SES Americom launched centralized satellite-delivered IPTV distribution for telcos to bundle standard definition and HDTV programming with voice and broadband services. Designed to advance DSL delivery of video to the home, the service will originate from an SES IPTV Broadcast Center in N.J., SES officials said. There, video and audio will be received and processed for distribution via satellite and fiber to telco video hubs nationwide. The National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) said it signed a preliminary agreement to test the new service, IP-PRIME, early next year. The NRTC serves rural and independent telephone operators in markets it says consist of more than 10 million homes. Scientific-Atlanta said it will provide an MPEG-4 encoding system for the network. Globecomm said it will provide the overall design and integration services for the IPTV broadcast distribution center.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty administrative and new shipper reviews:

Wireless carriers reported significantly better coverage over the weekend in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Wireless carriers began restoring service to ruined areas but New Orleans had very limited cell coverage. Many carriers said they're helping public safety officials by providing phones and priority network access in the affected areas.

Cable operators -- which stopped billing some subscribers affected by Hurricane Katrina -- likely will lose tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, plus the cost of restoring operations, analysts said. Cable One and Cox are among Gulf Coast cable operators that suspended billing in disaster areas, firm officials said Tues. Comcast is issuing credits “case by case” and area by area, a spokesman said. Mediacom, which some analysts said may be the region’s worst-hit cable operator, didn’t comment.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has posted to its web site updated preliminary textile and apparel import data for 2005, which now covers the 2005 period from approximately mid-May 2005 through mid-August 2005.

Intermix Media faces a class action suit by shareholders over the firm’s recently announced acquisition by News Corp. Kreindler & Kreindler Wed. filed the complaint against the company that owns popular online community MySpace.com in Cal. Superior Court. The suit alleges the firm’s executives and controlling shareholders designed the buyout at Intermix investors’ expense, claiming Intermix was put up for sale at a “glaringly inadequate and unfair price that virtually guaranteed Intermix shareholders would receive far less than optimal value for their shares.” The deal with News Corp. “severely limits communications with any 3rd party interested in submitting a competing proposal” and sets a $25 million termination fee if the News Corp. agreement is abandoned, shareholders’ attorneys said. The suit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and to recover damages. In an 8-K filed Thurs. with the SEC, Intermix challenged the suit’s merits, saying the company plans a vigorous defense. Intermix also scheduled a special shareholder meeting for Sept. 28 to vote on the News Corp. buyout.

Intermix Media faces a class action suit by shareholders over the firm’s recently announced acquisition by News Corp. Kreindler & Kreindler Wed. filed the complaint against the company that owns popular online community MySpace.com in Cal. Superior Court. The suit alleges the firm’s executives and controlling shareholders designed the buyout at Intermix investors’ expense, claiming Intermix was put up for sale at a “glaringly inadequate and unfair price that virtually guaranteed Intermix shareholders would receive far less than optimal value for their shares.” The deal with News Corp. “severely limits communications with any 3rd party interested in submitting a competing proposal” and sets a $25 million termination fee if the News Corp. agreement is abandoned, shareholders’ attorneys said. The suit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and to recover damages. In an an 8-K filed Thurs. with the SEC, Intermix challenged the suit’s merits, saying the company plans a vigorous defense. Intermix also scheduled a special shareholder meeting for Sept. 28 to vote on the News Corp. buyout.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has posted a notice to its website, scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on September 6, 2005, which implements effective August 31, 2005, safeguard quotas on the following textiles and apparel at the listed levels, for exports from China during the period of August 31, 2005 - December 31, 2005:

BellSouth said preliminary reports show some 1.75 million customers lost landline phone service to Hurricane Katrina. Of those, about 750,000 are in New Orleans and other coastal cities in La. and Miss. The rest are inland in those states, Ala. and Fla. A spokesman said BellSouth had roughly 220 switches and 1,800 remote network terminals in La. and Miss. using backup power, with the main immediate job being to keep generators fueled and batteries charged. Meanwhile, BellSouth said, it has restored service to some 378,000 lines in central Fla., struck late last week by Katrina en route to the Gulf Coast. Some 28,000 lines in Broward and Miami-Dade remained out of service.

Extension of Justice Dept. record-keeping rules to include Internet porn sites, slated to take effect this month, will be delayed 30 days or until the U.S. Dist. Court, Denver, decides on an online adult entertainment industry motion for preliminary injunction, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) said. The regulatory extension subjects adult websites hosted in the U.S. to record-keeping requirements imposed on adult magazine and video companies by 1988’s Child Protection & Obscenity Enforcement Act. FSC and the U.S. govt. both approved the extension of the original stipulation, filed in U.S. Dist. Court, Denver, this summer (WID June 27 p1). FSC attorneys said they expect Judge Walker Miller to rule “well before the extended deadline.”