April 2014

Comcast the little guy? There’s competition everywhere, the company argues.

Comcast says it has loads of competition -- everyone from Facebook to Apple, which Comcast says is contemplating a television set-top box to compete with cable service.

Plus, Netflix and Amazon are already giants in online video, which also keeps the company on its toes, Comcast said in a regulatory filing for its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.

"The difference between all those competitors and us is they have global and national scale,” said Comcast executive vice president David Cohen. That scale allows companies like Netflix and Apple to sell their products globally and invest in research, development and new technology. Comcast needs the merger with Time Warner to reach that level, he argued. But defining its competition in the broadband Internet industry may be harder for Comcast to do, some public interest groups and technology experts say.

And those definitions may be the crux of federal reviews into the company's $45 billion bid to become a national broadband business.

Court Upholds FTC's Power To Sue Hacked Companies

The Federal Trade Commission has the power to sue companies that fail to protect their customers' data, a federal court in New Jersey said.

The ruling shoots down a challenge from Wyndham Hotels, which argued that the FTC overstepped its authority with a 2012 lawsuit against the global hotel chain. The decision by US District Court Judge Esther Salas is a major win for the agency. If the court had sided with Wyndham, it would have stripped the federal government of oversight of data security practices just as hackers begin to pull off more and more high-profile attacks.

Judge Salas said her decision "does not give the FTC a blank check to sustain a lawsuit against every business that has been hacked," but that she must follow the "binding and persuasive precedent" to uphold the agency's authority. The FTC is currently investigating Target over the massive hack that exposed information on 40 million credit cards.

AT&T HBO Bundle Targets Potential Cord Cutters for $40 per Month

There is an ongoing debate about the true impact of video cord cutting. One side of the argument says consumers are actively cutting the cord to save money or because they consume video differently than the traditional ‘smorgasbord’ channel line-up model.

The counter argument points to the data and says cord cutting is simply not a major concern. The debate is not stopping service providers from experimenting though, with AT&T’s latest broadband and HBO bundle as an example.

AT&T is offering a bundle of 18 Mbps broadband, a very limited local channel line-up, and a HBO subscription, which almost looks like an HBO a la carte option. The bundle is priced at $40 per month and includes Wi-Fi service (in and out of the home) as well as U-verse DVR service. AT&T is also highlighting the TV Everywhere aspect of the offer, which allows subscribers to watch the HBO GO app on the go.

Subscribers can opt for a faster 45 Mbps broadband tier and add HD capacity for additional monthly fees. With this option, AT&T hopes to attract broadband subscribers who are not interested in full blown channel line-ups, but do want HBO and a DVR. Subscribers can then augment their content choices with over-the-top (OTT) options from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and others. AT&T gets to place a set-top box (STB) in the home and entice these subscribers to use their VOD and other revenue generating services, perhaps as an alternative to Netflix.

The promotion expires July 5, 2014.

NBC To Launch TV Everywhere In June

NBCUniversal plans to launch its TV Everywhere app in June, rolling out first with the NBC Owned Stations followed by the affiliates in the fall.

At a closed-door meeting with more than 100 affiliates Monday at the National Assocation of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, NBC showcased its plan to launch its TV Everywhere app, which has not yet been named, and how affiliates can participate in the initiative, sources say.

Researchers teach smartphones to recognize your activity, lock out everyone else

Swipe patterns, passwords and fingerprint scanners are useful for keeping that mobile device locked down from the outside, but what happens once that code is cracked?

Well, cybersecurity researchers at Georgia Tech have developed LatentGesture that continuously monitors gadgets for intruders based on taps and swipes. If the system detects any use patterns that vary from the observed user profiles, it locks the device down.

"The system learns a person's 'touch signature,' then constantly compares it to how the current user is interacting with the device," said College of Computing assistant professor Polo Chau.

Microsoft shows off next-gen Windows for connected cars

Microsoft is moving Windows to the car, again. Microsoft has been in the automotive space for a very very long time -- probably more than 15 years, according to Steve Teixeira, who works in the developer division at Microsoft.

