Comcast's High-Speed Pro goes national … Cox offers home networking in Fairfax County … Adelphia rewards loyalty with free PPV … Honolulu rides high atop broadband wave

Cable World, August 11, 2003

Byline: SHIRLEY BRADY

Comcast's High-Speed Internet Pro product is going national following its soft launch July 1. The HSD service for small- and home-based businesses has been available in its own markets and is now expanding to its former AT&T Broadband markets across the nation such as the San Francisco Bay Area. It features 3.5Mbps downstream and 384Kbps upstream speed and other features such as five persistent IPs, 25 MB of Internet-based storage space to help telecommuters, power users and SOHO customers transfer files between home and office and host a website, all for $95 a month, including the modem lease price. Cablevision's Optimum Online is also adding real-time financial tracking software from Money.net, including three free trial options for stock alerts and other features including its popular Screamer portfolio tracker, along with a 25% subscription discount for the broadband enhancement.

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Cox Communications launched home networking to its Fairfax County, Va., customers on Aug. 1. Up to four terminals in a home can share files or get online simultaneously via one broadband connection. The wireless home networking package costs $299.95 for hardware, software and installation for two computers. Technical support costs $9.95 with a one-year commitment. Time Warner Cable's Charlotte division launched Wireless Road Runner last week for $9.95 a month on top of a Road Runner residential subscription to its 395,000 customers.

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Adelphia is reinstating its Adelphia Awards customer loyalty program, discontinued last year when its financial difficulties surfaced. Customers who were formerly members of the program with remaining points balances will shortly be receiving information about how to redeem those points for options such as a free In Demand PPV movie coupon, free or discounted service on its PowerLink high-speed Internet service, free digital cable or free Show-time Unlimited service.

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Surf's up! Honolulu is the top-ranked broadband market in the nation, with 40% of adults accessing the Internet at home via ISDN, DSL or cable modem, according to Scarborough Research. San Diego was No. 2 with 34%, followed by Rochester, N.Y., at 32%; Austin, Texas, and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose tied with 31%. The lowest broadband usage was reported in the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va., area (6%), Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M. (8%), and Spokane, Wash. (9%). The data was compiled from more than 200,000 interviews between August 2001 and Sept. 2002. About 2,000 phone interviews were conducted in Honolulu followed by mail questionnaires, while New York and Chicago had 10,000 participants apiece.

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Competition watch: Qwest Communications is bundling Sony games and entertainment in its DSL packages... RCN launched HBO on Demand in its Philadelphia, Boston, Manhattan and Queens, N.Y., markets for $4.95 a month, and also launched HDTV service in Queens... Hughes Electronics is launching a WiFi package targeting America's 18,000 trailer parks, which can charge what they like while Hughes handles the billing... DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package is getting interactive through a partnership with GoldPocket Interactive. Subscribers can get updates and alerts - and the ability to watch a game plus scores and stats from other games on one screen - thanks to four new channels devoted to the service. DirecTV's Deutsch-produced national ad campaign, including a TV spot with actor John Goodman and radio spot featuring comedian Dennis Miller, touting the NFL package broke last week... Comcast's recent deal to launch ESPN HD in its systems should help keep hi-def football fans in the cable fold this season. The MSO now offers HDTV service to about half its customers, or 11.5 million subs (and aims to also have VOD in 50% of its homes by Dec. 31). Cablevision and Insight Communications' pending HD programming enhancements should help keep hi-def sports fans in cable's camp, too.

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New hi-def programming coming up on HDNet: The Bacon Brothers Live concert, Aug. 14 at 8:30 p.m.; MLS soccer (D.C. United vs. Chicago Fire) on Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m.; Ethiopia's Twin Killers: Starvation and AIDS (Aug. 17 at 8 p.m.); original series Across America: People of Las Vegas (premieres Aug. 17 at 8:30 p.m.); Jefferson Starship: Acoustic Explorer concert (Aug. 22 at 8:30 p.m.); HDNet World Report: The Wolf at the Door, on the endangered species, on Aug. 24 at 8 p.m. HDNet has also been screening hi-def broadcasts of MLS games at Regal Cinemas in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and New York this summer to show off the sharper sports action to prospective HDTV set owners.

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In Demand is partnering with National Mobile Television to provide digital mobile 1080i HD production for live event and sports telecasts on its new INHD and INHD2 channels launching next month...NBC is producing an HDTV consumer awareness promo for over 2,000 Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears stores, to be distributed by Premier Retail Networks... Disney/MGM Studios wrapped postproduction on its first HDTV show, Undiscovered Walt Disney World, for Discovery HD Theater.