CMC, SES AMERICOM Add 6 Network Groups

Weekly Pix

By Mike Robuck

Six additional TV network groups representing 10 East and West Coast feeds have signed up for network transport aboard the Comcast Media Center and SES AMERICOM Total Digital Solution, the two companies announced earlier this week.

The newly added channels include TV networks operated by A&E Television Networks, The History Channel, Hallmark (Hallmark Channel), Jewelry Television, ION Media Networks (Pax TV), Oxygen Media, and WGN.

The Total Digital Solution combines the CMC's content management capabilities withSES AMERICOM's 50-state AMC-4 satellite to provide networks with greater potential for additional penetration in cable systems deploying digital simulcast or all digital service. The CMC's all-digital platform features secured authorization, optimized DPI triggers and high-quality video and audio.

J.D. Power Says Cable Gaining Ground with Digital Subs

Although cable TV service continues to lose market share to satellite, penetration of digital cable has increased 11 percentage points, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Residential Cable/Satellite Satisfaction Study that was release earlier this week.

The study finds the industry-wide penetration of digital cable has increased from 30 percent in the 2005 study to 41 percent in 2006, largely fueled by the increased availability of digital video, data and voice bundling options. Currently, 29 percent of U.S. households subscribe to satellite service alone - up 2 percent since the 2005 study - while 58 percent of households subscribe only to cable - down from 60 percent in the 2005 study. An additional 1 percent of households subscribe to both cable and satellite services, with a total of 88 percent of households with either or both.

"Digital service is the key for consumers in taking advantage of the aggressively marketed ‘triple play' bundle of digital video, voice and Internet services," said Steve Kirkeby, executive director of telecommunications and technology research at J.D. Power and Associates. "With analog cable subscribers increasingly converting to digital, this becomes a major advantage for cable companies in the race against satellite providers to maintain market share."

Increased popularity of bundled services is also a likely contributor to a decrease in monthly payments for cable subscribers. Cable customers report spending $58 monthly - down $1 from 2005 - while satellite subscribers report spending $61 per month for service - up $3 from a year ago.

Comcast Slams WWE onto VOD

It's a match made in heaven for professional wrestling fans with WWE 24/7 On Demand now available on Comcast's ON DEMAND service. WWE 24/7 On Demand offers 40 hours of wrestling-related programming each month, including classic matches, behind-the-scenes coverage, wrestler profiles and more. Beginning this month, Comcast Digital Cable customers can subscribe to WWE 24/7 On Demand for $7.99 per month, giving them instant access to a library of more than 75,000 hours of programs.

IPTV Americas Taps Tandberg For MPEG-4 IPTV Service

IPTV Americas said this week that it will launch the first MPEG-4 IPTV solution made available to Latin American telecommunications providers using Tandberg Television's compression technologies. Tandberg will supply its MPEG-4 AVC compression system using Tandberg EN5930 encoders to IPTV Americas' headend, enabling telcos to deliver more high-quality content to subscribers.

Terra Networks Picks Narrowstep

Narrowstep, which bills itself as "the TV on the Internet company," announced that it has been awarded a project by Madrid-based Terra Networks Asociadas. Using Narrowstep's proprietary Television Operating System (telvOS), Terra plans to start a new Internet TV service that will commence with dedicated TV-over-IP channels for Spain and Peru.