More cable news from across the World Wide Web.
> Verizon FiOS, frustrated in negotiations with Time Warner Cable's SportsNet LA to offer its 800,000 Los Angeles area subscribers broadcasts of Dodgers games, is instead offering three free months of HBO or Showtime. Story
> Time Warner Cable CEO Robert Marcus sold 16,000 shares of company stock on the open market for $2.2 million in advance of Comcast's Senate hearing on its proposal to acquire the nation's second largest MSO. Story
> Discovery Communications has bought an unspecified stake in 24/7 network DogTV. Story
> Dish Network subs in 25 markets across the nation lost access to 29 Hearst TV stations after the parties failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement. Story
> Overland Park, Kans.-based Rural Broadband Investments acquired Poplar Bluff, Mo.'s 13-year-old city cable system for an undisclosed sum. Story
> The Reno County (Kans.) Commission voted 3-0 to raise the county franchise fee with Cox for using right-of-way for cable TV services in rural areas from 3 percent to 5 percent of gross revenues. The fee will probably be passed along to consumers. Story
> Dave Villano, former SVP of Enterprise Information Technology at Cablevision, has joined the advertising business solutions company Operative as CTO. Press release
> Alibaba Group Holding Chairman Jack Ma and fellow billionaire Shi Yuzhu are spending $1.1 billion to get a 20 percent stake in Chinese cable TV company Wasu Media Holding. Story
Telephony News
> Unite Private Networks (UPN), an emerging competitive network provider focused on underserved communities, has begun work on a new 200-route-mile fiber network expansion connecting the Kansas City and Omaha markets. Article
Online Video News
> Skype, the VoIP video service purchased in 2011 by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), unveiled Skype TX, a broadcast-quality online video service, at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show. Article
And finally… Shaw Communications added three Shaw Go kids apps for its Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct subscribers. Release