Cable and satellite TV companies have been releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter.
The second quarter is usually a weak one for pay-TV services because students cancel their subscriptions ahead of the summer holidays, and some "snowbirds" cancel their winter home subscriptions before heading to their summer homes.
Here is a summary of earnings reports for selected companies and what they reveal about the industry's prospects:
? July 19: Verizon Communications Inc. says it added 120,000 FiOS video customers to end with 4.5 million in June.
Dish Network Corp. says it lost a net 10,000 subscribers, which was smaller than analysts predicted in a typically week quarter for pay TV operators. It ended the quarter with 14.1 million subscribers in the U.S.
? July 24: AT&T Inc. says it added 155,000 U-verse TV subscribers to end with 4.1 million.
? Aug. 1: Comcast Corp. says it lost 176,000 video subscribers, though the rate of decline has slowed. It ended the quarter with 22.1 million to remain the nation's largest.
? Aug. 2: DirecTV Inc. says it lost 52,000 U.S. subscribers, the first quarter it has lost subscribers. DirecTV ended the quarter with 19.9 million U.S. subscribers, making it the second-largest provider of pay-TV signals in the country, after Comcast. DirecTV's Sky Brasil and PanAmericana added 645,000 subscribers. That was up from 472,000 a year ago and the best result ever for the company.
Time Warner Cable Inc., the second-largest cable company, says it lost 169,000 subscribers in the second quarter, a record for the company. It ends the quarter with 12.3 million.
? Aug. 7: Charter Communications Inc., the country's fourth-largest cable-TV provider, lost 72,000 TV customers in the quarter to end with 4.3 million.
Cablevision Systems Corp. has stemmed the loss of TV subscribers for the second quarter in a row, at the cost of holding its prices steady. It held the number of TV subscribers steady at 3.3 million.
? Aug. 8: Dish Network Corp. reiterated that it lost 10,000 subscribers, leaving it with 14.1 million and as the third-largest provider of pay-TV signals to U.S. homes.h
Trained NHS therapists can help insomniacsPublic release date: 17-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeanine Woolley jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk 01-793-413-119 Economic & Social Research Council
Insomnia sufferers in England could have greater access to successful treatment, thanks to a training programme developed as part of trials of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
In Britain, people report having insomnia more often than any other psychological condition, including anxiety, depression and even pain, according to the Office of National Statistics. Yet the only treatment offered in most doctors' surgeries is a course of sleeping tablets.
"It is well known that sleeping pills can be addictive and their efficacy wears off over time," says Professor Kevin Morgan of Loughborough University who led the trials. "It is also known that CBTi can treat insomnia more effectively than drugs in the long term. However, until now major barriers to delivering CBTi have included a shortage of trained therapists and the absence of an appropriate clinical service through which to deliver treatments."
The trials proved that CBTi can benefit people with insomnia at any age. It can even be successful for sufferers with other chronic illnesses, as well as those who are particularly prone to insomnia. The most unexpected outcome of the research is the success of the CBTi training which was developed, initially, to enable participants to take part in the project. Since the end of the trials, Professor Morgan's group have delivered training for therapists in Health Authorities all over the country. "Every Parkinson's disease nurse in Scotland has been trained in CBTi and new courses are planned for Oxford and South Yorkshire", Professor Morgan says.
"You see, we had this accumulated wisdom on delivering CBTi as part of our trials. Now, by rolling out this training programme for regional Health Authorities, we have effectively overcome one of the chief barriers to giving CBTi for insomnia: the lack of skills in the workforce."
"CBTi is not a difficult concept", Professor Morgan points out. "It is a question of encouraging insomnia sufferers to think about their sleep in a different way and to change the habits that bring about their sleep problems".
The trials involved delivering the principles of cognitive behavioural management for insomnia, in a structured programme of 'self-help'. Patients were given six weekly booklets that explained how sleep works and how to gain control of it. They were given access to a helpline, staffed by 'expert patients' who were themselves insomnia sufferers.
Professor Morgan states, "The booklets teach us how to 'retrust' the bedroom and relearn how to link it with sleep. In the same way that we do with food, for example thinking about entering a restaurant can trigger your mouth to water and anticipate food, so, entering your bedroom should bring on a desire to sleep".
"It is a question of giving people the tools to break the vicious circle," Professor Morgan says. "Most sufferers have never considered that they can do anything about their insomnia. But now, with the possibility of training therapists to deliver self-help CBTi from doctors' surgeries that is set to change."
