Now You Can Buy AT&T; Yahoo! High-Speed Internet at Wal-mart

Holiday shoppers can now put broadband in their carts. The award-winning AT&T Yahoo!^® High-Speed Internet service will be available at 570 Wal-Mart stores in 13 states in November 2006. The deal offers consumers another convenient way to learn about, shop for and eventually purchase AT&T Yahoo! High-Speed Internet services. With more than 150 million customers shopping in its stores each week, Wal-Mart provides AT&T with the opportunity to reach more consumers.

"By offering information about AT&T Yahoo! High-Speed Internet services in a number of Wal-Mart Connection Center locations, millions of consumers will have the opportunity to conveniently learn about AT&T broadband services while shopping for their everyday necessities. This will open up a whole new world of online experiences for AT&T and Wal-Mart customers, from easily sharing photos and stories with distant family and friends to streaming music and video from their favorite performers in the comfort of their living room," said Rick Welday, chief marketing officer, AT&T Consumer. "We offer the fastest Internet speeds in the market for the price, which fits perfectly with the Wal-Mart everyday-low-price model."

With 8.2 million high-speed Internet lines, AT&T is the largest broadband provider among U.S. telecommunications providers. AT&T Yahoo! High-Speed Internet service offers consumers unmatched levels of personalization, customization and interactivity. Subscribers receive a leading combination of broadband access, powerful safety and security tools, and service and content that delivers a unique high-speed Internet experience.

If you would like to find out more details about AT&T Yahoo! High-Speed Internet service and order this service online, you can go to the AT&T page on WhiteFence.

Verizon, NFL Team Up to Offer Live NFL Network Game Broadcasts

The National Football League and Verizon Communications have agreed to deliver live NFL Network sports and entertainment programming via Verizon's consumer broadband services, beginning Dec. 7 with the matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. Verizon already offers the NFL Network television channel to subscribers of its FiOS TV Service and is the only Internet service provider to deliver selected NFL Network programming over broadband.

The deal includes live, online broadcasts of NFL Network's Thursday and Saturday regular season games, certain college football bowl games telecast by the NFL Network, plus other programming for Verizon consumer broadband subscribers who also receive the NFL Network.

Additionally, all Verizon consumer broadband customers - including customers of both Verizon's FiOS Internet Service and Verizon Online's DSL service -- will be able to enjoy a variety of additional NFL-related and NFL Network programming, including weekly previews of NFL Network games, highlights of NFL Network games, off-season programming and links to an NFL.com fantasy football game.

"Customers who subscribe to video and broadband with Verizon can now enjoy live NFL action on their TVs, PCs and laptops, both at home and away from home," said Bob Ingalls, chief marketing officer of Verizon. "NFL Networks already is a premier part of our video offerings, and we're delighted to add it to our fast-growing roster of top-quality online entertainment programming.  This reflects our commitment to providing consumers more and better choices in video and online entertainment."

Through a separate agreement, Verizon provides the NFL Network TV channel to subscribers of its 200-channel all-digital FiOS TV Premier package.

To access the new, online NFL programming, customers will log onto their Verizon consumer broadband accounts and access the shows from the Verizon Surround online entertainment site (http://surround.verizon.net/).   They can enjoy live programs at home or use any broadband connection to log on remotely. 

Verizon FiOS TV subscribers -- or customers who subscribe to DIRECTV through Verizon -- who receive both the NFL Network and a Verizon consumer broadband service will have access to online broadcasts, including:

• Live NFL Network feed for NFL Network's Thursday and Saturday regular-season games, including alternative camera angles and audio feeds; real-time statistics; and in-progress highlights of NFL Network games and other college games.
• Special events, including college bowl games and college all-star games.

All of Verizon's consumer broadband subscribers will have access to:

• Weekly NFL preview videos, including a highlights package for each Thursday and Saturday game.
• Programming from NFL Network shows including NFL Total Access and NFL Point After.
• NFL off-season programming.
• Exclusive commentary from NFL analysts, including Rich Eisen, Vic Carucci and Pat Kirwan.
• NFLN Fan Challenge fantasy football game based on NFL Network's eight-game package.

