CABLE COMPANIES DIVE INTO VIDEO GAMING

Cable-TV settop boxes may soon become video-game devices, according to a report by Bloomberg News. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T are all reportedly in talks with data streaming specialists to bring streaming game technology to subscribers. Tests could begin as early as next year. Online game streaming has been around for a while […]

LOOK WHO’S FOOTING THE BILL FOR ALL THOSE BIG CABLE DEALS

Those multimillion-dollar retransmission-consent agreements that cable systems have signed with broadcasters and those similarly over-the-top deals that they have made with popular cable channels are sending the monthly bills of cable subscribers soaring. According to market researchers The NPD Group, monthly subscription rates are growing at an average rate of 6 percent per year, reaching […]

CABLE BLACKOUT MAY NAPSTERIZE TV

While no progress was reported in the stalled talks between the MSG cable network and distributor Time Warner Cable — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is expected to meet with the two sides sometime this week — it is becoming clear that with a little Internet savvy, New Yorkers can access MSG’s telecasts of […]

SUMMER IS GREAT FOR CABLE, BAD FOR BROADCAST

Cable TV networks are ending the summer with a number of big successes — surprisingly with scripted TV shows, while no broadcast show introduced during the summer months has made it, USA Today indicated today (Thursday). (On Wednesday, Fox’s newest entrant, Buried Treasure, became the latest broadcast reality show to be buried in the ratings.) […]

TIME WARNER DEFENDS ITS IPAD APP

Time Warner Cable has rejected claims by some cable networks that it has no right to beam their programs to iPads located in subscribers’ homes. In an interview with today’s (Friday) Wall Street Journal, Melinda Witmer, chief programming officer for the cable company, said that Time Warner Cable is “well within our rights” so long […]

CANADIAN CABLERS, BROADCASTERS UNITE OVER NETFLIX

Representatives of Canadian cable-TV and satellite providers, local broadcasters, film producers and unions are scheduled to hold “crisis” talks in Ottawa today (Friday) to discuss the entry of Netflix into their territory. Last year, the online video rental company launched a “streaming only” service in the country for $7.99 a month, but unlike other outlets, […]

TIME WARNER OFFERING PREMIUM CABLE SERVICE

Just weeks after unveiling a bare-bones cable-TV package costing $30-$50 per month aimed at “customers facing difficult choices during these tough economic times,” Time Warner Cable has launched a premium service aimed at those not facing such choices. Called SignatureHome, the $199-a-month service includes broadband speeds of up to 50mbps, cable TV, and telephone and […]

TOM BROKAW DECRIES MEDIA’S DIVISIVE DIALOGUE

A half century after the civil rights movement began, Tom Brokaw is fronting a documentary about discrimination, Bridging the Divide, which is due to air on the USA Network on Dec. 10. In an interview with the Associated Press to promote the telecast, Brokaw complained that “too much of the media dialogue” these days promotes […]

FOX-CABLEVISION DISPUTE SENDS FANS TO SPORTS BARS IN N.Y.

Most television viewers in the New York area were unable to watch the New York Giants defeat the Detroit Lions Sunday afternoon, as the primary cable-TV distributor in the area, Cablevision Systems, and Fox TV, the network carrying the game, remained deadlocked over retransmission fees. They were also unable to watch post-season baseball games carried […]

CABLE CHANNELS TOUT RECORD RATINGS

While broadcast television in general was recording some of its lowest ratings of the year, cable TV networks were trumpeting some of their highest. “Discovery Channel experienced its best August ever,” the channel that averaged 3.3 million viewers for its annual “Shark Week” bragged in a news release. Likewise Oxygen channel boasted that it “earned […]

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