Gone To Carolina - RuralComMag.com

Hills of North Carolina
Number 05 | RuralComMag.com
Gone To Carolina
SHUTTERSTOCK
How A Non-Profit Built North Carolina’s
Most Ambitious Broadband Network Ever p.20
REVIEW:
Moving To
The Country:
On (Not) Getting
Broadband
42 Shows
You Should
Promote
For Q2 - Q4
p.12
Construction Never Quits
p.6
Rural-Focused
Programming
p.10
p.8
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WFN
Editorial
CONTENTS
06 Construction Projects
Never Really End
Written by Rex Porter
08 Tune In, Rural Style
Written by Levy Jones
Features
10 Adjusting To What Often Passes
For Rural Broadband
Written by Liz Zucco
12 The Shows To Promote
During Q2 - Q4
Written by Grayson Hill
Profile
Bill Boyce’s Baja
20 North Carolina’s MCNC:
The Building Of A Serious
Research & Education Network
Written by Grayson Hill
Coming Up: Marketing & Operations
THIS FIFTH VOLUME OF RURAL COMMUNICATIONS focuses on two basic issues:
n The shows and networks on Basic and Tier Two offerings we believe will matter most
to the widest selection of rural viewers.
n Buildouts. To that end, we examine how non-profit, MCNC, funded, built and operates the enormous North Carolina Research and Education Network. Rex Porter
also lends some thoughts on how to manage the construction you’ll have after your
construction projects have officially ended.
We want Rural Communications to be the go-to resource for America’s rural technology
operators. We invite our readers to share their trial-hardened expertise and deep insights.
Let us know if there’s a broadband system, a subject or a theme that you think should be
addressed in these pages. Just send a note directly to the publisher, Paul Levine, at
[email protected].
Good hunting,
GRAYSON HILL, EDITOR
Advertising Inquiries
Paul R. Levine, Publisher
[email protected]
PAUL R. LEVINE, PUBLISHER
Paul R. Levine
Publisher
Rex Porter
Technical Editor
Grayson Hill
Editor
Semiology
Art Direction
Contributors
Liz Zucco
Levy Jones
Rural Communications is printed on 20% recycled (10% postconsumer waste) paper using only soy-based inks. Our printer meets
or exceeds all federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA)
standards and is a member of the Forest Stewardship Council.
4
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
EDITORIAL
Emergencies Happen.
Construction Never Ends
As they say, it’s what happens after the sale
Rex Porter
IT’S COMMON FOR SYSTEM OPERATORS to think
of construction contractors as service providers.
While they are providing a service – the installation of
system assets – the assets themselves are much like
any other capital asset in that they require service
inputs, and impose costs over a lifecycle. When your
capital assets are out in the world and exposed to the
elements, emergencies become inevitable.
Many local operators that lack on-staff
construction crews contract out the building of their
FTTH networks, and take over operations as the
project reaches completion goals. While this reduces
overall costs, the builder will move on to projects in
other systems, and may never return.
Mother Nature, however, is always home, and
can play havoc with a fiber optic system. Storms can
bring trees down onto cables; fires can burn fiber and
their supports; flooding can create problems whether
the cables are direct burial or cable in duct. The
worse conditions are outdoors, the more likely the
system will run into problems, and the harder it will
be to assemble a competent response if there aren’t
enough local assets that can be brought to bear.
Response, then, falls on the system, and ideally,
to its system engineer. Failing to adequately plan for
emergencies is quite possibly the worst mistake a
system engineer can make. The system engineer
should prepare an emergency response team made up
PRO TIP: DOCUMENT EVERYTHING
Builders build, coders code, marketers market, and
just about everyone hates documentation. Perhaps
the best way to think of documentation is that it’s a
kind of insurance protecting an organiz­ation from the
potentially catastrophic cost of ignorance. Because
the world is bumpy, we use engineers instead of
robots to make value decisions: to pinch, pull, and
tug things in just the right way to make them work.
But, people forget things, or leave organizations for
one reason or another, and take with them the
knowledge of a unique solution that makes it all go.
So, make documentation a policy — even track and
reward its use. That goes for contract workers, too.
~ Ed.
of individuals who either understand or
can be taught about the fundamental insand-outs of the outside plant. As appropriate, members of that team also should be
responsible for engineering, safety and
crisis supervision.
Even if a construction company is
close by, it must possess or have ready
access to the right test gear needed to
quickly restore a system to operation.
In addition to having proper tools and
equipment, such as trenchers, rod or missile borers and trucks, the response staff
should be well versed on EOL testing and
recording. They need to have and understand fusion splicing and OTDR equipment.
Noise mitigation of any drops effected is a
big part of proof-of-performance after the
fibers are repaired or spliced.
A very important – though frequently
overlooked – part of the job is the documentation of upstream and downstream
signals. You should have your own company specifications for such items as all
signal carriers, voltage, overall noise and
distortion at four locations per node.
If your system is going to depend on
a local construction company, make sure
their people are committed to providing a
thorough report of all work done, including complete documentation of every
task. If you have a qualified construction
company close by to help return your
system to full operation on short notice,
consider yourself lucky! Just remember
that documentation will become so very
important at some point after the crisis
has passed. |||||
THE ONLY TV CHANNEL
DEDICATED TO FISHING
WorldFishingNetwork.com
Rex Porter’s career in began in telecom’s early
days as a microwave engineer. Rex built up
several small cable MSOs, and later became
Editor-in-Chief for Communications Technology,
the official journal of the SCTE. Rex is a past
Vice Chairman of the NCTA Cable Pioneers,
and is Rural Communications’ Technical Editor.
To subscribe to World Fishing Network contact your cable or satellite provider or go to GetWFN.com.
6
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
EDITORIAL
Viewing With An Eye
On The Country
What’s out for outside the city limits
Levy Jones
8
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
NETWORKS ACROSS THE GENRE SPECTRUM are
trying harder than ever to get your attention, and give
you some viewing satisfaction.
Much of the programming the networks are
offering up for rural communities are of the “go fast”
variety: racing and motorsports, fishing and hunting.
There’s also a bevy of reality programming, and news
(rural style). Some of the shows you can expect to
see are from big names, like ESPN, Fox, Spike, and
Sportsman Channel. Others shows of interest are
coming from smaller outfits.
Fox Sports 1 and 2 (formerly Speed and Fuel,
respectively) offer non-stop action. Fox Sports 1
serves up more traditional sports, while Fox Sports 2
is filed with racing news and events: NASCAR, Indy,
Supercross, and anything else that would blow competitors’ hair back if they weren’t wearing a helmet.
In rural America, college sports is often the
biggest draw. Small networks like Root Sports and Bit
Ten can be found in the crannies of rural broadcaster
lineups. ESPN carries a multitude of college sports,
as well. But, the big player in the market may be Fox
Sports Net, a network of regional broadcasters with
a strong presence from Florida west to Texas, and up
in the Midwest.
