MrRant

Star Trek may end up having a hiatus again like the space between the original series and TNG. If Enterprise doesn't pick up steam you may see a 5 year absence or so of any new Trek series.

That is because horror is lumped with Sci-Fi and such. They are similar of course... but different. In general I consider an alien killing a whole bunch of people Sci-Fi but a janitor burned by parents killing a bunch of kids to be horror. And don't forget the mindboggling subsets of both genres.

Depends on the sponsor. XBOX for example. Movie trailers.

Yes.. ECCW certainly does suck. There is a WA state startup in Chelais but I don't want to drive the 2+ hours. Same with ECCW.

If they wish to not be part of a premium package (HBO etc,) then what they will probably have is something like "The Hills Have Eyes" brought to you by Mr. Clean or something of that nature. Perhaps commercials before and after each movie. I would be okay with commercial breaks even if the movie ended up uneditted. However Thriller MAX (DirecTV doesn't have it) is already into this niche but with a mix of horror and sci-fi.

More: Fright fans will soon have a cable station to call their own with The Horror Channel, the first 24-hour national digital genre cable network, which will debut in October 2004. FANGORIA has been given the exclusive scoop on the ambitious project, which will involve many of the industry’s key chillmeisters and broadcast a mix of classic and new fright flicks and television shows, as well as original programming. “I truly believe we can bring the genre into the limelight, where it deserves to be,” CEO and founder Nicholas A. Psaltos tells Fango. ”There’s no reason why the Horror Channel should not exist and thrive. Comedy Central and Sci Fi are both doing extremely well. Both are very valuable enterprises and they’re each only about a dozen years old. And they are both descendants of movie genres. Today there are the Golf Channel, Food Network and DiscoveryWings. None of these borrows its content from a proven, successful or hugely profitable movie genre. But the Horror Channel does.” “We hope to create a compelling and successful company whose identity is fomented by the true grassroots horror fan,” says co-founder Kim Bangash, who has helped finance a number of films, including STRANGELAND and SLING BLADE. “We want to take that vision and then create an international brand that pays homage to all the different genres of horror in this country and abroad.” To create this vision, the Horror Channel has turned to the filmmaking community and signed many familiar scream greats to its advisory board. In addition, the Channel has brought FANGORIA editor Tony Timpone on board as a consultant and has an interest in developing a “FANGORIA Fridays”-type programming block, as well as licensing some of the company’s video titles as broadcast premieres. “One of the first things we did was to reach out to the key horror filmmakers,” Psaltos says. “The masters of horror were all quite happy to meet with us. We met with the established fathers of the genre: George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Mick Garris, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman, Stuart Gordon, et al. It was like a dream sequence. Every meeting was positive and collaborative. Later on, we reached out to some of the younger guys, up-and-comers like Rob Zombie, Eli [CABIN FEVER] Roth, Lucky [MAY] McKee, Uwe [HOUSE OF THE DEAD] Boll, Robert [LOVE OBJECT] Parigi and Victor [JEEPERS CREEPERS] Salva. These guys are all brilliant and worthy of the honor of carrying the torch for the next several decades. Ultimately, we will be collaborating with many of these people on new programming such as films, miniseries, anthology shows, behind-the-scenes specials and branded guest-hosting spots.” The next stage involves bringing horror buffs into the endeavor, and Psaltos says that he’s all ears. “Our fans are extremely important in this process,” he explains. “We are launching our consumer website, www.horrorchannel.com, this October 1. We need the fans to fill out a survey so that we can petition every cable operator in the land with their unified voice clamoring for a horror channel. In addition, the fans will become part of our programming and content creation process. We will develop programs that they ask for and, in some cases, produce scripts that they write or air films that they’ve produced. We also have a strong desire to connect with the Goth music and lifestyle scene. Talent like Rob Zombie will be a strong proponent in the music area, and we’re already in discussions with the Costume Network and several others regarding the lifestyle aspect.” Psaltos says that the lack of a cable station for genre enthusiasts inspired his gargantuan and risky undertaking. “John Hendricks, founder of the Discovery Channel, was a personal hero of mine,” he says. “I saw him on an elevator one day when I worked at Discovery and thought, ‘Why not me?’ All I needed was the right idea. Then a friend of mine was talking about how huge horror was and that it needed its own channel. I thought, ‘Yes, this is interesting.’ So I began visiting all the websites and attending FANGORIA and Chiller Theatre conventions and talking to intriguing people. At the time I was working in a dead-end job at Bravo/IFC. My wife was seven months pregnant, and we’d just bought a house. So what else was I supposed to do? I waited until Henry Nicholas was born, then three weeks later I quit my job and began working on the Horror Channel.” “It’s hard to believe that no one has put a Horror Channel on the air before,” Bangash adds. ”There have been attempts before that for one reason or another petered out. With the growing penetration of digital cable, today’s environment seems to be the most viable time to launch the Horror Channel. People can now get service with up to 1,000 channels, which makes this idea all the more of a no-brainer. I don’t need to tell you how popular this genre is. It is the last major feature-film genre that does not have a cable channel dedicated to its fanbase.” So what took so long? “Network executives are not rewarded for risk-taking,” Psaltos says. “Launching a new channel is a big risk. They don’t understand the consumers that flock to this genre. Sci-fi won its own channel because their fans were ‘easier’ to identify and categorize. But the paradox here is that horror fans are even easier to find, because everyone loves horror—even if they’re too afraid to admit it. About a dozen years ago, when Sci Fi first launched, they were supposedly the answer to all fantasy genres, including horror. And at first they were, dedicating about 35 percent of their programming to horror. Over time, this changed because Sci Fi wanted to hone their appeal more specifically to the sci-fi audience. Fan complaints were not loud enough within the cable industry to ignite a unique horror channel offering. Plus, at the time, analog channel launches were hugely expensive because shelf space was limited to about 60 channels. Things have changed over the past four years. Direct broadcast satellites [DBS] and digital cable boxes enable homes to receive hundreds of channels. But despite the increased bandwidth, it’s still not easy—or cheap—to launch a channel.” To deliver the Horror Channel to your living room by fall 2004, Psaltos and company must continue raising at least $3 million in the months ahead. They’ve assembled a number of choice cable executives and business people to facilitate the process. “We have put together a team that is a healthy mix of veterans from the cable TV, film, consulting and finance industries,” Psaltos says. “Also, we are all horror fans and movie lovers. Kim is from the independent film scene. Our head of marketing, Chris Apostle, was at Showtime Networks. Our CIO and project launch manager, John Giunti, is a huge horror fan and a management consultant. I myself come to the table with 10 years of experience in the cable industry. I was most recently in programming and acquisitions at Bravo/IFC. Prior to that, I was in finance and business development at both A&E and Discovery. We also have several part-time consultants, full-time advisors who are from various cable networks, investment banks and film production/distribution entities.” “This concept, this team and its timing could not be more right,” Bangash adds. “Many channels are launched by accountant and lawyer types. We are fortunate to not only have the right team of professionals needed to launch a cable network, but most of us are also horror enthusiasts.” Of course, the question on every Fangorian’s lips is whether the programming will be shown uncensored. “Yes,” answers Psaltos. “Films will be uninterrupted and uncut. Older TV series will have the commercial interruptions that were originally edited into them. Some of the more graphic films will probably only be available on our sister Video On Demand channel.” Adds Bangash, “The advent of digital cable allows us many creative ways to keep the movies coming uncut.”

Interesting...... Wonder who is going to carry it?

