Marketing

nCUBE Corp. said Charter Communications Inc. has selected its digital-advertising system for deployment in Long Beach, Calif.

Long Beach is Charter's testbed for an all-digital network. The MSO distributes its video signals across a hybrid all-digital and analog/digital network. nCUBE has had video-on-demand servers in the market since 2001.

nCUBE said its server can provide a bridge for operators moving from analog to digital, handling digital ad insertion for networks that formerly were delivered in analog.

NBC Universal Cable networks carrying Olympic Games coverage are thus far returning viewership performances worthy of gold medals, NBC officials said.

Through Aug. 18, USA Network, CNBC, Bravo and MSNBC were averaging a combined 42 million unduplicated viewers since each began televising Olympic coverage from Athens, Greece, Aug. 14, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released by NBC Sports.

NBC is scaring up a little repurposing and promotion for Sci Fi Channel on Halloween Eve.

The Peacock network’s primetime Oct. 30 will be dressed up as “Sci Fi Saturday,” a programming ploy that will give broadcast viewers a look at the cable network’s hidden-camera reality series, Scare Tactics, hosted by Stephen Baldwin, and docu-soap Ghost Hunters, which follows a group of real-life ghostbusters who investigate hauntings.

In a big boost for Nielsen Media Research, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has given his endorsement to controversial “Local People Meters,” which have come under attack from African-American and Hispanic groups alike.

Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, in a letter to his membership released Tuesday, put his imprimatur on Nielsen’s LPMs, which have rolled out in several cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

Pegasus Communications Corp. said Thursday that its subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company’s move was a response to Wednesday’s announcement that the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative no longer has the exclusive rights to distribute DirecTV Inc.’s direct-broadcast satellite service in its territories, which terminated Pegasus’ exclusive agreements, as well.