MeTV is getting some quasi-competition starting in the second quarter of next year as CBS and Weigel Broadcasting launch “Decades,” a new over-the-air television network that CBS is calling “the ultimate TV time capsule.”

The new network will launch as a digital sub-channel on many CBS-owned local television stations:

• KCBS Los Angeles
• KOVR Sacramento
• KPIX San Francisco
• KCNC Denver
• WFOR Miami
• WTOG Tampa/St. Petersburg
• WBBM Chicago
• WJZ Baltimore
• WBZ Boston
• WWJ Detroit
• WCCO Minneapolis
• WCBS New York
• KYW Philadelphia
• KDKA Pittsburgh
• KTVT Dallas

Weigel will handle affiliation agreements with non-CBS owned stations, most likely CBS affiliates owned by other companies. Weigel already programs MeTV, so the two networks will probably avoid direct duplication of each other, but the formats are expected to be similar.

The agreement gives Weigel expanded access to CBS’ library of produced and acquired classic television shows including I Love Lucy, Star Trek, Cheers, Happy Days and other shows generally out of syndication. Decades will also feature some original programming, such as Decades Retrospectical, that will include clips from CBS News and Entertainment Tonight.

“Decades takes the digital broadcast network platform to a new level,” said Norman H. Shapiro, president of Weigel. “Viewers will ‘Relive, Remember & Relate’ to the events that touched their lives and generations past. The events, themes and programming possibilities are endless.”

“Decades is the most ambitious and creative subchannel programming service that has ever been created,” said Peter Dunn, president, CBS Television Stations. “We are thrilled to partner with Weigel Broadcasting, the leaders in this space, to make smart use of our stations’ spectrums and our companies’ considerable programming assets. This service will be a tremendous new business for CBS and all of the other stations across the country that participate, regardless of their primary network affiliation.”

Decades is CBS’ first serious move into supporting digi-nets on its stations. CBS has been reluctant to allow digital subchannels, which can compromise the picture quality of its primary 1080i HD signal. But as digital compression technology has advanced, the network’s concerns have eased.

Decades will join Antenna TV, Cozi TV, Me-TV, and Retro TV, all of which focus heavily on classic TV shows, as well as This TV, FamilyNet, Bounce TV, and INSP, which also air some classic TV shows.

The growth in digi-nets may be waning, however. In late September, Weigel’s new Heroes & Icons channel devoted to crime and action shows like Cannon, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Wild Wild West, and Wagon Train only managed to pick up a small handful of affiliates, mostly Weigel-owned stations in the midwest. An ambitious project to launch four classic TV channels under the QUAD TV banner – one each for shows from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, was put on indefinite hold in August. The owners blamed uncertainty owing to the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, but the more likely reason is difficulty securing affiliate and carriage agreements at a time when rate sensitivity on cable and channel space on broadcast television are major concerns.

Arris DCX 3600 enhanced DVR for Time Warner Cable Maxx customers

Time Warner Cable’s enhanced DVR is here, at an enhanced price starting at $26/month.

Time Warner customers have long waited for an upgraded DVR capable of storing and recording more shows, and the Arris DCX 3600 is the result.

Available soon in Los Angeles and New York (and later in other TWC Maxx-upgraded markets), the enhanced DVR includes six tuners and 1TB of storage, enough to keep around 150 hours of HD programming.

The DVR includes QAM/RF-capability and a DOCSIS 3 modem built into the box. Time Warner Cable has set the monthly price for the box at $15.99 for single room DVR service, $19.99 a month for whole-house DVR service. An additional equipment rental fee also applies: $10.25/mo for the box and remote control, $11.75/mo if you are subject to Time Warner’s “additional outlet service fee.” That means customers will pay up to $31.74 a month for the DVR alone. Customers who subscribe to a bundled service package will likely pay significantly lower rates for the enhanced DVR.

Time Warner arrives very late to the DVR competition wars. Its current boxes can usually record only up to two shows at once and storage space, usually enough for 80 hours, may require customers to clear out older shows to make room for new ones.

Time Warner’s competitors are still able to beat Time Warner’s new DVR:

• AT&T U-verse comes closest to Time Warner, offering a four tuner DVR that can store up to 422 hours of SD programming, 155 hours in HD;
• Comcast is testing its new X1 video platform that can record 15 programs at the same time by linking together multiple HD-DVRs;
• Dish Network’s Hopper HD-DVR can record eight shows at once, and DirecTV’s Genie can manage five recordings at the same time;
• Verizon FiOS Quantum TV customers can record a maximum of 12 shows at once and its DVR package offers 2TB of storage.

The new equipment should be available in New York and Los Angeles by the end of this month and will gradually be introduced in other TWC Maxx cities planned for upgrades: Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Tex., Hawaii, Raleigh, N.C., San Antonio, Tex., and San Diego. No word on when the new boxes will be available in Austin, Tex., where upgrades are already underway.

Customers in other Time Warner Cable cities will have to make do with older DVRs until either Time Warner schedules Maxx upgrades or Comcast succeeds in buying Time Warner.

New Zealanders want faster broadband and they want it without a usage cap, and Snap is ready to offer both.

Snap’s nationwide 200/200Mbps Ultra-Fast Broadband commenced this week providing the fastest broadband on offer throughout New Zealand, priced at $111.50 a month with an unlimited use add-on available for an extra $8 a month. To date, the service had only been available in Auckland.

