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October 2014

October 24, 2014 (Forbearance; Net Neutrality; Defining Broadband; Cable TV)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2014

A special FCC Enforcement meeting is on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-10-24/


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Meet ‘forbearance,’ the obscure governing tool that just might resolve the net neutrality debate - analysis
   Three House Dems, three proposals for network neutrality. Here’s what they look like. - analysis
   Chairman Leahy asks big Web companies to pledge against ‘fast lanes’
   Will Free Data Become the Next Free Shipping?
   Will The FCC Break The Internet? - Scott Cleland op-ed [links to web]
   Need for Speed on Internet Emerges as Comcast Deal Test
   Fighting to keep the Internet open and free - op-ed

OWNERSHIP
   Need for Speed on Internet Emerges as Comcast Deal Test
   The cable bundle may be weakening, but Comcast is poised to be stronger than ever - analysis
   TV Is Disrupting the Internet - op-ed
   Dish Blitzes FCC With Block Comcast/TWC Message [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Judge Won't Let Aereo Stream In Real Time, But Allows Remote DVR
   “Skinny Bundles” Are Supposed to Be Big for TV. But Comcast Says Sales Have Slowed.
   NBC Surprised as HBO, CBS Make Move to Online-Only Television [links to web]
   FCC Spectrum Valuations Intrigue Meredith [links to web]
   Series Is On, and Everybody’s Watching ... Football [links to web]

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Will Free Data Become the Next Free Shipping?
   Fine Tuning the Incentive Auction Rules for Competition - T-Mobile press release [links to web]
   FCC Spectrum Valuations Intrigue Meredith [links to web]
   Lured by Verizon into giving up cellphone privacy [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Google's Campaign Spending Is Exploding, But Is It All Going to Democrats? [links to web]

EDUCATION
   With no Internet at home, Miami-Dade kids crowd libraries for online homework
   Good Teaching Is Not About Playing It Safe - op-ed [links to web]

SENIORS
   Let grandmas teach you a thing or two -- about Facebook

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Snowden filmmaker Laura Poitras: ‘Facebook is a gift to intelligence agencies’ [links to web]
   Anti-surveillance tech coalition grows [links to web]
   Cybersecurity help coming for franchises [links to web]
   Senate Commerce Committee wants answers on Whisper app [links to web]
   Lured by Verizon into giving up cellphone privacy [links to web]

LABOR
   Magic Johnson can solve the high-tech diversity gap: Call him [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   Why We Need a New York Times in Every State - analysis [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   The New We the People Write API, and What It Means for You - press release [links to web]
   A Look Back at the White House Website 20 Years Ago - press release [links to web]

