DIRECTV News

Charter Communications has reached a multi-year distribution agreement with the Big Ten Network. This agreement will allow Charter to carry the Big Ten Network and programming related to Big Ten throughout the Big Ten territory, the areas which will also include Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Northern Illinois. Charter is also working with Big Ten Network that the networks is launched on its expanded basic level of service in time and provide the Big Ten college football season openers and all future Big Ten Network programming.

Verizon has launched new FiOS Freedom bundles for its FiOS customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island the ultimate broadband and home entertainment experiences. The new service option will include FiOS TV extreme service tier with more HD channels than the cable companies in the market, in addition to ultra-high-speed FiOS Internet service and reliable, unlimited local and long-distance calling. Verizon FiOS was delivered with 75 new channels, including 55 HD channels, in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Verizon FiOS customers can choose to bundle the FiOS TV Extreme HD service with Internet and calling service, they receive:
FiOS TV Extreme HD Service — More than 250 standard-definition channels and 44 HD channels — more HD than any of the local cable companies Hidden List — including Verizon’s sports package, previously only available separately. FiOS TV offers 100 percent digital quality on every channel. Unlike many cable providers, Verizon does not additionally compress TV signals once they are received. For customers this means enjoying stunning picture-and-sound quality that makes any TV look good.

FiOS Internet Service — With maximum connection speeds of up to 10 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream, FiOS Internet provides families the speed they need to have the best online experiences.
Freedom Essentials Calling — Super-reliable phone service with unlimited local and long-distance calling.

“We’ve gone all-out with these affordable new packages for Indiana,” said Karl Gneiting, director of marketing for Verizon’s Central region. “The packages combine the fastest Internet access — period — with high-quality, high-def TV picture quality and superior voice service, all delivered over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network.”

The entertainment studio, network and new media platform, My Damn Channel, founded and created by Rob Barnett has announced that they have launched a syndication partnership with Yahoo Video. Yahoo will feature My Damn Channel original videos on its video portal. The Company has already has syndication partnership with YouTube, MySpace, iMeem and Dailymotion.

My Damn Channel’s revenue is to cross $1 million by year’s end has produced 345 original videos that have been viewed over 30 million times and signed with major brands like Lincoln, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Southern Comfort, Puma and HBO.

Rob Barnett, Founder and CEO of My Damn Channel said “Our community of video fans, advertisers, and syndicate’s is growing strong. Yahoo! Video is an important new way to get in front of millions more and to find out how many Yahoo! fans suck … at photoshop.”

Travel Channel has acquired exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the long-running CBS’s Emmy Award-winning reality show “The Amazing Race.” The Travel Channel has secured the rights to broadcast Season - 12, 13, 14. Season 12 of The Amazing Race will be on air on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. ET.

“The Amazing Race is an iconic American television series that really taps into what exploration is all about—not only the incredible riches that the world has to offer travelers but the incredible trans formative powers that travel brings about in people,” Patrick Younge, Travel Channel’s president and general manager, said in a statement.

“The Amazing Race is simply the best travel reality format in the world, and it will nicely complement our stable of popular travel offerings such as Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and Samantha Brown’s Passport series.”

The 31st annual “Healthy Living for Kids” program will be held on Sunday, August 24, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The community service program organized by WXYZ- TV/Channel 7 and The Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion. Healthy Living for Kids program will give free immunizations against polio, rubella, measles, mumps, tetanus, varicella (chicken pox), diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), Hepatitis B and Hib (Haemophilus influenza type B) for three months and older children’s.

Bob Sliva, WXYZ-TV Vice President and General Manager said “Healthy Living for Kids is a signature community service event for Channel 7 and is a key initiative of the station’s ‘7 On Your Side’ brand, ‘Healthy Living for Kids’ is also shining example of how community service projects can make a real difference in the lives of metro Detroit families.”

The contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States and to celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture during Hispanic Heritage Month celebrated during September 15 and ending on October 15. PBS has announced the 2008 Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations with a great lineup of programs that entertain while examining the history, heritage and cultural contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. PBS will present rich and varied styles of Latin music from
Texican - LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS
Afro-Cuban pop - INDEPENDENT LENS “La Lupe: Queen of Latin Soul”
All-female mariachi band - INDEPENDENT LENS “Companeras”
Traditional Mexican corrido (P.O.V. “Al Otro Lado (To The Other Side)”
PBS also have plans to broadcast BROWN IS THE NEW GREEN, AMERICAN MASTERS “Orozco: Man of Fire” and P.O.V. “Made in L.A.” and several of its recent nominees for Imagen Awards.

