St. Louis, MO - HDTV - Page 58

An HD programming note: Cards are scheduled to appear on ESPN for their final game of the exhibition season against Cleveland on March 31 at 4:35 pm.

No word on whether this game will be available in HD, which will coincide with the first NCAA college basketball semifinal.

FCC Formalizes Video Franchising Order for New Entrants

From MarketWatch:
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Efforts by telecommunication companies like AT&T Inc.and Verizon Communications Inc. to compete head-on with cable operators in providing video and broadband service were made easier by the Federal Communications Commission Monday. The agency released new rules that aim to standardize the process for new entrants to the video market to get a license from local governments.

Given new entrants use the Internet to provide video service, the FCC also hopes its new rules will speed up broadband deployment across the country.

"The current operation of the local franchising process in many jurisdictions constitutes an unreasonable barrier to entry that impedes the achievement of the interrelated federal goals of enhanced cable competition and accelerated broadband deployment," said the new rules, published on the agency's Web site.

Currently, in the majority of states, companies wanting to enter the video market must apply for a license from the local government, a process that is seen to be costly, time consuming and inefficient.

The FCC doesn't have the authority to create a national system, but Chairman Kevin Martin believes it does have the ability to limit the behavior of local governments. Martin was applauded by representatives from AT&T and Verizon, the two phone companies most aggressively moving into the television market.

"This decision means that we will be able to reach our goal of rapidly expanding the number of consumers who have a choice of video service providers," said Marilyn O'Connell, chief marketing officer at Verizon Telecom, the company's wired-line business.

"The FCC wisely determined that consumers benefit from the rapid deployment of bigger, faster and smarter broadband pipes that deliver video choice for consumers," said Robert Quinn, a senior vice president at AT&T.

The new rules state that local authorities must decide on a franchise application within 90 days; if they don't within that time frame, the license will be deemed granted. They can no longer make extraordinary requests from applicants for the deployment of hardware or for requests unrelated to the provision of video service.

Justifying this, the FCC's final order points to evidence submitted by Verizon which claimed that in parts of the country it has been asked to provide a number of unrelated services in order to get a license. These included the purchase of streetlights, wiring for all houses of worship, installation of cell phone towers, cell phone subsidies for town employees and library parking at Verizon's facilities.

The rules also state that local governments must limit the fees they charge licensees to 5% of gross revenues.

Congress unsuccessfully attempted to reform the franchising system last year. While there was widespread support for the initiative by lawmakers, it was subsumed into a larger piece of telecommunications legislation that was defeated in the Senate.

Several states have created statewide licenses, but according to the FCC's final order, reform at this level is not yet widespread nor moving at a fast enough pace. Nine states have so far reformed their rules, but similar reforms have failed in Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Maine.

Not everyone is happy with the new rules.

The rules were voted for along partisan lines at the FCC's December public meeting with the three Republicans - Martin and Commissioners Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell - defeating Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps.

"The sum total here is an arrogant case of federal power riding roughshod over local governments," said Adelstein in a statement accompanying the final order Tuesday. "This item blatantly and unnecessarily tempts the federal courts to overturn this clearly excessive exercise of the limited role afforded to us by the law."
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dweebe,

Apparently this has been in the works for a while.

They aren't actually closing permanently but are supposed to re-open as something like "Rocky Mountain Bar & Grill." If I'm not mistaken, these restaurants are part of the Red Lobster "empire."

My information goes back to early December, so maybe the plan has changed and the closures are permanent...

"South Park" HD Debut on XBox Live Marketplace

From today's TV Predictions newsletter:
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South Park will make its High-Definition debut later this month on XBox's Live Marketplace.

The Comedy Central animated comedy will be available as a free high-def download to XBox Live members from March 20 to April 3. This will be the first time that South Park will air in HD.

The XBox episode, titled Good Times With Weapons, first aired on South Park in 2004.

Best Buy will also giveaway a free HD-DVD of the South Park episode with every XBox 360 game console or HD-DVD attachment drive during the two week period.

Microsoft is supporting HD-DVD over the Sony-backed Blu-ray in the war of high-def DVD formats. The software titan is selling the HD-DVD attachment drive, which when connected to a Microsoft XBox 360 game console, will play HD-DVD discs.
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Charter Listed Among "15 Companies Management Can't Fix"

Probably best that the folks over in the Charter thread won't be exposed to this...

The following story appeared on the 24/7 Wall Street site (www.247wallst.com):
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15 Companies Management Can't Fix: Charter Communications

There are certain companies that probably cannot be turned around no matter who runs them. They tend to be in industries where macro-economic trends are against them, like the buggy whip business 150 years ago.

Investors are not likely to get much out of these firms, unless and until the trend that is hurting them is reversed

Investors have made a lot of money in Charter Communications (CHTR) over the last year. The stock is up almost 150% to $2.75. But, over five years, the stock is down almost 80% while big cable operator Comcast (CMCSA) is up slightly.

Charter's recent quarterly earnings give a hint about why management will find making the company a big success improbable at best. According to The Wall Street Journal: the debt-laden cable operator reported a net loss of $396 million, or $1.08 a share, compared with $336 million.The company lost 43,300 net basic cable customers during the quarter but gained 40,500 digital cable users.

While the company's cable subscribers tread water, Charter did add 106,000 new VoIP customers. But the firm, saddled with over $19 billion in debt is now facing competition from the fiber offerings of the phone companies which will be able to offer their own package of TV, broadband, and telephone service. Charter has been slow in rolling out its own "triple play" offerings because of its debt load. And, the large telecoms can afford significant marketing costs to try to take customers from cable operators like Charter.

Charter has been refinancing debt and move maturity dates further out, which may buy it some time, but its borrowings are still a huge issue.

Morningstar has a "fair value" estimate price of $1.80 on the company. One reason is that Charter's roll-out of VoIP will cost money and put further pressure on its finances. The research firm is also concerned that: "Insolvency is a realistic scenario for Charter, given the substantial interest expense its massive debt load generates."

A great deal of the company's stock price increase has been based on its ability to refinance debt and the hope that its VoIP service will continue to do well. But that means that Charter may have to spend money its doesn't really have.

Charter may be working on its debt, but its operating results show that its progress is only modest.
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