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Fresh off his star turn as Indiana Jones , Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot is trying his hand at making parody videos. No, he's not joining the throngs who've recast "Call Me Maybe. " But he has reworked the popular and rather silly DirecTV "Don't Let This Happen to You" ads. To promote the state's week where people can shop without sales tax, Franchot just released a video on YouTube and to make sure people saw it, sent out a press release with this headline: Comptroller Video Encourages Marylanders to Shop Maryland Tax-Free or Face the Consequences.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s stock soared a day after it announced plans to buy 18 television stations owned by Barrington Broadcasting Group for $370 million. The Hunt Valley broadcaster's stock leapt 12.7 percent to end Friday at $15.88 a share. Thursday's announcement was Sinclair's second this week of a planned acquisition. Sinclair had said Monday it would purchase four TV stations from Cox Media Group for $99 million. The 24 Barrington stations — a mix of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW affiliates — are located in 15 markets ranging from upstate New York to South Carolina and as far west as Colorado.

The Maryland attorney general's office has settled with DirecTV Inc. over marketing and billing practices and with Dannon Co. regarding unsubstantiated health claims in its advertising. DirecTV denied wrongdoing but agreed to pay $13.25 million in restitution to Maryland in addition to dozens of other states and the District of Columbia. The settlement also requires the company to change the way it electronically debits money from customer accounts and to make it easier for customers to cancel or change service.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is warning DirecTV customers in Baltimore and other markets they could lose access to Sinclair-owned stations starting March 1 because of an inability to reach agreement over the amount the satellite company pays to carry the stations and their programs. In the Baltimore market, Sinclair owns WBFF Fox 45 and has a local marketing agreement with WNUV The CW Baltimore. Sinclair's "carriage" agreement with DirecTV, which includes both stations, ends Feb. 28. "Although DirecTV and Sinclair have been negotiating for quite some time in an effort to reach a new agreement, at this time it does not appear that these efforts will be successful," Baltimore-based Sinclair said in a statement.

Baltimore-based SpotCrime.com already uses the Web to deliver up-to-the-minute crime maps for communities across the United States. The company's next medium? Satellite television. The startup company said this week that it struck a deal with DirecTV to feature a SpotCrime application that the satellite service's customers can access now through their television sets. SpotCrime is one of a handful of companies in the United States that makes crime data available for free on Web-based maps.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s stock soared a day after it announced plans to buy 18 television stations owned by Barrington Broadcasting Group for $370 million. The Hunt Valley broadcaster's stock leapt 12.7 percent to end Friday at $15.88 a share. Thursday's announcement was Sinclair's second this week of a planned acquisition. Sinclair had said Monday it would purchase four TV stations from Cox Media Group for $99 million. The 24 Barrington stations — a mix of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW affiliates — are located in 15 markets ranging from upstate New York to South Carolina and as far west as Colorado.

Tracked down by a detective for a satellite television service, a Michigan salesman was arrested yesterday at an amateur radio and computer show in Timonium on charges of selling equipment that could steal the signals -- and programming -- beamed down from space.Authorities said the salesman was offering electronic equipment designed to pick up digital satellite signals -- including pay-per-view movies -- from the company DirecTV.The arrest of Michael Paul Smeltzer resulted from a national search by the company's sleuth, James Wells of El Segundo, Calif.

AUSTRALIAN media magnate Rupert Murdoch once talked about launching a U.S. home satellite service that would be a lethal competitor to cable television. He nicknamed it Deathstar. A killer satellite service would come closer to reality under the proposed merger of the nation's two satellite television providers. It was announced recently that Mr. Murdoch abandoned his plan to acquire DirecTV, the nation's No. 1 home satellite provider. If federal regulators approve Echostar's $26 billion plan to acquire DirecTV, it would result in a monopoly serving more than 17 million subscribers.

Two years ago, DirecTV officials, backed by law enforcement officers, swooped into three warehouses in California and seized shipping records and credit-card receipts of people who bought electronic equipment commonly used to steal the beams of satellite television. The nation's leading satellite television provider, DirecTV Inc., has used those records to file thousands of piracy lawsuits across the country, including recently in federal court in Chicago. "Clearly, we're sending a message to consumers," said spokesman Robert Mercer.

