Cable Operators Must Share Their Channels, Appeal Court Says

A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel has upheld the Federal Communications Commission's rule that cable operators must share channels that they own or partially own with competitors, TheWrap reports.

The court's decision was 2-1 in upholding the FCC's ruling.

Cable operators, such as Cox and Comcast and Cablevision, have argued against the FCC's ruling, saying that the rule violates the First Amendment. They also argue that the rule is out-of-date, as satellite and phone company competitors have eaten into the market share of the cable operators. The FCC first installed the rule around 10 years ago, and renewed it for another five years in 2007. 

According to the article, written by former TVWeek Washington whiz Ira Teinowitz, "Most of the channels affected are regional sports channels, but some cable systems own several national channels, too. And they could soon own far more if Comcast’s deal for NBC Universal goes through."  

The judges said while the cable companies have lost market share, they still control a majority of the market. But, the judges did say that if cable continues to lose its grip on the market, the FCC may no longer have the justification to renew the rule in 2012. 

According to the article Comcast responded to the ruling with this statement: “We’re disappointed that the court has preserved the current unfairness that allows DirecTV to have exclusives for NFL Sunday Ticket and NASCAR Hot Pass while restricting the exclusives that cable operators may have, but it is welcome that the court -- majority and minority alike -- recognize that the marketplace of today is vastly more competitive than in 1992 and that rules and regulations must keep pace with marketplace changes.”

Barnes & Noble Announces E-Book App. for iPad; Amazon Might Jump Onboard as Well

Apple's iPad will become the battleground for e-books, says an article in PCWorld.

Barnes & Noble has announced an e-book app for the iPad, the new tablet device that Apple started taking pre-orders for today, Friday, March 12. Amazon may also provide an e-books app for the iPad, the article says. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble already have their own e-book hardware devices, the Kindle and Nook, respectively. Sony also has an e-reader, and Samsung has announced one. Dell and others are also expected to come out with tabloid devices.

Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have e-reader apps for Apple's iPhone.

Says the article, "The prospects of multiple e-book stores on the iPad are interesting. Not only it would break Apple's closed eco-system model of purchasing content from the iTunes/iBook store, but could also lead to fierce pricing competition."

Says the article.

Longtime TV Exec Adelson Now Advising Warner Bros.

Merv Adelson, the co-founder of Lorimar Television and a former vice chairman of Time Warner Inc., is now serving as an "executive advisor" to Warner Bros., the Los Angeles Times reports.

The colorful Adelson--who was once married to Barbara Walters but wanted the paper to make sure to note that he is now single—will advise Warner Bros. on new-media start-ups.

The 80-year-old told The Times that he had been approached about the gig by Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes.

U.S. TV Station for Sale...on Ebay!

A TV station is for sale and the owner has made it available on Ebay, reports The New York Times.

According to the article, the station owner and manager, Bud Kelley, says he wants to sell it because he wants to retire and the popular call-in weekly bingo show airs at 7 p.m., too late for him.

The station is UHF outlet WMKG-LP, Channel 38 in Muskegon, Mich. The station, which hasn’t yet upgraded to digital, airs live talk shows and outdoor sports programming.

FCC Makes Tool Available To Consumers So They Can See How Fast Their Internet Connection REALLY Is...

The Federal Communications Commission has a new tool that consumers can use that measures the real speed of Internet connections,Reuters reports.

Accroding to the article, "Located at www.broadband.gov, the test is aimed at allowing consumers to compare their actual speeds with the speeds advertised by their providers....[The release of the test] follows an FCC meeting in September where officials said that actual speeds were estimated to lag by as much as 50 percent during busy hours."

ABC News Fakes 2-Second Video in Report of Toyota Cars Accelerating

In a recent report about the acceleration problems Toyotas have, ABC News used 2-seconds of footage taken in a parked car, but claimed it was taken in a moving one, the Associated Press reports.

According to the AP report, written by longtime TV reporter David Bauder, "Briefly during the drive, ABC cut to a picture of a tachometer with the needle zooming forward. The impression was that the tachometer was documenting the ride Ross was taking. Instead, that picture was taken from a separate instance where a short-circuit was induced in a parked car."

Furthermore, according to the story, "ABC said that editing was done because it was impossible to get a good picture of the tachometer while the car was moving because the camera was shaking. The camera shot was steady when it was taken in a parked car."

ABC apologized for putting the 2-second video into the story, and said it was a "misjudgment" made in the editing room, the AP said.

Gawker.com first wrote about this story, including a follow-up about the fact that ABC has since swapped out the fake video and added video taken while the car was moving. However, even the video taken when the car was in motion was NOT taken during the same time the car was driven by correspondent Brian Ross during the rest of the report. The Gawker follow-up includes a clip of the video report.

Comedy Central Shows Could Return to Hulu, if the $$ Is Right

Even as Viacom prepared to pull “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” from Hulu last night at midnight, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman was telling investors that the shows could eventually return, Multichannel News reports.

Speaking at the Credit Suisse Global Media & Communications Convergence Conference, Dauman said the Comedy Central shows could return if it became possible for the company to make more money off the site.

"In the current economic model, there is not that much in it for us to continue at this time," Dauman said, adding that, “If they can get to the point where the monetization model is better, then we may go back."

Here It Is: Cisco's Announcement Tuesday, March 9, 2010, That It Says 'Will Forever Change the Internet'

Finally. Yesterday, March 8, 2010, Cisco had the audacity to say that today it was making an announcement that "will forever change the Internet."

Cisco has now made its announcement.

Cisco has announced—

....but first, a word from our sponsor. Is your car accelerating at the most unexpected, inconvenient of moments? If so...

OK, OK...According to ZDNet, "The announcement is the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System, which is designed to be the 'foundation' of the next-generation Internet, one that can set the pace for video growth. The device promises to more than 12 times the traffic capacity of the closest competing system."

Is this announcement the game-changer Cisco claimed it was going to be? According to the ZDNet article, "Yes, it’s an important announcement - the networking infrastructure is critical if the Internet is going to evolve the way we’ve talked about in the past, becoming the smartpipe that delivers the experience of a digital society - video, voice, data traveling over the Internet to keep us all connected."

--Chuck Ross

Google and Dish Network Test Set-Top Boxes

Search engine giant Google "appears to be testing at least search functionality on a set-top box designed by DISH Network," according to PC Magazine.

PC Magazine references a Wall St. Journal article, which first reported the story March 8. [Note: WSJ content is firewall-protected and you could be asked to pay to see the story.]

Says PC Magazine: "The WSJ's story, for all of its length, doesn't really nail down several key details: are these boxes designed to surf the Web? Is the Google search simply a more robust method for finding existing and upcoming TV shows and pay-per-view content? Is the box actually using Google's Android or Chrome OS? The latter point (with Android, at least) is implied, but not directly stated."

Top News Corp. Exec Says Affiliates Will Have to Pay Up for Fox Programming

News Corp COO Chase Carey says Fox affiliates are going to have to pay up to continue having access to the likes of “American Idol” and the World Series, saying that Fox is “not just another channel,” reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Carey made his remarks at the Credit Suisse Global Media & Communications Convergence Conference. He said retransmission fees will “transform the business.”

Carey was just as passionate about the value of Fox News Channel, telling analysts that any cable operator that drops it would lose 20 percent of their subscribers.