LOBBYING
   Shake-up at CTIA as two VPs depart [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   “Sky Is Rising” Entertainment Industry Economic Report Shows More Creative Output, Opportunities For Creators - Computer and Communications Industry Association press release [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FORBEARANCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
The network neutrality debate might soon be wrapping up, as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue a new round of rules. And as the FCC does so, it's exceptionally likely that we'll hear one word again and again: forbearance. It is worth taking a moment to understand exactly what that deceptively dull concept means and where it came from. For that, we turn to Harold Feld, a senior vice president at the advocacy group Public Knowledge (which supports strong net neutrality regulation). "Forbearance" means much the same in normal English as it does in telecommunications law -- to restrain oneself from doing something. In short, it might be key to resolving the net neutrality fight. And yet it is one of modern governing's most poorly-understood tools.
benton.org/headlines/meet-forbearance-obscure-governing-tool-just-might-resolve-net-neutrality-debate | Washington Post
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3 NETWORK NEUTRALITY PROPOSALS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) each have shared network neutrality proposals with the Federal Communications Commission; here’s a look at them:
Rep Eshoo is urging the FCC to oversee Internet providers using Title II of the Communications Act — a move that would give the commission more latitude to prevent the sort of traffic discrimination net neutrality advocates say would hurt the open Internet. The FCC could selectively apply only those parts of the law that deal with reasonable rates and unjust discrimination -- what are known as Sections 201 and 202. The rest of the law, she said, could be waived under a process known as "forbearance."
Rep Lofgren also called for a mix of Title II and forbearance -- while leaning on another part of the law that could help the FCC make a stronger case for forbearance. In striking down much of the FCC's original net neutrality rules this year, a federal court granted the agency a little more authority under what's called Section 706. Some advocates have been pushing for the FCC to rely primarily on its Section 706 authority to draft the new regulations, but consumer groups argue that won't be enough.
Rep Waxman’s proposal also relies on Title II, but advances an alternative that waives the very provisions of the law that Rep Eshoo says are the most important -- the language against "unjust discrimination." This may sound counterintuitive, but Rep Waxman appears to agree with industry officials' arguments that the phrase "unjust discrimination" actually could still allow Internet fast lanes -- if broadband providers can claim that the discrimination is a "just" and reasonable practice. He is proposing regulating broadband under Title II, but waiving Sections 201 and 202, along with much of the rest of Title II. Rather than actually regulating the Internet providers using Title II requirements, the FCC would draw up new requirements based on Section 706.
benton.org/headlines/three-house-dems-three-proposals-network-neutrality-heres-what-they-look | Washington Post
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CHAIRMAN LEAHY AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Four top Internet service providers are receiving letters from Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asking them to pledge not to create “fast lanes” on the Internet. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman is “gravely concerned” about the possibility that the Federal Communications Commission will allow companies to cut deals with websites so users have faster access to their sites. That would amount to a “fast lane” for them and “slow lanes” for everyone else, he warned. “If the Internet is to remain an open, accessible platform for the free flow of ideas, we need strong rules of the road in place to guarantee those protections,” he wrote. “We also need meaningful pledges from our nation’s broadband providers that they share the American public’s commitment to an Internet that remains open and equally accessible to all.”
benton.org/headlines/chairman-leahy-asks-big-web-companies-pledge-against-fast-lanes | Hill, The
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FIGHTING TO KEEP THE INTERNET OPEN AND FREE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Simon Rosenberg, Jonathan Spalter]
[Commentary] We offer the following agenda for the US government both at the International Telecommunications Union in Busan (South Korea) and going forward:
Defend the current multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance
Finish the ambitious Pacific and Atlantic trade agreements
Maintain a “light touch” when it comes to regulation
Encourage governments to keep taxes on Internet devices and services low
Ramp-up White House policy leadership
[Rosenberg is president of the think tank NDN; Spalter is chair of Mobile Future]
benton.org/headlines/fighting-keep-internet-open-and-free | Hill, The
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OWNERSHIP

DEFINING BROADBAND AND COMCAST-TWC
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields, David McLaughlin]
The question of what counts as high-speed Internet service is emerging as a sticking point in Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed a definition that would leave the company with as many as half of US broadband customers -- too much for some critics. Comcast wants to include homes with older, slower service, leaving its market share at little more than a third. The argument matters because opponents say the $45.2 billion merger would result in a company with so large a market share it could squelch competition. Under the faster standard, “the cable guys have a stone-cold monopoly,” said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America. “The merger becomes intolerable if you understand that.” Chairman Wheeler called for raising the bar for broadband to 25 megabits per second from the current level of 4 megabits per second -- a rate he said isn’t adequate for downloading a high-definition video. In August the FCC asked for public comments about increasing the standard. Comcast says the proper yardstick for broadband Internet includes slower speeds, under which its share of the online market would be 35.5 percent.
benton.org/headlines/need-speed-internet-emerges-comcast-deal-test | Bloomberg
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CABLE AND THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A curious thing happened to the cable television industry after HBO and CBS announced streaming services that deeply threaten the lucrative cable bundle: the companies’ stocks have been climbing higher. The great unbundling of the cable television package is closer in sight, but it’s far from the end of cable companies. The same companies that for decades have offered all-or-nothing TV plans with hundreds of channels will still sit at the center of the new online video economy for one simple reason: They control the Internet pipes. And for consumers, it’s not clear if they will actually end up with better and more affordable options if only a few companies control broadband access.
benton.org/headlines/cable-bundle-may-be-weakening-comcast-poised-be-stronger-ever | Washington Post | Vox
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TV IS DISRUPTING THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Michael Wolff]
[Commentary] The solipsism of the tech community sees the CBS and HBO migrations to stand-alone streaming services as a satisfying disruption of the TV business. But that's a striking inversion of what's actually happening: TV is disrupting the Internet. A funny thing happened during the Internet's seemingly epochal displacement of mainstream media. While digital media was becoming overwhelmingly ad-supported -- a mass-media model reminiscent of the three-network era -- television gained a subscription revenue stream. Paid television -- that is, cable subscriptions -- became the most powerful growth driver in the media world, producing a new kind of high-value, culture-shaping programming. Meanwhile, digital media, from Yahoo to BuzzFeed to the websites and apps of magazines and newspapers -- and including even Google and Facebook -- found itself overwhelmingly reliant on advertising income.
benton.org/headlines/tv-disrupting-internet | Hollywood Reporter
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TELEVISION

