> The Federal Trade Commission (FTC, not be confused with the ubiquitous FCC) has given Cablevision Systems the OK to go ahead and spend $1.365 billion to acquire Bresnan Communications from Providence Equity Partners. The deal is expected to close in late 2010 or early 2011. News release.
> Since it's a pretty good bet that people who read PCMag.com know a thing or two about the Internet, it's pretty impressive news that those readers rated Cox high-speed Internet the "faster cable Internet service provider in the country." What makes less sense is the statement that the report also rates Cox "the fastest Internet service provider in the South region which includes Cox service areas in Arizona, Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia." Is the South no longer part of the country? Did it secede again when no one was looking? Mysterious. News release.
> The ever-active American Cable Association has endorsed the FCC's Connect America Fund plans, noting, according to ACA President-CEO Matt Polka that it is "convinced that the time has come for the USF to focus on the infrastructure technology of the future: Broadband."
> Analog switch-off in the U.S. and impending analog-to-digital transitions in Brazil, China, India and Russia have led to a boom for set-top boxes worldwide, according to IMS Research.
> Big River Telephone, a supplier of VoIP services to small cable operators, will use the Cedar Point phone switching system, the companies said. Story.
And finally... CurrentTV will use Invision's software to manage ad sales operations across linear and digital media channels, the two companies said. Invision has relationships with media outlets like Comcast, NBC Universal (are those two joined at the hip?), Sony Pictures Television and Univision. News release.