Coda

Discovery is taking the launch of its Planet Green eco-friendly channel to the ballfield.

On the network’s June 4 launch date, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav will throw out the first pitch during the St. Louis Cardinals-Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Park. Zaslav will be joined by some 1,000 Discovery employees who reportedly will don green shorts commemorating the network’s launch.

“It was important that we partner with organizations that are truly green,” said Tom Carr, senior vice president of marketing for the network.

“We chose the Nats not only because they’re in our backyard, but they are the first league-certified [eco-friendly] baseball stadium,” he added.

In addition, Discovery will also run ads for the green-oriented channel on stadium jumbotrons during the Chicago Cubs-San Diego, New York Mets-San Francisco, and Kansas City-Chicago White Sox games.

“Part of the marketing behind this is to appeal to the mainstream in America’s pastime because this is going to be a mainstream entertainment channel, so we want to appeal to them in fun, innovative ways,” said Planet Green president and general manager Eileen O’Neill.

— R. Thomas Umstead

Philadelphia — Comcast’s portal site was temporarily compromised last Wednesday night, with hackers redirecting visitors to a message gloating that they had “RoXed” the cable operator.

The Comcast.net home page was brought down at about 11 p.m. EST. The vandals redirected users to a page that said “KRYOGENICS Defiant and EBK RoXed Comcast,” according to BroadbandReports.com.

A Wired News blogger claimed to have interviewed the two hackers, “EBK” and “Defiant,” who apparently are disgruntled Comcast subscribers. “I’m just so mad at Comcast,” the 18-year-old EBK reportedly told the blogger.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said the company had restored intermittent access to the site by around 3 a.m. Eastern Thursday. However, he said, throughout the rest of the day some users were still unable to access Comcast.net or their Web-based e-mail.

The cable operator believes the information for Comcast.net was altered at domain-name registration provider Network Solutions, which allowed the hackers to redirect the site, Douglas said.

He added that there is no evidence that private subscriber information was lost or compromised in the attack. “We have alerted law-enforcement authorities and are working in conjunction with them,” Douglas said.

Comcast had about 14.1 million broadband subscribers as of the end of March, having added 492,000 high-speed Internet customers during the first quarter. Comcast.net provides subscribers with access to Web-based e-mail and voice-mail access, news headlines and other features.

— Todd Spangler

New York — Verizon Communications will offer Starz Entertainment’s Starz Play online movie service to its 8.5 million broadband customers.

The telco also secured distribution rights for FiOS TV to all 16 Starz movie channels, high-definition channels and video-on-demand offerings.

Verizon will offer Starz Play for $5.99 per month. The telco’s broadband customers can subscribe to the service at www.verizon.net/starzplay.

The service allows unlimited viewing of more than 1,000 movies, including Ratatouille, Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and 1,500 other video titles from anywhere in the United States.

Starz Play is a rebranded version of Vongo, which Starz sells directly to consumers for $9.99 per month.

In addition to on-demand movies and video, Starz Play includes a live, streaming East Coast feed of the Starz TV channel.

Movies scheduled to be available this year through Starz Play include Superbad, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, No Country for Old Men, Wild Hogs, Mad Money and Enchanted.

Starz Play also will feature original content from Starz, including the recently announced series Crash, as well as comedy series Head Case and Hollywood Residential.

— Todd Spangler

New York — New York City’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) voted unanimously last week to approve Verizon Communications’ proposal to provide TV service in all five boroughs of the city.

Before Verizon is allowed to start marketing FiOS TV service, the proposed agreement must be confirmed by the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York and the New York State Public Service Commission. The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications accepted the Verizon proposal April 29.

“If we are successful in the last steps of the approval process, we will deliver on our promise to begin offering FiOS TV in parts of each of the five boroughs later this year,” said Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut, in a statement.

Verizon will chiefly be competing against Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems, as well as RCN. Both Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are seeking renewals of their franchises with New York City that expire this September.

— Todd Spangler

New York — MTV Networks Music Group and NBC Sports have formed a joint venture behind the AST Dew Tour, a series of action-sports events.

Action Sports Tour LLC, the company that will operate the business, is co-owned by MTV Networks and NBC Sports. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the company will look to expand attendance, awareness and business opportunities, including consumer-licensed products, for the AST Dew Tour, the AST Winter Dew Tour, which kicks off for the first time this December, and the amateur Free Flow Tour. The events will be touted by an array of MTV and NBC Universal vehicles.

MTVN jumps into an arena formerly occupied by former AST partner Live Nation, which NBC bought out last August.

As part of the agreement, MTV and MTV2 will produce programming to showcase the AST competition.

Relative to the summer tour, which begins in Baltimore June 19, NBC will allocate 24.5 hours, while USA Network and MTV2 will commit a dozen apiece. MTV will air three hours, according to a spokeswoman for NBC Sports.

— Mike Reynolds