Cox and NBC Universal announced this week an On DEMAND trial through which select NBC primetime shows will be available for free starting the day after they first air on the network. Featured shows: “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Las Vegas,” “Bionic Woman,” and “Life.” The announcement generated a fair amount of interest. Here’s a round-up of some of the coverage, from Mediaweek, Marketing Shift, and Digital Media Wire. Cox’s agreement with Hearst-Argyle covering retransmission of the broadcaster’s high-definition and analog signals for stations in six markets also generated coverage, including here, here, and here.

A week ago, after patiently waiting for the price to drop and the long-term test results to come in, I broke down and finally bought an iPhone. As I sit in class, politely ignoring the professor lecturing just four rows in front of me, I’m pounding out a few hundred words about how the super-hyped smartphone/iPod/web browser has changed the way I interact with the world—a tremendous feat considering the iPhone has no physical keyboard.

First, and most surprising, is the fact that the iPhone has nearly replaced my laptop. I receive and send email, update and view my calendar, and perform my morning routine of newsgathering—all before I even get to class each morning. The only time I've abandoned my phone in favor of my laptop was in setting my starting lineup in my fantasy football league. ESPN's graphic-intense site simply takes too long to navigate on AT&T’s EDGE network. Speaking of which, the dual modes of the phone come in extremely handy around campus where Wi-Fi is abundant and cellular service is spotty. I'm constantly connected in a way that would disgust even the worst "crackberry" abusers.

You can file this one in DirecTV’s ever-growing file of promises made vs. promises kept: The company finally announced some new hi-def channels today, more than a week after their previously committed-to date. And the reality of the announcement was much more modest than the company’s commitment of 70 HD channels in September.

Beyond the credibility issues with not delivering on promises is the “fine print” about DirecTV’s HD claims. We won’t belabor these, but a quick summary of the hassles and realities: 1) you'll need a larger elliptical dish to get the HD signal; 2) existing DirecTV customers will likely have to upgrade their dish and other equipment; 3) as always, interference is common from wind, rain and snow, and you’ll need to guarantee an unobstructed signal from the dish to the HD satellite position in the sky – so get the chainsaw ready as you may need to do some heavy “pruning” of trees; 4) there are significant fees associated with the required programming packages that gain you access to many of the HD channels they will be launching – up to $1000 more per year. Beyond some of the classic satellite hassles is the fact that DirecTV’s math really doesn’t add up on its numerous HD claims. The company now says it will offer 70 HD channels by October and 100 by the end of the year. But “100” will be a looooooong stretch for the large majority of both current DirecTV customers and potential new customers based on the expense they’d need to incur to get even close to this number of channels.

In a long-delayed and eventful meeting that wrapped late last night, the FCC gave the cable industry what some consider a rare victory, on a decision related to the 2009 DTV transition. It was one of several sweeping issues the FCC considered in the meeting. From Shirley Brady at Cable360.net (click here for the full post):

In a move designed to not penalize cable subscribers who still have analog TVs after the the digital TV transition deadline of Feb. 17, 2009, the FCC last night ruled that cable operators must transmit broadcasters' local digital and analog TV signals for a three-year period starting the next day (Feb. 18) and not charge broadcasters for carrying those signals. All-digital cable systems are exempt from the requirement to carry analog signals. The three-year sunset clause was a win for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the cable industry's lobbying arm on the Hill, which fought Martin's initial proposal that operators carry a must-carry station's analog and digital signals until a system is all-digital. The NCTA pushed for the three-year limit as a compromise on digital must-carry, although the FCC reserved the right to extend the three-year sunset clause.

The move pleased NCTA’s Kyle McSlarrow, who issued this statement:

As football season starts, another battle between a sports net and cable distributors is getting heated. Fox Cable Networks wants broad analog carriage and high fees for its new regional sports channel, the Big Ten Network, and is running ads encouraging consumers to switch to DirecTV, which is carrying the net. Cox Communications and other cable companies are negotiating with the network for distribution on cable systems within or adjacent to Big Ten territories, but want to distribute it on digital sports tiers, so that only those customers who are interested in the programming will have to pay extra for it. In a letter to customers last week, Comcast declared: “The Big Ten and Fox see huge revenue opportunities in creating their own network and want to charge Comcast customers hundreds of millions of dollars to watch it on expanded basic. We believe that our offer to carry Fox's BTN on a sports tier best protects the interests of all of our customers, including Big Ten fans.” Comcast directed customers to a new site, www.puttingfansfirst.com, that breaks down the issue in detail and encourages them to take action.

Buying cable advertising is simple, streamlined and superior. That was the message delivered to D.C. media buyers, campaign insiders and other politcos in a conference this week targeting increased cable ad sales for the ’08 election cycle. At the political advertising summit, Cox's John Dyer, Comcast's David Cohen, and Time Warner's Landel Hobbs pledged to make it easy to buy cable spot time across the country and discussed unique interactive advertising applications under development by the industry. Pitching cable's superiority over broadcast in surgically targeting specific demographic groups and multicultural audiences, the industry expects to attract significant ad spending in the upcoming election cycle. Cable providers have also joined forces to develop a common On Demand advertising platform -- Elections '08 -- allowing campaigns to engage with prospective voters through long-form ads, available 24/7 on digital cable. From the Hollywood Reporter’s coverage of this week’s event:

The nation's big cable companies are taking aim at one of broadcast television's last cash cows as they hope to turn their newfound ability to target small segments of voters into advertising dollars. Cable industry executives think they can help supplant broadcast television as the dominant political medium as politicians look for ways to reach smaller slices of the electorate.

"Broadcast television is targeting by machete," Comcast executive vp David Cohen said. "What cable lets you do is target by scalpel. There's much less blood loss."

Click here for the full Hollywood Reporter article.

For over a decade, Cox has been delivering more than just cable TV services. A report from Vertical Systems Group demonstrates how much things have changed in that decade. The network market research firm reports that, via Cox Business, Cox is the first major cable company to reach the top tier of U.S. business Ethernet providers (notably, AT&T lost ground in this segment). Here is a Telephony article about the highly competitive Ethernet marketplace.

In a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing and in Cox’s National Teen Summit on Internet Safety, there was much discussion on the need for Internet safety education in schools. Today, the state of Florida announced an encouraging step toward such a program. The state’s attorney general said Florida students will begin receiving cyber safety education this fall. From the attorney general’s press release: “Designed to empower children to use the Internet safely, the program combines real-life stories and examples to help students identify the ways they could be victimized online as well as important safety tips to protect themselves from Internet child predators.” Reaching middle and high school students, the program also will include an Internet Student Advisory Council that wisely links tech-savvy teens with law enforcement to identify Internet trends and potential dangers. Click here for the full announcement from Florida.