A good chunk of cars on the road run either Windows CE or Windows Automotive, including BMW, Fiat, Ford, Kia, and Nissan. Now, Microsoft is prepping yet another version, Teixeira revealed at the Build event. The company has already tested its new version of Windows for the car, both in simulators that model eye-tracking, as well as in actual cars in a local Seattle raceway.

FCC: Not Talking About Auction Is Fine

The Federal Communications Commission won’t retaliate against broadcasters who refuse to participate in a planned agency outreach effort intended to educate broadcasters about why they might want to participate in the agency’s incentive auctions, a top agency official said.

“If someone from the FCC calls ... and you’re not interested and you don’t want to talk, ‘No thank you,’ is fine, and there will be absolutely no penalty,” said Howard Symons, vice chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force.

Some broadcasters have raised concerns about the appropriateness of the planned agency outreach because the FCC licenses broadcasters and reviews station transactions. But Symons told broadcasters during the National Association of Broadcasters session that the FCC takes “very, very, very seriously” the statutory directive that auction participation be voluntary.

“I don’t think we can be passive as an agency and make this auction work,” Symons said. “But that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to take the meeting, that you’ve got to be interested,” Symons continued. “That’s not what voluntary means.”

Mobile TV Needs Strong Broadcaster Backing

With growing consumer demand for video on smartphones and tablets, broadcasters need to take charge in making mobile TV a robust business, even if other players like manufacturers are hedging, industry leaders say.

“Mobile TV is really in the hands of the broadcast industry,” Salil Dalvi, an NBCUniversal Digital Distribution SVP, said during a panel discussion on mobile TV at the National Association of Broadcasters Show. “TV stations have a lot of power to both light up for mobile as well as create awareness and bring people to the table.”

Dalvi said that was proven during the 2013 holiday season when Dyle, a mobile TV product backed by broadcast groups including NBCU, tested its viability in 12 markets across the country. That test run showed that consumers like the idea of mobile TV, with 15% of Dyle mobile TV consumers watching at least two hours of TV a week on their smartphones or tablets, he said.

TV ads were instrumental in building demand for Dyle, he said. “We went from zero awareness to significant awareness,” he said. But mobile TV won’t thrive if broadcasters don’t push it rather than wait for other segments of the industry, such as electronics manufacturers, to take the lead, he said.

Meantime, indicators point to growing consumer interest in mobile TV, said Jamie Spencer, a Magid Associates VP. He said research shows that “smartphones and tablets are becoming full-blown TVs.” About 44% of Smartphone owners and 61% of table owners currently watch video on their devices -- and local broadcasters have opportunity to capitalize on that interest, Spencer said. Nearly 40% of consumers who don’t watch local TV news said they would be more likely to do so if it were available on mobile, he said.

Comcast, Netflix, and the unregulated interconnection market

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission confirmed that it will not expand the scope of the ongoing network neutrality proceeding to encompass peering and transit services.

This was a blow to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who launched a blistering attack designed to focus the agency’s attention on this market. But given the robust state of competition in the interconnection market, the FCC’s response was good news for the future of the Internet ecosystem.

Despite Hastings’ hand-wringing, the Comcast-Netflix agreement illustrates the robust competitiveness of the interconnection market. The fact that Netflix pays Cogent transit fees is uncontroversial. The Netflix-Comcast agreement should be no less controversial merely because the identity of the transit provider has changed, or because the transit provider also happens to manage a last-mile broadband network.

The FCC is absolutely right that the market for interconnection is robust and competitive, meaning there is no reason to justify regulatory intervention. Its regulatory humility is both refreshing and promising for the future of Internet policy.

[Lyons is associate professor at Boston College Law School]

EU court cites “constant surveillance,” strikes down data collection law

Europe’s highest court declared that a directive requiring phone and Internet companies to retain data for up to two years violated citizens’ fundamental rights to privacy and to control personal data.

The ruling by the European Court of Justice means national governments will have to rewrite data collection laws that the EU requested after terrorist bombings in London and Madrid in 2006. While noting that authorities had a genuine national interest in collecting the data, the court said the current rules exceed what is needed to fight crime, and leave citizens “feeling that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance.” The decision also complains that the law does not require data collected from phone and Internet companies to remain in the EU -- an apparent acknowledgment about ongoing concern over European countries sharing data with US intelligence services.

Benton

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