December 6, 1999
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PROGRAMMING
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Real People, Real Stories
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TLC, formerly known as the Learning Channel, has seen a rebirth of sorts in its ratings - and it's partially due to a baby. Indeed, TLC has found a niche...
Angela Langowski
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Shop 'Til You Drop: Cable Trinkets Ready for the Holidays
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Time flies. Deadlines call. Wasn't Halloween just a couple of weeks ago? Now the Western Show is drawing nigh and very little - make that none - of the...
Mike Reynolds
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The Distribution Race
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With analog apertures remaining relatively few and far between, the race for distribution between extant channels and newcomers for positions on basic...
Mike Reynolds
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The Big Picture
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Dream Genie: Pay-Per-View, We Hardly Knew You
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Will video on demand or the Internet be the best thing that ever happened to PPV? It's easy to look at the future and get carried away with the prospects...
Matt Stump
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Looking Ahead: Information for a new world order
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Say you want a revolution? Broadband. Digital. Telephony. Internet. Videostreaming. Well, you got one.Telecommunications life in the United States is...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Broadband Content
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Creating Audio and Video Content
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Media 100 Inc. wants to take streaming media production and put it directly into the hands of Web content providers with a new product unveiled this...
Karen Brown
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WorldGate Rounds Up Partners
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Seeking to bolster its lineup of Web and home shopping features, WorldGate Communications Inc. has signed up 11 content providers for its Internet/interactive...
Alan Breznick
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Broadband
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A View From AT&T's Labs
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As one of the nation's preeminent technologists, Dave Nagel marvels at a simple conundrum. Nagel, president of AT&T Labs and the CTO of AT&T, is the...
Matt Stump and Jim Barthold
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Big Bucks Predicted with Interactive Ads
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Interactivity goes beyond video-on-demand to the very core of what makes money for local cable operators: advertising.That's a message SeaChange International...
Jim Barthold
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Clipping Angel's Wings?
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Reports that AT&T Corp.'s Project Angel has fallen from grace and will be sent to the telecommunications hereafter are greatly exaggerated, according...
Karen Brown
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Digging Out of the Trap
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Interdiction leader Blonder Tongue Laboratories Inc. is teeing off at the Western Show with a new product offering cablers a way to dig out of the broadband...
Karen Brown
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Finding an Audience
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Enthusiasm among proposed broadband Internet satellite providers may be high, but analysts warn that the reality of the market may bring these ventures...
Karen Brown
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Interactive TV:in the Swim Again
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Acting like the comeback kid of 1999, the resurgent interactive TV industry will be peddling lots of new equipment, software and services on and off...
Alan Breznick
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Keeping It Simple: Key to Home Networks
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Four years ago a Western Show introduced cable modems and what would become DOCSIS. Today, these high-speed data portals are a hot commodity with new...
Jim Barthold
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Mindport Struts Stuff with Partners
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Gearing for an era of multiple transactions through interactive digital television, Mindport USA plans to showcase its integrated customer care and billing...
Matt Stump
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Modems, Modems Everywhere
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When it comes to new cable modems you will see on the show floor at the Western Cable Show, the point is in the ports.With DOCSIS 1.1 certification looming...
Karen Brown
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Prowling: FOR PARTNERS
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Despite some industry coercion, there is still a need for the small, "boutique" technology vendor in the cable industry, as will be evidenced at this...
Jim Barthold
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Removable Security
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An important round of interoperability testing starts this week in Los Angeles, where nine set-top/consumer electronics manufacturers, three headend...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Showcasing the Future
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CableNet '99, the annual educational showcase sponsored by the California Cable Television Association and CableLabs Inc., will be leaping outside the...
Karen Brown
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Sky Scheme
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With the lure of money to be made in broadband services, a squadron of companies are now turning an eye to the sky to provide an alternative to wired...
Karen Brown
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Technology Innovations Get Sneak Preview
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The top MSO engineers are looking toward the Western Show with a variety of items on their "to see" list.While some, including AT&T Broadband and Internet...
Karen Brown
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Transmission Networks: Technology Finds Place in Sun
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It used to be if you wanted to see transmission network technology at the Western Show, you had to crawl through three alleys, knock on a door and tell...
Jim Barthold
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Western Show: Consumer Electronics Sans Consumers
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The Western Cable Show, long a nirvana for the technology-oriented, is morphing into a consumer electronics showcase - without the consumers.Many of...
