John Higgins, business editor of Broadcasting & Cable and a veritable institution in the industry, died of a heart attack this week. He’ll be sorely missed. Among the bevy of nice tributes on the B&C site is one from Tom Wolzien that captures Higgins remarkably well. Here’s an excerpt:

John Higgins was the best financial analyst not on Wall Street. The skills of being a financial reporter and being a financial analyst are interchangeable, to great extent. It just depends on who you work for and whether you’re governed by securities regulations or the First Amendment.
Like the best reporters or analysts, Higgins built his network well. But more than building, John was the network; a focal point for ideas, for trades of information and reports, and for spying on the competition. He was, in one human force, what Berlin was to the Cold War, or Hong Kong was to the spies of Asia. Those at the Times or the Journal who didn’t hire him because of his somewhat rough sartorial habits and similarly rough personality never knew what they missed.
When he’d call, “Hiiggiinnss,” he’d say. “What do you think about “ or “Do you have a clue about” or “(insert many names) is saying this about…is he full of xxxx or what? or “That lying xxxx is at it again, why do they keep people like that around?” or simply, “I’m doing xxxx, whatcha got?”...
Those who know how the media information engine room works, will also know that the impact of this loss will go far wider than this magazine. It is the loss of a man at the center… a man whose tendrils wrapped themselves around and through the entire industry. John Higgins was the Information Superhighway.

The New York Times had a business-section front page article over the weekend about broadband speeds. The gist was that consumers are frequently confused by marketing that touts speeds “up to” a certain point. It chided the RBOCs and cable companies alike because, it claimed, users routinely don’t get those maximum speeds. Among the companies reporters Matt Richtel and Ken Belson talked to was Verizon. One particular quote from its spokesman, Eric Rabe, was classic Verizon-speak:

While Mr. Rabe defended his company’s advertising policies, he said he could not do the same for competitors, particularly in the cable industry. “We deliver the full speed or close to it more often than our competitors,” he said. But Mr. Rabe said he did not have statistics that would back up that contention.

David Zaslav’s ascension to President and CEO of Discovery Communications is getting a lot of attention today. He’s the second NBC executive to exit this week, following TV group President and COO Randy Falco’s move to AOL. At Discovery, Zaslav will work for Founder and Chairman John S. Hendricks, whom Zaslav calls a mentor and credits for helping him join the cable industry in the ’80s. Discovery board member Pat Esser, President of Cox Communications, one of Discovery’s owners, said of Zaslav: “His unique understanding of strategic development, programming and operations will absolutely be a huge asset to Discovery’s continued success and long-range outlook.” A sampling of today’s media coverage about Zaslav: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable.

Nielsen Media Research analyzed DVR playback. Among its findings is that most viewing of programs on DVR occurs within three days of broadcast. However, in the coverage of the research, one of the most compelling stats is virtually buried—that 22.9 percent of prime time minutes watched are viewed via DVR playback. How quickly these amazing little devices have altered the TVscape. In the early days of TiVo, the few pioneers who had one proclaimed that it would change your life. Just a few years later and, if DVRs aren’t exactly changing lives, they’re at least changing TV viewing behaviors dramatically. And, given the amount of time we Americans watch TV, any drastic change in TV viewing quickly can become a life changer.

In covering Cox Communications’ announcement of a great third quarter for commercial sales, CableFAX Daily inserted an editorial comment referencing a certain statement last week from Verizon chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Cox Business Services announced a 28% increase in 3Q commercial subs, due largely to greater availability of telephone service to business customers (Can you hear me now Verizon?). The MSO said 55% of new data customers in its legacy voice markets also subscribe to its VoIP service.