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Univision Wants $1 Monthly Retransmission-Consent Fees
New York – Top Spanish-language broadcaster Univision said it’s seeking $1 per subscriber in retransmission consent fees from cable operators. While Univision has largely played the must-carry card in the past, new CEO Joe Uva said, “Renegotiating retransmission consent is a top priority now” under new ownership group Broadcasting Media Partners (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6428957.html). “We’re in a unique position of being connected to the fastest-growing segment of the population,” he added. “We see a lot of value in that. That value is $1 per subscriber.” Univision owns and operates 62 TV stations in the United States and Puerto Rico, with “the bulk” of the current distribution agreements set to expire at the end of 2008, Uva said. He acknowledged that some tough bargaining -- which could include video-on-demand content for cable operators -- lies ahead. “The negotiations, predictably, are going to be hard,” Uva said. “But we have a somewhat unique relationship that the English-language broadcasters don’t have -- a real connection to viewers and the community.”
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Akimbo Snuffs Out RCA Internet-Video Player
Akimbo Systems stopped selling the RCA-branded Internet-video player it developed in conjunction with Thomson, just eight months after introducing the product (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6375757.html). Akimbo CEO Tom Frank, a former RealNetworks executive who joined the company in March (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6427170.html), claimed that it was never the company’s long-term strategy to remain in the hardware business and said the company sees a brighter future in working with distribution partners, as well as delivering video-on-demand to PCs. He characterized the RCA box as a kind of proof-of-concept. “The original reason for creating the box was priming the pump with the concept of moving Internet content to various screens,” Frank said. “I’m playing the same game of poker -- this is a discard, not a fold, in strategy.” The Akimbo RCA Player, according to Frank, created conflicts with current and prospective distribution partners. “It just doesn’t make sense for us to be competing with them in the consumer space,” he added.
Frank said the company will maintain its distribution deal with AT&T, which offers the Akimbo VOD service as part of the AT&T Homezone
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FiOS TV to Walk in New Hyde Park
The Board of Trustees for New Hyde Park on New York’s Long Island authorized Verizon Communications to offer its FiOS TV service in a Tuesday-night vote.
The telco will compete with incumbent cable operator Cablevision Systems in New Hyde Park.
The telco will compete with incumbent cable operator Cablevision Systems in New Hyde Park, which will become its 37th market in New York state.
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GolTV Scores Copa America Rights
GolTV (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6421586.html) scored exclusive English-language telecast rights in the United States to the Copa America (http://www.conmebol.com/competiciones_evento_index,1055,2007,E.html) soccer tournament.
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Discovery en Español Sets Originals
Discovery Networks U.S. Hispanic Group said that it will roll out more than 100 hours of original programming on Spanish-language channel Discovery en Español. For starters, the network builds on its first original program -- immigration-debate documentary Objetivo: El Norte (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6336348.html) -- with Viviendo en las Sombras, chronicling the life and challenges of illegal immigrants living in the United States.
Other new content in the fold: Mas Que Una Fiesta, featuring parties and festivals that celebrate Hispanic heritage, and Voces de Cabio, a series on Hispanic artists, including Carlos Santana and Edward James Olmos, and their efforts to give back to their communities.
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Verizon Wireless Live TV Hits Major Markets
Verizon Wireless is now offering the eight-channel V CAST Mobile TV live television service in the United States’ biggest markets -- including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Indianapolis -- bringing it up to 28 markets nationwide.
The wireless carrier commercially launched V CAST Mobile TV March 1 in 20 markets, which included Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis and Las Vegas (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6420581.html).
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HBO’s Conchords to Take Flight Online
The entire debut episode of new HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords will be available online until its debut on the premium network June 17.
HBO added that the episode will be portable via codes that allow users to embed it on blogs, Web sites and social-networking profiles.
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Time Warner Launches here! in San Diego
Time Warner Cable launched here! (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6440047.html) as a subscription-video-on-demand service in the Greater San Diego area.
The LGBT-aimed (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) network will be available to more than 140,000 digital-cable subscribers in the area for $7.95 per month.
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8x8 Awarded VoIP Patent
8x8 was awarded a voice-over-Internet-protocol patent for a communication-routing system utilizing a broadband data network.
The company said U.S. Patent No. 7,218,721, Virtual Telephone Extension, covers operations including routing non-local calls through a broadband data network and using a broadband data network to provide telephony services, including programmed and default call routing to a user's virtual extension, voice mail, or e-mail resources.
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BET Details Awards Show
BET announced the nominees, host and recipients of the Lifetime Achievement and Humanitarian honors for its signature awards show (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6335778.html), The BET Awards '07.
The event will be hosted, for the third time, by comedienne, actor and author Mo'Nique (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6440004.html). It will be held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles June 26 at 8 p.m. (EST)/ 7 p.m. (MST), tape-delayed for the Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Legendary singer Diana Ross will receive BET's Lifetime Achievement Award, and award-winning actor and activist Don Cheadle will be honored with BET's Humanitarian Award for his efforts to bring an end to the genocide in Darfur.
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Dawg Sics Lawyers on YouTube
David Grisman (http://www.dawgnet.com) filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) May 10 in federal court in San Francisco, AP reported.
Grisman -- a mandolin player who recorded with The Grateful Dead (http://www.dead.net) and was nicknamed "Dawg" by late Dead guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia -- claimed that his videos were illegally posted on Google’s (http://www.google.com) file-sharing site, according to AP.
Grisman and business partner Craig Miller, who run San Rafael, Calif.-based studio Acoustic Disc, told AP the case is about helping independent musicians whose music is distributed without authorization. Miller told AP, “We are looking out for ourselves and all of the other people like us musicians and independent publishers.”
Grisman and Miller are seeking an unspecified amount of money from revenue that
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Game Over for Liberty’s Purchase of Braves
Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media by Time Warner (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6438770.html)Wednesday night, AP reported.
Braves chairman Terry McGuirk (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA72256.html) told AP details of the complicated transaction would be announced by the two companies later..
McGuirk told AP the sale includes a provision that the Braves will have a payroll at least as high as its current level about $90 million at the start of the season, and the ballpark will continue to be known as Turner Field, adding that the transaction values the franchise at $450 million.
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WisconsinEye Opens on Web
The nation’s latest state public-affairs network, WisconsinEye (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA316276.html), lit up its service via Internet (http://www.wiseye.org) Wednesday at 11 a.m., but it is uncertain when the channel will be added to the lineup of its current cable affiliates, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable.
Chris Long, president of the network, explained that a piece of equipment is still needed to encode the cablecast for transmission to Charter, which will connect the signal to Time Warner. He anticipates delivery in a couple of weeks.
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