• Tribe Flunks Martin’s Cable Rebate Idea
• Dingell Eyes Comcast-Big 10 Dispute
• HITN Off DirecTV’s Hit List
• AT&T, Verizon Expand Pay TV Services
• Intel Changes Stance on OpenCable
• RCN Buys Neon Communications
• EarthLink Pitches Retail Bundles

• Design Star Heads to VOD
• Toot & Puddle to Splash on Noggin
• MTVN Reorganizes Research Dept.
• CTHRA Books Keynote Speakers
• Executive Moves

• Nickelodeon Drives Chrysler Campaign
• Army Wives Fortifies Viewing Forces
• ESPN Sells Poker on PPV

Tribe Flunks Martin’s Cable Rebate Idea
Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe will say in Senate testimony Tuesday that the federal government should expect to lose in court if it tries to force cable operators to provide refunds to customers who block violent programming. Tribe -- who examined potential TV-violence regulations endorsed in a FCC report in April -- has the same losing forecast for regulations that require the individual sale of cable channels or that ban violent content entirely except during late-night hours when children are not expected to be watching TV in large numbers. “I believe the First Amendment invalidates, and would be invoked by the Supreme Court to overturn, a law adopting any of the FCC’s proposals,” Tribe said. “Although parents can have a legitimate interest in restricting the television their children watch, the FCC makes a basic error in thinking that the solution is more intrusive governmental control over the free flow of speech, rather than more narrowly tailored and far less restrictive alternatives to facilitate parental control.” click to read more...
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Dingell Eyes Comcast-Big 10 Dispute
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) is concerned that Big Ten football and basketball games won’t be seen in Michigan until Big Ten Network inks distribution deals with Comcast and other cable companies. “In recent weeks, I have been approached by numerous constituents, all of whom share the same complaint. They are concerned about the local availability of University of Michigan football games since none of the Michigan cable systems carry the Big Ten Network,” Dingell said in a letter Monday to Big Ten Conference commissioner James Delany. Dingell’s panel has direct oversight of the FCC, which has maintained a close focus on cable-operator distribution of regional sports networks. Dingell said he was troubled that the wide availability of Big 10 sporting events was coming to an end due to BTN’s pay TV business model. He indicated that the migration to cable might not be fair if Michigan taxpayers can’t view the games of teams that they are supporting financially. click to read more...
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HITN Off DirecTV’s Hit List
Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, a Spanish-language public-interest channel, will keep its berth on DirecTV for now after facing the threat of being dropped at the end of this week. click to read more...
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AT&T, Verizon Expand Pay TV Services
AT&T’s U-verse TV and Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV continued adding pay TV markets. AT&T said Monday that U-verse TV is now available to residents in the Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, areas. And Verizon launched FiOS TV in parts of several New York towns, including Bayville, the Town of North Hempstead, New Hyde Park, Sands Point, the Town of Haverstraw, West Haverstraw, Chestnut Ridge and the Town of North Castle. click to read more...
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Intel Changes Stance on OpenCable
Intel signed a licensing agreement with Cable Television Laboratories under which the chip-maker will include support for the OpenCable Application Platform in future system-on-a-chip products for consumer-electronics devices. In a related development, Microsoft and CableLabs extended their partnership by formally establishing a collaborative relationship to develop ways for two-way cable services to work on PCs. click to read more...
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RCN Buys Neon Communications
RCN is acquiring Neon Communications Group in a deal valued at up to $260 million. Both parties entered into a definitive agreement for RCN to acquire Neon for up to $5.25 per share of its common stock in cash. The deal combines RCN’s triple-play bundle of services to residential and business customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Chicago metro markets with Neon's pure-play network-transport services to carrier and enterprise customers in the 12-state New England and mid-Atlantic regions. click to read more...
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EarthLink Pitches Retail Bundles
EarthLink inked a deal with multiplatform-service marketer GetConnected for retail distribution of EarthLink’s digital-subscriber-line and Home Phone Service bundle. Pricing for the bundle ranges from $49.95-$69.95 per month. click to read more...
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Design Star Heads to VOD
Home & Garden Television’s Design Star will make its way on-demand in the show’s second go-round beginning in late July. On-demand viewers will have access to sneak peaks of future episodes and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as any previous Design Star from season two. click to read more...
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Toot & Puddle to Splash on Noggin
Noggin acquired 52 11-minute episodes of Toot & Puddle, an animated series based on the books of children’s author and illustrator Holly Hobbie. The show, which will begin on Noggin in the fall of 2008, was produced by National Geographic Kids Entertainment and Mercury Filmworks. click to read more...
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MTVN Reorganizes Research Dept.
MTV Networks Entertainment Group reorganized its research department under the direction of, senior vice president of research and planning Tanya Giles. Beth Coleman was also promoted to VP, ad-sales research for the Entertainment Cluster. click to read more...
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CTHRA Books Keynote Speakers
The Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association announced the keynote speakers at its Achieving HR Excellence Symposium in Atlanta Oct. 23. click to read more...
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Executive Moves
Mark Lipford http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455204.html joined Comcast as vice president and general manager for Comcast West Florida, based in Sarasota.. Conexant Systems said that Daniel Artusi, previously CEO of power-supply manufacturer ColdWatt, will join the company as president and CEO. http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455018.html here! TV promoted Billy Cogar to director of development. http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455209.html Former CBS executive John Hamlin joined CMT as senior vice president, production and development. TVN Entertainment named Jamie Marquez director of affiliate sales for its Eastern region and Maria Mendoza director of affiliate sales for the Western region. http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455137.html http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455206.html Tandberg Television appointed Al Nuñez president of the Americas. http://multichannel.com/article/CA6455136.html Former Turner executive Randi Felton joined Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel as senior director, ad-sales research. click to read more...
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