• HDNet Settles with DirecTV
• USA Extends WWE Deal
• Surewest Buys Everest
• Cablevision Eyes Wireless Bid
• Cablevision Rolls GAC
• Studio 4 Lands Charter
• Writers Target Reality TV

• AT&T Fights Cable in Tenn.
• NCTA Backs Bill
• AT&T Fights Cable in Tenn.
• Charter Doubles HD Lineup
• Tin Man Sets Record
• First Wideband Modems Pricey
• EchoStar to Become Dish Network

• Firms Back Arris Deal
• QVC Hires Wal-Mart Exec
• Worth Watching
• Kerry Pushes NFL Deal
• Motorola Backs Cable Positive
• Bravo Renews Shows

HDNet Settles with DirecTV
In what Mark Cuban described as a “win-win,” HDNet settled its lawsuit against DirecTV, which stemmed from the satellite provider’s plans to move the network to a new tier of “HD-only” channels, officials said Thursday. The settlement keeps HDNet on DirecTV’s main HDTV platform, while HDNet Movies will migrate to the satellite distributor’s new $4.99 HD Extra Pack. HDNet and DirecTV had been scheduled to appear before the 101st Judicial District Court in Dallas Friday for a hearing. HDNet was seeking a temporary injunction to bar DirecTV from shifting it and sister service HDNet Movies out of the satellite company’s most widely distributed HDTV offering to the Extra Pack, which is scheduled to launch later this month. In an email Thursday, HDNet co-founder and owner Cuban said, “HDNet will be fully distributed and HDNet Movies will be available on the Extra Pack Tier. It’s a win-win for all involved.” Cuban, declining to offer more details, added, “It actually turned into a very amicable process and we were able to work things out rather quickly.” click to read more...
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USA Extends WWE Deal
World Wrestling Entertainment, presenting the 15th anniversary of franchise series Monday Night Raw on Dec. 10, has cause to celebrate a few days earlier, as the grappling group extended its contract with USA Network for two more years, the channel’s parent NBC Universal said late Thursday. USA will continue to air Raw in the Monday 9-11 p.m. time slot, and A.M. Raw remains part of the network’s weekend line-up through 2010. In addition, WWE will supply broadcaster NBC with a pair of specials for late-night Saturday windows, while Telemundo and mun2 receive Spanish-language versions of Raw. Sources familiar with the extension indicate that WWE pinned a license fee increase over the $31 million it is paid annually under the contract that expires at the end of 2008. click to read more...
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Surewest Buys Everest
SureWest Communications, an independent telecommunications company based in Roseville, Calif., has agreed to buy Lenexa, Kan.-based overbuilder Everest Broadband for $173 million in cash. The purchase price works out to be $4,300 per subscriber, well above those paid for overbuilders in the recent past – WideOpenWest, which was sold to Avista Capital in 2006 for an estimated $800 million, was valued at about $2,200 per subscriber. The price also represents a healthy cash flow multiple – at 9.6 times Everest’s estimated 2007 cash flow of about $18 million, it is almost a full turn above average deal multiples of about 8.5 times cash flow. New York-based cable investment banker Waller Capital Corp. advised Everest in the transaction. SureWest was advised by UBS Investment Bank. click to read more...
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Cablevision Eyes Wireless Bid
Cablevision Systems has put in the paperwork to bid in the FCC’s 700-Megahertz auction in January, representing the second cable operator besides Cox Communications that could pick up some wireless spectrum. click to read more...
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Cablevision Rolls GAC
Cablevision Systems launched Great American Country to roughly 2 million households in the New York metropolitan area, boosting the network’s distribution to more than 52.6 million. click to read more...
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Studio 4 Lands Charter
Studio 4 Networks reached a video-on-demand distribution agreement with Charter Communications. Los Angeles-based Studio 4 is an independent provider of lifestyle and educational programming. The Charter deal doubles the programmer’s cable distribution of its three channels: Studio 4 Kids, Studio 4 Learning and Studio 4 Fitness, the programmer said. click to read more...
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Writers Target Reality TV
Writers Guild members will take their strike to Burbank Friday, targeting one of the nation's most successful producers of reality programming, FremantleMedia North America, as the site of a rally of writers. Part of the negotiations between writers and studios is about jurisdiction over reality series writers. The WGA tried unsuccessfully in the past to gain representation for reality writers, for instance targeting America’s Next Top Model with a writers’ walk-out in 2006. The job action was unsuccessful: the writers lost their jobs. click to read more...
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AT&T Fights Cable in Tenn.
Verbal sparring is already heating up in Tennessee over state franchising, even though the legislature won’t return to the issue until January. AT&T’s Tennessee state president Gregg Morton has been making the rounds of editorial boards and delivering public speeches, such as the one at David Lipscomb University in Nashville Dec. 4. The executive touted franchising reform and made statements now being challenged by incumbent operators. According to published reports, Morton told the college crowd that incumbent providers had created impediments to advocacy advertising by AT&T and its affinity groups. click to read more...
