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| Hundreds pack Bethlehem Midnight Mass |
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Hundreds of Christians packed the Church of the Nativity Thursday for a midnight mass in what is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
The standing-room-only service was marked with singing and organ playing.
A worshipper touches a star at the point where tradition says Jesus Christ was born in the Church of Nativity.
There were also large crowds outside the church that is one of the most sacred places in Christianity.
So many people had flocked to the area this Christmas season that there were no rooms left at the inns and hotels in Bethlehem.
Some took this as a sign that tourism in Bethlehem was on the upswing.
Christmas is the one time of the year when the West Bank's small, shrinking Christian communities show everyone else that they are still there.
Before the midnight mass, Palestinian scout groups representing Christians throughout the West Bank did as they always do on this day -- they marched, banging their drums loudly and, in a way, trying to make a point.
The drum beat has been heard by more and more people, locals say, as tourism has skyrocketed this year.
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| 25 Dec 2008 - 06:07 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| PROGRAMMING: NFL Schedule Changes, Kids Stuff on Sirius |
The NFL has restructured its game schedule next weekend. The Miami Dolphins/New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars/Baltimore Ravens games on Sunday will move to 4:15 p.m. Eastern on CBS, and the Dallas Cowboys/Philadelphia Eagles game will move to 4:15 p.m. Eastern on Fox. The Denver Broncos/San Diego Chargers game, which will determine the winner of the AFC West, will be played at 8:15 p.m. Eastern on NBC --- Sirius XM said it will offer "Kids Stuff," a three-hour daily show inspired by the Kids Stuff channel. The show will feature a mix of pre-kindergarten themed music with old-school storytelling of classic folk and fairytales, and will air Monday through Friday at 12 p.m. Eastern on "Kids Place Live."
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| 23 Dec 2008 - 08:41 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Charter Engaged in Retrans Fight |
One of the nation's big cable operators is entangled in a retransmission consent dispute with a sizeable broadcaster.
Stations controlled by Belo said Charter could drop their signals in a handful of markets unless the sides can reach an agreement by the end of the year. It appears that stations that are part of the skirmish are in Charter's hometown of St. Louis (KMOV), Dallas (WFAA) and Charlotte (WCNC).
In a message on KMOV's Web site, the station said it has worked for more than two years to reach an agreement with Charter for signal carriage. "You are not happy about this. We are not happy about this. It doesn't have to be this way and Charter knows it," the station said.
Tim Morrissey, president and general manager of WCNC, said it was "unfortunate that Charter does not see the value in offering WCNC's signal to its subscribers. We remain hopeful that we can quickly resolve this issue with minimal disruption to our viewers."
As of press time, Charter had not responded to a request for comment.
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| 23 Dec 2008 - 08:40 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| VOOM's Domestic Operations to Shut Down |
Rainbow Media, the programming arm of Cablevision, is moving to shut down the domestic operations of VOOM, the high-def programmer with a satellite-centric past, reported CableFAX Daily.
A Rainbow spokesperson confirmed the shutdown, but didn't offer specifics.
At the moment, Cablevision carries the channels. It's expected that a transition from VOOM channels to other HD content will occur in late January.
Cablevision said in a statement, "We will replace these channels with other quality HD programming and there will be no reduction in the number of high-definition channels available to our iO TV customers. We currently offer 68 HD channels without any additional equipment or programming fees, unlike our competitors, and expect our HD lineup to continue to expand in the coming months."
In an internally-circulated memo, Rainbow's Josh Sapan cited the loss of carriage with DISH Network for part of the reason for VOOM's closure. "As we analyzed the opportunities and challenges in the current environment … it became clear that we can no longer operate VOOM domestically, particularly without EchoStar fulfilling its obligations and providing its support," stated the memo.
VOOM and DISH have been engaged in litigation at New York State Supreme Court concerning the satellite TV company's move to drop the HD networks earlier this year.
Layoffs could be part of the VOOM shutdown, though it's expected that some staff will be retained to work with the service's international channels, which will continue operation.
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| 20 Dec 2008 - 08:57 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| DISH Faces Retrans Battle in the West |
DISH Network is facing another retransmission consent dispute, this time with Fisher Communications, owner of TV stations across the West.
The contract between the two sides expired late Wednesday, forcing DISH to take the Fisher stations off of its local TV lineups. Stations covered in the skirmish are in Bakersfield, Calif.; Boise, Idaho; Eugene, Ore.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Wash.; and Yakima, Wash.
In a statement on the Web site of one of its TV stations, Fisher told viewers it believes the DBS company "should be willing to pay a small portion of the fees you pay to DISH for the program content we provide to you."
Also, Fisher called its offer to DISH "reasonable" given the popularity of its programming. "It is considerably less than the amount paid by DISH for less popular satellite program networks," the broadcaster's statement said.
In addition, Fisher said it has filed a $1 million breach of contract lawsuit over DISH's alleged failure to comply with the terms of the prior carriage agreement. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Oregon, the company said.
In response, DISH said Fisher is "demanding unreasonable contract terms and an excessive programming rate increase of 82 percent for continued carriage." The company added, "To protect customers from unreasonable rate increases and to ensure they pay only a fair amount every month, DISH Network draws the line at such excess and challenges strong-arm tactics."
Last week, DISH was forced to remove stations owned by Young Broadcasting due to a dispute with the broadcaster. Three days later, DISH scored a deal with Young for carriage of its stations. DISH also faces a retransmission consent battle with ComCorp.
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| 20 Dec 2008 - 08:56 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Sirius Shareholders Approve Stock Moves |
At a meeting Thursday, Sirius XM shareholders approved a series of moves tied to the beleaguered stock price for the satellite radio company.
For starters, shareholders approved an amendment that increases the number of authorized shares of Sirius XM common stock from 4.5 billion shares to 8 billion shares.
The second amendment approved by shareholders permits the company's board to consider a reverse stock split of common shares. That reverse stock split can be between one-for-10 and one-for-50. The board can determine the degree of the split at its discretion, Sirius said.
Also, shareholders re-elected existing board members. Those re-elected include Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, board chairman Gary Parsons and former DIRECTV CEO Eddy Hartenstein.
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| 20 Dec 2008 - 08:55 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Young Stations Coming Back to DISH |
During the weekend, Young Broadcasting revealed that it reached a deal with DISH Network for carriage of its stations by the DBS service.
DISH had dropped the stations late last week after the two sides couldn't reach a retransmission consent agreement. On the Web site of its WKRN station in Nashville, Young said it reached a deal with DISH and would share the details of the agreement with the satellite TV service soon.
A similar statement was posted on the Web sites for other Young stations.
In addition to Nashville, the Young TV station markets affected by the skirmish are in Lansing, Mich.; Lafayette, La.; Albany, N.Y.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Green Bay, Wis.; Richmond, Va.; Davenport, Iowa; San Francisco; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Rapid City, S.D.
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| 15 Dec 2008 - 14:03 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Liberty Pushes Ahead With Split-Off of Entertainment |
Late Friday, Liberty Media said its board of directors authorized a plan to distribute to holders of the Liberty Entertainment group tracking stock shares of a subsidiary that will hold a majority of the businesses, assets and liabilities currently attributed to the Entertainment unit, best known for its stake in DIRECTV.
The subsidiary, which would become a separate public company, would be called Liberty Entertainment. The businesses, assets and liabilities not included in the company would continue to be attributed to the Liberty Entertainment group tracking stock.
If the transaction is completed as contemplated, Liberty Entertainment will contain the 52 percent stake in DIRECTV, 50 percent of GSN, 100 percent of FUN Technologies and all of Liberty Sports Holdings, which holds three regional sports networks. Also, Liberty Entertainment will hold about $2 billion in debt incurred to acquire 78.3 million DIRECTV shares in April.
Meanwhile, the remaining tracking stock will consist of Starz Entertainment, 37 percent of WildBlue and an undetermined amount of cash.
"We continue to work on a plan to split-off Entertainment," said Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty. "We believe a new asset-backed security will reduce the discount from fair value in our stock, thereby making it a more attractive currency, and will permit us to better pursue our strategic objectives."
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| 15 Dec 2008 - 14:02 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| HDTVs Outselling Other Television Sets |
This year, HDTVs overtook standard definition televisions as the leading TV shipped globally, states data from research firm iSuppli Corp.
And the big-screen TV shows no signs of slowing down in the next five years. iSuppli forecasts HDTV unit shipments could grow to 241.2 million by 2012, managing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent.
The projections are up from 97.1 million units in 2007, says the firm.
The high-def success compares to non-HDTV unit shipments, which are expected to decline to 23.1 million units by 2012, down from 114.8 million units in 2007, according to iSuppli.
