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CableFAX DailyTM Tuesday — July 15, 2014 What the Industry Reads First Volume 25 / No. 135 SEC Countdown: Are You Ready for Some Football? NCAA’s Southeastern Conference kicked off its annual Media Days on Mon, exactly one month from the launch date for ESPN’s SEC Network. As has become usual for sports nets, carriage negotiations will likely go down to the wire (unless the net is the Dodgers’ channel, and then it’s way beyond the wire). Cox its only major cable affiliate thus far. DISH, AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber also will carry the net when it launches Aug 14. Comcast, DirecTV and others have said repeatedly that they are continuing to negotiate and hopeful about carriage. “Rest assured, there are ongoing significant conversations with other major providers,” SEC commish Mike Slive said during Media Days’ opening statement. “This is a commercial. I strongly encourage anyone interested in the SEC Network to visit GetSECNetwork.com.” The fan base is al- ready getting antsy, so Slive’s call may fire them up even more. “If Direct does not have SEC Network by start of the season … I will switch,” reads one thread on UGASports.com’s forums. SEC Net plans to televise 3 football games each Sat dur- ing the season. ESPN said Mon that it has just added Heisman winner Andre Ware and former Univ of Georgia lineman Matt Stinchcomb to its college football analyst pool. We should get a few more details on the fledgling network Wed when SEC Net svp, gm Justin Connolly is slated to speak at the SEC Media Days. The net’s launch comes at a time when col- lege sports have been under the microscope. Just last week, a Sen Commerce cmte held a hearing on college athletes. “Many people believe this notion of college sports is being undermined by the power and influence of money. There’s a growing perception that college athletics—particularly Division I football and basketball—are hardly avocations at all. What they really are is highly profitable commercial enterprises,” Sen Commerce chmn Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said at the hear- ing. Slive acknowledged the controversy in his remarks Mon. “We are not deaf to the din of discontent across intercollegiate athletics that has dominated the news,” he said, pushing for restructuring of the NCAA. The SEC commish wants more autonomy for his conference and the other big 4 conferences, saying that if “we do not achieve a positive outcome under the existing big tent of Division 1, we will need to consider the establishment of a venue with similar conferences and insti- tutions where we can enact the desired changes in the best interests of our student athletes.” Slive added he’s optimistic that a framework can be created that places the academic and athletic success of the student athlete front and center. As for SEC Net carriage, anyone who has ever attended an SEC tailgate can tell you that the fan base won’t have any trouble

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Project: Cable Fax Trade Ad Final Bleed: 8-3/4” x 11-1/4” Trim: 8--1/2 x 11” Date: 7-08-14 CableFAX DailyTM Tuesday, July 15, 2014 ● Page 3 CABLEFAX DAILY (ISSN 1069-6644) is published daily by Access Intelligence, LLC M www.cablefax.com M 301.354.2101 M Editor-in-Chief: Amy Maclean, 301.354.1760, [email protected] M Exec Editor: Michael Grebb, 323.380.6263, [email protected] M
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Sub Questions, Client Services: 301.354.2101, [email protected] M Annual subscription price: $1,599/year M Access Intelligence, LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850 letting their providers know what they’re rooting for—whether they shout “Roll Tide” or “War Eagle” while doing it. Retrans Redemption: After 7 months off Buckeye Cablesystem, Sinclair-owned WNWO returned to the cable opera- tor Mon with the companies reaching a new 2-year retrans deal. The Toledo, OH, NBC affil went dark on Buckeye Dec 15 with the 2 unable to agree on retrans fees. During the time that WNWO was dark on Buckeye, the cable op distrib- uted more than 17K antennas to customers for over-the-air reception. It also provided customers with a monthly credit of 24 cents. Both companies agreed to withdraw the complaints they had against each other at the FCC. In addition, if Sin- clair launches a new cable channel, Buckeye will carry it. “During the time WNWO was off our system, Buckeye held the line on skyrocketing broadcaster fees that drive up the cost of cable television for