February 2014

Time Warner Cable Issuing Credits for L.A. Customers Affected by Super Bowl Blackout

Time Warner Cable is issuing a "gift of appreciation" for all Los Angeles-area customers following a technical glitch that affected the local Fox feed, causing some to be unable to watch the Super Bowl for up to an hour.

Time Warner Cable senior VP of Operations Deborah Picciolo expressed the company's "sincere apologies" to its affected customers. To remedy the situation, Picciolo said that digital TV customers would be given credit for the cost of an On Demand movie once purchased, while analog customers would receive a $5 gift card. No customer action would be required. "We didn't live up to our standards for a quality customer experience," Picciolo said. "We know there's no way to undo the inconvenience of last night's outage, and we want them to know how truly sorry we are for this issue." The unexpected blackout came at approximately 4:45 p.m. PT/7:45 p.m. ET during a commercial break in the second quarter of the Seattle Seahawks-Denver Broncos matchup, just before halftime. The issue was not resolved until more than an hour later, at approximately 5:56 p.m. PT/8:56 p.m. ET, when the game was in the middle of the third quarter.

FCC May Crack Down on Multiple-TV Station Strategies

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is considering restrictions on television station owners controlling more than one property in a market, a strategy that’s helped fuel an $11 billion station buying spree.

Chairman Wheeler has discussed the idea with staff members without offering a formal proposal, according to two people familiar with his thinking. It’s not clear how his change, which would need approval by a commission majority, would affect pending deals or existing combinations. Chairman Wheeler has said he wanted to re-examine arrangements in which a station owner has marketing or shared-content arrangements with others in the same city -- a situation Sinclair Broadcasting wants to create in three additional markets as part of a proposed deal. The FCC limits how many TV stations one company can hold in a market to help preserve a diversity of voices.

Facebook's next decade: 4 things the network should do

[Commentary] What Facebook must do to stay on top in the next decade.

Focus on mobile -- The future for Facebook will be primarily about mobile, says Jeremy Liew, a partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners and investor in Snapchat and Whisper.
Diversify -- Facebook could consider expanding into e-commerce by providing back-end services for businesses, or selling goods, whether physical or digital, says Brian Blau, research director in consumer technologies for Gartner, a technology research firm.
Satisfy marketers -- With its vast reach and specialized data on people's preferences, Facebook has the potential to redefine how companies target and market to customers on the Web. That hasn't happened yet.
Privacy concerns -- The demands of satisfying both marketers and users may be at odds with each other. "Because of Facebook's business model, people share information with their friends and Facebook then makes that information available to advertisers. But that's a problem form a privacy perspective," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Congress shouldn't carry water for pay-TV

[Commentary] 2013 ended with hundreds of deals between television broadcasters and pay-TV providers successfully negotiated. No blackouts, no drama. A respected industry watcher recently remarked that, “TV blackouts are in a quiet period.” So, why is Congress proposing legislation to put the federal government in the middle of market-driven disputes?

The reason is stiffening competition in the video marketplace. Verizon, AT&T, and Google are now offering cable service, and Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu are offering award-winning original series online. The news that Amazon is considering adding live TV to its online video offering indicates this space is going to become even more competitive over the next few years. Pay-TV providers are feeling the squeeze from the increased competition and are pushing Congress to regulate their rivals. That’s why a group of pay-TV providers is lobbying for government-mandated prices for television programming distribution rights. Reps Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) each introduced bills on the same day in January 2014 to give pay-TV providers special treatment when negotiating rights to resell broadcast programming to cable customers (rights known as “retransmission consent”). But it is no coincidence that, though each bill is styled as an effort to reform the video marketplace, they would regulate only local TV stations. The real purpose of these bills is to help Pay-TV providers maximize their profits by shifting a portion of their programming costs to broadcasters. Pay-TV providers want to have it both ways. They want the ability to blackout channels they don’t think they need while asking Congress to prevent broadcasters from withholding their programming when video providers refuse to pay. Enhancing the power of pay-TV providers over programming in this way might improve their bottom line, but it wouldn’t benefit consumers. Congress should just say no.

[Fred Campbell is executive director of the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology and former chief of the FCC’s Wireless Bureau]

Sen Heller Introduces FCC Process Reform Bill

Sen Dean Heller (R-NV) has introduced Federal Communications Commission process reform legislation similar to a bill that passed in the House in early 2014.

