Multichannel News Blogs
Copps Corrects 'Post'
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has taken the Washington Post to task for its editorial in support of the Google/Verizon network neutrality accord. In a letter to the editor Aug. 31, Copps pointed out that the editorial had “wrongly stated” that the BitTorrent court decision meant the FCC had no authority over Internet Service Providers. The decision was actually that the statute the ... More
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Multichannel News Bureau Chief John Eggerton weighs in on Washington
Discovery Channel HQ Evacuated; Gunman Possibly Armed with Explosives
Discovery Channel HQ in Maryland has been evacuated upon reports of a gunman in the building possibly armed with explosives. The vast majority of employees and all the children in the daycare center have been safely evacuated, according to ABC 7 (WLJA). An ambulance has pulled up to the lobby, per live reports. WLJA is also reporting unconfirmed threats centered around the channel ... More
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Mary McNamara focuses on TV programming and new media. Follow her on Twitter as @marymcnamara
Google TV: Up to $300 Price Premium?
The components necessary to run Google TV — the Internet giant’s platform designed to merge Web searches and YouTube content into a regular part of watching television — could add as much as $300 to the retail price of a TV, according to one industry executive’s analysis. Basically, Google TV requires the equivalent of a small PC. And that could make it a nonstarter (se ... More
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Covering cable TV, broadband and Internet video technologies
Video Distribution and Mobile Apps: Telecom Trends and Changes
“Mixed Signals” has recently completed extensive trips to Denver and Los Angeles, with several meetings focused on the familiar topic of “future trends in telecom.” These trends include 1) the future of video distribution, and 2) the future of various applications in (and into) the mobile services world. Video Distribution Because a lot of money rides on the choices, ma ... More
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Jimmy Schaeffler, chairman and CSO of The Carmel Group, writes about the convergence of pay television and other industry developments.
Changes For The Better
Cable distributors and content providers are trying to figure out how to take advantage of the iPad’s technologically advanced interface and consumer popularity to offer live television content. Already more than 3 million of the 9-inch mini-computers have been sold since it launched in April, and those numbers are expected to further build with the holiday season fast approaching. As a res ... More
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Tom Umstead focuses on TV programming in his column.
Tablets and iPads and Bears, Oh My!
It’s now seven months since this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where e-readers and netbooks were the sparkliest of the “connected devices.” Tablets, in January? Not so much. The iPad wouldn’t arrive until April. And here we are, on the brink of autumn. The action is shifting, hard and fast, to tablets for video viewing. The terms “on-net” and &# ... More
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Stumped by tech gibberish? Veteran technology analyst Leslie Ellis translates the latest in broadband gadgetry, services, bandwidth, and gear.
Tiger, Lefty: In The Woods
His “long year” got longer Sunday, as Tiger Woods’s golf game struck a new low. Yet he remains the No. 1 player (on the course) in the world because Phil Mickelson, once again, could not close the deal. At Firestone Country Club, where he had triumphed on seven previous occasions and never left lower than fifth, Woods stunk up the place, slapping the ball around and continuing ... More
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Meeting Expectations
Free Press and Public Knowledge have been hopping mad over what they view as secret meetings between FCC Chairman Julius Genachwoski’s chief of staff and industry players over network neutrality legislation that could clarifying the FCC’s regulatory authority over broadband.Free Press even took out a full-page ad in the Washington post to rip into cable and telcos, comparing them to ... More
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Just another NWP - Blogs weblog
Why Net Neutrality (Again)?
By Jimmy Schaeffler At a recent meeting with a top-level executive from one of America’s foremost multichannel video providers (MCVPs), our dialogue involved a rather in-depth discussion about net neutrality and its importance to the future development of telecommunications in the U.S. The MCVP in this case is one of a handful of relatively new entrants that was able to take best advantage ... More
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Just another NWP - Blogs weblog
Give 'Gavin & Stacey' a Go Tonight
I’m following the N.Y. Times’s lead and recommending Gavin & Stacey tonight on BBC America. With reruns on Syfy Friday and elsewhere for the holiday weekend it’s a great time to give them a go. If you haven’t watched the previous 2 short, Brit-style seasons or the Christmas special, not to worry: either you’ll catch up or be so intrigued with the characters h ... More
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Multichannel News editor Kent Gibbons covers issues impacting pay TV providers, programmers and technology suppliers in his regular column.
A Matter of Trust
When I saw Sanford Bernstein’s Craig Moffett at an FCC panel at The Cable Show, he was scrunched down in his seat, and joked he could use a baseball cap and big sunglasses - inside the room. FCC general counsel Austin Schlick was onstage deciphering the chairman’s recent decision to reclassify broadband under more stringent Title II common-carrier restrictions. The change came as a r ... More
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Views on Industry developments from the editor in chief of Multichannel News
ESPN's Fantasy Film is More Silly Than Reality
ESPN is in the middle of a series of documentaries looking at events and issues in sports that have arisen over the networks 30-year history. Most have been fascinating. A new documentary, Silly Little Game, makes its debut Tuesday and it illustrates the difficulty in illustrating fantasy sports—games played on paper by people studying statistics, arguing about trades at tables in restauran ... More
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Jon Lafayette, the longtime, perceptive TV scribe for such publications as Television Week, Cable World and Advertising Age, is back in the game, blogging for Multichannel.com on anything and everything TV related. Reach him at jon.lafayette@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter: @jlafayette.
