charter

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it is "inappropriate" for Internet service providers to require his company to pay all the costs of delivering streaming video to a subscriber's home, and tomorrow he plans to do something about it.

In a letter from Hastings to Netflix shareholders published today, he said it is only fair for ISPs to accept some of the financial burden since it is the ISPs' customers who have requested Netflix's content. Hastings made it clear that he hasn't received enough cooperation from ISPs.

In response, Netflix plans to publish statistics about which … Read more

TiVo has struck a multiyear deal with Charter Communications to bring its Premiere set-top box and interface to the fourth-largest cable provider.

According to Charter, its deal with TiVo is designed to bring its customers "a new and enhanced experience." Charter said that its offering will have the features current TiVo users are accustomed to, including a programming guide, content searching, and live TV control. Users will also have access to the provider's OnDemand content from the set-top box.

Charter will release an iPad app to complement its TiVo launch. The company said that the app will be a "command central" for users, allowing them to schedule recordings, post updates to Twitter and Facebook, and search for shows.

Charter will be offering Premiere boxes to customers, and those devices will offer 45 hours of HD and 400 hours of standard-definition storage. In addition, users will be able to transfer content to their set-top box with TiVoToGo.… Read more

Canadian wireless company WiLAN is firing up another round of lawsuits, this time against leading cable companies.

Alleging patent infringement over technology in cable modems, WiLAN said today that it has has launched suits against Comcast, Time Warner, and Charter Communications in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Ottawa-based WiLAN, which patents wireless products, asserts that the cable trio has been violating U.S. patent No. 5,761,602 by marketing and selling cable systems and modems. Issued in 1998, the patent in question covers "hybrid multichannel data transmission system utilizing a broadcast medium," … Read more

The proposed merger of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Globalfoundries will help the AMD manufacturing spinoff propel forward in its bid to become a foundry leader, according to analysts.

Earlier this week, Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) and Chartered Semiconductor announced that they entered into a definitive agreement, in which ATIC would acquire Chartered for $1.75 billion. ATIC owns about two-thirds of Globalfoundries--the joint venture that the investment firm created with Advanced Micro Devices.

The deal is subject to Singapore's High Court and Chartered's shareholders, but according to market analyst iSuppli, chances are good the deal will go … Read more

Note: This is a companion piece to the story "Has online piracy reached a tipping point?"

AT&T made news last month for acknowledging that it had begun sending warning notices to customers accused of illegal file sharing by the music industry.

Executives from the nation's largest Internet service provider said the notices were only part of a test. The company could have saved itself some trouble and just asked the advice of Charter Communications. Much of what AT&T is experimenting with, Charter has been doing for years.

AT&T said it only … Read more

IBM, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and others are teaming up on the development of next-generation chip technology for small, low-power devices with one wary eye on Intel, which is expediting its move to chips with smaller geometries.

IBM and its semiconductor technology alliance partners are announcing the availability of 28-nanometer (nm) chip technology, a little more than a generation beyond the 45nm technologies currently used by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in their latest chips.

The first products using chips based on this technology are expected in the second half of 2010, an IBM spokesman said. Devices will include smartphones and … Read more

This story was update at 1:59 p.m. PST, with information about a potential tax break for Allen regarding the Charter bankruptcy.

For Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, 2009 is not starting well.

His largest investment, Charter Communications, announced last week it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, pushing the value of his multibillion dollar investment down to a little more than $11.5 million, based on Wednesday's closing stock price of a little less than 3 cents per share.

Last month, Allen cut the workforce at his private investment and philanthropic company Vulcan by 7.6 percent, or … Read more

Charter Communications announced Thursday it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of an agreement reached with its debt holders.

The announcement runs counter to the success its largest investor and Chairman Paul Allen received when he co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. Since that time, however, Allen has run into bumps along the way with his other investments.

Charter, which announced its plans to file for Chapter 11 while the markets were open, ended the day down a whopping 48.1 percent to close at nearly 3.5 cents a share.

By April 1, Charter plans to file … Read more

IBM has added NEC to its growing list of allied companies doing research on next-generation chip manufacturing technology.

On Thursday, IBM and NEC Electronics signed an agreement for joint development of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing process technology, which includes participation in an IBM-led effort focused on 32-nanometer chips and, later, 22-nanometer chips. Currently, companies like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are bringing 45-nanometer chips to market.

Generally, as geometries get smaller, chips get faster and more power-efficient.

IBM has accumulated a large, eclectic group of chipmakers at its semiconductor fabrication facility in East Fishkill, N.Y., and the College of Nanoscale … Read more