May 29, 2008

No Analog Sub Left Behind

Sunflower Broadband commits to keeping analog subs connected, net neutrality on the march in Canada and more news.

By Steve Goldstein

News Briefing for Thursday, May 29, 2008

We are saddened and puzzled by former Cable360 tipster Brain Clark’s new book, in which he claims the Cable360 newsroom “turned away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.” Happy Thursday.

The FCC-mandated transition to digital will leave many unsuspecting over-the-air and analog cable TV viewers with a black screen, but none of those will Sunflower Broadband subscribers. Lawrence, Kans.-based Sunflower is upgrading its cable system to all-digital this Monday, but it has found a way to allow its analog cable subscribers to retain their TV signals without having to either upgrade their Sunflower service or buy a new TV, the Lawrence Journal-World & News reports. Starting Monday, Sunflower will feed signals to subscribers of its old 37-channel analog service by translating the digital feeds of those channels into analog. [Lawrence Journal-World & News]

A Canadian member of Parliament, Charlie Angus, introduced a network neutrality bill at the House of Commons, Ars Technica reports. Angus, a former rock musician, says that Canadians should be referred to as Internet citizens, not Internet consumers, and as such they have rights that should not be broached by corporations seeking to control the flow of online traffic. [Ars Technica]

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers made a tentative three-year contract agreement, the New York Times reports. The larger actors union, the Screen Actors Guild, meanwhile, is still negotiating with producers over actors’ compensation for content streamed on the Internet. [New York Times]

Netflix made a deal with cable channel Logo to distribute the series Curl Girls, Visible Vote '08: A Presidential Forum and Wisecrack, Variety reports. [Variety]

TiVo subscribers will be able to access Disney-produced movies later this year. [Variety]

Cablevision upped Carolyn Dursi to SVP, Executive Recruiting, with responsibility for exec recruitment at the MSO, Rainbow, News 12 networks among other business units.

Late Stories
A new night, but, hopefully, the same great drama. AMC said critically acclaimed series Mad Men will leave its Thursday evening slot and return for season 2 beginning Sunday, July 27, 10pm ET. And DVR alert (did we just say that?) the premiere will be teased with a marathon of all 13 season 1 eps the previous Sunday, July 20, noon ET.

Not a surprise. Decker Anstrom was re-elected Chairman of NCTA's board.

This should be fun. NFL Net on Monday nights this summer will run a slew of classic games, including Dan Marino's fake spike against the Jets from 1994 (this Monday, 8pm ET) and the so-called Freezer Bowl of Jan '82 between the Chargers and Begnals when the wind chill was -37 degrees F (June  9, 8pm ET).

Nice win for Bresnan. Montana's Dept of Administration, IT Services Division, and the Montana U System tapped Bresnan to provide statewide data services for Montana’s state agencies, local governments, universities and schools. Bresnan will link hundreds of locations across the state, supporting voice, video and data. Montana's network serves some 568 locations. Over the next 12 months, these locations will begin migrating to Bresnan’s advanced IP/MPLS network.

Wednesday's Top Stories

Time's running out to nominate companies for CableFAX: The Magazine's Top 10 Places to Work in Cable. Complete our online nomination form by June 9 and let us know why your employer is tops. 

Visit Cable360 to respond to the poll question: Which political party are cable operators, satellite distributors and telcos more likely to contribute to in the general election for the presidency?

Got a tip? Contact sgoldstein@accessintel.com and sarenstein@accessintel.com.