Buckle up for today's cable news roundup...

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has launched a new user interface for Google TV, and will soon support 3-D programming and multiple user profiles. (See Dish's Google TV Exclusive Will Be Brief .)

Reactions were mixed Wednesday amid word that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker is leaving the agency to join Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) as SVP of government affairs, NBCUniversal LLC . Attwell Baker voted in favor of Comcast's takeover of NBCU in January. (See FCC Blesses Condition-Laden Comcast-NBCU Deal.)

Canoe Ventures LLC , the cross-MSO advanced ad venture, plans launch a national platform for video-on-demand advertising later this year. It's been testing multi-vendor VoD ad systems at its Innovation Lab since last year. (See Canoe Experiments With VoD Ads.)

Cox Communications Inc. expanded its switched digital video (SDV) deployment with BigBand Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: BBND) to more markets that rely on both Motorola Mobility LLC and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)-made set-top boxes. Cox and BigBand started rolling out SDV in 2007 in Northern Virginia, Phoenix, and Orange County, Calif. (See Cox Flips BigBand's DV Switch .)

ESPN, which already costs affiliates $4.50 monthly, may be able to use distribution rights to the Olympics to grow affiliate revenue, Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) CEO Bob Iger told analysts.

Facebook admits it hired a PR firm to trash Google.

RCN Corp. hired another 57 staffers for its customer service call center in Plains Township, Pa.

Epix named former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. executive Douglas Lee EVP of programming acquisitions, strategy and enterprises. (See EPIX Gains Traction With 'TV Everywhere' Model.)

— Steve Donohue, Special to Light Reading Cable, and Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable