Also: Verizon handles saboteurs, cable guys give Metaswitch the vote, ex-Comcaster becomes Stoke's CTO, small MSO goes big with Docsis 3.0

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

August 9, 2011

2 Min Read
Dish Loses 135,000 Subs

More rough second-quarter numbers for U.S. video service providers leads today's cable news roundup.

  • Continuing a trend among major U.S. video service providers, Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) shed 135,000 subscribers in the second quarter, attributing the loss to a mix of competition and "higher levels of discounting." In response, Dish will freeze prices through January 2013. Earnings rose to US$335 million (75 cents per share), versus $257 million (57 cents per share) a year earlier, but missed analyst expectations of 79 cents per share.

  • Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) claims it's had to repair "at least" 12 cases of sabotage to communications facilities in the midst of a strike involving 45,000 wireline employees in the eastern U.S. Negotiations to end the strike are underway.

  • LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) 's IP-connected Smart TV platform could gain access to authenticated video-on-demand and other pay-TV services after notching a deal to support Clearleap 's Stream On Demand platform.

  • Cable engineers at the CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colo., picked Metaswitch Networks 's Thrutu in-call content sharing app for PCs, smartphones and tablets as the winner of the event's Innovation Showcase.

  • Dave Williams, most recently the SVP of wireless technology at Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and former CTO of Telefónica Europe plc (O2) , has joined Stoke Inc. as the mobile data infrastructure specialist's chief technology officer. (See Stoke Hints at IPO.)

  • Madison Communications, a rural service provider with cable systems in central Illinois, has completed its upgrade to Docsis 3.0 using Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS)'s flagship cable modem termination system (CMTS), the C4.

    — Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable



About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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