The cable set-top box isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, Comcast executives told investors Wednesday after the company reported Q3 financial results. “I think there will be set-top boxes for a long time,” said Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts. Though certain aspects of the industry are starting to move away from set-top boxes, “the most exciting products we're working on, that allow you to have tremendous functionality right on the TV, do have set-top boxes involved with them,” he said.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The five broadcast network entertainment presidents agreed that the proliferation of delivery platforms presents an opportunity and a risk. Speaking on a Hollywood Radio & TV Society panel, ABC’s Paul Lee said most of the emerging platforms are not yet “big businesses.” But he added: “We have to move into the new world with models that make money. We have to make sure those businesses are strong and give us dual revenue streams. Some of these technologies will survive and some won’t. … A new technology can come in and help us monetize. For example, when satellite came in, it drove up the price for cable."

Sprint Nextel added 644,000 customers in Q3, the most customers it added in a quarter in four years, for a total of 48.8 million. It also posted the first quarterly revenue increase in three years. But the carrier reported a wider loss of $911 million compared with a year-ago loss of $478 million. The company expects to continue to gain subscribers overall in Q4 and looks for trends to improve in both postpaid and prepaid businesses. The carrier intends to move to a single network, CEO Dan Hesse said in a conference call Wednesday.

More than 40 percent of NTIA broadband stimulus money went directly to or was shared by areas represented by members of the House Commerce Committee, although committee members make up 14 percent of the House, an analysis of government records shows. Committee members’ districts won all or parts of nearly $1.9 billion in grants, NTIA records show. On the Senate side, more than 51 percent -- about $2 billion -- of the money given out by the NTIA went to states with senators on the Commerce Committee, NTIA records show. Twenty-five senators, one quarter of the Senate, sit on the committee. Legislators whose home districts got money said there’s no connection between their committee role and the grants.

Comcast said it wouldn’t change NBC Universal’s relationship with Hulu.com. The renewed promise came after a blackout by News Corp. of Fox video on the website was brought up in relation to Comcast’s deal to buy control of NBC Universal. It was Comcast’s first comment to the FCC on the Cablevision-Fox retransmission consent dispute and on News Corp.’s decision to temporarily block Cablevision broadband customers from Fox video on Fox.com and Hulu, which is partly owned by NBC Universal and News Corp. (CD Oct 19 p5). The FCC criticized Cablevision for using PR tactics in the retrans dispute. About 18 hours later, Cablevision said it’s willing to pay what News Corp. seeks from another major cable operator for carriage of two of three blacked-out TV stations. Fox rejected the offer hours after it was made.

Lack of clarity on VoIP at the federal level opens the door to additional state activity, state officials told us. Regulators in states like Wisconsin are looking at VoIP issues, including authority over the technology. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission had a prehearing Tuesday and will look into the appropriate level of regulation on VoIP. A decision is expected in July.

CTIA urged the FCC to rely on a collaborative process for developing requirements for hearing-aid compatible (HAC) handsets based on new technologies that go beyond CMRS. But two groups representing the hearing impaired said the FCC should adopt strong requirements that are of maximum benefit for those with hearing loss. Comments were due this week on a rulemaking approved by the commission at its Aug. 5 meeting.

A term sheet on NAB’s performance royalty position adopted by its radio board late Monday and approved Tuesday by the TV board drew criticism from other industry groups. The NAB sent the term sheet to the MusicFirst coalition Monday night and said it would only support legislation to institute a performance royalty for terrestrial radio broadcasters that mimicked it. The coalition said it differed from an agreement the groups had reached over the summer. But NAB CEO Gordon Smith said no such agreement had been reached as talks between the parties continued (CD Sept 29 p6).

NEW ORLEANS -- In a move likely to raise industry hackles, some senior cable engineers are pushing for cable operators to adopt more flexible programming packages to stave off growing competition from such over-the-top (OTT) video providers as Apple, Netflix and Google. Without using the dreaded “a la carte” term, cable technology executives at the Society of Cable Telecom Engineers (SCTE) convention last week urged their counterparts to consider breaking up their traditional subscription packages into smaller chunks of channels and shows. Now that Internet video providers are offering consumers the ability to order individual shows, the engineers said, cable operators should think about changing their decades-old practice of only selling broad tiers and packages.

Industry commenters saw potential problems in various proposals by the FCC to change its rules to push more use of spectrum for wireless backhaul, as proposed in part in the National Broadband Plan. Comments on the Aug. 5 proposals were due this week. The comments said more use of wireless backhaul could both cut the cost of CMRS service and mean better coverage in rural areas (CD Aug 6 p5). The NBP proposed extensive spectrum sharing among the Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS), the Cable Television Relay Service (CARS) and the Fixed Service, sought comment on the use of adaptive modulation and on a Wireless Strategies proposal to allow FS licensees to coordinate primary and multiple auxiliary links.