1. Monthly archive
  2. November 2013

November 2013

Once Cable’s King, Malone Aims to Regain His Crown

John C. Malone made a fortune wiring American homes for cable television in the 1980s and 1990s. Known as the King of Cable, he sold TCI -- once the country’s largest cable operator -- to AT&T for $48 billion in 1999. Today, Malone, 72, is back on the prowl in the industry he helped create.

Now chairman of Liberty Media, he is working behind the scenes to gain control of Time Warner Cable, the country’s second-largest cable operator by subscribers, behind Comcast. Such a deal would thrust him back into the heart of the cable television world at a precarious time for the business. Overall pay television subscribers are declining as more people use services like Netflix and Hulu, content costs are soaring as cable and broadcast networks demand higher fees for their shows, and the profit centers at companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast are shifting from providing television to providing high-speed Internet access. (Nov 24)

Signs of Change in News Mission at Bloomberg

The growth of Bloomberg’s financial data terminal sales worldwide have softened over the last several years, and dropped significantly in the last year in mainland China, a vast untapped market.

Bloomberg News’s tough reporting last year about China prompted officials to cancel subscriptions for the lucrative terminals, frustrating the company’s Beijing sales staff. And anxious journalists are still dealing with the implications of a decision by top editors not to publish a hard-hitting article about a Chinese tycoon. Bloomberg employees asserted in published reports that Matthew Winkler, the editor in chief, had justified killing the piece, citing concerns that Bloomberg journalists would be expelled from China in retaliation. As Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York prepares to leave office and resume a more direct role in the company he founded, he rejoins an operation whose core business, after two decades of heady growth, has slowed, and whose news division has more than doubled since he left. Interviews with current and former employees show that the business and news operations exist in uneasy tension, and occasionally collide. Bloomberg suddenly faces newsroom layoffs, a shift in emphasis back to financial news and skepticism from the business side that investigative journalism might not be worth the potential problems it could create for terminal sales.

(Nov 24)

Washington’s overall take on data brokers muddled

Privacy advocates and trade groups are clashing over how to build consumer protections into the fast-growing data broker industry as they await the results of two long-running investigations that could shape Washington’s approach to the sector. Both the Federal Trade Commission and Senate Commerce Committee launched studies of data brokers last year, seeking information about how the firms operate and do business. The reviews, which are ongoing, have targeted companies including Acxiom, Experian and Datalogix, which collect information about people from sources online and offline and sell it to other businesses. Washington’s interest in data brokers reflects the role of consumer data as an increasingly valuable tool for sectors from advertising to e-commerce to politics. The companies often gather troves of data on consumers without their knowledge, and privacy advocates say the industry requires greater regulatory or legislative oversight.

(Nov 25)

White House Pic of the Day of Media Enrages Media

November 22’s White House "Photo of the Day" seems fairly innocuous at first glance. President Obama, in the Oval Office, is surrounded by eight photojournalists as he signs a bill into law. But that particular photo comes courtesy of the White House just one day after 38 news organizations and journalistic institutions, en masse, penned a letter of protest to Press Secretary Jay Carney, asking that the Obama Administration stop simply sending out their own photos and allow more access to photographers and videographers. Some journalists interpreted Nov 22's photo as the White House attempting to sweep the issue under the rug, while others figured it a subliminal "screw you."

(Nov 22)

Why the US needs a cyber doctrine

[Commentary] The situation in Syria and the actions of the Syrian Electronic Army provide a glimpse of how the future will unfold.

They raise new questions about how we will protect our interests when international norms are not keeping pace with the new cyber frontline. This should be an opportunity to start a debate on a doctrine for the cyber era, not just based on the activities of those who would do us harm, but based on what the US stands for and how we will protect our interests. It's time for the President and Congress to begin shaping a policy to guide our actions on the 21st Century playing field. Without such a doctrine, we can't protect our most critical assets – the innovative ideas of brilliant people. Without such a doctrine we cannot lead.

[Sample is Vice President of Special Programs Organization at Battelle Memorial Institute]

(Nov 22)

Immediate Opportunities for Strengthening the Nation's Cybersecurity

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report which concludes that the federal government needs to lead by example when it comes to cybersecurity best practices.

