Broadband

Comcast hires Adamson as VP of commercial business services in Mile High Region

April 17, 2013 12:47 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast has hired Shawn Adamson as its vice president of commercial business services for its Mile High Region. In her new job, Adamson will lead Comcast’s portfolio of business offerings and services, including the company’s Metro Ethernet suite of services that were launched two years ago.

Cable One’s Burge retires after 50 years in customer service

April 17, 2013 12:41 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

With more than 50 years in customer service, Barbara Burge has no doubt seen and heard it all in the cable industry, but she recently announced her retirement as Cable One’s general manager in Altus, Okla. Her career started out in 1962 at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company where she worked as a service representative

Time Warner Cable app delivers TV outside the home

April 16, 2013 1:20 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Time Warner Cable is preparing to provide on-demand content outside the home for the first time. TWC has secured the rights to provide a subset of the channels it has available for both on-demand and live programming outside the home , via its TWC TV app.

Amdocs unveils Wi-Fi Experience Solution

April 16, 2013 12:19 pm | by Mike Robuck | Products | Comments

Amdocs took the wraps off its Wi-Fi Experience Solution at the Policy Control and Data Pricing conference in Berlin. Using Amdoc’s network control offerings, the Wi-Fi Experience Solution enables mobile and broadband service providers to accelerate their Wi-Fi service deployments.

In the media: Verizon offers to buy Clearwire spectrum

April 15, 2013 2:00 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Verizon Wireless has reportedly offered to buy spectrum rights from Clearwire Corp. for up to $1.5 billion. Clearwire had earlier agreed to be bought out by majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp. Sprint has, in turn, agreed to sell 70 percent of itself to Japan's Softbank Corp.

Dish leapfrogs Softbank with $25.5B bid for Sprint

April 15, 2013 1:53 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Dish Networks' $25.5 billion merger bid for Sprint represents a 13 percent premium over the value of Softbank’s current offer. Softbank’s bid, valued at approximately $20 billion, would put the Japanese cellular giant in control of 70 percent of Sprint.

Motorola connects Howard Community College with POL

April 15, 2013 12:41 pm | Products | Comments

Columbia, Maryland-based Howard Community College is using Motorola Mobility’s passive optical LAN (POL) platform to provide IP connectivity in its new Heath Sciences building. The fiber-optic network will serve more than 1,500 Ethernet ports, and was designed and deployed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

Comcast strikes Ethernet accord with Nationals

April 15, 2013 12:35 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast Business announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with the Washington Nationals to provide its Ethernet services in the ballpark. The Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI) line from Comcast serves as the backbone for Wi-Fi and other data services at Nationals Park.

EU signs off on Liberty Global’s deal to buy Virgin Media

April 15, 2013 12:28 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The European Commission announced this morning that it had put its stamp of approval on Liberty Global’s $23 billion purchase of Virgin Media. The European Commission found that the deal, which was announced earlier this year, didn’t raise any competitive concerns.

Starz pushes 2nd-screen technology

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

The programmer is getting ambitious with second-screen technology in the form of a new companion app for the network’s new show “Da Vinci’s Demons: Citizens of Florence.” The second-screen app, called “Citizens of Florence,” relies on cues from the show's audio track to dynamically unlock interactive content as the show is being broadcast.

NBC Sports democratizes streaming

April 12, 2013 1:51 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Cablevision, Comcast Xfinity TV, Suddenlink and Verizon FiOS customers are the first to receive NBC Sports Network content, with more to come. NBC, NBC Sports Network and Golf Channel plan to stream more than 4,000 hours and 1,000 events and programs in 2013.

DoJ signs off on Moto/Arris deal

April 12, 2013 12:29 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Arris announced this morning that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) had signed off on its $2.235 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility’s Home division from Google.With the DoJ stamp of approval in hand, Arris has cleared all of the regulatory hurdles and expects the transaction to close “on or about April 17.”

Aereo: Cable’s retrans friend

April 12, 2013 12:14 pm | by Mike Robuck | Blogs | Comments

It was a busy week for Aereo, including comments that emerged from broadcasters at the NAB conference in Las Vegas. Aereo’s business model is a direct threat to broadcasters, but if it emerges victorious in court it could be beneficial to some cable operators. One cable operator executive said that Aereo’s use case was “more of an opportunity than a threat for the MSOs.”

Broadcasters counter Aereo with aerial dongles

April 11, 2013 1:55 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The miniature TV antenna picks up free, mobile broadcast signals. It attaches to iPhone and iPad power ports and extends about 7 inches, allowing users to view live local TV channels at not-quite-high-definition quality. The antenna doesn't sap a user's data plan or rely on Wi-Fi signals, but it does need to be recharged.

Midcontinent authenticating via social media

April 11, 2013 1:49 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Midcontinent is among the first service providers to offer their subscribers the Social Login feature from Synacor as a means to simultaneously authenticate for TV Everywhere content when their customers log in to their Facebook, Twitter or Google accounts.