> Just as movies benefited from a public need for entertainment and escapism during the Great Depression, cable TV is picking up revenue from depressed Americans who are watching outside-the-home expenses while increasing inside-the-home purchases like cable. Story.
> The folks in Heflin, Ark., are getting revved for what they hope will be a better cable TV experience now that CoBridge Telecom is acquiring Charter Communications' (OTC BB: CCMM) local franchise. "We've certainly been under-served, under-managed and under-marketed," said Heflin Mayor Anna Berry, welcoming the new provider to town. Story.
> About the only thing Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp. and NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow used to have in common was that both their last names started with the letter "m". Now they have one more thing: They're sharing honors at the Media Institute's 19th annual Friends and Benefactors Benefit in Washington, D.C. in October. Story.
> Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) Programming President Jeff Shell could be looking for a new job, despite being "happy at Comcast." His name has been thrown into the public hat as a potential CEO candidate for reorganizing broadcast TV-newspaper conglomerate Tribune Co. Story.
And finally... Mexico's largest cable TV operator, the appropriately named Megacable, will now become Mexico's first quad play service provider thanks to an MVNO deal it struck with Telefonica. Story.