Fox Sports 1 and 2 are also go-to networks for
mixed martial arts (MMA) fans — and watering holes
where MMA draws crowds. There, you’ll find some of
the largest schedules of bouts from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s leading MMA
promoter. If you like the UFC and the drama that surrounds the world of fighting, Fox Sports 2 is your best
bet. Other bouts can be found on Fox’s other properties, such as Fox Network, and FX.
Pursuit Channel is for outdoorsmen, featuring
almost any conceivable format of fishing and hunting
show. Pursuit is not yet widely available outside of
satellite, so if you can’t get it, Sportsman Channel offers a similar lineup, that’s a little more polished, and
a little more mainstream.
Supposing you want to catch up on some local
news. There’s still the over-the-air broadcasts, made
a lot easier to watch in some locations via cable. But,
if you’re not already a fan, tune in to RFD-TV, the number one television channel dedicated to rural commu-
nities. RFD-TV covers education, culture,
sports, and entertainment — all with a
rural focus.
For general entertainment value,
CMT, and Great American Country are still
the big players. CMT – formerly Country
Music Television – hasn’t lost its love of
country music; but it now also features
reality series, like the long-running Orange County Choppers and the tonguein-cheek, flyover take on Survivor, called
Redneck Island, which we’re hoping will
come back for a fourth season.
Like CMT, Great American Country
still celebrates its country music background; but it has truly upped its game
in documentary programming. From
shows like John Ratzenberger’s Made In
America, to Day Jobs, where country music celebrities go back to the jobs they had
before they made it big, Great American
Country lives up to its name as a celebration of America’s roots, and the people and
places that make her great.
With the advance of niche programming, viewers’ choices continue to grow.
Never in any time before now have viewers
been able to sit down and watch 24 hours
of NASCAR, or news that focuses solely on
agriculture, or follow a husband and wife
as they stalk white tail in the brush.
With their proven appeal, and an
increase in available programming slots
at the headend, networks that appeal to
rural audiences should be an easy choice
for local providers. Yet, there are still some
providers who have not invested in rural
television. It’s a shame. If urbanites can
have Jersey Shore, why can’t rural communities have His and Her Outdoors? |||||
Levy Jones has been writing for over
20 years. He holds a degree in English
Education from Fort Lewis College and a
Master’s degree from Regis University.
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“I’m sorry, Broadband.
Broadband, I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!”
Without the Internet, how will I keep up with FCC filings, or the client
who manages thousands miles of fiber, or the clients who need me to help
with their RF Prop analysis? How can I explain to them that after next week,
I will have to “drive to town” to use the Internet?
All those years I spent fighting for rural broadband access, I spent fighting from a place of comfort. I had great access. Now, I’m on the other side of
the wall, the wrong side of the tracks, the bottom of the digital divide. Now, I
have to fight to survive.
My new home is in an area covered by an Incumbent Local Exchange
Carrier, an ILEC. As we all know, a lot of ILECs are undercapitalized, and
struggling to catch up in the broadband race.
A TINY REASON TO HOPE
On Moving
To Rural America
Rural broadband woes of an ex-urbanite
Liz Zucco
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN 1.5 Mbps IS THE HIGHEST SPEED I CAN GET?” I
asked the nice, young woman on the phone.
“Well, Ms. Zucco, let me see here. Maybe one of your neighbors has a really high speed and it’s using all the bandwidth, you know … like since it all
depends on where you are on the line, and how many people are using it, and
how far you are from the central hub and that sort of stuff.”
I was impressed that she even knew this stuff, yet still anxious.
“One of your neighbors has 4 Mbps, but the house next to you can only
get 512 Kbps. So, 1.5 Mbps is pretty good, considering,” said the kind woman,
not knowing that she was speaking with a rural broadband barracuda.
The CSR’s attempts at assuaging my frustration could not change the reality
that I had left the Information Superhighway, and appeared to be staking my
claim somewhere off the Information Washboard Gravel Road.
Oh my gosh, what was I going to do? I couldn’t work without broadband.
After working in the industry fighting for rural broadband, I had picked a
home that was only a few miles outside of a town of 60,000, and could not get
any better access than 1.5 Mbps. I thought this was only in really rural areas!
10
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
After two days of contemplation, I decided to
take the 1.5 Mbps before someone else did. And I
decided to use this last week in my home office north
of Atlanta to develop a profile of life without Internet,
hoping that someone might read this and send help.
The first thing that came to mind was to make
a list of activities I could not complete without broadband, ranging from finalizing research on a replacement
computer (so much for starting a blog) to ordering most
of my groceries on-line, since the nearest health food
store is 30 miles away from my new roost.
While these issues may seem like trivialities, when
you’ve organized your life’s workflow around the Internet, losing access is not entirely unlike being cast adrift.
I work on-line. I share large client files on-line. I market
on-line. I tweet, I check email while I ride horses in case
Washington calls.
In the recently passed 2014 Farm Bill, Congress approved $50 million over 5
years for a “Rural Gigabit Network Pilot Program” to be managed by the Rural
Utilities Service (RUS). As outlined in Section 6105 of the law, the funds
will be available for grants, loans, and loan guarantees for up to five ultra-high
speed networks nationwide. The core broadband subsidy program managed by
RUS (Section 6104) will continue to be funded at $25 million a year. At this time,
details have not yet been released on the full scope of Farm Bill programs.
Eligible applicants are those who do “not already provide ultra-high speed
service to a rural area within any State in the proposed service territory.” The
bill defines ultra-high speed service as that between 100 Mbps and 1 Gigabit.
According to my back of the napkin calculations, that’s roughly 100
bajillion times faster than what I’m getting here in Florida, where nobody is
currently getting Gigabit service, and the average downstream speed for the
entire state is about 6.5 Mbps, according to Akamai Technologies.
THEN AGAIN, MAYBE NOT
Sadly, the USDA is actually the only federal entity with funding specifically
designed to promote Gigabit-level community development. While that
means the Farm Bill funding is likely to go to communities so small that they
only accidentally get acquired by large carriers, there’s a lot of rural America
between that tiny size and the suburbs. We applaud the helping hand. But, the
size of the problem calls for more drastic action.
Set aside debates about the complexity of opening up networks to
competition. Broadband is an important lifeline commodity. We don’t have
enough of it, and what we do have is being negotiated away by the likes of
Verizon and AT&T through the FCC. The recent ruling that the FCC cannot
enforce Net Neutrality laws mean that any broadband access that we do have
is subject to the ISP being able to charge the content provider for “passage”
on the information super-highway.
While many go without, those who have the Internet may now be subject
to the monetization of the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others so
prevelant in our online social fabric.
Then, there are the rest of us who just hope to get enough bandwidth to
watch the game, and not get left behind as the world reinvents itself without
us. Welcome to Rural America. |||||
Liz Zucco is President and Chief Strategist of
MarketSYS USA, Inc.
MarketSYS manages The List of Acceptable Materials
with the help of numerous industry organizations. The
latest List can be found at MarketSys.net. It reflects
the manufacturers who have satisfied technical and
“Buy American” compliance for 2012.
APublication
STATES OF THE INTERNET
According to Akamai Technologies, the good news this
year is that 82 percent more people in the U.S. are
accessing 10+ Mbps downstream Internet speeds.
The bad news is that we’re 9th in the world with only
34 percent “high broadband” penetration. South
Korea leaves everyone in the dust with a whopping 70
percent penetration.
The digital divide between rural and urban markets
has a number of origins. The one we talk about most is
the supply side of the capital problem — getting the
money to build out fiber in rural communities.
As in much of the rest of the economy, the
District of Columbia saw the most improvement over
the last year. Its average downstream speed jumped
50 percent, to an average of 13.5 Mbps — the
highest of any “state” in the nation, according to
Top 10 U.S. States,
Average Peak Connection Speed
Akamai’s data. But, then, when 7 of the top 10
wealthiest neighborhoods are D.C. suburbs, it’s not
hard to figure out where all the cash came from. All
FTTH leads to Rome.
Americans also pay more for less. In Hong Kong,
not even the dim sum is cheap; but they pull down
uncapped broadband averaging around 65 Mbps for
about $30US per month. According to the U.S. Small
Business Administration (SBA.gov), rural American
consumers pay even more than their urban counterparts — for lower average service speeds. For all our
efforts in rural America, the digital divide may only be
getting worse.
To be fair, we should note that the United States
is a big place, compared to much of the rest of the
developed world. With the exception of densely-packed
urban areas, such as the eastern seaboard from
Massachusetts to Virginia, much of America’s
population is spread out thin and wide. In the distant
past, when the U.S. economy was still agrarian, the
demographic distribution was prudent. In the present,
it can be deeply problematic.
In another sense, though, fairness has nothing to
do with it. Quibbling about the meaning of the stats
won’t speed up your download times.
Wait. Who’s Akamai?
Akamai serves roughly 30 percent of all web traffic
around the world through a global content delivery
network of serves. Their quarterly State of the Internet
report - a digest of information derived from traffic on
their servers – is a must-read at Akamai.com.
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
11
LEFT: WORLD FISHING NETWORK. RIGHT: DISCOVERY NETWORKS
NASA / GODDARD
Adorable. But you can’t keep
him. Catch and release on
JP DeRose Breaking Boundaries
Trip Gone Bad, Outdoor Channel
The title explains it all. Trip Gone Bad is like Man vs. Wild, only without
a support team, or the skills of a commando. Each episode recounts everyday excursions that went sideways, leading to real-life dangers for those
involved. If being prepared is the rule of the outdoors, Trip Gone Bad may
help viewers keep their heads and stay alive should they ever find themselves in an unexpected and perilous situation.
OUTDOORS
JP DeRose Breaking Boundaries, WFN
A portion of the
Carina Nebula, courtesy
Hubble Space Telescope
For a lot of us, fishing is some mixture of sport and
therapy. Routine has its value. For Canadian JP DeRose,
it’s always time to try something new. Breaking Boundaries explores the great diversity of salt- and freshwater
catches available across North America — and the gear
and techniques you’ll need to get them in the boat.
Bill Boyce’s Baja, WFN
The Shows To Promote
During Q2 - Q4
Big things are afoot in Basic and Tier Two programming for 2014. These are our
picks for the shows that should keep subscribers engaged
Grayson Hill
AT THE TOP OF OUR LIST: World Fishing Network
(WFN). Seems odd. Not a ton of viewers compared to
the many bigger networks. So, why? Something in the
air is pushing a lot of Americans into a back-to-basics
frame of mind. Those beards you see on the urban
hipsters are often a signal for the longing of a more
rugged (rural) lifestyle. According to Frank Peterson
of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation,
12
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
Americans went on more than 1 billion fishing outings in 2012. That’s a lot of
the big ones getting away. In 2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reported
that the number of hunters grew by nine percent since 2006. Anglers grew
their numbers by 11 percent. If Bass Pro Shops’ $4 billion in 2013 sales is
any indication, the trend is going to be here for some time. More Americans
who can afford to are taking fishing trips abroad, and those of more modest
means are taking the time to get away within this great, big country of ours.
WFN, then, should be at the front of a line of growing enthusiasts.
The crab boat Wizard
on Deadliest Catch
If Breaking Boundaries takes the wide view of North
American fishing, Bill Boyce’s Baja is all about the
deep view. Boyce, a fisheries biologist, photographer,
traveler, and host, has spent three-and-a-half decades
exploring the waters on both sides of the Baja Peninsula, and everywhere in between. Viewers will join
Boyce on a free dive for abalone, explore tuna pens
at Todos Santos Island, and battle it out with striped
marlin. While Baja has almost twice the coastline of
Florida, it’s also about the size of New York. Viewers
will also get to join Boyce on a tour of Baja’s dry land,
taking in the countryside, villages and culture of one of
North America’s most remarkable and beautiful regions.
Deadliest Catch, Discovery
When Deadliest Catch enters its 10th season, hungry,
young bloods will be pushing hard – and to their
crewmates’ limits – to make a name for themselves on
seven crab boats fishing the world’s deadliest waters.
New to this season, The Bait is a pre-game show of
sorts, that gives an inside look at each episode from
the point of view of the ship captains.
APublication
Digital Networks on Outdoor Channel
Outdoor Channel is also pushing hard on its niche digital networks: CAS City,
MyOutdoorTV, Down Range TV, Major League Fishing, Outdoor Channel
Outfitters, Lake-Link, Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. Some are more directory than resource, some are subscriber-based, but all of them are worth
a look for the enthusiast, particularly if their broadband is up to snuff.
Pursuit Channel
Almost entirely on satellite, Pursuit is available terrestrially in parts of
Colorado, Nevada, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. An unabashed
hunter’s and angler’s channel, Pursuit is all about sneaking up on animals
and putting metal objects in them. Pursuit probably has twice as many
shows as it should and is a little rough on the edges, but for those who feel
that Sportsman Channel, Outdoor and Versus have pulled back on hunting
and fishing programming, now might be a good time to look into this fledgling operation. For some of the old hands in the cable business, it wasn’t
that long ago that ESPN was the place to watch downhill inline skating
races. Look at how it’s all grown up, now.