consumers. Fortunately, real progress has been made with the Federal Communications Commission, which recently adopted important reforms in the area of retransmission consent negotiations that should help keep those fees in check,” said Buckeye pres, gm Jeff Abbas. World Cup Stats: Germany’s claim of the 4th World Cup title on ABC Sun was the most-watched Men’s World Cup Final match ever with an average of 117mln viewers and a 9.1 HH rating. It also ranks as the 3rd most-viewed World Cup game in the US behind ESPN’s coverage of this year’s USA vs Portugal match. Digitally, the final match on WatchESPN scored 1.8mln live unique viewers, 112mln live minutes viewed and was the highest time spent per viewer (63mins) of any match of the 2014 World Cup. Univision’s digital platform for World Cup scored 27.5mln unique visitors, including 10mln who watched a World Cup live stream on Univision Digital. Adobe also tracked online video viewing stats and found video viewing via mobile devices increased 34% during the World Cup. Smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and OTT devices all saw increases on peak World Cup days. On peak days, nearly 25% of online video starts came from mobile devices, up from 18% pre-world cup, according to Adobe. Social media played a big role in boosting online video viewing through video referrals. Facebook referral video starts increased almost 100% for the opening match, and Twitter referral video starts increased 158%. And Tumblr, although small in overall percentage, saw the largest boost in referral video starts with a 406% increase on opening day. At the Portals: FCC chmn Tom Wheeler is determined to get USF reform right. He created a USF Strike Force to combat waste, fraud and abuse in the funding program. The group, housed in the agency’s enforcement bureau, will be led by Loyaan Egal, who joined the FCC after serving as a sr assistant US Attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the US Attorney’s Office for DC. AT&T Venture: Otter Media is the new name for AT&T’s joint venture with The Chernin Group (led by former Fox exec Peter Chernin). The JV was established in April this year with $500mln to invest in digital media properties including SVPD, streaming and advertising services. Its initial investment, according to an SEC filing last week, is the $10mln acqui- sition of CA-based firmCreativebug , which offers online video arts and crafts workshops and techniques.

New Fox Heads: Dana Walden and Gary Newman were tapped to oversee Fox Television Group, which combines Fox Broadcasting with 20th Century Fox TV. The news comes after Kevin Reilly announced that he would step down as chmn of Fox Broadcast at the end of June. Newman and Walden will report to Fox Networks Group chmn Peter Rice. Carriage Deals: AT&T U-verse now offers EPIX, EPIX 2, EPIX 3 and EPIX Drive-In. U-verse will give customers a free preview of the premium net July 25-27. EPIX On Demand will be available to AT&T subs next month. -- Armstrong has added Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze to its variety package, making the channel available on 70 TV providers nationwide. In the Courts: DirecTV is suing Al Jazeera America, claiming breach of contract. The suit, filed Fri in L.A. Superior Court, is heavily redacted, and neither side is commenting. It seems to relate to the affiliation agreement DirecTV sued in July ’05 with Current TV. The DBS provider wants damages and AJA to perform its obligations… whatever those are (they’re blacked out like most of the lawsuit). Programming: USA picked up pilot “Mr Robot,” a drama about a programmer who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. -- AMC gave a straight-to-series order to “Bad- lands” (wt), a martial arts series that’s loosely based on the classic Chinese tale “Journey to the West.” Marketing: Nice exposure for newbie El Rey, with Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort to feature a maze inspired by the net’s “From Dusk Till Dawn” series beginning Sept 19. Past mazes for Universal’s Halloween Horror CableFAX DailyTM Tuesday, July 15, 2014 ● Page 4

