• HBO Posts Record Pay-Per-View Revenue
• AT&T Expands HD Lineup
• U-verse Expands in Ohio
• C-SPAN Televises FCC Meeting
• Leno, O’Brien to Return Without Writers
• Showtime Buys ‘Call Girl’ Series
• FiOS TV Expands N.Y., Virginia

• AFI Picks Top Shows
• Producers Criticize WGA Leadership
• Ski Channel Gets 'Heli Challenge'
• Arris Pushes Three Product Lines
• Motorola Backs Cable Center
• Comcast Recruits Victor
• TWC Promotes Minson

• Worth Watching
• Strike Hits Golden Globes, Oscars

HBO Posts Record Pay-Per-View Revenue
HBO’s Dec. 8 Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view boxing event punched out 850,000 buys, providing a fitting end to a record-setting year for the pay TV network. The fight, in which Mayweather scored a 10th round knockout over the previously undefeated Hatton to retain his welterweight championship, drew $47 million in revenue, the highest tally ever for a PPV boxing match that did not feature a heavyweight fighter such as Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield, or a Latino fighter like Oscar De La Hoya. “Mayweather-Hatton was one of boxing’s most memorable nights of the past decade and was the perfect ending to a resurgent year for the sport,” said Mark Taffet, HBO senior VP of sports operations and PPV. Mayweather-Hatton capped off a year in which HBO PPV generated a record 4.8 million buys and $255 million in PPV revenue, outdistancing the previous record of 4 million buys and $200 million in revenue set in 1999. click to read more...
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AT&T Expands HD Lineup
AT&T dropped in eight additional high-definition channels for U-verse TV subs, which brings its HD count to more than 40 in most markets. The new channels are Discovery Communications’ Discovery HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC HD and Science Channel HD; Turner Broadcasting System’s CNN HD; Tribune Broadcasting’s Superstation WGN HD; Starz Entertainment’s Starz Kids & Family HD; and Comcast’s Versus/Golf Channel HD. click to read more...
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U-verse Expands in Ohio
AT&T is taking orders for U-verse TV in parts of 51 communities surrounding Columbus, Ohio, and will start installing service for new customers on Christmas Eve, looking to poach subscribers from Time Warner Cable and others in the state’s midsection. click to read more...
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C-SPAN Televises FCC Meeting
C-SPAN 3 said it plans to televise a public meeting at the FCC on Tuesday in which chairman FCC martin and other commissioners are expected to pass new cable ownership restrictions. The public meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET, will also be available on C-SPAN.org. The biggest item on Tuesday’s meeting agenda is a vote on a rule that would prevent any cable company from serving more than 30% of all U.S. pay TV subscribers. click to read more...
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Leno, O’Brien to Return Without Writers
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien will go back to into production Jan. 2, six weeks after the hit NBC shows were shut down because of the writers strike. But the shows won’t contain monologues, since Leno and O’Brien are going back without their writers. Both hosts have been staunch supporters of the Writers Guild of America strike, but each issued statements indicating that they were also concerned for the other staff members who were out of work due to the strike. The Writers Guild blasted NBC for returning the two shows to the air. “NBC forcing Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien back on the air without writers is not going to provide the quality entertainment that the public deserves,” the union said in a prepared statement. click to read more...
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Showtime Buys ‘Call Girl’ Series
Showtime said it licensed British comedy Secret Diary of a Call Girl, buying 20 episodes of the half-hour series from IMG, Tiger Aspect, Silverapples Media and ARG Production. The network plans to debut eight episodes from the first season in the spring or summer 2008. It made a commitment to license 20 episodes. Former HBO president Chris Albrecht, now an executive at IMG, is one of the producers. click to read more...
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FiOS TV Expands N.Y., Virginia
Verizon said it began taking orders for its FiOS TV service Chesapeake, Va., and several New York communities. Challenging incumbent cable TV operator Cablevision, the telephone company recently began marketing FiOS TV in the Long Island communities of Malverne, Stewart Manor, Centre Island, East Williston and the Village of The Branch. Cox is the incumbent in Chesapeake, Va. click to read more...
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AFI Picks Top Shows
Five cable programs are among the 10 television projects selected by the American Film Institute as the outstanding programs of the year. The cable honorees include Dexter on Showtime; Longford, Tell Me You Love Me and The Sopranos on HBO; and Mad Men on AMC. click to read more...
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Producers Criticize WGA Leadership
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has turned up its criticism of the Writers Guild of America, issuing an open letter asking whether the union’s leadership is relishing the “havoc” its strike has caused and lambasting tactics by the writers to compel bargaining. The letter asserts that non-Writers Guild workers have lost more than $200 million in wages due to the work stoppage, and puts the losses to the writers themselves at $115 million. By January, the economic impact to the regional economy will exceed $200 million, the AMPTP states. click to read more...
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Ski Channel Gets 'Heli Challenge'
The Ski Channel inked a programming deal with skiing photographer Tony “Haro” Harrington that will yield a new TV series, a documentary film and coverage for the World Heli Challenge on the video-on-demand service. click to read more...
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Arris Pushes Three Product Lines
After closing its acquisition of C-COR, Arris Monday announced it has reorganized into three product-oriented divisions and named the executives that will run each one. The Broadband Communications Group will include all cable modem head-end and customer premises products. The Access, Transport and Supplies Group will incorporate the current C-COR Access and Transport business and the current Arris Telewire Supply business. click to read more...
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Motorola Backs Cable Center
The Motorola Foundation, the equipment vendor’s philanthropic arm, contributed $100,000 to the Cable Center as part of the Denver-based educational organization’s drive to create a self-sustaining operational endowment. click to read more...
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Comcast Recruits Victor
Comcast named former consultant Robert S. Victor senior vice president of strategic and financial planning, effective Jan. 7. Victor, currently partner and managing director of The Boston Consulting Group’s Washington, D.C., office, will be responsible for overseeing corporate strategy and financial planning functions at Comcast. click to read more...
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TWC Promotes Minson
Time Warner Cable said it promoted Arthur Minson to executive vice president and deputy chief financial officer. Minson, a former AOL and Rainbow Media executive, joined the company in early 2006 as senior vice president of finance. click to read more...
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