City of Alexandria to have EarthLink Citywide Wireless Network

EarthLink has proposed to build, own and operate a municipal wireless network in the City of Alexandria, and the franchise agreement, in the form of a city ordinance, will be introduced at the City Council meeting scheduled today, November 28th.

The approximately 16-square-mile Wi-Fi mesh network will provide affordable, high-speed Internet access for the residents of and visitors to the City of Alexandria, Virginia.  After a period for public review and comment, the franchise is scheduled to be formally awarded to EarthLink at City Council's meeting on Saturday, December 16th.

EarthLink has emerged as one of the leaders in municipal Wi-Fi development, having been awarded contracts in Philadelphia; Anaheim, California; Milpitas, California; and New Orleans.

"When the City launched 'Wireless Alexandria' last year, it was beginning its journey into making government more efficient and improving residents quality of life, which are just a few of the benefits of a city-wide municipal wireless network," said Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP's municipal networks unit. "Alexandria is now taking the next step by authorizing EarthLink to build an affordable and portable state-of-the-art network that will enable Internet access anywhere throughout the City."

"This initiative has tremendous potential for Alexandria's residents, businesses, and government," said Mayor William D. Euille. "We believe this is a smart way for the City to encourage broadband development, without interfering with the private sector."

EarthLink will also help promote 'digital inclusion' by offering discounted Internet access at a price of $9.95 a month for certain qualifying, low-income residents and will also provide free public Internet access in approximately two dozen public, yet-to-be-determined locations, throughout the City of Alexandria.

As part of its commitment to open access, EarthLink will enable multiple, competing providers, such as PeoplePC, to offer their services to consumers and businesses over its network.

EarthLink will deploy Tropos Networks' MetroMesh Wi-Fi routers on light poles throughout the city that will enable reliable wireless data connectivity between consumers and the Internet. The Tropos system forms a wireless mesh, intelligently routing data to produce the best possible user experience. The network will be operated and optimized using Tropos Control, an end-to-end configuration, monitoring and maintenance tool suite. In addition, EarthLink will deploy Motorola's MOTOwi4™ portfolio of products, including its Canopy™ high-speed backhaul and Wi-Fi mesh network equipment.

Charter Launches Dynamic OnDemand Advertising Pilot in St. Louis

A new world of advertising may be coming to a home near you. Recently, Charter Communications, Inc. launched a field pilot for dynamic OnDemand advertising in St. Louis, Missouri. St Louis is the largest media market to date to deploy dynamic on demand advertising and follows the successful completion of the company's lab trial in which advertising was dynamically inserted into on demand programs, enabling individual ad copy to be refreshed and rotated among viewer sessions within minutes. Atlas, C-COR, Harmonic and TVN Entertainment Corporation are full participants for the software, hardware and workflow management required to implement this new system.

"Charter is now taking dynamic ad insertion to the next phase, which means deploying it as a field pilot focusing on delivering dynamic on demand advertising built instantly in response to viewers' desires, all based on play lists by viewer sessions," said Todd A. Stewart, Charter's Corporate Vice President of National Advertising Sales and Development. "This is a breakthrough that entirely changes the landscape of on demand television advertising," said Mr. Stewart.

The field pilot was deployed in Charter's St. Louis metropolitan market in late October. Charter is partnering with Ogilvy North America whose national client is a participant in the pilot. Mediaedge:cia also has a client participating. Maria Mandel, Partner, Executive Director Digital Innovation for OgilvyInteractive, said, "We are excited by the potential of dynamic on demand television advertising and are looking forward learning its targeting and optimization capabilities."

Commercial content provided by advertisers is being placed in pre- and post-roll positions around free on demand content provided by Hollywood.com Television and Vehix.com. Video sessions are created as they are ordered and allow ad copy updates without having to incur the cost of re-encoding and re-distribution. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the ability to immediately direct targeted messages to the right audience at the right time and reduce lead time from weeks to days. In the past, most video on-demand advertising was tied to specific content for the run of the ad, which forced advertisers to commit to a lead time of several weeks and run generic copy.

