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FCC TV Violence Report Threatens Cable
Parental controls offered by cable operators and the TV ratings system aren’t enough to protect children from violence on TV, the Federal Communications Commission said in a report released late Wednesday.
While the cable industry has hoped to avoid new regulations by offering parental controls through digital set-tops that allow parents to block content by show titles, channels and program ratings, the FCC said that parental controls “do not appear to be available on a sufficient number of cable-connected television sets to be considered an effective solution at this time.”
If Congress were to act the FCC’s recommendations, pay TV providers could eventually be forced to offer discounts to subscribers that opt not to receive channels that contain violent programming. “Congress could implement a time channeling solution and/or mandate some other form of consumer choice in obtaining video programming, such as the provision by [multichannel video programming providers] of video channels provided on family tiers or on an a la carte basis (e.g., channel blocking and reimbursement),” the commission said in the report.
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Cohen Leaving Lifetime
After a rocky two years, Betty Cohen (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6346323.html) is out as president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services.
Cohen’s resignation was announced Wednesday by Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, and John Conomikes, director of Hearst. Lifetime Entertainment Services is a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst and Disney.
No replacement was named.
Cohen, a veteran of Cartoon Network, replaced Carole Black at Lifetime (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA514631.html). During Cohen’s tenure, Lifetime -- once the top-rated cable network -- continued to struggle in the ratings. In the first quarter, its primetime household ratings dropped 7% from a year ago.
The announcement came just one day after Lifetime held its upfront presentation in New York Tuesday, where Cohen made a brief appearance.
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NCTA Scorns FCC TV-Carriage Plan
The leader of the cable industry’s largest trade group Wednesday night rejected a tentative proposal by the FCC to provide new cable-carriage guarantees to certain local TV stations starting in early 2009.
The FCC plan, adopted in a 5-0 vote, would allow digital-TV stations that elect mandatory cable carriage to insist on cable distribution in both analog and digital formats. The so-called dual-carriage requirement wouldn’t apply if all subscribers of a cable system have digital-reception equipment.
“Federally mandated dual carriage as proposed in today’s notice of proposed rulemaking is a completely unnecessary government intrusion into the marketplace. Worse, it is unconstitutional, as the FCC itself decided twice unanimously in 2001 and 2005,” NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow said. Cable thinks dual carriage would be the default outcome because millions of cable homes are unlikely to lease digital set-top boxes for every TV that they own.
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Passions Lives on DirecTV
In a further expansion into original programming, DirecTV reached a deal to keep soap opera Passions, which NBC canceled, alive for a ninth season. Under the agreement, NBC Universal Television Studio will produce brand-new episodes of Passions that will air Monday-Thursday on DirecTV’s original-programming channel, The 101.
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Cable Commits to OCAP in 2008
The cable industry pledged to three key consumer-electronics partners to have OpenCable Application Platform widely deployed in their systems by the fourth quarter of 2008, roughly two years later than operators originally expected.
Cable Television Laboratories CEO Dick Green said executives from the top U.S. MSOs met with LG Electronics, Panasonic and Samsung Electronics -- the three CE makers that have developed OCAP-enabled TV sets -- in a trip to Asia last week.
The OCAP specification, licensed by CableLabs, provides a standard way for set-tops, TVs and other devices to access interactive cable services like video-on-demand.
The upshot of last week’s meetings was a “mutual commitment on both sides to be sure we have [OCAP] available to consumers in the next 18 months,” Green said, adding, “Some MSOs are a little ahead of that, some are coming along.”
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Comcast Buys Municipal Cable System
Comcast will pick up about 1,800 subscribers in south-central Michigan, where the city of Lowell decided to sell its municipal cable system.
The City Council there chose to sell the system, which was built in 1983, rather than investing millions of dollars to increase capacity in order to keep up with the pace of technological change..
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FiOS TV Dives Into Rye Brook
The Rye Brook Board of Trustees voted Tuesday night to grant Verizon Communications a video franchise for its FiOS TV service. Comcast is the incumbent cable operator.
