Broadband

Liberty Media plunks down $2.62 billion for 27% stake in Charter

March 19, 2013 12:08 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

John Malone’s holding company, Liberty Media, has bought a 27.3 percent stake in Charter Communications for about $2.62 billion. The deal is slated to close in the first half or second quarter of this year. Liberty expects to fund the purchase with a combination of cash on hand and new loan arrangements.

Disney, News Corp. finalizing plans for Hulu

March 18, 2013 2:14 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

At issue is whether Hulu should completely dedicate itself to the free streaming of TV shows with ads, or whether its value lies in paid subscriptions for viewers. Disney is said to prefer the ad-supported model, while News Corp. prefers a paid service. The two might put the operation back up for sale.

Vandals bedevil Suddenlink in NoCal

March 18, 2013 2:02 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Suddenlink has experience a rash of vandalism that has cut off service in parts of northern California. Local law enforcement believes the same people are responsible for all the crimes, and suspect the the vandals are would-be thieves, looking for copper that could be sold for scrap.

AT&T begins new broadband promo

March 18, 2013 1:56 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

New customers signing up for U-verse High-Speed Internet are eligible to get one of the following Wi-Fi-enabled products: an Xbox 360, Sonos Play:3, Kindle Fire or a Nexus 7 Tablet. The promotion aims to underscore Wi-Fi based connectivity that AT&T offers, first through the company’s gateways with Wi-Fi.

Comcast cues Ethernet up in Vermont communities

March 18, 2013 12:54 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast Business announced today that over the coming weeks its Ethernet services would be available across six communities in Chittenden County, Vermont. The six towns in Chittenden County feature a large number of the state's businesses, ranging from snowboard manufacturers to global high technology.

Few breakout tech hits at SXSW

March 15, 2013 2:40 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The event, which helped launch Twitter and FourSquare, was quieter on the technology front this year. There weren't any hot apps that everybody immediately downloaded, but Google showed its Google glasses (it didn’t let anyone actually use them), and Foursquare displayed a number of data-tracking bracelets.

San Jose fires up free Wi-Fi network

March 15, 2013 2:23 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The city that considers itself the capital of Silicon Valley is offering free connectivity via a network built by SmartWAVE Technologies using 802.11n Wi-Fi products from Ruckus Wireless. San Jose also has one of the best acronyms ever for its metro area network exchange (see story).

BuckeyeTelesystem debuts cloud services for businesses

March 15, 2013 8:51 am | by Mike Robuck | Products | Comments

Buckeye Telesystem’s cloud-based commercial services offering for businesses lifted off earlier this week. Buckeye Telesystems, which shares resources and infrastructure with sibling Buckeye CableSystem, is offering businesses the option of a point-to-point Metro Ethernet service that can scale as the bandwidth demand grows.

Popcornflix available on Sony devices

March 14, 2013 1:50 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Sony Entertainment Network customers with Internet-connected Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray Home Theater devices can now access the Popcornflix for free. Popcornflix has been available to people who use Roku and Boxee set-tops.

Monroe supports Canada's alert system

March 14, 2013 1:35 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Monroe’s DASDEC emergency messaging platform and R189 One-Net Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) encoder/decoder systems provide comprehensive support for Canada's National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) system requirements. The former is designed for TV and radio broadcasters, the latter for cable, IPTV, and satellite providers.

Rogers’ security service rolls into Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe area

March 14, 2013 12:18 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Rogers Communications has expanded the availability of its Smart Home Monitoring service into Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, which includes Hamilton, Oakville, Burlington, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and other areas. Rogers was the first cable operator to launch a home automation and security platform in Canada in September of 2011.

Zenverge to bring MoCA on board

March 13, 2013 1:18 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The transcoding specialist, fresh off getting its chip adopted by Arris for a new gateway based on the Comcast RDK, is in the process of integrating Entropic’s MoCA circuitry into its products. Entropic is one of Zenverge's investors, along with Motorola and Verizon, among others.

Synacor forms joint venture in China

March 12, 2013 2:03 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The web-based portal specialist has formed a joint venture with Beijing-based Maxit Technology, as a means of expanding into China. It will be known as Synacor China Limited (and as Beijing Xing Mai Technology Limited in China). Synacor expects to invest about $2 million over two years.

Startup debuts radical new router

March 12, 2013 1:55 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Compass-EOS, which counts Comcast and Cisco among its investors, has announced a new router based on a new, long-hoped for class of ICs that fully integrate electronic and photonic elements on the same die. The company said the system is now shipping, and noted that several of the new routers are already up and running at customer installations.

Comcast co-hosts IETF meeting

March 12, 2013 12:14 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

For the second straight year, Comcast is a co-sponsor of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 86 meeting, which is taking place this week in Orlando, Fla. Comcast also announced that it had renewed its membership to the Internet Society as a platinum organization supporter for the sixth consecutive year.