TV News Broadcast

Atlantic Broadband has delivered 14 high-definition channels to its subscribers in Aiken, South Carolina, starting from June 23. The new HD channels that are included in the HD tier line-up are:

ABC Family HD

The History Channel HD and

The Weather Channel HD

Atlantic Broadband Vice President and General Manager Sam McGill said “With Nielsen research showing that more than one out of three homes now have at least one HDTV, the time is right to dramatically expand our HD line-up, these new channels bring our total HD offering to 45 channels, and they are just the first in a surge of coming additions that will totally remake our HD service.”

Major League Baseball has announced that it will launch a landmark pair of in-market subscription products in July that will include Yankees on YES which is to bring live games online. This launch will be the only live in-market streaming products in professional sports to include games with local broadcast television deals.

Major League Baseball owned MLB network has already signed a partnership agreement with the YES Network and Cablevision to provide eligible Cablevision customers throughout the Yankees home broadcasting territory.

Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig said “These agreements are an important part of our global effort to give fans greater access to our game, it is important that fans in local markets have portable flexibility to stay connected to their favorite team if they can’t be at the ballpark, and I believe this represents a significant step in that direction.”

The Comcast Foundation has honored 105 graduating high school seniors from across the Commonwealth through Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program at a ceremony held on June 23 at the Massachusetts State House. The students were awarded $1,000 scholarships from the Comcast Foundation. Comcast has awarded 1,879 high school seniors with $1,000 Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarships this year, including 170 from New England. Since inception, Comcast has awarded $11 million in college aid to 11,000 scholarship winners.

Steve Hackley, Senior Vice President for Comcast’s Greater Boston Region said “Each year, we are excited to provide Leaders and Achievers scholarships to talented students who demonstrate leadership in school activities and a strong commitment to community service, given the economic uncertainty facing families across Massachusetts and our nation, this year’s awards take on even greater significance and we are proud to participate in a small way in helping these future leaders power their dreams for success.”

Comcast Corporation has become 100% owner of New England Cable News (NECN) after acquiring 50% interest owned by Hearst. NECN was launched in 1992 by Hearst and Comcast. Now, Comcast after owning the network has local news voice to its regional programming operations.

Comcast Corporation owns three news and entertainment networks and ten regional sports networks, including Comcast SportsNet New England.

Jon Litner, president of Comcast Sports Group said “NECN is one of the leading sources for New England news and one of the most recognized regional cable networks in the nation, which makes it an attractive business operation, we value NECN’s strong connection with New England viewers, and in combination with Comcast SportsNet New England, NECN will strengthen Comcast’s position as the leading source for news, sports and entertainment in New England.”

Verizon has reached an agreement on June 8 to offer FiOS TV service to the residents of the Village of Sea Cliff in Nassau County and the Town of Cornwall in Orange County. Verizon will offer the service through most advanced fiber-optic network direct to subscribers’ homes. This agreement will allow Verizon to offer FiOS TV service to 152 New York municipalities.

Andres Irlando, Verizon president for the New York region said “This is great news for residents of these two communities, who now join the FiOS revolution, giving them a new choice for their video entertainment, consumers in these areas will be able to choose their cable provider as easily as they choose their phone company. Competition like this drives innovation and value and puts the consumer in control, and we will compete aggressively for customers in these areas.

Eric Weinberger, Executive Producer, NFL Network has announced that Jason La Canfora will join as a reporter. Jason La Canfora, Redskins beat writer for The Washington Post will be serving with n-air reports on national stories for NFL Network and also write blogs for NFL.com.

Baltimore based writer will start his tenure in mid-June and also appear on NFL Total Access, NFL GameDay Morning, NFL GameDay Final, NFL Draft, Combine, Hall of Fame and Super Bowl coverage.

La Canfora said “I am excited about the opportunity to join NFL Network and NFL.com, I’ve been a fan of the network since its inception and look forward to providing NFL Network viewers and NFL.com fans with as much information and insight as possible.”

Envi Reusable Bags has announced that its reusable totes were chosen as the gift bag of choice for the 2009 MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet Style Lounge, hosted by Secret Room Events, May 30-31 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.

The exclusive Celebrity Gifting Suite will provide over 300 Envi bags filled with celebrity swag to many of the nominees, winners, and other VIP guests attending the awards show.

Sylvia Feldzamen, founder of Envi Reusable Bags said “We’re so proud to be a part of this event, because it reinforces our belief that ‘going green’ doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style, we commend Secret Room Events for its efforts to encourage sustainable living and practices among such an influential group of people.”

The industry leader in aerial cameras, Skycam has signed a multi-year deal to serve ESPN. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Outdoor Channel Holdings owned Spycam has long standing relationship ESPN providing camera angles and leads in technological capabilities delivering quality sports programming.

“We are honored to continue our relationship with ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Sports. We feel ESPN’s choice in Skycam is recognition of Skycam’s commitment to excellence in safety, service, and technical innovation” said Nic Salomon, Skycam’s President in a statement.

DirecTV will present at the Barclays Capital’s Worldwide Wireless and Wireline Conference Wednesday, May 27, at 12:30 p.m. ET. Chase Carey, President & CEO, DIRECTV will be the lead speaker in the Conference. This broadcast will include an update and outlook on the DIRECTV businesses.

DirecTV will deliver a live web cast of the presentation and it will be available on www.directv.com/investor and an archive of the web cast will also be available on this website beginning on Thursday, May 28th.

Dish Network has announced that it has launched 30 new high-definition channels in Alaska on Thursday, May 14. Dish Network is offering more than 65 HD channels to its customers in Alaska. Dish Network subscribers signing up Dish Network’s Classic Bronze, Silver or Gold packages can add Bronze, Silver or Gold HD in Alaska will receive many of the new HD channels launched. The sat caster’s existing subscribers can also include Bronze, Silver or Gold HD to their Classic programming packages to receive these new HD channels.

Dave Shull, senior vice president of Programming for DISH Network said in a statement “As the leader in HD programming, we want to reach everyone who wants DISH Network’s best HD quality and value, so we are excited to expand our offer with even more of the industry’s best HD for the Alaskan market.”