Nights have included one focused on AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” -- ESPN and History are teaming for co-branded spots featuring “SportsCenter’s” Scott Van Pelt and Kenny Mayne along with “American Pickers’” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz. The spots, airing on both nets, highlight the new SportsCenter set and new season of Pickers (premieres July 30, 9pm). More on Block’s Deal: A bit more info on Block’s deal to buy MetroCast Mississippi from Harron Comm. Block will be getting systems that pass more than 100K homes in AL and northern and central MS, including Oxford and Starkville. As of Mar 31, MetroCast served some 61K PSUs. Moorgate Partners served as exclusive M&A advisor to Block. RBC Capital Markets served as exclusive M&A advisor to Harron. People: Charter hired Christianna Lewis Barnhart as vp, regulatory affairs. Most recently, Barnhart managed the univer- sal service rural health care program in the Telecommunications Access Policy Division at the FCC.-- Tracey Bedell has joined TheBlaze as vp, affil marketing. -- Cox Comm promoted Leigh Woisard to svp, corp comm and public affairs and George Richter to svp, supply chain mgmt. Other recent appointments include: Mallard Holliday to vp, corp comm and public affairs; Allen Roberts to vp, Cox Business; Linda King to vp, supply chain operations, planning and logistics and Bill Mangen, vp, strategic sourcing and procurement. AMC Networks at TCA: Vince Gilligan, showrunner of AMC’s highly-anticipated “Breaking Bad” spinoff “Better Call Saul,” addressed the limitations of continuing the story of a character that’s in part already written: “It’s challenging, but it’s fun. It’s like being really into this Rubik’s Cube you’re trying to solve,” he said. “We’re trying to make something that stands on its own that has entertainment value, that’s not just seeing a series of old favorites or remember when,” added showrunner Peter Gould. Gilligan took full responsibility for “Saul’s” premiere date pushback, now to bow early ’15. “I am slow as mud as a TV writer. I always have been.” -- If at first you don’t succeed... That’s the story behind WEtv’s initial scripted original “The Divide” (July 16 premiere). Well-respected co-creators Richard LaGravenese and Tony Goldwyn sold the pilot to AMC, but the net didn’t know where to “slot it,” Goldwyn told TCA critics Fri. AMC kept the project alive by “keeping everyone on contract, including the actors,” LaGravenese said. Later WEtv became its home, and the pilot was substantially re-worked. An 8-part series dealing with secrets, lies, political power and race, The Divide owes more to its cast than usual—its African-American cast members Damon Gupton, Nia Long and Clarke Peters collaborated with Goldwyn and LaGravenese on the script, adding “reality and honesty,” Peters said. -- Maggie Gyllenhaal was attracted to “the really great script” of “The Honorable Woman” (Sundance, July 31 premiere), the 8-part limited series where she plays a powerful business and political leader who’s barely holding together her personal life. And Gyllenhaal’s English accent is exquisite. “She’s actually British. She’s just pretending to be American,” British co-star Janet McTeer joked. – Meanwhile, AMC continues its wild ride into reality with “4th and Loud” about KISS founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons’ attempts to reinvigorate the Arena Football League with their L.A. KISS team. Stanley and Simmons even offered a deal to Tim Tebow to quarterback for the team, with Simmons saying Tebow “was very flattered and is getting into broadcasting and may have other ideas in mind in what he wants to do for Tebow, Inc. But we would have loved to have had him, and the door is still open.” Starz at TCA: “I’m actually doing this wrong,” Starz chief Chris Albrecht confessed to critics, because “if we like a show in the first season, maybe we should pick up the next two seasons.” In such a competitive environment, he said, networks need to make bigger and longer-term bets to give audiences time to find them on a variety of platforms. Perhaps in that same competitive spirit, Albrecht revealed that he went after 50 Shades of Grey. “I’m the guy that called up Universal and said, ‘I’ll give you three years of on-the-air series. Let’s just do ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ as a series because you don’t have to worry about a box office. You don’t have to worry about a rating. You can tell the story the right way. Where else it will be a giant success all over the world’?” Universal’s response? “They were very nice to listen to me.” And prodded by critics, Albrecht also addressed overall consolidation highlighted by the recent Comcast-Time Warner Cable and DirecTV- AT&T deals. “There’s no reason why this can’t be a win win, but I think it’s going to be critically important that people don’t use their muscle to take advantage of their long time partners who were certainly a part of the success that brought them to be able