> Fox Networks has tossed salt into the wounds of Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) subscribers who (as of now) can't see and Dish (Nasdaq: DISH) subscribers who (as of now) may not be able to see all of the World Series because of retransmission disputes between their service providers and the broadcast network. The programmer is promising to expand its coverage of the fall classic with a cable cam that, Fox Sports President Eric Shanks said will "be like a video-game view of the game." Story.
> Here's something that was roundly discussed at both the CTAM Summit and SCTE Cable Tec Expo last week: there's a distinct lack of content for those new 3D TVs consumer electronics firms would like you to purchase. According to a story in The Washington Post even "3D movies are sufficiently rare that TV manufacturers try to get them exclusively bundled with their 3D starter kits." On top of that, the story said, there's nothing special about 3D TV right now. "Overall today's 3D TV images look blurry, the active-shutter glasses make any other light sources in the room see as though they're flickering and more often than not the 3D effect takes the form of making the image appear to recede into the television ... rather than pop out at you." Story.
> Anticipation, with the exception of anticipating anxiety, is a good thing. Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) anticipates ongoing problems with broadcast retransmission and thus has asked the FCC to deny the sale of two TV stations because "allowing multiple stations in a single DMA to negotiate retransmission consent jointly .. would compound the problems afflicting consumers." In a convoluted bit of business, ACME Television is looking to sell its Suring, Wis. station WCWF to LIN Media and WBDT in Springfield, Ohio to Vaughn Media. LIN would manage both stations as well as its existing stations in the same DMAs. Story.
And finally... Just what everyone needs, another box in the entertainment room (formerly known as the living room, family room, finished basement, et al). That's exactly what Western Digital is planning with the WD TV Live Hub, a media player box that, for $199 retail, includes a 1 terabyte hard drive, a wireless keyboard and Internet connectivity to stream movies from Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and other Web-based applications. Streaming's nice, but the hard drive's ability to store the content is the differentiator, said Dale Pistilli, marketing VP for Western Digital. Story.