Mediacom Communications Corp. has picked TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) to power its next-gen, whole-home video platform, and expects to start deployments of the broadband-connected, four-tuner Premiere Q gateway and TiVo Mini IP set-top clients in early 2013. Mediacom also plans to roll out the Pace plc XG1, a six-tuner, Docsis 3.0-powered QAM/IP video gateway that will port the TiVo interface/service. It marks the latest U.S. cable win for TiVo, which also has deals with Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED), Suddenlink Communications , RCN Corp. and Charter Communications Inc. , among others. (See TiVo & Pace Debut Docsis 3.0-Powered Gateway .)

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and NBCUniversal LLC are giving zeebox 's entry to the U.S. market a big lift by making an undisclosed investment in the startup and becoming "strategic launch partners" for a company that develops second-screen companion apps, including interactive advertising and social networking, that synchs tablets, smartphones and other connected devices to live TV programming. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX)-owned premium programmers HBO and Cinemax are also on board with zeebox, which launched in the U.K. in 2011.

Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) will soon start selling a new satellite broadband service targeted to rural areas under the DishNET brand that will offer downstream speeds of either 5 Mbit/s or 10 Mbit/s along with a 1 Mbit/s upsteam, reports Multichannel News. Dish will start taking orders for the service, offered in partnership with ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) and Hughes Network Systems Inc. and subject to usage caps, on Oct. 1.

Celeno Communications , a maker of Wi-Fi chips optimized for in-home video distribution on set-tops and gateways, has closed a $24 million "E" round that brings its total funding to more than $68 million. Celeno will use the funds in part to support a development program for 802.11ac, an emerging Wi-Fi standard that's targeting speeds of 1 Gbit/s. Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Liberty Global Inc. (Nasdaq: LBTY), which is using Celeno chips inside its new Horizon TV gateways, are among the existing investors that participated in the "over-subscribed" round. (See Celeno Joins Liberty's Video Gateway Lineup and Liberty Global Embarks on New TV Horizon.)

Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT) confirmed that it will debut a Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) product at next month's Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) Cable-Tec Expo in Orlando, a move that will thrust Harmonic into a broader cable access network category and amp up competition with Cisco, Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), Motorola Mobility and Casa Systems Inc. . Harmonic's been coy about the technical details of its CCAP, but Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF) analyst Simon Leopold reckoned in a research note that the platform will combine a Layer 2 Ethernet switch with the vendor's universal edge QAMs, which support cable IP- and QAM-based services. (See Harmonic Goes All-Out for CCAP .)

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable