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Thanks for printing the whole exchange. It is amazing what little tidbits you can pick up when the "boss" speaks!
And it is so much more infomative to be able to read his entire comments, to see his thought process than to get short quotes which may or may not be in their intended context.
Marcus Carr
07-28-06, 05:56 PM
Decision Time for MASN in Comcast Flap
By Mike Reynolds 7/28/2006 5:12:00 PM
Given all of the rumors about the impending departure of slugging left fielder Alfonso Soriano, fans of the Washington Nationals have more than a passing interest in Major League Baseball’s July 31 trading deadline. But many fans of the ballclub also have Aug. 4 circled on their calendars.
That’s when Mid-Atlantic Sports Network -- which has been in a two-season dispute with Comcast over carrying the service, which televises Nationals games -- must decide whether to take its program-access complaint against the cable operator to an arbiter or a Federal Communications Commission administrative law judge.
As part of its July 21 order outlining the OK for Comcast’s and Time Warner Inc.’s acquisition of Adelphia Communications, the FCC said MASN had 10 days to take its complaint against Comcast to an arbiter. Moreover, FCC chairman Kevin Martin circulated a proposal, pending approval by the FCC commissioners, in which MASN could avail itself of an agency administrative law judge by the same date.
As of press time Friday, MASN had not yet made its call on which arbitration avenue it will pursue, according to spokesman Todd Webster.
“It is no longer a question of whether Comcast is going to carry MASN, but when and at what price,” Webster said, noting that the regional sports network this week sent term sheets and tried to reach executives at Comcast and Time Warner Cable in order to again facilitate a carriage deal. As of early Friday afternoon, he added, he had not heard that MASN had made contact with the distributors.
Through deals that sources said average around $1.35 per subscriber, per month, MASN counts 2 million subscribers in its territory via deals with DirecTV, Cox Communications, RCN, Charter Communications and Verizon Communications. However, it has big holes in its distribution lineup with Time Warner in North Carolina and with Comcast in the nation’s capital.
Comcast SportsNet carries Baltimore Orioles MLB games, but the club’s 10-year contract with that RSN ends after this season. Next season, Orioles owner Peter Angelos will move the team’s rights to MASN.
Angelos gained Nationals TV rights as part of the deal with MLB that converted the Montreal Expos into the Nationals before the 2005 season and, thus, stepped into a market that had been the province of the Orioles.
Comcast officials declined comment, offering instead this statement: “Our decision with respect to carriage of MASN -- a part-time, overpriced network -- is based on the best interest of our customers and not on the ownership interest of MASN. The truth is that the vast majority of our programming, including the vast majority of our sports programming, is unaffiliated, so the MASN complaint is demonstrably false. We believe that any program-carriage proceeding on this matter will conclude that the MASN complaint is wholly without merit.”
MASN decried Comcast’s “overpriced” characterization. Webster cited a May 3 letter from DirecTV executive vice president of program acquisitions, business and legal affairs Dan Fawcett to Rep. Thomas Davis III (R-Va.) in which the DBS executive wrote that after surveying “nine different RSNs across the country, we found that MASN was the least expensive.”
For its part, Time Warner said it was open to trying to make something happen before the arbitration deadline.
“We will welcome the opportunity to continue discussions with MASN,” a Time Warner spokesman said. “At this time, we think it’s premature for the network to invoke arbitration.”
http://multichannel.com/article/CA6357476.html?display=Breaking+News
Marcus Carr
07-28-06, 06:02 PM
Time Warner Challenges Dish Ads
By Linda Moss 7/28/2006 5:18:00 PM
The Council of Better Business Bureaus sent a complaint about ads for EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network to the Federal Trade Commission, officials said Friday.
The National Advertising Division of the council, in a press release, charged that EchoStar has refused to assist in a probe of the complaint, lodged by Time Warner Cable, relating to advertising for the satellite provider.
Time Warner is challenging pricing claims and offers of “free” service contained in Dish advertising.
“Despite repeated attempts to contact EchoStar, the company did not respond to the NAD’s request to participate in this challenge,” the ad division said in a prepared statement.
EchoStar officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
Last week, the NAD suggested that The Elephant Group, which markets Dish services, “significantly modify its marketing materials to provide consumers with clear and consistent information about pricing and services.”
As part of its review, the NAD “recommended that Elephant Group make clear what the free [Dish] services are, explain that those services are part of an introductory offer, include the time period during which the services are free and include the monthly cost consumers will pay after the introductory period.”
The NAD also recommended that Dish discontinue its claim of “over 15 HDTV channels” in future ads. [ :confused:??? ]
The Elephant Group, in its statement, took issue with some of the NAD’s determinations but said it would “seek to implement NAD’s recommendations to the best of its ability.”
But since the NAD hasn’t gotten any response from EchoStar in terms of looking into Time Warner’s complaint, it has sent the matter to the FTC.
http://multichannel.com/article/CA6357435.html?display=Breaking+News
Marcus Carr
07-28-06, 06:11 PM
Editor’s Note: Cowboys Return to Cable
By Seth Arenstein
Hard news isn't dead, not as long as Ted Koppel, Dan Rather, Mark Cuban, Christiane Amanpour and Lisa Ling can scrape up some shoe leather. Ditto the crew at C-SPAN and HBO Sports, whose Bryant Gumbel-led shows consistently produce Sports Emmy-winning reports.
During the TV critics press tour in Pasadena this month, Rather and Koppel, those aged news icons, contrasted starkly with the sometimes-interchangeable youthful stars of cable networks.
Admittedly, Rather's session was more memorable for some misty-eyed moments than for anything he said. Still, it did the trick, setting up the exciting prospect of Rather with full creative and editorial control of Dan Rather Reports, a weekly in-depth news program on mega millionaire Mark Cuban's HDNet. And Cuban's verbiage added to the moment: "I don't give a damn about earnings per share. I'm not worried about advertisers." Cuban's charge to his 74-year-old employee: "There are no rules. We get to invent the rules." And don't think the 'Net is the answer, Cuban preaches. "We forgot what good journalism is all about," he says.
Of course, beyond the journalistic booty of Rather unbound, there's hope his arrival will lift all HD's boats and perhaps compel Comcast to carry HDNet.
Then there was Discovery Channel's Koppel (that's got a ring to it), espousing his oft-repeated thesis that economics make it rare to find the broadcast networks addressing serious foreign policy issues in prime time. "But with Discovery you have a network that is committed to doing precisely that," Koppel said via satellite from Guantanamo Bay.
The cred of CNN's Amanpour needs few words here. Ling is the relative newcomer. The one with movie star looks and the tenacity of a hungry bear when she's hunting down sources for her excellent single-issue specials on National Geographic Channel.
No, hard news isn't dead. It only seems so--on broadcast television.
http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=073106&file=editorsnote.htm
(Post #2000! Yaaaay!:D)
Definitely WB and it really wasn't a bad show. If it was on one of the Big 4 it would have probably made it full season.
Weird, I though I had seen this in HD but I don't have a WB station in HD...
Time Warner Challenges Dish Ads
By Linda Moss 7/28/2006 5:18:00 PM
The NAD also recommended that Dish discontinue its claim of “over 15 HDTV channels” in future ads. [ :confused:??? ]
That remark must have been made out of context has it's no secret Dish has a boatload of HD channels, way more than "15".
TW should just stop whining and carry NFL Network as I would imagine that is really what this is about, or at least connected to the advertisements by Dish.
(Post #2000! Yaaaay!:D)[/QUOTE]
Way to go, Marcus! :)
I guess next year with the O's and Nationals MASN will no longer be a part time network! CSN will be left with the Wizards and (gasp!) Caps. Will that make them part time since they will have little if any live summer sports programming?
VisionOn
07-28-06, 06:44 PM
Weird, I though I had seen this in HD but I don't have a WB station in HD...
It was on both. WB got the first airing and TNT got the second airing a week or a few days later. The very first episode was on TNT directly after the WB showing. I can't remember how many of the other episodes they cross promoted.
I guess next year with the O's and Nationals MASN will no longer be a part time network! CSN will be left with the Wizards and (gasp!) Caps. Will that make them part time since they will have little if any live summer sports programming?
I think you have come across the reason Comcast has been fighting MASN so hard, JWhip!
It was on both. WB got the first airing and TNT got the second airing a week or a few days later. The very first episode was on TNT directly after the WB showing. I can't remember how many of the other episodes they cross promoted.
I thought so, thanks for letting me know my memory wasn't failing..at least not that badly...yet... :p
TV Notebook
Big guys can't relax yet
Challenged by pay-TV rivals such as HBO, networks are reclaiming viewers. But now they face a new threat: basic cable
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in the Channel Island TV Industry blog
It seems like it was just yesterday that the Emmy Awards were the primary battleground between the broadcast networks and a then-surging HBO.
The broadcasters felt threatened by the pay cable network's rising market share and increasing critical acclaim for hits such as "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under" and "Sex and the City." HBO dominated the Emmy nominations in 2002, and executives worried they couldn't compete with the creative freedom on pay cable, which depends on subscriber income rather than advertising.
So when Emmy organizers threatened to take that year's annual awards telecast to HBO, the networks went apoplectic. The broadcasters vowed a nasty boycott of the ceremony that could have ended up dividing the TV business. Only a flurry of last-minute deal-making kept the Emmys on free TV, rotating annually among ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
This year, HBO still leads the overall field, with 95 total nominations. But the premium cable network's individual offerings are casting a much shorter shadow this time around. Instead, the traditional broadcasters — and basic cable — are holding sway. The most nominated series is Fox's spy drama "24," with 12. And the most nominated program overall is TNT's old-fashioned western miniseries "Into the West," with 16.
Many critics are bitterly complaining that the academy once again squandered the opportunity to recognize innovative work, such as HBO's "Big Love." New rules that enable a panel of Emmy voters to pick nominees from a prepared list of contenders have come in for especially heavy attack.
Changes in the way the academy conducts business may well have played a role in this year's nomination surprises. But far more relevant changes are transforming the TV industry itself — changes the Emmys only reflect.
In maybe the most noteworthy development, HBO's once-enviable stock seems to be diminishing by the day. Partly that's a simple matter of the programming attrition that affects every network sooner or later.
"Sex and the City" is long gone. "Six Feet Under" picked up nine Emmy nods — all for the show's final season. "The Sopranos" got seven, but it'll wrap its run next year. Another soon-to-end series, "Deadwood," wasn't even in the running.
HBO series stumble
HBO's newer series aren't picking up nearly the same kind of buzz, either in Emmy nods or in ratings.
"Entourage" got five nominations but wasn't among the contenders in the comedy series category. The costly "Rome" received eight nominations, but had to do without the outstanding drama nod that HBO could have used to promote season two. Similarly, "Big Love's" three nominations came in categories networks don't typically brag about: directing, casting and main title design.
