June 19, 2008

Verizon Gooses Internet Speed Race

FiOS Internet rollout accelerates, cable revenue up in Canada and more news.

By Steve Goldstein

News Briefing for Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Cable360 newsroom welcomes back tipster Brain Clark, who has just completed a 12-step program for e-mail and texting addicts. Happy Thursday.

The Internet speed race just got a little more brutal. Verizon will expand the availability of its FiOS Internet service next week in its 16-state service area. [Ars Technica | Wall Street Journal]

Revenue for Canadian cable operators rose 16% in 2007, and profit increased 10%, Variety reports. Basic cable subscribers also grew by 2.3%. [Variety]

Canadian Internet service providers are not investing in technology that will increase bandwidth, the Globe and Mail reports. Instead, they’re focusing on throttling usage. [Globe and Mail]

Claims by some creditors of the defunct Adelphia Communications were dismissed by a federal judge in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports. The creditors were seeking $4 billion from commercial banks and investment firms; the judge ruled that Adelphia’s “bankruptcy plan already had paid creditors what they were owed.” [Wall Street Journal]

Neil Smit, president & CEO, Charter Communications, and David Zaslav, president & CEO, Discovery Communications, will serve as honorary co-chairs at the 22nd annual NAMIC Conference, to be held Sept. 14-16 in New York.

Ads in traditional media connect more positively with consumers than ads delivered via digital media, according to a new study. [New York Times]

Sprint Nextel is responding to the challenge of Apple’s iPhone with a smartphone that will cost $129.99, the Wall Street Journal reports. [WSJ]

Former Cheers star Matthew Perry is working on a pilot for Showtime, according to the Hollywood Reporter. [HR]

Ratings for the new look Oxygen's season premiere Tues of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood were record breaking. It was the highest rated and most watched season debut of an Oxygen original series ever, posting a 0.7 HH. It was  also the most successful season premiere among key demos including P18-49 (450,000), W18-49 (356,000) and total viewers (667,000).

Unconfirmed word out of Rainbow is that IFC marketing head Jen Caserta will be upped to GM of IFC and that Sundance Channel programming chief Laura Michalchyshyn will be named Sundance's GM. IFC chief Evan Shapiro will be promoted to oversee both networks.

Late Stories
Charter named Ted Schremp its Chief Marketing Officer, effective July 1, replacing Robert Quigley, who is retiring. Quigley remains until Jan 1 as an advisor. Schremp is SVP of Product Management and Strategy. Charter also named Eloise Schmitz EVP and CFO from July 1. 10-year vet Schmitz has been SVP and Interim CFO since since April 4. Prior to that, she was SVP, Strategic Planning. Schmitz will continue to direct Charter’s mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning and capital structure work, and will add financial functions.


Not a surprise, Comcast and Big Ten Network have reached a long-term multimedia agreement for Comcast to carry Big Ten Network programming across television, broadband and video-on-demand in time for the 2008 college football season.

Wednesday's Top Stories


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