> Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) has promoted James Blackley to the new position of executive vice president of corporate engineering and technology, reporting to COO Tom Rutledge. The company declined to make Blackley, who will continue to serve as Cablevision's chief engineering executive, available for interviews. News release. (PDF)
> Big Box wholesaler Sam's Club is installing WiFi Internet access in more than 500 member clubs to demonstrate connected TVs that offer access to streaming content. Besides being notorious bargain seekers, Sam's Club members are also "early adopters of technology and electronics," the company's president-CEO Brian Cornell said. News release.
> In the world of things that are tough to define, GenosTV, which bills itself as a "virtual cable TV provider" is looking for beta testers to sample its IPTV platform which, the company said, will not require a dedicated set-top box, will offer complete a la carte pricing and will not be an on-demand service like Hulu. It will, it's assumed, present real, not virtual bills every month. Story.
> In announcement that probably requires you to follow the bread crumbs, Widevine, a company billing itself as a content protection and video optimization specialist, has been selected by EchoStar's (Nasdaq: SATS) EchoStar Technologies (there's the first crumb) and Sling Media subsidiaries (the second) to protect content delivered by EchoStar's SlingLoaded set-top boxes (the third). Story.
> A coalition of cable, satellite and telco video distributors has been formed to create guidelines that will formalize data from set-top boxes and make the information consistent across different delivery platforms. The group is working with NCC Media, which sells local commercials, and the Media Ratings Council. Story.
And finally... British satellite telecoms company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT.L) will use three Boeing satellites to deliver high-speed broadband access to ships as part of a new Global Xpress service that kicks off in 2014. Story.