N3D, the US’ first 24/7 all 3D channel, launches on DIRECTV tomorrow. — With more than 9.3 million viewers, the Mexico vs Argentina game on Univision hit a high for the most watched Spanish-language program in TV history. — Verizon FiOS has added the July 3rd Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight pay-per-view event in Spanish. — Starz has a new deal with Comcast with a multi-year contract covering all Starz premium SD and HD channels as well as its on-demand and online properties. — Nickelodeon, and the National Football League have their first production partnership designed to create the new, original animated short-form series, Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core for Nicktoons.

Internet in the Sky: Space-based internet is still looking for ways to get better traction in the commercial sector as the analysts at NSR note that Cisco’s Internet Router in Space (IRIS) has had no takers for a pure commercial play. While government interest is positive, return on investment considerations remain up in the air suggesting that a consumer IRIS program is, at best, somewhere down the road.

Over There: Sky Sports is extending its reach, giving subscribers free access to its online and mobile platforms until the end of the year. After that, though, watch out as virtually Murdoch properties (News Corp. owns a controlling share of Sky) are looking to move into paid programming.

Showtime Exit: As previously reported, Showtime is set for a big change in programming honchos as the dark humor of Robert Greenblatt gives way to the more family-oriented fare of David Nevins. We’re sure Nevins (“Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood”) is fabulous … but darn.

At the Portals: Greg Elin is the FCC’s first-ever chief data officer. He’ll coordinate an initiative designed to streamline the agency’s collection, uses and dissemination of data. — The FCC says that at the end of 2008 12% of local telco connections were residential VoIP subscriptions and 1%were business VoIP subscriptions. The report also includes information about standalone subscriptions versus broadband service bundles that include VoIP.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA: 18.46 -0.05 -0.27%), the largest U.S. cable MSO (Multiple System Operator), is all set to emerge as the world leader in entertainment and media through the acquisition of a controlling 51% stake in NBC Universal, a joint venture with General Electric Co. (GE: 16.27 +0.32 +2.01%). However, competitors suspect that this $30 billion transaction will give Comcast the sole power to control not just how TV shows and movies are made, but how they are delivered to homes.

The NBC-Comcast deal is the first ever where a network and a cable company have joined forces. Through this deal, Comcast will be able to serve one-fourth of the U.S.’ pay-TV households, supported by a large content-creation empire. NBC Universal is the fourth largest U.S. media company enriched with a vast content library. This will prove to be beneficial for Comcast to expand its own video-on-demand opportunities.

Despite being the largest cable MSO in the U.S. Comcast faces severe competition from both telecom and satellite service providers. Verizon Communications Inc.’s (VZ: 29.04 -0.09 -0.31%) FiOS-TV and AT&T Inc.’s (T: 25.49 +0.06 +0.24%) U-verse TV product are likely to make the entertainment, information and communications market extremely competitive.

Among the satellite operators, Dish Network Corp. (DISH: 21.25 -0.06 -0.28%) and DirecTV (DTV: 37.59 +0.16 +0.43%) are still leading the show. Intra-industry competition among cable MSOs has also gained momentum. Competitors are anxious that this deal will drive down the prices paid by the cable companies to retransmit local programs and will conceivably restructure the local TV scenario.

At the end of the first quarter of 2010, Comcast had 16,329 million High-Speed Internet customers, 7,895 million Voice customers, 23,477 million Video customers and 18,843 million Digital Video customers.

Comcast faces intense competition from Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC: 55.07 -0.09 -0.16%), Cablevision System (CVC: 25.36 +0.15 +0.60%), Cox Communications Inc. and Charter Communications Inc.

We believe Comcast is well-positioned to leverage its two-way network to offer more interactive, on-demand programming to subscribers. The company continues to manage its business profitably, resulting in healthy revenues, operating cash flow, earnings per share and free cash flow generation. We currently maintain our Neutral recommendation on Comcast.

Popularity: 6% [?]

he Russian satellite platform, a leader in the country, claims that in early June they were a victim of numerous attacks by hackers that had decommissioned five main channels.

These “pirates” have entered the central computers of Tricolor TV. The channels affected were the Russians Pervyj, Rossija 1 Rossija2, Rossija 24 and NTV.

Tricolor has more than 5 million subscribers and is ranked second in European satellite platforms after British Sky Digital (BSkyB) and before the French CanalSat.

A total of 33 television channels are offered by the Russian satellite platform. Tricolor TV is distributed via satellite Eutelsat W4 (36 ° East) and uses only three transponders.

The platform uses the conditional access system DRE-Crypt to encrypt its signal.

On 11 June this year about 2,000 subscribers reported problems with their smart cards to access the Tricolor TV platform.

Tricolor TV technicians are working to resume the affected channel access, a task that seems easy at the moment. Tricolor TV appears to have taken drastic measures with DRE-Crypt to the extent that the July 15 version will implemented a “soft” system in order to change the affected cards.

Tricolor TV is giving away as compensation to their subscribers two free months of subscription of its basic package.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Do not throw away your old FTA receivers.There is a new company to launch around 30 Free FTA english,good,channels ,on your old fta receiver,

ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox have been added to the channel list

The proposed orbital position for our satellite will be between 80 and 100 degrees west.

Proposed Channel Lineup

Space Vid Cast
Making Space Commonplace
Educational television, documentaries and more..

GAMC The Golden Age of Movies Channel
White Springs Television, Older movies and tunes.

DBS News Direct Broadcast Satellite News
Updated news on the hour, every hour repeated throughout the day. Not Left, Not Right, No political agenda, No Talk.
Contact: Brittney Clayton

TAC The Aviation Channel
Channel deals with private aviation aircraft building, repair and air shows.
Owner/Manager: Jack Bills

CBTV CowBoy Television
All westerns all the time.
Program Advisor: Joe Renck

MMC Mountain Music Channel
Hill Billy TV at its finest. Something different than country, with down home musicians and music videos like you have never seen or heard before from Whitesburg, Kentucky. Contact: Carlos York

IEC International Explorer Channel
Nature and Outdoors channel, (documentary)

HBC Home Builder’s Channel
Featuring construction, remodeling, Real Estate, Architect and Design.
Owner/Manager: Mike Mann

FBTV Funny Bone Television
The Laugh Network, Comedy at its best, from amateur to professional, movies and stand up.
Owner/Manager: Daniel Drechsel

TRC The Race Channel
Auto racing, demolition derby, and more..
Owner/Manager: Jack Bills
Adviser: Steve(Fly) Kimberlin

TFMC The Free Movie Channel
This channel is being organized, the name will change.
Producer: Mr. Ed
Assistant Producer: Tracy Wilder

FSC Free Sports Channel
NFL, NBA, college and more…
Sports Director : John Bryant
Sports Adviser : John Raymer
NASA The NASA Channel
Reserved for NASA
God bless all the people from NASA and associates who made this technology possible.

CBS CBS Affiliate Super Station
Reserved Space for a CBS Super station

ABC ABC Affiliate Super Station
Reserved Space for an ABC Super station
ION ION Television
Reserved for ION

DBC Diamond Billiards Channel
Cue sports at its best, tournaments, and training. All Billiards! Contact Pat Fleming for more information.

GATV The Golden Age of TV
Old favorites such as Milton Berle, Groucho Marx and Howdy Doody.

TFC The Farm Channel
Up-to-date market prices, when to plant, what to plant and market predictions. Information and documentaries on live stock, dairy, and crops.

WWTV World War Television
(documentary) films and documentary from past world wars.

DBSI Direct Broadcast Satellite Information
Program guide

CN Cuisine Network
Food preparations, world renowned chefs, diners, dieting and more. Producer: Lonnie Robertson
Assistant Producer: Joshua Robertson

HFC Hunting Fishing Channel
Contact Mike Spencer

KTVC Kids Television Channel

MXTV Mexico Television
Spanish variety TV

FFC Free Fight Channel
Boxing, martial arts, Jujutsu, Wrestling
Contact: Mike Levato
Boxing Advisor: John Brooks
Ring Anouncer:Joe Starks

PCGAME Personal Computer and Computer Gaming Channel
All about gaming, latest games, PCs consoles and hacks. Producer: Mr. Ed

FTC Family Time Channel
Family Oriented Programming

NSFC New Sci-Fi Channel
Science Fiction Movies New and old..

FOX FOX Affiliate Super Station
Reserved Space for a FOX Super station

NBC NBC Affiliate Super Station
Reserved Space for a NBC Super station
CTV Caribbean Television

Popularity: 9% [?]

Telefónica had added four new high-definition channels to its Spanish IPTV service ‘Movistar Imagenio’.

The new channels are: MGM HD, Unitel Classica HD, Eurosport HD and National Geographic Wild HD, with carriage of MGM HD and Unitel Classica HD being exclusive in Spain. The new additions bring the total number of HD channels available on the service to six.

The telco had reached 733,000 subscribers for Movistar Imagenio by the end of the first quarter of this year, adding 30,000 customers in the three-month period.

Popularity: 5% [?]

TiVo Inc. lost a ruling before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of a patent that’s the subject of a legal dispute with Dish Network Corp. and EchoStar Corp.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection of two patent claims that were asserted against the satellite-television provider. The patent office review is a parallel proceeding to the legal case before a U.S. appeals court.

Popularity: 4% [?]