January 3, 2008

360AM: Weather Channel on the Block

NBC, News Corp. and Comcast expected to bid on Weather, Disney Channel  is #1, NCTA's New Face and other news.

By Steve Goldstein

Cable360AM — News briefing for Thursday, Jan. 3 »

The Weather Channel is being actively shopped around, the New York Times reports. Parent company Landmark Communications is selling off its various components, the basic cable channel and its sister website, weather.com, being among them. Potential suitors include NBC, News Corp. and Comcast, the Times says. [New York Times]

NCTA today named former senior Democrat counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee James Assey to succeed David Krone as EVP. Assey begins his duties Feb 1. He will report to NCTA pres/CEO Kyle McSlarrow and become the group's second-most senior exec. Krone recently left NCTA to join Comcast as svp, corporate affairs. Assey served on the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee from 2001 until his departure at the end of Dec '07.

Disney Channel said early today it was cable's #1 network in 2007 in prime, with 2.694 million in total viewers, recording the single largest audience in cable history for the frame.  USA finished second with 2.679 million total viewers, Disney said.

Netflix struck a deal with LG Electronics that would enable it to stream movies to high-definition TV sets via the Internet. The system would rely on a set-top box made by LG. [New York Times | ZDNet]

Shares of EchoStar Holding Corp., the satellite equipment and technology unit spun off from EchoStar Communications, began trading yesterday. The price rose to $32.59, according to a Bloomberg report picked up by the New York Post. Satellite TV service EchoStar Communications has been renamed Dish Network. [New York Post]

Hallmark Channel parent Crown Media Holdings said today it reached an agreement with the National Interfaith Cable Coalition to settle outstanding claims relating to NICC’s equity interest in Crown Media and a now-expired program production and broadcast deal.  Hallmark Channel will continue to broadcast a Sunday morning block of Faith & Values programming and NICC will relinquish its right to compel Crown Media to purchase more than 4 million shares of the company’s common stock, which NICC currently holds. As a result, on Jan 1 Hallmark regained control of five hours of daily programming each week formerly occupied by the Faith & Values program New Morning (7-8 a.m., Monday-Friday). In addition, the Sunday morning block of Faith & Values programming, which will be provided by NICC, has been cut to two hours from six hours.   

Late-night talk shows have returned, but that doesn’t mean much. The writers’ strike is going to continue for many months in all likelihood, Standard & Poor’s media analyst Tuna Amobi told Kelsey Hubbard of MarketWatch.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett says that despite increasing competition from the telcos, Cablevision’s stock price could be four times its present value by 2011, Silicon Alley Insider reports. [Silicon Alley Insider]

Pali Research upgraded Mediacom from sell to neutral. [StreetInsider.com]

Comcast and Insight Communications completed their deal to divide their partnership in the Midwest, according to an Associated Press story picked up by CNNMoney. [CNNMoney]

Two days ago, on Jan. 1, DirecTV was offering 87 high-definition channels, by Phillip Swann’s count. In January 2007, DirecTV announced that it would offer 100 hi-def channels by the end of the year. [TVPredictions.com]

Yesterday's 360AM.

• Got a tip? Email sgoldstein@accessintel.com and sarenstein@accessintel.com