• Dish Network to launch $1B debt offering
By The Associated Press
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – Satellite TV services provider Dish Network Corp. said Wednesday its subsidiary plans to launch a $1 billion debt offering. The subsidiary, Dish DBS, will use the proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes, the company said.
Dish Network said Monday that its second-quarter profit slid 81 percent on TiVo Inc. litigation costs and rising expenses, but the nation’s second-largest satellite TV provider managed to add subscribers and maintain revenue. The company’s low-cost provider approach has been weakened by competitors’ aggressive promotional pricing. Signal theft and other types of fraud have also hurt the company, it said.
Earlier this month, DirecTV Group Inc., the nation’s largest satellite TV operator, also reported a drop in profit as higher customer acquisition costs offset revenue growth.
Shares of Dish Network are up 67 percent for the year and fell 1 cent to $18.52 in morning trading.
• Concurrent hires VonderHaar in Asia
By Brian Santo
Concurrent is ratcheting up its presence in the Asian market with the hire of Steve VonderHaar as regional vice president. He will head up the company’s Hong Kong office and will have the office in Beijing report in to him. Concurrent also maintains an office in Tokyo.
VonderHaar most recently was vice president of sales at Newisys. He has also worked for 3Com and Adaptec.
Between growing competition in the residential market and the enthusiasm for mobile video, Concurrent considers the Asia Pacific market a natural fit for its three-screen strategy.
“Concurrent’s open, commercial and intelligent approach to multi-screen video solutions is an excellent fit for the Asia Pacific market, which is integral in our global growth strategy,” said Concurrent President and CEO Dan Mondor.
• TVC to offer its customers Alloptic’s product portfolio
By CED staff
Alloptic, which develops RF over Glass (RFoG) and passive optical networking (PON) solutions, and TVC Communications have entered into a distribution agreement to deliver fiber-to-the-home solutions to TVC customers.
TVC will provide Alloptic equipment to cable and broadband customers in the U.S. and Canada. The agreement encompasses the entire Alloptic product portfolio, including EPON/GEPON systems, along with its RFoG products.
“Alloptic’s market-leading RFoG technology is making fiber-to-the-home a reality for broadband service providers. Their time-proven equipment and service is affordable and makes it easy for an HFC network operator to deploy FTTH,” said Craig Hemperly, director of product management for TVC. “Alloptic’s equipment expertise combined with TVC’s technical support and complementary product offering will deliver this exciting new technology to small and medium operators throughout North America.”
