• Martin to Endorse Cable Content Bill
• GOP Senators Back Cable In 700 MHz
• No-Hitter Boosts FSN Detroit
• DirecTV, Lifetime Reach Settlement
• ESPN Set for College World Series
• TNT Brings Advertisers to Heartland
• Cox’s Internet Safety Summit

• FiOS TV Continues to Expand
• Tollgrade’s DOCSIS Gear
• Dish Adds TuTv in Puerto Rico
• Cisco Uncorks Universal Edge QAM
• AOL Taps AT&T Executive
• Gemstar to Integrate Birnbaum

• Bravo Trades ‘360’ Approach for ‘4D’
• Billabong to Help HBO Deck Out John from Cincinnati
• U.S. Open Golf Goes Mobile

Martin to Endorse Cable Content Bill
Washington -- FCC chairman Kevin Martin on Thursday is planning to endorse bipartisan federal legislation that would force cable operators to create a family-friendly programming tier, comply with existing federal indecency rules, or rebate customers who have blocked channels in a tier. None of the lawmakers sponsoring the bill is a heavy hitters in Capitol Hill Telecommunications policy circles, which probably means the bill is just another a la carte irritant that the cable industry would need to endure. Martin – who says his agency doesn’t have legal authority to impose a la carte mandates on cable -- is expected to attend a press briefing in the Rayburn House office building at 11:15 a.m., joining bill sponsors Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE). The other sponsors of the bill are Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), said Chris Lyons, Lipinski’s legislative assistant. The legislation, called the Family Choice Act of 2007, has the support of the Parents Television Council and Concerned Women From America, who are planning to send officials to share the stage with Martin and the lawmakers. Both PTC and CWA are vocal proponents of cable a la carte, which the industry has said would raise consumer bills overall and drive minority-focused channels out of business. click to read more...
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GOP Senators Back Cable In 700 MHz
Washington -- A group of Senate Republicans wants cable operators to have unfettered access to participate in an upcoming FCC auction that could earn the U.S. Treasury at least $10 billion. “The FCC should not devise encumbering rules which suppress interest in the auction, including build-out requirements, restrictions on incumbent bidding, net neutrality and open access mandates,” the GOP lawmakers said in a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican Bush appointee. Signing the letter were Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Mel Martinez (R-Fl.), and David Vitter (R-La.). All but Martinez hold seats on the Commerce Committee, the panel that directly oversees the FCC. The FCC is several months from auctioning valuable airwaves now occupied by UHF TV stations, which will lose access to those channels after switching to digital transmission in February 2009. Congress is hoping that wireless broadband companies will pay at least $10 billion for the 60 MHz up for sale. click to read more...
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No-Hitter Boosts FSN Detroit
Tuesday night’s “no-no” for Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander had FSN Detroit screaming “Yes, yes!” The 24-year-old flamethrower’s no-hitter gainst the Milwaukee Brewers scored big in Motown, with FSN Detroit catching an 8.6 household rating in the Detroit DMA. Metro Detroit’s interest in the rare feat spilled over to the regional sports network’s postgame show, Tigers Live, which recorded an 8.3 rating. click to read more...
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DirecTV, Lifetime Reach Settlement
It looks like DirecTV, which is involved in at least three messy litigations, resolved one of them -- namely its breach-of-contract lawsuit against Lifetime Television. The nation’s largest direct-broadcast satellite provider and the women’s programmer, originally set to go to trial Tuesday, reached a tentative settlement, according to papers filed May 22 with the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California in Los Angeles. DirecTV filed its breach-of-contract suit against Lifetime last March, alleging that the programmer reneged on a deal to pay $200 per head to EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network subscribers who switched over to DirecTV earlier that year. Lifetime extended the $200 offer after it was dropped, for about one month, by Dish during a contract dispute. click to read more...
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ESPN Set for College World Series
ESPN will throw the first pitch of its 28th consecutive year of College World Series coverage Friday, June 15, when Louisville takes on Rice at 2 p.m. on ESPN2. The two networks will air all 17 possible games, and the contests will also be presented in HD on ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD. click to read more...
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TNT Brings Advertisers to Heartland
TNT signed two custom marketing promotions for the premiere of new original series Heartland Monday, June 18 at 10 p.m. Choice Hotels’ Comfort Inn brand and Dimension Films’ 1408 “will be woven through select TNT marketing channels, including on-air and online, creating a high-profile opportunity for consumer outreach,” the network said. click to read more...
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Cox’s Internet Safety Summit
Cox Communications will team up with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, children's advocate John Walsh and Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson on the second National Teen Summit on Internet Safety. The event -- an extension of Cox’s Take Charge! -- will be held June 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. click to read more...
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FiOS TV Continues to Expand
Verizon announced franchises for its FiOS TV service in Newport News, Va., and Old Field, N.Y., and the service’s launch in southwestern Pasco County, Fla. The Newport News franchise covers more than 70,000 households in the city, and the telco will compete with Comcast. Newport News joins 18 other Virginia municipalities on Verizon’s list. click to read more...
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Tollgrade’s DOCSIS Gear
Tollgrade Communications debuted a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification-based broadband-wireless-access point. The company said its HyFi 1100 allows cable operators to leverage their existing hybrid fiber-coaxial networks to provide broadband-wireless services for citywide hot zone and municipal Wi-Fi applications. click to read more...
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Dish Adds TuTv in Puerto Rico
TuTv and EchoStar Communications reached an agreement that will extend the availability of three Spanish-language channels to current and future subscribers to its DishLATINO packages in Puerto Rico. click to read more...
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Cisco Uncorks Universal Edge QAM
Cisco Systems took the wraps off the first member of a new family of universal edge-quadrature-amplitude-modulation products that support 1-gigahertz output. The Cisco RF Gateway 1, the first product in the Cisco RF Gateway Series, provides up to 48 D-RFI-compliant QAM channels -- with eight QAM channels per module. click to read more...
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AOL Taps AT&T Executive
John Burbank joined AOL as chief marketing officer. Burbank had been vice president of marketing at AT&T. click to read more...
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Gemstar to Integrate Birnbaum
Gemstar-TV Guide International named Debra Birnbaum executive editor of cross-platform content integration. Birnbaum has been a consultant with TV Guide since January. click to read more...
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