to create these mega mergers,” he said. -- Starz’s first original unscripted series “The Chair” (premieres fall) puts first-time directors—popularYouTube creator Shane Dawson and NYU student Anna Martemucci—to the task of adapting the same screenplay to film. Viewers will actually decide the winner of the $250,000 prize. Executive producer and mentor to the contestants Zachary Quinto said that “fostering new voices” in filmmaking was one of the reasons behind his involvement in the project. “We live in a time when it’s much more difficult to cut through the white noise of all of the platforms on which people can digest their creative content,” he said. -- Co-produced by LeBron James, “Survivor’s Remorse” (premieres fall) takes a comedic look at a pro baller who deals with opportunistic family members and friends. Exec producer Mike O’Malley and other cast members said the show’s going for broad appeal despite its largely African American perspective. “The story is really about this family and how do they stick together and go through these new CableFAX DailyTM Tuesday, July 15, 2014 ● Page 5 BUSINESS & FINANCE experiences,” he said. CableFAX Daily Stockwatch Pivot at TCA: Sometimes networks Company 07/14 1-Day Company 07/14 1-Day present existing series at TCA to Close Ch Close Ch get them exposed to critics. Such BROADCASTERS/DBS/MMDS CONCURRENT:...... 7.37...... (0.02) DIRECTV:...... 86.20...... (0.13) CONVERGYS:...... 20.78...... 0.08 was the case with fledglingPivot , DISH:...... 66.24...... 0.40 CSG SYSTEMS:...... 26.85...... 0.44 which touted comedy “Please Like ENTRAVISION:...... 6.01...... 0.08 ECHOSTAR:...... 52.07...... 0.28 Me” (Aug 8, season 2 premiere). It GRAY TELEVISION:...... 13.09...... 0.38 GOOGLE:...... 584.87...... 5.69 MEDIA GENERAL:...... 22.20...... 0.02 HARMONIC:...... 6.15...... (0.98) also presented “Human Resources” NEXSTAR:...... 49.58...... (0.63) INTEL:...... 31.49...... 0.24 (premieres Aug 8), a docu-series SINCLAIR:...... 33.27...... (0.9) INTERACTIVE CORP:...... 66.61...... 1.37 JDSU:...... 12.20...... 0.02 about NJ company TerraCycle, MSOS LEVEL 3:...... 45.67...... 0.88 whose mission is to eliminate the CABLEVISION:...... 18.35...... 0.23 MICROSOFT:...... 42.14...... 0.05 CHARTER:...... 163.70...... 1.43 NIELSEN:...... 48.67...... 0.04 idea of waste. TerraCycle chief To m COMCAST:...... 55.05...... 0.50 RENTRAK:...... 54.21...... 1.43 Szaky, 32, mesmerized critics talk- COMCAST SPCL:...... 54.62...... 0.39 SEACHANGE:...... 7.94...... (0.04) ing progressively about garbage and GCI:...... 11.04...... (0.05) SONY:...... 16.67...... 0.01 GRAHAM HOLDING:...... 729.98...... 4.45 SPRINT NEXTEL:...... 8.44...... (0.11) how his 11-year-old company is a LIBERTY GLOBAL:...... 44.86...... 0.49 TIVO:...... 13.35...... 0.01 serious business, with 60mln people LIBERTY INT:...... 28.62...... 0.13 UNIVERSAL ELEC:...... 49.34...... 0.28 SHAW COMM:...... 25.78...... 0.17 VONAGE:...... 3.64...... 0.08 collecting waste for it and projec- TIME WARNER CABLE:...... 150.09...... 1.21 YAHOO:...... 35.70...... 0.27 tions of $25mln in revenue this year. Critics couldn’t resist asking Aussie PROGRAMMING TELCOS 21ST CENTURY FOX:...... 35.54...... (0.1) AT&T:...... 35.86...... 0.10 comic Josh Thomas whether he AMC NETWORKS:...... 61.17...... 0.42 CENTURYLINK:...... 36.89...... 0.12 recycled a soiled diaper from season CBS:...... 60.68...... (0.67) TDS:...... 25.48...... 0.24 CROWN:...... 3.59...... 0.04 VERIZON:...... 50.53...... 0.21 1 of Please Like Me. “I‘m an execu- DISCOVERY:...... 78.22...... (0.37) tive producer on the show, so I don’t DISNEY:...... 86.76...... (0.13) MARKET INDICES have to worry about that,” Thomas GRUPO TELEVISA:...... 34.98...... 0.26 DOW:...... 17055.42...... 111.61 HSN:...... 56.58...... 0.53 NASDAQ:...... 4440.42...... 24.93 said dryly. Earlier, Pivot chief Evan LIONSGATE:...... 28.73...... 0.15 S&P 500:...... 1977.10...... 9.53 Shapiro announced the 3rd season MADISON SQUARE GARDEN:.60.49...... (0.73) SCRIPPS INT:...... 80.93...... (0.62) pickup of Please Like Me. In ad- STARZ:...... 28.83...... 0.05 dition, he announced Pivot’s first TIME WARNER:...... 71.68...... (0.61) VALUEVISION:...... 4.69...... 0.09 scripted drama “Fortitude” is set to VIACOM:...... 85.03...... (0.41) premiere in Jan ’15; it stars Stanley WWE:...... 12.08...... 0.30 Tucci and Richard Dormer. TECHNOLOGY More TCA Online: One of the many ADDVANTAGE:...... 2.57...... (0.04) ALCATEL LUCENT:...... 3.52...... 0.06 reveals from Amazon’s TCA panels AMDOCS:...... 47.74...... 0.36 was that heavy-hitting showrun- AMPHENOL:...... 96.96...... 0.37 ners and talent featured in their new AOL:...... 41.10...... 0.83 APPLE:...... 96.45...... 1.23 series are not taking a pay cut for ARRIS GROUP:...... 31.82...... 0.41 working on the digital platform. More AVID TECH:...... 7.67...... (0.15) BLNDER TONGUE:...... 0.96...... 0.03 on that, as well as Hulu’s exclusive BROADCOM:...... 37.92...... 0.14 “South Park” deal, at Cablefax.com. CISCO:...... 25.44...... (0.08)