AEREO RULING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
US District Court Judge Alison Nathan barred Aereo from streaming over-the-air TV shows in real time to subscribers' smartphones and tablets, but cleared the way for the company to resume offering its remote DVR service. The order marks the latest turn in a two-year battle over the online service. Judge Nathan ruled that the Supreme Court ruling didn't transform Aereo into a cable company -- even though the court said the company resembles one. “The Supreme Court ... did not imply, much less hold, that simply because an entity performs publicly in much the same way as a CA V system, it is necessarily a cable system,” she wrote. But she declined to block Aereo's DVR service. Instead, she issued the broadcasters the narrower order they requested in 2012, when the case first appeared in court. “Plaintiffs will be held to their earlier decision, strategic or otherwise, to seek a preliminary injunction limited in scope to enjoining retransmission of their copyrighted works while the works are still being broadcast,” she wrote.
benton.org/headlines/judge-wont-let-aereo-stream-real-time-allows-remote-dvr | MediaPost | Hollywood Reporter | ars technica | B&C | GigaOm | The Wrap
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SKINNY BUNDLES
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
Many people think that “skinny bundles” -- pay-TV packages that include Internet access and a relatively small number of TV channels -- are going to be a big part of TV’s future. But that prediction got a little cloudier when Comcast told Wall Street that sales of its skinny bundles have declined in the last year. It’s hard to tell if that’s significant or not, but it’s one of the few times pay-TV operators have offered any kind of performance updates on these packages, period.
benton.org/headlines/skinny-bundles-are-supposed-be-big-tv-comcast-says-sales-have-slowed | Revere Digital
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

FREE DATA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ryan Knutson]
Rising cellphone costs mean companies trying to deliver products or services to mobile devices face an extra hurdle: Not only do they have to sell potential users on the idea, they also have to convince them it’s worth the hit to their data plans. The telecom industry is counting on rising data use to keep its sales growing, but consumers are keeping a close eye on their usage for fear of triggering even higher bills. The approach is also being monitored by regulators, who worry the practice could give traffic sent by big companies that can afford to cover the data cost an unfair advantage. A new service launching this week called Freeway allows users of AT&T smartphones to access a number of sites data free.
benton.org/headlines/will-free-data-become-next-free-shipping | Wall Street Journal
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EDUCATION

INTERNET ACCESS IN LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: Miami Herald, AUTHOR: Douglas Hanks]
Long waits for a computer offer a flip side to the current debate over how best to reinvent Miami-Dade’s libraries. That discussion has largely focused on how to attract people with no current interest in libraries -- entrepreneurs who need office space, twenty-somethings who might like a Starbucks near the checkout counter, and 3-D printers for the “maker” movement of techie do-it-yourselfers. Yet for families without access to online homework, libraries are already the place to be on school nights. It’s just the lack of computers that has them complaining.
benton.org/headlines/no-internet-home-miami-dade-kids-crowd-libraries-online-homework | Miami Herald
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SENIORS