Vonage Offers Voice Mail via Text
Vonage launched its Vonage Text service Wednesday, which automatically transcribes voice-mail messages to text so that subscribers can read them via e-mail.
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Comcast Grants 1,700 Scholarships
The Comcast Foundation granted $1,000 scholarships to more than 1,700 high-school seniors under its 2007 Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program. In the seven years since the program began, Comcast has awarded more than $7.5 million in college aid to more than 7,500 students.
GSN Takes Seat at Blackjack Table
A 40-player field will double down and split aces when World Series of Blackjack IV (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA484890.html) debuts on GSN Monday, June 4 at 11 p.m. (EST).
Former champions Jeff Bernstein (WSOBJ III) and Ken Einiger (WSOBJ II) will join celebrities including former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser, magician/comedian Penn Jillette, actress Shannon Elizabeth and comedian/host Caroline Rhea, who won Celebrity Blackjack on GSN.
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Dish, TV Guide Go Interactive
A new interactive-TV application from TV Guide Channel will debut on Dish Network during the second quarter following a collaboration between Gemstar-TV Guide International, Dish parent EchoStar and interactive-video vendor Ensequence.
The new application will provide expert recommendations for what to watch in up to 10 different categories at a time and allow Dish subscribers to set program reminders, schedule digital-video recordings, upgrade and order pay-per-view programming.
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Nielsen to Report DVR Penetration
Nielsen Media Research next month will begin reporting the penetration of digital-video recorders (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6293537.html) nationally and in local markets, and for digital cable locally.
According to newly available Nielsen Universe Estimates, 17.2% of U.S. television households have DVRs, the ratings company reported.
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Vonage Feeling Free to Compete
Vonage is seeking to counteract the potential negative impact from Verizon Communications’ patent litigation against it by launching national grassroots communications campaign Free to Compete. The voice-over-Internet-protocol provider said it aims to raise awareness of the importance of consumer choice.
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HBO Surfs The Pacific
Tom Hanks, Steven Spielber and Gary Goetzman will dive into The Pacific with HBO. Filming on the 10-hour miniseries and companion piece to the premium network’s Band of Brotherswill begin this summer, executive-produced by Hanks, Spielberg and Goetzman.
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Scripps Networks Posts Gains
Strong results at its Scripps Networks subsidiary helped to boost E.W. Scripps in the first quarter of 2007. Advertising revenue at the programming unit rose 10% to $206 million, while affiliate-fee revenue of $57.9 million was up 20% compared with the first quarter of 2006 (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6328032.html). Programming, marketing and other expenses increased 5.7% to $110 million and employee costs were up 19% to $35.9 million. Segment profit was $128 million, up 20% from $107 million in the prior-year period..
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Comcast Veteran Joins Nielsen
Cable-industry veteran Patricia Andrews-Keenan (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6285775.html) joined Nielsen as vice president of communications and community affairs.
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Outdoor Channel Out of Prospecting Business
The Outdoor Channel is no longer digging for gold.
The Temecula, Calif.-based network said Wednesday that it sold its two gold-prospecting businesses -- the Gold Prospectors Association of America and the Lost Dutchman’s Mining Association -- to company vice chairman Thomas Massie for $3.6 million.
The company said the purchase price represents the net book value of the assets, including about $2.4 million of cash on hand.
As part of the deal, TOC modified its programming agreement with the GPAA and the LDMA, reducing the length of an agreement to sell airtime to the two entities to two years. Its previous deal with the two organizations, struck in 1998, was automatically renewable until 2012.
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Superstation WGN to Pump Corner Gas
Corner Gas, Canada’s No. 1 comedy series for five years running, crossed the border and for the first time ever will be seen exclusively in the United States on Superstation WGN beginning this fall.
The show is Canada's most-watched comedy series, consistently attracting more viewers in Canada than My Name Is Earl, Ugly Betty, The Office, The Simpsons or any other American comedy program since it premiered on CTV in 2004.
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Imus’ Producer to Appear on Fox News
Former Imus in the Morning producer Bernard McGuirk will make his first public comments since his firing on Fox News Channel’s Hannity & Colmes Thursday at 9 p.m. (EST).
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