Also Noted: Spotlight On... Can wireless networks handle cloud services?
Comcast sells Ethernet to Washington Nationals; Viacom names Agase SVP of music and entertainment ad sales and much more... Special report: The battle for union contracts
 Negotiations between the large U.S.-based telcos and their wireline unions--the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)--continue to be a major storyline in the wireline side of telecom. As the major telcos have been migrating towards IP-based services and their legacy wireline voice service revenues have declined, it has cut into revenues that would be used to pay for union health and retirement benefits. Check out our new feature  Follow @FierceCable on Twitter!
News From the Fierce Network:
1. FairPoint extends CEO Paul Sunu's contract, bumps salary to $800,000
2. CenturyLink, CyrusOne scale data center sales reach with Ingram Micro
3. RigNet, SnapTV collaborate to deliver IPTV to offshore drilling rigs
This week's sponsor is Coveo. |  | eBook:
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Today's Top News 1. Dish could challenge cable's quadruple play with Sprint merger
Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) submitted a $25.5 billion offer to acquire Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S)--a deal that could help it compete with the quadruple-play bundles marketed by Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other pay TV rivals. The offer comes five years after Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications abandoned a joint venture with Sprint called Pivot, which was focused on marketing quad-plays of cable and wireless services. The cable MSOs teamed up in late 2011 with Sprint rival Verizon Wireless on a joint marketing partnership. Dish is offering $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock to Sprint shareholders, topping the $20.1 billion that Softbank offered to acquire a 70 percent stake in Sprint last year. CEO Charlie Ergen said in a letter to Sprint shareholders that his offer is superior. "There really is no one company on a national scale that puts it all together," Ergen said on a conference call with analysts and reporters Monday. "The new Dish/Sprint company will do that." Ergen has said in recent months that Dish may look to partner with a mobile carrier to commercialize the broadband wireless spectrum that it acquired from TerreStar and DBSD North America. When Dish submitted a $3.3 billion offer to buy wireless broadband provider Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) in January, some Wall Street analysts suggested the move was aimed at forging a partnership with Clearwire investor Sprint, which had also bid to acquire the company. Dish investors responded negatively to the offer on Monday. Shares in Dish were trading at $35.35 at 9:56 a.m. ET, down $2.30, or 6.05 percent. For more:
- see the release Related articles:
Dish makes $25.5B offer to buy Sprint, countering Softbank
Dish Network may use Clearwire bid to push Sprint partnership
Dish Network considering 'strategic options' after winning FCC approval to build wireless network
Dish Network subscriber growth slows to 14,000 in Q4 2012
Dish Network trademarks 'Racecar' brand for wireless broadband Internet service Read more about: Dish Network
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2. Malone: ESPN could cost $20 monthly if cable breaks up bundle
Top sports network ESPN could cost subscribers $20 monthly if cable operators break up programming bundles and offer smaller packages of networks, Liberty Media (Nasdaq: LBTYA) chairman John Malone said in an interview with CNBC. "Maybe it [ESPN] is $20 for households that really want everything. Maybe it's $10 for households that want some [sports]. Maybe it's zero for ones that don't buy it at all," Malone told CNBC's David Faber on Friday. The cable pioneer, who recently reentered the U.S. cable business with a deal to buy a 27.3 percent stake in Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), also predicted that cable operators would eventually team up with online video rival Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX). Malone said he could see Netflix CEO Reed Hastings pitching cable operators the idea of having a "wholesale relationship as opposed to being adversaries." Rising costs of sports programming will push more subscribers to over-the-top video providers, which will put pressure on sports networks and lead to pay TV distributors breaking up programming packages, Malone said. It will also create an opportunity for cable operators to focus on their high-speed data services and partner with over-the-top video providers. "All of the sudden cable is distributing and promoting stuff that doesn't have a lot of sports on it. Maybe it's a bundle of Netflix with video or broadband," Malone said. Netflix has approached cable operators in the past about bundling access to its online video service. Last March, a Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) spokeswoman told FierceCable that the MSO wasn't interested in offering subscribers Netflix. Netflix has had more success striking deals with providers such as Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Suddenlink, which have joined its Open Connect content delivery network and agreed to place Netflix storage appliances near their networks to improve the quality of Netflix video streams delivered to cable modem customers. For more:
