure of incumbent cable operators. ...
Through the Wire.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted and Ted Hearn Comcast Helps Break a Curse The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series! And so ends one of the lesser-known sports curses, perhaps with a little help from hometown cable giant Comcast. The City of Brotherly ...
Retrans: What's At Stake for Stations.
Nov 03, 2008 ... by Greg Schmidt, Speech Conversion Technologies Fifteen years after its adoption by Congress, broadcast retransmission-consent remains a highly charged topic. Why? Because, at long last, broadcasters are succeeding in getting cable operators to compensate them for carrying ...
FCC Probes Channel Moves.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn 10 MSOs Asked for Data on DTV Switch Washington- The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether cable companies are effectively raising prices by moving a handful of channels from analog to digital tiers. In all, the FCC sent ...
Next-Gen Ads Get Flexed.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler CableLabs, SCTE Host Test of Key Advanced-Advertising Technology More than a dozen technology vendors are set to participate this week in the first large-scale test of a key cable specification for advanced advertising. The event, to take ...
RS-DVR Fight Builds At Supreme Court.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler The media companies that sued Cablevision Systems over its planned network-based digital video recorder have won support from other content owners and groups in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower-court decision that the MSO's service didn't amount ...
Time Warner, Despite Strong Quarter, Warns on Economy.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell The cable earnings season came to a close last week with Time Warner Cable sending a cautious message to the investment community. TWC, the second-largest cable operator in the country, with about 13.3 million subscribers, reported strong third-quarter ...
Hallmark Steps Up Its 'Holiday' Spend.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Mike Reynolds This holiday season Hallmark Channel wants to bring all its marketing muscle home. The family friendly network, under the tagline 'Home for the Holidays,' is deploying a multipronged marketing campaign, including consumer sweepstakes and a first-time ...
Media Research Firm TRA Signs Discovery.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Moss Media and marketing researcher TRA has established a 370,000-home nationwide database to match second-by-second TV viewing against actual product purchases at the household level, and signed up Discovery Communications as a client, company officials said. ...
How to Succeed in Business Services.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Larry Barrett A trio of cable operators will be recognized during the 2008 CTAM Summit's Case Study Winners' Session Monday (Nov. 11) for developing, executing and documenting highly successful business-services marketing campaigns throughout the past year. ...
MGM HD Adds U-Verse Deal.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Moss MGM HD is marking its first anniversary by landing a carriage deal with AT&T's U-verse service, and by picking up distribution on cable systems that have been carrying Mojo HD, a channel that will go dark next month. 'The bandwidth became available and ...
DTAs Debut in Portland.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Comcast to Parcel Out Free Converters to Oregon Subscribers Comcast has picked Portland, Ore., as the first market where it will broadly distribute free digital-to-analog converters to subscribers, as part of its plan to chop the analog tier down by ...
Comcast Converts Detroit Cluster.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Comcast will convert its Detroit preferred basic customers to digital service by the end of this year, a move to recover bandwidth in order to launch more HDTV channels. After the change, only the customers who subscribe to limited basic, a ...
AT&T Tests Internet Usage Cap in Reno.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn Washington- AT&T, blaming a few bandwidth hogs for clogging its high-speed Internet network, is launching a trial in Reno, Nev., that would impose new fees on customers for exceeding monthly usage caps. AT&T officials disclosed the plan, which was vague ...
Commish Bashes Cable.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn NFL's Goodell: TWC, Comcast Discriminate Against League Net Washington- National Football League commission Roger Goodell is continuing to heap blame on Comcast and Time Warner Cable for the inability of some fans to see their home teams play when pro ...
For the Record.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff Cox to Cut 2% of Workforce Staff Atlanta - Cox Communications , the third-largest cable operator in the U.S., will eliminate about 460 positions, representing 2% of its nationwide workforce of 23,000, company officials confirmed. In a ...
Coda.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff CNN Wins Election Night Mike Reynolds Atlanta - It was Barack Obama's night, but it was also a very good one for CNN. CNN topped all networks in viewers for its coverage of Obama's historic night, when he became the first ...
Net Swims Into Primetime.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by R. Thomas Umstead Adult Swim Adds 'King of the Hill' to Fill Up Its 10 P.M. Hour Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim will get primetime exposure, beginning its schedule an hour earlier at 10 p.m. starting in January. To fill the ...
Quick Hits.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff Steelers-Redskins Tackles No. 2 Cable Rating Spot Mike Reynolds New York - ESPN 's Monday Night Football telecasts continue to score major ratings touchdowns. The sports network's Nov. 3 coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 23-6 ...