Sen Heller's just-introduced Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2014 would:

Require the Commission to survey the state of the marketplace through a Notice of Inquiry before initiating new rulemakings to ensure the Commission has an up-to-date understanding of the rapidly evolving and job-creating telecommunications marketplace.
Require the Commission to identify a market failure, consumer harm or regulatory barrier to investment before adopting economically significant rules. After identifying such an issue, the Commission must demonstrate that the benefits of regulation outweigh the costs while taking into account the need for regulation to impose the least burden on society.
Require the Commission to establish performance measures for all program activities so that when the Commission spends hundreds of millions of federal or consumer dollars, Congress and the public have a straightforward means of seeing what bang we’re getting for our buck.
Apply to the Commission, an independent agency, the regulatory reform principles that President Barack Obama endorsed in his January 2011 Executive Order.
Prevent regulatory overreach by requiring any conditions imposed on transactions to be within the Commission’s existing authority and be tailored to transaction-specific harms.

USDA Investments to Expand Distance Learning and Telemedicine Opportunities in Rural Areas

The Obama Administration is investing in rural telecommunications equipment to help expand access to education, create jobs and improve health care in 25 states. The announcement of nearly $16 million in USDA grants for distance learning and telemedicine services helps to support President Barack Obama's ConnectED initiative.

The investments are being provided through USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant program. It provides funding to rural hospitals, clinics, schools and libraries for equipment and technical assistance for telemedicine and distance learning. Grant recipients must demonstrate that they serve rural America, prove there is an economic need and provide at least 15 percent in matching funds.

AT&T Won’t Pay T-Mobile Subscribers to Switch Anymore

AT&T has ended a promotion to pay T-Mobile customers up to $450 to switch services, stopping the payout offer after less than a month.

The carriers have been sniping at each other in the wake of a relentless campaign by T-Mobile targeted its larger rival’s customers, a move that has prompted countermeasures from AT&T such as newspaper ads targeting what it criticized as the inadequate size and speed of the T-Mobile network. The AT&T payoff offer premiered in early January, just prior to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where T-Mobile was expected to -- and did -- unveil a similar offer. AT&T spokesman Brad Burns said the promotion ended Jan. 31, highlighting that the company had said it would be for a limited time. Outspoken T-Mobile CEO John Legere had called the original move “desperate” and was quick to criticize the end of the offer on Twitter.

Microsoft Names Satya Nadella as CEO

Microsoft has named company veteran Satya Nadella as its next chief executive, an appointment that comes as the software giant faces competition across all fronts of its business. The company also said founder Bill Gates, who previously was chairman, moves to a new role on the board as technology adviser and will devote more time to the company, supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction.

John Thompson, who was formerly the lead director, will become chairman. Nadella's naming to the post, effective immediately, makes him the third CEO since the company was founded in 1975. He succeeds Steve Ballmer, who in August announced his plans to retire. Mr. Ballmer was originally handed the reins in 2000 when founder and college friend Bill Gates stepped aside after 25 years. The appointment of Nadella, who is 46 years old and leads the Microsoft division that makes technology to run corporate computer servers and other back-end technology, will be considered a safe choice. He has signaled a desire for continuity, telling directors that, as CEO, he hopes to lean on Gates, according to several people familiar with the matter. Little in Nadella's public history at Microsoft suggests he will break from the company's pattern as a fast follower, rather than a trend setter.

Reps Eshoo, Pallone compete for Rep Waxman's job

Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) are squaring off to replace retiring Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) as the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee. Rep John Dingell (D-MI), the longest-serving member of Congress, might also jump in the race.

In separate statements, Reps Eshoo and Pallone said they have consulted with other Democratic lawmakers to seek the post on one of the House’s most powerful panels. The announcements set off an intriguing race between the two candidates, who will be vying for the support of their fellow Democrats. Decisions on ranking members and chairmen of panels are made by each party after the elections. Rep Pallone, who is in his 13th term in the House, has seniority on the panel over Rep Eshoo. But Rep Eshoo is a fellow member of Rep Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s California delegation -- the largest in the House -- and is a close ally of the minority leader. Rep Pallone has served as either chairman or ranking member of three of the committee’s six subcommittees and is currently the top Democrat on the Health subpanel, a position from which he helped to engineer the Democrats’ 2010 healthcare reform law. Rep Eshoo was first elected to the House in 1992 and is now the top Democrat on the Communications and Technology subcommittee. Her Silicon Valley district is a few miles from Rep Pelosi’s.

Klayman asks Supreme Court to hear NSA case

The conservative legal activist who won the first court ruling questioning the legality of the National Security Agency's massive phone-call tracking database is asking the Supreme Court to short circuit the normal appeals process and take up the case directly.

Attorney Larry Klayman said he sent the unusual petition to the high court. "We went to the Supreme Court because, unlike the government, we're not dragging our feet. We want a quick decision here," Klayman said. The filing, known as a petition for writ of certiorari before judgment, is granted exceedingly rarely by the court. Usually, the justices prefer for cases to have full appellate review and in many cases review by appeals courts from more than one circuit.

Benton

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