• DirecTV Readies HD Tier
• Samples Named HGTV President
• Verizon Expands FiOS in Jersey
• Fox Recruits Biz Anchors
• Satellite Pirates Subject to Limited Fines
• Ovation to Launch Original Series
• IP Phone Quality’s a Concern

• Saralegui Honored at Summit
• Freston, Dolgen Back Veoh
• Time Warner Builds Home of the Future in L.A.
• HBO to Track Pirated Reviewer Copies
• IFC, Salon Serve Up Interstitials

• Poll: In a Pinch, Call MacGyver
• Design Star Sets Ratings Record
• Slow NFL Start for ESPN

DirecTV Readies HD Tier
DirecTV plans to create a tier of HD-only channels when it rolls out its much-ballyhooed expanded HDTV packages, possibly as early as next week. The new tier will include services that are not simulcasts of standard-definition networks and exist only in high def. This tier will be one part of the DirecTV’s overall revamping of its HDTV services, which will jump to more than 70 channels this fall. At one point, the rollout of the satellite provider’s overall expanded HD offering appeared to have been set for next Wednesday, Sept. 19. That was the date cited in an internal DirecTV document first posted on the Web site SatelliteGuys.us. But on Wednesday, DirecTV spokesman Darris Gringeri said much of the information that that document was outdated and that the satellite provider is still finalizing its HDTV plans. DirecTV did not provide a firm launch date for the first stage of the revamping of its HDTV platform, which officials have previously said would occur by the end of the third quarter. That would mean by September 30. The memo said there would be a tier of “unique HD services” -- HDNet, HDNet Movies, Universal HD, MHD, MGM HD and Smithsonian HD, which don’t have companion standard-definition services – that would be called DirecTV HD Extra Pack. The memo put its pricing for that tier at $4.99 a month for new subscribers. Gringeri confirmed there will be a tier of HD-only services, but said it is still being determined what channels will be included. click to read more...
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Samples Named HGTV President
Jim Samples, who resigned as Cartoon Network’s general manager this spring following a controversial marketing stunt in Boston that was mistaken for a potential terrorist attack, will be joining HGTV as its new president, officials said Wednesday. Samples, 44, will succeed Judy Girard, who earlier this year announced plans to retire after more than 10 years with Scripps Networks. He will join HGTV Oct. 1, working with Girard before she steps down later this year. click to read more...
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Verizon Expands FiOS in Jersey
Verizon expanded FiOS TV into parts of 24 more New Jersey communities, continuing to roll into areas served by Cablevision Systems and Comcast. Verizon now offers the service in 220 New Jersey communities. click to read more...
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Fox Recruits Biz Anchors
Fox Business Network, slated to take on CNBC and Bloomberg TV when it launches in some 31 million homes Oct. 15, bolstered its on-air ranks, naming five anchors who also will continue to work on sister service, Fox News Channel. David Asman, Cheryl Casone, Rebecca Gomez, Dagen McDowell and Stuart Varney are now part of the FBN team that also includes Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee, senior vice president and managing editor of business news Neil Cavuto and director of business news Alexis Glick. In addition, FBN, which has yet to disclose its programming lineup, will also feature Brenda Buttner of FNC’s Bulls and Bears and Terry Keenan, business correspondent and anchor of the cable news leader’s Cashin’ In. All of the on-air talent mentioned will appear on both services. click to read more...
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Satellite Pirates Subject to Limited Fines
Satellite pirates who use smart cards to gain access to satellite-TV programming they don’t subscribe to are only subject to limited fines, not the potential $100,000 penalty that applies under commercial piracy law, a federal appeals court ruled in a split decision Tuesday. Essentially, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said that two alleged DirecTV pirates, Hoa Huynh and Cody Oliver, were not subject to an unauthorized decryption device law that allows damages of up to $100,000 per count. click to read more...
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Ovation to Launch Original Series
Ovation TV, dedicated to art and personal creativity, will premiere its first original series, Art & the City, since re-launching in April, officials said Wednesday. The half-hour series premieres, hosted by Travel + Leisure Magazine’s David A. Keeps, will debut with back-to-back original episodes Sunday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. before moving to its regular Wednesday 8 p.m. time slot beginning Oct. 10. The first two episodes will explore the cultural highlights of Chicago and Paris, respectively. click to read more...
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IP Phone Quality’s a Concern
The quality of Internet protocol based phone services still causes concerns, even though many big companies are investing heavily in the technology, a survey from a vendor in the field indicates. Psytechnics conducted a survey at the VoiceCon San Francisco convention last month. It found that 64% of respondents currently use an IP telephone service, and 68% of those that don’t have plans to deploy one within the next year. click to read more...
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Saralegui Honored at Summit
Cristina Saralegui, host and executive producer of Univision’s El Show de Cristina (The Cristina Show), will receive an award for her Outstanding Lifetime of Achievement, presented jointly by Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable, during the Fifth Annual Hispanic Television Summit in New York. click to read more...
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Freston, Dolgen Back Veoh
Internet TV startup Veoh Networks tapped two more media moguls as investors – former Viacom CEO Tom Freston and former Viacom Entertainment Group CEO Jonathan Dolgen – who join Michael Eisner and Goldman Sachs in backing the online entertainment venture. Veoh did not disclose the amount of funding from Freston’s consulting and investment company, Firefly3, and Dolgen. Veoh, founded in 2004, closed a third round of $25 million in funding in August. click to read more...
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Time Warner Builds Home of the Future in L.A.
The Universal CityWalk entertainment area in Los Angeles will have an extra attraction this weekend: the Time Warner Cable “Home of the Future.” The cable operator opened a 1,200-square-foot, four room “house” at the theme park Sept. 12 to display existing and future products. The display is a scaled down version of one first staged Jan. 10 at the parent company’s Time Warner Center in New York. The Los Angeles version will be staged through Sept. 16. Local executives picked Universal CityWalk because it is a prime destination both for tourists and for locals. click to read more...
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HBO to Track Pirated Reviewer Copies
Hoping to prevent its original shows from making the leap to the Internet before they’re aired, HBO will use digital-watermarking technology from Paris-based Thomson to embed unique IDs into copies of screeners provided to reviewers. Thomson’s Shield Forensic system inserts an invisible barcode identifier into every frame of a piece of video. The ID, which is associated with the intended recipient, can then be read if the video surfaces, say, on an Internet file-sharing service -- allowing HBO to trace the illicit video back to its source. click to read more...
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IFC, Salon Serve Up Interstitials
IFC will unveil a new set of interstitials that will debut simultaneously on the service and Salon.com. Based on Salon.com’s arts and entertainment column of the same name, Beyond the Multiplex is slated to debut on Sept. 13 and will be hosted by Matt Singer of IFC News. click to read more...
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