- see CNBC's interview with Malone Related articles:
Comcast won't offer Netflix to Xfinity TV subscribers
Cablevision partners with Netflix to deliver 'super HD' movies and 3D TV shows
Liberty Media to pay $2.62 billion for 27.3% stake in Charter Communications
Verizon FiOS kicking ESPN Classic, Goal Line / Buzzer Beater to sports tier
DirecTV to hit 5 million subscribers with $3 monthly sports surcharge Read more about: Comcast, Cablevision
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3. Cox trademarks 'Simplify, Sync & Socialize'
Cox Communications filed a trademark application for the slogan "Simplify, Sync & Socialize," which it said may be used to market interactive television programming, video-on-demand and a cloud-based storage service. The Atlanta-based cable MSO filed the trademark application on April 4. Cox announced in January that it would launch a new mobile video app for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad that relies on Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO) Videoscape software. It has filed several other trademark applications this year that could be used for new digital cable products, including the brands Flare, Contour, Intu and Joya. "We file trademark applications as one aspect of our regular efforts to develop and enhance existing products and services," Cox spokesman Todd Smith told FierceCable Monday. He said the company doesn't comment on the trademark filings unless the brands "become associated with a product or service in the market." Related articles:
Cox trademarks FLARE and MY FLARE for new interactive video service
Comcast targets businesses with Upware portal
Time Warner Cable launches cloud-based software service Read more about: Cox, Trademark
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4. Frontier charging $15 monthly for 24-hour customer service
5. CBS recruits Fuse and MTV veteran for TV Guide Network post
Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Can wireless networks handle cloud services? In today's spotlight, FierceBroadbandWireless takes a look at a study that questions whether WiFi and LTE networks can handle demand from cloud services. The study, from the University of Melbourne, finds that "inherently energy inefficient" radio access networks are "the biggest threat to the sustainability of cloud services." The study projects that wireless cloud services will consume up to 43 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy, an increase of 460 percent from consumption of only 9.2 TWh in 2012. Read more Cable industry news from across the Web: > Comcast struck a deal to supply Ethernet service to the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team. News release > Viacom named former NBCUniversal executive Steve Agase SVP of music and entertainment ad sales, West Coast. News release > Liberty Interactive said it'll report first-quarter earnings on May 8. News release Telecom News > GVT has introduced a 150 Mbps tier for its fiber to the home (FTTH) service offering in Brazil, exceeding its previous 100 Mbps limit and boosting its competitiveness with Telefonica's Vivo. Article > CenturyLink and CyrusOne, two service providers that have been broadening their presence in the data center market, have separately signed deals with Ingram Micro to sell its colocation space to clients. Article Wireless News > Verizon Wireless confirmed it will launch a "Device Payment Plan" starting April 21 to help customers finance the purchase of devices that cost more than $350. Article > T-Mobile USA is brimming with confidence about its launch of Apple's LTE-capable iPhone 5. Article And finally... CenturyLink said it will sponsor Lemonade Day Louisiana on April 20, a public affairs program focused on teaching children how to start, own and operate their own business. News release > Competitive Carriers Global Expo - April 17-19 - New Orleans CCA is the premier trade show and conference for the competitive mobile ecosystem and brings together decision-makers for networking, learning and sharing best practices. CCA is the nation's leading association for competitive wireless providers. To register www.ccaevents.org. > Fierce Innovation Awards 2012 Live Announcement of this Year's Winners - Now Available On-Demand Please join Jason Nelson, Publisher of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom, and FierceCable as we announce the winners of the Fierce Innovation Awards 2012. Click here to RSVP today.
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