October 2, 2007

360AM: Comcast.net Relaunches; AT&T Adds VoIP to IPTV

Comcast soups up broadband portal; AT&T goes all-IP, faces battle in Connecticut; and more Tuesday news.

By Shirley Brady

Cable360AM — News briefing for Tuesday, Oct. 2 »

In a move sparked by the NCTA's cable operator members (and first reported by CableFAX columnist Paul Maxwell), cable industry groups will meet this month to discuss consolidating their events into an annual week in late spring, similar to cable's diversity week events each September. NCTA SVP of industry affairs Barbara York will lead the Oct. 22 meeting in New York with CTAM, Cable Positive, CTHRA, SCTE, CableLabs, WICT and ACC.

Cablevision CEO James Dolan and Madison Square Garden must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks SVP of marketing Anucha Browne Sanders, after a jury today found Knicks coach Isiah Thomas guilty of sexually harassing Sanders and his employers guilty of discrimination. The federal jury handed down punitive damages of $6 million against MSG for discriminating against Sanders by subjecting her to a hostile work environment; an additional $2.6 million against MSG for firing Sanders after she complained; and $3 million against Dolan for firing her while her sexual harassment charges were still being investigated. Bloomberg has details.

AT&T will bundle U-verse with VoIP phone service by year-end, notes Investor's Business Daily. "It's a big step forward for us because we're putting all our services — U-verse TV, broadband, voice — over the same IP infrastructure using the same billing system," says AT&T group president Ralph de la Vega. AT&T plans to meld wireless and TV services, and launch products such as caller I.D. on TV screens, over its all-IP platform.

AT&T is facing more grief from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who will ask the DPUC to reject the telco's application yesterday for a statewide video franchise for U-verse, reports the Hartford Courant.

DirecTV petitioned the FCC to revise its rules for satellite broadcasters using 17/24 GHz bands; SkyReport has more.

Comcast relaunched its high-speed Internet portal with social networking tools, access to email and other popular features on Comcast.net's homepage, a new version of the site's TV Channel, and version 4.0 enhancements to its video player, The Fan.

Time Warner Cable San Antonio will launch (and shuffle) HD networks in a staggered process this month, reports the San Antonio Express-News. TBS HD launches tomorrow, in time for MLB playoffs; Fox Business Network launches Oct. 15; History Channel HD launches mid-month; and three Starz HD nets (Starz Comedy, Edge and Kids & Family) launch Oct. 20. A TWC SA spokesperson confirmed the National Hockey League's channel is joining its line-up (but not in HD), with a launch date still TBD.

Comcast touted its high-definition launches of Turner's TBS HD and CNN HD today in Massachusetts and "most of New Hampshire," bringing its national HD channel lineup in New England to 28.

Cox Communications today launches Pivot wireless phone service from Sprint in its Fairfax County and Fredericksburg, VA, market. [Washington Business Journal]

Time Warner Cable tapped GotVoice to bring visual voicemail services to its 200,000 high-speed online subscribers in its Oceanic system in Hawaii.

Time Warner Cable launched business class phone service in Buffalo.

Comcast Houston subscribers are reportedly confused by the 6.1% (average) rate hike that went into effect yesterday, according to the Houston Chronicle.

CableOne increased its broadband speeds and raised its caps, notes Broadband Reports. CableOne outlines its new broadband specs and (note to Comcast) bandwidth limits to high-speed customers here.

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