Online TV: Watch for
Google to file for cable-TV franchises in Kansas City, KA and MO "very soon," says
Bernstein Research's
Craig Moffett. "Recent regulatory filings ... make it a near certainty," he adds. That would pit Google against
Time Warner Cable, although only for a sliver (2%, says Moffett) of its revenues. --- According to
AdWeek,
Nintendo
wants in on the Xbox 360 video distribution biz. To that end it's
begun talking to "several major media companies" for content
distribution via the upcoming Wii U.
Programmers: From our friend
John Ourand at
Sports Business Journal,
NBC Sports Network is faltering (badly) against its
ESPN competition with viewership down 21% on a total-day basis from Jan. 2011 (when it was known as
Versus) to Jan. 2012. ---
Comcast has put four new
minority-owned independent nets on its roster for "broadly distributed"
nets to be added to its systems between April 2012 and January 2014.
The nets include African-American-oriented
Aspire (think
Magic Johnson) and
REVOLT (think
Sean "Diddy" Combs) and Hispanic-oriented
El Rey and
BabyFirst Americas. ---
BlueHighways TV has signed a carriage agreement with the
NCTC.
Tech: Rabbit ears are in again, says the
WSJ, noting one seller (
Antennas Direct) who expects to double 2011 sales of ~600K this year plus the
Boxee,
Aereo etc plays. --- The latest
LightSquared trouble comes from
Inmarsat
which says the would-be satellite/terrestrial wireless provider has
defaulted on a $56.25M payment. LightSquared says the payment isn't due
yet. --- Never mind all the news of late that
Cisco is ready to abandon set-top boxes. No way, says the company in a
blog.
Deals & Partnerships: HughesNet has expanded its distribution agreement with
NextAlarm Monitoring Services, whose security services will now be offered by HughesNet dealers nationwide.
Policy: Don't miss an interesting piece in the
WSJ from
FCC Commissioner
Robert McDowell on the
U.N. threat to internet freedom. A very bright guy whose
take is well worth reading.
Company Reports: Japan's
Jupiter Telecommunications
announced a total number of subscribing households at 3.63M, up 6.7%
y/y as of Jan. 31, 2012. That's based on a new subscribing household
definition which includes the actual number served, rather than a
converted number reflecting a discount ratio for MDU bulk services.
In Memorium: Shane O'Niell, the former head of
Liberty Global's
Chellomedia,
has passed after a more than year long battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease. Our prayers and best wishes go to his family and friends.
More news in The Morning BRIDGE ... first thing tomorrow in your mailbox.•