SPORTS
FIFA World Cup Coverage, ESPN
The big news for this year is ESPN’s 280 hours of extensive coverage of the
FIFA World Cup in Brazil as Spain defends its title in July. ESPN was widely
acclaimed for its 2010 coverage, which averaged 3.2 million viewers per
match. 24.3 million U.S. viewers watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup final in
South Africa. It’s not the Super Bowl, but it ain’t chopped liver, either.
NASCAR on Fox Sports, Fox Sports
For 2014, the entire NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be broadcast
by Fox, mostly on Fox Sports 1, culminating with the November Phoenix
Race at the Phoenix International Raceway on November 7, and the Ford
Ecoboost 200 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 14.
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
13
One-hundred years ago, the world was set afire as the
powderkeg of old European alliances erupted into
The Great War. In a six-part series premiering in later
this year, History Channel and sister channel H2 will
follow the lives of powerful men, like Churchill, Mussolini, Hitler and Patton, from 1914 through the final
days of the Second World War, and examine how their
experiences in the first conflict shaped a tragic span
of three decades.
DISCOVERY NETWORKS
World Wars, History
Joby Ogwyn gliding
over the Matterhorn
in Switzerland
TELEMUNDO
Shows to Promote, Q2 - Q4
Laura Flores and María Elisa
Camargo of En Otra Piel
La Impostora, Telemundo
Hatfield & McCoys: White Lightning, History
It might appear that Joby Ogwyn has come up with a really bad idea: climb
the highest point in the world, then jump off in a wingsuit. In this three-part
epic, viewers will follow Joby’s intense physical and psychological training for
the Mt. Everest climb. The third installment will be a live, 2-hour broadcast
of Joby’s summit, along with the ultimate plunge in a specially-designed,
camera-equipped wingsuit that will give viewers a bird’s-eye view of the
adventurer’s 10,000-vertical foot, 150+ mph, descent in thin, freezing air,
and high winds. Wish him luck! If all goes well, he won’t have to hike back
down. Then, again, he won’t be hiking down if it doesn’t go well, either.
CULTURE
Moving Country, Great American Country
Shirtless tans are all the rage on Great American Country’s Farm Kings,
but we think Moving Country is the network’s most important offering. Moving Country chronicles the lives of urban families going native
— moving from the big city to the small town. It’s “a little peak into the
changes these families make when they decide to leave the city behind
in pursuit of their American dream of living in the country,” says Steven
Lerner, senior vice president of programming and development for Great
American Country, HGTV and DIY Network. For our part, it’s the motivations that count. For viewers and broadcasters, learning why you can keep
them down on the farm after they’ve seen the big city may help us understand how to improve life down the dirt road.
“I am thrilled that the Bizarre Foods franchise is
going back to its international roots,” says Zimmern,
an award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and
traveler. “We are all about hunting down the best food
stories and cultural experiences for our fans.” Which
is why “America” is used in the broad sense. Zimmern isn’t keeping his travels bound to the U.S. He’ll
be crossing borders to explore octopus in Canada,
caiman in Colombia, and frog smoothies in Peru. No,
that’s not a Saturday Night Live BassOmatic™ joke.
It’s a thing that people drink. Join the entertaining
Zimmern as he takes the leap.
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
Camelia La Texana (Camelia, the Texan) stars Sara Maldonado as a naïve and beautiful young woman who is
brought to America in the 1970s by her mother when she
flees a dangerous Mexican capo.
En Otra Piel, Telemundo
En Otra Piel (Part of Me) tells the story of two women
who share the same tragic destiny and are joined by a
supernatural event after death.
The Freshman Class, Cooking Channel
Eric Dane and Rhona Mitra
on Executive Producer
Michael Bay’s
The Last Ship
Nearly 30,000 Americans enter culinary schools every
year, with little more than a sharp knife, a bit of experience, and dreams of success. The Freshman Class
returns to Cooking Channel with four new students
battling the rigors of a culinary education, financial
and personal struggles – and each other – to start new
lives in a trade each has always dreamt of.
Texas Rising, History
RIGHT: MATTHIEU YOUNG, © 2014, FOR A&E
 McCoys. Hatfields. 
14
Because of their content and focus on strong female leads, telenovelas have
been called Spanish soap operas. Unlike American soaps, which can cycle
through characters for decades, telenovelas have a scripted beginning, middle,
and end. For those unfamiliar, imagine watching a limited series, such as Fringe or
Breaking Bad every day, five days a week, for 20 weeks, until the show ends. It is,
perhaps, for that reason, that they have been known for dedicated fan bases. You
can’t miss an episode. Telemundo broadcasts three new telenovelas for 2014. As
with the rest of their shows, English subtitles come in handy.
Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern,
Travel Channel
A smoothie on
Bizarre Foods America
Camelia La Texana, Telemundo
TELEMUNDO TELENOVELAS
TNT
Everest Jump Live, Discovery
In La Impostora (The Impostor), Blanca Guerrero is a
cheerful waitress in Puerto Vallarta who has a knack for
mimicry. When a rich and powerful businessman discovers
her talent, he hires her to impersonate a millionaire New
York investor, which sets off a tale of intrigue, romance,
and drama. Stars (above, l-r) Christian Bach, Sebastián
Zurita, Lisette Morelos (as Blanca), and Manuel Landeta.
Following on the heels of their hit original miniseries,
Hatfields & McCoys (starring Kevin Costner and Bill
Paxton), History Channel will air a new reality series:
Hatfields & McCoys: White Lightning. With the
legalization of moonshinin’ in West Virginia, seasoned
liquor executive, Monsell Darville, has come up with
a brilliant plan to use the famous feuding families’
names and secret hooch recipes to make millions.
There’s only one problem: the clans still don’t care
much for each other. Still living on their ancestral
lands in West Virginia and Kentucky, and still carrying old grudges the Hatfields and McCoys may be the
most unlikely business partners in America.
Details are scant, but History is working on an 8-hour
event chronicling the Texas War of Independence
and the birth of the Texas Rangers. Stars Bill Paxton
(Aliens), Brendan Fraser (The Mummy), Ray Liotta
(Goodfellas), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen).
Death Valley, CMT
Follow five residents of the famed – and deadly –
California desert in this eight-part docuseries, as they
brave a land made perilous by lawlessness and the
elements in order to live life on their own terms.
Husband Hunters (working title), TLC (Q4)
Part study in goal-setting, part precautionary tale,
Husband Hunters follows women who are really
looking forward to The Big Day. Which, maybe, should
come sometime soon. See, these gals have the dress,
the venue, and sometimes the cake already picked out.
What they lack is the groom. Finding that special anyone right now, darn it, is their number one priority.
