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NEWS ABOUT: cable TV

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Have Cable or Dish? You Pay $100 'Sports Tax'

... even if you hate sports: NYT analysis

(Newser) - The NFL's hefty new contract with TV networks—as in $27 billion over nine years—prompts the New York Times to look into the booming business of sports on TV. The takeaway stat: Anyone with cable or satellite is paying what amounts to an annual "sports tax" of... More »

Verizon Plans Netflix Rival

Could be available sometime next year

(Newser) - As if Netflix's year hasn't been tough enough. The streaming movie company may soon face a new rival in the form of a Verizon online video service, Reuters reports. The service would be available to 85 million households outside Verizon's current FIOS broadband and cable markets, and... More »

Your Next Cable Box: Xbox Live

Microsoft revamping service

(Newser) - The latest competition aiming to replace your cable box: Xbox Live. Microsoft is ramping up its online entertainment service starting tomorrow, allowing subscribers to watch a variety of television from their Xbox 360. In addition, rather than the tedious process of using a remote control to search for shows listed... More »

Verizon Deal With Cable TV Could Be Game-Changer

... if regulators approve pact with Time-Warner, Comcast

(Newser) - A new $3.6 billion deal between Verizon and three major cable TV companies is threatening to change a fierce rivalry between competitors into a partnership that critics fear would restrict consumer choice, reports the Washington Post . Mobile service, Internet, and cable TV providers have been locked in an intense... More »

Google's New Plan: Be Your Cable TV Provider?

Search giant may offer TV channels within video, phone, Internet service

(Newser) - Watch out, Comcast: Google is discussing a plan that could turn traditional cable on its head. The search giant is looking into providing video and phone services along with an already-announced high-speed Internet service in Kansas City, the Wall Street Journal reports—and the video service could include TV channels... More »

Satellite, Cable TV Customers Flee in Record Numbers

Combined figure hits 580K in second quarter

(Newser) - Sign of the times: The six biggest satellite and cable TV companies lost a combined 580,000 customers in the second quarter, which Bloomberg calls a record high. Take your pick of reasons: rising prices, increased online competition from the likes of Netflix, a lousy economy, the slump in home... More »

Fox Puts Streaming Behind Paywall

Soon only Dish, Hulu Plus subscribers will have immediate access to shows

(Newser) - If you "cut the cord" and canceled cable when Hulu came along, you may have to wait more than a week after new Fox TV shows air to watch them. Starting Aug. 15, Fox will only allow Dish Network or Hulu Plus subscribers to watch its shows online immediately... More »

Your DVR Is an Energy Vampire

New ones use about half the amount of a refrigerator

(Newser) - Your cable box never sleeps—and hence, never stops costing you money. America’s set-top boxes suck down $3 billion worth of electricity, an environmental group said in a report yesterday. The increasingly standard HD-DVRs are especially bad, consuming more than half the energy of an average new refrigerator—roughly... More »

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... More »

Want to Watch Egypt News on al-Jazeera? You Can't

Cable blackout leads to huge surge in web traffic for Qatar-based network

(Newser) - Washington is smugly criticizing Egypt for suppressing Internet communication and al-Jazeera, but if you want to watch history in the making on the network— widely seen as having the best coverage —you probably won't find the Qatar-based news network on your dial. Freely available in Canada, al-Jazeera is blocked... More »

FCC Honcho: Comcast Can Only Buy NBC if It Shares

Commission aims to block media stranglehold

(Newser) - Comcast should only be able to go through with its plans to buy NBC Universal if it's willing to share the media giant’s content with its competitors, according to Julius Genachowski. The FCC chairman gave his conditional approval for the merger last week, proposing a set of rules that... More »

Oprah Confident on Brink of New Network's Launch

It will be up against plenty of competition, high channel number

(Newser) - The Oprah Winfrey Network is ready to launch January 1, following three years of planning and delays. It will face competition from at least 12 other networks targeting the same female audience, but supporters say it stands out from the rest thanks to, well, Oprah. The Los Angeles Times looks... More »

Station 'Forgets' to Air O'Donnell Infomercial

24-minute spot only shown online

(Newser) - Following the lead of President Obama's 2008 campaign, Christine O’Donnell has made a 24-minute campaign ad to show on the eve of the election—but the Delaware cable station her campaign paid to run it hasn’t done so, the Huffington Post reports. “The campaign bought the time... More »

Cablevision Coaching Viewers to Watch Fox Online

Taped call records advice on watching games on illegal websites

(Newser) - Cablevision and Fox are still feuding , depriving 3.5 million people in the Big Apple of Fox channels 5 and 9 plus Fox Sports. The solution? Cablevision is coaching customers to cheat for content without a contract, reports the Daily News . A Fox employee recorded a conversation with a Cablevision... More »

CNN Picks Piers Morgan to Replace Larry King

He'll start in January

(Newser) - No surprises here: Piers Morgan will be Larry King's replacement on CNN. Both the network and Morgan confirmed the news today after endless rounds of speculation, reports the LA Times . Morgan, a judge on America's Got Talent (he's expected to keep that gig) and a former British tab editor, will... More »

What Killed the Soap Opera

Working women, reality TV, and 24-hour news, among other things

(Newser) - With the Sept. 17 finale of As the World Turns looming—and View clone The Talk ready to replace it—only six soap operas are still on the air. The genre is weak and possibly headed for extinction, largely because ad spending is in freefall. Advertising Age tries to figure... More »

10 Careers for Eliot Spitzer

You know, just in case CNN gig falls through

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer is rumored to be a possible replacement for Campbell Brown on CNN , and in case he doesn’t get that job, Olivia Allin of The Frisky suggests 10 alternatives:
  • Britney Spears’ assistant: “The logic here would be that since he’s apparently attracted to sexual young women,
... More »

Soft-Core Porn Rules Premium Cable

(Newser) - Some things are certain: death, taxes, and Cinemax showing women with their shoes on having sex late at night. Soft-core porn is "in our DNA," an exec with the parent company of "Skinemax" tells the LA Times . "We're not running away from it." Neither are... More »

Larry King Has 2nd Thoughts About 8th Divorce

CNN host, maybe-ex Shawn spotted at son's baseball game

(Newser) - Larry King has already filed for divorce , but he's having second thoughts, his lawyer tells People . "There's a 50-50 chance this divorce is not happening," says Dennis Wasser. " It's not clear to me which way he's going to turn on this issue." The CNN host and... More »

Right-of-Fox Network Powers Up

'Tea Party TV' RightNetwork set for summer launch

(Newser) - A network for people who find Fox a little too far left will be hitting the airwaves this summer. RightNetwork—whose backers include ComCast and actor Kelsey Grammer—pledges to focus on entertainment with "pro-business, pro-military, and pro-America" sensibilities, Gawker reports. The network has been embedded with the Tea... More »

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