September 2010

A Tech World That Centers on the User

When people want to know how the media business will deal with the Internet, the best way to begin to understand the sweeping changes is to recognize that the consumer of entertainment and information is now in the center. That center changes everything. It changes your concept of space, time and location. It changes your sense of community. It changes the way you view the information, news and data coming directly to you. Now you are the starting point. Now the digital world follows you, not the other way around.

BlackBerry jam

[Commentary] Research in Motion, creator of the BlackBerry, is between a rock and a hard place. With the U.S. market for its keypad-equipped smart phones dwindling after the rise of the iPhone, RIM's growth lies overseas. But as more people in other countries acquire its phones, demands of foreign governments for access to data to deal with security threats, and probably political threats as well, by monitoring the phones have also increased. RIM's position has reflected the need to straddle these divergent constituencies. The challenge is formidable in the face of a third factor -- the apparent lack of technological understanding that drives some governments to demand a "back-door key" to encrypted files, a technology that RIM itself does not possess, or to insist that RIM must locate servers inside their countries to make monitoring easier, a response that would have no effect on the ease of access to RIM's global system. We hope the steps RIM has already taken in India will allay official concerns. But RIM must stand its ground; giving in might cause it to lose customers while encouraging repressive regimes to monitor and intimidate peaceful dissenters.

Apple's move goes some way to patch up rift

Apple may have gone some way to patch up its fractious relationship with Adobe Systems this week but there is still much to be done to heal a major Silicon Valley rift.

The former allies have been battling on numerous fronts but Apple on Thursday said it would ease certain restrictions on the use of Adobe software. Prodded by an antitrust investigation and developer complaints, Apple said it would let Adobe's tools be used to develop software for the iPhone and iPad. Adobe and independent programmers were relieved by the decision, which lets programmers employ the computer code of their choosing before converting them to run on the iPhone. That means that gaming and video applications using Flash can be downloaded for use on Apple's mobile devices. What it does not mean is that those devices can view full Flash videos from the web, a large bone of contention between the two groups.

Big Cable Sees Clearer FCC Broadband Picture

A Q&A with National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow. He believes big broadband providers are close to an agreement on legislative language to clarify the Federal Communications Commission's broadband regulatory authority. A few sticking points remain. They are thorny issues, but the FCC has called for more comments on two of them. That may be the highest-profile issue facing the NCTA president, but his docket is plenty full, especially given cable's increasingly vital role as Internet access providers.

Cable's Billion-Dollar Question Needs An Answer

The cable industry is facing a billion-dollar question. Broadcasters, led by CBS, are closing deals with operators that will put CBS on course to achieve its goal of getting $250 million cash for retransmitting its signals. But so lofty a goal carries a related issue: That tab will have to get paid somehow. And therein lies the question -- or questions. Will these retrans dollars -- estimated to hit $1.3 billion by 2012, according to SNL Kagan -- come out of distributor profits? Will cable networks take cuts or smaller increases in their monthly subscriber fees? Will customers pay through the nose with skyrocketing cable bills? Or will spiraling programming costs lead to a change in the way cable channels are bundled and sold to subscribers, as distributors brace for new video challenges from Apple, Google and Amazon?

It is, as everyone in the business knows, a relatively new dilemma. Not long ago, cable operators were tough, tight-fisted negotiators, vowing not to pay cash for retransmission consent as laid out in the Communications Act of 1992. But in recent years, broadcasters have been cashing in. Last week, Time Warner Cable and The Walt Disney Co. were able to come to a settlement on a new retransmission consent deal that included at least 50 cents per subscriber for ABC's owned stations, higher fees for Disney's cable channels and carriage of several new services. Even though the deal appeared to be settled much more peaceably than a slew of divisive deals of late, it was clear the cable operator felt that the rules surrounding retrans gave broadcasters an unfair advantage at the bargaining table.

A New Phase in Our Digital Lives

Some people describe it as The End of the Internet, though that is probably a misnomer. Others, at the risk of cliché, might call it News 3.0. Maybe the best way to understand what is occurring today with the way people interact with the news and technology is to think of it as the end of our digital childhood. By whatever term you give it, the latest biennial survey on news consumption from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reveals signs of a new phase, perhaps even a new era, in the acquisition and consumption of news. And there is every reason to expect the shift will only accelerate now with a new wave of technology devices - from smartphones to iPad-style devices - which the data do not fully measure.

Americans Spending More Time Following the News

There are many more ways to get the news these days, and as a consequence Americans are spending more time with the news than over much of the past decade. Digital platforms are playing a larger role in news consumption, and they seem to be more than making up for modest declines in the audience for traditional platforms. As a result, the average time Americans spend with the news on a given day is as high as it was in the mid-1990s, when audiences for traditional news sources were much larger. Roughly a third (34%) of the public say they went online for news yesterday - on par with radio, and slightly higher than daily newspapers. And when cell phones, email, social networks and podcasts are added in, 44% of Americans say they got news through one or more Internet or mobile digital source yesterday. At the same time, the proportion of Americans who get news from traditional media platforms - television, radio and print - has been stable or edging downward in the last few years. There has been no overall decline in the percentage saying they watched news on television, and even with the continued erosion of print newspaper and radio audiences, three-quarters of Americans got news yesterday from one or more of these three traditional platforms.

A new poll shows 'old media' holding their own in an Internet world

With news and gossip leaping off every laptop screen, smartphone and Facebook page, the common wisdom these days is that traditional news outlets are doomed. But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral: People are spending more time following the news, rather than giving in to other distractions.

Traditional media are holding onto mindshare: A new Pew Research Center study says that on a given day, Americans spend 57 minutes getting the news from television, newspapers or radio, just as they did in 2000. But they spend an additional 13 minutes each day consuming news on the Web -- a figure that doesn't even include stories viewed on cellphones. Highly educated folks, not surprisingly, are driving the increase. Not everyone is an addict; 17 percent of those surveyed said they got no news of any kind the previous day. But the 83 percent who did are drawing their information from a wider variety of sources.

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program 2010 Draft Strategic Plan

The National Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) requests comments from the public regarding the draft 2010 Strategic Plan for the Federal NITRD Program.

NITRD currently provides a framework and mechanisms for coordination among 14 Federal agencies that support advanced IT R&D. These agencies report IT research budgets in the NITRD crosscut, and many other agencies with IT interests also participate informally in NITRD activities. The draft 2010 Strategic Plan for the NITRD Program was developed by the NITRD agencies pursuant to a recommendation of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). This request for information will be active from September 10, 2010 to October 11, 2010.

DC electric company readies new technology

Pepco -- the electric service provider to customers in Washington, DC, and Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland -- is drawing closer to the full-scale deployment of "smart meters" throughout the District, having rolled out 750 of the energy-tracking devices early this month and releasing preliminary findings from its metering pilot program last week.

But how electricity use would be priced remains unresolved. The DC Public Service Commission, which gave Pepco the go-ahead to install the meters in January, is still mulling over the utility's application to implement dynamic, or time-of-use, pricing, in which electricity would cost more during times of heavy demand. Regulators in Maryland decided this month to reject a similar application. Instead, Maryland is requiring the utility to offer rebates to customers who reduce usage at peak periods.

Benton

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