December 2009

Analyst: Comcast Could Own 100% of NBCU by 2014

Comcast could buy out General Electric Co.'s 49% interest in the NBC Universal joint venture for $17 billion in the next four years, according to Citigroup media analyst Jason Bazinet, a scenario that the analyst believes would not only make sense for Comcast, but would be affordable. GE would have to request that Comcast buy out its interest, which Bazinet is assuming it will do. The analyst estimated that the partnership would increase revenue from $18 billion in 2010 to $20 billion in 2014 and cash flow would rise from $3.3 billion to about $4.2 billion in the same time frame. Free cash flow is expected to increase from $1.6 billion to $2.5 billion in 2014. Bazinet estimates that Comcast would have to shell out about $17 billion to buy out GE's 49% stake, representing a 20% premium to the value of its interest in the JV. That, the analyst said, could be funded partly with Comcast cash on hand -- estimated to be about $11.6 billion by 2014 -- and $11.5 billion in debt that could be tacked on to the partnership. Bazinet wrote that NBCU should be debt free by 2014, which would enable Comcast to heap more debt on the partnership and still maintain a 2.75 times leverage ratio.

Why You Should Consider Paying Your Early Termination Fee

Consumer Action points out that ultra-competitive prepaid market is producing some astoundingly inexpensive all-you-can eat rate plans. And breaking your cell phone contract to take advantage of them may be cheaper than you think.

Determine whether you are in the ETF "penalty box." Users who've had the same phone and price plan for more than two years are probably unaffected by ETFs. Those who are subject to the penalties may have to pay only a prorated amount.
Do the math. A $150 penalty may seem steep, but it's quickly offset if you can cut your $90 monthly phone bill in half.
Avoid re-upping with your carrier. Operators typically offer new phones or more attractive price plans to users nearing the end of their contracts in an effort to lock customers in for another two years.
Watch for carriers looking to change the terms of the contract. Major changes in terms can allow consumers to kill service without paying an ETF — which is an option Kevin over at jkOnTheRun began considering with his Palm Pre last week.

CMS calls for nationwide electronic provider directory

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will need an electronic means to correctly identify and locate healthcare providers who qualify to receive a share of the billions of dollars in meaningful use incentives provided under the stimulus law, its top health IT official said. One option being considered is a national electronic directory, which would enable CMS to communicate with thousands of physicians via the nationwide health information network (NHIN) to determine who is eligible to receive the incentive payments and to avoid making duplicating payments. "The need for a directory at the national level is critical, and it will only grow as HITECH and healthcare reform continues to develop over the next several years," said Tony Trenkle, director of CMS Office of e-Health Standards and Services. He spoke at a meeting Dec. 16th of a new NHIN workgroup of the federal advisory Health IT Policy Committee.

Climate Change Debate Rages Online

Global warming has of late been a very hot topic in social media, and last week it was hotter than ever. Much of the added fuel came from climate change believers who engaged in the debate that had been dominated by skeptics. From December 7-11, more than half (52%) of the news links in blogs were about global warming, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That represents the most attention to the subject in any given week this year, and marks the third week in a row that global warming has been among the top four subjects in blogs. It was also prominent on Twitter last week, registering as the No. 3 topic with 14% of the news links. And while mainstream media has generally covered the issue less than social media, global warming filled 10% of its newshole last week, the highest level of coverage since PEJ's News Coverage Index began tracking it in January 2007.

Google project shows when Web content is hiding

Google published a tool Wednesday called Browser Size that lets Web developers gauge how much of their pages are visible in people's browsers. The tool loads a Web page behind a pastel overlay that indicates what fraction of people can see a particular point on the Web page. The upper left is of course 100 percent, but when the point is farther down or toward the right, fewer and fewer can see it.

CFBAI Tightens Nutrition Standards In Kid Ads

The Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) will expand its "core principles" starting Jan. 1, according to Elaine Kolish, BBB VP and CFBAI director. The principles will now require that participating food and restaurant companies commit that 100% -- versus the previous minimum standard of 50% -- of their advertising to children under 12 will be for "healthier dietary choices or better-for-you products," according to the nutrition standards defined in their individual pledges.