"This is an exciting time for advertisers using Charter OnDemand," said Mr. Stewart. "When this product is fully developed and launched, advertisers will reach the audience they want, and viewers will see more of the products they actually desire."

You can read more about the advertising pilot in this Charter press release.

Comcast Bundles Available through WhiteFence in Fort Wayne

Comcast Corp. is the nation's leading provider of cable entertainment and communications products and services, with 23.3 million cable customers, 10 million high-speed Internet customers and 1.6 million voice customers. The bundle includes digital voice, digital cable and high-speed Internet and is now available through WhiteFence in Fort Wayne/Huntington, Indiana.

NBC Content to be Available on U-verse

AT&T Inc. and NBC Universal, Inc. have entered a distribution agreement to deliver NBC Universal linear, high-definition (HD) and on-demand programming as part of the AT&T U-verse^SM TV channel lineup.

Under the agreement, AT&T will distribute to U-verse customers the analog and digital signals of the NBC and Telemundo owned-and-operated broadcast stations, as well as NBCU's cable properties, including CNBC, CNBC World, MSNBC, Telemundo, mun2, Telemundo Puerto Rico, Bravo, the SCI FI Channel, Sleuth, ShopNBC, USA Network, Universal HD and the Olympics on Cable. The deal also includes video-on-demand (VOD) rights for Universal Pictures' movies.

"NBC Universal operates many of the most popular television services on the air today," said Dan York, head of programming, AT&T Entertainment. "We're thrilled to include the wide array of engaging and entertaining NBC Universal brands in our channel lineup and VOD offering."

"NBC Universal is proud to deliver diverse, quality programming; leading news coverage; and award-winning feature films to AT&T U-verse customers," said Henry Ahn, senior vice president, Affiliate Sales, NBCU Cable. "We appreciate AT&T's support of NBC Universal in the broad carriage of all of our cable properties, broadcast network, owned and operated stations, and VOD films."

AT&T U-verse TV is delivered by Project Lightspeed, the company's initiative to expand the fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to deliver U-verse TV, AT&T Yahoo!^® High Speed Internet U-verse Enabled and, in the future, Voice over IP services. Through its subsidiaries, AT&T expects to reach nearly 19 million households by the end of 2008 as part of its initial deployment, using fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technologies.

ComEd CFL Discount Program Exceeds One Million Bulb Goal

ComEd recently announced the successful results of its CARE (Customers' Affordable Reliable Energy) one Million Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulb Discount Program. Residential customers exceeded program goals by purchasing more than 1.2 million energy efficient light bulbs at nearly 350 participating retailers since the initiative began on Oct. 1.

We are very pleased such a large number of customers will use these discounted CFL bulbs in their homes. This is a significant achievement," said ComEd President J. Barry Mitchell. "Lower electricity use will be reflected in lower bills for customers. This also means the generators need to produce less electricity to meet customer demand, which means less greenhouse gases will be emitted."

By using these energy efficient bulbs, ComEd residential customers collectively could reduce their overall electric use by about 79 million kilowatt-hours in the coming year, or the amount of energy needed to annually power about 8,200 average area homes, and save up to $7.4 million annually on their electric bills, or about $6 in savings per year for each CFL installed. Additionally, the replacement of 1.2 million incandescent bulbs with CFLs will avoid about 17 million pounds of carbon dioxide gas per year from being emitted into the local environment, or the equivalent annual emissions of about 1,400 cars.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's joint national "ENERGY STAR® Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, qualified CFLs use up to 66 percent less electricity than equivalent incandescent light bulbs, and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing six 60-watt incandescent bulbs with comparable CFL bulbs may yield savings of up to 4 percent on a household's electric bill, or $120, over the lifetime of the bulbs.

