July 2009

[Commentary] Newspapers have declared free content the enemy. For the sake of argument, let's say that news sites are routinely charging readers in five years. By then, the economy may be substantially healthier than now, and advertisers will be looking for sites with large, loyal readerships to sell their ads on. But that won't include newspapers. They'll be catering to that 10 percent of their online audience willing to subscribe. The rest of the Web will have long stopped linking to—and talking about—their stories. The dollars will flow right past the newspapers' pay walls. And then they'll really be sorry.

Apparently, the Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T and Verizon have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years. The review of potential anti-competitive practices is in its very early stages, and it isn't a formal investigation of any specific company at this point, the people said. It isn't clear whether the agency intends to launch an official inquiry. Among the areas the Justice Department could explore is whether wireless carriers are hurting smaller competitors by locking up popular phones through exclusive agreements with handset makers, according to the people. In recent weeks lawmakers and regulators have raised questions about deals such as AT&T's exclusive right to provide service for Apple's popular iPhone in the US. The Justice Department may also review whether telecom carriers are unduly restricting the types of services other companies can offer on their networks, one person familiar with the situation said. The scrutiny of the telecom industry is an indication of the Obama administration's aggressive stance on antitrust enforcement. The Justice Department's antitrust chief, Christine Varney, has said she wants to reassert the government's role in policing monopolistic and anti-competitive practices by powerful companies.

[Comentary] A study released by the Fiber Optic Council last week purported to show was that homeowners preferred high-speed Internet connections via fiber optics to other amenities. But fiber optic connections are one amenity that a homeowner often can't choose to get. It's not like putting a pool in your backyard or adding a deck — your service provider has to decide to offer fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and to bring that network to your neighborhood and even to your street. Once it's there, sure, you have a choice. But whether you take the FTTH-based service or not, being able to say it's available could help sell a home. Conversely, there are a lot of U.S. residents who would love to have this amenity but can't get it and most likely won't ever get it. Some of those residents can't even get broadband and aren't likely to anytime soon.