Cablevision News:

--Will Integrate Newsday's Auto Content with Optimum Autos ITV Service
--Launches ITV-Enabled VOD Service Providing Info on Pancreatic Cancer
--Launches Bollywood SVOD, Spanish-Language Broadband TV

New York-area MSO, Cablevision, is integrating its Optimum Autos interactive TV (located on channel 605 of its digital cable service) and online auto classifieds services with the print and online auto classified services and auto-related editorial of its newspaper property, Newsday (serves Long Island and its environs), in order to create what it is billing as a "cross-platform...superior local automotive shopping experience for regional buyers and sellers across multiple platforms." The integration of the services, which is scheduled to take place January 1st, will also see Newsday rebranding its print and online automotive sections as Optimum Autos. The company says that the new, integrated offering will feature improved search capabilities and "engaging, responsive, interactive local auto content." "We are pleased to announce that Newsday has joined with Optimum Autos, creating the region's premier multimedia automotive portal and resource, enhancing the experience for car-buying consumers with an unparalleled local focus and the most relevant and high-value listings available," Ken DePaola, Newsday's EVP of sales and marketing, said in a prepared statement. "Cablevision's Optimum Autos will provide our advertising customers with the best of all worlds: maximum coverage across print, interactive and cable TV platforms, easy-to-use technology for uploading, searching and reporting, and a customizable local environment that will cater to our marketplace's automotive buyers and sellers like no other." Added John Trierweiler, Cablevision's SVP of product management: "If you want to buy a car in this market, Optimum Autos will unquestionably be the place to go. We will offer nothing less than the best car-buying experience online, in print and through interactive television. This new partnership is a perfect follow-up to the recent launch of Newsday TV, an interactive channel that allows Cablevision's cable television customers to subscribe to the newspaper with just a few clicks of the remote control, and a potent example of the kinds of cross-platform synergies and integrations we believe will produce meaningful benefits and growth for both Newsday and Cablevision."

According to Cablevision, the new integrated Optimum Autos service will offer reviews, pricing and other information from such sources as Kelly Blue Book and J.D. Power and Associates; hundreds of new car review videos, 360-degree interior and exterior views, color swatches and high-resolution photos; locally relevant automotive stories and event listings; and advanced inventory search technology. Its launch will be supported by an advertising and marketing campaign in Newsday, on cable TV, and on the Internet, as well as through promotional events.

In other Cablevision news:

• The operator has teamed with the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research to launch an interactive VOD channel--dubbed the Lustgarten channel and located on channel 615--that allows its digital cable subscribers to learn more about pancreatic cancer and what is currently being done to fight the disease. The channel--which was created as part of the curePC public awareness campaign, a joint-initiative between Cablevision and the Lustgarten Foundation--was launched in November in recognition of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. It provides Cablevision subscribers with on-demand access to the curePC campaign's PSA's, as well as information on how to make a donation to the Lustgarten Foundation, and relevant contact info. When viewers select a "Request Information" button on the channel, they are taken to a form which is pre-populated with their name, address, town, zip code and home phone number and where they can submit a request for more information on pancreatic cancer and the Lustgarten Foundation. The Foundation will then send them a package of information for those impacted by the disease or who want to learn how to get involved in the effort to fight it. Cablevision is promoting the new channel via on-screen banners on its iO TV digital cable service. The operator says that it has committed to underwriting all the Lustgarten Foundation's administrative costs, in order to ensure that 100% of the money donated to the organization goes directly to pancreatic cancer research.
• The operator has launched the Bollywood Hits On Demand subscription VOD service on its iO TV digital cable platform (channel 241). The service--which is a joint venture between Indian film distributor, Eros Entertainment, and US distributor of foreign-language and ethnic programming, International Networks--offers 80 hours of content per month, including around 25 movies and 50 music videos; content is refreshed on a weekly basis. "Cablevision is pleased to offer Bollywood Hits On Demand as its inaugural international subscription video-on-demand channel," Cablevision's John Trierweiler said in a prepared statement. "It is a valuable enhancement to the broad array of programming we offer to our international customers. The addition of such unique programming further demonstrates Cablevision's leadership position in the delivery of culturally rich programming to our diverse customer base." Bollywood Hits On Demand, which Cablevision is offering for $9.95 per month, is the 15th SVOD service the operator has launched to date. Cablevision's VOD library includes around 4,000 titles.
• The operator has teamed with Terra.com, a provider of digital content for the US Latino community, on a broadband video Web site, dubbed Optimum Latino, for customers of its Optimum Online high-speed Internet service. The site, which is accessed via Optimum Online's consumer Web portal, Optimum.net, and which is offered at no additional charge, features news, entertainment and sports content (including international news, daily soccer updates, and coverage of events such as the Latin Grammys), as well as Terra's core Terra TV offering, which provides 15 channels of Spanish-language video content. Content is refreshed on a daily basis.
• The operator has formed a new group, called the Office of Strategic Development, which it says will focus on long-range new products for and enhancements to its current suite of video, voice and high-speed Internet services (see article in this issue).
• The group of broadcasters and studios which sued the operator to block its planned Remote Storage DVR (RS-DVR) service, and whose lower-court victory was overturned by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals last August (see [itvt] Issue 8.06 Part 1) is asking the US Supreme Court to review that court's decision. The group has received amicus briefs from a number of media and entertainment companies and organizations. The Supreme Court is expected to decide next month whether it will hear the case.