May 2015

Cablevision 'Interested' in Partnering With Time Warner Cable

Less than two weeks after Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable came to a bitter end, another cable company says the time is still right for consolidation. And it's all about geography. Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan hinted that his company, which operates in the outer boroughs of New York City as well as New Jersey and Long Island, might make a good partner for TWC, which operates as Manhattan's main cable system.

"If we focused on the markets, I think that would bring more to the consumer, and I think it would make the business more valuable," Dolan said. Dolan said he hasn't yet talked about a deal with Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus, who he saw for the first time "in months" on May 6th. "We're interested," said Dolan. "They'd have to see the value in it too. I'm sure I'll talk to them about the value of it, because I think it's there." Time Warner Cable has a market cap of $43 billion, seven times the size of Cablevision's $5.8 billion.

Cox Expands Gigabit Service

Cox Communications said its 1-Gig “G1GABLAST” residential service has been launched in parts of four markets: Phoenix (AZ), Orange County (CA), Omaha (NE), and Las Vegas (NV). Cox added that it is also actively deploying broadband network infrastructure in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Oklahoma and Virginia to bring G1GABLAST to customers in those states. The service will launch in those areas starting later in Summer 2015, the company said. Using fiber-to-the-home technologies in a targeted fashion, Cox first launched the G1GABLAST in Phoenix Fall 2014. Cox also expects to factor in DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging multi-gigabit platform for widely deployed HFC networks, as part its grander plan to make residential gigabit service available across Cox’s footprint by the end of 2016.

Sen Paul Apparently Paid $100,000 for RandPaul.com

Days before Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) launched his bid for President, his campaign shelled out more than $100,000 to a domain-buying firm to purchase a "domain name." Soon after, RandPaul.com, which had previously been a pro-Paul site run by his fans, emerged as the official portal for the campaign. Federal campaign records show Sen Paul used his Senate reelection committee to pay $100,980 to Escrow.com, a domain service, on March 27 for what is described as a "domain name." Previously, Sen Paul's political homepage was RandPaul2016.com, an address that now automatically redirects to his RandPaul.com page.

The payment is an enormous sum even in the murky world of political cybersquatting. "Holy crap," a top Republican digital strategist said when informed of the price. "That's a ton." Patrick Ruffini, a veteran GOP digital strategist, said that he had never heard of a campaign paying so much for a URL, though he was not shocked. "It's very much a seller's market," Ruffini said, adding that owning a candidate's "FirstnameLastname.com" was the gold standard in the digital world. "I would argue that almost nothing else matters."

Prepared Remarks Of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at NCTA - INTX 2015

You are no longer the "cable" industry. You are the leading association of leading broadband providers...You don't have a lot of competition, especially at the higher speeds that are increasingly important to the consumer of online video...More competition would be better. That is why we granted the preemption petitions filed by two communities that wished to expand their gigabit networks into surrounding areas, including where people had no broadband at all....By bringing competitive alternatives to television viewers, this industry did just that -- and the video business was changed forever. Then your industry went on to upgrade, compete with the telecommunications companies, and dominate broadband. Now the question is whether consumers will have competitive alternatives for broadband. To harken backto what you did before, will you now plant a flower in the competitive broadband desert?

It is time to look forward, not backward. This is not the time to dwell on the reasons why both the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice reached the conclusion that the proposed [Comcast/Time Warner Cable] transaction would not be in the public interest. But it is important to understand that the tipping point from cable to broadband came while the transaction was under review....We recognized that broadband had to be at the center of our analysis, and that video was, in essence, an application that flows over networks and that could be supplied both by the owners of facilities and by competitors that use broadband pathways to compete against the owners of those broadband pathways...Michael Powell told Congress that "cable broadband providers are unequivocally committed to building and maintaining an open Internet experience." We welcome that pledge. Maintaining, improving, and protecting the broadband transmission system is the right thing to do. America depends on it.

Tech groups find flaws in EU online proposal

US technology firms are voicing major concerns with a European proposal that they say could discourage the creation of new online business and target US companies. The European Commission unveiled a 16-point plan meant to ease the flow of online commerce across the continent, rather than having it siloed in individual countries. While technology groups have applauded aim of the proposal, they took issue with certain pieces of it. One of the moves calls for a full review of search engines, social media platforms and app stores. The commission wants to explore more regulation on how companies use information, their pricing policies and the transparency of their search results. It also wants to determine if these companies are steering customers away from competitors in favor of their own services and what can be done about it outside current anti-trust law.

The Information Technology Industry Council has noted that leaked documents showed nearly all the businesses that the commission wants to review are major US tech companies -- from Amazon and Yahoo to Microsoft and Google. The group asserted current law is already sufficient to crack down on abusive behavior. The Center for Democracy and Technology noted that the “platforms” being discussed are not well defined, and the proposal “could very well discourage the very development of the new enterprises and business models the commission seeks to foster.” The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said that European companies could be hit hardest by new regulations on online platforms.

