Cable & Satellite News

Motorola Inc. named telecommunications-industry veteran David Dorman as chairman, replacing Ed Zander , who stepped down as chief executive officer amid a decline in the mobile-phone business. via Bloomberg

“If it can result in finally more exploration and more development that is safe and sound, at the end of the day, that is all good.”

The concept of a multibillion-dollar pipeline to bring huge natural gas reserves to U.S. markets from Alaska's North Slope has been knocked around for more than 30 years. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A consortium led by The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has received Industry Canada's approval for its $52-billion takeover of telecommunications giant BCE Inc. via CBC News

“It would completely eviscerate the protections that critical habitat are supposed to provide”

The Bush administration has proposed allowing oil and gas drilling in an area of the Bering Sea considered important for the recovery of the world's most endangered whale.

The proposal opening up 5.6 million acres off the Alaska coast to energy development was published Tuesday in the Federal Register by the Minerals Management Service.

Under the leasing proposal, the North Aleutian Basin lease sale would be held in 2011. Exploratory drilling could begin the next year.

The publication of the proposal marks the start of the process, which will involve a public comment period and months of gathering information for an environmental impact statement, said Robin Cacy, a minerals service spokeswoman in Anchorage. Read more

Shares of Garmin International fell to a new one-year low today as Dutch competitor TomTom said GPS sales are slowing.

TomTom today said first-quarter sales for the navigation manufacturer were $409 to $423 million, down from $464.5 million a year ago.

The company said sales for the year would be about 10 percent under previous forecasts.

That news, combined with a pessimistic report from Soleil Securities analyst Peter Friedland, sent Garmin shares down more than 6 percent in early trading. Read more

“This is not an announcement to build a plan, this is an announcement to start the project. This is what we're doing today”

ConocoPhillips and BP Plc said on Tuesday they would partner to build a natural gas pipeline costing more than $30 billion to link Alaska's North Slope with markets in the rest of the United States by 2018. via Reuters UK

“It is an honor to be asked to lead the American Red Cross, the helping hand to so many people in times of disaster and crisis”

The American Red Cross named a veteran executive who teaches at Harvard Business School as its new president Tuesday, the group's fourth leader in recent years following a couple of power struggles and a sex ... via Inside Bay Area

“It will raise consumer rates and cause viewers to leave the system or downgrade their services”

- Cable-TV and broadcasting giant Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) opened up hearings on the future of Canadian television Tuesday with a proposal to eliminate limits to competition among Canadian specialty television services, while continuing their protection against foreign channels.

The Toronto-based company, which owns several specialty stations including Sportsnet, told the federal regulator that current restrictions have outlived their usefulness and viewers will desert the system for the Internet if dramatic changes are not made. Read more

ATLANTA Cox Enterprises has named Sanford "Sandy" Schwartz the president of the company's newspaper division. via Editor & Publisher

“Our respondents are lying through their teeth”

When Tom Weatherbee swapped his minivan for a Toyota Prius hybrid two years ago, he was mostly hoping to save money at the gas pump. via Scientific American

"With this significant milestone, our SPACEWAY 3 satellite has officially commenced carrying revenue-bearing traffic, making Hughes a fully integrated service provider," said Pradman Kaul, president and CEO of ... via Daily Wireless

Alaska is one step closer to getting in the film business.

The House Finance Committee passed a Senate bill Monday designed to provide tax credits as an incentive to the film industry in exchange for producing movies in Alaska.

Many lawmakers say they are tired of watching Alaska theme movies and television shows filmed elsewhere.

They say it happens because other states offer tax breaks to production companies visiting their states. Alaska does not.

Senate Bill 230 by Senate Majority Leader Johnny Ellis, an Anchorage Democrat, could change that. Read more

“Garmin's SVT brings an unprecedented level of integration and awareness to pilots of G1000-equipped aircraft”

Garmin International Inc. has received federal certification for a new aviation technology. via Kansas City Business Journal

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger and American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. via Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

NCTA to present awards on May 20 at the Cable Show in New Orleans By B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/31/2008 3:08:00 PM The National Cable & Telcommunications Association today announced winners of its ... via Broadcasting & Cable

SET top box maker Pace Micro Technology has renegotiated the terms of its purchase of Philips' set top box business and will now pay up to 63m for the business rather than the 68m agreed in December. via Yorkshire Post

“I have every confidence that AT&T will exceed Shell's expectations for anytime, anywhere global communications”

AT&T to connect thousands of locations and manage Shell's mobility needs, delivering services/applications to 150,000 Shell employees worldwide San Antonio, Texas The Hague, Netherlands - AT&T Inc. via WebWire

“This is an easy target because of the national attention”

Ketchikan's nationally derided 'bridge to nowhere' project might be on the road to new life in the state Capitol.

Ketchikan Republican Rep. Kyle Johansen, who co-chairs the House Transportation Committee, is pushing legislation directing the state to sell $45 million in bonds to partially pay for a high bridge across the Tongass Narrows waterway to Gravina Island.

Few people live on the island, but it's home to Ketchikan's airport, which is served by boat.

In recent years, budget earmarks the Alaska congressional delegation lined up to pay for the Ketchikan bridge as well as the Knik Arm bridge in Anchorage became symbols of government waste and spawned a nickname that stuck like tar _ 'bridges to nowhere.' Read more

“GM is disappointed in the decision by Appaloosa and the plan [by] investors to withdraw their support for Delphi”

General Motors shares fell in New York trading after investors pulled out of a $6.1 billion plan to allow former parts unit Delphi Corp. via New York Post

Workers sacrifice while profitable American Axle gives CEO a bonus After five weeks on the picket line in the middle of winter, United Auto Workers members in New York and Michigan are as determined as ever to ... via Detroit News