###
For further information contact:
Professor Kevin Morgan
Email: K.Morgan@lboro.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1509 222288
1. This release is based on findings and outcomes of a large interdisciplinary project 'Optimising Quality of Sleep Among Older People in the Community and Care Homes: An integrated approach,' which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and carried out by the University of Surrey (Professor Sara Arber, Professor Debra Skene & Dr Ingrid Eyers), the University of Bath (Professor Roger Orpwood), King's College London (Professor David Armstrong) and Loughborough University (Professor Kevin Morgan).
2. The trial that was part of this project evaluated the effectiveness of a self-help cognitive behavioral intervention to improve sleep quality among older adults reporting insomnia symptoms associated with chronic disease. Self-help participants received six consecutive booklets, at weekly intervals, providing structured advice on key components of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi including self-monitoring, sleep restriction, stimulus control procedures and cognitive strategies), plus access to a telephone helpline. Control group participants received a single sheet of advice, detailing standard sleep hygiene measures. The primary outcome was sleep quality, measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Secondary outcomes were the Insomnia Severity Index, the subjective sleep efficiency index, and the Fatigue Severity Scale.
3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2012/13 is 205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at www.esrc.ac.uk
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Trained NHS therapists can help insomniacsPublic release date: 17-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeanine Woolley jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk 01-793-413-119 Economic & Social Research Council
Insomnia sufferers in England could have greater access to successful treatment, thanks to a training programme developed as part of trials of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
In Britain, people report having insomnia more often than any other psychological condition, including anxiety, depression and even pain, according to the Office of National Statistics. Yet the only treatment offered in most doctors' surgeries is a course of sleeping tablets.
"It is well known that sleeping pills can be addictive and their efficacy wears off over time," says Professor Kevin Morgan of Loughborough University who led the trials. "It is also known that CBTi can treat insomnia more effectively than drugs in the long term. However, until now major barriers to delivering CBTi have included a shortage of trained therapists and the absence of an appropriate clinical service through which to deliver treatments."
The trials proved that CBTi can benefit people with insomnia at any age. It can even be successful for sufferers with other chronic illnesses, as well as those who are particularly prone to insomnia. The most unexpected outcome of the research is the success of the CBTi training which was developed, initially, to enable participants to take part in the project. Since the end of the trials, Professor Morgan's group have delivered training for therapists in Health Authorities all over the country. "Every Parkinson's disease nurse in Scotland has been trained in CBTi and new courses are planned for Oxford and South Yorkshire", Professor Morgan says.
"You see, we had this accumulated wisdom on delivering CBTi as part of our trials. Now, by rolling out this training programme for regional Health Authorities, we have effectively overcome one of the chief barriers to giving CBTi for insomnia: the lack of skills in the workforce."
"CBTi is not a difficult concept", Professor Morgan points out. "It is a question of encouraging insomnia sufferers to think about their sleep in a different way and to change the habits that bring about their sleep problems".
The trials involved delivering the principles of cognitive behavioural management for insomnia, in a structured programme of 'self-help'. Patients were given six weekly booklets that explained how sleep works and how to gain control of it. They were given access to a helpline, staffed by 'expert patients' who were themselves insomnia sufferers.
Professor Morgan states, "The booklets teach us how to 'retrust' the bedroom and relearn how to link it with sleep. In the same way that we do with food, for example thinking about entering a restaurant can trigger your mouth to water and anticipate food, so, entering your bedroom should bring on a desire to sleep".
"It is a question of giving people the tools to break the vicious circle," Professor Morgan says. "Most sufferers have never considered that they can do anything about their insomnia. But now, with the possibility of training therapists to deliver self-help CBTi from doctors' surgeries that is set to change."
###
For further information contact:
Professor Kevin Morgan
Email: K.Morgan@lboro.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1509 222288
1. This release is based on findings and outcomes of a large interdisciplinary project 'Optimising Quality of Sleep Among Older People in the Community and Care Homes: An integrated approach,' which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and carried out by the University of Surrey (Professor Sara Arber, Professor Debra Skene & Dr Ingrid Eyers), the University of Bath (Professor Roger Orpwood), King's College London (Professor David Armstrong) and Loughborough University (Professor Kevin Morgan).
