Welcome to the cable news roundup, Hump Day edition.
Comcast Corp.'s NBC will blitz -- and perhaps break -- the Internet on Sunday, Feb. 5, when it streams Super Bowl XLVI at NFL.com and NBCSports.com, and makes the game available on Verizon Communications Inc.'s NFL Mobile app. But its first shot at streaming live NFL post-season games will be Saturday, Jan. 7, when it offers access to the network's Wild Card doubleheader, followed by the Pro Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 29. NBC will complement the live streams with several interactive features, including additional camera angles, in-game highlights and live stats. Access will be offered in the U.S. to anyone with an Internet connection, meaning users apparently won't have to authenticate via an MSO or other pay-TV provider.
Walmart's VUDU Inc. service has landed on the Xbox 360, and is priming the pump by offering users a US$4.99 credit toward their first rental or purchase.
Concurrent Computer Corp. has been awarded a U.S. patent for inserting ads into network DVR, video-on-demand and time-shifted content. As an important add-in, Patent No. 8,079,052 -- "Methods, Apparatuses, and Systems for Presenting Advertisement Content Within Trick Files" -- describes how to preserve advertisements when consumers fast-forward or rewind VoD content or shows recorded to a network DVR.
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) judge slapped Comcast with a $375,000 fine and ordered the MSO to expand the distribution of The Tennis Channel in an initial ruling finding that Comcast discriminated against the network while favoring two sports networks owned by the MSO -- Versus and The Golf Channel. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau and Comcast may challenge the ruling, according to Deadline.com.
Even if you were to believe the rumor that Verizon has even a remote interest in making a play for Netflix Inc.
in the first place, one analysis suggests that the telco would have to pay about $70 a share -- or about $6.6 billion -- to land it.
Speaking of Netflix, it inked a deal to offer British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) content when it debuts its streaming video service in the U.K. in early 2012. Netflix already offers BBC fare in North American and Latin America via a deal with BBC Worldwide.
Ed. Note:Light Reading Cable's cable news roundup will be taking a holiday break, but please be on the lookout for plenty of our Top Ten lists and our latest look at the Web of yesteryear in the interim. The cable news roundup will return on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. Happy holidays! (See This Olde Website, Part II .)
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