October 2014

First Responders Left in the Dark on Public Safety Network

[Commentary] Since 9/11, the ability of public safety officials to communicate across jurisdictions during emergencies has been tested several times by events like Hurricane Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Washington Navy Yard shooting. Public safety needs a strong wireless broadband network to respond to these complicated, fast-moving events. But it will take involvement from all parties -- public and private, state and local -- in order to succeed. For that to happen, FirstNet needs good leadership. That didn’t happen during its critical early stages. But with any luck, FirstNet has learned from the mistakes its early leadership made because it can’t afford to fail again.

Native Americans add to Redskins file at FCC

Three more petitions -- from people involved with a Native American radio program -- have been filed at the Federal Communications against a radio station owned by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder for the use of the team’s name on air.

George Washington University Professor John Banzhaf, who filed the original petition on the issue, said that the addition of three Native American petitioners gives the case more standing because it shows that they have been affected by the use of the nickname. In an affidavit sent to the FCC, radio host and petitioner Jay Winter Nightwolf states that he has “witnessed harm to myself and/or to other Native Americans which I believe was caused by the frequent repetitive use of the word “R*dskins” on the air.” Nightwolf hosts a show called “The American Indian’s Truths -- Nightwolf” on WPFW-FM. The two other petitioners -- Louis Ramon Grimaldi and Verona Iriarte -- are producers of the show.

AT&T Gigabit Markets to Include Chicago and Atlanta

AT&T said that it will bring its GigaPower gigabit broadband offering to Chicago, Atlanta and three other Georgia markets, including Decatur, Newnan, and Sandy Spring.

Sprint Offers $360 Credit for Gullible Existing Customers

Sprint announced a new “loyalty service credit” for existing customers who want to keep their rate plans and still get new iPhones. The credit applies to those who opt for a relatively new option that allows customers to lease an iPhone 6 for two years. With the “loyalty service credit,” existing customers can lease an iPhone 6 for $5 per month, rather than $20 per month. Great offer, right? Not exactly. The problem is, for most existing customers, that’s actually no deal at all. They would be better off paying $20 per month for the leased iPhone and taking advantage of Sprint’s $50 per month iPhone plan, which includes unlimited data, talk and texting.

The Right Way to Fix the Internet

Mung Chiang, a professor of electrical engineering at Princeton, believed he could give wireless customers more control. Chiang’s plan called for the wireless industry to offer its customers the same types of variable pricing that have brought new efficiencies to transportation and utilities.

Rates increase during peak periods, when congestion is at its worst; they decrease during slack periods. In the pre-smartphone era, it would have been impossible to advise users ahead of time about a zig or zag in their connectivity charges. Now, it would be straightforward to vary the price of online access depending on congestion and build an app that let bargain hunters shift their activities to cheaper periods, even on a minute-by-minute basis. When prices were high, consumers could put off non-urgent tasks like downloading Facebook posts to read later. Careful users could save a lot of money. But politics got in the way. A huge debate has erupted about the degree to which Internet carriers should be subject to a concept known as net neutrality.

Finally, Some Actual Netflix Viewer Data

According to ComScore…

If you subscribe to a video service, you're more likely to time-shift.
Of those surveyed, 32 percent subscribed to Netflix. Among millennials, it was closer to 50 percent.
Forty-four percent of Netflix users watch through a bridge device like a Chromecast.
If you have kids, you're more likely to have a Netflix subscription.

TV Still The King Of The Screens: comScore

The television set continues to be the most-used screen for watching original TV series, but time spent watching TV on mobile and connected devices continues to grab share, particularly among consumers in the tech-savvy Millennials (18-34 year-olds) group, comScore found in a new video viewership study.

The study – The U.S. Total Video Report, which tabulated results from 1,159 respondents in August – found that Millennials spend about one-third of their original TV series consumption time watching on digital platforms. Boiled down by category, 66% of that time watching TV among Millennials was done on a traditional television, versus 19% of that time on desktops and laptops, 6% on smartphones, and 6% on tablets. According to the study, about 84% for consumers in the 35-54 year-old age group spent their time watching scripted TV shows on the traditional television, rising to 90% among consumers who are 55 years or older.

Bright House Takes Advantage Of Netflix/TWC Agreement

Bright House Networks is taking advantage of a paid interconnection agreement between Time Warner Cable and Netflix that is boosting the quality of Netflix streams delivered to consumers over Bright House's network.

According to Netflix, the company has not inked a direct deal with Bright House Networks, but noted that Bright House is benefiting from the interconnection deal originally signed between Netflix and Time Warner Cable. This story originally said that Bright House and Netflix had inked a separate paid interconnection agreement. The results of that work were clearly apparent following the release of Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for the month of September. Among the 16 major U.S. ISPs tracked by Netflix, Bright House jumped five spots in September to number four overall -- delivering an average Netflix stream of 2.99 Mbps for the month, versus 2.58 Mbps in August.

What Nobel to Tirole means for FCC net neutrality rulemaking: Heed the wisdom and experience of two-sided markets

[Commentary] The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Frenchman Jean Tirole “for his analysis of market power and regulation.”

In their explanation of the award, the Nobel Committee observed, “no other scholar has done more to enhance our understanding of industrial organizations in general, and of optimal policy interventions in particular.” Tirole’s work is important mostly for the ways it helps us understand platform firms and markets, not because it can give precise answers to firms or regulators. This Nobel Prize to Jean Tirole is a timely reminder to the Federal Communications Commission to avoid the danger of regulatory capture. The FCC should look at the evidence and keep in mind the robust academic literature which can help it understand that an open Internet is something that happens on its own, not through regulation.

Media coverage of the 2016 presidential race heats up

Hillary Clinton (D) and Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) have received more media coverage than other potential presidential candidates, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of top US newspapers.

A search of 15 of the top papers in LexisNexis found that from Jan. 1-Sept. 27, 2014, Gov Christie and Clinton were each the subject of 82 campaign stories linking them to a possible White House run. In 2013, Clinton also topped our list, with 66 stories. Amid recent speculation that Mitt Romney (R) was considering a possible third run at the executive office, the former Massachusetts governor comes in third with 74 campaign stories. Following Romney is Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) (68), Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) (67) and former-Gov Jeb Bush (R-FL) (53). Overall, more stories have talked about potential GOP candidates (202) than Democratic ones (115).

Benton

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