Rural Utilities Service, Department of Agriculture, and National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Commerce
May 20, 2015,
4:00 p.m. -- 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-05-06/pdf/2015-10580.pdf

In a request for comment (RFC) published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2015, the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, which are co-chairing the Broadband Opportunity Council (Council), asked for public input on barriers that are hampering deployment of broadband, ways to promote public and private investment in broadband, challenges facing areas that lack access to broadband, and ways to measure broadband availability, adoption, and speed. To explain the RFC’s purpose and objectives, and to allow an opportunity for members of the public to pose questions regarding the RFC, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host a webinar on May 20, 2015.

Read more about Broadband Opportunity Council Webinar

Sinclair's Smith Sees Next-Gen TV Progress

Sinclair Broadcast Group boss David Smith projects next-generation television standards will be on the Federal Communications Commission's desk by the end of 2015, if not before. The platform being developed by ONE Media, the joint venture between Sinclair and Coherent Logix, looms large in the standards development. The Advanced Television Systems Committee has reportedly already accepted a key signaling component developed by ONE Media and China's National Research Center of Digital Television.

"By July, maybe August, we should know essentially what the future platform will look like, what business platforms we can roll off that will look like," Smith said during a first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts and investors. ONE Media is developing a platform that would use and extend the reach of existing "high power/tall tower" broadcast infrastructure to deliver digital television signals as well as a host of data services to portable and mobile devices. Smith is a leading advocate of a next-generation ATSC standard, dubbed ATSC 3.0, that would enable broadcasters to more effectively compete with hard-wired and wireless broadband providers, including cable and telecommunications companies.

Comcast’s 2-Gig Service Blows into Chicago

Soon after announcing that it had begun to roll out the new 2-Gig residential service to Nashville (TN) and middle Tennessee, Comcast said the new offering is also starting its push into the Midwest, starting with an anticipated debut in several markets in the greater Chicago (IL) region later in May. The rollout in the Chicago area, which also factors in parts of Northwest Indiana and comes as the 2015 INTX show is being hosted in Chicago, will make Gigabit Pro available to about 2.4 million customers there, Comcast said. AT&T launched its fiber-based GigaPower service in parts of Chicago in April. Additionally, Comcast will make the service available through Xfinity Communities, a program for residents living in apartments and other multi-dwelling units.

State Dept: Clinton's personal e-mail use ‘not acceptable’

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail account run through a private server was "not acceptable" and happened without key officials’ knowledge, a top State Department recordkeeper said. “I think the message is loud and clear that that is not acceptable,” Joyce Barr, the State Department’s assistant secretary for the bureau of administration, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The actions that we’ve taken in the course of recovering these e-mails has made it very clear what the responsibilities are with regard to recordkeeping,” she added in remarks at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on government transparency.

Clinton has said that she had determined that roughly half of the 60,000 e-mails sent through her personal account were official government business and should be turned over to the government for safe-keeping. The rest of them were deleted, she has said. However, that determination was made by Clinton’s team alone, Barr acknowledged, and federal officials essentially have to take her word for it that all relevant communications are in the government's hands. “We have been told that she has provided those to us,” she said.

Public Inspection File Rule: The FCC Asks Again If It's Really Necessary

[Commentary] The Paperwork Reduction Act strikes again! As we all know, the PRA requires the Federal Communications Commission to get clearance from the Office of Management and Budget for “information collections” the FCC wants to impose on its regulatees. OMB clearances have a shelf-life of three years, meaning that the FCC has to truck on back to OMB every three years to re-up previously issued clearances. Those of you with reasonably long memories may see where this is heading. This time around, the corresponding estimates are: 24,558 respondents (providing a total of 63,234 responses); one hour to 104 hours per response; “Total Annual Burden” -- 2,375,336 hours; “Total Annual Cost” -- $882,236. If these numbers look a bit odd to you, join the club.

The Paperwork Reduction Act requires the Commission to justify rules like this every three years, so we all have another chance to make the case: do the public file rules serve a useful purpose, are the FCC’s burden estimates valid and, if so, does the supposedly useful purpose justify the supposedly valid burdens? And let’s not forget: the FCC must satisfy the OMB that the FCC’s assessment is correct. In other words, anyone who has any thoughts about the public file should take advantage of this opportunity to articulate them to the FCC. The Commission will be accepting comments through July 6, 2015. After that, the Commission will bundle up any and all comments submitted and send them over to OMB, along with a statement in support of the rules (assuming that the Commission is not persuaded by the comments to drop the rules entirely). OMB will then provide an additional 30-day comment period. If OMB declines to approve the rules, the FCC will be unable to enforce them.

Benton

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