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Content may be king. But in wireless circles, spectrum still reigns supreme. That is good news for owners of broadcast-television stations who hold licenses to large swaths of airwaves.
Amid lower ratings and potentially disruptive technology, that spectrum looks even more valuable and may help underpin some broadcasters' shares. Wireless operators are eager for new spectrum as mobile-data use rockets. Broadcast spectrum borders one of the main bands used for wireless networks and could also be used for that purpose. Getting that into the hands of wireless carriers has long been one of the Federal Communications Commissions' goals. In early 2012, Congress authorized it to auction broadcast spectrum, which it aims to do in 2014. Meanwhile, cracks have begun appearing in the traditional broadcast model. Aereo, for example, lets users stream broadcast-television signals over the Web. That threatens retransmission fees, which pay-TV operators pay to carry broadcasters' signals.
Splitting Air Could Pay for Broadcasters
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) is continuing to press his concern over reallocation of broadcast spectrum following the incentive auctions, this time sending one of his famed "Dingelgrams" seeking some answers from Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn.
In a letter dated June 4, Rep Dingell seeks answers to three questions about the FCC's authority to take certain auction-related actions, suggesting it may be exceeding its authority under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, legislation that included authorizing the voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum. "Does the commission believe it must complete international coordination with Mexico and Canada prior to reallocating and reassigning broadcast frequencies"; 2. "Does the commission believe [incentive auction legislation] grants it authority to revise its Office of Engineering and Technology Bulletin No. 69, a model used to predict broadcast interference." 3. "Does the commission believe [the legislation] permits it to conduct a weighted reverse auction?"; "What effect does the Commission estimate that a weighted reverse auction would have on the number of participants and the amount of spectrum recovered..."
Rep. Dingell, chairman emeritus of the House Commerce Committee, has given Chairwoman Clyburn until June 28 to respond.
FCC’s Clyburn Gets 'Dingelgram' With Auction concerns
Google beats out rivals Apple and Facebook when it comes to the all-important game of reputation, continuing its place on top of a Washington Post-ABC News poll measuring how respondents feel about some of the country’s top tech firms.
The shows that 83 percent of American adults contacted on cellphones and landlines have a “favorable” view of Google compared to 72 percent for Apple and 60 percent for Facebook. The overall results are similar to responses that users gave last year, when a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Google had an 82 percent favorable rating, Apple 74 percent and Facebook 58 percent. All those changes are within the 3.5 percentage point margin of error on the poll. Digging into the demographic information shows how different people view each of the companies.
Who do you like best: Google, Facebook or Apple?
White House spokesman Jay Carney defended the Obama Administration’s commitment to transparency after an Associated Press investigation showed that some of the president’s top political appointees are using “secret” government e-mail accounts in a bid to avoid unwanted messages.
“This is a practice consistent with prior administrations of both parties,” he said. Having alternate e-mail accounts makes "eminent sense,” the press secretary said. He told of having his e-mail made public by his predecessor, Robert Gibbs, shortly before Carney assumed his current position. "I changed it so I wouldn’t be inundated with … tons of e-mails and spam and the like.... But that is a very reasonable thing to do.” Carney disputed the AP’s use of the “secret label” for unpublished e-mail addresses. “The issue here is are these accounts – these work accounts – secret, and the answer is no, because they are subject to FOIA requests and they are subject to congressional inquiry, just like their public addresses,” he said. He added, “This administration has made significant strides in improving FOIA practices, compared with all of our predecessors…. [We] have disclosed more information, invoked FOIA exemptions less frequently, and answered more requests.” The issue is a sensitive one, given a memo President Barack Obama issued on his first full day in the White House pledging that his administration was "committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.” The document went on to say, "we will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration."
Obama email flap: White House defends top officials' use of 'secret' accounts
From e-books to streaming music, people are moving to digital formats for their entertainment. But not all are moving at the same pace. The way we buy may be as much a factor of gender and ethnic group as spending power, according to this recent Nielsen U.S. Consumer Entertainment Report. Digital music buyers, for example, are 5 percent more likely than the average U.S. adult to be Hispanic. E-book buyers are 21 percent more likely to be female. And buyers of streaming services are 73 percent more likely to be Asian.