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CableFAX TECH by Joyce Wang Voice Search: Expect Labs’ knobs,” said Tuttle. More couch potatoes! New Platform Eyes Pay-TV Calix Eyes Gigabit Connection: Targeting the higher From Amazon’s Fire TV to Microsoft’s Xbox One to end of cable residential broadband market, network Sony’s PS4, many of the latest video streaming devices vendor Calix launched a new fiber service that allows feature voice search. To allow developers to bake intel- ops to offer gigabit broadband through DOCSIS Provi- ligence voice search into applications, startup Expect sioning of GPON (DPoG) technology. TX-based Grande Labs launched an upgraded MindMeld API last week, a Communications is the 1st cable MSO to deploy the platform that would enable voice search of video content service. The Calix E7-2 ESAP and 700GE family of (or theoretically anything) across platforms. The plat- optical network terminals aim to provide the flexibility form was designed for the coming world of ubiquitous, and scalability for Grande to efficiently provide ultra fast keyboardless, connected devices and “one application broadband speeds, while the Open Link Cable service of this technology is certainly video content search and would allow the provider to use its existing DOCSIS op- paid TV,” he said. Exactly how can MVPDs integrate this erational model and align it with future DPoE standards service into their own platform? “By using the API and that are currently in development. plugging in just a few lines of simple code, developers SCTE Readies Pre-conference: Top tech execs can quickly plug in voice search into any existing ap- including Jorge Salinger, Comcast vp of access ar- plication or ‘connected’ device, Tuttle, a former AOL svp chitecture; John Chapman, Cisco’s CTO of the cable said. Step 1: Point MindMeld to your website or data- unit; as well as CableLabs execs Belal Hamzeh, base and automatically generate a custom knowledge Mark Poletti and Vivek Ganti, will headline the SCTE graph; Step 2: Use the MindMeld client SDKs to display Tec-Expo’s pre-conference Wireless and DOCSIS a customizable voice-driven interface in your device or 3.1 Symposium on Sept 22 in Denver. application. The new feature is also expected to enable Comcast Buys WiFi Firm: To beef up its WiFi offer- direct communication with TV sets and streaming boxes, ing, Comcast has reportedly acquired PowerCloud meaning no remote control is needed to go from app to Systems, which provides WiFi management and other app. “Imagine if you could speak to your television and networking services. The MSO reportedly paid less than have it pull up relevant content and information from the $50mln for the CA-based company. VentureBeat quoted Internet, not just within TV/movie apps,” said Tuttle. The Tyson Marian, part of Comcast’s strategic development company, founded in 2011, is backed by Liberty Global, team, as saying the MSO will use technology from Pow- Google, Intel, Samsung as well as venture capital firms erCloud’s Skydog router in conjunction with a combined KPG Ventures, IDG Ventures, Quest Venture Partners router/modem Comcast has developed to better track and several angel investors. Liberty Global is already us- what devices are coming in and out of a home network, ing MindMeld to add voice search to its connected home “so you can connect new devices and manage your applications. “We see intelligent voice-driven interfaces devices on a home network with heavy security.” The as a key part of our strategy to power the future connect- technology can also be used in the home to manage ed home,” senior director Michael Eagles said in a recent which users can gain access to WiFi, providing an extra Expect Labs blog post. “I predict that in a few years, our level of security and detection capabilities. homes will be overflowing with connected devices that have voice-powered search: tablets, set-top boxes, smart Got tech news? Reach out to Cablefax Tech editor TVs, smartphones, wearables, and perhaps even door- Joyce Wang at [email protected]

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