Meanwhile, broadcasters have learned a great deal about reconnecting with their audiences, beyond just following the latest trends in reality programming. Their greatest strides have come in the one-hour dramatic format. "24" has struggled for years to break through as a hit, finally coming into its own during the 2005-06 season. But some of the most nominated series this year were immensely popular nearly as soon as they debuted, including ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (11 nominations) and "Lost" (nine).
Then, of course, there's Fox's redoubtable talent competition, "American Idol," which picked up eight nods, more than any other unscripted show has ever received.
But this turn of events hardly means the broadcasters can relax. Indeed, there's now a cloud on the horizon that threatens more trouble than HBO ever did, both in terms of Emmy symbolism and in the cold, hard reality of Nielsens.
In the last three or four years, basic-cable networks have aggressively ramped up their production of original series. FX currently has three series with nearly as much buzz as any on HBO: "Nip/Tuck," "Rescue Me" and "The Shield."
The rise of basic cable
Two original basic-cable series, TNT's "The Closer" and USA's "Psych," have set ratings records this summer. So did AMC's original miniseries "Broken Trail," a western starring Robert Duvall that's in the "Into the West" tradition and may end up netting a few Emmy nominations next year.
Although no basic-cable series has yet dominated the Emmys the way that, say, "The West Wing" and "Desperate Housewives" have done in recent years — for example, "Rescue Me" merited only one nod this year, for lead Denis Leary — such an outcome looks inevitable as networks pour more money into production. It's already happening in the long-form category, as evidenced by "Into the West."
As for the awards telecast itself, though, don't look for it to make its way onto basic cable any time soon. The broadcasters have the Emmy Awards locked up through at least 2010.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/emmys/cl-wb-channelisland25jul25,0,665034,print.story?coll=env-home-subfeaturebar
I guess next year with the O's and Nationals MASN will no longer be a part time network! CSN will be left with the Wizards and (gasp!) Caps. Will that make them part time since they will have little if any live summer sports programming?
Actually, I believe MASN is going full time this season, possibly in the next few weeks.
Marcus Carr
07-28-06, 07:31 PM
I guess next year with the O's and Nationals MASN will no longer be a part time network! CSN will be left with the Wizards and (gasp!) Caps. Will that make them part time since they will have little if any live summer sports programming?
They have DC United, Mystics, and Redskins preseason games. (Home games are in HD.)
flint350
07-28-06, 07:40 PM
I agree, I thought it had promise.
I also thought the show had a chance when it began. Don Johnson was playing his role very well (better than the kid) and I thought it might just catch on. I was really surprised that it simply disappeared after those 3 episodes, just as it was building a nice story arc.
I also thought the show had a chance when it began. Don Johnson was playing his role very well (better than the kid) and I thought it might just catch on. I was really surprised that it simply disappeared after those 3 episodes, just as it was building a nice story arc.
I did too, I thought the role was well suited for Johnson instead of him trying to play the young stud cop or whatever that made him famous. It was a mature role for him, too bad it was yanked.
TV Notebook
A 'Dance' across demos
Sex, race, soapy drama, joy, real pain. A tricky backbeat underlies Fox's "Dance" hit.
By David A. Keeps Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 30, 2006
As Ja Rule spits out the rhymes to "Clap Back," two teenagers, a white dude with an elaborately carved mohawk and his beauty-pageant-pretty African American partner throw down South-Central style in the aggressive form of hip-hop choreography known as "krumping." Another couple does the cha-cha to Los Amigos Invisibales' "Cuchi Cuchi." A third pair staggers like clockwork toys to the emo-rock sound of "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy.
So you think you're watching BET? Telemundo? MTV 2? Think again. This is Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," a prime-time network talent contest that is proving that unfamiliar music and obscure dance steps aren't necessarily a television turn-off. The two-hour July 19 broadcast of "So You Think You Can Dance" topped four other star-search series — ABC's "The One," CBS' "Rock Star: Supernova," NBC's "America's Got Talent" and UPN's "America's Next Top Model" — winning the 18-to-49 demographic that is most prized by advertisers.
The show debuted last summer after the surprising success of ABC's ballroom pro-am matchup "Dancing With the Stars." "So You Think" found its niche by emphasizing a young, culturally diverse group of contestants and embracing dozens of genres choreographed by experts in their disciplines. The show averages between 9 million and 10 million viewers per episode, up almost 20% from last year, making it a regular Top 10 program this summer. The season ends Aug. 16 with viewers deciding who will be America's Favorite Dancer.
The show can also be viewed as a successful marker in social evolution. In "Hairspray," the film and Broadway show now being made into a movie musical, racial integration on an "American Bandstand"-style TV dance show was a big taboo. "Dance is the G-rated version of having sex," said "Hairspray" director Adam Shankman. "And it's not always G-rated."
In 2001, the film "Save the Last Dance" featured a love affair between a white ballerina and a black hip-hopper and raised a few eyebrows. On both "Dancing With the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance," it's not even an issue." Generating sexual heat between performers of various ethnicities in flashy numbers that treat modern dance and contemporary hip-hop as equally legitimate, the show helps to erase divisive racial and cultural lines.
"It definitely ruffles some people's feathers, seeing an African American guy dancing sensually with a white girl," said Anne O'Meara, a choreographer for the likes of Paula Abdul, Elvis Costello and "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus. "But no matter what your beliefs, when two people dance well together, people realize it is an art form and you can't help but sit back and smile."
For Denise Piane, a featured dancer and assistant to the director Anne Fletcher (who's making a new hip-hop/ballet flick, "Step Up"), the show provides a "forum for issues that people aren't necessarily comfortable with, like race, gender and sexual preference. A lot of people are living vicariously through these kids."
"It's a dancer's soap opera," said Studio City contestant Donyelle Jones, 26, after a recent show.
"You have sex, you have jokes, you have drama, crying, pain," added 18-year-old Aliso Viejo resident and Top 10 finalist Ivan Koumaev. "And then you have dance, which is huge right now in videos, commercials and movies. America enjoys watching people struggle through it."
Baby steps
AMERICA is also struggling with a steep learning curve of dance terminology and technique. In addition to recognizable salsa, disco, Broadway and music video choreography, "So You Think You Can Dance" presents the abstract movements of contemporary (also known as lyrical, jazz, modern, or anything performed to the music of Enya), the romantic grace of 1920s foxtrots, the acrobatics of midcentury swing and the street swagger of today's hip-hop.
"You can't really teach that much on television. We're here to entertain as much of the family as is humanly possible, from grandmas to grandkids," executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said. "The mandate is to challenge the dancers."
There also seems to be an unspoken mandate to challenge many of the assumptions made about the role of dance and dancers in popular culture. "This show is making it cool for guys to dance," said studio owner Denise Wall, the mother of five dancing sons, including current contestant Travis.
"It is reteaching America what Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did back in the day," said 22-year-old Redlands contestant Benji Schwimmer, a West Coast swing specialist considered to have a serious shot at this year's title. "Dance is so vulnerable, so human and it's one of the most underappreciated arts. We work the hardest, get paid the least and have one of the most short-lived careers you can have."
Brian Friedman, a contemporary choreographer and frequent guest judge on the program, says the show is educating the public "not just about the many varieties of dance, but the fact that it is an athletic sport you really have to train for." It is an equal-opportunity field, says Cicely Bradley of the hip-hop choreography duo Nu Stylz, one in which race, height, weight, and beauty are largely irrelevant. "Whether you're black, white, Spanish, blue, yellow or red," she said, "the soul, the style, the technique and the ability to learn has to be there or you will get the boot."
Lythgoe makes no bones about how the dancers are paired. "We chose them by their personalities and strengths and what they can learn from each other. It would be too easy to put white couples and black couples together, and whichever way you go, someone is going to say something, so I don't even think about race."
Although the show dishes out plenty of camp for gay audiences, choreographers and judges have not been shy about pushing male contestants to "butch it up."
"Dancers are actors that don't get to speak," said Friedman. "What needs to happen if it's a love story is that the man needs to be strong." Friedman believes that the "roller-coaster tension that makes competition shows so compelling" is intensified by "Dance's" rigorous physical and emotional challenges.
"To do what they do, I would have an ulcer," said ballroom judge Mary Murphy, who says that in the wake of the program, enrollment is up at dance schools and competitions around the country. "Thank God, they're young and don't know any better, because they really go for it, 100%."
From singing to dancing
MUCH of the show's success, of course, can be attributed to genetics. "So You Think You Can Dance" is the offspring of the ratings juggernaut "American Idol" and shares many of the familiar features of the singing competition created by Simon Fuller, the British talent manager who put the Spice Girls together, and Lythgoe, a boy-wonder choreographer for the BBC in the swinging '60s. In addition to the usual cringe-worthy search and audition footage, the show presents dancers as a highly emotional lot, given to crying, collapsing, vomiting and smiling gamely while being strapped to gurneys.
"On a bad day, an 'American Idol' gets a sore throat," Schwimmer said. "We go to the hospital."
Lythgoe presides over the panel of judges, playing the role of taskmaster that "Idol" judge Simon Cowell has spun into a lucrative career. Murphy is the ebullient big-fan figure reminiscent of Abdul. A rotating guest roster of choreographer judges fulfill Randy Jackson's obligation of "keeping it real."
"Dance," however, is far more in tune with the realities of its industry. "Idols" win lucrative recording contracts; the winner of "Dance" gets a year in the chorus of Celine Dion's Las Vegas show. "Idol" props up the careers of music's éminences grises — Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Queen — and lets the contestants choose their own songs. On "Dance," the guest performers on results shows are of-the-moment members of the dance-music community, from Euro chanteuse Natasha Bedingfield to hip-hop smoothie Ne-Yo, while the choreographers select the tunes for the dancers.
As a result, the show features reliable oldies, including Irene Cara's "Flashdance … What A Feeling" and Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" as well as contemporary hits by Black Eyed Peas but just as often mixes in "She's Freaky" from the Miami rapper Pitbull, a Liza Minnelli rendition of "Bye Bye Blackbird" and Soundmaster T's "2 Much Booty (In Da Pants)."
"We're bringing these artists to a more Middle-American audience," said Friedman, "and, hopefully, broadening people's taste in music."
The show keeps an eye on dance trends of the past, present and future. "I don't like the classically trained kids saying hip-hop isn't a proper form of dance, because it is," Lythgoe said.
"Dancers can be snobs," O'Meara said. "I would love to believe that this show is changing the perception of hip-hop."
Having rap fans and break-dancing enthusiasts as a devoted audience, "Dance" validates hip-hop as part of the vocabulary of dance. "To be a marketable dancer, to get into movies and TV, you've got to be ready to jump into any style of dance," said Murphy.