Jim Barthold
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Business
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A Dead Line
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It seems almost like an eternity since AT&T Corp. and Time Warner Inc. released plans to form a joint venture to offer AT&T-branded cable telephony to...
Joshua Cho
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Coordinates: Modems: Gaining Speed for the Next Millennium
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1962 - First analog modems deliver data at 300 bits per second (BPS).1970s - 1,200 bps analog modems introduced.1978 - Phone companies unveil Digital...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Hot,hot hot:Y2K's IPO Jitters
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Amid all the hype and doomsday scenarios, the Year 2000 continues to be a very real aspect of business life. Depending on the type of business, complications...
Joshua Cho
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Static from the Sidelines
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As AT&T Corp. gets closer to offering local telephone services, regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) have been telling the press and regulators...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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The ABC's of IPOs
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Initial public offerings, or "IPOs," are a special breed of investments. And with this comes its own vocabulary.For one thing, institutional investors...
Joshua Cho
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Year of the IPO
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One could say that the initial public offering (IPO) market was hot this year for cable ... if you can call two or three offerings hot. But then again,...
Joshua Cho
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Marketplace
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Market Comment
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NETS AID NASDAQ- Blue chip and tech stocks rallied last Wednesday following last Tuesday's shabby showing. The DJIA rose 95 points or 0.9% to 10,972....
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Marketing & Advertising
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Ad Killers
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"I'll be back in a minute - pause the show," reads a Circuit City ad for TiVo Inc.'s personal video recorders.Indeed, PVRs promise to make television...
Linda Hardesty
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Creative Process Considers 'Net from Get-Go
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The Internet is becoming such a major factor in kids programming that it's considered in the creative process from the very genesis of new shows and...
Linda Hardesty
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Kids Networks Take Lead from Kids
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Not so long ago, when kids came home from school in the afternoon, they would often turn on the TV and sack out on the couch. Now, many of them are surfing...
Linda Hardesty
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Kids Talk, Cable Execs Listen
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With the competition heating up for kids programming networks are creating new research techniques to understand their viewers. From recreating kids...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Kids' Programmer Likes to Break the Rules
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Angela Santomero, 31, the co-creator and head writer of Nickelodeon's amazingly popular pre-school show, Blue's Clues, said she wanted to break the rules...
Linda Hardesty
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PVR 101
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Personal video recorders, which are like super-powerful VCRs, allow viewers to customize their own programming. Instead of using a VCR, however, these...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Sleeping with the Enemy
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With so many broadcast and cable companies investing in TiVo Inc. and Replay Networks Inc., the question is: Why? If consumers start skipping every commercial...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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The Ultimate Multi-Taskers
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Teenagers are multi-tasking like crazy, according to MTV's second annual Leisure Time Study.Betsy Frank, EVP/research and development for MTV Networks...
Linda Hardesty
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People
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People
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AT&T Digital TV Center Gary Traver has been named SVP-video services. He will be responsible for the operations in Denver, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Between the Lines
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Metallic Maulers: Rock' Em Sock' Em
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Never has the boxing industry's shortage of good heavyweight fighters been more apparent than when Viewer's Choice said last week it'll produce a PPVcast...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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ON SCREEN: November Sweeps Results
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With broadcast buoyed by the runaway success of ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and other sweeps programming, basic cable was held to a 5% primetime...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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The Sporting Life: WWF Grapples with Coke Bolt
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On the heels of Coca-Cola Co.'s decision to pull its advertising support, the World Wrestling Federation said last week that it'll tone down the jiggle...
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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General
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A Banner Year for Concerts
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From teenage idols to older icons, crossover artists and country stars, and other genres in between, the PPV music business proffered a symphony of sounds...
Mike Reynolds
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A BANNER YEAR for EVENTS
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With a bevy of high-profile boxing events knocking out buys, wrestling pinning viewers and concerts back in tune, the event pay-per-view business is...
Mike Reynolds
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A Wireless Explosion: Emerging industry's players scramble for market position
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Forget about satellite TV, telco overbuilds and video streaming over the Internet. The big, emerging competitor for cable next year may turn out to be...
Alan Breznick
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An Outside Push
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In an effort to drive distribution, the Outdoor Channel is spending $3 million on its first major consumer marketing campaign, which will run through...
Linda Hardesty
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AT&T's FCC Plea
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The FCC wants public comment on AT&T Corp.'s claim that it'll be well under the national cable subscriber limit after its merger with MediaOne Group....