Reviews.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Eric J. Smith, George Vernadakis and R. Thomas Umstead Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Cartoon Network, Friday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.) Few superheroes have graced the big screen and small screen as often as Batman. Cartoon Network returns to the Dark Knight ...
Change.
Nov 10, 2008 ... By Ted Hearn What Cable Can Expect From the Next President On Jan. 20, when President Barack Obama enters the White House, the change that many Americans have been clamoring for will have finally arrived. Cable-industry players just aren't sure if that ...
ITV Takes 'History' Test.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Charter Experiments With Opt-In on Promo Spot for 'Cities' Charter Communications' Los Angeles region is in the midst of an interactive experiment that embeds an opt-in element into a History tune-in spot, allowing interested viewers to tune from ...
Study Gauges Engagement.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted Marketing experts are in the final stages of a research report on the efficacy of content on TVs, PCs and cellphones, a study that will combine data from TV ratings, telephone polls and physical reactions by viewers who are wired up so their heart rates can be ...
Insight Bolsters HD With 'Digital 4.0'.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Linda Haugsted By the end of this year, Insight Communications systems will introduce 'Digital 4.0,' described as the company's most significant video product upgrade in years. The biggest focus of the upgrade - from the current 'Digital 3.2' - will be the ...
Viacom Picture's Not Pretty.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell Media Giant's U.S. Ad Revenue Drops 3% in 3rd Quarter as Content Peers Gain The national cable television ad market continued to show strength - with one exception - in the third quarter, with both Time Warner Inc. and News Corp. reporting revenue ...
NDS Gets Closer to Privacy.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell Conditional-access software provider and News Corp. property NDS Group is making progress in its plans to go private and its CEO told Reuters last week he hopes to win shareholder approval for the deal by mid-December. At a meeting in New Delhi, India ...
Good News for Overbuilds.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Mike Farrell RCN, Knology See Healthy Numbers in 3rd-Quarter Returns While most of the attention has been on ability of the traditional MSOs to weather the economic downturn, the two largest publicly traded overbuilders have proven that they too are performing well ...
BET, TV One Capture History.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by R. Thomas Umstead, Programming Editor About 30 million viewers tuned in to see the major cable news networks' coverage of Barack Obama's election as America's 44th president. Another 700,000 viewers tuned in to Black Entertainment Television and TV One's election ...
Talkback.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff Double Standards Over Digital TV Wasn't it the FCC that made the off-air broadcasters go digital? Wasn't it the FCC that made the requirements that now all televisions without digital tuners will need a digital decoder to receive the broadcasts? Wasn't it ...
People.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff Anagran Sunnyvale, Calif.-based high-capacity network traffic management product producer Anagran has named John Peters CEO. He comes from data-loss prevention company Reconnex, where he was CEO until its September, 2008 sale to McAfee. Apple ...
Cisco Preps for Video Flood.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler Edge Router Platform Designed For Massive Capacity and Video Cisco Systems, anticipating a flood of Internet video traffic in the next few years, has shined up a high-capacity router intended to help service providers not get swamped by the deluge. ...
Startup Slips In Ads.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Todd Spangler A Silicon Valley startup formed by two physics Ph.D.s has cooked up a form of Web video advertising designed to be less annoying - and more engaging - than pre-roll spots. The company, Keystream, is pitching a system that analyzes a video segment and ...
A Reader's Guide to DOCSIS Certification.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Leslie Ellis In case you missed it, eight more cable-modem contestants greenlighted (or re-greenlighted) their way through the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 certification process last week. All in, that's 11 certified cable modems from eight suppliers. No CMTS ...
Addressing 'Indecency'.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Ted Hearn Supreme Court Hears Challenge Based on Fleeting Expletives on Fox Washington- The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last Tuesday on the Federal Communications Commission's policy of punishing TV stations for the one-time broadcast of the f-word and ...
FCC: Use 'Spaces'.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff Washington- The Federal Communications Commission last Tuesday voted to establish rules by which so-called white spaces within the broadcast television spectrum can be used by new wireless devices, an action opposed by TV broadcasters and others. The cable ...
Still Trying To Get Personal.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by George Winslow Addressable Ad Trials on Linear Raise VOD Flags For many years, vendors and cable operators have talked about developing a video-on-demand platform that would personalize the content viewers watched and the ads they received. Operators are now taking ...
Meeting VOD Demand: By The Numbers.
Nov 10, 2008 ... by Staff VOD usage keeps increasing at healthy rates, with total VOD orders jumping from nearly 660 million in the first quarter of 2007 to over 1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2008, according to Rentrak. <Pre> Growth in VOD Usage (Pe- rcent growth in orders ...