cable operators

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Feds Suspect Cable Firms of Stifling Online Videos

DoJ conducting antitrust probe, sources say

(Newser) - Federal authorities suspect cable companies worried about competition from online video have acted improperly to quash their emerging rivals, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The Department of Justice has opened a wide-ranging investigation, and officials have spoken to online video providers and cable companies, including Time Warner and Comcast,...

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills
 Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills 

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills

Industry to hit that mark by 2020, and that doesn't count Internet, phone service

(Newser) - Unless something changes, cable TV prices are headed for the stratosphere, according to an industry forecast released yesterday. At the rate cable prices have been increasing—about 6% per year—analysts see them hitting $200 a month by 2020, which, the New York Post quips, might be enough to displace...

Latest Cable Battle: Beaming Straight to iPad

Time Warner draws networks' ire with live-TV app

(Newser) - A feud has erupted between Time Warner and cable networks after the cable provider released an iPad app for 32 live TV channels. Time Warner, which didn’t get permission from the networks, says it is “well within our rights” to transmit to any home device, provided it does...

Subscribers Will Pay for Fox/Time Warner Deal

Channels up and down the dial are asking for more money

(Newser) - It’s no coincidence that on the day Time Warner and News Corp. resolved their long, ugly contract negotiations, the cable provider also announced a rate increase. Get used to it, says the New York Times, because soon all the broadcast networks will be lobbying for more dough, as will...

NFL Network, After Ratings Flop, in Talks With ESPN

Partnership could give cable sports power 8 games, save face for league

(Newser) - Having lost a game of chicken with the nation’s cable operators, the National Football League is in talks with ESPN to carry prime-time games that were unavailable to most American households last season, the Wall Street Journal reports. The NFL’s channel, charging lucrative fees, is available in only...

ISPs Should Stay With Flat-Rate Pricing
 ISPs Should Stay
 With Flat-Rate Pricing 
OPINION

ISPs Should Stay With Flat-Rate Pricing

Analyst argues metered service will halt innovation and stunt growth

(Newser) - Cable companies are wooing Wall Street by saying they’ll offset expensive implementation of a new, high-speed software protocol by metering broadband Internet access. Bad move, Om Malik writes on GigaOm. Flat-rate high-speed access has enabled recent revolutionary innovation in the telecom business, which led to almost 70 million broadband...

TV Newbie Verizon to FCC: Help Cable Users Switch

Move highlights telecom turf war

(Newser) - As Verizon rolls out its subscription-TV service, the company has asked the FCC to make the switch from cable easier for consumers, the Washington Post reports. In its petition, Verizon asked for the authority to shut off its customers’ cable services on their behalf, arguing that the switchover process is...

Mistake Wipes Out 14,000 Email Accounts

Red-faced Charter Comm. apologizes for goof, offers credits

(Newser) - Embarrassed executives at Charter Communications have given $50 credits to each of 14,000 customers who had their email accounts accidentally wiped out, the AP reports. A company spokeswoman apologized for the technical error that saw active accounts erased in a routine clearout of unused email accounts.The cable company...

Investor Says Oust Comcast CEO; Reaction Mixed

Stock down 43%, but problems are industry-wide

(Newser) - With Comcast's stock price down 43% this year, a major shareholder has called for the  cable operator to give CEO Brian Roberts the boot. The proposal has met a tepid response, the Wall Street Journal reports. The call for Roberts' head is premature, say analysts and investors, especially given the...

Comcast Woes Deepen as Cable Biz Feels Heat

Industry faces slumping demand and increased competition from telecoms, satellite

(Newser) - Comcast’s worsening financial health, reported by its new CFO yesterday, has BusinessWeek predicting rough going ahead for the cable business. Consumers hit by  the housing slump are cutting back on service, just as satellite and telecom competitors are cutting prices to get their attention. Comcast saw its stock tumble...

Now Cable is Watching You
Now Cable is Watching You

Now Cable is Watching You

New ad technology tracks family viewing habits from cable box data

(Newser) - Viewing data flashed from cable boxes is being used to monitor family viewing habits and then target advertising more selectively to cable customers. The Wall Street Journal reports the new process comes from Navic Networks, an interactive TV company in Massachusetts, comparable to technology used by Internet advertisers, and is...

Cable Stock Pounding Not Over Yet
Cable Stock Pounding
Not Over Yet

Cable Stock Pounding Not Over Yet

Broadcasting & Cable cites industry's growing list of problems

(Newser) - Cable stocks are getting beaten up badly thanks to a combination of factors—subscribers fleeing to satellite and other services, a general market gloom that is compounded for often-complicated cable stocks, and news that the FCC plans to beef up its oversight. Led by industry giant Comcast, the group's stocks...

FCC is Broken, Cable Group Chief Argues

Says government plays favorites, backs policies dooming his industry

(Newser) - The head of a cable television trade group bashed the head of the FCC today, accusing him of backing policies that “hurt the (cable) industry.” The issue causing most of the fuss, Broadcasting and Cable reports, is the proposed to mandate an a la carte pricing system, which...

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