Through the Wire
By Todd Spangler, Kent Gibbons, K.C. Neel and Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 10/21/2007 8:00:00 PM
Comcast’s Wiretaps Start at 1 Grand
'Battle of the Bands’ Coming To Big Easy
Cable Chieftains Get Taste of the High Life
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Competition
Comcast’s Wiretaps Start at 1 Grand
'Battle of the Bands’ Coming To Big Easy
Cable Chieftains Get Taste of the High Life
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Competition
Comcast’s Wiretaps Start at 1 Grand
If Baltimore cop Jimmy McNulty from HBO’s The Wire calls up Comcast next season to get a tap on some goon’s cable-provided digital voice service, his unit would have to outlay at least $1,000 to get hooked up.
According to the “Comcast Cable Law Enforcement Handbook,” the operator charges police departments and other agencies a $1,000 setup fee for court-ordered Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) intercepts. After the first month, Comcast’s CALEA intercepts are $750 per month in which the wiretap order is in effect.
In addition, Comcast lists a $150-per-week fee for call-detail records of local and long-distance connections. The company says it keeps such records for two years.
A copy of the Comcast handbook was posted online last week by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, an organization that promotes humanitarian uses of technology. Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice confirmed the document was authentic and said it is provided to law-enforcement agencies to facilitate their contact with the company.
Aftergood, in his analysis of the handbook, commented: “With respect to surveillance policy, the Comcast manual hews closely to the letter of the law, as one would hope and expect.”
The cable operator’s wiretap pricing, however, may be slightly more than Baltimore P.D. is used to spending, at least according to the writers of The Wire. “We just spent $9,000 and change for 18 intercepts, five of them non-pertinent. That’s close to $700 per drug call,” Lt. Cedric Daniels said in an episode (“Reformation”) from season three of the show.
'Battle of the Bands’ Coming To Big Easy
With The Cable Show (or National Show, to traditionalists) returning to New Orleans next May, conventional rules don’t apply.
That includes the conventional closing-night entertainment.
The last convention, this past May in Las Vegas, followed the usual formula of paying to bring in name brand entertainment — in this case, K.C. and the Sunshine Band.
To close out the show next May, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants the closing party to raise funds for the host venue rather than giving the money to a band.
As NCTA industry affairs official Mark Bell told exhibitors last week, the concept is for a “Battle of the Bands” using home-grown cable talent, such as have been on display at private parties surrounding cable conventions for years.
The idea would be to use an American Idol-type format. Bands would play two or three songs, a panel of celebrity judges would weigh in, and audience members at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center would be polled.
While NCTA senior vice president Barbara York cautioned the concept had only been sketched out on a napkin at Drago’s restaurant at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside last week, the idea makes a lot of sense to The Wire. For one, as Bell pointed out, it combines fundraising with a New Orleans staple: music. For another, it’s exactly what some of those musicians with cable day jobs told The Wire after they didn’t get any gigs at the Vegas convention.
York and Bell also tossed out some concepts in the works for the NCTA’s “Giveback to New Orleans” initiative.
At Cox Communications’ suggestion, the NCTA wants a coordinated effort targeted at areas of great need in the city.
Such as: supporting the organization KaBOOM’s Operation Playground to build and maintain great playgrounds at local schools.
Or bringing books to the city to help resupply devastated libraries.
Or some other program that works for a specific company’s mission, such as The Sportsman Channel and the Safari Club International bringing venison supplies to local food kitchens.
More to come as ideas germinate.
Cable Chieftains Get Taste of the High Life
Cable industry installers and customer service agents saw their incomes go up about 3% in 2006, a bit lower than the national average of 3.7% for workers across the country. But many of the salaries of the CEOs of the companies they work for skyrocketed.
Case in point: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts made a total $37.8 million in 2006, up from $13.36 million in 2005, according to data compiled by Forbes magazine. The increase made Roberts the highest paid executive in the media industry and the 31st highest paid CEO in the U.S. Walt Disney chief Robert Iger was the No. 2 media executive in 2006, with a booty of $29.9 million. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was the third highest paid media executive making $25.9 million. The numbers include total compensation.
Conversely, an engineering technician made $47,600 in total compensation in 2006, according to the 2006 Hay Group General Market Reports.
For more on cable salaries, see the special report that starts on page 32.
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Competition
Viewer-created content: check. Video sharing: check. Citizen journalism: check. Household name as a supporter: check. Current TV? Nah, put down that pencil.
That Web site and cable channel may have some competition with a new venture by Drew Carey (who apparently has time left over after hosting broadcast game shows and avidly following L.A. Galaxy soccer games). The comedian is hosting short documentaries on current issues, and soliciting content for www.reason.TV.
The new site is a venture of the Reason Foundation, a leftist non-profit think tank espousing “free minds and free markets.” Its content is also being streamed at its YouTube page.
Carey’s first topic: L.A. gridlock. The comic meets with Josh Lipking, whose daily 16-mile commute to work takes 90 minutes because of creeping traffic. The doc examines how cities around the world use tunnels, elevated highways and innovative bridges to reduce bottlenecks, but suggests such expensive projects be funded by the private sector.
“I’d love to own a freeway in Los Angeles,” Carey said in a statement.
And a bridge in Brooklyn, no doubt.