2. The trial that was part of this project evaluated the effectiveness of a self-help cognitive behavioral intervention to improve sleep quality among older adults reporting insomnia symptoms associated with chronic disease. Self-help participants received six consecutive booklets, at weekly intervals, providing structured advice on key components of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi including self-monitoring, sleep restriction, stimulus control procedures and cognitive strategies), plus access to a telephone helpline. Control group participants received a single sheet of advice, detailing standard sleep hygiene measures. The primary outcome was sleep quality, measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Secondary outcomes were the Insomnia Severity Index, the subjective sleep efficiency index, and the Fatigue Severity Scale.
3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2012/13 is 205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at www.esrc.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
From perfect games to perfect messes, you can't get away from baseball soap opera - MLB - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy Advice ","synopsis":"Torii Hunter has been consistently great over the last month, but do the Fantasy Baseball 360 guys think it will last down the stretch?","photo":{"width":"267","seq_no":"0","content_id":"19807129","href":"$IMAGE_SERVER/u/photos/fantasy/img19807129.jpg","height":"150"},"href":"http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fantasybaseball360/p0jhVJ5f8l0O","title":"Angel in the outfield"},"headlines":[{"href":null,"content":null}]},"autoracing":{"minicover":{"body":" If the Chase started today, Kevin Harvick would be in it. But it's been a 'terrible' year for the Richard Childress driver, who talks to Pete Pistone about his team's direction, road racing and the return trip to Michigan. Behind the Hauler ","synopsis":"Behind the Hauler: Kevin Harvick","photo":{"width":"231","seq_no":"1","content_id":"19808884","href":"$IMAGE_SERVER/u/photos/racing/auto/img19808884.jpg","height":"130"},"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19807784/behind-the-hauler-kevin-harvick","title":"Not-so happy Harvick"},"headlines":[{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19807784/behind-the-hauler-kevin-harvick","content":"Behind the Hauler: Kevin Harvick"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19801681/idle-thoughts-nascar-needs-more-road-racing","content":"Idle Thoughts: NASCAR needs more road races"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19794038/poll-position-was-nascar-obligated-to-throw-caution-for-oil-on-final-lap-at-the-glen","content":"Poll Position: NASCAR missed on WGI caution?"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19809282/some-drivers-can-clinch-chase-spot-in-michigan","content":"Top five drivers can clinch Chase spots at MIS"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/story/19809632/chemistry-between-keselowski-crew-chief-wolfe-paying-dividends","content":"Keselowski-crew chief relationship paying off"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19802378/report-aj-allmendingers-defense-disputed","content":"AJ's amphetamines claims being disputed"},{"href":"http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/19794070/michigan-entry-list-features-45-drivers","content":"Entry list for Michigan Cup race features 45 drivers"}]}}; if (globalNav && navContentJson) {globalNav.init(navContentJson);} CBSi.globalNav = globalNav; });
SEATTLE (AP) ? These aren't your typical loos. One uses microwave energy to transform human waste into electricity. Another captures urine and uses it for flushing. And still another turns excrement into charcoal.
They are part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation competition to reinvent the toilet for the 2.5 billion people around the world who don't have access to modern sanitation.
Scientists from around the world have taken up the challenge, and the foundation announced some projects Tuesday that will be getting more money to take their ideas from the lab to cities.
There, local entrepreneurs will use the new technology to turn pollution into cash.
"We couldn't be happier with the response that we've gotten," Bill Gates said.
To pass the foundation's threshold for the world's next toilet, it must operate without running water, electricity or a septic system, not discharge pollutants, preferably capture energy or other resources, and operate at a cost of 5 cents a day.
The United Nations estimates disease caused by unsafe sanitation results in about half the hospitalizations in the developing world. About 1.5 million children die each year from diarrheal disease.
Scientists believe most of these deaths could be prevented with proper sanitation, along with safe drinking water and improved hygiene.
The foundation expects to field test its first prototypes within the next three years.
Most of the prototypes on display this week in the open courtyard of the foundation's Seattle headquarters turn solid waste into energy. This is both a practical and pragmatic solution to the solid waste puzzle, said Carl Hensman, program officer for the foundation's water, sanitation and hygiene team.
Many recycle waste into other usable substances such as animal feed, water for irrigation, or even just energy and water to run their own systems.
Some, like the winning project from Caltech, use chemistry and engineering to completely transform the waste.
Clement Cid, a Caltech grad student from Trouillas, France, said it has been intellectually rewarding to work with scientists from a variety of specialties.
"You can come up with great ideas," he said, adding that the toilet fair offered more opportunities for idea sharing.