SENIORS AND FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jessica Contrera]
Grandmas, it seems, have taken to Facebook. And although the site is phasing out of popularity among young people, seniors are fully embracing it. Since 2000, the number of adults 65 and older who use the Internet has increased from 14 percent to 59 percent. And in that group, nearly half use a social networking site such as Facebook. “As you get older, you become socially isolated, especially when your family lives far away. So an opportunity to get online and see what their grandkids are up to this weekend? That really appeals to them” says Saffron Cassaday, the director of “Cyber Seniors,” a 2014 documentary about teenagers teaching residents of retirement homes to use the Internet. In a way, it’s easy to see how Facebook could have been made to please grandparents. It gives them a chance to be involved in their family members’ lives even from afar. That’s why retirement centers and senior-supportive charities across the country have been pushing social media use. It’s like the new bingo night.
benton.org/headlines/let-grandmas-teach-you-thing-or-two-about-facebook | Washington Post
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Judge Won't Let Aereo Stream In Real Time, But Allows Remote DVR

US District Court Judge Alison Nathan barred Aereo from streaming over-the-air TV shows in real time to subscribers' smartphones and tablets, but cleared the way for the company to resume offering its remote DVR service. The order marks the latest turn in a two-year battle over the online service.

Judge Nathan ruled that the Supreme Court ruling didn't transform Aereo into a cable company -- even though the court said the company resembles one. “The Supreme Court ... did not imply, much less hold, that simply because an entity performs publicly in much the same way as a CA V system, it is necessarily a cable system,” she wrote. But she declined to block Aereo's DVR service. Instead, she issued the broadcasters the narrower order they requested in 2012, when the case first appeared in court. “Plaintiffs will be held to their earlier decision, strategic or otherwise, to seek a preliminary injunction limited in scope to enjoining retransmission of their copyrighted works while the works are still being broadcast,” she wrote.

Need for Speed on Internet Emerges as Comcast Deal Test

The question of what counts as high-speed Internet service is emerging as a sticking point in Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed a definition that would leave the company with as many as half of US broadband customers -- too much for some critics. Comcast wants to include homes with older, slower service, leaving its market share at little more than a third.

The argument matters because opponents say the $45.2 billion merger would result in a company with so large a market share it could squelch competition. Under the faster standard, “the cable guys have a stone-cold monopoly,” said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America. “The merger becomes intolerable if you understand that.”

Chairman Wheeler called for raising the bar for broadband to 25 megabits per second from the current level of 4 megabits per second -- a rate he said isn’t adequate for downloading a high-definition video. In August the FCC asked for public comments about increasing the standard. Comcast says the proper yardstick for broadband Internet includes slower speeds, under which its share of the online market would be 35.5 percent.

Will Free Data Become the Next Free Shipping?

Rising cellphone costs mean companies trying to deliver products or services to mobile devices face an extra hurdle: Not only do they have to sell potential users on the idea, they also have to convince them it’s worth the hit to their data plans.

The telecom industry is counting on rising data use to keep its sales growing, but consumers are keeping a close eye on their usage for fear of triggering even higher bills. The approach is also being monitored by regulators, who worry the practice could give traffic sent by big companies that can afford to cover the data cost an unfair advantage.

A new service launching this week called Freeway allows users of AT&T smartphones to access a number of sites data free.

Let grandmas teach you a thing or two -- about Facebook

Grandmas, it seems, have taken to Facebook. And although the site is phasing out of popularity among young people, seniors are fully embracing it.

Since 2000, the number of adults 65 and older who use the Internet has increased from 14 percent to 59 percent. And in that group, nearly half use a social networking site such as Facebook. “As you get older, you become socially isolated, especially when your family lives far away. So an opportunity to get online and see what their grandkids are up to this weekend? That really appeals to them” says Saffron Cassaday, the director of “Cyber Seniors,” a 2014 documentary about teenagers teaching residents of retirement homes to use the Internet.

In a way, it’s easy to see how Facebook could have been made to please grandparents. It gives them a chance to be involved in their family members’ lives even from afar. That’s why retirement centers and senior-supportive charities across the country have been pushing social media use. It’s like the new bingo night.

Lured by Verizon into giving up cellphone privacy

Call it a points-for-privacy swap -- yet another sneaky ploy by a large company to get customers to divulge personal information or, worse, to open the floodgates to marketers. Verizon Selects members have their online browsing, apps and physical location scrutinized by the company so it can group them with other customers that "a marketer is trying to reach." The program is "designed to help marketers reach audiences more efficiently, especially in the mobile space."