APublication
SCRIPTED DRAMA
The Last Ship, TNT
TNT wants to be the drama king, rolling out 10 original scripted series
this year — more than any other basic cable network in history. In keeping
with the trend of big screen talent, directors, and producers moving to television, Michael Bay (Transformers) came in as the executive producer for
what we think will be a hit. When a global pandemic wipes out 80 percent
of the world’s population, the crew of a lone U.S. Navy destroyer must find
a cure, and save the world in The Last Ship. Stars Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy), Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Serenity) and Rhona Mitra (Doomsday).
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
15
Shows to Promote, Q2 - Q4
Giada De Laurentiis
for Food Network
LEFT: A&E. RIGHT: FOOD NETWORK
Michael Rispoli, Chloë Sevigny,
Omid Abtahi and James D'Arcy
in Those Who Kill
Those Who Kill, A+E
Starring acclaimed actors Chloë Sevigny (Big Love) and James D’Arcy
(Cloud Atlas), this original series based on a Danish crime series follows
freshly-promoted homicide detective, Catherine Jensen, who tracks down
serial killers as she seeks the truth behind her brother’s disappearance.
Zoe Gone, Lifetime
Sammi Hanratty plays Jennifer Lynne,
a 16-year-old new mother of Zoe. Young,
inexperienced, and without the support
of Zoe’s father, Jennifer is disengaged
from her new role, until Zoe is kidnapped, igniting in Jennifer a newfound
sense of pain and responsibility. With
the help of detective Patricia Henderson (Jean Louisa Kelly), Jennifer risks
everything to find Zoe.
Legends, TNT
One does not simply cast Sean Bean (The Fellowship of the Ring, Game of
Thrones) in a role. The actor has one of the highest mortality rates in all of
television and cinema. But, it looks like our hero has a fighting chance this
time as deep-cover operative Martin Odum, a man with an uncanny ability
to blend into any role — until his own identity comes into question.
HOME
18
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
Cool Tools, DIY
Fishing and hunting networks have their
toys. For the DIYer, there’s Cool Tools
with actor and improv comedian Christ
Grundy. Pros often tell you that you
need the right tool for the job. Grundy,
a very funny guy, shows us that you
may already have it. From new tools
you didn’t know about to the old school
tools you thought you knew everything
about, viewers get the background story
on everyday products, as well as insider
tricks for the gear in your toolbox. For
folks who are all about doin’, Cool Tools
helps us do more.
Giada at Home, Food Network
Among the culinary powerhouses on Food Network,
Giada De Laurentiis may be the most popular. With her
trademark enthusiasm and effervescence, Laurentiis’
appearances are among the network’s most popular.
And, so are her chicken recipes. According to a Wired
magazine study (Oct. 2013) of all 49,733 Food Network
recipes downloaded across America, Laurentiis’
“everyday Italian” came in only behind Food Network’s
“Sandwich King,” Jeff Mauro. (Only second, you ask?
Everyone likes a sandwich.)
Heartland Table, Food Network
Amy Thielen comes to us again from her kitchen in
Two Inlets, MN via ten years as a professional chef —
seven of which were spent in Manhattan. Thielen has
written for Saveur, Men’s Journal and the Minneapolis
Star-Tribune (or, The Strib, as its fans affectionately
call it). Her first book, The New Midwestern Table
was published last year, and her second season
showcasing delicious, satisfying, and sometimes quite
surprising dishes starts in early spring.
Power Broker, HGTV
Power Broker features real estate expert Mike Aubrey
as he helps clients find fixer-uppers, foreclosures and
short-sales, then shows them the best strategies to
come away on top. General contractor Juan Barbieri
steps in to mentors the buyers on how to change their
great deal into something a great deal more: a dream
home on a limited budget.
Previews continued on page 26.
DIY
Christ Grundy,
Cool Tools
CHICKEN A LA QUEEN
LIFETIME
Sammi Hanratty,
Zoe Gone
No. 0001
Safety First, Mostly
MCNC
Rural Communications Profiles:
No amount of pretty-speak
can take away the fact that
constructing a terrestrial
network can be dangerous
work whether it’s navigating
hilly, rural terrain or hanging
off bridges to connect busy
coastal areas. For the size of
the NCREN BTOP and Golden
LEAF buildouts, MCNC’s private
contractors have so far done
an admirable job of keeping
workers safe.
NCREN: How A Pre-Broadband Non-Profit
Is Building The Foundation
Of North Carolina’s Broadband Success
Staff, Rural Communications
STATUS: North Carolina is topographically and economically diverse.
The world-famous Research Triangle, anchored by Nor th Carolina
State University at Raleigh, Duke University in Durham, and University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are one thing. Economics and access
within the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west is quite another. For North
Carolina’s MCNC, the futures of the state’s populations are inseparable.
The goal: to use NCREN to turn that sentiment into fact.
It begins with MCNC, an acronym for the cuter
Making Connections in North Carolina. Created
by the North Carolina General Assembly way
back in 1980, MCNC is an independent, nonprofit organization whose primary mission is
to improve learning, collaboration and connectivity among the state’s primary schools
and universities, and the public health sector.
It achieves this goal mainly through the North
Carolina Research and Education Network.
NCREN
The short of it: NCREN is a robust, secure network connecting public and private health and
education organizations throughout the state.
Among public authorities and MCNC, these
organizations are known as Community Anchor
Institutions (CAIs). The need for broadband
in the CAIs is growing at a staggering 20 - 40
percent per year. Moreover, the type of applications demanded (e.g. high-resolution video used
for remote diagnostics) require network solu-
20
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
tions beyond the capabilities of many legacy
networks, particularly in rural areas. In a lot of
cases, even hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure
– a favorite stop-gap in budget-stressed rural
areas – won’t handle the data demands.
THE BUSINESS CASE
In addition to its primary role of facilitating
better education and research, NCREN provides an affordable backbone for broadband
providers throughout the state, enhancing the
opportunties for rural businesses to function
and compete in the wider market.
From the vantage point of the 2010s, 1999
might seem a little late in the Dotcom Boom to
realize that broadband access is an extremely
importance economic development issue for
rural Americans, but, then, it’s 15 years on, and
we’re still struggling with the issue. So, one really
has to give North Carolina some credit for
establishing the Rural Prosperity Task Force
in 1999, even if the name is a bit dramatic.
Who’s Hooked Up to NCREN?
It seems mostly everyone.
Since NCREN now connects to
privately-operated broadband
providers, it’s more true than
ever. But these are the North
Carolina organizations for
which NCREN was built:
nUniversity of North Carolina
(UNC) system
nMost independent colleges
and universities
nAll community colleges
nAll K-12 schools
nAll public libraries
nMany charter schools
nSelect public health and
public safety facilities
nMost non-profit and
university hospitals
After the task force’s initial report was
delivered to the General Assembly, legislators
in 2000 created the Rural Internet Access
Authority, which was renamed e-NC Authority
just a year later, because, sure, why not.
