US investment fund Carlyle is set to acquire a 35 per cent stake in French cable operator Numericable, formerly known as Noos, and which has almost total dominance in the French market. Numericable’s current shareholders are Altice with a 30 per cent stake and Cinven with 70 per cent. In a joint statement, the three […]

More American TV households are receiving video programming via an alternate delivery system (ADS) than ever before while MSOs' penetration continued to fall, according to a TVB analysis of Nielsen Media Research data for November 2007. Fifteen DMAs (Designated Market Areas) are now majority-ADS markets, where more viewers are watching via satellite than over wired […]

Jupiter Telecommunications, the largest multiple system operator in Japan, has announced that the total subscribing households as of 30th November 2007 served by J:COM's 21 managed franchises reached 2.75 million, up 482,000, or 21.2 per cent since November 30, 2006. Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached […]

Comcast, the largest US cable television operator, said it expects to lose video customers in 2008 as competitive and economic pressure mounts; its shares fell more than 10 per cent on the news. The comments from CFO Michael Angelakis came after the company lowered its forecast for 2007 cable revenue growth to about 11 per […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid Spain’s largest cable company ONO leads the pay-TV audience ratings with an average share of 7.11 per centin November, well ahead of the digital DTH platform Digital Plus, with 3.95 per cent, Telefonica’s Imagenio and other cable operators, with 5.64 per cent, according to TNS Sofres. The most widely […]

The head of the Federal Communications Commission is reportedly struggling to find enough support from agency commissioners to regulate cable television companies more tightly. The five-member commission is set to vote today on a report, proposed by Kevin Martin that would give the commission expanded powers over the cable industry after making a formal finding […]

The stand-off between FCC chair Kevin -Martin and the US cable industry is getting serious, and complicated. Two of his fellow Republican commissioners seem to be doubting the validity of his data for deermining that cable has crossed the arcane 70/70 threshold (see Daily 13th Nov). Martin, a relentless critic of 'big cable', has said […]

John Pluthero will assume management control of both the international and the Europe, Asia and US divisions of Cable & Wireless following the departure of Harris Jones, the international chief executive, this week. Richard Lapthone, group chairman, said Pluthero was the ideal choice to oversee the division now that the recovery phase in the Europe, […]

A report by the Federal Communications Commission is claimed to show that cable TV companies have reached a subscriber saturation point that may lead to the agency exerting greater regulatory authority over the industry. The finding is in an annual report that assesses competition in the pay-television market. The report will conclude that the agency […]

One of the best-known cable networks in the US is demolishing a 16-year-old brand in a bold bid to become even bigger. Court TV will become “truTV” in one of the biggest marketing makeovers in cable history. The network will abandon Court's logo and its primetime “Seriously Entertaining” tag line in favour of a new […]