Jones, a hip-hop dancer who has excelled in ballroom sequences, is more than ready. "Dancers are always put in the background to create a picture," she said. "This is our opportunity to put ourselves out front and see who we are and what we can become."
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-youcandance30jul30,0,3372310,print.story?coll=cl-tvent
Sports On TV
NFL Tackles Cable
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 7/31/2006
The NFL Network is going on the offensive against cable operators with an acid-tongued consumer-marketing push. It aims to parlay its new package of NFL regular-season games into improved carriage across the country.
The 33-month-old network, still without a slot on such systems as Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter, says it could spend as much as $100 million, depending on how long its current disputes with cablers carry on.
NFL owners, who passed up an estimated $400 million in rights fees to use the games to grow the network, are eager to get NFL Network in as many homes as possible. Currently in about 41 million homes, it hopes to boost that number by more than 50% this year and eventually top 90 million.
The NFL says talks are not progressing as the season nears—its 52-game package of preseason games kicks off Aug. 11—so it is executing an aggressive campaign to get rabid fans to demand their football fix. The campaign will span television, print and radio as well as NFL resources including in-stadium giant screens, and team assets such as Websites and coach shows. The ads will attempt to drive consumers to a telephone number that will route calls to the local cable carrier by area code.
“The full weight of the NFL marketing machine will be used,” says NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky.
The consumer push will use taglines “Don’t let Time Warner ruin your football season” and “Don’t let Charter shut you out.”
Beginning this week, the NFL will blitz targeted markets like football-crazed Green Bay (a Time Warner market), Tampa Bay (Bright House) and St. Louis (Charter).
Another battleground is the New York market, where Time Warner has 4.5 million customers but only 18,000 subscribe to the digital sports tier, home to the NFL Network.
The NFL is also preparing for a battle when Time Warner takes over the Adelphia systems July 31. Time Warner is expected to drop it from basic cable in such markets as Cleveland and Buffalo.
The package of regular-season games that begins Nov. 23, as well as other recently acquired properties, including college post-season games, has spurred growth for the network. Recently, NFL negotiated upgraded packages on both Dish Network and Verizon’s FiOS television service, as well as a new carriage deal with AT&T’s U-Verse service.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6357489
The Business of TV
After Adelphia: Clusters Everywhere
By George Winslow Multichannel News 7/31/2006 (Mike Farrell contributed to this report. )
Comcast and Adelphia service trucks zoom into an automatic car wash. Seconds later, they emerge spotlessly clean, festooned with Time Warner Cable logos.
That scene is from rebranding spots Time Warner will begin airing in Los Angeles in August to explain the impact of the $17 billion Adelphia Communications Corp. deal to local customers.
The deal is set to close today, July 31. If it does, Time Warner’s subscribers in the area will grow from about 355,000 to over 1.9 million. The employee count will jump from 1,000 to 5,600. Time Warner systems will cover about 75% of the L.A. market, up from 15%.
“In Los Angeles, we’ll be growing by a factor of five,” said Roger Keating, the executive vice president of Time Warner’s Los Angeles region.
Overall, Time Warner will boost its subscriber base by about 3.5 million, to 14.5 million customers. Comcast Corp., which will get about 1.7 million customers through the deal, will expand to 23.3 million cable homes.
That will give the two cable companies control of roughly 58% of total U.S. television households. More importantly, both companies will control a combined 17 of the 20 largest markets in the United States.
“It’s a parallel evolution to what’s happening on the phone side — Bell Atlantic has gone away, BellSouth is going away,” said Janco Partners cable analyst Matt Harrigan. “It makes sense, especially when you look at the complexity of the product bouquet.”
Fragrance aside, increased scale will allow both Time Warner and Comcast to deliver advanced services more efficiently. But Harrigan said he doesn’t expect to see a new wave of consolidation in the industry for one simple reason — a scarcity of available properties.
“There aren’t a lot of elephants left on the savannah,” Harrigan said.
Instead, there may be more system swaps, particularly among smaller players. Miller Tabak & Co. media analyst David Joyce said. Mediacom Communications Corp. could pare down some non-core systems, and relatively new cable companies such as Suddenlink Communications, Bright House Networks and Bresnan Communications all could be involved in swaps to better cluster their operations.
“They [Suddenlink, Bright House and Bresnan] are all entrepreneurs looking to expand again,” Joyce said.
Creating large concentrations of customers in major markets is a fundamental strategy for cable operators such as Time Warner or Comcast. The ability to serve the vast majority of households in a given region allows them to more effectively market advanced services, as well as compete against satellite operators, who can reach every home, and telcos, which have lines into almost every one.
As part of the Adelphia aftermath, Comcast and Time Warner Cable will not only divvy up Adelphia subscribers, but also swap some systems. That will strengthen Comcast clusters in such markets as Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh while adding to Time Warner’s footprint in Southern California, New York and other states. (U.S. Cable Map, pages 10 and 11, shows who will own what in the 20 largest metropolitan areas.)
The deal concentrates Time Warner’s systems in five key markets: Southern California, Texas, Ohio, the Carolinas and New York.
HITTING THE GROUND
In a conference call with analysts last week, Comcast chief operating officer Steve Burke estimated the Adelphia transaction will generate about $600 million in additional operating cash flow and add between $300 million and $350 million to Comcast’s capital spending in 2006.
And there’s room for more revenue and cash flow.
Adelphia has yet to deploy phone services, which have been driving not just new monthly “units” of revenue — but in Time Warner’s case, signups for basic television services, as well.
In Adelphia systems, average revenue per basic subscriber stood at $77.79 at the end of the first quarter of 2006. That compares to $91.33 at Time Warner and $86.75 at Comcast.
Adelphia’s digital-cable penetration is about 41% of households, which also trails Comcast (49%) and Time Warner (51%). Adelphia’s 17% high-speed data penetration rate compares to 22% at Comcast and 26% at Time Warner.
Despite a decade of consolidation, the L.A. cable market still was split between six operators: Comcast, Adelphia, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Mediacom Communications Corp.
So divided, L.A. has one of the nation’s highest customer-penetration rates for satellite-TV service. Nearly 30% of households subscribe to either DirecTV (which is based in El Segundo, just south of LAX) or Dish Network. And about 30% of potential customers use telephone companies’ digital subscriber lines to hook in to the Internet. Cable? Only 20%.
“Before the transaction, it was a very fragmented market, making it difficult to effectively market new services,” Keating said.
The deal will give Time Warner a major foothold in the top two media markets, New York and Los Angeles, Keating notes.
The cable operator hopes that will make it easier to get advertisers and entertainment executives on both coasts involved in creating new types of content or products, such as the “Start Over” network digital-recording feature, which allows viewers to restart a program in the middle of the telecast.
“It is one thing to go into a conference room and show people a feature like Start Over or some of the interactive applications,” Keating said. “It’s much better if a producer can go home and see the possibilities every time they turn on their television set.”
TOUGH CIRCUMSTANCES
Time Warner executives said Adelphia has maintained its systems well, even as the Denver-based operator has moved through bankruptcy and breakup.
“The Adelphia employees have done a marvelous job under the tough circumstances of bankruptcy to upgrade the plant,” Keating said, adding that most of the plant has two-way communications and bandwidth of 750 MHz or better. “We won’t be out there ripping up streets doing a lot of wholesale upgrade.”
In fact, Adelphia had installed two all-digital headends in Los Angeles. That will allow its successor to accelerate the rollout of digital simulcast, a process Keating hopes to complete by the end of the year.
Digital simulcast will help Time Warner standardize digital channel lineups. The company will also increase its highest Internet-access speed from 4 Megabits per second to 6 Mbps and get ready to roll out Internet Protocol telephone service. Some Adelphia areas will begin to see phone service by the end of the year.
About 32% of all TV households in the market are Hispanic, making Los Angeles the nation’s largest Spanish-speaking market.
Time Warner will beef up Hispanic programming throughout the system and better market additional services to the Hispanic community, Keating said. He also expects Hispanic advertising dollars will provide a needed boost to local cable ad sales.
ELSEWHERE
Changes in the Northeast are less dramatic. But similar opportunities for marketing efficiencies and advanced-services rollouts open up, said Time Warner Cable executive vice president of Northeast/New York Barry Rosenblum.
Time Warner will add about half a million subscribers in New York and Maine, where it will serve most of the state.
The first priority will be to convert customers to Time Warner’s billing system, a process Rosenblum expects to take about four to six months.
“Once we do that, then we can really start to launch our own digital packages and digital phones,” Rosenblum said.
Time Warner has already rolled out interactive TV services in upstate New York and is expanding them in New York City. By the end of the summer, the Start Over feature will debut in Rochester, New York, with other upstate systems to follow.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6357493
HDTVChallenged
07-29-06, 12:12 PM
The Business of TV
After Adelphia: Clusters Everywhere
By George Winslow Multichannel News 7/31/2006 (Mike Farrell contributed to this report.) ...
As part of the Adelphia aftermath, Comcast and Time Warner Cable will not only divvy up Adelphia subscribers, but also swap some systems.
Has anyone seen a list of who's getting what Adelphia systems *outside* of these "major markets" yet? Or should I just wait until I see the logos change on on the local trucks. :D
Friday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).
Has anyone seen a list of who's getting what Adelphia systems *outside* of these "major markets" yet? Or should I just wait until I see the logos change on on the local trucks. :D
There have been a number of stories breaking down the specifics, HDTVC. What area are you interested in?
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Homeward bound
By Brad Oswald Winnipeg Free Press
It’s over.
Press tour has packed up and gone home, to about 200 different homes scattered across North America. As I write this, the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel feels so weirdly deserted that I’m starting to understand why Jack Nicholson got all crazy in The Shining.
It’s amazing, actually, how little time it takes for the tech crew that keeps this crazy TV-watching circus going for nearly three weeks to make it all disappear after the last press conference ends. Everything about this place screamed TELEVISION for the past 19 days; this morning, there’s almost no evidence left that the TCA, the networks and their BPHPs were ever even here.
Gotta get out, before I get all Jack-ish-ly crazy.
A few parting thoughts before I go:
Blogging, while nearly impossible for the last couple of days because of a massive breakdown of Internet service within the hotel, has added a different flavour to press tour. And it certainly turned out to be the flavour du jour, because everybody and his dog was blogging from TCA sessions this time around. Standing at the back of the conference room in any given interview session, the darkened press-conference theatre would take on a weird, mission-control-ish feel as dozens of critics started up their laptops and started blogging live from the session. The good thing, I suppose, is that it made what was happening in the room available to the blogosphere instantly. The bad thing, without question, is that the proliferation of in-session bloggers changed the atmosphere in the room because those folks could never really be more than halfway paying attention to what the actors and producers onstage were saying because they were busy tapping away at their blog-feeding keyboards. I tried blogging live from a few sessions, but kinda gave it up after I realized how much I was missing by having my nose pressed to the screen. And besides, is there really anybody out there waiting breathlessly for a LIVE blog update? I think not.