We’re poking fun at the process, but e-NC
Authority is dedicated to a worthy cause:
working with public sector authorities and
private-sector and cooperative providers to
expand broadband access from what was a
mere 32 percent of the state’s population up to
a target 80 percent.
It should be noted that while the network
provides the opportunity for theoretical businesses in rural areas to
ARRA, BIP, BTOP
Wanting to build an enormous, powerful
network across a sizeable, frequently mountainous state, and having the means to do so
are two different things. So it’s no surprise
that the hard-working people at MCNC could
only achieve comparatively marginal gains
for almost a decade. In 2009, opportunity arrived in the form of The American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), frequently
known as The Stimulus. ARRA appropriated
$7.2 billion for broadband investments. ARRA
directed these funds primarily at two organizations: the U.S. Department of Commerce
(USDC), and the U.S. Department of Agricul-
APublication
ture (USDA). In turn, the USDA directed its
Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to handle much
of the lending and grants made available via
the USDA, while the USDC gave control over
its funds to one of its agencies, the National
Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA).
RUS has long had a program focusing on
exactly this kind of stimulus and infrastructure-building effort, called the Broadband
Initiatives Program, or BIP. Generally, BIP
makes loans and grants for last-mile broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas
that directly serve customers, businesses
and service to CAIs like those mentioned
earlier. Like any organization that finds itself
with more funds, its objectives have grown
a little. Technically, the NCREN buildout
focuses on middle-mile network infrastructure, where it can do the most to reduce costs
for broadband providers, and increase the
overall bandwidth and quality throughout the
system. BIP funds played a .
Rural broadband providers looking to
leverage public money to upgrade their system
are less familiar with NTIA’s program in this
space, as it has so far awarded less than 60
grants to all 50 states, U.S. territories and
the District of Columbia. Called Broadband
Technology Opportunties Program, or BTOP,
the program has three primary functions:
To support rural needs,
MCNC now spends almost
$9 million annually with
broadband service providers around North Carolina,
up from shy of $6 million
in just 2008. Those monies
represent 63 percent of
the service fees paid to
MCNC by K-12 schools and
colleges for the operation
of NCREN.
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
21
Rural Communications’ Profiles:
No. 0002
THE BUILDOUT
CommScope:
MCNC’s Go-To Builders
Before MCNC acquired the approximately $30 million in funds it needed
to begin Phase I of its middle-mile expansion of the North Carolina
Research and Education Network (NCREN), it needed to have a pretty
solid idea of how that network was going to be built. Fortunately, MCNC
had a reliable partner for the buildout right there in North Carolina.
In Phase I’s 20 months between September 2010 to April 2012,
442 miles of fiber and conduit, 10,000 couplers, 100 splice cases, 750
marking posts, and 100 grounding rods would have to be put in place
from Jackson in the west, all the way to Carteret in the east. While the
work of trenching and laying fiber is difficult and time-consuming, the
NCREN project’s size and time restrictions presented an unusual
logistical problem.
CommScope, which is HQ’d in North Carolina, staged the project
centrally in Statesville, and engaged its substantial purchasing department in a just-in-time strategy to ensure that third-party materials would
be available when they were needed. Says, CommScope project manager
Eric Edwards, “Once we got the order from the job site, we were usually
able to deliver product within 48 hours.”
CommScope’s trucking fleet was essential to that solution. Many of
CommScope’s trailers – part of one of the industry’s largest in-house
fleets – are equipped with on-board cranes, which allow workers to
offload large quantities of materials right at the job site, instead of
breaking the materials down at the depot to be handled without the
mobile heavy equipment.
PHASE II: INNOVATION
Phase II called for 1,300 miles of broadband infrastructure – longer than
the distance from Atlanta to Denver – to be built in a loop roughly parallel
to the state’s borders, which would connect far-flung rural areas. With all
the effort and money plowed into the project, NCREN would need to last.
Within eight weeks, CommScope designed a tri-duct solution
consisting of three, 3/4", high-density polyethylene conduits bound in a
common jacket. Each conduit can carry CommScope’s TeraSpeed
144-count fiber, each strand of which is capable of delivering more than
100 gbps of data. The system currently only uses only one of the
conduits. To meet the demands of the NCREN project, CommScope
manufactured approximately 30 miles of product per month at two North
Carolina facilities. |||||
22
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
Completed Network
Project Hubs
Co-Location Facility /
Optical Equipment
Location
1)Public Computer: the development of public
computer centers that offer broadband
services to the general public, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations;
2)Sustainable Broadband Adoption, which
is largely a public relations and outreach
effort designed to boost demand — that is,
broadband awareness and use;
3)Comprehensive Community Infrastructure,
which develops and improves broadband,
particularly for CAIs. This is the part that
most concerns broadband providers.
NTIA’s management of BTOP funds have run into
some issue with the federal Office of Inspector General, which called for stronger monitoring. Stimulus
funds often get out of the barn – a lot of Hurricane
Katrina monies went unaccounted for, for example.
On the other hand, the money doesn’t come from a
magical kettle guarded by an erascible, dimunitive
man in green breeches. It belongs to other Americans,
and those of us who still do deals over handshakes
have a responsibility to treat that with respect.
It appears that MCNC did an exemplary job in
that regard. BTOP funds were crucial for Phase I,
and the NCREN buildout as a whole. They appear to
have gone well-used.
“The Golden LEAF
Foundation Board of
Directors views this
initiative as an
opportunity to provide
essential infrastructure
… and invest directly in
efforts to grow stronger
communities. Rural North
Carolina cannot be left
behind.”
~ Dan Gerlach,
President,
Golden LEAF Foundation
APublication
PHASE I
In 2010, MCNC applied for and received two
BTOP grants totalling $104 million. The
BTOP awards were set aside exclusively as
capital funds — used exclusively for creating
a stable financing base for the construction
of the NCREN buildout. Phase I BTOP funds
came with a 20 percent match requirement.
MCNC touts that the buildout would
be accomplished without the use of state
funds (other than the time various agencies
put into developing, pitching and organizing
the buildout effort). While that’s certainly a
benefit to North Carolinians, it’s less advantageous to everyone else around the country.
Again: there is no pot of gold. Nevertheless,
North Carolinians otherwise put up substanital sums of money. Against the $28.2 million
in BTOP funds awarded for Phase I, MCNC
raised an additional $11.7 million, including
$4 million from its own endowment, for a
total of about $40 million.
The BTOP funds also came with another
requirement: fiber on the NCREN network must
be released to broadband providers at reasonable rates. Since middle-mile infrastructure
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
23
HERE’S WHAT ALL OF MCNC’S WORK COMES DOWN TO.
NCREN IS ONGOING; SOME NUMBERS PROJECTED.
is generally the most expensive part of the network
to build, and since many municipal or independent
broadband providers could not hope to develop that
infrastructure beyond their jurisdiction, the requirement is especially advantageous to rural markets.
