Word: padden
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...buried in this summer's balanced-budget act, pushed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Trent Lott, allows stations to keep both their old and new channel space beyond 2006 as long as 15% of households in their markets are still using analog sets. And ABC president Preston Padden has disclosed that his network will probably forgo broadcasting HDTV altogether and instead cram a combination of several standard-definition channels and even some pay-TV programs into the digital pipe. Infuriated public watchdogs see this as sleight of hand. "They get all this spectrum for free, and nobody else...
...HDTV transmission, they can "multicast" several channels of lower-grade digital pictures, which, to the average couch potato, are indistinguishable from the real thing. "The technology is getting so good that we can contemplate multiple channels without any difference in picture quality that the consumer is going to see," Padden told TIME. The other networks are also hinting that their channels won't be devoted solely to pure HDTV. Says Charles Jablonski, a senior executive at NBC: "We have yet to see a compelling reason to forfeit our flexibility...
...stalled, stymied by the media mogul's insistence that EchoStar switch to a Murdoch-approved descrambling technology. Some industry observers contend the technology issue is only a smoke screen for other problems faced by the venture. The deal was thrown further into doubt late last week when Preston Padden, Murdoch's top satellite executive, resigned, reportedly after clashing with EchoStar chairman Charles Ergen over control of the venture. "The EchoStar deal left me without a real job," Padden told TIME. "I have nothing but respect and affection for Mr. Murdoch, but I am out of here...
...deal showered benefits throughout Murdoch's empire. For Fox's existing affiliates, it proved a bonanza. Many are reporting increases in ratings and advertising revenue. More important, football gave the network new credibility. Fox's Preston Padden, who serves as head of affiliate relations and is Murdoch's point man in Washington, immediately began using the victory to lure affiliates allied with the other networks. He launched his campaign in January 1994 at a national meeting of TV executives, where he operated three presentation rooms to make his pitch, generating contacts that led, he says, to Fox's winning over...
...stake in Washington -- not the $ least of which is a spat with NBC, a rival of the mogul's Fox network. NBC has complained to government regulators that Murdoch's control of Fox, which is owned by his Australia-based company, violates rules on foreign ownership of TV stations. Padden told TIME he was the one who raised the issue with Gingrich: "Right at the end, I interjected that NBC was trashing us all over Capitol Hill, and it was just sour grapes because we were hurting them in the marketplace...