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The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau says that, at least for now and perhaps for good, over-the-top video distributors who seek access to Comcast/NBCU-owned programming don't have to make the terms of their agreements with other programmers available to Comcast outside counsel of experts.
The bureau got a request from a bunch of those other programmers, including CBS, News Corp., Sony, Time Warner, Viacom and Disney, that it stay its own December 2012 decision that OVDs that invoke the FCC's "benchmark" condition in the Comcast/NBCU deal have to make that info available. But the bureau, instead, dismissed that stay request as well as opposition to it by Comcast, and granted the stay on the Media Bureau's own motion. The benchmark condition requires that a Comcast/NBCU programmer "provide a requesting OVD with [programming] if the OVD has an agreement for comparable programming with a peer programmer. The programming that a C-NBCU programmer is required to provide to the OVD must be on terms that are economic[ally] equivalent" to the terms the OVD has received from the peer programmer.
FCC: For Now, OVDS Don't Have to Show Comparables to Comcast
More millennial viewers are enjoying television and they are more accepting of advertising. According to a new study by the Magid Generational Strategies unit of Frank N. Magid Associates, in fall 2012, TV was the type of content preferred by millennials, topping movies and music. When the same study was taken in 2009, TV ranked behind movies and music.
Millennials Want TV—And Accept Ads: Study
Thanks to the warnings of senior lawmakers and Obama administration officials, Americans are growing more aware of online vulnerabilities that could lead to a “cyber Pearl Harbor” attack.
By definition, such a catastrophe would be extraordinarily rare, its chances perhaps no more than one in a ... what, exactly? It’s hard to talk about odds when the pool of minor cyberincidents is growing larger every day. Depending on when it arrives, the first major cybervent against the United States could be a one-in-2 million incident or a one-in-10-trillion incident. But noise from garden-variety hacks shouldn't just be ignored in a broader search for the next 9/11. Understanding those day-to-day online skirmishes can help reveal the scale of the broader problem. The Homeland Security Department runs a national clearinghouse of cyberthreat information known as the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT. Part of its job is to track cyberincidents, which DHS defines as violations of an organization’s security policy. That could include unauthorized attempts to access a network, DDoS attacks, or other nasty behavior.
How Many Cyberattacks Hit the United States Last Year?
Implementing a mobile learning initiative is a complicated undertaking, no matter how much funding or stakeholder support you have. But a new resource from the Consortium for School Networking offers an outline for school administrators who hope to launch and sustain a successful mobile learning project.
Seven steps to success with mobile learning
It’s March 8, which means responses to the U.S. General Services Administration’s Managed Mobility Program Request for Technical Capabilities document are due. The document is the latest step toward setting up “a government-wide mobile device management platform” within 12 months, mandated by Digital Government Strategy requirement 5.5. It’s well-planned, well-written, and worth the time to read.
The Federal Government’s Mobility Plan Could Reshape the Industry Managed Mobility Request for Technical Capabilities (GSA)
New RootMetrics tests shows that AT&T’s LTE networks are on average 4.3 Mbps faster than AT&T’s when downloading data. What Verizon lacks in speed, though, it makes up for in coverage. Verizon averaged 14.3 Mbps down and 8.5 Mbps up, according to Root’s new report, but what it lacked in raw speed, Verizon made up for in coverage. Of the 77 markets in which Root performed its own measurements, Verizon had an LTE network up in every one. Meanwhile AT&T’s 4G service was present in only 47 of the 77 at the time Root performed its tests last year.
Report: AT&T bests Verizon in raw 4G speed but still lags in LTE coverage Verizon’s LTE Network Broader, but AT&T’s Is Faster (WSJ)
Here’s how things used to work, New York Times media columnist David Carr said in a keynote at SXSW: People would leave college, get a job, get married, reproduce, go to IKEA and “start to worry what the school system was about.” So they’d subscribe to a newspaper. Nowadays, things are different: People “may practice the art of reproduction, but they don’t do a great deal of it … they might not get a job. And they might not buy a house and they might not go to IKEA and they might not need to know what’s going on in the school system … the other thing they might not do: Get a paper.”
“Finding out who your real friends are”: How David Carr views paid content
The Internet should be open. This was the message from Sir Tim Berners-Lee during his keynote address. Berners-Lee, knighted for his invention of the World Wide Web, spoke to the assembled crowd during the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin.
Prior to that talk, Berners-Lee sat down with The Washington Post to discuss a variety of topics, including the townhall recognizing the life and work of Aaron Swartz, the 26-year old programmer and activist who took his own life in January. Swartz, founder of the activist group Demand Progress, faced multiple charges for taking the content of numerous scientific journals off JSTOR, a subscription-based service, and making them available to the public. Berners-Lee, who had mentored Swartz, participated in the panel discussion.
Tim Berners-Lee on the making of new worlds
With recent debates over openness on the Internet, and the emerging concept that you might not have the right to do what you want with your cellphone, 2013 looks to be a pivotal time for expanded technology rights. Enter the Open Technology Institute, providers of a new project meant to help spread free and accessible wireless communication.
They call themselves Commotion Wireless. Sascha Meinrath, vice president and director of the Open Technology Institute, told ABC News that its open sourced wireless "mesh network" system can serve many purposes. "It can be used in places where there is no connectivity, where connectivity has gone down, or where there may be surveillance," Meinrath said. "The main purpose is to provide lower-cost access to communications for any number of barriers that may interfere with that access," added Thomas Gideon of Commotion Wireless. "Centralized control of Internet access is one case, but we have also deployed the technology in emergency response scenarios and to provide alternate communications infrastructure for traditionally under-served communities." Gideon is the overseer of technical development for the project.
Commotion Wireless: Free and Open Way to Network
[Commentary] Responding to the lack of investment by cable and telephone companies, more than 100 local governments, Google and some other innovative companies have invested in ultrafast networks and make services available at affordable prices. They aren’t simply building faster networks; they are building abundant networks. And rather than capping access, they want to ensure everyone has better Internet access to better educational outcomes, encourage economic growth and improve quality of life.
More than in most states, public investments in robust electrical and fiber-optic infrastructure have brought major investments in data centers to Washington. The big cable and phone companies have had their chance and should stop obstructing other entities. That way, everyone would benefit from this infrastructure. D.C. could help with the transition to abundance. Expanding unlicensed spectrum would allow innovators to create a new generation of more powerful tools similar to Wi-Fi, greatly expanding access to low-cost, fast wireless networks. Just as free public roads and low-cost universal electricity supercharged American economic growth in the 21st century, so can the Age of Internet Abundance now. I don’t know the maximum number of amps that can flow into my house and I don’t care. Soon, I hope to say the same thing about my megabits ... or even gigabits.
[Mitchell is the director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance]
Moving from an age of Internet scarcity to abundance