With lack of content cited as a major bump in the road to consumer adoption of 3D TV, the near-term picture doesn’t offer much relief, according to members of “The TV Story” panel at 3D Media Markets in New York Wednesday. CBS, for one, is looking for help in footing the bill, according to Ken Aagaard, executive vice president of operations and technology for CBS Sports, who said the network is moving “slowly and cautiously” toward 3D.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- All signs point to spam and malware becoming in the next few years threats in wireless comparable to what they are in the PC world, an officer of an industry security group led by carriers said Thursday. Economics have held down abuse in wireless, but that is changing rapidly with handsets spreading everywhere and financial transactions over them booming, greatly increasing the value of stealing information from them and hijacking them, said Alex Bobotek, co-vice chairman of the Message Anti-Abuse Working Group.

Cablevision will give subscribers a $10 credit to pay for the cost of viewing World Series games live on MLB.com, since customers lack cable access to the games on the Fox network. Cable subscribers who buy the website’s “Postseason.TV” packages will get the credit, applied within two billing cycles to their monthly bill, Cablevision said late Wednesday. Late the next day, the cable operator asked government entities and non profits to consider retransmitting the World Series online for free. That’s allowed under the Copyright Act of 1976, Cablevision said.

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.