Cable

McDonald's customers will soon be able to have local school sports, movie previews and heartwarming human interest stories to go with their fries -- McTV is here and in high definition. In one of the most unusual twists in niche programming, the global fast-food chain is launching the McDonald's Channel, a digital network of exclusive original content targeted at dine-in customers. The programming will be customized to specific communities around the individual restaurants, and will include local news and entertainment features, such as spotlights on upcoming films, albums and TV shows.

Already the largest cable television provider in Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable Inc. now wants to become the dominant sports programmer in the region. On Oct. 1, the New York company will launch two regional sports networks: Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Spanish-language network Time Warner Cable Deportes. The cable operator has shelled out billions of dollars to snag the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports West and now has its eye on the Dodgers too. The company is tired of being held hostage by high-priced sports channels and has decided to stop fighting the competition and begin imitating it. The cable operator, which has about 2 million subscribers in Southern California, is taking steps to cut out the middle man. That middleman is News Corp., parent of local cable channels Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and a formidable opponent.

A newly declassified document has added to long-standing questions about whether Henry Kissinger, while secretary of State, halted a U.S. plan to curb a secret program of international assassinations by South American dictators. The document, a set of instructions cabled from Kissinger to his top Latin American deputy, ended efforts by U.S. diplomats to warn the governments of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina against involvement in the covert plan known as Operation Condor, according to Peter Kornbluh, an analyst with the National Security Archive, a private research organization that uncovered the document and made it public Saturday.

Speaking the language of the fast growing and increasingly desirable Latino audience, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC News and Univision Communications are teaming up to launch a 24-hour English-language news network. The yet-unnamed cable channel, announced Monday, is expected to launch during the first half of next year. The two companies plan to get a head start this summer with a website and content for social networks and mobile devices devoted to covering the U.S. presidential election — which some analysts say could be decided by Latino voters in battleground states.

A few weeks before the opening of Santa Catalina Island's zipline attraction, its designer popped a question that caught a handful of local officials and visiting journalists off guard: "Want to zip?" Bradd Morse, the president of Canopy Tours Inc., was mindful that being among the first to hurtle over rocky, cactus-filled canyons at speeds of up to 40 mph while dangling from a cable as high as 300 feet off the ground might make some people nervous. But getting these individuals -- public safety officials, mostly -- to take a ride on the Catalina Zipline Eco-Tour is all part of the plan to transform this struggling harbor community of about 3,000 people into a more prominent Southern California destination.

There's one sector of the entertainment industry that has not been roiled by the Internet, the economy or ever-changing consumer tastes. Say hello to Hollywood's most stable business: Soft-core pornography. The oft-mocked genre, which has given the world such memorable fare as "Witches of Breastwick" and "Tarzeena: Jiggle in the Jungle," is more visible — and valuable — than ever, even at a time when hard-core adult entertainment is easily accessible on every media device.

NEW YORK - On a recent morning, Joel Stillerman, an executive with the cable network AMC, was sitting in his 15th-floor office opposite Madison Square Garden and getting excited. He wasn't enthused about the usual matters, like the restored popularity of the network's signature series, "Mad Men," or the shiny ratings for the recently concluded season of the zombie hit"The Walking Dead. " "You've never seen 'Ace in the Hole?'" Stillerman said to a reporter, referring to the 1951 Billy Wilder film about a cynical newsman.

After getting mixed ratings report cards in 2009, CNN and MSNBC are adjusting their lineups in the coming weeks as they try to lure back viewers who drifted away after the 2008 election. The changes at the two channels come after a year in which Fox News grew even stronger, bolstered by outspoken hosts such as Glenn Beck, who used his show to rally opposition to the Obama administration. In prime time, Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers, a 7% rise over 2008, the network's best showing in its 13-year history, according to Nielsen.

"American Idol" fired judges, "The Tonight Show" is a punch line and viewers keep splintering across the channel landscape, but there's at least one sure thing in the TV business: Football rules the airwaves in 2010. In a striking display of ratings prowess, the opening games of the college and pro football seasons drew record audiences, further cementing the sport's position atop America's sports-media food chain. Already this month, NBC had the most-watched regular-season National Football League game ever shown in prime time, and Fox's ratings for the opening weekend of NFL games were the network's best Week 1 numbers since it began showing pro games in 1994.

Like moving furniture, rearranging household finances is an onerous task. Cable television is one of the first places consumers look to save some cash. Movies, phone plans and eating out are next. And though your average tech enthusiast probably would prefer to sell a kidney than cut back Internet bandwidth, it's often a victim of cost cutting too. With a new baby at home, I needed to realign a few things financially (and move a whole lot of furniture). I wanted a convenient setup where I could watch movies, use the Internet and listen to my iTunes music in one place.

