Coda

New York — Turner Entertainment Networks hopes to give advertisers more bang for the buck when it kicks off its “TVinContext” initiative later this year.

Turner plans to juxtapose commercial messages with scenes drawn from its library of movies and TV series. For example, a scene in the theatrical film Hitch in which actor Will Smith's character has an allergic reaction would be followed with a spot for allergy medicine Zyrtec.

“TVinContext allows Turner to deliver a new, custom solution for advertisers to better engage and creatively thread their messages to consumers,” said Turner Entertainment ad sales and marketing general manager Linda Yaccarino.

The initiative will be available to a small number of clients, with the first placements beginning in the fall.

On the programming front, Turner also announced several new shows for its cable networks during last week's upfront presentation.

New scripted TNT shows in development include Delta Blues, executive-produced by George Clooney; crime drama Morse Code; and Tough Trade, about the Nashville music scene. The network also green-lit untitled projects from 24 creator Joel Surnow and Roseanne executive producer Rob Ulin. On the unscripted front: Wedding Day.

TBS will develop an a yet-to-be-titled comedy starring actor William H. Macy and a scripted series starring Joey “Run” Simmons (Run's House), executive produced by Russell Simmons. Also planned are two late-night series; an improvisational show executive-produced by actor Jamie Foxx; an untitled reality show from producer Jonathan Murray (The Real World); and comedian competition Top Ten.

TruTV, formerly Court TV, reiterated its commitment to the reality genre with previously announced series Principal's Office, Black Gold, Ski Patrol and Man vs. Cartoon.

— R. Thomas Umstead

New Orleans — Cisco Systems and Motorola have submitted adapters that let TiVos and other devices access switched digital video channels to CableLabs for qualification testing — but exactly when they'll be available from operators remains unclear.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association and TiVo said both adapters worked in informal interoperability tests with TiVo HD digital video recorders. But pending CableLabs approval, the NCTA will say only that the SDV adapters will be available “in the coming months.” Originally, the group said the devices would be available by mid-2008.

Nor is it clear whether operators will charge for the TiVo SDV units. “The [operators] will have to address that question,” NCTA vice president of communications Brian Dietz said.

Still, the parties involved claim to be encouraged with the project's progress. “This undertaking is a significant step forward in our ongoing relationship with the cable industry to develop technology and provide solutions that improve the television experience of cable subscribers,” TiVo CEO and president Tom Rogers said, in a statement.

TiVo DVRs communicate with Cisco's STA1520 Tuning Adapter or Motorola's MTR700 via a universal serial bus connector. TiVo has modified its DVR software to communicate with the external tuning adapters, which is also subject to CableLabs' verification testing.

— Todd Spangler

New Orleans — Sandvine, the Canadian company whose technology has been at the center of the storm surrounding Comcast's peer-to-peer bandwidth-throttling practices, has created an extension to its platform that will scale back Internet connections in what it calls an “application-agnostic” fashion.

The FairShare system, which works with Sandvine's network switches, allows service providers to curtail bandwidth based on subscriber-usage metrics from various sources to balance available bandwidth and resources among all subscribers.

The idea is to improve the overall “quality of experience” for subscribers by smoothing out spikes in bandwidth usage, according to Tom Donnelly, Sandvine's executive vice president of marketing and sales. And, he said, while the original impetus for Sandvine's system was to control floods of P2P file-sharing, other applications are now consuming sizable chunks of bandwidth too. “It's not just about focusing on one class of traffic anymore,” he said.

But FairShare also seems designed as a response to the brouhaha over Comcast's bandwidth-management techniques, which use Sandvine's Policy Traffic Switch to slow down P2P traffic. (Comcast has never confirmed using the Sandvine system.) After advocacy groups complained, the Federal Communications Commission launched a probe into whether Comcast violated its Internet management principles.

— Todd Spangler

New York — National Geographic Channel will take a close look at mother Earth in a five-hour miniseries this July, part of a summer slate of new original programming debuting over the next quarter.

Nat Geo's Earth: The Biography miniseries will look at the forces that shape our planet, impact the evolution of life and dictate the Earth's future, said executives.

The network in July will also debut a new reality series, LA Hard Hats, which will chronicle the story of the construction workers erecting a high-rise building over two years, from day one through completion.

Also, Nat Geo will bow new episodes of Locked Up Abroad, Taboo, DogTown, Explorer and Dog Whisperer, said network executives.

— R. Thomas Umstead

Washington, D.C. — A federal appeals court last Friday rejected Comcast's request for a review of the Federal Communications Commission's denial of its waiver to the so-called integrated set-top ban.

Comcast had requested a waiver for three low-cost, limited-function boxes, including Motorola's DCT700, which the FCC denied last year.

However, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman wrote in his May 16 decision that such set-tops still “contain electronic programming guides, video-on-demand, pay-per-view and interactive-television capabilities” and affirmed the FCC's rationale for denying the operator's original waiver request.

Comcast contended that the commission's application of its waiver policy has been inconsistent, because it has granted waivers to other video providers for, in some cases, the very same set-top models. Silberman wrote that “the allegedly inconsistent waivers were all granted by the FCC's Media Bureau and were not appealed to the commission” and that the agency “is not bound by the actions of its staff if the agency has not endorsed those actions.”

In a statement, Comcast senior director of corporate communications and government affairs Sena Fitzmaurice said: “While we are disappointed in this decision, we will continue to actively deploy digital services to our consumers.”

— Todd Spangler