Other projects on display were not so high-tech, including one from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that sends black soldier fly larvae inside latrines and even home toilets to process waste, resulting in high quality, environmentally friendly animal feed at a cost of a penny a day.
The fly larvae project is already being field tested in Cape Town, South Africa, and the inventors are working on a kit to sell to entrepreneurs. They have had inquiries from Haiti, Sudan, Kenya and Ghana about adopting the approach.
"At the end of the day it will look very low-tech, but there's a lot of science behind it," said Walter Gibson, a medical biochemist who is part of the development team.
The Gates toilet focus started just about a year ago, and including grants announced Tuesday, $370 million in foundation dollars have been committed to reinventing the toilet. Hensman said the foundation decided to hold a toilet fair this week to show how far the scientists have gotten in that time, and to give them an opportunity to learn from each other and potentially collaborate.
Among those scheduled to attend the toilet fair were government ministers from African nations, utility workers and potential financial partners like UNICEF and Oxfam.
Reinventing the toilet has the potential to improve lives as well as the environment.
Flush toilets waste tons of potable drinking water each year, fail to recapture reusable resources like the potential energy in solid waste and are simply impractical in so many places.
Gates predicted the result of this project would reach beyond the developing world.
"If we do it right, there's every possibility that some of these designs would also be solutions for rich and middle-income countries," Gates said.
___
Contact Donna Blankinship through Twitter at https://twitter.com/dgblankinship .
Should you lease a new car, or should you buy one? Like most financial questions, the answer depends on your situation. For some people, leasing a car presents distinct economic advantages. For others, buying a car is the way to go.
There?s plenty of online material to help you choose your optimal path, but this 3-minute piece from NBC?s The Today Show serves as an excellent summary. In it, you?ll learn about the basics of leasing a car, and for whom leasing can be a great fit.?You?ll also hear reasons to avoid a lease completely.
The NBC interview makes all of the following points :
Leasing allows you to drive a car that may be ?too expensive? to purchase
Leasing puts you in a new car, with the latest safety features and gadgets, every few years
Buying a car means that you have no mileage limits, and can sell at any time
For many people, it concludes, buying a car is preferable to leasing one, with a notable exception being those people who can claim their car or truck as a tax deduction. Be sure to check with your tax advisor if you plan to take that route.
However, for another group ? homeowners and active home buyers ? leasing a car can invite mortgage approval trouble. This is because a car lease payment is assumed by a mortgage underwriter to be a perpetual debt; one that never reduces or gets extinguished. When a lease is complete, it must be replaced with a new lease, and so on.
Therefore, no matter how many payments remain in a lease, mortgage applicants must use the full car lease payment for purposes of a mortgage approval.
By contrast, for people whom are owners of their automobiles, car payments must only be added to debt ratios if more than 10 car payments remain until the car?s loan is paid-in-full. For homeowners and buyers in Simpsonville , this can improve debt-to-income ratios and support a higher purchase price on a home.
There is no firm rule for whether it better to lease a car or to own one. The arguments for both sides are compelling and reasonable. Start with the video, then do your own research.?
Posted in Personal Finance.Tagged with Cars, Lease, The Today Show.
Generally, if we talk about publishing organizations, we sometimes refer to countless businesses that take charge of printing books, whether it's a book which talks about school reference, novel, fiction and so forth Even so, these publishing businesses never just limit themselves to publishing textbooks coming from writers just like JK Rowling, etc Do you know that they also undertake various services? A part of the services that they offer other than printing a book is making yearbooks Hence, these publishing organizations are also identified as <a href="http://wwwsmithprintingnet/">yearbook printers</a> As a <a href="http://www [www.seos.mobi book printing company]smithprintingnet/">book printing company</a>, they offer writers lay outing, design, proof reading, editing, typing, and so on which will ease up the work of the author in case you?re an author who's writing a love story, poetry, school reference material, etc Well, in case you may be sitting back and feeling calm that book firms are restricted to merely publishing textbooks that are being employed as reference items in institutions and various colleges, often times there are book printing companies that offer other services which allow and help fresh writers to write their own individual books This is with guide and advice in proofreading and editing the content, lay-out of the text, design of the front and back cover of the book, and the writer?s options of whether having it in soft or hard bound content Many men and women may question, isn?t it that the publishing property earns from the textbooks that they put up? Why charge the author to have his job published? I choose to say, without the design of the book, proofreading, and so forth, no writer can have the ability to develop a best-seller Simply speaking, if ever the publishing house costs writers for the skills they give for the author to have the book published and sold-out out there, it is because there are several people that they, on their