The Lead
Cox steps up to aid Oklahoma tornado victims
May 23, 2013 | by Mike Robuck | Comments
Cox Communications and parent company Cox Enterprises have stepped up to the plate to help customers that were impacted by the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City area on Monday. Cox is offering its TV Everywhere app outside of customers' homes in the affected area.
Canoe licenses BlackArrow ad management tool
May 23, 2013 1:44 pm | by Brian Santo | Comments
Canoe has licensed BlackArrow Affiliate, the toolset from BlackArrow that enables programmers to...
FCC kicks off Phase II of Connect America Fund
May 23, 2013 1:32 pm | by Brian Santo | Comments
The FCC announced Phase II of the Connect America Fund, extending the program designed to...
Overture snags $8 million in funding
May 23, 2013 12:43 pm | by Mike Robuck | Comments
Carrier Ethernet vendor Overture Networks announced this morning that it had secured an...
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TWC promotes Picciolo to SVP of technical operations, residential
May 23, 2013 12:49 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsEffective immediately, Time Warner Cable executive Deborah Picciolo was promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president of technical operations, residential. In her new role, Picciolo reports to John Keib, executive vice president, chief care and technical operations officer.
Clearwire board likes new Sprint bid
May 22, 2013 1:52 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | CommentsClearwire’s board of directors is recommending its shareholders vote in favor of Sprint’s revised bid to buy out the wireless wholesaler. Only hours before Clearwire’s shareholders were scheduled to vote Tuesday on Sprint’s offer to buy the nearly half of Clearwire it doesn’t already own, Sprint boosted the offer. Sprint’s new bid of $3.40 per share represents a 14 percent premium over the previous offer of $2.97 per share.
Consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony compared
May 22, 2013 1:49 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsThe new Xbox One debuts nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony. Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles, but the one thing all three have in common is that they are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such as television, movies and music.
Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment
May 22, 2013 1:36 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsThe new console wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.
Report: Wi-Fi scores well in hometowns, but work a challenge
May 22, 2013 12:24 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAccording to a recent study by Wi-Fi vendor Ubiquiti Networks, Wi-Fi users are generally pleased with how their networks perform in their hometowns, but not so much in their work environments. The study found that 48 percent of the users surveyed gave their Wi-Fi a “B” grade for its general availably and performance in their hometowns.
Optical packet equipment market booming in 1Q
May 22, 2013 12:08 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThe total optical packet equipment market grew 23 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2013 to reach $1.1 billion, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group. Over the trailing four-quarter period, optical packet revenue grew 20 percent to $4.6 billion.
Broadband adoption up in Q1
May 21, 2013 2:03 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsBroadband adoption continues to increase, with the biggest Internet service providers in the U.S., estimated to have attracted a net of 1.1 million additional subscribers in the first quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, the most recent quarter’s results indicate total video subscribership may actually be shrinking.
Canby Telcom preps authenticated broadcast TV
May 21, 2013 1:52 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsCanby Telecom will provide over the top (OTT) delivery of local broadcast channels to authenticated Canby Telecom subscribers via Roku boxes. The operator is using the Elemental Live video processing systems from Elemental Technologies to adapt traditional MPEG-2 broadcast channels to multi-bitrate Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS).
Cablevision cooks up TVE deal with Scripps
May 21, 2013 12:39 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAuthenticated Cablevision subscribers can now view Scripps Networks channels, including Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, anywhere in the United States on their computers. Cablevision plans on offering the Scripps channels on additional devices at a later date.
Comcast Business’ VoiceEdge dials up Denver
May 21, 2013 12:34 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsComcast Business’ VoiceEdge, which is a cloud-based VoIP and unified communications platform, is now available in the Denver area. Launched last year, VoiceEdge allows mid-sized business to replace their legacy PBX equipment while adding unified communications features without the need for on-site gear.
FourthWall beefs up data/analytics platform
May 21, 2013 12:27 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsFourthWall Media has added some heft to its MassiveData television viewership platform that delivers data and analytics from pay-TV viewers. MassiveData, which FourthWall launched last year, will bring the total number of viewers who provide set top box data to 4.7 million
Netflix's Hastings: People don't love linear TV
May 20, 2013 2:06 pm | by The Canadian Press | CommentsSpeaking in Canada, the Netflix CEO says his biggest challenge there is competition from the likes of Videotron, Rogers and perhaps the combination of Bell and Astral should that merger happen. Netflix recently published an 11-page letter to shareholders entitled "Netflix Long Term View," outlining how the company believes it will thrive in the years ahead at the expense of conventional broadcast TV.
Total video subs decline for first time
May 20, 2013 1:54 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsIn aggregate, the 13 largest multichannel video program distributors (MVPD) in the U.S. added about 195,000 net additional video subscribers in Q1 2013. But the number of new subscribers in the most recently completed quarter was not enough to offset customer losses in the second and third quarters of 2012.
Dish pushes TVE app into Android devices, social media
May 20, 2013 12:52 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsDish Network has updated its TV Everywhere app to include Android devices and more Apple iOS devices and integrated it with Facebook and Twitter. After previously working with just iPads, the satellite video company’s Dish Anywhere app is now live on Android devices (version 4.0 or higher) and all Apple iOS devices that use operating systems that are versions 5.0 or higher.
Mansour boards Cablevision as EVP, customer service
May 20, 2013 12:48 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsWith the hiring of Frank Mansour as its new executive vice president for customer service, Cablevision continued to tweak its executive team. The announcement of Mansour’s hiring this morning came on the heels of James Nuzzo’s promotion to senior executive vice president, operations and business planning last week.