May 14, 2001
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PROGRAMMING
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Animal Planet Exec Brings New Tricks
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When he was at A&E Television, Michael Cascio helped develop ?Biography,? which became the network's signature series. But he probably won't...
BY LINDA MOSS
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BRIEFS
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IFC CARRIAGE Independent Film Channel has closed a carriage deal with Adelphia Communications and reached extensions with Charter Communications and...
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CMT Takes Page From VH1 Score
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Country Music Television is racing toward its goal of being watched in 50 million U.S. households by this fall. And it looks like it will make it, thanks...
BY ANDREA FIGLER
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E! Rolls An 11
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E! Entertainment Television seems to consider 11 its lucky number. It plans to launch 11 new series in the next 11 months to celebrate its 11th anniversary....
BY LINDA MOSS
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Cover Story
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Analysts and Ops Wonder: What Is Churn, Anyway?
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Recently the industry has been buzzing about churn, or the rate at which subscribers to cable or satellite dump their service. But analysts and operators...
Andrea Figler and K. C. Neel
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The Latest Dish
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Cable operators have long hoped that rolling out digital services will give them a competitive edge against satellite companies. But customers like George...
BY ANDREA FIGLER AND K. C. NEEL
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Broadband Content
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VOD Site Gathers Paying Customers
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An Internet movie site with some big-time backers may be finding a way to make pay-per-view and subscription services work ? and with B-movies,...
BY RICHARD COLE
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Interactive TV
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WorldGate Hopes To Be ITV Survivor
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Despite continued slow going for interactive TV, WorldGate Communications founder Hal Krisbergh remains bullish on the medium and believes his company...
BY K. C. NEEL
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Broadband
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DirecTV MV50 Order A Tonic For Harmonic
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Knocked down by the largest cable operator, technology supplier Harmonic got a pick-me-up from the No.1 DBS provider, DirecTV. DirecTV last week signed...
BY BEN BERKOWITZ
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Telcos Need TV Knowhow for DSL
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Delivering video over copper phone lines isn't easy. But after clearing the considerable technological hurdles, telephone companies that want to deploy...
BY DAN MITCHELL
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Business
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BRIEFS
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NEWS CORP. WEAK As it reported lower fiscal third-quarter earnings, News Corp. warned it would post operating profits between $1.65 billion and $1.7...
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Digital Delay Leaves Cablevision Behind
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The mixed first-quarter results posted last week by Comcast Corporation, Insight Communications and Cablevision Systems highlight operators' differing...
BY MAVIS SCANLON
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Why Cablevision Is Making AT&T Wait
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Apotential equity offering in the next few months by Cablevision Systems may be one reason why the MSO did not proceed with registering for sale 30 million...
MAVIS SCANLON
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Marketplace
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IPO Watch
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These companies are offering IPOs in the next four weeks. Retractable Technologies Inc, 7.3 million shares offered, $15 offer price....
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Market Comment
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Bulls and bears continued to duke it out last week. Thursday morning investors seemed optimistic following an interest-rate cut in Europe and an employment...
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Marketplace
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| For Richer ? |
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General
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AOL, Radio One Back Fund For New Black Network
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Newly empowered rival would compete against Viacom's BET AOL Time Warner and Radio One are coming to the rescue of New Urban Entertainment...
BY LINDA MOSS
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At Deadline?
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AT&T on Friday filed a preliminary proxy with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering the company's breakup plan. The proxy seeks share-owner...
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Balls Out
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NFL officials say streaming still has a long to go. ?We feel the game is best experienced in person, rather than huddled over a computer...
BY RICHARD COLE
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Boon For Digital Cable Seen In ACTV Patents
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There may be a solution to one of the more annoying aspects of digital television. Using current technology, viewers switching digital signals endure...
BY BEN BERKOWITZ
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BRIEFS
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CHARTER SHOWCASE Charter Communications plans to host a home-entertainment open house this week in Pasadena, Calif. The cable operator will be joined...
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Cable Lobby Quiet on Key Telecom Bill
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Legistration would boost phone companies' efforts to offer high-speed service Cable lobbyists are conspicuously silent on proposed...
BY ERIK WEMPLE
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Cable Operators See Some Hope for Advertising Rebound
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Leah Wolfe wonders where people get the idea that the advertising business is having a bad year. While other industry insiders fret about a slowdown,...
BY LEE HALL
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Comcast, Other Media Giants Mulling Bids for Fox Family
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Add Comcast Corporation to the shortlist of suitors interested in buying Fox Family Channel. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and kid-TV mogul Haim...
BY BEN BERKOWITZ AND LINDA MOSS
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Ex-Newsman Lack Seeking Growth As NBC Headliner
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Andrew Lack, the NBC News president who oversaw the launch of the MSNBC cable channel, will now be looking for ways to expand all of NBC. The promotion...
BY WARREN COHEN AND STEPHEN BATTAGLIO Inside.com News Service
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Extra Innings For Cable Operators
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Trying to give operators an alternative to DirecTV's offering, In Demand inked a three-year deal with Major League Baseball for MLB Extra Innings, a...
LINDA MOSS
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Fox Sports Says New Time Slot's A Winner
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An across-the-board time change for its 15 regional sports reports ? from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., or just after games ? appears to be paying...
BY STACI D. KRAMER
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Here Comes Mr. Dobbs ? Again
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The promotional campaign heralding his return this week to CNN's ?Moneyline? treats Lou Dobbs like a cross between presidential candidate...
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HSA Hooks Up With TW Cable
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Even while pursuing a digital-subscriber-line strategy, broadband-services provider High Speed Access Corp. snagged a deal to provide Internet access...
BY DAN MITCHELL
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McMahon Pulls Plug On Football League
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The World Wrestling Federation and NBC last week officially killed the XFL, the heavily hyped football league that debuted earlier this year. The league,...
BY WILL LEE
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Mediacom Ready To Run AT&T Systems
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Mediacom Communications is moving on several fronts to ensure that the systems it is acquiring from AT&T Broadband will be smoothly integrated into the...
BY MAVIS SCANLON
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O'Brien Goes To Head Of Class
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Cable in the Classroom picked a veteran educator as its new executive director. Next month Peggy O'Brien, a relative cable novice, takes over the top...
SHIRLEY BRADY
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Silicon CTAM Eyes ITV
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Some top cable analysts have formed a new chapter of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing in San Francisco, which will kick off on...
BY ANDREA FIGLER
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Struggling Classic Gets $75M
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Classic Communications may have averted a trip to bankruptcy court. The troubled MSO found investors to pony up $75 million in secured loans to keep...
BY K. C. NEEL
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Upgraded Site Offers New Face for NCTA
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The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which announced a name change earlier this month (from the National Cable...
BY STACI D. KRAMER
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Writers' Deal Could Hurt Profits for Networks, Operators
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Under the new contract between the Writers Guild of America and TV producers, writers' residuals for cable shows ranging from ?The Sopranos?...
BY LINDA MOSS
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