The FCC has been under pressure from Congress to step in and mandate Mediacom carriage of Sinclair stations while it considers a retrans complaint by Mediacom that Sinclair did not negotiate in in good faith. The flap involves two stations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Though the government has not stepped in before, the political interest is driven by concern that consumers will lose access to college football bowl games. The current retrans deal expires Dec. 31. Time Warner Cable and Fox also are currently in retrans negotiations on a deal that expires Dec. 31 that threaten a similar …

Conde Nast, owner of Vogue, The New Yorker got permission from a federal judge to issue expedited subpoenas to Google and AT&T to try to obtain the identities of at least five hackers Condé claims are responsible for the breach. The subpoenas are the latest chapter in S.I. Newhouse's recently filed copyright infringement suit against the hackers who got their hands on material from Condé mags before publication, including GQ's Men of the Year issue, and the December issues of Vogue, Lucky, Teen Vogue, which ended up on the Web site FashionZag. The suit, cites no specific dollar amount; …

Netflix continues to deliver profits and strong revenues quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, with much of that growth being driven by digital distribution (streaming and downloads). But CEO Reed Hastings says the company needs to deliver access to more new releases in order for its digital business to work. Netflix currently has access to a limited number of new releases from studios like Disney and Sony. Netflix is willing "to write big checks" to the studios directly in order to convince them Netflix is a "friend" as opposed to an enemy, like Redbox.

NBC News Tel Aviv bureau chief and correspondent Martin Fletcher is leaving the network after 32 years. He is exiting to write his third book, a novel. NBC New president Steve Capus said: "NBC News will always be his home and we are excited about some future projects that we will work together on." NBC says a replacement for Fletcher will be named shortly Fletcher recently toured the U.S. to mark the paperback release of his 2008 memoir, "Breaking News." His second book, due out next fall with the working title "Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the …

After expecting to debut interactive ads before the end of 2009, Canoe Ventures now says it plans to launch a request for information product next spring. Formed in 2008 by the six largest U.S. cable operators, Canoe abandoned plans for a targeted-ad service and CEO David Verklin said the company would kick off the interactive RFI product in the fourth quarter. According to Canoe senior director of marketing communications Dana Runnells, the company did an RFI product trial with a network partner in the fourth quarter. No other details were given. Right now, it's on track for a commercial …

According to Thomson Reuters analysis, viewrs will soon be able to experience 3-D technology on their home TVs. From 2003 to 2008, patent activity in the 3-D television space grew by 69%. Breakthrough new technologies include lenticular lenses. The report tracks unique inventions published in patent applications and granted patents from 2003 to 2009 to identify the areas showing the sharpest growth over the last five years. 3-D hoto tchnoogy is also on the rise, while 3-D glasses are big business in the cinema space, too.

Alleged blackmailer Robert Halderman may only get one year in jail for trying to shake down Letterman for $2 million by threatening to expose the TV star's series of affairs with staffers. Retiring DA Robert Morgenthau will leave a decision to his successor. Halderman's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, however, has denied that an offer is on the table or that he is engaged in plea negotiations. Rather, Shargel said he will file additional papers this week to try and get the case dismissed. Halderman was arrested Oct. 1 and is free on $200,000 bail.

NBC says it didn't pay for its interview with David Goldman, the man who brought his son, 9, back to the states after a lengthy custody battle in Brazil. The denial was a response to a statement from The Society of Professional Journalists, which slammed it for checkbook journalism, when it discovered NBC had provided the plane that flew Goldman and his son back to the U.S. It said NBC made itself part of the story. Meredith Viera on "Today" carried an exclusive story from the flight of the father-son return, though David Goldman has appeared on the …

For many Web start-ups, digital merchandise is an important source of revenue to replace scarce ad dollars. In November, video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc paid $275 million for Playfish, which makes games for social networks such as Facebook. A month later, a group of investors poured $180 million into Zynga, another social networking game company. Virtual goods account for 90% of Zynga's $300 million revenue. U.S. Internet ad revenue fell 5.3% to $10.9 billion in the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau. For many …

About 17.6 million television systems for automobiles will ship in 2015, up from 8.2 million this year, according to market research firm iSuppli. The trend will be worldwide; the mobile TVs will also include portable navigation devices. Still, the market faces challenges, both financial and technical. Mobile TV in the auto space is likely to piggyback on any successes in handheld mobile TV delivery. For broadcasters, the major mobile TV play is being led by the Open Mobile Video Coalition, which represents more than 800 local TV stations that plan to use the ATSC's mobile digital TV …