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NCTA Backs Bill
Washington – NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow on Thursday praised the introduction of a bill that would repeal a law that FCC chairman Kevin Martin tried to use to hammer cable with new regulations, perhaps including a la carte requirements. The bill, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would repeal the so-called 70/70 test, which gives the FCC authority “promulgate any additional rules necessary to provide diversity of information sources.” But the agency first has to find that cable operators with 36 channels pass 70% of households and 70% of subscribers passed by such systems subscribe click to read more...
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AT&T Fights Cable in Tenn.
Verbal sparring is already heating up in Tennessee over state franchising, even though the legislature won’t return to the issue until January. AT&T’s Tennessee state president Gregg Morton has been making the rounds of editorial boards and delivering public speeches, such as the one at David Lipscomb University in Nashville Dec. 4. The executive touted franchising reform and made statements now being challenged by incumbent operators. According to published reports, Morton told the college crowd that incumbent providers had created impediments to advocacy advertising by AT&T and its affinity groups. click to read more...
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Charter Doubles HD Lineup
Charter Communications said it will expand its high-definition TV lineup to up to 44 channels in its Louisiana systems, more than doubling the number of available HD channels. In the six Louisiana parishes where it offers service, Charter will be adding the new HDTV channels “over the next eight weeks or so,” said spokeswoman Anita Lamont, noting that channel lineups will vary among systems. After Hurricane Katrina struck the southeast in 2005, Charter rebuilt its Louisiana cable plant to operate at 860 Megahertz. That, along with various bandwidth-management techniques, made space available for the additional HD channels, Lamont said. The new channels include Discovery HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD, The Science Channel HD, A&E HD, History HD, Smithsonian HD, Golf/Versus HD, Wealth TV HD, AMC HD, IFC HD, We HD, Fuse HD, HGTV HD and Food Network HD. In addition, the Louisiana systems are adding several premium high-definition channels, including Showtime 2 HD, Starz Edge HD, Starz Comedy HD and Starz Kids & Family HD. click to read more...
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Tin Man Sets Record
Sci Fi Channel’s take on L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz became the most-watched miniseries event in the network’s history, eclipsing previous Emmy-winning events, Steven Spielberg Presents Taken and Frank Herbert’s Dune. Over its Dec. 2 through Dec. 4 run, Tin Man averaged a 3.6 household rating, 3.4 million households and 5.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research live, plus same-day data. The audience total included 2.9 million adults 25 to 54 and 2.7 adults 18 to 49. click to read more...
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First Wideband Modems Pricey
The first wave of cable’s next-generation cable modems, which promise downloads up to 160 megabits per second, are currently in the middle of certification testing by CableLabs and should be ready for early deployments in 2008. But as the ship dates near for the initial modems that use CableLabs’ Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 3.0, it’s becoming clearer that DOCSIS 3.0 modems will be more expensive than perhaps previously anticipated. John Sweeney, Scientific Atlanta director of product strategy and management, estimated that the street price of a 3.0 modem will be around $100, adding that quantity has a large effect on the per-unit price. Current DOCSIS 2.0 modems cost an average of $65 to $70, according to research firm In-Stat. click to read more...
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EchoStar to Become Dish Network
EchoStar Communications filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday to officially change its name to Dish Network Corp., a move that reflects its plans to split into two separate companies. EchoStar announced in September its intention to split into two separate entities – one to hold its Dish Network satellite TV assets and the other, dubbed EchoStar Holding Corp., to hold its broadcast satellite receiver, antennae and commercial satellite lines of business and assets, which currently operate under the “EchoStar” name. click to read more...
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Firms Back Arris Deal
Arris Group and C-COR announced Thursday that two independent proxy-advisory firms -- Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co. -- have recommended that the shareholders of the respective companies vote in favor of Arris’s proposed $730 million acquisition of C-COR. click to read more...
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QVC Hires Wal-Mart Exec
Veteran Wal-Mart executive Claire Watts will join QVC in January, and will assume the role of president of U.S. Commerce effective May 1, officials said Thursday. Watts, who succeeds Darlene Daggett, will oversee planning, programming, merchandising, broadcasting, TV sales, and QVC.com for the U.S. operation. She will play a key role in extending the QVC brand among existing and new customers and driving growth across all platforms. click to read more...
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