DIRECTV NewsA Blog on Satellite TV News

Cox Communications has announced that it has expanded its fastest broadband service to its subscribers in Northern Virginia. Cox offers this service to residential and business subscribers using Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0 technology.

Subscribers in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg are delivered with up to 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) downloads and 5 Mbps uploads.

Janet Barnard, senior vice president and general manager of Cox Northern Virginia said “This technology is the gold standard for speed and reliability, our customers have said they want an online experience that allows them to do more, do it faster and on a network they trust. DOCSIS 3.0 lets them do that.”

Cox Communications has launched a new category in the On DEMAND menu ‘MyPrimetime’ for the digital cable subscribers in the Greater Louisiana market on Jan.26. MyPrimetime will provide episodes the day after they air on ABC, NBC, Cartoon Network, FX, TBS and TNT networks.

This category is available free for the Cox Digital Cable subscribers. Cox has launched this service in following markets:

Orange County, California

New England

Kansas/Arkansas

Arizona

Macon, Georgia

Roanoke, Virginia

Tulsa, Oklahoma and

Greater Louisiana

Bob Nocera, Director of Marketing, new video services, for Cox Communications said “Cox is thrilled to bring this ever growing library of great primetime content to even more of our digital cable customers, Cox’s On DEMAND library gives our customers an opportunity to sample shows they may have missed or be interested in but haven’t had a chance to view. And best of all, programs can be viewed whenever it’s convenient.”

Cox Communications is to begin the year 2009 with many new channels added to its programming line-up. Recently Cox announced that Fox Business Network will be added in HD on the New Year day. Now MLB Network and WE TV will also be added to its subscribers in San Diego and available on Cox Digital Cable Channel 330.

Major League Baseball will officially launch The MLB Network on January 1 and Cox will be adding the Sports network to its digital cable tier on the same day. The MLB Network will reach 50 million homes on the launch day and provide home plate for live baseball games, highlights, classic games, coverage of baseball events and original new programming.

Cox also to launch WE TV on Monday, Dec. 15 and the channel is dedicated to women.

Verizon has launched 18 new channels that include 16 high-definition and offers more than 100 HD channels on FiOS TV in Rhode Island. Verizon now offers more than 500 channels that include 102 HD and the Telco states that they offer more than 55 HD channels than Cox in Rhode Island.

Verizon has included following HD channels in Rhode Island:

Entertainment Channels:
Animal Planet HD
FX HD
Science Channel HD
Smithsonian Channel HD
Superstation WGN HD
The Biography Channel HD and
TLC HD

News Channels:
Fox Business Network HD and
Fox News Channel HD

Movie Channels:
MGM HD and
The Hallmark Movie Channel HD

Home and Leisure Programming:
QVC HD
The Travel Channel HD and
Planet Green HD

Kids and Teens:
ABC Family HD
Disney Channel HD and
Toon Disney HD

HD Sports Channels:
ESPNews HD
The Tennis Channel and
Speed HD

Apart from above HD channels, Verizon has also added following standard definition channels:

Current TV and
RFD TV

Verizon announced that new customers who sign up for FiOS TV by Dec. 31 will enjoy free access for 90 days to three premium entertainment packages like Cinemax, HBO and FiOS TV’s Movie Package and more than 9,000 free video-on-demand. Verizon said this represents free access to 70 premium channels, 40 of which are high-def such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and The Movie Channel.

Bob Driscoll, Verizon regional vice president of sales said “The superiority of Verizon’s all-fiber, FiOS network is what enables us to deliver the most channels and the most HD in Rhode Island, high-definition viewing is a must-have for so many of our customers, and we are making more of it available all the time — more than any other cable TV provider. We can stay ahead of the competition because our programming runs on our 100 percent fiber network all the way to the home.

Cox Communications has launched five new high-definition channels in Hampton Roads, Virginia area on Oct. 30. Cox subscribers in Hampton Roads have to wait for so long to get some new HD channels and now they can tune to following HD channels:

CMT HD – Channel 733

MTV HD – Channel 722

Nickelodeon HD – Channel 729

Spike HD – Channel 755 and

VH1 HD – Channel 767

Cox has also moved Palladia HD to channel 876

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

Championship Gaming Series (CGS) has announced that Birmingham Salvo defeated San Francisco Optx 22-15 to become 2008 World Final champion and to win US$500,000 and the coveted Mountain Dew World Champion trophy. The championship final match was broadcasted to more than 450 million viewers worldwide. CGS, a Video Game league launched last year by a joint venture among BSkyB, DIRECTV and STAR, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA

The 2008 World Final prize money is as follows :

1st Place

Birmingham Salvo – - $500,000

2nd Place

San Francisco Optx – - $150,000

3rd – 4th Place

Carolina Core, Berlin Allianz – - $70,000 per team

5th – 8th Place

Dallas Venom, Mexico City Furia,

Sydney Underground, Wuhan Dragon — $30,000 per team

Finals MVP

Dean “Picaso” Sutton and David “Daveyskills” Kelly – - $25,000

Michael O’Dell, General Manager for Birmingham Salvo said “I’m extremely proud of my team right now, They truly deserve the title of World Champions. We faced a lot of tough competition throughout the season, but when our backs were against the wall, every player demonstrated the skills and the poise to step up when it mattered the most. My players spent hundreds of hours practicing this season, and their hard work paid off tonight.”

Cox Communications have announced the launch 13 new channels in Santa Barbara, California out of which ten channels are high-definition and three are digital channels. Following are 10 HD channels added in the programming line-up in Santa Barbara:

Animal Planet HD – 733

CNBC HD – 724

CNN HD – 722

Discovery HD – 732

Food Network HD – 764

HGTV HD – 761

History HD – 755

Lifetime HD – 741

TBS HD – 707

USA HD – 704 and

ON DEMAND HD – 701

Three Digital channels launched by Cox Communications in Santa Barbara, California :

MTV Tres – 241

MTVU – 240 and

Chiller – 243