ViaSat’s newly acquired WildBlue satellite-based Internet service will add 20,000-25,000 net new subscribers this year as the new owner fine-tunes it in advance of a 2011 satellite launch, executives said on an earnings call. WildBlue, which had about 424,000 subscribers in mostly rural markets as of March 31, was purchased by ViaSat earlier this year for $568 million. ViaSat kept WildBlue’s Greenwood Village, Colo., headquarters as well as many of its 240 employees. It plans to phase in changes to the service gradually this year as it prepares for the ViaSat-1 satellite launch in late Q1 2011, the company said. The Loral-built Ka-band satellite is expected to go into operation in Q2 2011, they said.

LOS ANGELES -- Steering further away from long-time opposition to IPTV, the largest U.S. and Canadian cable operators are now openly embracing IP video technology as the prime way to deliver their growing video offerings to subscribers wherever they may be. Appearing together on a panel at the NCTA show last week, chief technology officers and senior engineering executives of five major North American cable operators confirmed they're all looking to migrate to IP video over the next couple of years. They cited the need to serve the growing array of IP-enabled consumer devices, provide Internet, mobile and non-traditional video fare to customers, and reduce infrastructure and delivery costs.

Sprint outlined final details of the launch of the much-anticipated Evo 3G/4G wireless phone at an event in Manhattan co-sponsored by Disney. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced a retail price of $199 for the Evo, which hits stores on June 4.

Collection rates rose for the third straight year in six mandatory e-waste collection programs tracked by the National Center for Electronics Recycling. The trends in NCER’s 2009 per capita collection index (PCCI) are reflective of what’s happening nationwide in terms of e-waste recycling, the center said. They also give the lie to claims that “state mandated programs will see surges in collection in the initial years due to pent-up demand for recycling options before falling off,” it said.

Sony this fiscal year plans to “aggressively launch 3D-related products, network services and other new businesses with the aim of future growth,” the company said Thursday in reporting results for the year ended March 31 in which it swung to a $342 million operating profit from a year-earlier loss ($1=93 yen, the rate in effect March 31). However, sales fell 6.7 percent to $77.6 billion on a 19.9 percent decline in Sony’s core CE sector, now called Consumer Products and Devices.

The $8.5 million OEM order for Microvision’s redesigned laser-based embedded engine for micro-projectors will produce revenue for the company in the second half, CEO Alexander Tokman told analysts on a conference call.

With just less than a month to go before the June 11 launch of ESPN 3D, ESPN and Comcast on Wednesday announced that Comcast is the first cable affiliate to sign on to distribute ESPN 3D to its digital cable customers. ESPN is in “active discussion” with other cable affiliates about ESPN 3D distribution deals, spokeswoman Colleen Lynch told us. ESPN announced an ESPN 3D distribution deal with DirecTV in late March (CED March 30 p9).

House Oversight and Government Reforms Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., has sought a detailed explanation from the EPA on why it chose to “reject” GAO recommendations on tightening and improving e-waste regulations. Following a 2008 investigation, the GAO had recommended that EPA implement an enforcement plan for its regulations relating to CRTs, he said. The investigative arm of Congress also suggested that the agency consider “broadening its regulations relating to other electronic components, in order to close existing loopholes,” Towns wrote EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson last week. He also wrote General Service Administration chief Martha Johnson seeking details on how federal e-waste was handled.

LOS ANGELES -- The shift to viewing video on a variety of devices, with content now often distributed online, offers good and bad news for the entertainment industry, said CEOs from Hollywood studios, cable and broadcasting. Content producers in those industries must be careful to still get paid for their programming to avoid the mistakes made by the music industry, panelists at the NCTA show said Wednesday. Those industries may need to make changes to continue to profit as content moves to more and more devices, they said.

Initial results were promising for iPad games released in Q4 ended March 31, Electronic Arts executives said on an earnings call Tuesday. The publisher released five games for the iPad late in the quarter and “had two of the top three grossing titles,” Chief Operations Officer John Schappert said. Scrabble “was the number one grossing title” on the iPad, while Need for Speed Shift was No. 3, he said. EA Mobile also released Command & Conquer Red Alert, Mirror’s Edge and Tetris for the April launch of Apple’s new tablet. But it didn’t specify how those titles fared.