PBS’ Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) programmings are as follows:

New Programming

LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS
LATINOS ’08
P.O.V. “Calavera Highway”

Encore Programming

BROWN IS THE NEW GREEN: GEORGE LOPEZ AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
JUSTICE FOR MY PEOPLE: THE DR. HECTOR P. GARCIA STORY
AMERICAN MASTERS “Orozco: Man of Fire”
AMERICAN MASTERS “Rivera in America”
INDEPENDENT LENS “La Lupe: Queen of Latin Soul”
INDEPENDENT LENS “Compañeras”
INDEPENDENT LENS “Writ Writer”
P.O.V. “Made In L.A.”
P.O.V. “Al Otro Lado (To The Other Side)”

ESPN president George Bodenheimer announced that ESPN Networks will bid for the broadcast rights of the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Games. ESPN, NBC several other Companies will also run for the rights when the International Olympic Committee begins the auction process over the next year. NBC already holds the rights to broadcast the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London. ESPN officials said bidding for the 2014 Games from Sochi, Russia and the 2016 Summer Olympics will likely unfold over the next six to nine months. Exact date will be announced by October 2009, when the IOC determines whether Rio de Janiero, Madrid, Tokyo or Chicago will host the 2016 Game.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation and Demand Media’s online social conversation for health, fitness and lifestyle website LIVESTRONG.COM has announced a contest on YouTube called “Dare To Share Your Story.” The contest will be closed on Monday, September 8th, 2008 and the participants have to upload an original video describing how they dared to make a healthy or positive change in their life or the life of someone else and post it as a video response to Lance Armstrong’s call out video on YouTube. The contest winner will be announced on September 23rd, 2008 and will receive an autographed Trek bicycle from Lance’s shop, Mellow Johnny’s. The winning video will also be featured on the homepage of LIVESTRONG.COM

“We are really excited to see the stories the YouTube community has to share for the ‘Dare to Share Your Story’ video contest,” said Sadia Harper, how-to and lifestyle community manager for YouTube. “Lance Armstrong is an inspiration to so many people and has such a compelling story of his own. Who better to share your stories with than someone who has conquered and achieved so much?”

Warner Bros has added 85 classic movies to its Video on Demand (VOD) celebrating Warner Bros. Entertainment’s 85th Anniversary. These movies will be available first time in high definition on VOD. “Superman: The Movie,” “Casablanca” and “Full Metal Jacket” were launched in satellite providers DirecTV and DISH Network and also on cable operators like Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Cable, Time Warner Cable and Rogers Cable (Canada).
Following are the Titles offered :
Absolute Power
All the President’s Men
An American in Paris
Analyze This
Any Given Sunday
Arthur
Beetlejuice
Ben Hur
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Blood Work
Bonnie and Clyde
Casablanca
Chariots of Fire
A Clockwork Orange
Collateral Damage
Constantine
Cool Hand Luke
Deliverance
Devil’s Advocate
Dial M for Murder
Dirty Harry
Doctor Zhivago
Dog Day Afternoon
Enter the Dragon
Eraser
The Exorcist
Fear dot com
The Fugitive
Full Metal Jacket
Goodfellas
Green Mile
Grumpy Old Men
Horror of Dracula
I Confess
Interview with the Vampire
The Killing Fields
Last Samurai
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2
Lethal Weapon 3
Lethal Weapon 4
Little Shop of Horrors
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
Maltese Falcon
Mars Attacks!
Matrix Reloaded
Matrix Revisited
Matrix Revolutions
Million Dollar Baby
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Natural Born Killers
Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Ocean’s Twelve
Once Upon a Time in America
Pale Rider
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
The Philadelphia Story
Presumed Innocent
The Road Warrior
Rebel without a Cause
The Right Stuff
Risky Business
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
Singin’ in the Rain
Space Jam
Spies Like Us
Stage Fright
Strangers on a Train
Streetcar Named Desire
Superman II
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman: The Movie
Suspicion
Three Kings
Training Day
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Troy
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Under Siege
Unforgiven
The Wrong Man

NBC Universal (NBCU) has selected Ensequence and DISH Network to transform NBCU’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games into a fully interactive experience. NBCU has chosen Ensequence to provide a separate interactive application on DishHOME on DISH Network Channel-100. NBCU’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games experience wraps interactivity around live programming on DISH Network.

DISH Network will offer NBCU’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games coverage through its Interactive TV mosaic, a multiple-screen showcase, available to more than 12 million iTV-enabled DISH Network subscribers from August 8 - August 24, 2008. The iTV mosaic will broadcast from six NBCU channels: CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, USA Network and two Olympic highlight channels. DISH Network subscribers can watch all six screens simultaneously or select one channel to watch in full-screen.

NBCU and Ensequence are teaming up for the second time to deliver interactive television to viewers. DISH Network viewers are able to use their remote control to instantly access athlete profiles, learn more about Beijing and the event venues, learn more about featured sponsors, read late-breaking news, see the team USA Report, track each country’s medal counts and view video highlights of the day’s events.

“NBC Universal and DISH Network continue to set the pace for the entire industry with interactive television and we’re excited to be partnering with them to create and deliver the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games interactive television experience,” said Dalen Harrison, Ensequence CEO. “The world’s most innovative programmers such as NBC Universal are realizing that interactive television delivers the engagement and accountability of the internet, giving them the best of both worlds.”