MAKUHARI, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese video game company Nintendo (news - web sites) Co Ltd said on Friday it plans early next year to offer a device that allows GameBoy Advance users to play games together without the use of cables. The device will be included free of charge with the purchase of one of two "Pokemon" games, due to be released early next year, for Nintendo's hand-held game machine. "We've had a lot of discussions about how to extend the networking capabilities for games such as 'Pokemon', to enhance head-to-head battles, exchange of information and communication with others," said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in a speech on the opening day of the Tokyo Game Show. The wireless (news - web sites) module will be bundled with Nintendo's "Pokemon Fire Red" and "Pokemon Leaf Green" titles for GameBoy Advance that will go on sale in Japan early next year. The games will sell for 4,800 yen ($43). Nintendo said it planned to roll out other titles for the GameBoy Advance compatible with the device in the future. Motorola Inc designed the chip that powers the device's wireless functions. "It was designed primarily with the gaming experience in mind," Bridgette Cosentino, director of wireless connectivity at Motorola's semiconductor products group, told Reuters. She said the chip was customized to maximize battery life. Iwata said the technology was similar to Bluetooth, which allows devices to communicate with each other without a physical wire connection. The wireless network extends for "several meters," Iwata said. The most recent "Pokemon" title for GameBoy Advance sold over 10 million titles worldwide, Nintendo said. Shares in Nintendo ended up 2.33 percent at 9,670 yen compared to a 0.08 percent rise in the Nikkei 225 average.

What? You mean you don't like watching NBA Inside Stuff 8 times a day?

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The NFL Network will have a tough time convincing cable operators to carry the channel before its Nov. 4 launch, sources said. But the NFL said it is confident that operators will come to recognize the value and strong brand of its network as well as the advantage of partnering with the league in advance of being able to bid on the long sought-after NFL Sunday Ticket subscription package of out-of-market games. With a DirecTV deal in hand, the NFL Network has been wooing operators to become charter members with such incentives as free video-on-demand content and a slew of high-definition TV programming. The league's formal proposal reached operators Sept. 19, days after network chieftains entertained cable executives at New York Giants and Jets games at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Talks have stalled over the league's insistence that operators offer the network on digital basic tiers, which reach all digital customers at a cost of $10-$15. Cable executives want the NFL to follow NBA TV's model and let them offer the football network as part of a lineup of niche sports services that customers would have to pay yet another fee (about $5) to obtain. The NFL argues there is nothing "niche" about pro football. Preseason games are among the top-rated shows every summer, and "Monday Night Football" is a consistent top 15 show for 30-plus years on ABC. But the industry has balked at the estimated license fee of 10 cents a subscriber, partly over its relatively heavy cost and partly because of suspicions that the league will take a page from ESPN's playbook when it puts Sunday Ticket on the market following the expiration of the league's TV contract after the 2005 season. DirecTV has attracted about 1.5 million-1.6 million customers (who pay $179 or $209 a year) -- about 15% of its subscriber base -- with the exclusive property. That grosses the company roughly $300 million a year minus the NFL's split. Cable operators want that package badly but are wary of the NFL Network because of their experiences with ESPN, whose $2-plus license fees rise by 20% a year because the channel gets operators to kick in to help pay for its $4.8 billion NFL deal, sources said. While recognizing the value of the network's brand and being eager for the VOD content, operators want long-term protection against sharply rising costs and the league's ability to use Sunday Ticket as leverage to impose surcharges on its core license fee. The key question is: Who holds the high cards now -- operators who feel under no pressure to launch the NFL Network or the league with its Sunday Ticket package percolating? Will operators who don't launch the channel today be at a disadvantage in obtaining Sunday Ticket, or will all of that become irrelevant in 2005? "I would think operators would drive a very hard bargain," one source said, adding that in the short run, "The issue is going to be what kind of leverage the NFL has until such time that the (Sunday Ticket) deal gets opened up." Not coincidentally, Steve Bornstein, the man who was instrumental in shaping ESPN's aggressive sales strategy in the late 1980s and '90s, is running the NFL Network. Bornstein is counting on the cache and marketing power of the NFL, arguably the most popular sport in America, if not the most attractive television property around, inside or out of sports. "Cable operators are not wildly interested in carrying a high-priced sports channel without premium product," said one industry executive, who said that cable companies would love to get access to the NFL's extensive library to help jump-start its nascent VOD lineup. "The majority of large operators are trying to aggregate large packages of free VOD." The NFL Network will not offer regular-season games -- though it will show exhibition contests -- but executives believe they have prepared a slate of attractive programming that can help operators solve their problem of keeping digital customers. About 5% of them "churn" or disconnect the service after their initial purchases. "Nobody can go out and co-brand with the NFL," said Adam Shaw, senior vp distribution at the NFL Network and a former top executive at Fox Cable Networks. "We are going to allow bigger partners to have marketing opportunities where it could be 'the NFL and Charter bringing you X, Y and Z.' " Shaw said the network is willing to be flexible and allow operators to offer the network on sports tiers as long as the network is in front of a majority of operators' customers by 2006. "No one expects us to be a digital sports tier-only network," Shaw said, adding that a few operators in football-crazy towns have even expressed a desire to put the network on analog tiers that reach almost all of their customers. "At the end of the day, you have to make a certain penetration commitment." The network's primetime schedule is a mix of programming aimed at the hard-core fan and the casual viewer. At 8 p.m., the network will air "NFL Total Access," its flagship show with former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor Rich Eisen that will go beyond the Xs and Os of the game and include a heavy celebrity quotient. The network also recently added former NFL players Sterling Sharpe and Glenn Parker to its on-air talent pool. "We think that this is going to appeal to women, going to appeal to all ethnic groups," Shaw said. "This goes to the idea that this is not a niche channel." A 10 p.m. show, "Playbook," is designed for the hard-core fan with segments on fantasy football and heavy "chalk talk." The NFL looks at its service as a "lifestyle channel," not a sports one. Off-season shows will include "NFL Cribs," a knock-off of the popular MTV show that peeks into stars' homes, and a behind-the-scenes look at how women become cheerleaders. But for now, operators believe they will never hold this much leverage over the league again. "In 2005, all bets are off," one source said. "Everything will be up for grabs at the time." Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