Fox’s BPHP was a good one — Fox always throws a pretty cool party — with the back lawn of the hotel (the aforeblogged Horseshoe Garden) transformed into a tent village with dozens of fans, shaded areas and at-the-ready aerosol Evian spritzers (how California is THAT?) in place to help beat the stifling SoCal heat. As nice as it was, it was also a bit unnecessary because Tuesday (Fox BPHP night) was when the worst of the heat wave finally broke. It was a pleasant, breezy Pasadena evening, but I think all in attendance appreciated the Foxfolks’ efforts anyway.
The star quotient at Fox’s BPHP was pretty impressive, thanks to a corporate-convergence strategy that brought cast members from FX and Fox Reality nets to the clambake to join in with the main network’s stars. And that meant folks like Survivor sweethearts Rob and Amber (who are launching yet another reality show next year) and the casts of FX’s Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia were rubbing elbows with the stars from the Fox mothership. Also in attendance were Larry Hagman, who has a guest-star run in the new season of Nip/Tuck, and ex-Friend Courteney Cox Arquette, who also has a new show coming up on FX.
When Fox packed up its tents, dozens of the critickal types here for press tour headed for the exits, too. PBS’s two-day presentation was decidedly less populated than the rest of the tour, despite sessions that included appearances by William H. Macy (he’s the narrator of the U.S. public broadcaster’s new Curious George series) and Mariska Hargitay (who lends her voice to an upcoming documentary about rebuilding after the 9/11 attack on New York).
PBS’s first day ended with a live (with taped-music accompaniment) performance by a rising opera star named Vittorio Grigolo, who’s part of the upcoming season of Great Performances. It was pretty impressive, even if opera’s not your thing (and it surely isn’t mine). PBS has always been good about including a live-performance event in its schedule, and the roster of talent over the years has been diverse and fun, ranging from Lyle Lovett and Roseanne Cash to Celia Cruz, Big Bill Broonzy, the Sun Records session players and even Donny Osmond.
Yesterday was a light schedule of sparsely attended press conferences followed by one last spin through the cocktails-and-finger-food cycle.
So, like, enough already. I’m tired; I’m cranky; I’m not even remotely hungry or thirsty.
I’m goin’ home. If I can remember where home is.
http://www.winnipegfreepress2.com/blogs/oswald/index.php
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Goodbye to Hollywood and the Digital Scale of Doom
By Dave Walker New Orleans Times-Picayune TV writer
HOLLYWOOD – All’s well that ends wider, even a little.
The 2006 Television Critics Association summer press tour, as chronicled here in my Blog of Bloat, has concluded after nearly three weeks of interview sessions, star parties and “Could that really be (name of aging TV star here)?”
Also lots of big meals.
The thread all along has been my buffet-borne weight. The Digital Scale of Doom in my hotel room weighs to the tenth of a pound. It’s been a drama in three acts.
Act one: Sudden gain. Basically upon arrival at LAX, I fed as if I had hours to live. It was all reflected in my daily total.
Act two: Diet doldrums. A plateau and even a little inexplicable loss. A feel-good turn of events, but a potential arc-wrecker.
Act three: 182.7, the result of my final weigh-in Friday morning.
That’s up 1.1 pounds since weigh-in on day one, and about 9.9 less than I expected.
Can’t say I’m unhappy. I promised gain and the accompanying opera of guilt, sorrow and tightening pants.
I delivered gain, but not so much I won’t be able to sweat it off during the walk down the jetway at Armstrong.
Thanks for reading.
Both of you.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpliving/
TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic
Question: What's your opinion of the Friday-night slot awarded to Ugly Betty? I keep hearing glowing reviews from most of the critics who have seen the pilot, so I cannot understand why ABC would try to kill this show before it even takes off. Don't you think Sunday night's slot following Desperate Housewives would be a much better fit? This sounds like a show that would have a similar audience. — Luis
Matt Roush: This conversation came up a lot during the critics' press tour, and quite a few of us agree with you, with the caveat that none of us have seen the still-being-revised pilot of ABC's Brothers & Sisters, which will occupy the post-Housewives slot in the fall. The reason Ugly Betty would be such a good fit is because it shares many of the attributes of Housewives at its best: namely, a stylized blend of high comedy and soap-opera intrigue. Because ABC's entertainment chief feels Betty is better suited for an earlier time period, it's airing Fridays at 8 pm/ET, which you rightfully describe as a death slot (unless you're CBS, which scores that night with more mainstream fare).
If Brothers fails to hold onto enough of Housewives' lead-in, and if Betty sinks on Fridays (which seems probable), and more important, if Betty lives up to the promise of its very entertaining pilot, then we'll argue loud and often that ABC do right by Betty. If not, things are likely to turn ugly.
________________________________________
Question: I think it's really interesting how Psych became such a hit on USA. The same with Saved's success on TNT (although I find the show a dull Rescue Me knockoff). Some channels (both cable and network) have found certain formulas that really work, and then stick with that brand. Psych, for instance, fits seamlessly into the USA brand by being a cross between The Dead Zone and Monk. In fact, I want to further compliment USA on the best ad campaign I have seen in years. I actually stop fast-forwarding on my DVR to watch those hilarious USA ads featuring their wonderful array of characters. My wife and I love them!
But my question goes back to the failure earlier this year of Love Monkey (also a wonderful show) on the stodgy, serious CBS network. CBS puts on this wonderful, sweet and quirky show and it fails; so they go back to their dull formula with the ridiculous The Unit, and it's a ratings smash. Do you feel that networks and cable channels (after a scenario like this for CBS) are increasingly going to stick to what people associate them with? I personally only watch one CBS show, How I Met Your Mother, because I find other CBS shows so dull, and when the network does break out of the box with something like Love Monkey, the typical CBS viewer ignores it, and people who prefer other channels may not even realize that CBS actually had an interesting show for the first time in ages. — David
Matt Roush: This is an interesting take on how networks brand themselves, a necessity especially for cable networks, which only need a few signature shows to create an identity in this crowded marketplace. USA is on a roll lately, with Bravo (with Queer Eye and Project Runway) and Sci Fi (with its variety of niche programming) close behind. The Closer has done wonders for TNT (though I'm not sure I'd classify Saved as an instant success just yet; haven't been keeping track of how that's holding Closer's audience, and creatively, it's problematic).
With broadcast networks, it's a different situation. CBS is the most traditionally mass-appeal of the Big Four, and their formula is working for them very well, even if what they're selling isn't what you're buying. Love Monkey was a calculated risk to try something different and go way younger. I was dismayed at the scheduling of the show, which, if memory serves, premiered around the time that American Idol was starting, so it was upstaged in the media. It came on between cycles of The Amazing Race (CBS' youngest-skewing show) and wasn't able to use that as a lead-in. And CBS was nervous about Monkey to begin with, so when it didn't prove itself right out of the gate, it was pretty much doomed. It will be interesting to see how CBS treats its new fall "off-brand" shows, such as the apocalyptic Jericho and the dark criminal caper Smith. (I'm not crazy about either of them just yet, but I respect the effort.) CBS is in a position of strength across the board, which should encourage them to take risks. Usually, it's the struggling networks (like ABC a few years ago and NBC right now) that end up taking us to unexpected places. I'm not sure which network Love Monkey would have flourished on, but CBS was probably the least compatible fit.
________________________________________
Question: Are you at all surprised that John Spencer didn't receive a posthumous Emmy nomination for his work on The West Wing? I thought his death would earn him a nod at least in an honorary sense. But given the condition of the current system, I cannot say that I am completely surprised. — John
Matt Roush: It is surprising, but really, with this year's nominations, where do you start and where do you end? Truthfully, and with all sincere respect to the terrific and much-lamented John Spencer, this was not Leo's greatest season on the show, and I think the nomination in that category for Alan Alda was more appropriate. A sentimental nomination for an actor taken from us too soon is without doubt the sort of thing you'd expect from a conservative group like the Emmy voters, so it is kind of jarring. But overall, this is one of the more interesting, eclectic categories this year, and just having Gregory Itzin (24's President Logan) in the running is very satisfying. (He's my pick over Alda, Oliver Platt, Michael Imperioli and William Shatner). At the very least, I'm sure he'll be remembered during the Emmy ceremony.
________________________________________
Question: Carmen's question — "Why do people care so much about TV?" — reminds me of my Farscape campaigning days when people said, "It's just a TV show." They forgot the last part of that sentence: "It's a TV show that brings a little enjoyment into your life each week." TV shows give you something to enjoy, to discuss with your friends and family, and to use as an escape from your own (sometimes tiring) life. Asking someone why he cares so much about a TV show is like asking him why he cares so much about his weekend; it's just a thing that makes him happy. — David G.
Matt Roush: I got plenty of mail on this topic from viewers eloquently defending their right to enjoy and care about TV. I figured that would strike a nerve. But David put it most simply and effectively: It's fun to get passionate about TV, and there's no shame in taking enjoyment from it. Never has been.
________________________________________
Question: I know it's still summer, but have the networks announced tentative dates for their season premieres? — Donna
Matt Roush: As of now, the only network not to announce premiere dates is CBS, which will likely launch most of its new and returning shows the weeks of Sept. 17 and 24.
Here's how the others shape up: The season kicks off early on Fox, with Prison Break and Vanished on Aug. 21; then the limited reality series Duets on Aug. 29; Justice and Bones on Aug. 30; House and Standoff on Sept. 5; the comedies 'Til Death and Happy Hour on Sept 7; Nanny 911 on Sept. 8; Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 9; Fox's animated comedy lineup plus The War at Home on Sept. 10; and MADtv Sept. 16. (The O.C. won't return until after postseason baseball on Nov. 2.)
On ABC, 20/20 officially kicks off Sept. 8; Dancing with the Stars returns Sept. 12 and 13; Wife Swap premieres Sept. 18; Grey's Anatomy and Six Degrees on Sept. 21; Ugly Betty and Men in Trees on Sept. 22; Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters Sept. 24; Help Me Help You and Boston Legal on Sept. 26; The Bachelor: Rome on Oct. 2; Lost and The Nine on Oct. 4; Big Day and Notes from the Underbelly on Oct. 5; What About Brian on Oct. 9; and The Knights of Prosperity Oct. 17. (Day Break is expected to take over for Lost on Nov. 15 for 13 weeks.)
