1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2015

December 2015

The Sports Bubble Is About to Pop

[Commentary] Don’t buy ESPN’s PR talk that its 7 million-household dip in subscribers is just a blip. It’s for real, and the end of its empire will have widespread consequences for the way you watch sports and pay for TV. ESPN’s Security and Exchange Commission filing revealed a bombshell: The company had lost 7 million subscribers over the last two years. For more than 30 years prior, ESPN enjoyed an unbroken stream of growth and innovation on its way to becoming the immovable Gibraltar of the cable bundle. Every participant in the sports economy -- franchise owners, athletes, programming networks, cable companies, and even the fans themselves -- have benefitted from this broadband version of the hide-the-ball trick. That big fat $100 average household cable bill that everyone pays has served as a siphoning conduit of cash forcibly flowing from fan and uninterested non-fan alike.

The brazen economics of modern sports are being revealed and dismantled by the Internet, and the coming fumble-pile of desperate industry participants should make for some great viewing. That’ll be bad news for $30 million-a-year over-the-hill third basemen, the greater fools who pay them, and the unknowingly subsidized superfans who love them. The rest of us will live in a world with a few more bucks in our pockets -- and a few less braying Chris Berman-wannabes clogging up our iPad screens.

Silicon Flatirons Center
University of Colorado Law School
Sunday, January 31 - Monday, February 1, 2016
http://siliconflatirons.com/events.php?id=1613

The digital broadband industries continue to evolve, with the threat of disruptive innovation and concerns with market power both lingering in the minds of policymakers. With respect to both concerns, the role of regulatory oversight, antitrust law, and intellectual property policy all promise to influence the ease of entry, the extent of the restrictions (or lack thereof) on incumbents, and the nature and pace of technological change. To evaluate the interplay of these three regimes—industry-specific regulation, antitrust, and intellectual property—Silicon Flatirons will bring together a range of leaders from government, academia, and industry to evaluate how effective these regimes are in regulating industry structure and what policy reforms are appropriate for the ever-changing digital broadband environment.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Welcome 9:00am - 9:15am

  • Phil Weiser, Dean, University of Colorado Law School; Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons

Opening Keynote Address 9:15am - 9:45am

  • Larry Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce

Technological Change and Industry Structure 9:45am - 10:45am

  • KC Claffy, Founder and Director, Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis; Resident Research Scientist, University of California's San Diego Supercomputer Center
  • David Clark, Senior Research Scientist, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
  • Edward Felten, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, White House; Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs, Princeton University
  • John Schanz, Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer, Comcast Cable
  • Jack Waters, Chief Technology Officer, Level 3 Communications
  • Moderator - Phil Weiser, Dean, University of Colorado Law School; Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons

Break 10:45am - 11:00am

The Dynamics of Industry Structure 11:00am - 12:00pm

  • Jeffrey Binder, Chief Executive Officer, Layer3 TV, Inc
  • Balan Nair, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Liberty Global
  • Michael O'Rielly, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
  • Staci L. Pies, Senior Policy Counsel, Google
  • Moderator - Raymond Gifford, Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP; Senior Adjunct Fellow, Silicon Flatirons; Former Chairman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission

Lunch 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Regulation and Industry Structure 1:30pm - 3:00pm

  • Moderator - Ari Fitzgerald, Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP
  • Presenters - Jonathan Baker, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
  • Mark Cooper, Research Director, Consumer Federation of America; Senior Adjunct Fellow, Silicon Flatirons
  • Ellen Goodman, Professor, Rutgers University Law School
  • Discussants - Jon Nuechterlein, General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission
  • Craig Silliman, Executive Vice President - Public Policy and General Counsel, Verizon
  • Gigi B. Sohn, Counselor to the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

Break 3:00pm - 3:15pm

Antitrust 3:15pm - 4:45pm

  • Moderator - Jeff Blattner, President and Attorney, Legal Policy Solutions, PLLC
  • Presenters - Douglas Melamed, Professor of the Practice of Law, Stanford Law School
  • Maureen Ohlhausen, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
  • Diane P. Wood, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • Discussants - Gene Kimmelman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Public Knowledge; Senior Adjunct Fellow, Silicon Flatirons
  • David Lawson, Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, AT&T
  • Jonathan Sallet, General Counsel, Federal Communications Commission
  • Howard Shelanski, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

Reception 4:45pm - 5:45pm
Please note: per university alcohol policy, only registered guests will be admitted to the reception.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Welcome 9:00am - 9:15am

  • Phil Weiser, Dean, University of Colorado Law School; Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons

Fireside Chat 9:15am - 10:00am

  • Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman, Federal Trade Commission
  • Moderator - Paul Ohm, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Break 10:00am - 10:15am