Kiwis can sign up for Snap on the Chorus network for the fastest 200/200Mbps speeds. Those served by Enable or UltraFast Fibre will see upload speeds reduced to 20Mbps for now, but will also be compensated with a lower monthly price: $87.71.

A wireless gateway to support the faster speeds will be provided at no extra cost to customers signing up for 200Mbps service.

Snap’s new service comes as a result of New Zealand’s deployment of fiber networks and an end to usage caps, consumption billing, and/or bandwidth throttling. Snap has been well received in New Zealand because it guarantees no traffic shaping, traffic management schemes, or mandatory usage caps. This comes at a time when North American providers are trying to force customers into usage-capped broadband plans and wireless carriers insist on using traffic shaping and caps.

“There is no faster commercially available service across the whole country today,” said James Koers, general manager, Snap Retail. “We’ve built our own network to ensure customers receive the fastest, most reliable service possible. We don’t cache or proxy or shape traffic in any way, giving customers peace of mind that they’re getting the service they expected and paid for.”

Koers adds there is a clear demand for fiber optic broadband across the country.

“Today, two out of every three of our sign-ups are for a fibre service which shows New Zealanders’ appetite is increasing for UltraFast Broadband as it becomes available,” said Koers. “200Mbps is just the beginning though as we’re now trialling Chorus’ new 1Gbps residential service.”

PC Magazine has rated Snap the fastest broadband provider in the country.

Protestors oppose the Shell Oil natural gas pipeline in western Ireland.

Shell Oil is trying to turn Irish environmentalists’ frowns upside down by donating a high-capacity fiber broadband and Wi-Fi network to appease local critics unhappy about hosting a natural gas pipeline they say won’t benefit any of the local communities it passes.

Shell will spend just shy of $1 million on the 132-kilometer fiber network and Wi-Fi system that will be laid in ducting placed next to the Corrib gas pipeline. Shell will donate the network to the Department of Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources upon its completion to support regional communications in western Ireland.

Local environmentalists dismissed the project as “propaganda.”

“It’s a pittance in comparison to the damage they have done to the environment,” said Betty Schult of the Kilcommon Lodge in Pullathomas. “It’s beside the point. There hasn’t been any social benefit. We have been given footpaths and street lights, but half the homes are unoccupied because we don’t have the infrastructure to keep them. They gave us flower baskets, but nobody watered them. It’s all propaganda.”

The Corrib gas pipeline has been controversial from the start and relations between Shell and nearby affected communities have been strained to the breaking point. More than 100 complaints about the project’s security staff have been received by the Irish government, with alleged acts of violence and intimidation committed against the protestors coming under serious investigation.

At one point, a “rape tape” emerged which contained a recording of several gardaí (the Irish police) joking about raping and deporting one of two women arrested for public order offenses during a protest against the project.

Protestors object to Shell’s project because it will disrupt the local environment, will likely never pay a penny in tax, and has left local and national politicians falling all over themselves responding favorably to Shell’s requests.

Independent Teachta Dála (Member of Parliament) Clare Daly claims certain gardaí monitoring the project were acting as “hired hands” for Shell Oil and were “arresting people without charge.”

Shell’s new fiber and wireless network will be available to everyone in the region, with the exception of the towns of Rossport and Pullathomas, the home of some of the fiercest protests against the pipeline for almost a decade.

Local protestors noted the oversight and suggested it was hardly an accident.

“It’s like all Shell initiatives; it’s not for our benefit. It’s like the gas, it will leave here and go elsewhere,” said Schult.

Maura Harrington added, “Shell says it will spend €750,000 (tax-deductible), big deal. Shell again clicks its fingers and [Irish Prime Minister] Enda Kenny comes toadying to do the needful.”

Shell to Sea, an opposition group, also dismissed Shell’s announcement “as a fistful of beads and baubles in comparison with the billions of euros worth of gas that was gifted to them in the Corrib Gas field.”

Some Comcast customers with older cable modems are receiving letters from the cable company warning they will need an upgraded modem to “get the most out of your XFINITY Internet service.”

Customers are asked to “properly dispose” of old equipment while contemplating either buying a new modem or leasing one from Comcast. Sticking with cable company-provided leased equipment is the choice of more than 90 percent of cable Internet subscribers, despite the fact cable operators charge hefty rental fees. In parts of the Pacific Northwest, Comcast has introduced its newest price for rented cable modems: $10 a month, which amounts to $120 a year — more than the cost of buying a modem outright.

Comcast’s letter may be premature for customers with DOCSIS 2 equipment subscribed to speeds under 38Mbps (the top-rated speed for DOCSIS 2 equipment). Although DOCSIS 2 is not fast enough for Comcast’s 50Mbps Blast Internet plan, it’s more than adequate for the 25Mbps Performance Internet plan and other lower speed plans.

Customers in Illinois are also getting the letter, arriving as the company boosts speeds. Most are being sent to customers using cable modems more than 3-4 years old. Customers can find a new compatible modem on Comcast’s Approved Device List. We strongly recommend customers buy a modem and avoid renting one from Comcast. Monthly modem rental fees, now $8 and likely to increase to $10 across the country in the future, are a major earner for Comcast, bringing in $275-300 million quarterly.