* CSG Systems extends pact with Bright House NetworksCSG Systems has extended its agreement with Bright House Networks to provide customer care to the MSO’s Tampa, Fla. and Livonia, Mich. divisions. Under the new pact, effective through March 2013, CSG will continue to supply its outsourced customer care and billing platform to support cable customers in […]
Wire and Cable Tips
Broadband briefs for 1/24/06
* Kaitz redesigns siteThe Walter Kaitz Foundation has launched a redesigned Web site, which features the organization’s new logo and other graphical and navigational elements to help visitors locate resources. Other new elements include a “Supplier Diversity” feature that links the cable industry and the minority- and women-owned business community, a Career Center, and additional information […]
Broadband briefs for 1/23/06
* Motorola tees up wireless mesh platformMotorola Inc. has launched a multi-radio mesh networking system targeted to the municipal sector. Using both unlicensed 2.4 GHz and newly-licensed 4.9 GHz public safety spectrum, the “MOTOMESH” architecture is designed for public safety, public works and public access applications. To date, more than a dozen munis have agreed to deploy […]
Motorola posts higher cable earnings
Motorola Inc. reported Thursday that its Connected Home Solutions division, which includes the company’s set-top and cable modem group, posted $675 million in sales for the fourth quarter, up just 1 percent from $669 million a year earlier and down from $710 million in the third quarter. But the home solutions unit’s operating earnings climbed […]
S-A hits voice modem glitch
Despite a healthy increase in revenue, Scientific-Atlanta Inc. reported a drop in net income Thursday for its fiscal second quarter partly because of some kind of cable modem glitch. S-A said total sales for the fall quarter rose to $495.2 million, up 12 percent from $441.7 million a year ago. Yet its net income slipped to […]
Harmonic rings up net loss in Q4
Harmonic Inc. didn’t have a very harmonic fall. The cable and broadband equipment vendor reported a net loss for the fourth quarter, due to various corporate charges and sales of lower-margin fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) products. In its earnings report Thursday, Harmonic said it lost $2 million in Q4, after posting a $10.2 million profit a year ago. […]
BellSouth launches wireless broadband in 6th market
BellSouth Corp. introduced its new wireless broadband service in DeLand, Fla. this week, making that the sixth market for the high-speed data service in six months. The BellSouth service, which uses pre-WiMax technology, transmits signals between local radio towers and small non-line-of-sight desktop modems. It offers downstream speeds of up to 1.5 Megabits per second […]
EchoStar makes family-friendly programming bid
EchoStar Communications Corp. has become the latest multichannel video provider to join the family-friendly club, unveiling plans to offer a roughly 40-channel package of non-objectionable programming. Timing its announcement for a Congressional decency hearing in Washington, D.C. Thursday, EchoStar said its new “DishFamily” package will feature such cable networks as Animal Planet, The Biography Channel, Bloomberg […]
DirecTV unveils family programming tier, too
Not content to let cable operators and EchoStar hog the spotlight, DirecTV Inc. also announced its own family-friendly programming tier this week. DirecTV said it will offer a package of more than 40 channels “suitable for family and younger viewers,” starting in mid-April. The DirecTV “Total Choice Family” package will include many of the same networks […]
Broadband briefs for 1/20/06
* Broadcom introduces next-gen Wi-Fi chipsetBroadcom announced the availability of its new Intensi-fi family of wireless LAN chipsets, designed to comply with the IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Intensi-fi technology supports multiple simultaneous data streams over multiple transmit and receive antennas to deliver data rates of more than 300 Mbps and greater coverage than older Wi-Fi standards. […]