National Broadband Plan seen as 'threat to the environment'; HBO claims record profits

> While many opponents have been trying to push the red STOP button when it comes to the FCC's proposed National Broadband Plan, there are now some pushing the GREEN--that's environmental-friendly, for those of you still not hip to current lingo--button. Among other things, these opponents say, is that the broadcasters who currently own spectrum the FCC wants for the NBP "can deliver the most popular content much more efficiently using less spectrum than wireless Internet connections" and that the plan's suggestion to reallocate spectrum used by weather satellites to cell phones "would put at risk meterological and hydrological activities worldwide." Story.

> Even as cable operators claim they're losing premium subscribers and HBO concedes it's true, the mother of all premium channels is crowing that it's on track for a record year. "Subscribers go up and down and some cable operators here in the U.S. have reported a drop in the number of multichannel homes, but we're focused on the revenue and profit of HBO. We have grown the business this year and will register record revenue and profit (that will be) more than that of Starz, Epix and Netflix combined," said Co-President Eric Kessler in an interview with Television Business International. Story.

> Cable's partner in WiMAX, Sprint (NYSE: S), may have other ideas about where it's going with fourth generation mobile. Then again it may not; it all depends on how you read an interview with CEO Dan Hesse that talks about Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), with whom Sprint is involved with cable and WiMAX, which Sprint is spearheading as fourth generation mobile. Even as WiMAX officially launches in New York City, Hesse was telling GigaOM, "Our 4G strategy is WiMAX, full stop." And you thought cable execs offered confusing technology roadmaps. Story.

And finally... Our British cousins have embraced TV to the extent that more than a quarter of all Brits see watching TV as "among the most important ways to socialize with loved ones," according to research conducted by YouGov for the British Video Assocation. Story.