ANA: Restricting Kids' Advertising Won't Solve Obesity

During the Federal Trade Commission's public forum on food marketing and childhood obesity this week, Association of National Advertisers EVP Dan Jaffe laid out multiple arguments against any new, government-imposed restrictions on advertising -- and also maintained that an overemphasis on advertising is distracting attention and resources from broader efforts needed to address the obesity problem effectively. Jaffe praised the FTC for upholding First Amendment protections in recent decades, and urged the commission to continue that policy despite "a growing chorus of consumer activists who claim that the most effective and efficient way to combat childhood obesity is through broad advertising suppression."

Vice President Announces an Initial $183 Million in Awards to Expand Broadband Access in Seventeen States

Vice President Joe Biden kicked off $7.2 billion in Recovery Act broadband grant and loan programs, of which $2 billion will be made available on a rolling basis over the next 75 days to bring high-speed Internet to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology. He announced an initial $183 million investment in eighteen broadband projects benefiting seventeen states which has already been matched by over $46 million in public and private sector capital. The projects receiving funds are the first in the $7.2 billion program - $4.7 billion through the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and $2.5 through the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) - being implemented under the Recovery Act to expand broadband access and adoption across the country. The awards are designed to help underserved - and often hard-hit - communities overcome the distance and technology barrier by expanding connectivity between educational institutions, enabling remote medical consultations and attracting new businesses.

As part of the announcement, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke traveled to Bangor (Maine) where he announced $25.4 million in grants to build broadband infrastructure throughout rural and disadvantaged portions of parts of the state.

On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Ohio to discuss how a $2.4 million broadband award will help boost economic development in the region and connect the local community to the smart energy grid.

Four different types of awards were made on Thursday:

1) Middle Mile Awards - $121.6 million to build and improve connections to communities lacking sufficient broadband access.

2) Last Mile Awards - $51.4 million to connect end users like homes, hospitals and schools to their community's broadband infrastructure (the middle mile).

3) Public Computing - $7.3 million to expand computer center capacity for public use in libraries, community colleges and other public venues.

4) Sustainable Adoption - $2.4 million to fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand with population groups where the technology has traditionally been underutilized.

The following Middle Mile awards were made through the Department of Commerce:

GEORGIA: North Georgia Network Cooperative, Inc., $33.5 million grant with an additional $8.8 million in matching funds to deploy a 260-mile regional fiber-optic ring to deliver gigabit broadband speeds, reliability, affordability, and abundant interconnection points for last mile service in the North Georgia foothills.
MAINE: Biddeford Internet Corp. (d.b.a. GWI), $25.4 million grant with an additional $6.4 million in matching funds to build a 1,100-mile open access fiber-optic network extending to the most rural and disadvantaged areas of the state of Maine, from the Saint John Valley in the north, to the rocky coastline of downeast Maine, to the mountainous regions of western Maine.
NEW YORK: ION Hold Co., LLC, $39.7 million grant with an additional $9.9 million in matching funds to build 10 new segments of fiber-optic, middle mile broadband infrastructure, serving more than 70 rural communities in upstate New York and parts of Pennsylvania and Vermont.
SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota Network, LLC, $20.6 million grant with an additional $5.1 million in matching funds to add 140 miles of backbone network and 219 miles of middle mile spurs to existing network, enabling the delivery of at least 10 Mbps service to more than 220 existing anchor institution customers in rural and underserved areas of the state.

The following Public Computer Center awards were made through the Department of Commerce:

ARIZONA: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, $1.3 million grant with matching funds of $320,000 to enhance existing facilities in more than 80 public libraries throughout the state. The project expects to deploy more than 1,000 computers to meet growing demand.
MASSACHUSETTS: City of Boston, $1.9 million grant with matching funds of $477,000 to expand computer and Internet capacity at the city's main library and 25 branches, 16 community centers, and 11 public housing sites.
MINNESOTA: Regents of the University of Minnesota, $2.9 million grant with matching funds of $741,000 to enhance broadband awareness and use for residents in four federally-designated poverty zones in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
WASHINGTON: The Inland Northwest Community Access Network (Tincan), $1.3 million grant with matching funds of $753,000 to establish three new public computer centers and expand 14 existing centers throughout Spokane's poorest neighborhoods to serve more than 5,000 additional users per week.

