Verizon Ordered to Pay ActiveVideo $24.1M More

A federal district judge ruled late last week that Verizon is on the hook to pay at least US$24.1 million in additional and supplemental damages and interest to ActiveVideo for infringing on four of the vendor's patents linked to interactive television and video-on-demand (VoD). In August, a jury had ordered Verizon to pay $115 million as a result of the infringements, but the telco has previously said it won't be paying ActiveVideo a dime as it mounts an appeal. In a separate-but-connected case, Verizon recently came up short in its attempt to have the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) ban several set-top models used by Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), ActiveVideo's marquee customer. (See ActiveVideo Wins $115M Case Against Verizon and ITC: Cablevision Didn't Violate Set-Top Patents.)

The Wall Street Journal looks at what's next for Hulu LLC after its owners decided to scrap plans to sell the Web video hub. The paper says Hulu will need to "sort out Hulu's fractured governance structure" and its owners may ask Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), which runs channels such as HBO and TNT, to join them as an investor. [Ed. note: Won't that make it more fractured?] Hulu is on course to generate $500 million in revenues this year. (See Hulu: No Sale .)

China's Guangzhou Digital Media Group will tap Casa Systems Inc. 's new Docsis 3.0-qualified chassis-class C10G cable modem termination system (CMTS) chassis for a network upgrade aimed at tripling the capacity that the operator has already installed using Casa's more compact C3000-series CMTSs. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the expansion will cover Guangzhou, China's sixth-largest city, and will give the operator additional capacity for both IPTV and residential broadband services.

Competitive cable overbuilder WideOpenWest Holdings LLC (WOW) will tap its Docsis 3.0 upgrade to release two new downstream speed tiers -- 30 Mbit/s and 50 Mbit/s -- but has yet to offer launch dates and pricing.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Study Group on Broadcasting Services has reached an agreement on most of the pertinent technical characteristics that will make up a new, bandwidth-gobbling standard for Ultra High-Definition Television (UHDTV).

Mediacom Communications Corp. and LIN Media have completed a retransmission consent deal, ending a blackout of nine LIN-owned stations that started in late August. Terms weren't disclosed.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable