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Quick Jump Menu to this Issue’s Articles December 16th, 2003 Overview Cable in the Classroom – A Refresher Course: Cool Content I See ICTV Gift of HDTV Presentation

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by Ken Pyle

About Viodi, LLC

December 16th, 2003 Issue

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Probably the most interesting announcement, at least from an Independent Telco’s perspective, that came out of the Western Show was from a new venture called SkyWay Connect ™. SkyWay Connect announced a service that will aggregate over 200 feeds, which will represent over 148 unique standard definition and 12 high definition channels. An operator will only need one, relatively small, satellite dish to receive all of these channels. The venture promises to save telcos hundreds of thousands of dollars in upfront investment, while simultaneously making it economically viable for small telcos to offer a full suite of cable television services. Click here to read more detail (must be a club.viodi member).

A network that should be of interest to independent telcos is the soundtrack channel (STC). Bill Lee, CEO and founder of STC, has characterized this service as sort of an “MTV for movies”. This channel focuses on showing music videos associated with current and classic movies. It provides a cross-promotional vehicle for operators’ PPV and VOD content. The soundtrack channel stitches together movie music videos together with original content to form a package geared to the 18 to 49 year old demographic.

Reality Central made a bit of a splash with their debut at the Western Show. Their parade of reality television show celebrities and the general atmosphere of their booth gave the feeling of what it used to be like when programmers ruled the show floor. This channel has an interesting premise of being the central point of knowledge for all things associated with reality television shows. What gives this network credibility is the all star management team they have assembled, which includes Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks and Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television. They have some clever original programming that they are producing, including one that chronicles their own behind-the-scenes office workings.

While we are on the topic of offices, Career Entertainment Television is a new channel devoted to all things regarding the workplace. As CET points out, we spend almost one third of our life doing some sort of work. This channel has some unique original programming, including shows, such as “Dipping the Pen” (real stories of inter-office relationships), “Top Dogs” (profiles path of highly successful people) and “Get a Job” (a game show where the prize is a job). Anyone who works or has worked is a potential viewer of this network. Launch looks to be in the fall, 2004.

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