The twitterverse went into a tizzy Friday night when lightning temporarily took down a portion of Amazon Web Services Inc. , causing an hours-long outage for Internet services such as Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Pinterest. Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) had steadied the ship by midday Saturday.
Carriage disputes with AMC Networks went in two different directions over the weekend. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) reached a deal on Sunday (terms undisclosed) that ensured that U-verse TV subs would continue to get AMC, IFC, Sundance and WE tv. Not the case for Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH), which dropped AMC, IFC and WE tv and swapped them out for two Mark Cuban-owned channels -- HD Net Movies and HD Net -- and the Style channel. Dish contends that AMC is charging too much and devaluing its programming by distributing it via platforms such as iTunes and Netflix. AMC countered that Dish "has not discussed rates with us at all," maintaining that Dish is holding a grudge and rooting its decision on an "unrelated lawsuit" -- a reference to AMC's $2.5 billion suit against Dish over claims that the satellite TV giant breached its carriage contract with VOOM HD, a now-defunct HD-only service that was once part of the AMC programming stable. (See VOOM Death to Cost Cablevision .)
New CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney tweeted
last week about his general whereabouts, noting that he's spending the bulk of his time (80 percent to 90 percent) at the organization's HQ in Louisville, Colo., and the balance at its San Francisco office, which was put into place by his predecessor, Dr. Paul Liao. You can follow him @philmckinney. (See Ex-HP CTO Named CableLabs CEO and CableLabs Set to Open Bay Area Digs .)
A federal judge in Massachusetts has struck down Netflix's request to toss out a suit filed by the National Association for the Deaf, alleging that the streaming service discriminates against the deaf by not providing closed captioning for all its movies and TV shows. Netflix says captions or subtitles are offered on more than 80 percent of its most popular streaming titles.
Yep, having to miss the new season of Breaking Bad would put me in foul mood if I was a Dish sub. If I was, I'd starting figuring out how to butter up friends who get cable or DirecTV so i could watch episodes on the DVR or on VoD... or beg them to lend me their TV Everywhere passwords. but this is just Charlie Ergen playing more poker... I won't be surprised if they get something done before the premiere of the new season starts. But his customers get to fret in the meantime. JB
I have to say between late night FX stuff (not as much anymore but The Shield, Damages, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), AMC (Breaking Bad, Walking Dead), and HBO (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and lots of others) I am not sure that I watch a lot of your basic TV stuff - especially first run.
seven
Edit - Forgot to say - not as much on Showtime - though love me some Dexter :)
Yep, having to miss the new season of Breaking Bad would put me in foul mood if I was a Dish sub. If I was, I'd starting figuring out how to butter up friends who get cable or DirecTV so i could watch episodes on the DVR or on VoD... or beg them to lend me their TV Everywhere passwords. but this is just Charlie Ergen playing more poker... I won't be surprised if they get something done before the premiere of the new season starts. But his customers get to fret in the meantime. JB