Networking

Aurora strikes $46M deal to buy Harmonic’s Cable Access division

February 19, 2013 1:27 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Optical networking equipment provider Aurora Networks has reached an agreement to buy Harmonic’s Cable Access unit for $46 million in cash. The deal is subject to the customary closing conditions but is slated to close by the end of the first quarter.

Comcast earns carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification

February 15, 2013 2:47 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Comcast has earned Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) certification from the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), becoming the first service provider to achieve certification. There are several certification categories. Comcast earned certification for E-Line and E-LAN services.

NCTC picks SageQuest for GPS fleet tracking

February 14, 2013 2:36 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) has named Fleetmatics Group’s SageQuest GPS fleet tracking platform as an exclusive provider to its members. Fleetmatics Group's products are marketed both under the Fleetmatics and SageQuest brands

Comcast all in on NBCUniversal; broadband subs drive Q4

February 13, 2013 3:20 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast announced that it was buying out General Electric’s 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion instead of waiting until next year’s previously scheduled date of July to take full control of NBCUniversal. Comcast earned $1.52 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the fourth quarter.

Intel working on TV set-top box to replace cable

February 13, 2013 3:18 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Intel said it will sell a set-top box that brings Internet-delivered movies and shows to a TV set this year. Erik Huggers, general manager of Intel Media, said the company plans to sell a box that will offer "a vastly superior experience" to today's cable boxes.

Comcast unlocks vault of Fox TV Everywhere content

February 12, 2013 3:02 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast and Fox Networks announced a multi-platform distribution deal that gives nearly 22 million Xfinity TV customers access to a wide range of video content from Fox across linear TV, online, tablets, mobile devices and gaming consoles.

ThinkAnalytics doubles its revenue

February 12, 2013 2:48 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Bolstered by a nice run of new customer signings, ThinkAnalytics reported financials that saw a doubling of its revenue and profits over the previous year. Recent new customer signings include Cox, Swisscom, Unitymedia in Germany, Zon in Portugal and Nordic operator Canal Digital.

SCTE offers 9 new or updated training courses

February 11, 2013 2:51 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers announced that it will offer a record 50 virtual classes this year, including nine new or revised courses, across a wide range of technical areas. This year’s virtual lineup is a 35 percent increase over the 37 classes it offered last year.

Milius and milestones

February 8, 2013 5:02 pm | by Brian Santo | Blogs | Comments

Ray Milius and his team are responsible for engineering matters at Starz. Starz is not among the largest programmers, but it frequently is among the first programmers to adopt new technologies. Recently, Ray and his team got Starz into TV Everywhere with its Encore and MoviePlex On Demand And Play services.

Making the second screen work

February 7, 2013 12:52 pm | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

Years after Netflix, smartphones and tablets all hit the scene, even those service providers capable of multi-screen delivery continue to struggle with the multi-screen phenomenon. That’s because even as service providers respond to viewers’ increasing appetite for video on screens other than the TV, consumers’ multi-screen behavior continues to evolve.

A kaleidoscope of moving parts

February 7, 2013 11:34 am | by Craig Kuhl, Contributing Editor | Articles | Comments

The once heavily tech-driven business model of small Tier 2 and Tier 3 cable and broadband service providers is morphing into a kaleidoscope of moving, interchangeable parts. Smaller operators whose subscriber counts number in the four- and five-figure range are fiddling with and tweaking their business models like never before.

Managing the multi-screen video transformation

February 7, 2013 10:56 am | by Paul Casinelli, product manager at IneoQuest Technologies | Articles | Comments

The multi-screen transformation has taken the video world by storm. Customers now expect the same video services they receive on their set-top box on their video-capable devices. Adoption of multi-screen services is occurring across the spectrum, running the gamut of service providers, content providers and enterprises.

Harnessing the power of interoperability

February 6, 2013 11:59 am | by Robin Mersh, CEO of Broadband Forum | Articles | Comments

Technology development is accelerating, and consumer and enterprise demand for bandwidth-hungry content and applications continues to expand. The need for global standardization has become an industry prerequisite, driven by the needs of service providers to deliver robust new services quickly and cost-effectively.

Malone’s Liberty Global eyes Virgin Media

February 5, 2013 3:02 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

John Malone’s Liberty Global is in the process of cooking up a deal to buy Virgin Media. Virgin Media’s price tag could be in the range of $24 billion, while its market capitalization stands at $10.4 billion. Including debt, its enterprise value is around $19.4 billion.

Memory Lane - Broadband’s latest wrinkle

February 4, 2013 12:54 pm | by Stewart Schley, media and technology writer | Articles | Comments

There is a movement toward usage-based pricing that borrows from an electrical utility model of the early 1900s. Today’s megabits are yesterday’s kilowatts, and like power companies before them, service providers appreciate the symbiotic relationship that device makers can deliver.