April 2015

It has been the worst year in recent memory for cable networks, with MSNBC, the History channel, Bravo, BET, USA Network and Comedy Central all seeing double-digit declines in audience in 2015. In March, cable ratings were down about 10 percent from the previous year. With new streaming services stealing away viewers, cable TV has been hit with a Darwinian shake-out where only the most popular networks, such as HBO and ESPN, are able to find paying customers.

The retrenchment marks a change in fortune for the cable TV business, which in the 1990s created new opportunities for minority programs, local news and niche educational networks with small but dedicated numbers of fans. The rise of cable created new genres in TV around food, health and reality shows, launching networks such as HGTV, the Weather Channel and TruTV. But with content similar to what those channels offer now available online, cable programs that cannot draw the biggest audiences are seeing advertising fall. And some cable operators are choosing to drop some of their offerings altogether.

Xbox One, Microsoft’s new gaming console, is building on its Over-the-top video foundation in the US and Canada with the addition of an over-the-air capability that can pull down free broadcast TV channels. Noting that live TV is the most asked for feature from Xbox users in the US and Canada, Microsoft said it is now supporting OTA via a TV tuner from Hauppauge. For starters, Microsoft is giving members of its Xbox One preview program the ability to buy the Hauppauge WinTV-955Q (MSRP $79.99) and an HDTV antenna. “In the next few months, Xbox will be partnering with Hauppauge to release a lower cost version of this tuner, the Hauppauge TV Tuner for Xbox One, retailing for MSRP $59.99, and available to everyone in the US. and Canada,” Microsoft said. Microsoft is also directing users to visit this Mohu page to help them pick and purchase an antenna.

Slovak Telekom is heading for a public flotation after the government decided to sell its 49 percent shareholding in Slovakia’s largest telecommunciations company. The company, which provides fixed line, broadband and pay-TV services, plans to list in Bratislava and London after talks over a potential takeover by Deutsche Telekom, which holds a 51 percent stake, failed to strike a deal. The privatisation could raise as much as €800 million, local media reports have suggested.

The IPO will mark an important next step in our development and bring greater visibility to the value we intend to create,” said Miroslav Majoroš, chief executive. The company provided no details of the price for the initial public offering or when it might take place, but Bratislava has previously suggested it would like to complete any disposal by the end of 2015. Apparently, Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, held detailed discussions with its Slovak unit regarding a purchase of the government-held stake before the IPO was announced.

Tech companies shower their employees with perks like dry cleaning, massages and haircuts. But there is one group for whom working at a tech company can be much more difficult than working elsewhere: parents. That Silicon Valley -- known for being on the forefront not just of technology but also of workplace policy -- creates so many difficulties for working parents highlights a vexing problem for the American economy. The United States is arguably struggling to adjust to the realities of modern family life more than any other affluent country.

The American workplace has always prized people who prioritize work over family, and European countries have long had more generous policies for working parents. But in the last two decades, that gap has widened significantly. Other developed countries have expanded benefits like paid parental leave and child care, while the United States has not. The absence of such policies here creates obvious advantages for companies, reducing costs and increasing production. But for workers -- most of whom have children, aging parents or both, and many of whom are single parents -- the downsides can be enormous, whether they work in high finance or hourly labor. Many workers today -- blue-collar and white-collar alike -- believe they must choose between career and family. Start-ups are unlikely to have parental policies because they are more focused on growing as quickly as possible. Many big tech companies try to ease the way for new parents, at least officially -- but that does not necessarily filter down to company culture. In some ways, an aging Silicon Valley is beginning to look more like the rest of corporate America, where most workers have families. The challenge is retaining the youthful optimism that they can do the impossible -- while also showing their employees that working and having families is realistic.