CABLE WORLD STAFF
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Conexant Chips Away
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Conexant Systems Inc. has introduced a cable modem reference design with the silicon and software to create a subscriber cable modem that meets all popular...
Jim Barthold
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Congress Eyes 2000
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Congress returns next month - technically next year - and it has a host of telecom issues to resolve, but observers question whether lawmakers will get...
Eric Glick
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Cyber Santa's Blue Christmas
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Long lines.Long delays.Slow service.Merchandise out of stock.And this is Web shopping.Holiday shoppers hitting the Internet rather than their local shopping...
Karen Brown
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ESPN Takes PPV Steps
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ESPN, proffering cable-exclusive packages, is stepping up its efforts in the pay-per-view arena.Coinciding with its 20th anniversary Sept. 7, the company...
Mike Reynolds
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Flying Coach (For Now)
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Former Showtime exec Jeff Morris is flying coach these days, but don't feel sorry for him. It's all part of working for a startup, pre-IPO Internet venture...
Karen Brown
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Getting the WORD Out
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Cable operators have always dodged footing the bill for brand building, whether for themselves or the programming they offer to subscribers. Indeed,...
K.C. Neel
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High Court Tackles Adult Scrambling
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard a crucial case last week that'll have a major impact on the cable industry in terms of what time MSOs can show adult programming,...
Eric Glick
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Keeping Tabs on Business: More telecoms mulling tracking stocks
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In an era where Internet companies are garnering huge - some would say unjustified - share prices, analysts say that tracking stocks offer a way to isolate...
Joshua Cho
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MSOs Suffer Y2K Jitters
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With cable operators, there's no middle ground. Either they've dropped a wad of dough to circumvent potential problems associated with Y2K, or they've...
K.C. Neel
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NBA Programs NBA.com TV
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If you have a pro basketball Jones, then Viewer's Choice and DirecTV have the cure for your hooping heart.Touted as the 24-hour convergence of television,...
Mike Reynolds
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NBCi Takes the Plunge
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Striving to become a cyberspace giant, NBC launched its publicly traded Internet spinoff, struck an online marketing deal with Clear Channel Communications...
Alan Breznick
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Now You're Living
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Cox Communications Inc. has launched image campaigns in the past, but the crusade the company launched last spring is the most aggressive and most extensive...
K.C. Neel
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Over the Rainbow
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After more than a year of waiting, Cablevision Systems Corp. said last week that it had received a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service...
Joshua Cho
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Packing a $7.9B Punch: A Decade of PPV Profits
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Capped by a record performance this year, the pay-perview industry generated an eye-popping $7.9 billion in revenues during the course of the 1990s.Led...
Mike Reynolds
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Playboy: WEATHERS 505 STORM
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Hollywood studios aren't the only PPV content players looking forward to increased digital rollouts. Playboy TV is celebrating a breakthrough digital...
Matt Stump
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PPV Sports Comes To Cable
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Viewer's Choice, having recently landed contracts with the NBA and NHL, is looking to broaden its offering of out-of-market sports packages even further.Rob...
Mike Reynolds
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Selling Tickets, Any Which Way You Can
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PPV has found the Web.Hollywood studios are increasingly using the Internet as a core part of PPV movie marketing activity, even to the point of creating...
Matt Stump
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Sky's the Limit
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With the ink of President Clinton's signature barely dry on satellite TV reform legislation, analysts last week started taking a hard look at how DirecTV...
Alan Breznick
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Small Town Modems
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Equipment prices falling faster than the Denver Broncos' chances of a Super Bowl Threepeat, have small system operators jumping into the high-speed data...
Jim Barthold
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Stop the Madness: Looking Towards L.A.
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BY K.C. NEEL Well, just about now, everyone should be preparing to head to Los Angeles for the Western Cable Show, which is being squeezed in a whopping...
K.C. Neel
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Super Bowl Kickoff
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The Super Bowl is advertising's biggest single event and companies are forking over bigger bucks than ever this year with the average 30-second spot...
Linda Hardesty
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Viewer's Choice: Adding Original Flavor
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A new name, In Demand, isn't the only thing in store for Viewer's Choice once the new year kicks in. The PPV network wants a higher position in the entertainment...
Jennifer Pendleton
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VOD: Cable Movie Home Delivery
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If 1999 can be characterized as the year cable operators kicked the tires on video-on-demand, then the cry for 2000 might be "Ladies and gentlemen, start...
Bill Marchetti
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