January 10, 2008

360AM: Invasion of the Internet-Ready TVs

TV makers newest threats to cable, satellite, telcos and broadcasters.

By Steve Goldstein

Cable360AM — News briefing for Thursday, Jan. 10 »

Cable360 tipster Brain Clark and his sidekick Joe, wiped out from a day of bad bets at the Hilton sports book, finally surfaced after making the rounds at CES and had one message for us: Although the Internet is laying waste to every existing business model for media companies, no one really knows how to make a profit off it. Good morning.

The notion that TV watchers will soon have more ways to access programming is filtering out of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and into the mainstream, the Wall Street Journal reports. Internet delivery of programming to the latest television sets will challenge cable operators, satellite distributors and the telcos’ video services, as companies like Sony, Fujitsu, Matsushita’s Panasonic and Sharp are bringing to market TVs that plug directly into the Web. [Wall Street Journal]

Research firm Customer Respect Group conducted a study of how well telecommunications companies serve their customers online and found that Verizon ranked first in account management and self-help, Reuters reports. Cablevision and Comcast placed second and third. [Reuters]

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association launched a blog, CableTechTalk.com, designed to educate consumers about broadband technology, from the cable operator’s perspective.

Cable operator Cox Communications is opening a third retail store in Wichita, Kans. [Wichita Eagle]

Bloomberg.com reports that Time Warner’s film and TV division, Warner Bros., may lay off 1,000 people because of the ongoing writers’ strike. [Bloomberg]

GSN’s “Black and White Overnight” programming block of vintage game shows has returned with reruns of What’s My Line? and I’ve Got a Secret, New York Times blog TV Decoder reports. The block will run from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. [TV Decoder]

In CableFAX Daily: A recession-proof Comcast?

Yesterday's 360 Update.

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