Shake-up at CTIA as two VPs depart

There has been a shake-up at CTIA-The Wireless Association, with at least two longtime staffers heading for the exits. Chris Guttman-McCabe, an executive vice president, and John Walls, vice president of public affairs, are moving on from the group, according to an email sent to the group's staff by CTIA’s chief executive, Meredith Attwell Baker. Guttman-McCabe and Walls had each been with CTIA for more than a decade.

A Look Back at the White House Website 20 Years Ago

The first White House website went live under the Clinton administration 20 years ago in 1994, the same year we were born. As interns in the White House Office of Digital Strategy and children of the 90s, we grew up alongside the several updated versions of the White House website. In a way, we’ve shared our awkward teenage years with the site -- including our transition from clip art to emoji, VHS to YouTube videos, and full sentences to 140 characters. While a lot has changed with the website since 1994, one thing hasn’t: our commitment to create meaningful ways for Americans to engage and connect with the White House.

Series Is On, and Everybody’s Watching ... Football

The first game of the 2014 World Series drew just 12.2 million viewers to Fox, making it the lowest-rated Game 1 on record. Game 2 fared somewhat better, with 12.9 million people tuning in. More people watched “NCIS: New Orleans” and “The Big Bang Theory,” and -- for that matter -- “The Walking Dead,” the cable show about zombies. The audience for “Sunday Night Football,” a regular season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, was almost twice that of Games 1 or 2. Even a college football matchup -- Florida State University versus Notre Dame -- drew more viewers than either World Series game.

The low ratings highlight a number of trends in the sports and media industries. Above all, perhaps, is the rise of the NFL in the era of 24-hour sports television, and the growing popularity of football fantasy leagues and video games. On a more basic level, potential World Series viewers simply have more options than ever before, both in their ever-expanding cable packages and via online streaming services like Netflix. These numbers, provided by the Nielsen company, also reflect the fact that baseball is becoming an increasingly local sport. Unlike the NFL and the NBA, it derives a vast majority of its revenues not from nationally televised games, but rather from those shown on regional sports networks such as the YES Network in New York and Boston-based NESN.

The modest viewership thus far is partly a function of the matchup: the San Francisco Giants versus the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have one of the smallest TV markets in all of Major League Baseball. They are also pretty much devoid of boldface names, which may give the team added cachet among devotees but limits their appeal among casual fans.

Three House Dems, three proposals for network neutrality. Here’s what they look like.

Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) each have shared network neutrality proposals with the Federal Communications Commission; here’s a look at them:

  • Rep Eshoo is urging the FCC to oversee Internet providers using Title II of the Communications Act — a move that would give the commission more latitude to prevent the sort of traffic discrimination net neutrality advocates say would hurt the open Internet. The FCC could selectively apply only those parts of the law that deal with reasonable rates and unjust discrimination -- what are known as Sections 201 and 202. The rest of the law, she said, could be waived under a process known as "forbearance."
  • Rep Lofgren also called for a mix of Title II and forbearance -- while leaning on another part of the law that could help the FCC make a stronger case for forbearance. In striking down much of the FCC's original net neutrality rules this year, a federal court granted the agency a little more authority under what's called Section 706. Some advocates have been pushing for the FCC to rely primarily on its Section 706 authority to draft the new regulations, but consumer groups argue that won't be enough.
  • Rep Waxman’s proposal also relies on Title II, but advances an alternative that waives the very provisions of the law that Rep Eshoo says are the most important -- the language against "unjust discrimination." This may sound counterintuitive, but Rep Waxman appears to agree with industry officials' arguments that the phrase "unjust discrimination" actually could still allow Internet fast lanes -- if broadband providers can claim that the discrimination is a "just" and reasonable practice. He is proposing regulating broadband under Title II, but waiving Sections 201 and 202, along with much of the rest of Title II. Rather than actually regulating the Internet providers using Title II requirements, the FCC would draw up new requirements based on Section 706.

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