Out of Control Cable Prices?

Watch for the Comcast/NBCU merger to push cable prices through the ceiling says economist Alexander Per from cable bill negotiator CBSaver.  With no FCC holds on rates, Per says, "We are talking about 100% plus growth in the cost of cable in past decade and it is has only just begun."

Per undeniably a horse in this race.  Potentially buttressing his argument, however, is a recent note from BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield who gives cable a hands down advantage in the broadband wars.  Notes Greenfield, telco's DSL "is increasingly akin to dial-up internet access five years ago" leaving the field open to cable (and, of course, existing but hardly widespread telco fiber services). From a cable point of view, of course, it's all good news.  For Greenfield's full post, go here.  (Registration required.)•

DISH Winning Northwest

According to reports in Tricityherald.com, DIRECTV  customers are flocking to DISH as the retrans dispute with Northwest Broadcasting drags on, leaving DIRECTV subs without Fox.   Dish Direct Satellite LLC owner Kyle Dumas tells the local news outlet that his DISH installations have soared from an average of 20 to 30/month to around 50 by the third week of January.•

Etc: Super Beware; Verizon's New Package; Comcast Hit in Rural Illinois

Heads Up:  Beware uttering the words "super" and "bowl" next to each other around this time of year, cautions Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth's Kevin Goldberg.  Says he, the NFL apparently takes the position that it "is absolutely entitled to control who can utter the Unutterable Phrase and when It can be uttered."  Whether this is true or not is up for debate.  But, Goldberg warns, be careful out there.  (Find the blog here.)

Strategies: Verizon has unveiled a new service for small and mid-sized businesses using a broad range of Google business applications.  Called Google Apps for Verizon, the package includes domain name, domain email plus cloud-based capabilities.  The service is available as part of a Verizon bundle or as a $3.99/user/month stand alone. --- In other Verizon news, reports in a WSJ blog say the company will temporarily offer a $30/month unlimited data plan to entice AT&T iPhone users into the Verizon fold. 

Battlegrounds:  With six years left on its franchise agreement with Comcast, local officials in rural parts of southern Illinois are chafing over an "antiquated" system that does not support the the latest hot services.  According to reports in the Du Quoin Evening Call, the system does not support new generation HDTVs and also lacks DVR and full triple play services. Currently Comcast has about 25K subscribers in the region's Paducha-Cape Girad-Harsbg DMA, according to data from MediaCensus, a product from Morning BRIDGE parent MediaBiz.  Comcast did not reply to a request for comment. 

People: John Malone is boosting his land conservation effort with the purchase of nearly a million acres of working forestland in Maine. --- The Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media Hall of Fame has nominated a host of familiar names – including Dr. Malone, John Sie, Charlie Ergen and our own Paul Maxwell – for awards.  You can make your choices here.  (A tip of the hat to blue13's Matthew Colella for the heads up.) --- Rupert Murdoch has canceled his appearance at the Davos global economic summit to personally work on the BSkyB deal.

Programming:   Some baseball teams are nose-deep in debt to cable programmers (most notably Fox's Sports Southwest), says a Forbes blog.  For more, go here. --- Will NBC go the MTV/Showtime route?  Yep says the latest chatter from Hollywood which suggests that NBC's new programming boss, former-Showtime wunderkind Robert Greenblatt, is looking to inject more risque material into Peacock programming. --- Speaking of MTV, its "Skins" series increasingly looks like a risque too far as audience is dropping faster than advertisers:  Viewing numbers are already halved from the premiere, according to the LA Times. --- Netflix says it will try to outbid HBO for Warner Bros films. 

Gov't & Regs:  Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) has reintroduced his "Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act" authorizing the FCC to share auction revenues with broadcasters to voluntarily give up spectrum.  NAB says okay, so long as it preserves our "rights" and is "truly voluntary."  In short, a long road ahead. 

Tech: LightSquared got a green light from the FCC to drop satellite communications from its hybrid terrestrial/satellite network.  The change would allow the company to use its satellite spectrum to provide wholesale broadband and voice services to traditional (ie non-satellite) mobile phones.  The company will work with the FCC to "satisfy concerns" about GPS interference.  --- Games continue to lead the way in 3D technology as Nintendo has announced more than 30 titles for the soon to be released 3DS handheld gaming machine. 

Markets & Money:   Demand Media's how-to products yielded gold yesterday as the company boosted IPO share prices to $17/share (above an expected $14-$16 range) and upped the shares available. --- Nielsen also boosted its IPO share price to $23 ($1 above range) and sold 71.4M shares to raise around $1.6B. --- Motorola Mobility reported Q4 revenues up 21% to $3.4B; eps of 27¢/share; and acquired 4Home, shipped more STB DVRs, launched a next-generation IP STB and launched RX48 CMTS module with the fastest upstream DOCSIS solution.•