UNDERRATED Charles Dance on 'Game of Thrones' : While most everyone on this series rests somewhere between hero and villain (except that pinch-faced King Joffery), Dance's turn as Tywin Lannister carries a menacing gravitas like nobody else. No surprise to anyone who watched Dance chew scenery opposite Eddie Murphy on the otherwise lazy "The Golden Child" from 1986, but between Dance and Peter Dinklage, the Lannisters are winning the war on the acting front. 'Mamitas' (2011)

NEW YORK - On a recent morning, Joel Stillerman, an executive with the cable network AMC, was sitting in his 15th-floor office opposite Madison Square Garden and getting excited. He wasn't enthused about the usual matters, like the restored popularity of the network's signature series, "Mad Men," or the shiny ratings for the recently concluded season of the zombie hit"The Walking Dead. " "You've never seen 'Ace in the Hole?'" Stillerman said to a reporter, referring to the 1951 Billy Wilder film about a cynical newsman.

WASHINGTON - Verizon Wireless plans to sell billions of dollars' worth of prime airwaves if regulators approve its planned purchases of new chunks of spectrum primarily from large cable companies. Verizon, which paid about $4.4 billion in 2008 in a government auction of coveted airwaves in the 700-megahertz band, said it no longer would need that spectrum to deploy its fourth-generation LTE network if the cable deals are approved. Among the spectrum Verizon plans to sell are swaths covering Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other major metropolitan areas.

WASHINGTON -- Verizon Wireless said it would sell billions of dollars worth of prime airwaves if regulators approve its planned purchases of new chunks of spectrum that come mainly from large cable companies. Verizon paid about $4.4 billion in 2008 in a government auction of coveted airwaves in the 700-megahertz band that the company said it no longer would need if the other deals are approved. The wireless giant's announcement Wednesday was designed to reduce criticism from competitors and public interest groups about its purchase of spectrum from a consortium of Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks, as well as other acquisitions of spectrum from Cox Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc. “Since wireless operators, large and small, have expressed concern about the availability of high-quality spectrum, we believe our 700 megahertz licenses will be attractive to a wide range of buyers,” said Molly Feldman, vice president of business development at Verizon Wireless.  The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice are reviewing Verizon's new spectrum purchases.

OK, take a deep breath. Find your happy place. Now try this on for size: $200 monthly cable bills. That's the prediction from market researcher NPD Group, which says cable bills of that wallet-busting magnitude could arrive by 2020 . "As pay-TV costs rise and consumers' spending power stays flat, the traditional affiliate-fee business model for pay-TV companies appears to be unsustainable in the long term," says Keith Nissen, research director...

On the eve of the anticipated approval of the Dodgers' sale, the team appeared to resolve a potentially significant hurdle. In a court filing Thursday, the Dodgers said Fox Sports would get confirmation from the new owners that Time Warner Cable would not be directly or indirectly involved in the purchase of the team. The court is expected to approve the sale in a hearing Friday. Under its settlement with the Dodgers, Fox had the right to challenge any sale in which rival Time Warner Cable was involved.

Re "Audit Slams Status of Cable Pacts," May 20: According to my bill from Comcast, I, as a subscriber, pay the franchise fee that the city collects. An increase in the franchise fee would more or less be an increased tax on cable subscribers. Dave DeKlotz Tujunga

As a Marine, Trevor Neiman survived three tours of duty in Iraq, where he patrolled the deadly streets of Fallouja and lost some of his best friends. A knife attack at his Phelan home in May left the muscular man with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a ghastly head wound. But that didn't stop him from following in his father's footsteps and becoming a cable TV installer. On Monday, Neiman, 25, went to a Victorville home. While he was inside, a man grabbed a hammer and fatally beat him. "There was no exchange of words.

On the eve of the anticipated approval of the Dodgers' sale, the team appeared to resolve a potentially significant hurdle. In a court filing Thursday, the Dodgers said Fox Sports would get confirmation from the new owners that Time Warner Cable would not be directly or indirectly involved in the purchase of the team. The court is expected to approve the sale in a hearing Friday. A Fox spokesman declined to comment. Under its settlement with the Dodgers, Fox had the right to challenge any sale in which rival Time Warner Cable was involved.

Keith Olbermann isn't mincing words in his $70-million lawsuit against Current TV. Dumped last week by the upstart cable network, Olbermann let loose a verbal barrage against co-founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt in a 43-page legal complaint for breach of contract filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accusing them of blackmail and calling them "dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives. " The lawsuit sets the stage for a high-profile legal battle between two leaders of American liberalism: Gore, a former U.S. vice president and Nobel laureate, and Olbermann, a fiery talk-show host.