Is DISH Network Buying TiVo?
Things are getting interesting in the rumor department, as Barrons is reporting a rumor which has DISH Network looking to buy TIVO. (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/03/24/tivo-rallies-on-dish-bid-rumor/) Shares of TIVO shot up almost fifty cents when news of the rumor broke this morning. If the rumor is true (and I hope it is) then I applaud the move. This is something that they sho ... More
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The Consumer Satellite Industry through the eyes of WWW.SatelliteGuys.US Founder Scott Greczkowski
Goings and Goings -- Manny, A-Rod and T.O.
This has been a week of goings and goings and goings. I’m talking A-Rod, Manny and T.O. As a Mets fan, I wanted Manny Ramirez on the team. I even thought a simple contract of $25 million a year for two years and a $10 million buyout would work. If Manny wasn’t happy in New York, he gets 10 mill to go away. If the Mets weren’t happy with Manny, they cut him a 10 mill check and ... More
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Kiss the Beijing Olympics Goodbye When the 2008 Summer Olympic Games start this August in that wonderfully polluted Chinese capitol of Beijing, you can bet NBC will cover it in all its glory from the opening ceremonies to the close. I’m sure it will be breathtaking and memorable, especially if the US dominates the medal count and no one flunks the drug tests. With NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen and the Weather Channel carrying the Games (only kidding about Weather Channel, I think – the bids for the Landmark Communications property have not been revealed yet), there will be enough TV platforms covering the Games to give even the sorry sport of boxing a shot – even if it may be at 3 a.m. With all the hoopla and money to be made pimping, I mean exploiting, I mean shilling, I mean broadcasting the Games, I for one hope to avoid as much of the Olympics as possible. I don’t know, maybe, it has a tad to do with how the Chinese government dictates to its people how to live – or not. Remember, China is a one baby per family utopia. The little issue of Tibetan independence and the Chinese government’s crackdown on its people leaves me feeling uncomfortable to say the least. I know the American Revolution does not compare with Tibet’s attempt at self-governing, but will it take a monk or three igniting themselves to bring attention to what the Chinese government is doing? I know, in the eyes of the Chinese government, the Dali Lama is akin to Osama Bin Laden, and yet, even President Bush has met the Dali Lama, but he needs to go much further. He needs to avoid attending the Beijing Games just like he did the Hurricane Katrina games. Just give it time and the whole ugly mess will be forgotten – or at least he’ll be out of office. I know my job is to watch at least some of the Summer Games and maybe interview a writer or two, but it’s hard to watch an event like the Beijing Olympics when you need the roar of the crowd to drown out a cry for help from its people. U-S-A! ... U-S-A! ... U-S-A! ... just might do the trick especially if the Chinese government can fool, I mean hire, I mean use Stevie Wonder to lead the cheers.
A Rise From 'Ashes'
I’ve seen the future, and it’s set in 1981. That’s the year that modern-day policewoman Alex Drake is transported back to in the new BBC America series Ashes to Ashes. Ironically, the show’s Stateside debut on March 7 comes just days after ABC announced that it was canceling its Americanized version of another U.K. import, Life On Mars - the original time-travel-meets-p ... More
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George Vernadakis writes about pay TV programming and other issues impacting the industry.
Cabler Demands Note from Man in Coma
Is your name on YOUR cable account? You better make sure it is, because if your spouse it injured and in a coma, your cable company may lock you out of your account. My family found this out the hard way, and it could happen to you. Service providers only want to deal with an “authorized user” when it comes to changes ... More
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Memo To Mr. Charles Dolan
Memo to: Cablevision chairman Charles F. Dolan Re: FCC chairman Martin’s War On ESPN Date: Dec. 8, 2008 From: MCN Washington News Editor Mr. Dolan, The rumors are that FCC chairman Kevin Martin will take up residence in Silicon Valley when the clock runs out on the Bush administration in January. That’s a not a bad location for him, actually, in that Martin has clearly been fu ... More
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Ted Hearn writes about moves by the pay TV industry inside the Beltway.
Maybe Sterling Cooper Should Do An Ad Campaign For 'Mad Men'
This past weekend Mad Men lead Jon Hamm did a stint hosting Saturday Night Live, and his intro poked funat the conundrum of the AMC show: It’s critically revered, the first basic-cable series to win an Emmy as best drama, yet relatively few people have seen it. In his SNL intro, Hamm alluded to Mad Men’s relative obscurity. The dark, handsome actor also said that when he tells people ... More
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Brian Besieged
You wanna know how tough it’s gotten out there for cable stocks? So bad that one institutional investor, one that doesn’t normally do things like this, is calling for the ouster of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. Brian Roberts. The guy who a couple of years ago was being hailed as the smartest guy in cable. The guy who grew his father’s company from a 3-million subscriber regional ... More