Intellectual Property and Industry Structure 10:15am - 11:45am

  • Moderator - Kristelia A. Garcia, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Law School; Content Initiative Director, Silicon Flatirons
  • Presenters - Stacey Dogan, Law Alumni Scholar, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
  • Gideon Parchomovsky, Robert G. Fuller, Jr. Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
  • Randal Picker, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Teaching Scholar, The University of Chicago; Senior Fellow, Computation Institute of the University of Chicago Argonne National Laboratory
  • Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, Haas School of Business, University of California
  • Discussants - Michael Fricklas, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Viacom Inc.
  • Stephen Williams, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit

Closing Fireside Chat 11:45am - 12:30pm

  • William Baer, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
  • Moderator - Phil Weiser, Dean, University of Colorado Law School; Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons

Lunch Reception 12:30pm - 1:30pm


Majority of Americans Use Multiple Internet-connected Devices, Data Shows

In just a two-year span, between 2011 and 2013, Americans significantly shifted their Internet usage habits, moving toward more mobile Internet use and increasing the range of devices they use to connect, according to data collected in July 2013 as part of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration’s Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

A majority of Americans -- 52 percent -- used two or more Internet-connected devices, the data shows. That’s up from 41 percent in July 2011. Americans are using a wide variety of devices to access the Internet, including tablets, laptops, mobile phones, and TV-connected boxes such as gaming consoles or streaming video players. The data shows a big shift in Americans’ use of mobile devices, with double-digit percentage-point increases in Internet-connected tablet and mobile phone usage. Use of mobile phones to connect jumped from 27 percent in 2011 to 45 percent in 2013, while tablet use rose from 6 percent to 22 percent. NTIA analysis confirms what many of us already know: Americans increasingly prefer to use a wide range of devices to access the Internet, particularly mobile devices.

Hillary Clinton wants tech companies to help ‘disrupt’ ISIS. What does that even mean?

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on tech companies to help "disrupt" the Islamic State online in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino (CA). Clinton said that ISIS is “using web sites, social media, chat rooms and other platforms to celebrate beheadings, recruit future terrorists and call for attacks,” and asked Silicon Valley to crack down on the terror group. The United States needs to hold an “urgent dialogue” with companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook, said Clinton, and discuss how those “ubiquitous sites” could help keep ISIS quiet online.

Clinton’s remarks largely avoided one particular controversial aspect of technology and counterterrorism: the use of encryption to shield online communications from prying eyes. Some US officials want tech firms to build their systems in ways that would make it easier for authorities to snoop on those secret messages. But Silicon Valley companies such as Apple have pushed back, arguing that the use of “back doors” could also give malicious hackers an easier way to steal innocent users’ personal information. “It's more complicated with some of what [ISIS does] on encrypted apps,” said Clinton, “and I'm well aware of that. That requires even more thinking.”

AT&T Promises to Bring Fiber to Places Where Google Isn’t

AT&T announced that it is expanding the availability of this broadband 1-gigabit per second all-fiber Internet service into 38 new metropolitan-area markets, including the parts of Los Angeles (CA) and West Palm Beach (FL) that are launching Dec 7. The remainder of the new markets will launch in 2016, and come on top of the 18 GigaPower markets that have already gone live, AT&T says.

According to the company, GigaPower is now available in 20 of the nation’s largest metro areas, with service reaching more than one million locations around the country. AT&T is bringing it’s GigaPower service to cities like Detroit (MI), Cleveland (OH) and San Francisco (CA). AT&T launched GigaPower in Austin (TX) about two years ago. The rival Google Fiber service started up in the Kansas City area in 2012.

AT&T and CWA finalize new labor contract, closing out months of negotiations

AT&T and wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have voted to finalize a four-year contract with AT&T Southeast wireline operations, overcoming a key hurdle in operating its wireline business. Workers also voted to ratify tentative agreements on two regional contracts covering AT&T Billing Southeast and Southeast Utility operations. Running through August 2019, these contracts cover about 24,000 employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. These new contracts replace the existing contracts that expired on Aug. 8, 2015.

Verizon Executive says ongoing union negotiations are hindering wireline cost savings

A high level Verizon executive sees the contract negotiations currently taking place with its union wireline workforce as an important element that is driving higher costs in its wireline business. Fran Shammo, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Verizon, told investors that it won't be able to see the true benefits of cost improvements in its wireline business until it finalizes the contract with the CWA (Communications Workers of America). "I think we'll make a lot of progress, but not to the tune we initially thought due to the union contract," Shammo said. "The union contract is still not closed and we're still in negotiation with the representation and it's going very slow so that's going to hinder some cost savings that we had counted on with that new contract."

Shammo said that Verizon looks at finalizing the union contract "as a timing issue, not necessarily a give up issue so that will come in 2016, but it's a matter of when we can solidify this final contract." Wireline workers who are represented by the CWA have been working without a contract since August. CWA and Verizon have not been able to come to terms on a number of points such as how to structure pension benefits and health care contributions, and removing restrictions on the company's right to contract out and offshore union jobs.

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