April 2011

Level 3 to Buy Global Crossing in $3 Billion Deal

Level 3 Communications will buy Global Crossing in a transaction worth $3 billion.

The deal values Global Crossing at $23.04 a share — about 56 percent above the telecommunication company’s closing price on April 8. As part of the acquisition, Level 3 will also assume $1.1 billion of debt. The deal would combine the two companies’ fiber-optic networks over three continents, offering data and voice connections to more than 70 countries. The combined entity will create a company with revenue of $6.26 billion and earnings of $1.57 billion, after taking into account projected cost savings. Level 3 already has significant shareholder support. Singapore Technologies Telemedia, Global Crossing’s largest investor with a stake of about 60 percent, has agreed to vote in favor of the acquisition. Once the deal closes, ST Telemedia is to nominate directors to the board, relative to the size of its stake. Singapore Technologies Telemedia bought the stake in Global Crossing out of bankruptcy in 2003. Once a high-flying network operator, Global Crossing stumbled in the aftermath of the dot-com bust, filing for chapter 11 in early 2002.

Multitasking Takes Toll on Memory, Study Finds

What was I saying?

A growing body of research shows that juggling many tasks, as so many people do in this technological era, can divide attention and hurt learning and performance. Does it also hinder short-term memory? That’s the implication of a study being published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a respected journal.

The research shows that multitasking takes a significantly greater toll on the working memory of older people. Researchers said the key finding of the new study is that people between the ages of 60 and 80 have significantly more trouble remembering tasks after experiencing a brief interruption than do people in their 20s and 30s. During the study, subjects were asked to look at a scene, then were interrupted for several seconds by an image of a person’s face. They were asked to identify the person’s gender and approximate age, and then returned to answer questions about the earlier scene. Older subjects found it much harder to disengage from the interruption and reestablish contact with the scene, the researchers found. Even though the study did not revolve around interruptions from cellphones or other gadgets, one researcher said the results provide a “clear extrapolation” to the impact of a stream of incoming rings and buzzes.

Broadcaster to tell Congress viewer disruption could be 'unprecedented'

The Federal Communications Commission's rejiggering of television station spectrum allocations as part of its broadband spectrum reclamation plan could adversely affect a third or more of all TV stations, according to the prepared congressional testimony of the broadcasting representative on the first of what will be several hearings on the issue.

Robert Good of WGAL-TV Lancaster (PA) -- who wears a lot of hats as assistant GM, director of operations and chief engineer for the station -- is representing broadcasters at the April 12 hearing on spectrum issues being held in the House Communications Subcommittee, which is headed by a former broadcaster, Rep Greg Walden (R-OR). Good plans to tell the legislators that they need to recognize that reallocation and repacking of spectrum would impose "significant financial costs" and result in "a material diminution of existing free, over-the-air television broadcast service." He says a second digital transition could create "unprecedented" viewer disruption, confusion and dissatisfaction." His message will be one of cooperation, however, with one big caveat. "Broadcasters do not oppose voluntary incentive auctions and the reallocation of broadcast spectrum, if, in fact, the auction and reallocation of broadcast spectrum is truly ‘voluntary,'" he says. But the big issue is whether repacking and "voluntary" are mutually exclusive. "For an auction process to be truly voluntary, it must be voluntary both for those stations that elect to participate in the auction and for those stations that elect to retain their licenses and continue delivering to their communities the full panoply of benefits of the digital transition," says Good. But if the repacking is required of any station that doesn't want it, and that repacking materially diminishes the service, that clearly fails the broadcasters' "voluntary" test. Good also paints a grim picture of potential loss from the combination of reducing broadcasters footprint now that the commission has allowed unlicensed devices to share the broadcast band.

FCC to Hill: Imperative To Seize Spectrum-Freeing Opportunity

According to testimony Julius Knapp, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering & Technology, will deliver to the House Communications Subcommittee on April 12, the nation must "seize every opportunity to free up spectrum for mobile broadband."

He plans to tell Congress the FCC supports ensuring a "healthy and robust" broadcasting industry. He says the incentive auctions that Congress will need to approve before broadcasters can be compensating for giving up spectrum will be voluntary and will not come at broadcasters' expense. But the FCC's definition of voluntary includes limiting the number of stations that would have to switch frequencies, and to "limit" loss of service. "While realignment of some broadcast stations will be necessary to ensure efficient use of the spectrum freed up in an incentive auction," the FCC concedes, "our proposal seeks to limit the number of stations that would need to switch frequencies as part of the realignment process." To some broadcaster that "need" already sounds like involuntary, but the FCC points out that even though they move frequencies, they can maintain the same dial position and would get paid for their troubles. "For those that do [need to switch], we would work to limit any loss of service to over-the-air television viewers and would fully reimburse them for any costs associated with relocating," says Knapp. "No stations would be required to move from the UHF band to the VHF band unless they freely chose to do so in exchange for a share of the auction proceeds," he added. That has been a concern of broadcasters given that the VHF band is not as effective for DTV transmissions as UHF, though the FCC has promised to try to improve VHF reception.

Lawsuits to strengthen Net traffic rules possible

Public interest groups are keeping the option of lawsuits against the Federal Communications Commission on the table to fight for stronger Internet "neutrality" rules.

