Video Services

PHILADELPHIA -- The migration of popular network TV shows to the watch-it-anytime-you-want universe of video on demand moved to a new level yesterday, as CBS Corp. and Comcast Corp. announced they would drop a 99 cent fee for viewing such CBS fare as Survivor and CSI. The change signals a greater acceptance of video-on-demand, or VOD, programs by network TV executives who were leery of the technology just a year ago, when they first allowed a few of their shows to appear for a fee. Dropping the fee also reflects research by the two companies that reached the not-surprising conclusion that viewers watch significantly more VOD when they don't have to pay for it. "Clearly at Comcast, we've always believed that free is the locomotive that drives the video-on-demand train," said Page Thompson, Comcast's general manager for video services.

Giant raises stock dividendHHTCGiant Food Inc., the Landover-based grocer that dominates the Baltimore-Washington market, raised its annual stock dividend yesterday from 72 cents per share to 74 cents.Giant has raised its dividend annually for many years in a row. A quarterly dividend at the higher rate of 18.5 cents per share will be paid June 2 to shareholders of record May 12.CSAV now direct to Brazil portsThe CSAV shipping line has begun service between Baltimore and South America's east coast, the Maryland Port Administration said yesterday.

Slowly but surely, the Savage community is reaching its goal of raising $3,000 to help renovate the Carroll Baldwin Memorial Hall.In April, the General Assembly approved a $70,000 grant for major repairs to the hall, a 70-year-old Savage landmark that serves as the town's community center.The county also chipped in, agreeing to give $67,000 for the renovation.But as a condition of receiving the money, the Savage community must raise $3,000 on its own toward the project.So far, about $1,200 has been raised for the restoration, with $700 coming from donations and the rest from sales of Carroll Baldwin pins.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission, in an effort to reduce the spiraling costs of cable television, is preparing to strike down thousands of contracts this week that shut out competitors by giving individual cable companies exclusive rights to provide service to an apartment building, the agency's chairman said. The new rule could open markets across the country to competition. It would be a huge victory for Verizon Communications and AT&T, which have challenged the cable industry by offering their own video services.

Legislation passed to open up local cable markets to more competition could lower cable bills, but it includes a controversial provision that might lead to higher charges to access the Internet. The House of Representatives passed a sweeping new telecommunications bill Thursday that eliminates the need for programming providers to negotiate with individual communities. If approved by the Senate, the "national franchise proposal" would not only increase cable competition, it could also prompt phone companies, including AT&T and Verizon, to speed a national rollout of video services.

Residents of an Ellicott City housing development who angrily opposed an unusual cable television franchise bill at a County Council hearing now have council members eager to help them. It is a complicated tale, mixing consumer outrage, development tensions and regulatory legislation -- all with a political subtext. The bill, sponsored by western county Republican Councilman Charles C. Feaga as he prepares to leave the council after the November election, would allow developers to get individual cable television franchises to provide video services for single housing projects of fewer than 1,600 homes.

Comcast is pushing to delay a Howard County Council vote next month on approval of a new cable television franchise for rival Verizon, which claims the county will be the first place in Maryland to experience true free-market competition for cable TV services. If the franchise is approved, 85 percent to 90 percent of Howard residents would have a choice between the two firms for video services within three years. But Comcast officials say the franchise that Howard County has negotiated with Verizon contains provisions unfair to Comcast, the county's only cable provider.

These days, mobile phones have all sorts of bells and whistles, including models that play videos and download music. Yet customers appear happier using their phones to do old-fashioned things, like making a call. Heralded as the next big technological conversion, phones that download music and play videos aren't as popular as some in the industry had hoped they would be at this point. And that is forcing some wireless companies to rethink their strategies. Verizon Wireless, the nation's second-largest carrier, said last week that it will stop charging customers $15 a month to subscribe to a music service few customers were using.

Timothy Earl Meile, an insulation installer and Chestertown resident, died of undetermined causes Thursday at a sister's Aberdeen home. He was 22. The family is awaiting results of toxicology tests that should show the cause of death, said his maternal grandmother, Dolly Bussey of Millington. Mr. Meile was born in Baltimore and raised in Brooklyn Park and Aberdeen, where he attended Aberdeen High School. In 2001, he moved to Chestertown and went to work for Jim Bussey Construction Co., a home improvement firm.

If you have a satellite TV dish, Bell Atlantic Corp. wants you to pay a tax on the programs you receive.The regional telephone company has written legislation, recently introduced in the General Assembly, that would let Maryland's counties and municipalities impose a 5 percent excise tax on any subscription-based video programming that competes with cable television.In the near future one of the providers of such programming will presumably be Bell Atlantic, which says it is proposing to voluntarily accept a tax on itself for the good of the community.