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Charter Communications Inc. said Tuesday that it will revise its financial statements for the years 2000 and 2001 to reflect an additional $1.4 billion in franchise costs and $1.2 billion of deferred income-tax liability that should have been recorded regarding the acquisition of 18 cable systems between 1999 and 2000.

Las Vegas-Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard last week opened a new front in the digital must-carry debate, saying that he wants to learn about cable's capacity to carry digital-television signals before the commission acts.

Kennard, in comments following a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters convention, said he was in no hurry to force cable to carry DTV signals until he knows whether it can handle the load.

Sing to the tune of "Havah Nagilah," the bar mitzvah folk dance song:

TiVo & Replay

TiVo & Replay

TiVo & Replay

What do they portend?

TiVo & Replay

TiVo & Replay

MTV/VH1 International is expected to confirm this week that
it has lost the most lucrative arrangement that an American network has ever had in
Germany — the largest cable market in the world outside of the United States.

But a new deal is likely to offer MTV's services much wider
distribution potential. Both the loss and the gain will be watched closely by other U.S.
channels that are seeking carriage in Germany, as MTV is renowned for having the
state-of-the-art deal in that country.

Washington -- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a bill
last week that is the companion to a broader measure that would allow direct-broadcast
satellite carriers to serve local markets with their local TV stations.

Hatch is working in tandem with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.),
chairman of the Commerce Committee, who is preparing his own bill that would require DBS
companies to provide all local signals, to the extent that they provide any, starting Jan.
1, 2002.