• Subscriber Losses Stall Comcast
• EchoStar Ramps Up Big Ten Fight
• Sprint Cuts Google WiMax Deal
• Nielsen Ranks Videogames
• Harmonic to Buy Rhozet
• Sci Fi, G4 Head to Comic-Con
• Sportsman Expands Carriage

• RFD-TV Goes HD
• Comcast Lands on Arris Edge-QAMs
• TiVo Hires Ex-Viacom Exec

• DTV Transition Scares Missouri Senator
• Cox Posts Lowest Churn RatesCox Posts Lowest Churn Rates
• Judge Says AT&T Needs Connecticut Franchise

Subscriber Losses Stall Comcast
Despite turning in another strong quarter of revenue and cash-flow growth, Comcast shares plunged Thursday -- down 5%, or $1.47 per share, to $27.07 each -- as investors paid greater attention to basic-subscriber losses and slower-than-expected growth in high-speed-Internet additions. Comcast stock fell as low as $26.40 per share Thursday (down 7.5% or $2.14 each) before rebounding slightly to close at $27.21, down 4.7% or $1.33 each. It was a tough day for most publicly traded companies -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day down 300 points, mainly because of concerns about the subprime credit market. Comcast wasn’t even the biggest loser in the cable sector -- Time Warner Cable finished Thursday down 4.3% ($1.77 per share) to $39.53. Rounding out the sector were Charter (down 34 cents or 7.8%); Cablevision (down 91 cents or 2.5%); Mediacom (down 50 cents or 5.1%) and Time Warner (down 62 cents or 3.1%). Among direct-broadcast satellite service providers, EchoStar most the most ground, declining $1.47 each, or 3.4% to $42.26 per share click to read more...
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EchoStar Ramps Up Big Ten Fight
EchoStar told the FCC that it should mandate tight conditions, including arbitration of carriage disputes involving all Liberty Media and News Corp. networks, as part of approval of Rupert Murdoch’s sale of his stake in DirecTV to Liberty. EchoStar made the suggestion in a three-page letter to the FCC regarding a petition the satellite service filed last week. In that filing, EchoStar asked the federal regulators to declare Big Ten Network a regional sports network, which means that it would fall subject to the so-called 2004 News Corp.-Hughes order. That mandates that distributors can seek arbitration of disputes with News Corp’s RSNs. But EchoStar went even further in its letter to the FCC when it cited Big Ten Network’s claim that it is a national network and, therefore, not subject to arbitration.. click to read more...
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Sprint Cuts Google WiMax Deal
Sprint Nextel inked a deal with Google to provide a mobile-Internet portal for the carrier’s broadband-wireless WiMax service, which it expects to start offering commercially next spring. click to read more...
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Nielsen Ranks Videogames
Sony’s PlayStation 2 accounted for 42% of video-game console usage during June, and PC gamers played “World of Warcraft” more than four times as much as any other PC game, Nielsen reported Thursday as it launched Nielsen GamePlay Metrics, which electronically tracks video-game console usage and games played on PCs. click to read more...
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Harmonic to Buy Rhozet
Harmonic plans to acquire Rhozet, a developer of video-transcoding software for Internet and mobile applications, for $15.5 million in cash. Privately held Rhozet claims to have more than 100 customers, including Amazon.com, British Telecommunications, CBS, ESPN, MSN, Motorola, MTV Networks, Sony, TiVo, Comcast’s thePlatform, The Weather Channel and Yahoo. click to read more...
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Sci Fi, G4 Head to Comic-Con
SciFi.com and G4 both began coverage Thursday of Comic-Con 2007, the popular comic-book and pop-culture convention for fans. click to read more...
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Sportsman Expands Carriage
The Sportsman Channel launched on cable systems owned by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications. Comcast already launched the hunting-and-fishing network in Indianapolis. In August, Time Warner will add Sportsman in Enterprise and Dothan, Ala., while Charter will add the network in St. Cloud, Minn. click to read more...
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RFD-TV Goes HD
Rural-lifestyle network RFD-TV will launch an HDTV service this fall. RFD HD will offer programming on areas such as rural lifestyle, equine, agricultural and video auctions, as well as traditional music and entertainment. RFD HD will officially launch in the fall on many of the same satellite and cable systems currently carrying RFD-TV, which now include DirecTV, EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network, Mediacom Communications, Charter Communications, Suddenlink Communications, Bresnan Communications and numerous National Cable Television Cooperative members. click to read more...
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Comcast Lands on Arris Edge-QAMs
As part of its switched-digital-video initiative, Comcast selected Arris as a supplier of equipment that can dynamically allocate bandwidth for multiple unicast applications. click to read more...
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TiVo Hires Ex-Viacom Exec
TiVo said it appointed Karen Bressner, who previously ran ad sales for Viacom’s Nick at Nite and TV Land, to the newly created position of senior vice president of advertising sales.. click to read more...
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