I'm not sure... I'll have to fire up ESPN NFL Football to see.

Well...if they came and saw cable hooked up without me "paying for service" bad shit might happen. Some apartments/landlords have bulk cable (they pay like say $100 for 10 apartments to have basic cable) and then you would be above and beyond what the landlord is paying. Unless you mean that he has gone to the pole and tapped us illegally.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Three Web sites that provide spam blocking lists have shut down as a result of crippling Internet attacks in what experts on Thursday said is an escalation in the war between spammers and opponents of unsolicited e-mails. keep getting better and better. Find your perfect portable PC, then accessorize. Anti-spam experts said that they think spammers are behind the attacks, although they have no way of proving it. The technological war comes as Congress considers a federal anti-spam law and California adopts what is widely considered to be the toughest law in the country. The California law, signed on Tuesday, allows people to sue spammers for $1,000 per unsolicited e-mail and up to $1 million for a spam campaign. "This definitely marks an escalation in the spam wars," Andrew Barrett, executive director of The Spamcon Foundation, a spam watchdog group, said of the recent Internet attacks on lists used to block spam. "Before, it was a guerrilla war ... This is the first time we've seen (spammers) employ such brazen tactics," he said. Anti-spam advocates maintain hundreds of spam block or "black hole" lists, which are Web sites with lists of the numerical Internet protocol addresses of specific computers or e-mail servers that are unsecure or are known sources of spam. Network administrators and Internet service providers consult the lists and block e-mails coming from those computers as part of their spam filtering techniques. Two of those spam block lists have shut down after being attacked by denial-of-service (news - web sites) attacks, in which compromised computers are used to send so much traffic to a Web site that it is temporarily taken down. The operator of another list shut down fearing a pending attack. "There seems to be a methodical well-planned attempt to use pre-assembled networks of zombie machines to create sustained denial of service attacks (news - web sites) on servers where these block lists run," said Barrett. 'HANDWRITING ON THE WALL' Monkeys.com shut down on Monday following a three-day denial of service attack over the weekend and an attack last month that lasted 10 days, list operator Ronald Guilmette said in a posting to an anti-spam news group. "The handwriting is now on the wall," he wrote. "I will simply not be allowed to continue fighting spam." Spam block list operator Osiriusoft.com also recently shut down its list after a denial of service attack, and on Tuesday the list maintained at Tennessee Internet service provider Compu-Net Enterprises was taken down. Bill Larson, network administrator at Compu-Net, said in an interview on Thursday that he shut the list down because he was afraid it would be targeted with a denial of service attack. The company was already being harassed, receiving complaints after attackers sent spam that looked like it was coming from the company's network and legitimate e-mails were getting bounced, he said. Experts have speculated that spammers are behind a computer worm, Sobig, that surfaced earlier this year that can turn infected computers into spam relay machines. "The black hole lists were incredibly effective until the Sobig worm started going out," Larson said. While Guilmette complained that ISPs could do more to stop the attacks by taking the attacking computers offline, Larson said anti-spam advocates were considering other options to keep the lists going. They are talking about having lists that are distributed across numerous computers like in a peer-to-peer network, he said. "That will make it hard, if not impossible, to take them down," he added. However, the best solution to the problem is for people to just "not buy the products mentioned in spam" advertisements, Larson added.