NBC gets rolling during the traditional premiere week, with a two-hour Deal or No Deal leading in to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on Sept. 18; Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Sept. 19; The Biggest Loser and Kidnapped on Sept. 20; My Name Is Earl, The Office and ER on Sept. 21; Law & Order on Sept. 22; Heroes on Sept. 25; Friday Night Lights on Oct. 3; Twenty Good Years on Oct. 4; 30 Rock on Oct. 11; and Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas on Oct. 20.
The new CW officially launches Sept. 20 with a two-hour America's Next Top Model; then Smackdown on Sept. 22; 7th Heaven and Runaway on Sept. 25; Gilmore Girls on Sept. 26; One Tree Hill on Sept. 27; Smallville and Supernatural on Sept. 28; Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends and The Game on Oct. 1; and Veronica Mars on Oct. 2.
Is this going to be a busy season or what?
________________________________________
Question: I thought some of the best performances this past season occurred on Numbers, CSI, CSI: NY, Cold Case and NCIS, but those shows don't get recognized anymore. Do you think the procedurals will come back around and be recognized by the industry for their quality work, or has that ship sailed for "mainstream" dramatic TV? — Heidi
Matt Roush: It's very rare for these kinds of shows to get noticed at awards time, and that's nothing new. Their formulaic nature tends to cause the performances to be taken for granted, especially during a period when there are so many rich and innovative drama series airing on networks other than CBS. There is one procedural that escaped the jinx this season: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which earned nominations for Mariska Hargitay and first-timer Christopher Meloni.
________________________________________
Question: Is The Biggest Loser going to return? I thought I read a while ago that it was, but I haven't seen it advertised or read anything about it lately. Just curious. — Janet
Matt Roush: NBC has been resting it for the summer, but it's on the fall schedule. It will air Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET (opposite Lost, among others), and will be the sole reality occupant of that time period, sandwiched between the comedy block of Twenty Good Years and 30 Rock and the new serialized thriller Kidnapped.
________________________________________
Question: I saw the premiere of Eureka on Sci Fi Tuesday night, and I am in love. I think it is a great show, with fresh ideas, great characters and a great conspiracy story. What do you think of its chances for more than one season? — Jacki W.
Matt Roush: Given how well it opened, if the ratings hold up at all, I would think a renewal is a sure bet. For my own review, click here. I know I'm curious to see how this quirky show develops.
________________________________________
Question: If CBS' The Class breaks all of the sitcom rules, why is the cast entirely Caucasian? FYI to CBS and David Crane, non-Caucasians also can be lecherous, kooky, neurotic, etc. And while I'm on the topic of race, how interesting would Psych be if Dulé Hill played the psychic and James Roday played the uptight best friend? — KC
Matt Roush: David Crane was challenged on this very subject during his Q&A at the critics' press tour, and he apologized for the oversight. Honestly, though, if I were doing a show about my own third-grade class, it would also be monochrome, with no minority representation. I'm not proud of it, but that's the truth. Maybe Jason Ritter's character just happened to go to an elementary school like mine. But of course you're right. It is a blind spot on many network shows. As for Psych, the role reversal might have been refreshing, especially if nothing were made of the ethnicity of the lead. But given how well Psych turned out, and how much chemistry there is between James Roday and Dulé Hill, I can't honestly say I wish they'd done it differently.
________________________________________
Question: How is the Emmy chosen for best actress in a miniseries? Does the actress submit a certain block of time? Or do the voters watch the entire miniseries? I am hoping Gillian Anderson wins. — Monique M.
Matt Roush: I'm assuming that those who volunteer to judge this category are sent the entire movie or miniseries and are expected to watch the entire performance. Anything less would be unfair. But since you asked, I hope that the length of Bleak House (considerably longer than any of the other nominated movies and minis) doesn't work against Gillian Anderson. Right now, this category seems a toss-up to me between her and Elizabeth I's Helen Mirren. (If I were voting, I'd go your way. Mirren was magnificent, as always, but Anderson was a revelation, and that performance still haunts me eight months after I saw it.)
http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/
Has anyone seen a list of who's getting what Adelphia systems *outside* of these "major markets" yet? Or should I just wait until I see the logos change on on the local trucks. :D
Here are a couple of stories that might give you the info you need:
"...Details of the Transaction
Comcast and Time Warner, the first and second largest U.S. cable operators respectively, agreed to acquire Adelphia for $17 billion. Adelphia, with 5 million subscribers, is in bankruptcy. It is the 5th largest cable company.
Time Warner and Comcast agreed to "swap" various cable systems to increase their "clustering," or concentration, in specific markets. After these swaps, Time Warner would control Los Angeles, Dallas, Cleveland, and western New York; Comcast would control even larger areas than it currently holds in Philadelphia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Minneapolis, and other regions.
When the transaction is complete, Comcast would have 26 million subscribers, and Time Warner, 16 million. Together, they would have 42 million subscribers, representing 57 percent of the nation's 74 million cable subscribers. When looking at the entire pay-TV market, including satellite, the companies would control access to 47 percent of the nation's 93 million pay-TV subscribers. The deal must be reviewed and approved by the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Bankruptcy Court overseeing Adelphia, and local cable franchise authorities across the country...."
http://www.cwacable.org/news/page.jsp?itemID=27340452
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“…Terms also call for Time Warner and Comcast to swap some cable systems. Comcast will receive Time Warner subscribers in West Palm Beach, Fla., suburban Washington D.C. and Colorado Springs, Colo., among other markets.
Time Warner will receive from Comcast systems in Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland.
Comcast will also pick up Adelphia subscribers in Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Florida, and Massachusetts that complement its own systems.
Combined with the swaps with Time Warner, it will add a total of 2.1 million subscribers, along with another 750,000 Time Warner customers through the redemption of its stakes in Time Warner Cable and Time Warner Entertainment.
Time Warner cable will add about 3 million Adelphia subscribers, and more than 1 million Comcast customers.
When the transactions are completed, Comcast will have a total of 23.3 million cable subscribers, while Time Warner will have about 14.4 million.
Though it will remain the No. 2 cable operator behind Comcast, Time Warner will become the largest cable operator in both New York and Los Angeles, the nation's two largest markets.
Some 56% of Comcast's homes passed will now be located in the Midwest region of Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis and a Northeastern stretch between Washington, D.C., and Boston, points out Matthew Harrigan, cable and satellite analyst at Janco Partners.
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BEB0D567B-18E2-49D8-ADC1-97DDBEB83819%7D&siteid=mktw
harley1
07-29-06, 03:39 PM
Actually, I believe MASN is going full time this season, possibly in the next few weeks.
According to this article, they go full time July 31
http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20060714-121723-3658r.htm
Sports On TV
NFL Tackles Cable
The NFL is also preparing for a battle when Time Warner takes over the Adelphia systems July 31. Time Warner is expected to drop it from basic cable in such markets as Cleveland and Buffalo.
This must be one of those "for the good of the consumer" reasons why the FCC ok'ed the Time Warner/Comcast/Adelphia deal..??? :rolleyes:
Looks like Adelphia subs better hold onto their wallets.
I believe under the Comcast/TWC-Adelphia FCC agreement, the NFL Network (or any independent network, can demand mandatory arbitration if it continues to be rebuffed by TWC.
Just cleaning out the files of the last few blogs from the TCA Summer Press Tour......
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Fond and not so fond memories
By Tom Jicha Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal TV and Radio Writer
Memories and reflections from the summer press tour:
High point: CBS’s star party at the Rose Bowl. OK, it’s a guy thing but the loose atmosphere also made the stars much more chatty than usual.
Low point: Comedy Central’s bait-and-switch with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Their interview was listed for 9 a.m. They didn’t show up—or weren’t allowed to show up—until 2 ½ hours later. In the meantime, critics were frozen in place having to put up with spiels from the likes of The Naked Trucker and T- Bones. You couldn’t leave because you never knew if Parker and Stone would appear at any minute, which was exactly Comedy Central’s game plan.
Good Guy Award I: Rachel Ray, Gordon Ramsay and Jimmy Kimmel were all listed as making lunch for the critics. The delightful Ray just flitted about the room. Ramsay wasn’t even present. But Kimmel stood over a searing barbecue pit in 100-degrees plus weather for more than an hour cooking while his posse—Uncle Frank, Cousin Sal, Guillermo and Cleto—dished out burgers. It was a stunt but Kimmel really is that kind of guy.
Good Guy II: Kiefer Sutherland, whose star is sufficiently ascended to give him the juice to skip star parties with the critics, showed up as always and never got near the food and drink. He stood and answered the same questions over and over from small knots of TV writers for a couple of hours. Sutherland said he does it as a token of appreciation for the writers support of 24, which was instrumental in keeping the show alive during the ratings-troubled first season..
Shut up, already: There are two similarly themed new dramas this fall, NBC’s Kidnapped and Fox’s Vanished. Going into the press tour, critical opinion was divided on which was better. This changed after the Vanished session as the producers revealed they are going to further complicate the already complex with centuries old grudges and nefarious body markings. Vanished would be a lot better off if there had never been a session.
Farewll, not: Gene Simmons of KISS is surprised people take “farewell tour” billings seriously. “The truth is every bad that goes out is a farewell tour. Unless you succeed, that’s the last tour you’ll ever do. If the audience really loves you and an entity puts up a hundred million dollars in advance, you’re going back out on tour.”
Critics embarrassing critics, I: A writer, who fancies himself an investigative reporter, posed the following to Vanessa Williams: “When this room met with UPN in January, there was a scheduled South Beach session (in which Williams had a starring role). But we were told that there would be no press conference because of the unfortunate news of a death in your family. Were you aware that South Beach canceled its press conference because of this news?”
As icily as she should have, Williams retorted, “I knew nothing. But thank you for mentioning my father.”
Critics embarrassing critics, II: CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler was asked (obviously by a female critic), “I’m wondering if you guys are going to be able to up the budget on Rock Star at all, so that you can buy Brooke Burke a bra?”
“That would really put a dent in the budget,” Tassler retorted.
Critics embarrassing critics, III: David Rosenthal, the new show runner of Gilmore Girls, had his past pointlessly dredged up by a writer who must work for a scandal sheet. “It was widely reported about six years ago that you left your family because you were obsessed with Heidi Klum. How do you look back on that? How does that make you the right guy to lead Gilmore Girls?”
Rosenthal showed more class than the inquiring mind. “My personal life is not an issue here. I’m here to talk about the show.”
Double jeopardy: The husband-wife creative team of Josh Goldsmith and CathyYuspa has a good news/bad news situation, which would never confront producers with more clout. They have two new comedies on the fall schedule, ‘Til Death for Fox and Big Day on ABC. They are on at exactly the same time, the killer slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m.
“We’re hoping there’s enough people in America to push both shows over the top,” Yuspa said.
And I’m hoping to grow hair.