E-book Buyers Are 21% More Likely to Be Female
Verizon Wireless will pay $1 billion for rights to air more National Football League games over its customers' smartphones, placing a big bet on changing viewer habits as Americans watch more of their favorite shows on screens other than the television.
Next year, the National Football League will begin to show Sunday afternoon games from customers' home markets on Verizon Wireless phones, adding more of television's most valuable content to the growing inventory that users can watch on mobile devices. The league is already showing games from Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights on Verizon phones. Typically, only one game is played on those nights, while about 10 to 12 are played across the country on Sunday afternoons. Verizon Wireless will pay the NFL $1 billion over four years, according to a person with direct knowledge of the terms. That is nearly 40% more than Verizon agreed to pay when it signed the current four-year, $720 million agreement in 2010, a growth rate similar to what the NFL and other sports leagues have received in their latest TV deals. According to the terms, Verizon Wireless customers who sign up for the service will be able to access NFL games through an app on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights this season, as well as the league-owned channel, NFL Network, and its NFL RedZone, which shows scoring plays on game days. Beginning in 2014, they also will be able to watch all home-market games on their mobile phones, as well as all postseason games, including the Super Bowl.
Verizon Pads NFL Deal
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has hired Andy Barkett, a Facebook engineering manager, as its new chief technology officer (CTO).
After suffering a tough loss in the 2012 presidential election, the RNC in March said the Republican Party must close the digital divide between the GOP and Democrats if it wanted to win the upcoming midterm elections and 2016 presidential race. As part of that effort, the RNC said it wanted to hire a chief technology and digital officer by May 1 who would be responsible for recruiting a team of savvy data scientists, tech and digital advocates that would build a new data and digital operation for the upcoming contests. Barkett's profile on the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management web site also lists experience as senior director of engineering at Livescribe, senior management consultant at Taos Mountain and technical program manager at Google.
RNC hires Facebook manager as chief technology officer
Unrestrained access to the internet for companies such as Skype and Google would be guaranteed by law under far reaching “network neutrality” plans by Europe’s top technology regulator. Proposals tabled on June 4 aim to stamp out anti-competitive blocking or “throttling” of services and content by internet providers, as well as ensure greater transparency and choice for consumers.
The European Commission estimates that about 100m Europeans have suffered restrictions on internet usage, such as the blocking of free chat apps like Skype or WhatsApp by companies that offer rival services. Internet service providers, including the region’s largest telecoms groups, would be forced to provide equal access for even the heaviest web content suppliers as well as provide transparency to customers over broadband speeds and prices. “The commission is 100 per cent committed to the open internet,” said Neelie Kroes, EU commissioner for telecoms. “Anti-competitive blocking needs to end. I think it’s unsustainable and on the way out, but I am willing to push it out.”
Brussels hardens stance on equal access to internet
A critical parliamentary report into Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications company, has been heavily redacted by the government amid concern about the potential impact on Chinese investment in the UK.
The report by the Intelligence and Security Committee will highlight the central role of Huawei in Britain’s telecommunications infrastructure since it struck a big supply deal with BT in 2004. People familiar with the report say it will suggest that staff from GCHQ, Britain’s intelligence listening post, should oversee the Banbury cybersecurity center, where Huawei’s equipment is examined. The facility is currently managed by the Chinese company. A person familiar with the report said such a move would “reassure” the public here was nothing to fear from Chinese involvement in Britain’s telecoms networks. Critics, particularly in the US, have raised concern over Huawei’s alleged ties to the Chinese state.
Fears over future trade with China curb UK criticism of Huawei
China is notorious for its knockoffs. But now comes a knockoff of one of the gods of American ingenuity: Steven P. Jobs.
In a country where products like iPhones are made but rarely invented, Lei Jun — entrepreneur, billionaire and professed Jobs acolyte — is positioning himself and his company as figurative heirs of Mr. Jobs. The Chinese media have nicknamed his company, Xiaomi, the “Apple of the East.” The title is a stretch, by almost any measure. But Mr. Lei nonetheless is carefully cultivating a Jobsian image here, right down to his jeans and dark shirts. He is also selling millions of mobile phones that look a lot like iPhones. Chinese consumers — and deep-pocketed investors overseas — seem to be believers. And yet Mr. Lei’s biggest believer may be himself. He bounds onto podiums to introduce new cellphones. He proclaims things that may, to many, sound outlandish.
In China, an Empire Built by Aping Apple