Bill Daniels, a philanthropist and cable television pioneer who founded Denver-based Daniels Communications, died late Tuesday after a long illness. He was 79. Daniels died at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 120 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported. Daniels' early years were spent wiring remote areas of the country with cable TV. One of his early efforts was brining cable to Casper, Wyo., in 1953. In 1958, Daniels founded Daniels and Associates to facilitate investments in cable. Over the years, Daniels has done billions of dollars worth of deals with some of the industry's top companies and executives. In the mid-1980s, Daniels led a group of cable companies that bailed out Ted Turner and Turner Broadcasting. Eager to expand his programming, Turner bought the MGM film library and other assets in 1986. Turner's company nearly tanked, but was rescued by the Daniels-led group. The story is recounted in Stephen Keating's book Cutthroat. Daniels has donated money to Young Americans Bank, University of Denver and numerous charities. Daniels also worked to bring the National Cable Television Center and Museum to Denver. He gave his mansion to the Denver for a mayor's residence. The SkyREPORT editorial staff extends its condolences to the Daniels family.

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Loral-Globalstar Tumble On Downgrade

On Tuesday, Merrill Lynch analyst Tom Watts cut the investment rating on Globalstar Telecommunications and its biggest backer, Loral Space and Communications. Globalstar was cut to a long-term neutral from accumulate. "Globalstar take-up rates remain low. Some service providers have lowered retail airtime pricing," he said. Loral was cut to an intermediate-term neutral from accumulate. Its long-term rating was reduced to an accumulate from a buy. Loral closed down more than $2 to $12.63. Globalstar fell $4 to $21.19.

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DirecTV Reports Adds In February

DirecTV's high-power service acquired 125,000 net new customers in February, representing a record for the month and a 34 percent increase in net customer acquisitions over February 1999. An additional 90,000 customers were transitioned to the high-power service from the medium-power PrimeStar By DirecTV last month. Through the first two months of 2000, DirecTV has acquired 245,000 new high-power customers, a 33 percent increase over the same year-ago period. DirecTV now has more than 8.2 million customers, a number that includes customers subscribing to the medium-power service. PrimeStar By DirecTV accounted for more than 1.1 million of those customers.

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OpenTV Issues Shares To DISH

Interactive TV software developer OpenTV said Tuesday it will issue 2.252 million class A shares to EchoStar, its satellite partner in the United States. OpenTV, which is working with EchoStar to develop a low-cost digital set-top box with interactive features, said it would issue the shares on March 7. In exchange, EchoStar will provide OpenTV with a share of revenues from applications developed jointly by the DBS company and OpenTV.

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COMP WATCH: Microsoft Partners with NDS

Microsoft Partners With NDS - News Corp.'s NDS unit will license its software to Microsoft. NDS' platform delivers video-on-demand, interactive TV program guides and other features. Microsoft will add the services to a new, interactive TV product that will be released later in the year. Cablevision Eyeing Boston Sale? - Cablevision Systems is reportedly ready to sell its Boston-area franchises to AT&T for as much as $2 billion, according to analysts. The company has around 360,000 subscribers in the Boston area.