October 2012

AT&T sounds alarm over Sprint's Clearwire deal

AT&T is urging regulators to take a close look at Sprint's recent deals with Softbank and Clearwire.

AT&T began sounding alarm that a foreign company could soon control large chunks of the nation's airwaves. "Softbank's acquisition of Sprint and the control it gains over Clearwire will give one of Japan's largest wireless companies control of significantly more U.S. wireless spectrum than any other company," said Brad Burns, an AT&T vice president. "We expect that fact and others will be fully explored in the regulatory review process. This is one more example of a very dynamic and competitive U.S. wireless marketplace, which is an important fact for U.S. regulators to recognize."

AT&T is currently looking to gain government approval of its own smaller spectrum deals with companies including NextWave, Comcast and Horizon. AT&T's statement could be seen as putting pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to approve its deals if the commission also allows Softbank to take over Sprint and Clearwire.

In New York, Broadcasters Fight for Piece of Digital Pie

In a city where newspapers dominate Web traffic, television and radio broadcast companies are making some innovative moves to build audiences and stay competitive. In part one of a special three-part Digital DMA, NetNewsCheck examines broadcast’s place in New York’s digital landscape. As the nation’s largest DMA, New York City is rich with digital media competition, feeding content to about 12 million people in 4.3 million households every day, according to data from media consultants Borrell Associates. Why all the activity? Because there is one big apple up for grabs: Nearly $600 million in online advertising spending. And come 2017, it’s estimated that the local ad outlay could flirt with $1 billion, according to Borrell. That’s enough motivation for local broadcast companies to innovate and try to rival the tough digital competition from the city’s newspapers.

Newsweek to Become Online-Only After 80 Years in Print

Newsweek, owned by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, will become an online-only publication next year, ending 80 years as a print magazine. The last print edition in the U.S. will be the Dec. 31 issue, said Tina Brown, editor-in-chief and founder of Newsweek Daily Beast . The all-digital publication, to be called Newsweek Global, will require subscriptions and will be available on tablet computers and on the Web, Brown said. The company started discussing the likelihood of ceasing print as early as June, Brown said. “It was never a question of whether, it was a question of when,” she said. The “incredibly archaic” costs of print and the opportunity to expand through digital distribution motivated the change, she said.

Catching Up, Not Cord Cutting, Drives Increase in Content Streaming: Study

Contrary to prognostications about TV dying a slow death as tweens and younger children become hypnotized by YouTube, a new study suggests that consumers' devotion to TV programming remains strong -- even though more of them are watching it online or on tablets.

The results of a new survey by TVGuide.com, announced at Ad Age's Social Engagement/Social TV conference in Los Angeles, found 42% of TV viewers reported watching more streamed content this year over last year. The survey went out to TVGuide.com's panel of 10,000 self-described TV viewers; 2,306 people responded to it. While the lion's share (73%) of those who were streaming more TV content said it was because they were catching up on missed episodes, 8% said it was because of cutting back on cable and 10% reported it was because they had canceled their cable altogether.

Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0

As part of National Cybersecurity Month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled an updated 2.0 version of the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘Small Biz Cyber Planner,’ a free and easy-to-use online resource for any small business owner who wants to better protect their business from the growing threat of cybersecurity attacks.

Launched in 2011, the tool has already been used by nearly 10,000 businesses across the country to create customized cybersecurity plans. New research by Symantec, an FCC Cybersecurity Outreach Partner, indicates that nearly 83% of U.S. small businesses have no cybersecurity protection plan – despite the fact that millions of cyberattacks occur each year. Chairman Genachowski urged all small business owners to take advantage of this valuable resource, and also announced new and renewed partnerships with public and private sector organizations, including Symantec, eBay, Visa, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), and others.

The FCC’s online cyber planner enables business owners to create and download a customized plan - to protect themselves from online threats which could significantly damage their companies – by answering 12 simple questions. The updated cyber planner features new details about cyber insurance to mitigate interruptions to business and financial loss from cyberattacks, and best practices on spyware, including how to avoid advanced versions of spyware. It also incorporates the immediate steps to take in case of infection, and recommendations on installing new software systems that enable users to remotely track and erase the hard drive of laptops and mobile devices in the event of theft.

In post-trial battles with Samsung, Apple fights to keep documents sealed

Just several weeks ago, Apple won a huge patent victory in the courtroom of US District Judge Lucy Koh. But now the company is finding itself on the defensive in the same San Jose courtroom, in a different battle -- the fight to keep its financial information secret.

Judge Koh denied Apple's request to seal a variety of documents tied to its financial performance. The redacted documents include "product-specific unit sales, revenue, profit, profit margin, and cost data" that would bolster Apple's arguments for more damages. The figures are important to Apple, because it wants a serious heap of cash added on to the jury's already enormous verdict, which, if it stands, would be the largest patent verdict in history. Apple is looking for an extra $535 million in damages in addition to the $1.05 billion awarded by the jury, and it also wants a variety of Samsung products kicked off the market; Samsung, meanwhile, wants a new trial, and claims that the jury foreman wasn't truthful about his history of lawsuits and view of the patent system. As a company, Apple reports its profits regularly; but those profits are typically not broken out by product. Even numbers like how many iPod touches were sold in the US weren't revealed until they were shown during the Apple v. Samsung trial, and eagerly recorded by the small army of reporters who congregated each day in the back rows of the San Jose courtroom.

GOP Super PAC Puts Facebook Users in Custom Ads

The Ending Spending Action Fund, a super PAC supporting Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is making a personalized pitch to Facebook users who supported President Obama in 2008 but are changing sides in 2012. The Ad About You app sorts through a Facebook user's photo albums to create a custom montage of personal images that are displayed inside picture frames in a Web video that plays out while the narrator, a woman in her late 30s, talks in a tone of measured disappointment about what another four years of the Obama presidency might bring.

Twitter Censors Users for the First Time

For the first time ever, Twitter censored a controversial account at the request of local government earlier this week. It was run by neo-Nazis. The ban, which is the first of its kind under a relatively new Twitter policy that gives the company "the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country -- while keeping it available in the rest of the world." As such, the ban is only effective in Germany. The rest of the world is free to follow the bigots.

Twitter, Reddit and the battle over free speech

Where should freedom of speech begin and end when you are a web-based entity with a global audience?

That’s the question raised by a couple of recent events, including the furor over a Reddit moderator’s creepy behavior, and now the news that Twitter has blocked an account for the first time at the request of a state government — in this case Germany, which asked the service to take action against a Twitter user posting neo-Nazi sentiments, something that is forbidden by the laws of that country. As the web and social tools become more mainstream, these kinds of battles over the limits that should apply to free speech are only going to become more frequent, but the solution to them remains elusive at best.

Wait, now Sprint wants to control Clearwire?

After four years of keeping Clearwire at arm’s length, Sprint apparently feels it’s time to step in and take the struggling 4G carrier under its wing.

The idea was that Clearwire as an independent company would attract outside investors and build a big honking 4G network. Sprint would get all of the benefit of that network without having to foot the bill. Well, that didn’t happen. Clearwire’s nationwide rollout stopped after it got a third of the country covered, and it’s been in a holding pattern ever since. Instead of re-upping its investment in Clearwire, Sprint spent just enough to keep it afloat and then launched its own LTE network. Talk about a dysfunctional relationship. Why would Sprint be suddenly interested in taking control over the partner it’s been jilting for years? Sprint is required to do so make good on its deal with Softbank. Softbank and Clearwire have a lot in common due to their 4G technology choices, but not necessarily enough in common to justify buying Clearwire outright. Maybe this option – if it proves to be true – splits the difference.

Benton

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