Comcast sues NFL over ads; Sen. Kerry invites execs for a confab
By Brian Santo
The ongoing disagreement between Comcast and the NFL has led the MSO to file a breach of contract suit against the sports league for the latter’s ad campaign encouraging customers to “make the switch” to satellite TV to get the NFL Network.
In May, Comcast won a court case – involving the NFL – giving it the right to manage its channel lineup as it sees fit, essentially allowing it to move the NFL channel to its sports tier, for which subscribers must pay an additional fee. The NFL wants its network on the basic tier.
There is no room for compromise – the channel is either in the basic tier or it isn’t, which automatically turns the negotiations between the two into a standoff. So the NFL is attempting to force Comcast to relent and return the NFL Channel to its basic tier by not only informing viewers that its channel is available to all with the basic satellite package, but it has gone one step further to actually encourage viewers to switch to satellite.
The Comcast complaint, filed in the New York Supreme Court, calls that a breach of contract and seeks unspecified damages and an order prohibiting NFL Enterprises from encouraging Comcast customers to cancel their subscriptions.
Being asked to pay an extra fee to get an additional product is considered by some fans to be a federal offense, and Sen. John Kerry has responded to those fans’ appeals to get involved.
Previously, he urged the parties involved to come to an agreement quickly. He subsequently invited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Time Warner Cable President Glenn Britt and Comcast EVP David L. Cohen to a meeting next week, in which he hopes to broker a deal between operators and the league.
Arris, C-Cor shareholders put stamp of approval on deal
By Mike Robuck
Arris and C-Cor announced today that their respective shareholders have approved Arris’ purchase of C-Cor, with approximately 98 percent of the votes cast in favor of the deal.
Arris and C-Cor expect the $730 million cash and stock transaction to close later today. The combined entities will create a company with more than $1.2 billion in sales within the past 12 months.
Suwannee, Georgia-based Arris counts Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global among its customer base.
C-Cor – based in State College, Pa. – sells broadband access platforms for cable, as well as operations support systems and VOD systems. Earlier this year, C-Cor and the Comcast Media Center rolled out “VOD in a Box” for smaller operators. At this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, C-Cor demonstrated a combined solution for switched digital video (SDV) with Harmonic that used C-Cor’s nABLE Session and Resource Manager.
In February, Arris announced a $1.2 billon bid to purchase Tandberg Television, only to see Ericsson snap TandbergTV up for $1.4 billion.
FCC’s Martin pushes forward with vote despite opposition
By Traci Patterson
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing forward with plans for the Commission to vote on Tuesday regarding media cross-ownership rules, despite pressure from Congress and his own board.
On Wednesday, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein – two Democratic commissioners on the FCC board – issued a release saying that Martin’s intent to relax media cross-ownership rules is “a huge mistake.”
Martin’s proposal would open the top 20 U.S. markets to potential media cross-ownership, with no waivers required. Martin is also proposing to cap the size of cable operators to no more than a 30 percent share of all U.S. multichannel video subscribers.
According to published reports, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye wants an overhaul of the FCC to occur next year, which could include modifications to the terms of commissioners. And Sen. Jay Rockefeller said that the FCC is more concerned with policies that suit the companies the Commission regulates than it is with serving the best interests of the public. Both senators’ comments were made at the committee’s oversight hearing on Thursday.
Omneon buys Castify
By Brian Santo
Omneon has acquired Castify Networks, a provider of software that is used to build service delivery platforms for content distribution – including video – over public and private networks.
Castify’s modular product suite forms the foundation of a digital content delivery platform to distribute, monitor and manage media assets from any location.
Joe Kennedy, president and CEO of Omneon, said, “Castify’s full-featured distribution management infrastructure, combined with our digital content storage systems, will provide our customers with an integrated solution for managing media across their networks, however large and extended they might be.”
Castify is being operated as a subsidiary of Omneon. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Broadband Briefs for 12/14/07
* Comcast teams with N.H. governor for Internet safety legislation
By Mike Robuck
Comcast said yesterday that it had joined forces with New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, Attorney General Kelley Ayotte and other members of New Hampshire’s law enforcement community to support legislation regarding online crimes and offenses.
“As a company that works hard to educate consumers in New Hampshire about the tools and techniques they can use to protect their families and their finances online, we applaud Governor Lynch for recognizing the significance of cyber-crime with this important proposal,” said Steve Hackley, SVP of Comcast’s Northern New England Region, in a statement. “This bill will give our state and local law enforcement officials more of the tools they need to combat the growing problem of Internet crime.”
* Verizon extends video, data offerings in N.Y., W.Va.
By Traci Patterson
Verizon’s FiOS TV service will be available to consumers in Newburgh, N.Y., sometime next year thanks to a recently approved agreement. Verizon announced Thursday that its FiOS TV service had arrived in the greater Portland area, bringing the number of states that the telco offers video in to 13.
Additionally, consumers and businesses in Danese, W.Va., will soon have access to Verizon’s high-speed Internet offering, which is based on DSL technology.
* Omron taps AT&T for European LAN management
By Mike Robuck
Omron Europe said today that it has selected AT&T to manage its LAN environment in Europe. The new agreement is an extension of an existing partnership between the two companies.
Over the past four years, AT&T has provided IP-based Virtual Private Network (VPN), remote access and hosting services to Omron Europe. Under the terms of the new agreement, AT&T will take responsibility for monitoring and managing Omron’s LAN environment at 33 sites, located in 17 European countries, as part of a full range of network-management services offered to multinational organizations.
* Alcatel-Lucent demos mobile TV in Italy
By Brian Santo
Alcatel-Lucent, Italian mobile operator 3 Italia and Italian public broadcaster RAI are trialing mobile TV in Italy based on the DVB-SH standard. The trial, based on Alcatel-Lucent’s Unlimited Mobile TV solution, uses a multi-layer DVB-SH terrestrial network blending low-power transmitters from a mobile operator and medium-power transmitters from a broadcaster.
The trial will take place in Torino through March. It is designed to validate the capability of DVB-SH to make available a large number of high-quality mobile TV channels in various usage conditions.
* Google China taken to court for name infringement
By Traci Patterson
China-based Beijing Guge Sci-Tech Co. has taken Google’s China operations to court for what it claims is an infringement of the Chinese translation of the company’s name – “Guge” – according to the Associated Press.
The Chinese company officially registered the name on April 19, 2006, and Google did not register until Nov. 24 of that year, but Google said that there were reports on the Internet about Google’s use of the Chinese name “Guge” when Beijing Guge Sci-Tech registered, the AP reported.
