DISH Lobbying Tab

Despite the hot-button issue of the Comcast/NBC-U JV proposal, DBS provider DISH Network cut its lobbying expenses in the second quarter.  Across the three-month period, the company spent $230,000 lobbying Congress, according to a recently filed report.  That's considerably less than the $320,000 tab for 2Q09 and also down from the first quarter total of $240,000.•

Cold Water on New Tech

For all those rushing madly to embrace our social media/TV/web future, here's a dollop (or three) of cold water:  

• According to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey, at least 14% of households with connected TVs never bother to hook them up ... and those that do find the performance so lackluster that they never put them to use.  Much of the disconnect, he suggests, is due to manufacturer assumptions that people won't pay more for connected TVs leading to a distinctly underpowered experience.  That could change with Google TV, coming soon, but for now, better put those high hopes in a cold shower. McQuivey's blog is found here.

•  According to research by Deloitte and YouGov U.K., very few U.K. viewers choose to comment on programs via social media, nor are they very interested in doing so; even with better broadcast connections, most say they would not watch more video online; and most think that commercials are more effective via TV than internet.  To get the report, go here.

• And finally, for the social media fanatics among you:  According to the latest from Pew Research, social media use is rapidly skewing into gray-hair territory as social media use by internet users 50-64 grew from 25% to 42% over the past year (ending May 2010), while those over 65 boomed from 13% to 26%.  All is not totally lost, however, as internet users ages 18-29 are still the biggest on social media as use grew from 76% to 86% across the year.  To get the report, go here.•

MediaCensus Real Numbers Answers: 2Q10 Winners & Losers

So you all know by now (or should, if you've been reading your news) that the MVPD universe lost subscribers for the first time ever across the second quarter of 2010.  As we noted in last week's entry, SEC reports from 12 of the top 14 MVPDs put the total loss at nearly 55,000 net subs, or -0.06% of the total universe.

But obviously, not all MVPDs are created equal.  And while some saw relatively large losses across the three month period, some registered gains.   We're looking at subscribers won or lost as a percent of total video subscribers.  Only one respondent managed to meet our challenge of matching names to numbers for at least five of our 12 companies.  Congratulations to Nagravision's John Szyfer who named SEVEN of the 12 companies correctly!

So here are the Real Answers.  Be sure to check in with us next week as we pose another puzzler.•

SkyLog: Globecomm DTH Contract; Milestones & More

Deals:  Globecomm has received a contract from "a major media & entertainment company" to design and install a DTH satellite uplink and to upgrade an existing facility to serve the customer's growing business.  The value of the contract is $4.3M. --- According to TechCrunch Cisco has bid at least $5 billion to acquire Skype ... potentially putting paid to the IPO to say nothing of turning up the heat on Google's new voice service.  --- Orange has purchased 11% of Deezer, a French music-streaming website.  In exchange, Deezer gets Orange's Wormee music streaming assets and a promise to market Deezer.

Milestones:  Geospatial solutions provider RapidEye is celebrating its second year in space with data collected over 95% of the U.S. and more than one billion square kilometer of the earth's surface imaged.

Programming:  "The Incurables," a look at how desperately ill patients have embraced natural, healthy lifestyles, has been renewed for a second season on Viera. --- The Outdoor Channel says Horton Archery will be a charter sponsor of a 3-hour block of all outdoor sports, from archery to fishing to bone collecting, on Sunday afternoons. 

More Social Media:  Comcast and Cisco are teaming up to tell you how to best use social media in your business.  The virtual discussion will feature Martin Marcinczyk, Comcast VP, National Customer Operations, and John Hernandez, Cisco GM and VP, Customer Collaboration business unit on how to develop and use social media to track customer satisfaction, forge deeper customer relationships and, of course, make money.  It happens Wed. Sept 1 at noon EDT.  Click here to join.•