Phase I, covering 412 miles of new construction
and 904 new operated miles, focused on connecting
the interior routes between small towns and cities,
largely in the western and southeastern part of the
state. In the west, a loop was built from Jackson
County (population: 40,000; ave. HHI: $32,500) down
through Polk County and northeast up to Mocksville,
about 25 miles southwest of Winston-Salem. In the
southeast, Phase I runs in a open loop from Raleigh
to Selma, down I-95 to Lumberton, southeast to
Wilmington and back north from Beaufort through
Greenville into Rocky Mount. Every 5,00 feet or less
along the way, interconnection points were dropped
in for future expansion and connectivity. Phase I’s
fiber was operating by Q1, 2012, a year ahead of the
federal deadline.
PHASE II
Phase II was even more ambitious, connecting the
outside edges of North Carolina and filling in the
routes that weren’t covered in Phase I.
Roughly three-quareters of BTOP funds awarded
for the entire NCREN buildout went into Phase II. But,
Phase II also came with a higher matching requirement of 30 percent. To meet that requirement, MCNC
took on in-kind contributions and land donations
worth about $4 million dollars, received a $4 million
contribution from middle-mile broadband network
provider PalmettoNet (a division of Spirit Communications), and dug into its own pockets for another $4
million dollars. The Golden LEAF Foundation pitched
24
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
MCNC
No. 0002
MCNC
NCREN:
By The Numbers
Rural Communications’ Profiles:
in $17 million — more than half of the Phase II
matching funds.
The Phase II buildout represents about
1,700 new miles, of which about 1,200 miles
are new construction, 350 are newly obtained and leased via indefeasible rights of
use (IRU), and 130 are existing upgraded
miles. For rural broadband providers and
hopeful rural broadband customers, those
numbers should be allowed to sink in a bit.
Ten times as many Phase II miles went into
new construction compared to upgrading
legacy networks. We’re not talking about a
little touch-up and a little paint. It’s a brand
new thing.
The aggregate planned buildout for
Phase I and Phase II amounted to roughly
1,650 miles of new construction, and 2,600
miles of new operated infrastructure, touching 82 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. That’s
further than the crow-flies distance from
Raleigh to Albuquerque and from Raleigh to
San Francisco, respectively.
PARTNERS
The NCREN buildout is justifiably billed as a
private-public partnership. More than 99 percent of all of the federal funds went to private
businesses.
FRC a subsidiary of PalmettoNet – the largest
middle-mile provider of digital fiber optic
networks in the Carolinas even prior to the
NCREN buildout – invested $4 million in exchange for access to dark fiber, of which the
NCREN network has plenty. Said John Dudley,
Senior Director of Public Policy and External
Affairs, “We are extremely pleased that the
NTIA has recognized the intended benefits of
this project, and we look forward to building a network which will extend the depth
and breadth of broadband within the state of
North Carolina.” PalmettoNet.com
e-NC Authority, as mentioned before, was
established to help study and facilitate broadband expansion in North Carolina. Between
2009 and 2010, e-NC Authority received approximately $6.5 million in U.S. Department
of Commerce funds. e-NC used those funds
over a four-year period to map out the assets,
topography and challenges that MCNC would
face in the NCREN buildout. NCBroadband.gov
CommScope was responsible for most of the
buildout’s construction, and a great deal of
APublication
its technological innovation. For more, see
the sidebar on page 23. CommScope.com
Golden LEAF Foundation is a non-profit
corporation created to receive half of the
funds awarded to North Carolina out of the
1998 Master Settlement Agreement with
four of America’s largest cigarette makers.
Golden LEAF’s mission is to advance North
Carolina’s long term economic health by
supporting education and technology efforts
in partnership with federal, state and local
government agencies, non-profits and private
sector organizations. GoldenLEAF.org
At the time of the Phase II completion
in the summer of 2013, Tommy Jacobson,
MCNC’s Chief Architect during the buildout,
and now MCNC’s Chief Operating Officer, had
this to say:
“MCNC is pleased to be drawing to a
conclusion the construction phase of the
project. Over the next several weeks we
will continue to fully implement services
to the new NCREN backbone serving
education, health care and public safety
throughout North Carolina. During the
last three years, we have been fortunate
to have great support from our vendor
partners and a very talented internal
staff to complete this project on time.
In addition, the State of North Carolina
and its agencies, particularly NCDOT
and NCDENR as well as the North Carolina
Congressional Delegation and General
Assembly, have been great assets to help
us complete this historic work.” |||||
The Map Is Never The Terrain
As any construction professional
knows, there’s the planning with
a big map spread out on a flat
file; then, there’s what happens
when you go out to the site and
look at what you’re up against.
Throughout Phase I and Phase
II, MCNC’s contractors were
often a hundred miles or more
ahead of schedule.
The logistics are impressive,
and not just regarding the JIT
materials delivery and the completion of the construction by
the hard hats and technicians;
but the work of the system
architects, the development of
custom technology, the financing that needed to be timed to
keep the operation running, and
the multi-jurisdiction permitting
hurdles that had to be negotiated
before a single trench was dug.
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
25
SYFY
Introducing the
Jones/nCTI
®
Pocket
Library
™
Knowledge at your fingertips.
DISCOVERY NETWORKS
Shows to Promote, Q2 - Q4, Continued from ge 18.
Loves at first sights: Brady Williams & brides on My Five Wives
REALITY PERSONALITY
Jim Henson’s
Creature Shop Challenge
My Five Wives, TLC
Brady Williams has been fruitful and multiplicative. Williams
was so happy being a husband and father he married 5 times
and has so far produced 23 … no, wait … 24 children. On My
Five Wives, we join Williams and the other 29 members of the
family (7x the median U.S. household!) on their large property
outside of Salt Lake City, UT. Viewers will get a candid look
at how six spouses and parents foster strong marriages, raise
children, and deal with complex, Old Testament issues like
jealousy, loneliness, and begetting, under one enormous roof.
REALITY COMPETITION
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge, Syfy
Contact Jones/NCTI for more information.
866.575.7206
[email protected]
www.jonesncti.com
Following up on the successes of their original special effects
competition series Face Off, Syfy debuts Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge. With Brian Henson (son of Jim and Jane)
as lead judge, the 8-episode series will provide a fascinating
window into the imaginative and wildly creative environment
of world-class creature design, fabrication and mechanization
… all leading up to a prize worth up to $100,000, and the job
opportunity of a lifetime.
Maria Menounos (Extra), has made a career as an upbeat host
who digs into celebrities’ lives. But, dig into her own life in this
new, half-hour docuseries, and you’ll find a modern, mid-30s
woman doing her best to balance her unconventional life with
the conventional expectations of her traditional Greek parents,
and the sometimes conflicting plans of her boyfriend of 15 years.
Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Ranch, CMT
Actor, hall-of-fame pro wrestler, and host of CMT’s Redneck
Island (think Survivor with beer and a sense of humor), Steve
Austin will bring eight athletes to his Texas Broken Skull
Ranch to test their strength, stamina, and endurance. In each
of 10 one-hour episodes, contestants will go head-to-head until
the last man standing earns the right to take on the toughest
obstacle course in America – the Skullbuster – and the chance
to win 10 grand.
www.g02mhz.com
800-883-8839
26
RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
My Big Fat
Geek Wedding, Syfy
SYFY
ESQUIRE NETWORK
That will exceed your expectations!
“With cutting edge technologies
to take you into the future,
stability & experience you can rely on,
knowledge and assets you can count on,
Mega Hertz is the partner you can turn to
for another 38 years.”
.net
A+E has also ordered up a new series, Big Smo (working title),
that follows the titular, larger-than-life ‘hick-hop’ artist (born
John Smith, of Unionville, TN) as he takes his music and act
to new heights with the support of friends, fans, and family —
which includes mom, two daughters, and long-time girlfriend.
enjoy it, but audiences sure will.
Client Services
http://www.
Big Smo, A+E
OK, so Esquire might seem a little metro for rural America. But
its second season of White Collar Brawlers should resonate
with any red-blooded American male who has ever had coworkers. The premise: six pairs of workplace colleagues will train
for six weeks with some of the country’s best amateur boxing
coaches. Then, they’ll meet in the ring for three rounds, and hit
each other in the face, repeatedly. Human resources might not
On White Collar Brawlers:
“And that’s for not
filing your reports!”
Liz Zucco, President
404-454-5477
Chasing Maria Menounos, Oxygen
White Collar Brawlers, Esquire Network
Integration & Activation
CONTACT
This happened.
In our dimension. See it on
My Big Fat Geek Wedding
Julian and Mandie met
online while playing Final
Fantasy. After an 8-year
courtship (!!), Julian popped
the question onstage at a Renaissance fair. With the help
of celebrity wedding planner
Kristin Banta, the couple
sets out to create an epic
fantasy wedding that will
truly reflect their relationship and shared passions in
this television special.
Technology Solutions
Multi-Vendor Multi-Technology System Solutions
(HFC, RFOG, IPTV, FTTH, IP, DOCSIS, MPEG, Multi-Screen, OTT & Satellite)
To take you into the future!
Total Divas, E!
It’s not the Kardashians (though, E! has a show for them).
It’s the WWE Divas — or, rather, the real women behind the
characters. Viewers get to step into the personal lives of these
glitzy, glamorous celebs as they step outside of the ring.
APublication
www.g02mhz.com
800-883-8839
MONEY | TECHNOLOGY | OPERATIONS | RURAL COMMUNICATIONS
27
Shows to Promote, Q2 - Q4
Vanilla Ice Goes Amish, DIY
This is DIY’s Odd Couple. What happens when you take a ’90s pop-rap icon, take away
his modern conveniences, and drop him among some of the world’s greatest craftsmen
in America’s largest Amish settlement? More than you might think. “Celebrities own
and renovate homes just like the rest of us,” says Kathleen Finch at Scripps. “Watching
Vanilla Ice swing a hammer … makes celebrities real and fascinating to watch.” Ice?
They still use icehouses, there, baby.
DISCOVERY NETWORKS
Storm the castle!
Kills the monster!
“Trapper” Tice and
his AIMS crew on
Mountain Monsters
SCIENCE & SCIENCE FICTION
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Fox & Nat Geo
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (NOVA ScienceNow, The Universe) hosts Cosmos:
A Spacetime Odyssey, a sequel to 1980’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The original
series, hosted and co-written by the late Carl Sagan was the most widely watched series
on public television until 1990, and continues to be an international hit seen by more
than half a billion people. Produced by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), Cosmos: A
Spacetime Odyssey updates the science of the original 13-part series, and adds new
material – and big, bold visuals – relevant to the enormous advances in science over the
last 34 years, and to our times. Fox will be showing episodes online, as well. So, if you’re
broadband is up to it, driving customers to Cosmos may be an out-of-this-world tactic.
Sharknado 2: The Second One , Syfy
Perhaps it wasn’t you, but somebody wanted this follow-up to last summer’s peanutbutter-in-my-chocolate social media triumph. In this installment, heroes Fin (Ian
Ziering) and April (Tara Reid) must race to save New York City – not generally known
for its large, predatory sharks or category 5 tornadoes – from the toothsome threat of
irascible fish-filled twisters. (Fun fact: the original Sharknado did better on its third
airing than it did on the premiere.)
Mountain Monsters, Destination America
There are monsters in them thar hills! Probably not as exciting as gold, but at least as
elusive. Appalachia can be an odd place for those not steeped in its hills and hollars.
For those who do live there, it may be home to legendary beasts, like the Yowie, Jersey
Devil, and Hogzilla, which, sadly, was not a 30-story radioactive pig. Part Duck Dynasty,
part Destination Truth, viewers will follow John “Trapper” Tice and his team, AIMS
– the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings, as they survive off the land
and stalk the mountain monsters terrorizing the backwoods. In this second, 14-part
season, viewers will also be treated to Mountain Monsters: Behind the Hunt, a postshow Q&A with the cast.
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RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
Shows to Promote, Q2 - Q4
FX
Billy Bob Thornton in Fargo
COMEDY
Fargo, FX
‘Comedy’? Probably not. But the humor of the original Coen
brothers’ 1996 film undoubtedly set it apart from so many other
cops-n-robbers capers. FX’s Fargo is an entirely new story, led
by Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton (Monster’s Ball), as
Lorne Malvo, a drifter who arrives in a small Minnesota town,
with malice and violence. Produced by the Coen brothers.
Ground Floor, TBS
Ground Floor, a comedy take on the mismatched couple,
centers on Brody (Skylar Astin), a young, hot-shot investment
banker who ends up romantically involved with a beautiful
woman he meets at an office party. Hijinks and humor ensue
when he finds that she works for the building maintenance
department. Season one was top-ranked among adults 18-49.
LEFT: NBCUNIVERSAL. RIGHT: RMG
LEFT: Noticiero Telemundo host Jose Diaz-Balart.
RIGHT: The crew of Market Day Report (clockwise from left),
Scott England, Tammi Arender, Mark Oppold, Janet Akinson,
CT Thongklin, Natalie Noah
NEWS
Noticiero Telemundo, Telemundo
It’s the nightly news. So what? For a lot of Hispanic communities,
Noticiero Telemundo, which covers human interest stories,
health, finance, entertainment, and current events, can be a
vital link to an older home. Hosted by Jose Diaz-Balart.
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RURALCOMMAG.COM | ISSUE 05
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