FCC's Copps at National Conference for Media Reform

Federal Communications Commission spoke at the National Conference for Media Reform saying he's "more worried than ever about the state of America's media and what it's doing to our country. We see investigative journalism on the endangered species list, hundreds of newsrooms shuttered, reporters fired by the thousands, walking the street looking for a job instead of a story. And it didn't start with the Internet because the process of media being high-jacked by the profit-at-all cost gang has been going on for decades. For the consolidated owners of radio and TV, the license to broadcast became a license to despoil. Visions of sugarplums danced in their heads-spectrum that belonged, they decided, to them rather than to the people. I don't indict all broadcasters in saying this because some managed to hold the speculators at bay-but it's harder than ever for the best in media and journalism to succeed in a world dominated by those who are in it for the quick buck and who are often not even traditional broadcasters-they're stations run by hedge funds, banking trusts and private equity firms. Yep, the folks who brought media and journalism down are the same folks who darned near brought the country down, too. Having hedge funds deliver the news is like delivering lettuce by way of a rabbit, as my old boss Senator Fritz Hollings would say. Left to their own devices, these absentee landlords would put local and independent programming on a starvation diet and feed us instead monotonous homogenized music and mindless infotainment masquerading as 'news.'" h

He concluded saying: "As for me, I pledge this: after my time at the Commission runs out later this year, I am staying on these issues; I am sticking with them; and I'm sticking with you to bring them home. These ten years it's your voices more than anyone's that ring true to my ear; your vision and passion that give direction to my work; your belief in media of, by and for the American people that makes me know-this must be done; this can be done; this will be done."

FCC Seeks Comment on "Need for Speed" Info for Broadband Consumers

The Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) has issued a Public Notice asking for comments on the kinds of "need for speed" information that will be most useful to consumers in choosing their Internet service.

"The marketplace for broadband service is a confusing one for consumers," says CGB Bureau Chief Joel Gurin. "Most people don't understand megabits-per-second in the way they understand miles-per-gallon." Gurin notes that an FCC Survey last year found that 80 percent of people with broadband don't even know what speed they're getting from their service. "Broadband service providers recognize the problem, and have taken some good steps to educate consumers," says Gurin. "This Public Notice will provide a way for Internet service providers, the tech community, and the public to help develop clear guidelines that will help everyone understand how to get the service they need."

In the Public Notice, CGB notes that consumers may have very different needs for broadband service depending on what they use it for. Someone who uses the Web primarily for email, for example, may be well served by a smaller and less expensive service than an avid video viewer would need. Others, such as online gamers, may be especially concerned about factors like signal latency.

The Public Notice recognizes the importance of collecting input from a broad range of stakeholders on broadband speed and performance. The Bureau also says that this Notice builds on the work of a voluntary group of service providers and consumer groups that have met with the Commission to help guide the FCC's national testing of broadband speed and performance.

Comments are due May 26, 2011 and replies June 16, 2011.

The four enemies of indie Internet TV

Any snapshot of the online independent video scene suggests an uncertain forecast. Here's four likely impediments to a full takeoff:

Data caps: Setting data ceilings is becoming an increasingly popular practice among ISPs.
Lack of a clear home theater standard: The Holy Grail for Internet TV is creating a viewing environment in which it looks and feels like the good old home pay/broadcast television that couch potatoes have enjoyed -- as opposed to the video that consumers watch on a desktop computer that's often dedicated to workplace activities.
Mergers and acquisitions: Companies don't even have to buy each other to engage in a wide range of potentially anti-competitive practices—developing partnerships that encourage consumers to watch pay TV rather than streaming independent content over the Internet. That's the gist of Comcast's TV Everywhere model. That's why the proposed merger of AT&T with T-Mobile is of such significance. The union doesn't just increase the size of AT&T as an ISP. It jumps its scale as an online content provider, which brings us to the question of "specialized" or "managed services."
Priority access: Until the FCC formally releases its open Internet rules, it's unclear how any of paid priority deals will actually be regulated, especially since the government will have to defend the provisions in court.

Verizon to launch digital media service in July

Verizon announced a digital media utility service designed to help advertising, media and entertainment companies automate delivery of on-demand content to consumers on their TVs, smartphones and tablets.

The service, under development at Verizon for nearly three years, is currently in a second beta with nine charter content-creation companies and will be available for commercial release sometime in July, said David Rips, president of the division overseeing the project, called Verizon Digital Media Services. Digital content will be taken from content creators and delivered using Verizon's global IP network and two new secure data centers in southern California and northern Virginia, Rips said. "We are going to be the world's first fully automated, end-to-end digital media utility that generates enormous economies of scale and true unicast [media] streams to any device, on any platform, at any time that consumers want it, on demand," Rips said. One benefit to content creators is that they won't need to customize content to fit specific devices that range in physical size and run different operating systems, Rips said. About 200 Verizon developers have worked on the project, in addition to hundreds of other Verizon staff.

FCC: International calling revenue sank 10 percent in 2009

Phone companies saw their international calling revenue plunge 10 percent in 2009 as more consumers turned to the Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to communicate abroad. The report shows international calling firms have been beset by the same problems plaguing other traditional phone companies: the rising threat of wireless and the Internet, which enables voice, text and video communications in real-time without per-minute charges. US revenue for international phone service fell from $7.3 billion in 2008 to $6.6 billion in 2009, with carriers citing the economy and competition from VoIP as leading factors in the decline.

Benton

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