• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 4, 2005

Seeking friendly and financially strong companies, the cable industry's National Cable & Telecommunications Association's conference in San Francisco, is looking for media industry allies.

With bankruptcy and financial issues surrounding some companies - Adelphia Communications and Cablevision Systems -- Steve Burke, COO of Comcast Corp. called on other industries, from wireless phone carriers to Internet content providers, to help bring some joy to the rest of the cable business.

For the most part, Burke would like these companies to help pay back the $95 billion in upgraded bandwidth that the industry has just completed.

This may be good thinking but the friendly nature of the cable industry doesn't dismiss the tougher business attitude of the 1990s when every cable system operator laughingly drove up subscription prices - until it was scared into technology alternatives from the emerging threat of the satellite industry.

In essence, the silent message to cable industry executives is to find other alliances to beat back this threat - led by News Corp.'s DirecTV.

News Corp. knows these rules, and for years has been covering all the bases - in broadcast, satellite, and cable businesses. Next month it'll launch a new cable network, Fox Reality, a 24-hour channel focused on those hissy fits, shocked faces, true love, and real tears from all those reality shows.

For starters it will show reruns of Fox's "The Swan," "Joe Millionaire," "Temptation Island," NBC's "Last Comic Standing," "For Love or Money," and ABC's "The Bachelor." Interestingly, Fox's own "American Idol" isn't available. Neither are the two other big-time reality shows, "Survivor" and "The Apprentice."

Almost 19 million subscribers will come from traditional cable companies such as Adelphia Cable and Cox Communications, as well as non-traditional companies, such as Dish Network, and of course, DirecTV.

News Corp. continues to look for help from the cable industry - as it competes with it at the same time. Though not exactly a full team player, it's doing exactly what Burke is talking about - seeking other alliances in a complicated and competitive media industry.