Through the Wire
by John Eggerton and R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 4/27/2009 2:00:00 AM
FCC Access Hearings Held In a Marx Bros. Stateroom
There is a scene in the Marx Bros.' MGM classic A Night at the Opera where a shipboard stateroom gets increasingly filled with people until nobody can move and they eventually spill out the door under pressure of all those bodies.
That flurry of activity in tight quarters was re-created at the Federal Communications Commission's hearings on program carriage complaints over the past two weeks, held in a small hearing room — seating for about 40 — just off the FCC's main lobby.
At one point during the first hearing, on the NFL Network v. Comcast complaint, lawyers kept pouring in, navigating around stacks of dozens of evidence boxes and scores of binders three or four inches thick apiece on every available horizontal space. Meanwhile, reporters jockeyed for position in a game of musical chairs with interested observers and even more lawyers, avoiding easels, or stepping over six-packs of bottled water, dogging serious briefcases while evidence posters were passed overhead.
It was slightly less crowded last week as WealthTV took on the massed legal power of Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in its own program-access complaint hearing, with a fraction of the evidence boxes, but more lawyers.
WealthTV executive Robert Herring had many of his exhibits thrown out, and his son, Charles, had to resubmit his testimony to avoid rules against hearsay.
Despite the pressure-packed process of trying to come up with exhibits and testimony that passed muster with the judge and opposing council, Herring maintained his sense of humor.
Father and son were passing through the FCC metal detectors, with Charles carrying large posters — exhibits 1, 2, and 3 he told The Wire — when it became obvious the posters weren't going to fit on the belt. That's OK, said the security guard, I'll inspect it personally.
“We've been trying to get somebody to look at these,” Robert Herring joked.
Disney's Demi Lovato Sings For TWC Subs
Disney Channel is helping Time Warner Cable sing the praises of its subscribers.
The tween-targeted network is teaming with Time Warner to provide two free music concerts featuring Disney star Demi Lovato for thousands of the cable firm's loyal subscribers.
On April 17, some 5,000 TWC subscribers in Charlotte, N.C., were given free tickets to hear the star sing several songs from the popular Camp Rock Disney TV film she starred in, as well as from her debut album, Don't Forget.
Disney execs expect the same enthusiastic response when Lovato travels to Dallas Tuesday (April 28) to entertain select TWC customers and special community service groups from the city before the Sonny With a Chance star embarks on a national music tour this summer.
“An initiative such as this one not only provides Time Warner Cable with the ability to thank their customers for their loyalty and to give back to their local communities, but also allows us the opportunity to showcase one of Disney Channel's finest talents and to demonstrate the popularity and power of our network brands and programs,” Disney and ESPN Media Networks senior vice president of affiliate marketing Nathalie Lubensky said.
Cinnamon's Penny Is Change to Believe In
Chris Cinnamon, the American Cable Association's longtime outside counsel, sent ACA communications vice president Ted Hearn an e-mail with a photo last Thursday: “Look what I found with my change this morning on the bedside table at the Flat Rock, N.C., Holiday Inn Express. Received as change for a cheeseburger.”
It was 1900 Indian Head penny, worth about $5 or $10 on the free market, judging by eBay listings.
Heading into the ACA Summit on Tuesday (April 28) outside Washington, D.C. , he was hoping the windfall was more than monetary.
Said Cinnamon: “It is a sure sign that good fortune will shine upon the ACA Summit, especially considering the importance of Broadband Stimulus funds for small cable.”
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