CTAM and Cablevision called for entries for 18th Annual Mark Awards competition with Feb. 9 deadline. Awards recognize marketing and advertising excellence in cable and telecom.
NAB said 6 more TV stations have begun broadcasting digital signals, raising industry DTV total to 172 stations in 60 markets. List of new DTV stations includes: (1) WALA-DT, Mobile, Ala., Fox affiliate owned by Emmis Communications. (2) KTXA-DT, Dallas, UPN affiliate owned by Viacom. (3) WVIA-DT, Scranton, Pa., PBS station licensed to Northeastern Pa. Educational TV Assn. (4) KXAN-DT, Austin, NBC affiliate owned by Lin TV. (5) WNBC-DT, N.Y.C., NBC owned station. (6) KDNL-DT, St. Louis, ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Bcst. Group.
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters offering data services are “very comfortable” that they can have good data business without running afoul of congressional pressure for HDTV, Matt Jacobson, exec. vp of iBlast, told CES convention here. Geocast Vp John Abel went further, saying hearing by House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) to pressure broadcasters on HDTV was “baloney.” Abel, former NAB exec. vp responsible for HDTV, also said still- undisclosed DTV test results “tilt in favor of staying the course” for using VSB-based standard.
Hughes Electronics said 2 of its subsidiaries, DirecTV and Hughes Network Systems, would start new high-speed satellite Internet service “Powered by DirecPC” as key part of expanding broadband strategy. Company plans to bundle satellite Internet service with DBS and offer it to DirecTV DBS subscribers. Service is expected to begin in this quarter.
Adelphia Communications said it plans to offer about $485 million in class A common stock and $400 million in convertible subordinated notes to investors, following successful offering by Charter Communications late last week. Separately, Adelphia said it began rolling out Wink Communications’ interactive TV service in upstate N.Y., offering service as free feature for digital cable subscribers in Buffalo area. MSO said it plans to introduce in another 2 undisclosed markets by early Feb.
Level 3 plans to build western link to previously announced pan-Asian undersea cable system it’s constructing with Flag Telecom to connect Hong Kong and Japan. Total cost of system is $900 million, with Hong Kong-Japan segment expected to be in service by June. New western segment will include connections to Korea and Taiwan and is expected to begin operating in early 2002. Taiwan segment is to start late this year. “Our partnership with Flag enables us to mitigate the cost of this expansion, as well as our initial cost of building the Hong Kong-to-Japan segment,” Level 3 Asia CEO Steven Liddel said. Companies said that Asian undersea cable system would connect to N. America and Europe through Level 3’s ownership in Japan-U.S. cable and company’s own transatlantic cable. Level 3 is overseeing construction of eastern link of pan-Asia system and Flag has purview over western link and management of entire system when it’s completed. Each company will own 3 fiber pairs in new system, which will have capacity of 320 Gbps. Carriers said upgrades could provide maximum capacity of 2.5 terabits per sec (tbps) on eastern link and 3.8 tbps on western segment.
Arbitron Co. said it has placed Portable People meters (PPM) with first 50 consumers for its upcoming Philadelphia market trial. Arbitron plans to install meters in another 250 homes over next 6 to 8 weeks. Company said 54 radio, broadcasting and cable outlets are now encoding their signals in preparation for trial, with at least another 16 expected to be added to list.
RCN Corp. insiders bought 1.538 million shares on open market Dec. 22-28. Purchases were made independent of any company- sponsored plan, company said. Board member Walter Scott bought one million shares, Chmn.-CEO David McCourt 500,000, other board members and officers 38,000.
Bills introduced in Neb. and Wyo. would make wireless carriers eligible for state universal service support. Neb. bill (LB-389) would give Neb. PSC limited jurisdiction over wireless phone carriers for universal service purposes. It would authorize PSC to require that wireless carriers contribute to state universal service fund and adopt rules under which wireless carriers could receive subsidies from state fund for local service to high-cost areas. Wyo. measure (HB-52) would make flat-rate wireless local service eligible for state universal service support. Bill would authorize Wyo. PSC to determine amount of money available for wireless universal service subsidies and adopt disbursement rules for payments to wireless carriers. Present law in both states denies commissions any authority over wireless services. Another new Neb. bill relating to universal service (LB-89) would annually earmark 1% of money in state universal service fund to subsidize broadband telecom services for county and municipal govt. agencies, starting in 2002.
Despite concerns of sales slowdown for wireless equipment, Nokia reported Tues. it had sold more than 128 million phones in 2000, level that it said beat overall market growth. It also reported preliminary estimates of 405 million wireless phone units sold in last year, short of 420 million forecast by rivals such as Ericsson. Still, Nokia said 405 million number marked 45% increase from 1999. In preliminary numbers released before financial results are reported Jan. 30, it also indicated that global wireless subscriber base reached 700 million by year-end, which Nokia said represented international penetration of 12%.