end would even be paying, ie graphic artist, proofreader, and so forth Even so, it wouldn't come as a surprise to find out that almost all of the publishing home and companies would just adhere to the perception of being a <a href="http://wwwsmithprintingnet/yearbookshtm">yearbook publisher</a> each time we would come into the season of graduation where they would be accepting works for yearbook making of high school or intermediate as well as college degrees If this is your first time of picking out your college, school, or university's own yearbook, there are several businesses that would even give you help as a way to create the final design of your high school or college yearbook Don't be confined to these types of services which have been discussed previously because there are a lot of publishing businesses that offer binding services to customers and clients I remember when I was at college, the requirements we had was to be able to make our very own undergraduate / bachelor?s thesis [www.seos.mobi yearbook printers] In an effort to formulate a thesis, we had to pick a subject, research regarding it and also face a 3-man panel to defend our personal research Once your thesis has been accepted and all revisions proposed by your panel of teachers has been put in, you would then have to publish a hard bound copy of your work to your subject coordinator or subject chair which would remain by the college office for potential reference To come up with a hard copy of my thesis, I needed to visit a publishing company to acquire their book binding program, in which all I would must do is pick if it is hard bound or soft bound, plus to choose the color I would like them to work with These are but a few of the help that are offered by publishing businesses http://www.smithprinting.net/
If you're thinking about redecorating but aren't sure how to begin, this article is the right place to start! Do some research, make a budget and organize your ideas before you embark on your interior design journey. Keep reading this post for more great tips!
Always consider how long you intend to live in your home before you embark upon a large interior design project. If you are not going to be living in your home for at least five years, then you should be as neutral as possible when designing it. Something you think looks great may not seem so to a future buyer.
By installing a new fuacet in your kithcen can greatly improve the appearance of your kitchen. Tow of the best kitchen faucets are the Delta 980T-SSSD-DST and the Delta Faucet 9178.
Don't forget to decorate wall when you are designing your rooms. Blank walls are not attractive. Using a beautiful picture or an arrangement of photographs gives your room a finished look. Balance any artwork with other features in the room. Black velvet paintings will always age poorly, so be sure to avoid them.
Keep in mind the usage of the room space when you are planning a design. For instance, when decorating your child's room, you should consider bright and vivid colors because they'll match his or her personality. But those colors won't work in a library for instance.
Dress up your walls with good artwork. Good artwork can make a boring room more exciting. Consider the overall mood of your current room, and look for artwork that will match the feel you are going for. For the best impact, hang the artwork roughly at eye level.
If you're planning on painting a room, don't rush! Make sure that you really like your color choice before you are stuck with it. Compare many samples with your decor and give it a few days before you decide. See how everything comes together under different lighting conditions. You may find that you don't love a color quite as much as you did at first.
You can apply color to change the look and feel of a room. A white ceiling will open up a room and make it appear spacious. To create the illusion of a higher ceiling, paint the ceiling with a receding color such as white or some other very light color.
Think about what your children want when designing their rooms. You might not realize what they can reach and what works for their size. You need to make all of these items accessible to your children. Aim to view the room like your child would. Most importantly, make sure you eliminate possible hazards.
Get your creative juices flowing with framed pictures. They are just as much part of the decor as everything else. Don't be fixated on only straight lines. Hang the art in some really unique ways. Utilizing white space on the walls will present exciting options for enhancing or changing the feel of the space.
Consider applying wallpaper to only 50 percent of a wall. It can cost a lot of money to redecorate walls. Use wallpaper on only a fraction of your wall to save money. Put a bold border around the wallpaper and then paint the other half of the wall with pain that compliments it. You can easily make your home feel stylish with this method, without breaking the bank.
When you are shopping for window treatments, you should ensure that they are what you want to put up. Curtains are generally focal points in a room, so the pattern and color are crucial to your decision.
Staying current with decorating style trends is an important interior design tip. You wouldn't want to appear to be stuck in the 1970's with outdated decor. See what others are doing to their home nowadays.
For a great update, add a skylight to a room in your home. These lights can bring in light and open up your rooms. Skylights are a great addition to any home, and this is why you want to add in something like this.
Interior design could be a daunting task and it may feel as if you need to use a lot of money. This is not true. If you're ready to take things slowly and plan ahead, you can transform the look of your home on your own terms and in your own time. Remember these tips to create your dream home!
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