What’s wrong with football, I: John Madden explained why arrests and other anti-social behavior are irrelevant to coaches. “In pro sports, if you can still play, someone is going to give you a job. You are going to play no matter what you’ve done.”
What’s wrong with football, II: Kyle Chandler, who plays a high school coach in a football obsessed town in NBC’s Friday Night Lights, learned something about misplaced priorities while doing his research. Chandler said he asked a coach, “What’s the most important factor here? Is it winning or is it the welfare of the kids?”
There was a long pause, Chandler said. “That’s when I realized, if these guys win, great. If they lose, you don’t want to be around town.”
It’ll take more than booze: In the spirit of a new sitcom whose title says it all, Happy Hour, Fox had cocktail waitresses pass out bloody marys and mimosas just before the press conference—at 9:30 in the morning! All but problem drinkers and free-loaders passed. But whether you partook or not, the opinion afterward was the same: Happy Hour is the undisputed, unchallenged worst show of the season.
The truth hurts: NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly pointed out that many people have better TVs than homes.
Now that I’ve conquered the press tour, I’m going to Adult Disneyland.
http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/tv/
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Memories on rerun in my head
By ED BARK The Dallas Morning News television writer
PASADENA, Calif. – Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again ...
Sorry for that little indulgence, but the end at last is nigh for Summer Press Tour 2006. Your tired bag of bones, unable to muster another question or absorb another answer, will be vacating the gilded cage today after 18 consecutive days of show and tell.
It all began with a Disney Channel session way back in prehistoric times (July 10). Then the end came Thursday evening with a PBS buffet dinner. So many memories, most of them still barely treading water in a shallow, slowly draining brain pan. But in the company of a rubber, bullet-holed Jason mask – my desk companion since day one – here are a few thoughts that still haven't escaped me.
About that rubber, bullet-holed Jason mask: It was distributed on day one during a Starz network panel on Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. That's when director Wes Craven basically laid the groundwork for the marrow-sucking days ahead by telling critics this: "I don't think you can do a good horror film without being at the visceral level. It's no accident that they're about blood and guts. ... It's about viscera and the human body's frailty and the fact it can be so easily opened up and have its life flow out."
He missed his calling as a Hallmark card writer.
Party central: All right, it's true. There's a network-sponsored party almost every night. It's a chance to re-meet and greet many of the executives and new-series casts that you've already encountered during the day. Usually, though, there's also a smattering of established stars from returning shows. None is more accessible and cooperative than 24 's Kiefer Sutherland, who annually submits himself to a forest of tape recorders. Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue used to do that, too. It's appreciated.
CBS had the best party, at least in an official capacity. It was held in the super-historic Rose Bowl, giving reasonably dexterous critics a chance to catch passes from each other in the end zone and then spike the ball on the CBS eye logo. Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race , turned out to be a primo celebrity kicker, nailing a field goal from 40 yards out.
Still, the hands-down top party of the tour originated from the Hollywood Hills mansion housing the contestants of CBS' Rock Star: Supernova. Not officially sanctioned by CBS for fear of too much uninhibited behavior, it began in earnest after a Sunday night taping of the show. Sight of the night: drummer Tommy Lee opening his fly to now ex-competitor Phil Ritchie, who enthusiastically poured a beer down that hatch. Only a relative handful of hearty critics attended, many of them from the great nation of Canada. Pierced, tattooed Houstonian Dilana Robichaux filled the most notebooks with streams of candid quotes.
First impressions count: New PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger met with critics for the first time and proved up to the task. She flashed a winning sense of humor and also a welcome disdain for ever-changing, oft-confusing Federal Communications Commission rules on program content.
Ms. Kerger said she had met with each FCC commissioner and wasn't terrifically impressed.
"We are not talking about doing sensationalist work, we are not talking about doing salacious work," she said of PBS programming. "But we need to do a better job in letting the American people know that this is not just about Janet Jackson. This is about filmmakers that have powerful stories and now are not being allowed to tell those stories on public or broadcast television."
She worries that Ken Burns' The War will become embattled. Due in fall 2007, the World War II opus "has some language issues in it," she said. But broadcasting it after the "safe harbor" hour of 10 p.m. will cut into the potential audience for "one of the seminal pieces of work of his career." In other words, she's ready to fight. Good for her.
On a much lower plane, the cast of Fox's lightly regarded new sitcom, Happy Hour, may have generated at least a little good will for their show with a lively interview session.
Performance always counts out here, particularly when your brain is fried and your mood is darkened by hangovers, deadlines, blogging, bland answers and way too much caffeine.
Then again, who's complaining? So let's close with some uplifting wisdom from Mr. T, who's now a self-help expert on his new TV Land show, I Pity the Fool:
"See, I don't teach hockey. I don't know hockey. I don't do tennis. I don't know tennis. I know there's a lot of love going on in tennis, 30-love and all that. But I talk about what I know.
"That's why people relate to me. Because Mr. T is a straight-shooting guy. I pull no punches."
Thanks, Mr. T. Can't think of a better epitaph for anybody. Over and out.
http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/columnists/ebark/stories/DN-presstour_0728gl.ART0.State.Edition2.1c7a8b2.html
HDTVChallenged
07-29-06, 07:12 PM
There have been a number of stories breaking down the specifics, HDTVC. What area are you interested in?
Central Ky. I've seen plenty of reports about DC, OH, LA, NY, NE etc, etc but nothing about us lowly "flyover pukes." ;) Google wasn't much help the last time I tried it.
I saw a complete list someplace in the last few weeks of all the switched markets. I am not sure I can find it, but I'll try.
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
Kibbles 'n glitz from TV's big pack
It's a dog-eat-dog world for celebrities. But here it's not about the bark, it's about the word bite.
Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic July 29, 2006
PASADENA, Calif. -- You learn a lot about a celebrity in the flash of a quote. Here are some of the most revealing comments from the television critics' summer tour:
Friends star Matthew Perry on his return to series television in NBC's Studio 60 on Sunset Strip: "I'm here mostly because of how good the script is and how bad The Whole Ten Yards was."
Executive producer Salma Hayek on the title of Ugly Betty, her comedy for ABC: "I think it's sarcastic. I don't think Betty is really ugly, but what do we call ugly now? I mean anybody that is not superskinny and really tall, some people -- not everybody -- think they're ugly. I personally have seen a lot of really skinny tall models that, maybe, I think they're ugly. And they need to eat a little to look healthy."
Chris Rock said he hated three of 22 episodes in the first season of Everybody Hates Chris, but he wouldn't name them: "Hey, I got three uncles I hate, too, but I won't tell them."
James Woods, in fiery humor, responding to a question about how often his prosecutor character will lose in the new CBS drama Shark: "Are you dropping acid first thing in the morning? What are you doing? Lose! I'm the hero. Didn't you watch this thing?"
Damon Wayans on his wardrobe of pink cap, pink shirt and black vest: "Who am I wearing? This is the Pepto-Bismol street thug. No, I just felt like I looked pretty in pink."
Morgan Fairchild on her physical bouts with Bo Derek in MyNetworkTV's Fashion House: "I guess there is a certain audience just for cat fights and women rolling around and slapping each other. Yes, gentlemen. But we're trying to make it funny, too, and I'm sure they'll put us in the mud next. There is a big audience for that."
Conan O'Brien on the comedy he's planning as Emmy host: "I think most people here know my sense of humor. It's fairly silly. It's, for the most part, a waste of time. It will be in that vein."
Law & Order creator Dick Wolf on his work inspiring a sketch, "Law & Order: Special Letters Unit," with Muppets on Sesame Street: "This is actually the ultimate cultural accolade, I think, in the United States. . . . I feel like a tobacco-company executive, because hopefully we will hook 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds on the brand now."
Taye Diggs on appearing in the ABC thriller Day Break, which has a Groundhog Day-style plot that repeats scenes: "The dog isn't going to have the shoe in his mouth every single time. That would be bad TV. We're not dumb. I'm Taye Diggs. I wouldn't sign on for that."
John Lithgow on his over-the-top acting in 3rd Rock From the Sun and NBC's new Twenty Good Years: "I just can't restrain myself. That's my problem. They write nice, subtle stuff for me, and before you know it, [he started yelling] I'm all over the map."
Lauren Graham on her displeasure at working with the dog that plays her pet on Gilmore Girls: "I am not a fan of dog comedy. But it's nothing against him. I am a fan of dogs. I have a dog. I like dogs."
Rachel Griffiths on appearing in ABC's Brothers & Sisters -- and in response to a critic's comment that she was "coming back after being in the baby business": "Well, after I sold my babies." She paused. "Whoa, did I do well. I mean, [the] TV deal is nothing. My babies go for millions."
Anne Heche on portraying a life coach in the new ABC series Men in Trees: "Clearly, I have never had a life coach. What would I like coaching on? I've stumbled through and made so many mistakes, I'm pretty good with where I am."
Fantasia Barrino on her victory on American Idol: "I didn't even think I was going to make it to the top two. When you hear the word idol, people think that you have to be a certain way. You have to be a perfect person. Your slate has to be clean. You have to be a role model in people's eyes. . . . I was the only one that had dropped out of school, I had a child at a young age, and I wasn't the perfect person they thought the idol should be."
Cracker star Robbie Coltrane on his decision to avoid starring in an American TV series because his family prefers to live in Scotland: "You think of all those people who hitchhike to Los Angeles in the hope of having a small part in something. 'Oh, so Mr. Big Guy from Scotland can't be bothered.' I'm sorry if it sounds ungrateful. But I have this terrifying vision of my children with a platinum card going, 'You tell the maitre d' that I want . . . ' "
America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff on his greater popularity outside the United States: "I love Europe. I love the world. It's fun. I'm more interested right now in developing my own musical, David Hasselhoff, the Musical. That kind of puts it all together, in perspective."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-liv29tvtour06jul29,0,3712999,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
The best lines from the TV critics 19-day press tour
By Bill Brioux Toronto Sun July 29, 2006
PASADENA, Calif. -- Some TV stars and network executives love coming to press tour. Then there's Roger Ailes.
The former Nixon strategist is head of Fox News, the aggressively "fair and balanced" cable news network which celebrates 10 years on the air this fall. He hates all us Pinko, commie TV critics but, at least, he tries to be funny about it.
"Good afternoon," he addressed us this week. "I understand you've been locked in here for three weeks, so I'm going to try to get you through this as quickly as I can. I got an e-mail from a guy in Guantanamo and he said, 'We got to get those prisoners out of there,' so we'll do our best."
There were moments when the press tour seemed like a detention centre or, as one press wag put it, "a death march with scrambled eggs." Then there were these moments:
"I do think that television is a terribly influential part of this country and that when things that are very mean-spirited and voyeuristic go on TV, I think it's bad crack in the school yard."
-- Recovering drug abuser Aaron Sorkin, now showrunner of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.
