satellite TV

"Who are you calling?" my fiancand#233;e asks. "A dating service, I think. The SMS ad told me I could 'talk to my next date.'" She is not amused. Note to self: when you buy an engagement ring, consider the pain it might inflict when driven into your rib cage. "Ow! I am testing in-text SMS ads. They come in text alerts and SMS search results from a bunch of providers," I say. "Uh, huh. And why are they sending you dating ads? What do they know about you I should know?" "It seems to be what most of them are sending. That, and a lot of satellite TV pitches...."

In a first-of-its-kind test of a new ad-supported online video distribution system, students at some of America's leading universities will get to watch premium TV shows from Paramount's Showtime network for free. The programming, including series like "Dexter," "The Tudors," and "Californiacation," normally are available only to subscribers who pay monthly cable or satellite TV fees, but they are being made available for free to students who agree to watch ads on a the new online service, Kazam, being tested at schools such as New York's Columbia University, and Indiana's Perdue University.

Two fledgling digital projects have struck agreements designed to give them legs:

DISH will get at least one more month in its reseller partnership with AT&T… The struggling satellite TV operator has had a joint marketing agreement with AT&T (NYSE: T) since 2003, but the contract was due to expire at the end of this year.

Back in February, six of the largest cable companies in U.S.-- Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable, Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), Cox Communications, Charter Communications (

TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) and DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) are expanding their existing partnership and are planning to launch a new high-def VOD service called HD DirecTV DVR. The two will collaborate on creating the service for the satellite TV company's broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The companies are shooting for the the second half of 2009 for the release of the new DVR.

Google TV Ads, which exited out of beta earlier this summer, hasn't moved much from where it started. For the past year, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has sought to do offer targeted ads through cable set-top boxes the way it has served ads online.

Satellite TV operator DISH surprised just about everyone this past quarter when it said subscribers actually fell in Q2. Everyone knew the business was challenged, but just not that bad. In a new report today, Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett emphasizes that the worst may still be yet to come, and that the market doesn't appreciate the risks.

The embattled newspaper Los Angeles Times has named Eddy Hartenstein, the former head of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV), as its new publisher, a story first broken by DHD last month.