Comcast can do it. You would just pay for the cable internet part. Unless it is with another cable company.

I don't think teens should be producing porn though.

Carnivale Dead Like Me Married With Children Seinfeld Angry Beavers Penn & Teller's Bullshit

Well the monthly banning of 2-4 posters is right on time as usual.

Could just be network conditions.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Locked in a court battle with film and music studios over its popular Kazaa file-sharing software, Sharman Networks this week accused its legal foes of copyright infringement -- the same charge the entertainment companies have leveled against it. Sharman, headquartered on the island nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, on Monday amended its claim in federal court in Los Angeles to accuse the labels and studios of breaching its copyright and privacy provisions to covertly gather information about users of Kazaa. It also revived its antitrust charges in the claim. Last year, the record labels and movie studios filed a copyright infringement suit against Sharman, one of several such legal battles against file-sharing services in their effort to stamp out online piracy. A spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites), which represents the major labels, said the copyright infringement claim was ironic for a company accused of abetting online piracy. "Sharman Networks' newfound admiration for the importance of copyright law is ironic, to say the least," the RIAA spokeswoman said. "Too bad this self-serving respect stops at their headquarters' door in Vanuatu, and doesn't extend to preventing the rampant piracy on their networks or lifting a finger to educate their users about the consequences of illegal file sharing," she added. Sharman also accused the studios of a concerted scheme to keep Sharman, its partner Altnet, and peer-to-peer technology out of the market for licensed digital content distribution. Since last year, digital media company Altnet, owned by Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc., has placed pay-content listings among Kazaa search results to lead users to authorized, protected files instead of unlicensed music tracks and other content on Kazaa. Sharman has touted the partnership with Altnet as a potential and legitimate revenue source for music labels. But in its counterclaim, it said that while Sharman and Altnet held various productive talks with executives at AOL Time Warner's Warner Music, Vivendi Universal's Universal Music and other labels, these efforts were later stymied by industry body directives. It said the studios also engaged in collusion to apply pressure to advertisers, Internet service providers, and business partners of Sharman and Altnet, as well as public smear campaigns.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Computer security experts issued a joint report on Wednesday saying that the ubiquitous reach of Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) software on desktops worldwide has made computer networks a national security risk susceptible to "massive, cascading failures." The report, unveiled at the Computer & Communications Industry Association's meeting of industry leaders and government officials in Washington, D.C., saying that Microsoft is now the number one target for malicious computer virus writers. The report's authors told CCIA -- which is funded by Microsoft rivals -- that the software's complexity has made it particularly vulnerable to attacks. So far this year, two major viruses emerged that took advantage of flaws in Microsoft software. Slammer, which targeted computers running Microsoft's server-based software for databases, slowed down Internet traffic across the globe and shut down flight reservation systems and cash machines in the United States. The Blaster worm burrowed through hundreds of thousands of computers, destroying data and launching attacks on other computers. "The nature of the platform that dominates every desktop everywhere is such that its dominance, coupled with its insecurity, cannot be ignored and is a matter of corporate and national policy," said Dan Geer, a security consultant and chief technology officer of @Stake, a computer security company. Geer, along with other well-known computer security experts Rebecca Bace, Peter Gutmann, Perry Metzger, Charles Pfleeger, John Quarterman, and Bruce Schneier, said they issued their report to raise awareness of the risk to national security by using a single, wide-spread software system. The report's authors said the report was a reflection of their own views and not necessarily those of the CCIA, an industry trade group of Microsoft's competitors that has a long history of suing the world's largest software maker. But in response to the report, Americans for Technology Leadership, an industry trade group backed by Microsoft and other companies and organizations, called the report an attempt by the CCIA to exploit the "serious issue of cyber-security." "Cyber-security is an industry-wide problem that will not be solved by malicious finger pointing and political attacks," Jim Prendergast, executive director of Americans for Technology Leadership, said in a statement. IS MONOPOLY THE PROBLEM? Microsoft, which launched its Trustworthy Computing initiative in early 2002 to make its software more secure and reliable, said it is continuing to work with its customers and the government to make its software "as secure, private and reliable as possible." "Microsoft considers security for all of our customers -- from government networks to individual PC users -- to be our top priority," said Microsoft spokeswoman Ginny Terzano. "The widespread use of Microsoft products around the world means we are constantly working to be responsive when vulnerabilities occur." But the security experts said the issue of computer security had more to do with the ubiquity of Microsoft's software than any flaws in the software. The best solution, the report's authors argued, is to adopt a mix of different computer systems that will reduce the risk of a single security incident crippling a company or a government agency. "Having more than one operating system running inside your enterprise (news - web sites) would be a substantial improvement," said Geer. Bruce Schneier, a co-author of the report and chief technology officer of network monitoring firm Counterpane Security, noted a recent initiative by Japan, Korea and China to develop an alternative operating system to Microsoft's Windows to enhance security. "I wouldn't put all of the blame on Microsoft," Schneier said, "the problem is the monoculture."

True, but most of the news you post about isn't significant in any meaningful sense of the term. It's simply weird, disgusting, or stupid shit that happened on that particular day. It isn't important. It doesn't affect anyone outside the story. Whether or not it's current, it isn't news and it isn't an event. That's fine, and I'm not saying that CE should be entirely about politics. I believe you're confusing me with JMA. For once, I agree with Marney. CE should be mainly political, or at least meaningful, news. The "lighter" stuff fits better in General Chat. Then you are a moron. Define "lighter" stuff. What is meaningful to you means jack shit to me motherfucker so I will post what is meaningful and current to me.

I take offense to that comment Marney as the only news is not political news. Some of us would like to discuss something other than the 8 or 9 threads on the presidential debate and if you don't like it.... then complain to Tom. Edit: And the rules are stupid Dames. The only place it would apply would probably be in the WWE folder because you shouldn't expect people to go and find a thread posted a year ago to bump.

Lord Of the Rings and that is about it from what I've seen. Rundown is worth maybe a rent or PPV buy since a movie is on PPV about a month after home video releases.

Seahawks were good in the Largent years but fell upon hard times since. And the AFC West for many years was Broncos and then a rotatings 2-4 between SD, Oak, KC and Seattle.

Well of course there are books that are probably iffy to have in a children's library or for a young child to be reading. Certainly Catcher In The Rye is not 5th grade reading material (and it shouldn't be because they probably wouldn't understand it) but is find for 8th grade and up at least.