PCAST -- which includes Google’s Eric Schmidt, Microsoft’s Craig Mundie and leaders from the country’s science and technology-focused universities — said the government should follow best practices to prevent cyberattacks. “The Federal Government rarely follows accepted best practices,” the group wrote. “It needs to lead by example and accelerate its efforts to make routine cyberattacks more difficult by implementing best practices for its own systems.” These best practices include using software that updates automatically, adopting secure browsers and phasing out “unsupported and insecure operating systems, such as Windows XP.” The report also encourages regulatory agencies to encourage best practices for the industries they regulate. (Nov 22)

Inaugural Meeting of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group on Threats to and in the Use of Information and Communication Technologies

The United States and the Russian Federation held the inaugural bilateral meeting of the Working Group on Threats to and in the Use of ICTs in the Context of International Security, under the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission.

In June 2013, President Obama and President Putin agreed to establish the working group to enhance confidence between the United States and the Russian Federation. U.S. Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel and Russian Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Nikolay Klimashin chaired the meeting, and State Department Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter and Russian Special Coordinator for Political Affairs in the Use of ICTs Andrey Krutskikh served as the co-coordinators. This meeting of the working group addressed a broad range of issues of mutual interest on threats to and in the use of ICTs in the context of international security. A key component of the discussion concerned the implementation of the bilateral confidence building measures (CBMs) announced by Presidents Obama and Putin in June 2013. These bilateral CBMs are intended to promote transparency and enhance strategic stability by reducing tensions caused by threats to and in the use of ICTs. One CBM, for example, uses the Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in Washington and Moscow to facilitate reliable, real-time bilateral communication about malicious activity concerning threats to and in the use of ICTs. The participants discussed the implementation of the bilateral CBMs, and ways to promote regional CBMs in venues such as the OSCE and the ASEAN Regional Forum. In addition to the CBMs, the working group also addressed policy issues such as norms of state behavior, cooperation to combat crime in the use of ICTs, and defense issues resulting from the use of ICTs. The United States and the Russian Federation agreed to hold meetings of the Working Group on Threats to and in the Use of ICTs in the Context of International Security on a regular and scheduled basis.

Ofcom signals boost for UK mobile broadband

Mobile data capacity in Britain will grow more than 25 times by 2030 under plans by Ofcom to free spectrum to meet the growing demands for internet on the move.

The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets has raised fears that the UK’s mobile bandwidth will not be able to cope with the data demanded by applications such as video and social media. Ofcom has moved to free additional spectrum to meet this “capacity crunch”, but has identified two further bandwidths that could be used for mobile broadband. The government has begun assessing the possibility of reorganizing the 2.7GHz radar band to release up to 100MHz of spectrum for other uses, while additional spectrum in the 3.6GHz band used for satellite links is another potential area for mobile use. Mobile services should be able to share this band by coordinating with existing satellite users, Ofcom said. Freeing spectrum is among a number of proposals in a consultation to boost mobile capacity to meet the data demand.

(Nov 21)

European telecoms revenue fall accelerates

The European telecoms industry has seen an accelerated decline in revenues this year, putting at risk spending on crucial next generation network equipment by the largest operators. Telecom service revenue will decrease by close to 3 percent in 2013 among major European countries, according to Etno, the industry lobby group, reflecting a decline of €7.1 billion.

Across Europe as a whole Etno estimates that revenues will decrease by 3.7 percent in 2013, twice the decline in 2012. The European telecoms industry has been hit by a combination of sluggish economic conditions in mature mobile markets and a regulated fall in traditional revenues streams such as roaming charges. As a result, most companies have been forced to cut or suspend dividends in 2013 while they harbor cash to cover balance sheets carrying too much debt.

(Nov 25)

Washington Consumer Groups Question Comcast’s Reported Bid for Time Warner Cable

A report that Comcast is considering bidding for Time Warner Cable drew immediate concerns from consumer groups in Washington, who worry that a combined cable behemoth could raise prices to consumers, reduce their video choices and potentially eliminate the web as a competitor. The consumer groups suggested that such a deal would likely violate both antitrust and federal communications laws.

“Already you can’t launch a new channel without Comcast,” said Matt Wood, policy director for Free Press, a consumer group active in media consolidation fights. “This would give them so much more power.” Wood said a Comcast purchase would also reduce “the chance of effective competition” to cable from Internet video sources.

Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said a Comcast purchase would effectively create a cable “monopsony,” giving Comcast control not only over which cable channels are successful, but access to the web in parts of the nation. “They would have sufficient share that their buying practice could disrupt the market,” he said. A channel that couldn’t get on Comcast wouldn’t be able to survive. “This is a merger that raises fundamental Communications Act and Sherman Act issues,” he said referring to laws overseen by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, respectively. “There is no avoiding it.”

Both questioned whether a Comcast purchase would pass regulatory muster.

(Nov 22)

© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.