I mentioned the other day that broadband over powerlines (BPL) had suffered a serious death blow after a court slapped the FCC's wrist for acting as a cheerleader for the BPL industry -- while ignoring serious problems inherent in the technology. The industry was also hit hard by the sale of a large BPL deployment in Dallas, on which the Associated Press has more.

DirecTV had helped finance the deployment, which was supposed to cover some 2 million subscribers. The new owner, Oncor, confirms they have no interest in using the network for broadband. "Our business is delivering electricity, not being an Internet provider or a television provider," an Oncor spokesman tells the AP. The AP notes the latest FCC stats (for whatever they're worth) show that there's 4,776 BPL subscribers in the U.S.