Cox Communications today signed a letter of intent to exchange our 25% ownership interest in Discovery Communications for $1.275 billion in cash and ownership of Travel Channel and related businesses. Cox was an original investor in Discovery in 1986 and we’ve been delighted with the investment as Discovery has grown into one of the strongest content brands in the world. While we’ve been very pleased with the financial asset, we’re excited about the opportunity to convert it into an operational asset that generates revenues and cash flow, and to continue paying down debt with the cash proceeds.

Travel Channel, now available in nearly 90 million homes, is an impressive, growing network, and we’re excited about owning and operating it and exploring ways to leverage its unique content with other Cox businesses, including wireless ventures and Cox Enterprises’ broadcasting and newspaper businesses. When the transaction is complete, Cox would own Travel Channel, travelchannel.com and Antenna Audio, which produces audio and multimedia content used at museums and other attractions worldwide. Here’s the press release issued this morning by Discovery, announcing the letter of intent. The deal is expected to close by mid-May.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) continued to press Major League Baseball on its Extra Innings deal yesterday. In a Senate Commerce committee hearing, Kerry urged MLB to accept Cable’s offer – made last week via the iN Demand consortium – to carry the Extra Innings game package at the same terms as DirecTV, while holding off on carriage details of MLB’s yet-to-be launched new network, The Baseball Channel, until it debuts in 2009. MLB, not surprisingly, balked, saying DirecTV “has the right to begin to help us build the channel.” Meanwhile, the clock ticks away on MLB’s end-of-March ultimatum to all providers other than DirecTV.

“By rejecting the matching offer, MLB has proven it never intended for iN Demand to have a fair and equal opportunity to bid for Extra Innings." That was a statement from iN Demand President Robert Jacobson after Major League Baseball rejected iN Demand's offer, which iN Demand said matched DirecTV's deal for carriage of the Extra Innings package. According to Mediaweek:

Both sides were vague as to what the points within the deal were matched or not matched specifically, but sources familiar with the situation said that while In Demand offered to match the dollar amount to carry the MLB Extra Innings package of out-of-market games and to launch the MLB Channel, the disagreement is over how the MLB Channel will be carried or distributed.

Major League Baseball said last week if Cable and other providers agreed to the same terms as DirecTV, they could carry the Extra Innings game package. Today, iN Demand Networks, on behalf of the cable industry, offered to carry Extra Innings and MLB’s yet-to-launch network, The Baseball Channel, at what it called the same terms as the DirecTV agreement. [Click here for iN Demand’s press release about the offer.] So, was MLB’s offer serious, or just a condition-laden bluff? Its response to today’s cable’s offer should tell the tale.

In honor of March Madness, TVPredictions.com offers an interesting comparison: Duke University basketball and DirecTV.

DIRECTV is the Duke of TV providers. The satcaster now has 16 million subscribers and it's arguably the most successful TV service in the nation, offering unprecedented features and programs. But for some reason, many people hate DIRECTV. I don't mean dislike. I mean hate. Whenever I write an article about DIRECTV -- whether it's positive or negative -- I get blitzed with e-mails from people calling the satcaster every name in the book. Likewise, Internet message boards are overflowing with comments from people saying extremely nasty things about everything from DIRECTV's HD picture quality to its customer service department to its DVR features. No TV provider, even the most inefficient cable operator, gets this kind of reaction. The hatred is raw and ugly. (Click here for the full post and a slew of comments.)

A panel of execs kicked off the Cable Television Public Affairs Association (CTPAA) FORUM conference in D.C. this morning. Before they took the stage, the group’s president, Mark Harrad of Time Warner Cable, revealed that CTPAA is disappearing. At least, the unwieldy acronym will bid adieu. The group will live on with a new name—Association of Cable Communicators (ACC)—that, he said, better reflects the full array of accountabilities of the industry's PR professionals today.

Back to the panel: It covered familiar ground, with moderator Mark Robichaux of Broadcasting & Cable covering the gamut of topics from a la carte to retransmission consent. This one quickly became the Robichaux and Willner Show, as the wittily dry reporter goaded always-quotable Insight Communications CEO Michael Willner, who delivered the best quips and most memorable insights. He started by giving props to bloggers, revealing that at the height of the company’s prolonged high-speed Internet outage last summer, they turned to blogs “to learn what we didn’t know about (our own network).” Of the rapid rise of blogs and other new-media outlets companies must pay attention to, he said, “If we’re not listening as much to our constituents as we are speaking to them, we’re only doing half our job.”

DirecTV and Major League Baseball announced a $700 million deal yesterday for carriage of the MLB Extra Innings game package. While it isn’t quite the exclusive deal that had been rumored, it appears MLB will use the arrangement to press cable companies and other providers for a sweeter deal. And if they don’t get it, the PPV package will be exclusive to the satellite company.

MLB said other providers can continue to sell the games, but only if they “agree to carriage rights to the MLB Channel proportionally equivalent to DirecTV’s commitment.” As part of the Extra Innings agreement, DirecTV took a minority ownership stake in the MLB Channel, which will launch in 2009, and agreed to carry the network on its basic tier. Cable companies would have to agree to basic carriage to get Extra Innings. Said MLB and DirecTV in a joint agreement: “Should the incumbents decide not to match DirecTV’s commitment, the MLB Extra Innings package will be exclusive to DirecTV.” MLB said such deals must be finalized by the end of March. At Cox, we continue to negotiate for Extra Innings with our customers’ best interests in mind and are working to reach a fair deal.

E-Rate, the federal program that provides schools and public libraries with $2.25 billion annually in deep discounts on telecom and Internet access services and internal connections, is celebrating its 10th birthday. A new report released this week demonstrates that E-Rate plays an important role in improving students’ grades, training teachers, and providing all community members with the technology skills and knowledge necessary to compete successfully in the global economy. Cox Communications believes strongly in the value of E-Rate and was one of the chief corporate sponsors of the report, "E-Rate: 10 Years of Connecting Kids and Community." It was developed by the Education and Libraries Networks Coalition and the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training.

We are proud of the strong school and library partnerships that we’ve forged through our participation in E-Rate. For Cox, though, the most telling statistics about the program do not involve the amount of money committed through it (more than $19 billion to date), but the fact that it has raised classroom connectivity rates above 90% for all schools -- rich or poor; rural, urban or suburban; high minority or low minority population. As the Chief Technology Officer of Nevada’s Clark County School District, which is profiled in the report, concludes: "The district wide network (which is supported by the E-Rate) creates an element of equity..."