June 2013

Antitrust watchdog likely to scrutinize Kabel Deutschland deal

With 28 million German households having access to cable broadband, Germany is by far Europe’s biggest cable TV market, according to ANGA, the country’s industry association. Kabel Deutschland, with household coverage approaching 40 percent, is Germany’s biggest cable operator, closely followed by Unitymedia Kabel, owned by Liberty Global, itself the product of a merger of smaller regional operators. Unitymedia generates similar revenues to Kabel Deutschland but has fewer subscribers, around 7.1 million next to 8.5 million for Kabel Deutschland. The country’s total cable reach is significantly higher than other established markets: household cable coverage in Germany is in excess of 70 percent, above the UK, for example, where coverage is closer to 50 percent. But Germany is also one of the Europe’s more fragmented cable markets with smaller regional operators in many areas. An acquisition of Kabel Deutschland is therefore likely to command close scrutiny from the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s competition watchdog, which is expected to request permission from Brussels to rule on any deal.

Google May Get Win in Case Over Privacy Data on Other Websites

Google can’t be forced to remove material from its search engine that was legally posted on other websites, an adviser to the European Union’s top court said in a case that may set boundaries between free speech and data-protection rights.

Google can’t be considered “the controller” of personal data from other websites, Advocate General Niilo Jaeaeskinen of the EU Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion. “A national data protection authority cannot require an Internet search engine service provider to withdraw information from its index,” Jaeaeskinen said. The Luxembourg-based court follows this legal advice in a majority of cases. The dispute before the EU’s top court raises questions about the scope of EU privacy rules related to personal data on the Internet and the rights of search engines to use any online data to remain commercially successful. The case was triggered by about 200 instances of Spain’s data-protection authority ordering Google to remove information on people.

Google says tighter EU search regulations would ‘hurt’ innovation

Tightening the proposed regulations on Google to resolve competition concerns in Europe would risk stunting advances in online search just as a wave of innovation is set to transform the industry, the US company’s top search engineer has warned.

The warning from Amit Singhal, a Google senior vice-president, comes as the European Commission’s efforts to agree a set of voluntary concessions come to a head. Some Google critics have called for tougher sanctions than the proposed settlement the company reached with Brussels earlier this year. Final responses from Google’s rivals to the draft terms are due to be submitted by June 27.

Privacy Groups Mobilize to Monitor Kids Sites and Apps

Stricter children's online privacy rules go into effect July 1 and privacy groups are getting ready to make sure websites and mobile apps targeting kids under 12 toe those newly drawn lines. The Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy group that lobbied hard for the updates, is seeking help from more than 60 children's civil rights, advocacy and medical groups in monitoring websites and apps.

"We'll be focused initially on the major kids sites—Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network—to make sure they respect the new rules and empower parents with the information and control they deserve," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the CDD. In advance of the new school season, the group also intends to step up public education and launch an online campaign. In an 18-page letter, the CDD gives groups a backgrounder on the new rules and provides a step-by-step legal guide of what to look for on children's sites and mobile apps to make sure they are in compliance with the new rules. The CDD singled out a few potential violations in particular: asking children to take or upload pictures of themselves; collecting location information; and sending push notifications from an app that pop up on the device even when the app is not in use. If any of the groups find a violation, the CDD is asking that group to notify them and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces the rules.

Why does everyone except Google want to build a reader?

[Commentary] I have been baffled by Google’s decision in March to euthanize the Google Reader instead of trying to reinvent it for the mobile/tablet age and use its strong (if small) community of users to build a new news reading experience. It is ironic because everyone seems to be getting into the reader business.

Digg. Feedly. AOL. Even Facebook thinks it can be a player in the news reader game. Reading news is still one of the daily essential activities — just ask Yahoo, which has benefited from Yahoo News and Sports, allowing the company to make money from advertising and at the same time, push other Yahoo services to their customers. If LinkedIn and Facebook can keep the people reading inside their apps, they can boost their engagement with their community.

Connected Nation Pilot Highlights Potential of Mobile Learning

AT&T, Edmodo, Kno and Samsung Mobile recently completed a pilot-test of a K-12 mobile learning platform “that combined mobile devices, connectivity and educational content with the ambition to make ‘anywhere education’ easier than ever.” Working under the banner of Connected Nation, the partners pilot-tested a hybrid shared and one-to-one mobile learning model in two high school classes over an eight-week period.

