LATE BREAKING NEWS

AOL Time Warner is advertising for a New York-based affiliate marketing manager and a Westminster, Colo.-based VOD systems engineer and technical writer for its MystroTV network DVR service now being tested in Time Warner Cable’s GigE-centric and DVR-launch market of Green Bay, Wis. (not Columbia, S.C., as previously rumored). The company has registered the website (www.mystrotv.com) and snagged 1-800-4MYSTRO for its consumer launch as early as next year. On Nov. 3 Oceanic Time Warner Cable in Hawaii will launch a $6.95 hi-def tier with INHD and INHD2 and a $2.95 digital sports tier featuring NBA TV, the Tennis Channel and Fox Cable’s Fuel action sports network. Fuel has launched since July in Time Warner Cable’s Waco, Texas, Charlotte, N.C., Cincinnati and Columbia, S.C., markets. Operators will have some real control over copyrighted material that is delivered via their networks, according to the FCC’s plug-and-play ruling handed down Oct. 10. Previously, copyright holders have had the right to determine how and whether their content could be copied by viewers; now, operators can determine that, according to Starz spokesman Tom Southwick. “We are confident that the overwhelming majority [of operators] will choose to allow their customers to continue to be able to copy SVOD programming one time for personal use, a right consumers currently have for premium subscription television,” said John Sie, Starz Encore Group’s CEO, in a statement. Starz will encourage affiliates to allow one-time copying of its SVOD product. It’s unclear what the other premium services will do. HBO had argued to the FCC that the material shouldn’t be copied at all, said Southwick. Fox News Channel averaged a 1.8 rating (just over 2 million viewers) for its prime-time coverage of the California gubernatorial election voting, beating CNN’s 1.0 (1.06 million viewers) and MSNBC’s 0.5 (489,000 viewers)…. HDNet is telecasting weekly the original Charlie’s Angels series in 1080i format starting tonight…. FCC Media Bureau chief Ken Ferree stopped the FCC 180-day clock on Friday for reviewing News Corp.’s proposed purchase of Hughes Electronics’ DirecTV. Ferree said the FCC wants to consult with the Justice Department and needs more documents from both companies. The FCC also votes on Oct. 16 to decide what to do about the more than 150 commercial TV stations that missed the agency’s May 2002 deadline for launching digital transmissions…‥ The photographer who snapped the head shots for Meet the Operator sidebar in the Oct. 6 issue was Bill Cardoni, not Cordoni…. On Oct. 7, Primedia sold Cable World to PBI Media; this is the first issue under the new ownership. The next issue will be published on Oct. 27.