MaxFAX…

Dysfunctional… Look it up in Larry King’s dictionary… there’s a group picture of the Federal Confusion Commission (only one commissioner is smiling, by the way). What a joke. How did it get this way? Is AT&T that powerful? Is Dick Wiley, perhaps in his dotage (hey, that’s a joke… but a reasonable question), the string puller? If so, why? Did ya’ll watch the latest iteration of the Chairman simply ignoring reality? C-SPAN is doing a wonderful (as usual) public service carrying these travesties of government live as—in the latest version—another Congressional committee “grilled” the Chairman… Is this a bad video game? Or a time warp? Or what? It cannot be real. Really. How could it be? Random Notes

• Recount! Ah, remember that poll about the “worst” modern Federal Confusion Commission Chairman? Well, we did a recount. We got 157 votes (some a little late) and Kevin Martin(et) retained his “win”… but, it seems he got 71.4% of the vote. (And, the plaque we sent was returned “addressee unknown”… just kidding.) We did not—it’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it—modify or in any way fool with the results, the counting and/or the results to get over 70/70! (This paragraph, the poll, the plaque and all other aspects of this travesty are solely the work of the author; in no way, shape, form or curses does CableFAX Daily and/or its corporate parent, employees, reporters, hangers-on and/or friends have anything whatsoever to do with this and any other diatribe that may or may not call into question the behavior of any commissioner, former commissioner and/or wannabe commissioner of the past, present or future. Selah).
  
• Heli-Ski on the SKI Channel! (Disclaimer, I’m a heli-ski addict and Steve Bellamy is a friend.) Way cool… two new programs will debut on the new ad-supported VOD net, including the World Heli Challenge… it’ll take place in August at Mount Cook in New Zealand (ah, I’ve skied it and a couple other heli-tracks in NZ). The other program will be even more fun… storm tracking with twelve 30-minute episodes a year as “Storm Hunter”… you can join weather geek and fabulous ski photographer Tony “Harro” Harrington as he tracks offbeat weather patterns and then gets his extreme skiing and riding buddies to test their limits. Me, I’ll stick to the heli-parts.
  
• Buying Opportunity: Wonder if the markets have already factored in the upcoming joke of a 30mln sub cap for cable operators? If not fully done, mark the 18th as a buying opportunity… for one lately beleaguered stock.
  
• Speaking of Sub Caps: How many landline customers should a company have?
  
• Say It Ain’t So, Joe! Bummer. Baseball? Fakeball? Dodgeball?
  
• CableFAX 100? Well, close enough for government work (not exactly 100 mentions). Cool issue; cool (mostly) list. Got your copy yet? If not, ask. Cool cover. Cool luncheon featuring stars from AMC’s “Mad Men” (cool, in all the best sense of the word, star) and Discovery’s “Cash Cab” (funny guy) and the naming of every one of the CFAX 100+ by Mike Grebb and Seth Arenstein (who, oddly, sometimes has to explain that what he said is a “joke”… hey, we ALL ought to get any reference to 70/70!).
  
• Android by Google: Think that approach could work in cable?
  
• It Might? After all, Slingbox (more than you’d think), Akimbo (maybe a dozen or so) and others are “attaching” anyway. Think back to what the CarterPhone decision set loose… better—even if more confusing—phones and phone service. Just wondering.