"Why did I use that word?"
-- Sorkin again, three seconds later.
"I think that it's most likely like bad Vicodin in the schoolyard."
-- Sorkin's Studio 60 star Matthew Perry, taking a bullet for his boss.
"I just like the clothes."
-- Kidnapped's Dana Delany, who was asked why this was her fourth rich-b---h role in a row.
"You're kidding, right? I have actually gone to Charlie Gibson's stylist."
-- New CBS news anchor Katie Couric, who was asked about her wardrobe.
"I have four ties and five suits and whichever one is on the right in the closet that's the one I put on."
-- ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson, who wasn't sure if Couric was kidding.
"I've said for years, if you go to the theatre and somebody does not have a Law & Order credit they've either just gotten off the bus or they're really bad."
-- Law & Order creator Dick Wolf.
"I can't shake hands. I'm not going to shake people."
-- Germaphobe Howie Mandel when asked why he just doesn't shake Deal Or No Deal contestants who don't know when to stop.
"I have a very weird film career. I'm very picky and not in demand."
-- Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett explaining why he is doing Fox's 'Til Death.
"Comedy, she's a fickle lady."
-- 58th annual Emmy Awards host Conan O'Brien
"What's wrong with me, Mr. T? You a fool, that's what's wrong with you!"
-- Mr. T explaining the concept of his new self-help show I Pity The Fool
"If those things were true he'd be missing a limb."
-- Shannon Tweed asked if long-time partner and KISS frontman Gene Simmons really slept with 2,000 women
"Ridiculous. You can't compare them. I'm much better."
-- Neil Simon, this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize For America's Humor (airing in November on PBS), on being compared to Shakespeare
"I kind of like it when he hits my buzzer because I haven't had my buzzer hit lately, especially by a man."
-- David Hasselhoff on the British judge on America's Got Talent.
"I wish I had a buzzer."
-- America's Got Talent host Regis Philbin
"All I could do was pray for Britney's stomach to grow, Angelina to adopt another child or something else to happen."
-- Two And A Half Men star Charlie Sheen on all the bad press he got when he split with wife Denise Richards
"If everything had gone the way the fans wanted it to go the show would be over. I would just be calling Rory going, 'What are you doing tonight?' "
-- Lauren Graham on the fans' reactions to last season's Gilmore Girls cliffhanger
"No, but by God, I've been divorced. I've had all the lawyer experience you need."
-- Jeri Ryan asked if she spoke to any lawyers to prepare for her role on the new CBS legal drama Shark
"I'm mostly here because of how good the script was and how bad The Whole Ten Yards was."
-- Matthew Perry back on TV in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
"I love, 'Bad boys, bad boys. What you gonna do when they come for you?' What's it called? Cops. I love Cops."
-- Dame Helen Mirren (back on Prime Suspect this fall) on her favourite American TV show
"It's like a whole field of flowers to run in for comedians."
-- South Park creator Matt Stone on one of his favourite targets: Scientology
http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Columnists/Brioux_Bill/2006/07/29/pf-1708403.html
HDTVChallenged
07-30-06, 01:11 AM
I saw a complete list someplace in the last few weeks of all the switched markets. I am not sure I can find it, but I'll try.
Well after quite a bit of hunting and pecking over at fcc.gov, I think I found the answer. ( I'm not sure I could find it again. :D )
Anyway, it looks like Comcast will probably get the local system here, unless something really odd happens.
Thanks for your efforts ...
Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more definitive for you, HDTVC.
On overview on the state of HDTV
The Business of TV
HDTV Delivers — Gradually
By Craig Kuhl Multichannel News 7/31/2006
High-definition television’s promise — to deliver high-resolution pictures accompanied by near theater- quality sound — is being kept, albeit gradually and with some trepidation and confusion among HDTV service and content providers and, most importantly, consumers.
The quality of high-definition technology has never been questioned. It provides up to 1,920 active horizontal pixels by 1,080 active scanning lines, represents an image resolution of more than 2 million pixels and renders a widescreen format. Translation: By any standard, it’s far superior to standard-definition television.
COMPETITIVE TOOL
And there’s no denying HDTV’s value as a competitive tool in the intensifying video and data delivery business, led by cable, satellite and a growing presence from telephone companies.
Still, some issues remain. The Federal Communications Commission is affecting the delivery of HDTV, through its mandate that all television sets must have digital tuners by July, 2007 — and its requirement that all broadcast-television stations switch to digital from analog transmission (though not necessarily HDTV) by Feb. 17, 2009.
And there is still confusion among consumers about exactly what high-definition is and how it works, with more than half of viewers believing they’re watching HD when they’re not.
Then there is the bandwidth issue. Cable operators are cautiously pushing ahead with bandwidth expansion and management plans to accommodate HDTV’s voracious appetite, but only on an as-needed basis.
Despite these pressing issues — which have stunted the spectacular growth many predicted for HDTV early on — 34 million homes are expected to be able to view the high-resolution format by 2007, according to a Kagan Research study.
With the FCC mandate, the improved picture quality and the competitive value of HD, it’s no wonder service providers, manufacturers and content providers are now getting clarity about high-definition’s expanding role in the communications space.
“HD is definitely one of the top three priorities, along with [digital video recorders] and [video on demand], as a tool for cable operators to compete against satellite. Cable is responding to satellite’s early move with HD to gain market share, and leveraging their local HD programming early on in the game,” said Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Parks Associates, a media-research firm.
Leveraging indeed. Comcast Corp. has stepped up its HD service with a reported 10 million digital customers, a 47% penetration rate — 28% of whom currently subscribe to a DVR or HD service. The company has also announced it will increase its high-definition offerings later this year.
Insight Communications Co. is also expanding its HD service to include a five-channel package of high-definition content for $7.95 per month and free local programming.
Most of the top MSOs are expected to add HD programming in the next year.
DISHING IT OUT
On the satellite side, EchoStar Communications Corp.’s Dish Network is providing 29 HD channels in 31 markets, significantly more than its cable competitors. And it is addressing the bandwidth issue by including MPEG-4 technology in its high-def receivers, which will allow a significant increase in the compression rates of the current MPEG-2 technology.
“HD has been notoriously slow to take off. But the FCC has kick-started HD and is pressuring cable and content providers to launch HDTV, which they have,” said Seth Kenvin, vice president of strategic marketing at BigBand Networks. “But with VOD, broadband speeds increasing and now the bandwidth needs for HD, operators are getting strapped for bandwidth, which is at a premium, especially with forecasts of 30-50 HD channels in the next few years.”
Kenvin believes a number of combined techniques will at least temporarily solve the bandwidth issue. “Rate-shaping, switched broadcast, upgrading plant to 1 GHz, node splitting, and eliminating the analog tier altogether are the best ways to gain bandwidth efficiencies,” he said. “Another answer is moving from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, but currently there aren’t any devices in the home that can receive it. There’s no single answer.”
For consumers, the question is just what is HD? “There’s confusion among consumers. Many don’t realize they need to subscribe to the service that provides programming in HD. There’s a definite disconnect there,” maintained Michelle Abraham, principal analyst for research and analysis group In-Stat, a sister company to Multichannel News.
Price is also a factor. “Most consumers couldn’t afford a four-thousand dollar HDTV set,” Abraham added. “But prices have fallen to the mid-range, and that has helped the market.”
Additional help is on the way via the Consumer Electronics Association and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. The trade groups announced a joint effort to “broaden educational outreach to consumers about the transition to digital and HDTV” through public-service announcements, enhanced retail sales force education and other awareness efforts.
And with HDTV, awareness counts. “The move to HD has been frustrating, with few programs available, and not much penetration. But that is gradually changing,” said Mukul Krishna, industry manager for digital media research and consulting group Frost & Sullivan. “The retail stores say HD sets are flying off the shelves, but our vendor feedback says that’s not true, and that consumers are relatively clueless about the FCC deadline and what HD is.”
Nevertheless, Krishna and others see HDTV as a viable competitive tool, particularly when mixed with cable’s interactive services, which its satellite competition can’t provide.
WHAT'S TO WATCH?
“The ability to watch HD is there, but there is currently little compulsion from the end-user market because of the few channels in HD available. That’s what people are struggling with,” maintained Krishna. “What will help cable the most is its ability to provide two-way, on-demand services and targeted advertising. Operators can provide targeted ads for each TV in a household, and with HD. Satellite can’t do that.”
Though not necessarily a struggle, high-definition set-top box manufacturers are being challenged to make the transition to HD boxes, which must include new chips, more memory, an advanced process to get technology “to the edge” and, invariably, more cost, said Scientific Atlanta chief technical officer Dave Clark.
“We’re aware that many people don’t know what HD is. Just because there’s a watermark in the corner doesn’t mean you’re watching HD,” Clark said. “That is a challenge to us: retail, programmers and operators. And how do we effectively service the people when the FCC says, 'Turn off the analog spectrum?’ ”
Good question: and one not likely to be answered until close to the FCC’s 2009 deadline for the transition to digital broadcasting, admitted Krishna.
“When all of the issues are combined, the U.S. market for HDTV will continue to move gradually,” he said.
“Once people have gone to digital, they’ll go to HD,” he explained. “And in 2009, the FCC will fine people for not switching off analog, with 2012 the final deadline.”
The deadline for mass consumption of HD sets is less clear. Most experts agree that awareness, bandwidth and cost issues must be solved first.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6357352
There wasn’t much coverage of the My Network TV press briefing the other day. I overflooked this from the highly respected Phil Rosenthal:
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
My Network offers offbeat, low-budget TV
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist
PASADENA, Calif. -- The stated ambition of My Network TV, like the production budgets of its shows, is decidedly modest.
Let the folks at the CW--the joint venture CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. are launching this fall after cutting their losses on UPN and the WB, respectively--talk about thriving because they no longer have a sixth network to compete against.
"We really have no specific expectations," said Jack Abernethy, chief executive of News Corp.'s Fox-owned TV stations, which quickly established My Network to fill the prime-time void on its UPN affiliates and other stations abruptly orphaned by the demise of the two mini-networks.
"Frankly, we were starting to not make any money on UPN," said Roger Ailes, the Fox News boss who oversees My Network in his role as chairman of the Fox-owned stations. "We think we can, with the telenovelas, do enough of a rating to make more money than we did with UPN. . . . I think we have a reasonable shot."
My Network TV is not mine or yours--it is theirs--and it's not a traditional network.
It is TV, but different enough from what most Americans are used to watching that those in charge of would-be rival CW, which will launch mostly with established UPN and WB shows, shrug it off. They cite My Network's business model, its all-melodrama lineup and bargain budgets said to be about $200,000 per hour episode.
Just as a point of reference, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," NBC's new hour-long drama from "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin starring Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, reportedly is budgeted at $2.5 million to $3 million per episode.