The DIRECTV satellite television company will reimburse nearly 9,000 Maryland customers as part of a national settlement after the company accepted prepayment for a year of service, then withdrew some programs last year.The agreement settled an investigation of DIRECTV involving attorneys general in 31 states, including Maryland.More than 8,800 Maryland customers who signed up for a $200 cash-back promotion paid in advance for one year of service. In April last year, the company replaced Encore movie channels in its lineup and said that anyone wishing to keep the channels would be billed an additional $4 a month.

Fresh off his star turn as Indiana Jones , Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot is trying his hand at making parody videos. No, he's not joining the throngs who've recast "Call Me Maybe. " But he has reworked the popular and rather silly DirecTV "Don't Let This Happen to You" ads. To promote the state's week where people can shop without sales tax, Franchot just released a video on YouTube and to make sure people saw it, sent out a press release with this headline: Comptroller Video Encourages Marylanders to Shop Maryland Tax-Free or Face the Consequences.

DirecTV subscribers have lost"SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Daily Show" and "Mob Wives. " Unable to reach a deal with Viacom, parent of several popular cable channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and VH1, DirecTV is no longer carrying the media giant's networks. DirecTV has almost 20 million subscribers around the nation. Both sides blamed each other for the channels coming off of the satellite broadcaster on Tuesday evening. Viacom said DirecTV dropped the channels without warning.

Media companies routinely play chicken in negotiations over such issues as retransmission fees and bundling, terms that mean next to nothing to their customers until one of the companies they subscribe to lets things get out of hand. Usually, that never happens. But it did at midnight Tuesday with DirecTV and Viacom, which resulted in the satellite TV provider's 20 million customers being without such Viacom-owned channels as Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET and VH1. In all, 17 channels were lost at midnight with shows that feature such performers as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, SpongeBob SquarePants and Snooki.

More and more these days, it seems as if the most interesting TV projects are coming from new and different places. "House of Cards,"  which Netflix is making in Baltimore, leads the parade. But DirecTV is getting in the game, too, and this week debuts a six-part mini-series about a transgendered contract killer played by Chloe Sevigny ("Big Love," "Boys Don't Cry"). "Hit & Miss," which premieres at 10 p.m. Wednesday on DirecTV's Audience Channel is a British import created by Paul Abbott, who is usually praised for "Shameless"and "State of Play.

Peyton Manning and Eli Manning have filmed a trailer for a fake police drama called “Football Cops” in which they disarm gun-wielding criminals with footballs. Well, I think it’s fake, but I really hope it’s not. I don’t know about you, but I would definitely watch the Manning brothers be buddy cops if DirecTV actually produced it.

The Maryland attorney general's office has settled with DirecTV Inc. over marketing and billing practices and with Dannon Co. regarding unsubstantiated health claims in its advertising. DirecTV denied wrongdoing but agreed to pay $13.25 million in restitution to Maryland in addition to dozens of other states and the District of Columbia. The settlement also requires the company to change the way it electronically debits money from customer accounts and to make it easier for customers to cancel or change service.

DirecTV subscribers have lost"SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Daily Show" and "Mob Wives. " Unable to reach a deal with Viacom, parent of several popular cable channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and VH1, DirecTV is no longer carrying the media giant's networks. DirecTV has almost 20 million subscribers around the nation. Both sides blamed each other for the channels coming off of the satellite broadcaster on Tuesday evening. Viacom said DirecTV dropped the channels without warning.

Bell Atlantic Corp. is trying -- again -- to get into television.The Northeast's dominant local telephone company said yesterday that it has reached marketing and distribution agreements with two major satellite-television firms, DirecTV Inc. and U.S. Satellite Broadcasting.Under the agreements, Bell Atlantic will install, maintain and bill DirecTV and USSB services for consumers. Bell Atlantic customers will be able to get their monthly telephone and satellite-television charges on a single bill.

Companies have added yet another obstacle to talking with a live person about a question or concern: fees. More businesses are subtly discouraging calls to customer service agents by charging for the conversation, as well as directing people to websites or automated phone systems. Some banks, computer companies, travel agencies and satellite television and cable companies are adopting this practice. Consumer groups worry the trend will only continue as companies look to cut costs.

Baltimore-based SpotCrime.com already uses the Web to deliver up-to-the-minute crime maps for communities across the United States. The company's next medium? Satellite television. The startup company said this week that it struck a deal with DirecTV to feature a SpotCrime application that the satellite service's customers can access now through their television sets. SpotCrime is one of a handful of companies in the United States that makes crime data available for free on Web-based maps.