This Just In
By Staff -- Multichannel News, 9/30/2007 8:00:00 PM
Items:
Fox Business Network to Launch Teaser Site Oct. 1
BigBand Says Q3 Sales Will Miss By Up to 40%
Big Ten Network Gains Carriage Deal With WOW
Sports Network WCSN Gains Funding, Distribution
Al Jazeera English Steps Up Efforts
Fox Business Network to Launch Teaser Site Oct. 1
New York — News Corp.’s Fox Business Network said it will launch a “personality-driven” microsite Oct. 1 at FoxBusiness.com — two weeks before the linear network’s debut — to provide a sneak peek at FBN’s anchors and reporters.
The Web site will feature video clips of on-air talent, including FBN’s anchor and managing editor of business news Neil Cavuto and vice president of business news and anchor Alexis Glick. FBN said each on-air personality will have a dedicated Web page with a series of headshots, a biography and blog entries.
The microsite will also provide three 30-second video promos featuring additional FBN on-air talent discussing their “approach to covering business.” The network’s on-air team includes Cheryl Casone, Rebecca Gomez, Dagen McDowell, Stuart Varney, Peter Barnes, Jenna Lee, Nicole Petallides, Cody Willard, Jeff Flock, Shibani Joshi and Connell McShane.
More broadly, Fox News Channel and FBN have embarked on an initiative to expand the video content on both sites and add features like allowing users to embed videos into their own blogs.
The FoxBusiness.com URL currently redirects visitors to a subsection of FoxNews.com. FBN said that when the channel launches Oct. 15 the address will be converted to the network’s Web site.
BigBand Says Q3 Sales Will Miss By Up to 40%
Redwood City, Calif. — BigBand Networks warned it would miss revenue expectations and post an operating loss for the quarter ending Sept. 30, with the company now expecting to report revenue of $35 million to $39 million compared with its previous guidance of $54 million to $58 million.
The company said three factors drove down revenue for the quarter: Ongoing switched digital video deployments “have required more software customization and integration than originally expected,” preventing BigBand from recognizing sales from certain customers; a major telco customer, apparently Verizon Communications, cut spending with BigBand; and its data business experienced “continued softness.”
In a statement, BigBand CEO Amir Bassan-Eskenazi said: “We are aggressively addressing these issues and will provide more specifics in our announcement of third-quarter financial results in early November.”
BigBand shares fell 33% after it revised revenue expectations, with the stock trading at around $6.40 last Friday afternoon. When the company went public in March, its shares closed at $17 on its first day of trading.
Big Ten Network Gains Carriage Deal With WOW
Chicago — Big Ten Network reached a carriage deal with WideOpenWest, positioning it on the provider’s expanded basic package.
The deal pushes the sports network, which is co-owned by the conference’s 11-member schools and Fox National Cable Sports Networks, past the 30 million subscriber mark within a month of its launch. BTN and Fox National Cable executives that’s the first time in the history of cable or satellite TV history that a new network has earned that level of accessibility so quickly.
WOW serves some 400,000 homes in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, which fall within the conference’s eight-state footprint.
“We’re excited to be able to offer Big Ten Network to our customers,” said Colleen Abdoulah, president and chief executive officer for WOW in a statement. “We recognize how important these games are to Big Ten fans and are pleased we were able to reach an arrangement with Big Ten Network that makes sense for all of our customers.”
Deal terms were not disclosed.
Fox has been seeking monthly license deals at around $1 per subscriber for carriers within the conference footprint, and about 10 cents for systems outside that range.
People familiar with BTN also said it was close to a deal with RCN, which will carry the service on systems in Chicago and Philadelphia.
BTN has carriage deals with satellite-TV providers DirecTV and Dish Network and with cable operators Insight Communications, Buckeye Cable and some 140 smaller cable and municipal providers. AT&T also carries BTN on its U-verse multichannel video service.
Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Mediacom, Charter and Cox haven’t agreed to carry BTN, citing the license-fee terms and expanded-basic positioning in core markets.
Sports Network WCSN Gains Funding, Distribution
New York — Multimedia sports service World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) last week received a major funding boost from private equity firm InterMedia Partners and a significant distribution deal with the ESPN360 broadband video service in separate deals.
Terms of the InterMedia Partners deal with WCSN were not disclosed, but the private equity firm will garner a majority interest in the service, which distributes Olympics-based sports online via (www.WSCN.com), according to sources close to both parties.
WCSN will be a featured channel on ESPN360.com, providing exclusive live and on-demand coverage of swimming, gymnastics and track and field, although its unclear exactly how much of WCSN’s live and library product will appear on the recently relaunched service, which is in nearly 17-million homes.
Al Jazeera English Steps Up Efforts
New York — Al Jazeera English chief Nigel Parsons said last week his network is stepping up efforts to gain U.S. cable or satellite TV distribution, and talks are going well with “one of the majors.”
Parsons, managing director of the 10-month-old news and entertainment service, a spinoff of the Arabic-language channel, said he hoped the talks with the major distributor (which he would not name) could be successfully concluded before the end of the year. He also said AJE was willing to be flexible on carriage terms in order to get a deal done. Asked if AJE might consider being sold as a premium network, he said in an interview Wednesday “I believe that’s one of the options” being discussed.
AJE said it has hired Philip Lawrie, a former international distribution executive for CNN, as director of global distribution. Lawrie’s last position at CNN was vice president of commercial distribution and digital media sales, based in London, AJE said. He’s been on the job at AJE for a few weeks, Parsons said.
Parsons also said the network plans to add more programming about health issues, the environment and shows aimed at younger viewers.
To that end, AJE has made another hire, according to Parsons. Scott Ferguson, formerly chief operating officer at Nimbus Sports Broadcasting in Singapore and Mumbai, has been hired as programming director for non-news programming, he said.
AJE also said its worldwide distribution is to more than 100 million homes. A spokesman said that counts satellite and cable coverage in Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America.
AJE’s program mix is about 55% to 60% news currently, Parsons said. A key on-air figure is veteran U.S. broadcast journalist Dave Marash, who’s AJE’s Washington, D.C.-based anchor.
—Kent Gibbons
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Can you give an example of what they have lied about?
Nitrane Lane - 10/12/2007 2:26:00 AM EDT -
FAUX business channel? I see lawsuit's if the report (lie) on business like they do on everything else.
Jon Green - 10/2/2007 1:57:00 PM EDT
Big Ten Network Scores WideOpenWest Deal
09/28/2007Verizon Goes Wide With Big Ten Network
07/08/2008NBC Universal Makes WCSN Play
06/16/2008