The known stars of My Network TV are Bo Derek, Morgan Fairchild, Tatum O'Neal and Maria Conchita Alonso--all big names . . . a generation ago. Its shows don't have writers, per se, but rather adapters, who take already successful Spanish-language telenovela scripts and translate them for U.S. consumption. Even the network's front office operations are streamlined.
"We were laughing at lunch about actually how many dedicated [My Network staffers] we have, and we weren't sure if it was one or two," Abernethy said. "We're being very unorthodox."
What will debut in September on Chicago's WPWR-Ch. 50 and other My Network stations is as much about economics as it is about storytelling. A nightly lineup of two soap operas will have original episodes five nights a week, 52 weeks a year. Each pair of stories will be told in 13-week cycles.
News Corp.'s syndication wing already was planning to distribute the telenovela package when Ailes and company learned UPN was going away, forcing them to redeploy. It was as much about keeping the lights on at stations as competing with cable or anything else, including the CW, for which Tribune Co., owner of this paper, owns 15 affiliates.
Industry analysts think My Network programs might make inroads with female viewers. Some suggest the shows could have camp value. Others point out these romance tales have been successful elsewhere, so it would be a mistake to write them off too soon.
What makes them appealing to stations is that My Network not only fills two hours of prime time Monday through Saturday, when a weekly recap show for each soap airs, but offers affiliates a more generous split of ad time than is customary.
"I've always thought the relationship between stations and networks was somewhat out of whack," Ailes said. "We made this a little more comfortable for stations because we could."
It's their network and their gamble, but not necessarily a costly one.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0607260230jul26,0,547307.column
DoubleDAZ
07-30-06, 10:24 AM
Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more definitive for you, HDTVC.A call to the cableco won't answer the question???
HDTVChallenged
07-30-06, 11:28 AM
Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more definitive for you, HDTVC.
Ok ... this morning I managed to find the info again (after three tries :) )
Here's the link to the appropriate document at the FCC: Link (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-1591A1.pdf)
It's a bit annoying that the major trade magazines can't be bothered to print the entire breakdown listed in the above document. I guess if you're not in the "top ten" markets, you're off the radar screen. ;)
Further investigation at comcast.com revealed that many systems will not see very many changes until mid-2007 ...
TV Critics Summer Press Tour
All Football All The Time
By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union staff writer
PASADENA, Calif. -- America, or at least my wife, better be seriously ready for some football this fall.
College football. Pro football. High school football. Fake football.
Primetime television will regularly feature football, college or pro, at least four nights a week (Saturdays through Mondays, and Thursdays). Over the course of the season there will be a college or pro game all seven days of the week.
And if you aren't in the mood for a game, you can catch a pair of scripted shows centered around the gridiron: the drama "Friday Night Lights" (8 p.m. Tuesdays, NBC), which focuses on the culture of Texas high school football, and The CW comedy "The Game" (8:30 p.m. Sundays), which highlight the off-the-field lives of players and their significant others.
"Hardcore fans are going to want to see all sides of it," said Coby Bell ("Third Watch"), who co-stars in "The Game."
But maybe instead they will be watching, I don't know, football.
"But there is no football on Sunday nights, right?" Bell asked.
Um, Coby, check the schedule.
There is football on. There is always football on.
NBC is jumping back into football with its Sunday night package. With the former "Monday Night Football" tandem of Al Michaels and John Madden sliding over to NBC -- the Monday night game has moved after 36 years from ABC to ESPN -- and a 7 p.m. studio show, "Football Night in America," helmed by Bob Costas, Sunday nights could provide the marquee matchup of the week.
Unless it's still the Monday game. Or the Thursday game. (NBC kicks off the season on Thursday, Sept. 7, with the Miami Dolphins at the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.) Or the Sunday day slate that bleeds into primetime at night.
Of course there's college football, including the Saturday night primetime game that will air on ABC, the 200-plus college games on all the permutations of ESPN, and on CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox Sports, CSTV and other regional outlets. There's even high school and college football on Time Warner Cable. Am I leaving anybody out? Probably.
In addition to NBC, another new player is the NFL Network, which will air Thursday night games starting on Thanksgiving -- part of a triple-header binge-fest that is sure to cause holiday angst around several homes. (Note to Time Warner Cable: Your deadline to get the NFL Network on the Albany system is drawing close. More and more I see a dish in my future.)
The improbable question arises: Could there be a glut of football? Could fans actually get sick of the game?
"There is always that potential," Costas said in a recent interview. "But there is no indication we've come close to it. It seems to be the one sport, especially the NFL, that is more or less immune to all the changes in television."
Nah, for us sports geeks, the glut question is ridiculous. Fresno State vs. Wyoming is better than yet another installment of "Law & Order."
"Football is the single best, not just sports property, but entertainment property in America," CBS Sports President Sean McManus said. "Nothing consistently gets the ratings that it does year in and year out."
And that should concern the networks, or at least its dramas, comedies and pre-fab reality shows. Not to mention my wife.
If we're watching football, we're not watching the scripted and reality shows incessantly promoted during -- wait for it -- football games. Shows about almost anything, even football, are not the same as football. Some across the weekly schedule could take a hit.
"We are going to find out," NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol said. "The strength of the NFL brand is as strong as anything there is on television."
Now consider that NBC will be able to pick the games it shows toward the end of the season -- something ABC pined for when it would get stuck with dog games in December -- and interest only grows. I'll get around to watching "Desperate Housewives" tomorrow. Or next week. Or in the spring. Even with TiVo and DVRs, there is only so much time in the week, and it's only minutes until the next kickoff.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=502426
TV Notebook
Original programming emerging in basic cable networks
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Writer
Go to the supermarket and throw a can of Campbell's tomato soup or a Sara Lee pound cake into your basket, and you pretty much know what you're getting.
Basic cable networks — like USA, with its "Characters Welcome" slogan, or TNT, where "We Know Drama" is the mantra — are hoping for the same familiarity and loyalty from viewers.
Once cable channels were a hodgepodge of programming (some still are), but now a number of the major basic cable networks are increasing the amount of their original scripted shows and focusing on developing a tonal consistency that helps brand them.
So, even though series come from different creators and have widely disparate themes, they almost look as though they could have been crafted in a cloning laboratory, meaning viewers have a better chance of enjoying all of their offerings.
"I'm big on brands," says Bonnie Hammer, president of both USA Network and the Sci Fi Channel. "It's very important for anyone to differentiate themselves and come up with a brand that's organic to what they do. Especially now, with all this cross-platform product that has to be developed (online), if in fact there is no brand, there's no way to carry it over."
Steve Koonin, executive vice president of TNT, adds, "With most cable networks, it's the pursuit of the hit rather than the pursuit of the network; we're just trying to build the network stronger and stronger. To have a brand, you have to have that thread of consistency. We're very conscious of that."
Few networks manage to maintain a consistent sensibility in their scripted programming: In the beginning, before it imploded, The WB managed it with slick shows aimed at young audiences. Cable has learned from that model.
TNT's focus is apparent in its motto: "We Know Drama." Its series "The Closer," starring Emmy nominee Kyra Sedgwick, is the highest-rated original program on basic cable. Its miniseries productions, such as the current "Nightmares & Dreamscapes," are touted as summer events. "Into the West," its previous miniseries, recently led all programs with 16 Emmy nominations.
USA, on the other hand, lures viewers with its tag line, "Characters Welcome." Its Friday lineup of the quirky crime dramedies "Monk" (which has won star Tony Shalhoub two Emmys) and "Psych" is a huge draw, and on Sundays it presents the distinctive paranormal dramas "The 4400" and "The Dead Zone." The Sci Fi Channel's focus is fairly self-explanatory.
ABC Family is aimed at teens and their parents: "Kyle XY," about a curious teenager of mysterious origins, this summer won the network its best ratings. Next week, it will introduce a lighthearted drama, "Three Moons Over Milford," about a small town coping with the potential end of the world.
By contrast, FX targets mature viewers with such stylishly gritty series as the corrupt-cop action show "The Shield" (star Michael Chiklis has won an Emmy), the corrosively sardonic firefighter series "Rescue Me" (Denis Leary, its star and co-creator, recently received his second Emmy nomination) and "Nip/Tuck," a show about Miami plastic surgeons offering mediations on self-images and what constitutes beauty.
"One of the things I'm proud of is that ëNip/Tuck' and ëShield' are about as different from one another as possible, and yet they share a similar sensibility," says Jon Landgraf, president of FX entertainment. "That sensibility is a trueness to the vision of the creators.
"We live in a culture that is about manufactured product, of product that is focus-grouped and designed to be user-
friendly, whether it's a hamburger or a car," Landgraf continues. "But the stuff that tends to mean the most to people are things that are made by hand, that are made by someone with a point of view and a distinctive sensibility, and then they happen to resonate with a lot of people." We want to make shows that are as popular as possible, but for me, when you try to reverse-engineer, which is mostly what TV and movies do anymore, you end up with middling work."
By contrast, TNT ensures that its original productions are tooled specifically for its audiences.
Michael Wright, senior vice president of original programming for TNT, says, "Our approach is very specific. We meet with writers and show-creators and spend the bulk of our time explaining to them what the network is, who's watching and why we think they're watching. So they're crafting a show to a very specific audience. ... If you give talented people that very specific sense of who's watching you, they're expert at hitting the target.
"It's a very populist network," he continues. "These are shows that are very relatable, very accessible. They're very commercial shows, but they're also smart. We're not trying to be elitist, but by no means is the network trying to aim at the lowest common denominator."
ABC Family's mission is inherent in its name, says network president Paul Lee. "We can do family drama, but in a relevant way," he says. "We can deal with real issues. So, as you see us rolling out a number of shows, you see a tremendous amount of faith for us in family drama. What you see us doing is saying, ëLook, let's take something else. Let's take a cop show. Let's take a sci-fi show. Maybe, let's take a mythology show and we'll meld that together with family drama.' " We think that's the right thing to do for our audience."
While Hammer oversees two very different networks, what unites USA and Sci Fi is their branding approach, which she concedes is a tricky thing to pull off.
"Even Sci Fi is complicated," she says. "If you create a brand that's just the old definition of pure science fiction — of space operas — it's very narrow. You'll have a very loyal fan base, but it's very difficult to grow. So you have to figure out a way to broaden it enough in terms of speculative fiction, so that you can grow your audience."
Figuring out USA's character-based identity, Hammer says, "was trickier. We had to do a lot of soul-
searching in terms of what can we do that will differentiate ourselves from any other general entertainment channel. We realized that everything we do is based in character development.
"So we had to figure out — what does USA mean? To some, it can mean a place. But the way we went was, USA is about the people who live in America."
That revelation opened the door to USA'