Cablers Keep 'Giving’ in Mind

Each November, many cable systems remember the word “giving” is in Thanksgiving and take the time to design local charitable campaigns that ensure all local families have a chance to savor the turkey and trimmings.

Some shining examples:

• In central New York, Time Warner Cable division president Mary Cotter gives 1,600 employees a holiday pie the Monday before Thanksgiving. Employees have the option of taking the pastry home, but many opt to donate their pie to the Rescue Mission or the Salvation Army, according to the division.

• The Time Warner system in Corpus Christi, Texas, helped Spaulding for Children, a local organization which finds homes for hard-to-place adoptive children, stage a Thanksgiving feast. The system sold raffle tickets for Christmas wreaths, a Christmas basket and dinner outings, and held a bake sale, earning more than $600 toward the charity dinner for 75.

• Food donations are also promoted in New Jersey’s Bergen and Passaic counties. Time Warner Cable partners with the Bergen News, with both media setting up collection points for donated food through the first two weeks of this month.

• In Las Vegas, Cox Communications supports the Boy Scouts in their annual “Scouting for Food Drive.” This year, 1,200 system employees, plus Cox contractors, collected more than a ton of food. The edibles are sent to the Salvation Army’s food pantries, which run dangerously low this time of year.

• Cox’s Cleveland division also engaged its customers, notifying subscribers that anyone who donated at least three cans of food would be eligible for a free month of the premium service of their choice.

• In Arizona, the Cox system delivers “Christmas in November.” Employees donate socks, sleeping bags, jackets and other cold weather items to the Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development in Phoenix.

• Cox’s central Florida division, in addition to food collection for local families, adopted the Military Support Group of Alachua County, collecting and sending care packages to service personnel in Iraq.

• The Weather Channel’s effort is called the “Turkey Trot,” an annual food drive which this year netted 11,441 items for families served by the charity MUST Ministries.

For Discovery, An Oprah Plug

For retail operations, this has got to be on par with winning an Emmy.

Every year, talk show host Oprah Winfrey does a pre-holiday buying season show of her favorite things. The program sparks a frenzy among her live audience, and a spending spree among viewers.

This year, a Discovery Channel production was among the anointed items. Winfrey, on the Nov. 20 telecast, recommended the DVD box set of the high-definition miniseries Planet Earth.

The TV diva gushed about the program, recommending “everyone on the planet should have one.”

Let the buying begin!

Desperately Seeking 'Dresden’ Support

Sci Fi Channel canceled supernatural detective series The Dresden Files after one season. But sci-fans, in particular, tend to think a show is never really dead, and often try to cajole Sci Fi into bringing it back.

Dresden fans, bereft over the August cancellation notice, are staging “view-ins” whenever Dresden is in reruns on Sci Fi, as it was on Friday, Nov. 16. Basically they watch and post comments on the relevant Scifi.com forum.

One of the organizers sent an e-mail last week to say the forum drew 82 users and 49 guests, who cranked out 430 posts — enough for 22 pages. The next is set for Dec. 7.

Sadly, Sci Fi says Dresden is firmly one and done. The star, Paul Blackthorne, is with another project now (NBC miniseries Lipstick Jungle) and unavailable even if the show were renewed, a network spokeswoman said.

But keep watching and posting!

'Freeway Face-Off’ Shoots and Scores

Hockey fans in Southern California have spoken.

They want the rivalry between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks to be called “Freeway Face-Off.” FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket ran an online contest and the winner drew more than 4,800 votes, besting fellow finalists “Freezeway Series,” “Ice-5 Series” and “Crosstown Showdown.”

“Name the Rivalry” contest winner Jenny Keane was introduced, congratulated and presented with the grand prize, which includes two tickets to each of the future 2007-08 “Freeway Face-Off” games. Keane, one of 65 fans who submitted the winning moniker, was randomly selected as the winner per contest rules.