The ComEd CARE 1 Million CFL Bulb Discount Program is the largest privately funded energy efficiency lighting promotion ever carried out in the Midwest and is the result of a partnership with the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and participating northern Illinois retailers. ComEd CARE is a multiyear initiative to help residential customers better manage their electric bills as Illinois transitions toward competitive market rates following the end of a nine-year rate freeze on Dec. 31, 2006.

TVMAX Adds WealthTV to Channel Lineup

Lifestyle and entertainment network WealthTV recently announced that it will be joining the programming lineup on TVMAX by the end of the year. Television viewers in the Houston metro area will soon have access to WealthTV's programming which features shows from exotic travel to luxurious lifestyles to programs on the latest medical advances. WealthTV will be featured on TVMAX's digital basic tier.

"TVMAX is further enhancing its programming lineup to satisfy their subscribers' passions. We are excited to be expanding our coverage in Texas which currently includes numerous partners in nearly all areas of the state," stated John Ghiorzi, EVP, affiliate relations.

"WealthTV delivers what our customers are dreaming of in an informative and entertaining fashion. The vicarious living aspect of WealthTV will play well with our customers," said David J. Curtin, Chief Operating Officer, TVMAX.

TVMAX follows a number of successful WealthTV launches in a myriad of communities across Texas.

Read more about the network at WealthTV.net.

TiVo and CBS Team Up to Create Web-based Video Content for TV

TiVo recently announced that it has signed CBS Interactive to deliver original programming created for the Web directly to television through the TiVoCast service. Additionally, TiVo signed on a list of other partners to deliver broadband content to the television including Reuters, Forbes, dLife, Plum TV and Nano. Launched earlier this year, the TiVoCast service brings a whole new line-up of content to the television by offering broadband video previously found only on the Web and not widely available on TV.

CBS Interactive is the first network deal for TiVoCast. The content will consist of original programming from CBS's online destinations including CBS.com, CBS's broadband channel innertube, CBSNews.com and CBS SportsLine.

"This represents a great opportunity for CBS to showcase its growing online content on the television platform," said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. "TiVo's TiVoCast service allows for us to extend our reach, join other content innovators, and ultimately learn more about our audience with content such as Katie Couric's "Eye To Eye" from CBSNews.com, fantasy football shows from CBS SportsLine.com, or the wealth of original programming currently available on CBS.com."

"Web video has become an explosive pop culture phenomenon and TiVo is leading the way in bringing it from the PC to TV," said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo. "Television remains the number one platform on which consumers prefer to watch video so TiVoCast is a win-win both for consumers who enjoy the comfort and convenience of TV and for content providers who want to extend their reach."

TiVo also is announcing new content partnerships with Reuters, Forbes, dLife, Plum TV and Nano. These new channels join a stellar line-up of TiVoCast partners which includes leading video content providers: the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), The New York Times, Heavy, iVillage and CNET among others.

All the Web-based video content is included in the TiVo subscription fee and available to any broadband connected TiVo Series2™ TiVo box, with TiVoCast available on Series3™ TiVo boxes later this year.

For more, check out the TiVo press release.

Versus to Launch HD Channel

According to a recent Mediaweek article, the Versus network will be launching a high-definition channel in early next year. The Comcast-owned cable network will offer Comcast Golf Channel programming on the new channel from noon to 7:00 p.m. and Versus programming from 7:00 p.m. to noon. The channel will be initially be carried on all Comcast systems, with DIRECTV also signing on to carry the channel.

Mediaweek says that the new channel will offer all high-definition National Hockey League games to be carried by Versus. The programming airing on the new HD channel will also air simultaneously on either the Golf Channel or Versus. The Golf Channel programming will include live golf tournament coverage, including the PGA, while programming from Versus offered in HD will focus on other sports in addition to hockey,  including boxing, professional bull riding, as well as hunting and fishing shows.

Rumor also has it that there are plans to air the Tour de France upconverted in high definition on the new channel, but negotiations are also taking place to try to get a pure high-definition feed of the event.

For more details, check out the Mediaweek article Versus to Offer High-Def Channel .