No Action for Insight's Auction

Insight's plan to sell for up to $4 billion appears to be in jeopardy after Mediacom Communications Corp. and WideOpenWest Holdings LLC (WOW) dropped out of the bidding because the asking price was too steep, Multichannel News reports. The pub said Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), the remaining bidder, apparently did not make a final offer for the MSO, which serves about 693,000 subs in parts of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois. (See Who Will Bid for Insight Communications? )

Canoe Ventures LLC is using S3 Group's StormTest Development Center as the automated testing platform for its national rollout of interactive advertising based on Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF). (See Cable's Canoe Rows Ahead .)

SMC Networks Inc. is developing a cable modem gateway outfitted with Docsis 3.0 and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) capabilities powered by chips from Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) (for the Docsis elements) and Entropic Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ENTR) (for the MoCA piece). (See MoCA Is Go for 2.0.)

RGB Networks Inc. has launched a compact version of its Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG), a video transcoding and ad-insertion box aimed at helping MSOs with their TV Everywhere deployments. The latest version holds up to eight modules versus 14 for the original model. (See RGB's TV Everywhere Offer: A Video God Box .)

About a quarter of Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) cable subs who use the MSO's new TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO)-powered service are viewing channels that did not originate from the electronic program guide, suggesting that the platform's search function is having an effect on viewing habits in the early phases of the deployment. (See Virgin Media Sets TiVo Price.)

Following trials last year, China's Shenzhen Topway Video Communications Ltd. is deploying Casa Systems Inc. 's Docsis 3.0-qualified C10G cable modem termination system (CMTS), using it for high-speed Internet offerings and IP video services. Topway serves about 1.1 million customers, including 307,600 broadband subs.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable