Networks Announce Cable-Carriage Deals

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New Orleans-Several cable networks announced MSO carriage deals at the National Show here last week or timed announcements to coincide with the show.

  • Courtroom Television Network signed a carriage agreement with Charter Communications Inc. The channel now has affiliation deals with the top eight MSOs, according to officials.
  • Since its relaunch last year, Court TV had added 13 million subscribers and seen a 600 percent jump in Nielsen Media Research ratings, posting a 0.7 in March.
  • By the third quarter, the network will deliver 45 million subscribers, with analog launches set for several major markets, including Los Angeles (200,000 subscribers); St. Louis (150,000); Orange County, Calif. (100,000); Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (60,000); Louisville, Ky. (40,000); and the San Francisco Bay area (300,000).
  • In addition to basic-cable agreements, Court TV has signed a distribution deal to provide crime and justice programming to Wink Communications Inc., which will allow viewers to interact with Court TV and commercials as they watch the network.
  • National Geographic Channel, which plans to launch a domestic cable channel this winter, said it signed a carriage deal with Adelphia Communications Corp.
  • Following carriage deals with AT & T Broadband and DirecTV Inc., the Adelphia agreement will help NGC eventually reach 25 million U.S. homes, including 10 million at launch. Internationally, the network reaches 52 million homes in 63 countries.
  • Within two years, NGC will be available to every Adelphia subscriber in the Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, the company said.
  • Drama and documentary channel Trio and Newsworld International recently launched on digital to cable systems that put them in front of 5.3 million subscribers.
  • In addition to Time Warner Cable and MediaOne Group Inc., Trio and NWI reached carriage deals for digital distribution with AT & T Broadband and the National Cable Television Cooperative.
  • Trio and NWI launched on Time Warner in New York and Jackson, Miss., and they are expected to debut on the MSO's systems in San Diego and Memphis, Tenn.
  • Trio has been rolled out on MediaOne's "Digital NexTV Knowledge Pack" in systems representing 3.5 million homes in markets including Los Angeles; Atlanta; Jacksonville and Pompano Beach, Fla.; Detroit; Minneapolis; Richmond, Va.; and New England.
  • Cox Communications Inc. of Northern Virginia will roll out Fox News Channel to almost 250,000 subscribers throughout Fairfax County, according to officials. Starting June 1, FNC will reach all of Cox's expanded-basic households on channel 6.
  • Charter signed a corporate carriage deal for Lifetime Movie Network, officials said. The MSO had already been carrying LMN on digital to some systems, and it is now available to nearly 1 million Charter homes.
  • At the end of the launches LMN, a spinoff of Lifetime Television, will be distributed to more than 30 Charter systems, including Los Angeles; Fort Worth, Texas; and St. Louis, where the MSO is based.
Staff