UPDATE: Cable Ops Help Spread News Of Typhoon Aftermath

A dozen cable operators including have pitched in to help get news in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan to the Filipino community..

The cable 'first responders' included Astound Broadband, AT&T U-verse, Bright House Networks, Comcast's Xfinity TV, Cox Communications, Frontier Communications, Hawaiian Telcom, RCN, Service Electric Cable TV & Communications, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV,

Wave Broadband.

According to International Media Distribution, the NBCU company that distributes TFC (The Filipino Channel), those cable operators have agreed to make TFC, which is a premium channel, available to all digital customers at no additional cost in the systems where it carries the channel. The channel will be widely available through Nov. 15.

The death toll from the typhoon is put at least at 10,000.

"We are very appreciative of our affiliates who are stepping forward in this time of extreme need," said Shelly Kurtz, executive director, affiliate sales and marketing, for IMD.

IMD said late Friday it was waiving license fees for wide distribution of the channel, though subs already taking the premium channel would continue to have to pay for it.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.