Also: Suddenlink sheds basic video, broadband subs in Q2, RCN named in Web monitoring suit, set-top shipments shift to emerging markets

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

August 11, 2011

1 Min Read
Hulu Heads to Japan

News of another over-the-top video player going global leads off today's cable news roundup.

  • Following Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX)'s plans to expand in Europe and in Latin America, Hulu LLC is heading to Japan and expects to launch a subscription streaming service there later this year. Hulu has opened an office in Tokyo and launched a site dedicated to the effort.

  • Suddenlink Communications lost 24,400 basic video subs in the second quarter, and not enough new digital video subs (6,200) to make up for it. The MSO, which cited "significant seasonality" (i.e. college students leaving for the summer) in systems recently acquired from NPG Cable, also lost 4,600 high-speed Internet subs and gained 12,200 VoIP subs. (See Suddenlink Closes NPG Cable Buy.)

  • RCN Corp. is named in a class-action suit filed against Paxfire Inc., which is accused of monitoring and intercepting Internet search data and sending users to counterfeit Web pages laced with ads.

  • More than 45 percent of global set-top box shipments between 2011 and 2015 will go to emerging digital TV markets such as China, India, Russia and Latin America, predicts IMS Research . Shipments in those areas rose more than 65 percent between 2009 and 2010 as against just 11 percent worldwide amid a slowdown in saturated markets.

  • Competitive cabler Knology Inc. (Nasdaq: KNOL) is standardizing on FourthWall Media Inc. 's Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) platform following an initial rollout in parts of its Montgomery, Ala., system.

    — 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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