• Hall of Famers Pay Tribute to Robbins
• Industry Leaders Remember Robbins
• Robbins Memorial Services Set
• NBC’s ‘Heroes’ Hits G4 and MOJO
• Mayor Bloomberg Hails MSNBC Move
• Dena Kaplan Heads to NFL Network
• Charter Cuts Wal-Mart Marketing Deal

• Google Dumps Collins Ads
• Sci Fi Buys ‘Earthlings’ Pilot
• Ovation Readies Film Series
• Current TV Solicits Ambassadors
• EchoStar Launches TeleFórmula
• Missouri Forms Technology Task Force

• Worth Watching
• Frustrated Comcast Sub Takes Hammer to Local Office

Hall of Famers Pay Tribute to Robbins
Denver -- As cable feted six industry pioneers at the 10th Annual Cable Hall of Fame event here, several of those luminaries in turn paid tribute to former Cox Communications CEO Jim Robbins, who died Wednesday night. “Jim was a terrific guy,” said former NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright, who earlier in his career was president of Cox. “He did a spectacular job … I’ve never been prouder of any organization I’ve been associated with than Cox Cable.” At the beginning of the evening, Bill Bresnan, CEO of Bresnan Communications and the outgoing chairman of the Cable Center, delivered a brief eulogy for Robbins, who was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame last year. “His legacy lives on … It lives in our personal conduct and in this Cable Center,” Bresnan said, then reciting a verse from “Anchors Aweigh” in memory of Robbins, a U.S. Navy veteran. click to read more...
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Industry Leaders Remember Robbins
News of the death of former Cox CEO Jim Robbins stunned the cable industry Thursday, with several cable industry leaders expressing their sadness at Robbins’ untimely passing. Former Continental Cablevision chairman Amos Hostetter, who gave Robbins his first job in the cable industry running Continental’s central Ohio systems, remembers the late executive as a smart, savvy businessman who naturally stepped into the role of industry leader. “This was truly a class act and the glue that held an awful lot of the collective efforts in the cable industry together,” Hostetter said. Landmark president Decker Anstrom remembers Robbins as a visionary who saw the potential benefits of investing in customer service well before the rest of the industry. Cox under Robbins’ watch, won four J.D. Power Awards for Customer Service. “He really understood more deeply and earlier than anyone the importance of excellent customer service to the future of the industry,” Anstrom said. CTAM CEO Char Beales said that Robbins’ focus on customer service wasn’t always appreciated by the rest of the industry. “He was one of the only MSO CEOs who really put the customer first and paid for that,” Beales said. click to read more...
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Robbins Memorial Services Set
Memorial services for former Cox Communications CEO Jim Robbins will be held at 3 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, Mass., and at 11 a.m. on Oct. 27 at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 W. Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Ga. click to read more...
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NBC’s ‘Heroes’ Hits G4 and MOJO
The NBC hit series Heroes will have an off-network life in standard definition on G4 and in high-definition on MOJO. The two cable networks negotiated a deal that will allow them to air current episodes of the sci-fi series the same week they debut on NBC, beginning the week of Oct. 29. click to read more...
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Mayor Bloomberg Hails MSNBC Move
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Thursday welcomed MSNBC to Manhattan at a reception for the grand opening of the NBC News World Headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Operations for MSNBC, which have been located in Secaucus, N.J., since the cable channel’s launch in July 1996, are being moved and consolidated with those of NBC News, in a facility – the new “headquarters” -- that includes 8,500 square feet of renovated, state-of-the-art studio space. During a star-studded reception Thursday night at the new studios, Bloomberg told the crowd that he was “thrilled” that MSNBC was moving to the Big Apple from New Jersey. But the mayor added that he never says anything bad about New Jersey because his mother is from Jersey City and because “there are a lot of electoral votes” in New Jersey – a cheeky allusion to Bloomberg’s rumored ambition to want to run for President. click to read more...
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Dena Kaplan Heads to NFL Network
Marketer Dena Kaplan is going from promoting many games, to just one: football. The senior vice president of marketing for GSN has notified friends, via e-mail that she's leaving the games channel for a similar position at the NFL Network. click to read more...
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Charter Cuts Wal-Mart Marketing Deal
Consumers will be able to buy cable and Internet services along with the other low-priced goods at Wal-Mart stores under terms of a new deal with Charter Communications. The pact covers 700 Wal-Mart stores serving 93% of Charter’s service territory. With the implementation of the Wal-Mart deal, Charter no has a presence in more than 1,000 retail and Charter-owned sales and service centers, according to the company. click to read more...
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Google Dumps Collins Ads
Washington – Google has removed paid ads posted by the reelection campaign of Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, raising questions about whether the search engine is relying on a narrow view of trademark law to put the kibosh on political speech aimed at one of its public policy allies, MoveOn.org. The Collins campaign posted several ads last weekend that included the name of MoveOn, the liberal political advocacy group that has already started to run negative ads about Collins on Maine TV stations. A few days after the Collins ads went up, Google notified the campaign that the ads had been taken down, because MoveOn had claimed trademark violations. click to read more...
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Sci Fi Buys ‘Earthlings’ Pilot
Sci Fi Channel is developing a 90-minute dramedy pilot entitled Earthlings, officials said Thursday. Dan Waters (of Heathers and Demolition Man) is writing and producing the pilot. click to read more...
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Ovation Readies Film Series
Ovation TV will premiere Destination ArtHouse, a film series featuring legendary classics of world cinema from the past 80 years, Oct. 13, officials said Thursday. Presented through a special arrangement with the independent international film distributor Janus Films, Destination ArtHouse boasts a collection of revered films that features works of international directors. click to read more...
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Current TV Solicits Ambassadors
Current TV, the peer-to-peer news and information network, is launching a program to solicit ambassadors for the channel on college campuses. The brand ambassadors program, created with the support of RepNation Media, is designed to develop college-specific campaigns to build relationships with viewers there. The cable network and Web portal will target 35 campuses during the next 10 weeks. The ambassadors will be charged with organizing events, executing guerilla public relations activities and generating a “personal interest” page at Current.com, the company’s upcoming new portal. click to read more...
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EchoStar Launches TeleFórmula
TeleFormula, a Mexican-based Spanish-language news network, launched on EchoStar’s Dish Latino package. The launch represents one of a few new launches on Dish Latino this year and puts TeleFórmula in front of Latinos across the United States. TeleFórmula is also carried by Comcast Cable in both Albuquerque and Chicago. click to read more...
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Missouri Forms Technology Task Force
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt created a task force to identify ways to increase access to technology in his state, especially to rural areas. The task force will have six months to assess the current level of high-speed data access available throughout the state, identify barriers to greater deployment and look at best practices in other states. click to read more...
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