Reaching 100 students, the results were encouraging, according to the pilot-test partners:

Most students, teachers and parents agreed the mobile learning solution enhanced the learning experience and would like to have continued using it after the trial
Participating students using the one-to-one model reported higher levels of satisfaction by about 10 percentage points
Participating students said the solution was easy to use, made reading more interesting, and featured helpful functions
Participating teachers agreed the solution made them more effective and teaching more interesting.

T-Mobile Proposes Sliding Screen for Incentive Auctions

T-Mobile has a plan for part of the broadcast incentive auctions -- the one where, presumably, wireless companies primarily bid for reclaimed spectrum -- and it involves a sliding spectrum screen depending on how the bidding goes.

T-Mobile is recommending that FCC auction rules include a built-in sliding screen, which it pitches as a way to provide a real-world test of such a screen applied to auctions in general. "By relying on actual bids rather than predictions of bidder behavior, the Dynamic Market Rule helps remove any risk that revenue targets for clearing broadcasters and funding the FirstNet public safety network will not be met," the company says. T-Mobile calls it a "Dynamic Market Rule billed as a "seamless" way to ensure against "excessive concentration" of low-band spectrum. Under the rule, bidding would begin with "spectrum aggregation" limits, with a carve-out that would allow AT&T and Verizon, the two largest carriers, to bid on a block of 5 MHz in markets where they exceed the screen -- which would be one-third of the low-band spectrum in a market. If the FCC meets its revenue target, that auction could close. But if not, the screen would be gradually relaxed, and ultimately lifted altogether.

Hey Seattle, want a gigabit connection? That’ll be $80

Gigabit Squared, the company that’s working with the city of Seattle to light up the city’s dark fiber, announced availability (next year) and pricing. A gigabit connection will cost $80 plus a $350 connection fee (unless you sign up for a full year of service). That’s $10 more than Google charges in Kansas City.

The company will offer three service plans:

Free service at speeds of 5 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream (its comparable to traditional DSL speeds) for five years. After 60 months renters or owners can convert to a 10 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload service plan for only $10 per month. However, there is a $350 installation charge, but it transfers to new home owners or renters.
A medium tier offer symmetrical 100 Mbps service for $45 per month. As with the gigabit service, the $350 connection fee is waived if people sign a one-year contract.
A superfast gigabit tier with symmetrical gigabit per second speeds for $80 per month.

FTC, CPB Nominees

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals – 1) Terrell McSweeny to be Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission and 2) Lori Gilbert to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

McSweeny is Senior Counsel (Competition Policy) in the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, a position she has held since 2012. Prior to this role, Ms. McSweeny served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President at the White House from 2009 to 2012. In 2008, she served as the Issues Director for the Vice President on the Obama for America campaign. Previously, from 2005 to 2008, Ms. McSweeny worked in the Senate for Vice President Biden, serving as his Deputy Chief of Staff and as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She was an Associate in 2005 and Law Clerk from 2001 to 2003 with O’Melveny & Myers. From 2003 to 2004, she was the Deputy Director of Policy for Clark for President. In 2000, she served as Assistant to the National Spokesman on the Gore/Lieberman 2000 Campaign. She worked as a News Director with the Allegheny Mountain Radio Network from 1998 to 2000, and began her career as a Director of Development and Instructor with the High Rocks Education Corporation, where she worked from 1997 to 2000. Ms. McSweeny received an A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School.
Gilbert is the News Director for the Elko Broadcasting Company (KELK AM/KLKO FM). She is also the News Director of KENV Television in Elko, Nevada. Ms. Gilbert served on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2008 to 2012, where she was Chair of the Community Engagement and Diversity Committee in 2012 and Chair of the Public Awareness initiative from 2010 to 2011. From 1998 to 2010, Ms. Gilbert was an adjunct instructor of Journalism at Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Associated Press Television and Radio Association. In 2007, she was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

Lowell McAdam's Error In The NY Times

[Commentary] In a recent New York Times op-ed, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam claimed in "the European Union ... today only about 2 percent of households have access to broadband networks with 100-megabit-plus speeds." The actual figure is more than twenty times higher than that, according to a report by Point-Topic.

Fact-checkers may have also missed recent mistakes including a claim that European broadband providers are four times more profitable than their American peers and that U.S. entry level prices are among the lowest in the world. I've checked the profitability by several measures (% of sales, return on assets) and the U.S. and European carriers are similar. I've also surveyed the actual prices of low end services in the U.S. at the major carriers and they are typically $25-$52. You can get a complete triple play with much faster broadband in several European countries for that range and basic service for less.

Benton

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