CommScope confirms it's up for grabs; broadcasters push mobile DTV

>  Speculators rushed in to get a piece of the action after CommScope (NYSE: CTV) confirmed it is, indeed considering The Carlyle Group's bid to pay $31.50 a share and take the cable vendor private in a deal that could be worth about $3 billion--or one one-tenth of what Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) wants to pay for NBC Universal. The confirmation was enough to drive the price of shares up $7.01 over Friday's close to hit $30.13 each. Cord cutters should note that CommScope is the company that manufactures the cords--coax and fiber--and it seems to be getting a premium price. Story.

> Those who believe there's no such thing as coincidence should take note of the obviously non-coincidental convergence of increasingly disharmonic retransmission consent agreements with cable and satellite providers, the government's unyielding push to find bandwidth for its national broadband plan, broadcasters' stiff backs when it comes to sharing content with new OTT providers like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) TV and the increasingly hyped up move to mobile digital TV (mobile DTV). "Broadcasters move slowly, but they're not fools," said Allison Dollar, CEO of the Interactive Television Alliance. "It's clear the industry needs a formalized mobile play." To answer doubts or disputes with those assertions, check out the whole story.

> Here's a thought. Private investment is a better way to fund a national broadband plan than laying the cost on taxpayers. That's right, John Holdren, President Obama's top science and technology advisor says so: "This is an area like many others where we have to have some sort of public/private cooperation and partnership. But clearly the private sector must do a lot of it; it has to." Story.

> DisplaySearch, a consumer electronics research firm, has predicted more than 40 million Internet-connected TVs will ship worldwide in 2010 and 118 million by 2014. How many will be bought and how many will be activated is another question. Story.

> How much is too much? It's been said that fiber optics are bottomless pits, but David Richardson of the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (in the U.K., if the spelling of centre didn't clue you in) thinks it's not that deep. "A growing realization has emerged within the telecommunications industry that the end of the phenomenal growth in optical fiber communication capacity is in sight," he said. Story.

And finally... chew on this one. Want Want Group, a maker of rice crackers, bought bought China Network Systems, Taiwan's leading cable TV company for about $2.4 billion. Story.