Google TV Still Not Ready for Prime Time

Happy New Year from the cable crew. Welcome to a very brief summary of today's cable news headlines:

Google TV is pretty lame, according to Fortune, which also doesn't like Apple TV, Roku Inc. , and the video content available on Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s Xbox. (See Google TV Stumbles Out of the Blocks , Google TV Faces Delays Amid Poor Reviews, and Google TV Guns for Cable Deals .)

After DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) balked at a demand for a 600 percent increase in retransmission consent fees from Northwest Broadcasting, about 160,000 subscribers lost the signals from their local Fox Broadcasting Co. affiliates. (See TV Contract Disputes Heat Up.)

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report may soon return to Hulu LLC , according to The New York Times. (See Daily Show, Colbert Leave Hulu.)

Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) took some heat in New Jersey for a 3 percent programming rate hike, a 10 percent jump in DVR fees, and a plan to begin charging subs for digital converters in June. (See AT&T, DirecTV Set Rate Hikes.)

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) will keep 33 Sinclair Broadcast TV stations on its systems through January 14, after cutting a short-term extension of its retransmission consent deal.

Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) managed to keep E! and Style on the slate after reaching a short-term contract extension with Comcast Networks Group.

— Steve Donohue, Special to Light Reading Cable