Midcontinent Buys US Cable Assets
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 13, 2011 · 
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Midcontinent Communications announced last week that it will acquire the Minnesota and Wisconsin cable assets of US Cable. The systems pass approximately 86,000 homes and serve approximately 33,000 customers. Ninety percent of US Cable’s customers are served by a fiber network fed from a single cable head-end.
“The US Cable fiber network is within 100 miles of our fiber network and we plan to connect the two networks, thereby expanding our reach eastward and getting us into the main network operator interconnect location in Minneapolis,” said Pat McAdaragh, Midcontinent’s president and CEO.” ”The US Cable team has done an excellent job managing these systems and bringing the latest technology to smaller, rural communities.”
Midcontinent, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., currently serves about 250,000 customers in 240 communities throughout North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Midcontinent offers broadband Internet, digital and high definition television, and local and long-distance phone service. Read more
Echostar TV Everywhere
Posted by Steve Fravel on Monday, June 6, 2011 · ·
In a move engineered to provide on-demand content to small and independent video service distributors, Echostar announced that it will be demonstrating the “Aria” system at the National Cable Show this month in Chicago.
Mark Jackson, president of the company’s EchoStar Technologies business unit said, “Innovative products are being introduced every day, but the technology to use them is designed for the nation’s largest providers. Aria is engineered to perform on existing networks without a painful integration period.”
The Aria system provides on-demand content to a set-top-box via the cloud. The system allows for video viewing in the home and to wireless mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Read more
Verizon Falls Short in STB Dust up with Cablevision
Posted by Steve Fravel on Monday, May 23, 2011 · ·
Last Friday, a U.S. International Trade Commission judge tossed claims that Verizon made against Cablevision Systems on set-top box patents. Verizon filed the complaint and suit against the cable MSO in early 2010.
Verizon claimed that three Cablevision set-top boxes (STBs) violated five patents held by the telco. Verizon released the following statement last Friday: “Our pursuit of this action reflects our long-established commitment to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights.”
Cablevision responded: “This is a significant victory for Cablevision, the judge rejected four of Verizon’s five claims in the case and the fifth had already been invalidated by a Virginia court. We are obviously pleased and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as the process continues.”
Verizon is currently preparing a second case for review citing two additional patents that it believes Cablevision to be violating. If Verizon is victorious, the court will block Cablevision from importing three digital set-top models from Cisco, key hardware which subscribers use to record programs on the MSO’s new network DVR service.
In related news, ActiveVideo, an interactive TV vendor whose largest client is Cablevision, is waiting for a decision in a suit filed against Verizon for similar patent infringements in May 2010.
FCC Approves Comcast-NBC Universal Merger
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 · ·
Update: The deal is now done. The FCC and the DoJ have both approved the transaction, imposing separate but overlapping conditions on the merger.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) still has to approve the transaction, although industry analysts largely view DOJ’s approval as a given.
As part of its approval, the commission stipulated certain conditions and “enforceable commitments” which will require Comcast-NBCU to take affirmative steps to foster competition in the video marketplace. In addition, Comcast-NBCU will increase local news coverage to viewers; expand children’s programming; enhance the diversity of programming available to Spanish-speaking viewers; offer broadband services to low-income Americans at reduced monthly prices; and provide high-speed broadband to schools, libraries and underserved communities, among other public benefits.
For more, see this FCC release.
Washington Report will have more analysis later this week.
Retransmission Consent War: Sinclair vs. Time Warner Cable
Posted by Steve Fravel on Monday, December 20, 2010 · ·
The carriage agreement between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Time Warner Cable is set to expire at midnight January 1. From all reports, re-negotiation doesn’t appear to be going well. Apparently arbitration was considered, but Time Warner had a series of conditions it wanted to include that Sinclair did not. Discussions continue.
At the heart of the negotiation is Time Warner’s reported request that CW and MyNetworkTV channels be included in the renewal under “must carry.” Of the 58 channels operated by Sinclair, approximately 30 are located in Time Warner territories. Of those 30 stations, about half are CW or MyNetworkTV affiliates.
New Year’s Day may include station blackouts for at least 30 Time Warner service areas.
Avail-TVN to Invest Big in its Future
Posted by Steve Fravel on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 · ·
Avail-TVN announced last week that it will invest $30 million to expand and enhance its video distribution technology, infrastructure and support services over the next two years. The press release indicates that Avail-TVN will invest in a distribution platform that supports increased storage and “will focus on content preparation, aggregation and ingestion.” The company indicates that these are key areas in pursuit of digital video on any screen. Read more
Major Broadcasters and Baseball Sue ivi TV
Posted by Steve Fravel on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 · ·
Citing a commitment to protect their rights, CBS, Fox, NBC, WPIX, Disney, Cox, PBS and the office of the commissioner of baseball have filed suit against ivi TV in the U.S. District Court of New York. The filing indicates copyright infringement and secondary infringement. ivi TV launched its online pay video service two weeks ago claiming that it was within its rights to retransmit TV station signals. Read more