The following Sustainable Broadband Adoption awards were made through the Department of Commerce:

NEW MEXICO: New Mexico State Library, $1.5 million grant with an additional $591,000 in matching funds to increase broadband adoption and promote computer literacy and Internet use among vulnerable populations, Hispanic and Native American users, small businesses, and entrepreneurs through trainings and outreach statewide.
WASHINGTON: The Inland Northwest Community Access Network, $981,000 grant with an additional $728,000 in matching funds to increase broadband adoption through basic and advanced computer skill training, as well as community-based outreach campaigns to highlight the benefits of broadband for vulnerable populations in Spokane.

The following Last Mile and Middle Mile awards were made today through the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

ALASKA: Anchorage, Rivada Sea Lion, LLC, $25.3 million grant with $6.4 million of leveraged funds; 4G high-speed broadband internet service availability to more than 9,000 unserved locations in a 90,000 square mile area where these Southwestern Alaska inhabitants are living at subsistence level.
HAWAII: Big Island Broadband/Aloha Broadband, Inc., $106,503 loan with matching funds of $87,405 to bring broadband services to an unserved area in the northern part of the islands where there are nearly 600 residents and businesses.
COLORADO/NEBRASKA: Peetz, Colorado, Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co., $1.5 million grant; expansion of existing infrastructure utilizing a combination of technologies. This project will make broadband service available to as many as 550 locations in the service area.
MICHIGAN: The Chatham Telephone Company, $8.6 million grant to bring high speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved businesses and households within its rural territory; service that is comparable to the DSL service provided in its more populated areas.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Bretton Woods, The Bretton Woods Telephone Company, $985,000 grant for 20 Mbps two-way broadband service to all potential customers and stimulate tourism in the area to substantially improve the local economy. This Fiber to The Premise service will be available to more than 400 locations.
NEW YORK: Potsdam, Slic Network Solutions (Nicholville Telephone) a grant of $4.3 million and loan of $1.1 million for a 136-mile fiber optic network reaching into five towns in rural Franklin County. This all-fiber network will deliver broadband voice, and IPTV services to remote rural areas. The network will offer service to more than 6,500 locations.
OHIO: North Central Ohio Rural Fiber Optic Network, Consolidated Electric Cooperative, $1,034,413 grant and $1,399,499 loan; and matching funds of $1,225,000. The funding is integral to a smart grid initiative and broadband service based on an open-connectivity fiber optic backbone network.
OKLAHOMA: Southeast Oklahoma, The Pine Telephone Company, $9.5 grant with an additional $4.6 million in private funds to provide services to an entirely remote, rural, unserved and severely economically disadvantaged community.

State Preferred Broadband Stimulus Projects Sweep Day

[Commentary] Of the first 7 broadband stimulus projects awarded Thursday, all were specifically recommended to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the states, with the exception of the Rivada Sea Lion project in Alaska and Bretton Woods Telephone Company project in New Hampshire. Alaska did not recommend specific projects to the NTIA. Approximately one-third of all broadband stimulus projects submitted to the NTIA made it onto preferred projects lists from the states.

Why We Must Measure the Results of the $7.2 Billion in ARRA Broadband Funding

[Commentary] We must act now to capitalize fully on the billions of dollars the stimulus law is investing in broadband deployment and adoption. These investments represent the most significant direct public funding of broadband projects ever made by the U.S. government. The success or failure of these projects is likely to be a huge factor in whether or not the federal government and other levels of government attempt to supplement private sector investment or correct for market failures in the future. Those are incredibly high stakes that will impact our nation's ability to compete economically against global competitors, to improve educational outcomes, and to achieve the promise of high-quality, affordable healthcare. To evaluate these investments honestly, we need to act now to ensure we collect the right data, organize it and make it publicly available. Why is broadband data and research so critical? American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded projects represent an unprecedented opportunity to fill the enormous knowledge gap we have with respect to what works and what does not work in broadband deployment and broadband adoption.

Benton

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