Just some stuff both old and new:
* In our recent interview with SportsTime Ohio president Jim Liberatore, we asked him about the prospect of HDTV games being made available to satellite subscribers. The HD Tribe games – all of the 63 home games carried by STO – are only available on cable for now. Liberatore tells us that the HD games are indeed available to the satellite folks, and a game or two could show up at some point on DirecTV or Dish Network. DirecTV, in particular, carries HD MLB games on an occasional channel for most of the RSNs. It didn’t sound like they could/would carry the entire HDTV schedule from STO (or any RSN save for the ones in New York or Boston).
* Did anyone else notice this full-page ad the other day in the Akron Beacon Journal, and presumably in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and other papers?
The ad asking people how much they “tip” their cable company – presumably because there is no competition. It touts a toll-free number and a website. Since full-page newspaper ads are expensive, we did some checking…and sure enough, on the “about us” page, among such noted organizations in the “coalition” like Asian Women in Business, the Center for International Freedom, and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, there’s one listing that explains it all. Look, it’s AT&T! How’d THEY get there?
AT&T, the telephone company formerly known as SBC, is starting to launch Project Lightspeed, an IP-based television competitor to cable. It wants state governments to overhaul the cable franchising process, and allow companies to apply for franchises for an entire state. And now, as Paul Harvey might say, you know the REST of the story!
* It was a small item on RadioDailyNews.com, and we can’t yet find it anywhere else. Cleveland’s own Tom Kent expands his basement-based radio syndication empire, as TKO Radio Networks announces a 24/7 format channel called “Classic Top 40”. It’s described as “Top 40 hit music of the 60s, 70s and 80s”…and joins TK’s nightly “Hall of Fame Coast to Coast” and Sunday night “Into the Seventies” show…
* And between Roger Brown and Julie Washington, we’ve seen “team coverage” of WERE/1300 morning host Ronnie Duncan’s career in the Plain Dealer, but it’s hard to top last week’s feature on him by Washington. “The mouth that ROARS – Busy life of Ronnie Duncan permits little time for sleep” provides an hour-by-hour look at Duncan’s roles as WERE host, TV producer at Village Television and Cleveland Cavaliers PA announcer. Julie’s slipping, though…she didn’t tell us what time he walks his dog, or scratches his nose…or maybe she’s waiting for the PD’s sports media columnist to include that with the price of Duncan’s suburban house…
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