“The technology is everywhere these days - on broadcast television, on cable, on satellite, and on the internet,” says Sheri Greenspan, senior analyst for consumer electronics at iSuppli Corp. “You can’t escape hearing about something being broadcast in HD or getting the most out of your HD receiver or the most HD channels available.”
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| 11 Dec 2008 - 10:01 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Ciel II Boosts DISH HD Hopes |
More HD could be on the way for DISH Network as the Ciel II satellite successfully reached orbit late yesterday afternoon.
The largest Spacebus class spacecraft ever built, the Ciel II is located 129 degrees West. The satellite, built for SES majority-owned Ciel Satellite Group carries 32 Ku-band transponders featuring high frequency re-use and both regional and spot beams.
DISH is the primary customer for the new satellite and, once it goes online, expects to use the added capacity to boost its high-def service offerings.
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| 11 Dec 2008 - 10:00 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| DVR Use Rising, Impact Diminishing |
According to a report released last week by ad research firm Magna Global, a full 44 percent of U.S. households will be using digital video recorders by the end of 2014, accounting for some 52.3 million households.
Overall, however, the doom-and-gloom scenarios involving DVRs and the end of ad-supported likely won't come to pass. In fact, Magna said that by 2014 DVRs will likely only contribute to a four percent erosion in total viewing impressions as the technology's impact is offset by increases in the number of total households and by overall TV consumption. According to the group, total TV viewing impressions in 2014 will be up 20 percent from 2004.
“While DVRs will continue to disproportionately impact younger target audiences and network prime time, the aging of our society and the gradually eroding importance of network prime time will likely render such targets incrementally less important in the years ahead,” said Brian Wieser, Magna senior VP and director of industry analysis.
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| 8 Dec 2008 - 11:05 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Ciel-2 Closer to Launch |
As of press time, things were progressing well for next week's launch of the Ciel-2 satellite, a spacecraft that will support DISH Network once the bird is in orbit.
This week at the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the launch teams installed the payload fairing. The satellite is scheduled for launch next Wednesday, at 8:43 a.m. Eastern.
The Ciel-2 satellite was built for Canada's Ciel Satellite Group. SES AMERICOM has a 70 percent economic interest in Ciel, which is based in Ottawa.
The spacecraft, which will fly aboard a Proton launch vehicle, has been contracted by DISH. The satellite will reside at the 129-degree orbital location.
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| 4 Dec 2008 - 09:30 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| Can Commercial Satellite Weather Economic Storm? |
Despite the troubling economic climate that's challenging businesses worldwide, the commercial satellite transponder leasing market could emerge from these challenging times relatively unscathed, stated research released Wednesday by firm NSR.
Like all businesses, commercial satellite operators will encounter some headaches during the current economic crisis. NSR said the current climate could challenge the satellite business during the next 12 to 18 months.
However, "It will be more on the order of a few quarters of somewhat slower demand growth compared to the last few years, rather than outright transponder demand contraction," said Patrick French, NSR senior analyst and author of the report.
Also, the launch of new satellites in the 2009-2010 time period will strengthen existing orbital locations and open new slots. And that action could come just in time to address re-emerging demand in many sectors as economic conditions improve, NSR said.
In fact, improving economic conditions could lead to a sharp boost in demand in the 2010 to 2011 period, the firm suggested.
NSR estimated that the commercial satellite industry generated $8.33 billion in 2007 from commercial C-Band and Ku-Band capacity leasing. That could grow to $12.9 billion in 2017, the firm said.
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| 4 Dec 2008 - 09:30 by soullezz |
Industry News
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| DIRECTV Launches PBS HD Locals |
On Wednesday, DIRECTV began launching local public TV stations in high-def format in markets across the country.
The HD launch of local public stations started in 14 markets and will continue to roll out to additional markets through the end of the year and in 2009, ahead of the nation's Feb. 17 digital TV transition, the company said.
Markets getting the local PBS HD feeds from DIRECTV are: Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque, Iowa; Chicago; Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Ill.; Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Minneapolis-St. Paul; New York, Norfolk-Newport News, Va.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas.
The local public television HD launch follows a deal struck by DIRECTV, the Association of Public Television Stations and PBS. Under the agreement, DIRECTV will offer HD programming from local public stations in markets where it now provides local HD channels to customers.
DIRECTV said it offers local high-def programming in 115 markets, representing more than 87 percent of U.S. TV households.
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| 4 Dec 2008 - 09:29 by soullezz |
Industry News
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