Comcast Cablevision

Spectrum News Network, a controversial cable news program geared for gays and lesbians, will no longer be carried by Comcast Cablevision, which serves Newport Beach, Corona del Mar and Seal Beach. Comcast general manager David Barford said Wednesday that his company has received complaints about the program from viewers but declined further comment. The announcement came one day after Spectrum News producer K.

Officials in Los Angeles and elsewhere are concerned about a key element of the proposed sale of Adelphia to Time Warner and Comcast, because it would give one cable provider a near-monopoly in communities that now are served by several companies. At this point, their doubts appear unlikely to stop the mega-deal. But they could force the cable giants to make specific commitments to upgrade technology and improve customer service.

City Council members decided Tuesday to wait before voting to approve a franchise transfer of assets between Adelphia Communications Corp. and Comcast Cablevision. They said they wanted to see the city attorney look more closely at the arrangement to determine how it would affect Placentia consumers, and what the city could do about it legally. "In the process of review I found that portions of the application are ambiguous, incomplete and inaccurate," City Atty. Carol B. Tanenbaum said.

When ImaginAsian TV launches today on Comcast cable's TV 101 in Southern California, the Asian American market will have the first ethnic programming that seeks to serve all Asian cultures and age groups as well as the general English-speaking market. Premiering as a part-time digital channel on the already existing TV 101, ImaginAsian TV will be available to 340,000 of the 500,000 Comcast households in Southern California from 6 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 10 a.m.

Five students demonstrating excellence in the field of communications were recently awarded $1,000 scholarships from Buena Park Cable Foundation and Comcast Cablevision of Orange County. The annual Comcast Cablevision Communication Scholarship was established for students interested in a career in communications. Applicants had to live in Buena Park and be either a college student or a high school senior planning to attend college.

The city's cable company has abandoned, for now, a controversial plan to scramble its signal, bowing to the City Council and subscribers who denounced the proposed change as too inconvenient. David Barford, general manager of Comcast Cablevision, said Friday that the company has dropped the plan after a survey of subscribers showed significant opposition to it, especially from subscribers with cable-ready VCRs who would have to get a decoder box and use an additional remote control.

Newport Conservancy, the nonprofit environmental organization trying to raise funds to purchase the Castaways and Newporter North from the Irvine Co. and preserve it as open space, was recently given $2,048 from Comcast Cablevision of Orange County and Turner Broadcasting Inc. The donation represents proceeds from a marketing promotion at Comcast with matching funds from Turner Broadcasting.

Buena Park police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of illegally selling and advertising cable TV decoder boxes. Police were called after a Comcast Cablevision security official answered a local newspaper advertisement for the boxes. "He told me he has boxes that get all the pay channels, all the premium channels," said Chris Charalambous, the company's security supervisor. "He wanted to know where I live so he could get a box compatible with the service in that area."

Money is just one of the issues being discussed as the city negotiates its franchise agreement with Comcast Cablevision. As part of the talks, officials will use information from a study conducted by the city's consultants and staff from the Social Science Research Center of Cal State Fullerton. The study looked at the community's needs in relation to the cable television franchise. The city also held four public workshops on the topic.

Comcast Cablevision, like other cable systems in Orange County, does not carry Court TV, the cable network that carries live gavel-to-gavel coverage of major trials. But the Comcast video production unit, based in Seal Beach, will be in charge of Court TV's coverage of the Rodney King beating trial, which opens next week in Simi Valley.

In an unusual leap from the Internet to television, AtomFilms is expected to announce today that its collection of short films and animations will be offered this fall through Comcast Cable Communications Inc.'s video-on-demand service in Philadelphia. The deal is the first deployment to be announced for AtomTelevision, a joint venture between AtomFilms--a subsidiary of San Francisco-based AtomShockwave Corp.--and Global Media Holdings, a New York-based creator of cable TV programming.

AT&T Corp. and Comcast Corp. on Wednesday won shareholder approval for the planned $27-billion merger of AT&T Broadband with Comcast, which would create the nation's No. 1 cable television operator, with more than 22 million customers. That go-ahead came as AT&T Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong said that President David Dorman is the front-runner to succeed him, and that a plan to issue tracking shares for the consumer long-distance telephone unit may be scrapped.

As video games become the entertainment of choice among young males with a lot of disposable income, cable giant Comcast is launching a $150-million effort in April to create a new cable channel devoted to games. The launch occurs amid a small resurgence of networks being planned for introduction in 2002 to fill the expanding digital cable universe, which can support hundreds of channels. So companies like Comcast are zeroing in on niche audiences.

Hoping to scuttle an unsolicited bid from rival Comcast Corp., AT&T Corp. has opened exploratory talks with AOL Time Warner Inc. about merging their giant cable operations into a network that would control nearly 40% of the national market, according to sources close to the companies. Skeptics immediately said such a deal--combining the nation's No. 1 and No.

Gemstar-TV Guide International on Friday took a giant step toward its goal of controlling the way millions of couch potatoes watch television by signing a 20-year deal to supply interactive program guides to Comcast Cable Communications, the country's third-largest cable operator. The Comcast agreement gives Pasadena-based Gemstar pacts with three of the nation's top five cable operators, which serve half of all U.S. cable households.

AT&T Corp., the No. 1 U.S. cable-television company, said Cox Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. agreed to accept about $2.9 billion of AT&T stock for their stakes in high-speed Internet service provider @Home Corp. The number of shares AT&T must issue will be determined by its average closing price 15 days before and after Friday, AT&T spokeswoman Eileen Connolly said. Cox and Comcast each own about 30 million shares of @Home.

In response to Mitchell Davis' letter regarding cable in Santa Ana ("Regulation of Cable TV at Issue in Santa Ana" (March 12), it should be noted that he holds an inaccurate perception of the facts concerning Comcast Cablevision's settlement with Santa Ana. Specifically: Davis said, "Through aggressive lobbying and political campaign contributions, Comcast successfully breached its contract with Santa Ana." Comcast did not make any campaign contributions nor does it have a Political Action Committee that makes contributions.

Searching for pirates who are stealing service, Comcast Cablevision of Orange County is randomly auditing cable hookups in six cities. "We're determined," said Comcast spokesman Steve Rosenthal. "We find that people don't realize that pirating cable is a crime. It's very chic to boast at a party that you're beating the cable business. But it is a crime." Unauthorized users identified over the next four months will be given amnesty, Rosenthal said.

Comcast Cable Communications and Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement that ensures the cable company's 8.2 million subscribers will not lose popular Disney-owned programming--including the ESPN sports network. Disney has sought hefty hikes in the monthly fees it charges for access to ESPN and its sister channels, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. Disney also sought broader carriage on Comcast systems of its other cable channels, including Toon Disney, The Disney Channel and SoapNet.

Money is just one of the issues being discussed as the city negotiates its franchise agreement with Comcast Cablevision. As part of the talks, officials will use information from a study conducted by the city's consultants and staff from the Social Science Research Center of Cal State Fullerton. The study looked at the community's needs in relation to the cable television franchise. The city also held four public workshops on the topic.