March 2010

Move to 4G May Change Pricing Model

The next generation of wireless communications technology won't just change how quickly you can download your favorite Lady Gaga music video. It also may affect your wallet.

The latest in the alphabet soup of technology acronyms comes in the form of Long-Term Evolution, or LTE—a fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless standard supported by many major telecommunications companies around the world. If you haven't heard of it, you will, as the standard becomes more available over the next year. The 4G hype machine already has pumped out promises of higher wireless downloading speeds, thanks largely to advertisements from Sprint Nextel Corp. Verizon Wireless also has started to beat its chest over the potential benefits of LTE. Skeptics, however, say it still isn't clear just how fast the network will be once more people start using it, and warn against relying on the early speed claims. More importantly, though, the progression to 4G from the currently used third-generation, or 3G, technology may allow the carriers to implement something for which they have long been angling: a tiered pricing structure that enables them to charge heavy data users more money.

Four areas to watch beyond the radio

Quite correctly, the majority of attention and focus at next week's CTIA show will fall to operator plans to roll out 4G networks and services and the efforts of radio and core IP vendors to enable that mobile broadband infrastructure. But as the mobile industry continues to swallow up everything in its path - and with the CTIA show itself following a similar trajectory - other areas merit attention too.

Here are four:

1) LTE and other technologies roll out of the labs and into field tests and ultimately into commercial deployment this year, test vendors are all over this opportunity.

2) Mobile billing.

3) Platforms enabling both device makers, mobile operators and their various sales and distribution channels better deal with today's more complex mobile value chain.

4) IP core, Gigabit Ethernet.

Google's Growing Infrastructure Advantage

Google's content comprises between 6 and 10 percent of global Internet traffic, making its internal network one of the top three ISPs in the world, according to Arbor Networks. However, the total volume of traffic is just one measure of how big a web presence a company has — the other is how it can leverage that scale to cut its costs and boost its ability to better serve customers. For Google, which has long seen its infrastructure as a competitive advantage, the ability to keep its mighty web traffic on its own network rather than pay others to deliver it is a margin-boosting — and quality-boosting — advantage.

Cape Cod Wins Broadband Stimulus Grant

OpenCape won the $32 million it requested to deploy a 350-mile fiber backhaul to connect government agencies, hospitals, research organizations and other anchor institutions, both public and private sector, to high-speed broadband.

Massachusetts contributed $8 million in matching funds. Town IT officials see the forthcoming network as a vehicle for finally sharing IT platforms with other towns, according to Teresa Martin, vice chair of OpenCape. Having struggled for years with spotty connectivity and small budgets, many towns on the cape have been without technologies other areas take for granted, like online permit application functionality. Using the forthcoming fiber backhaul, set to include a regional data center, local Cape Cod towns will be able to share such applications. The regional data center, owned by OpenCape, will house whatever servers are necessary for the shared applications. The fiber will deliver them to the various local government offices. A central GIS repository is among the first projects Martin expects to see towns share.

GAO: Over Two-Thirds of Primetime Programming Produced by Broadcast Networks

The media industry plays a vital role in informing and entertaining the public. Media ownership and the availability of diverse programming have been a long-standing concern of Congress. Despite numerous programming choices in television and radio available to the public, some studies have reported that independently produced programming -- that is, programming not affiliated with broadcast networks or cable operators -- has decreased through the years. GAO found major broadcasters produced about 76 to 84 percent of prime time programming hours.

This requested report discusses 1) the extent to which the sources of television programming have changed over the last decade, 2) the factors industry stakeholders identified as affecting the availability of independent television programming, and 3) the factors industry stakeholders identified as influencing programming decisions in radio. To address these issues, GAO analyzed data from the Federal Communications Commission and industry on sources of broadcast television programming in prime time (weeknights generally from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) and companies owning cable networks, as well as radio format data to determine programming variety. GAO also reviewed legal, agency, and industry documents and interviewed industry stakeholders, public interest groups, and others.

GAO-10-369

What's Television's Next Business Model?

Contrary to what some new-media folks believe, television still aggregates an audience and still has a business model (albeit an aging one). Each TV program represents distinct audiences that come together to sample relevant content.

It's hard to find TV content today that does not contain Web site addresses, Twitter mentions, and text-based messages throughout. It's accepted that even with these "light" reference points, as it stands now TV's long-term prospects pale in comparison to those of the Internet, mostly because TV content still has no direct-response mechanism. Blending Internet elements into TV content makes for a seamless experience - and, in my opinion, is tomorrow's preferred business model. When I watch TV it feels, and looks, as if we're already headed in this direction. What we are missing, though -- in addition to some critical technology deployments -- is a unified direction for the industry on planning for, and measuring, TV click responses. It's clear to me that the future of television planning will be response-driven. However, until we can develop cross-platform metrics, additional new business models for television will be nearly impossible to establish. In addition, when we do establish the rules for cross-platform measurement, I think we will see tremendous synergies unlocked for agencies that had the foresight to consolidate their traditional and new-media businesses.

Local TV news doesn't share the public interest

The Federal Communications Commission says that, in exchange for the right to use the airwaves we all own, a broadcaster must operate in the "public interest," airing "programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community."

From what a USC Norman Lear Center study has concluded -- Los Angeles television news stations manage just 22 seconds of local government coverage for every half hour on the air -- broadcasters follow FCC rules like L.A. drivers follow stop signs: as helpful reminders for anyone who doesn't happen to be in a big hurry. And make no mistake, the people who run TV news are in a big hurry -- to create a space for news not already appearing on the Internet, to cling to viewers fleeing to their Xboxes and DVRs and to prop up endangered advertising revenue, any way they can. Anyone even vaguely paying attention has recognized for some time that local TV operators take something less than a keen interest in elevated civic discourse. You're sure to learn about the Guitar Hero championships. (Slammin' video. No analysis required.) But don't expect to find out much about who's running for Assembly or just how much library hours will be reduced by the latest city budget cuts.

Comcast Won't Challenge FCC's Closing of Terrestrial Exemption

Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts has told Senate Judiciary Committee members that his company will not to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's tightening/closing of the terrestrial exemption last fall, either at the FCC or in the courts.

But he "reserved the right to defend ourselves if any complaints should be filed." He also pointed out that there is only one Comcast-affiliated network across its 39-state footprint that the company has not made available to all competitors -- Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia -- and that it is ready to do so as soon as DirecTV relinquished its exclusive access to NFL Sunday Ticket.

House Passes Bill that Would Extend Satellite Blanket License to April 30

It looks like the satellite blanket license might have to continue to be a temporary tag.

According to a copy of the bill's language, HR 4851 has been introduced in the House to extend the March 28 expiration of that license to April 30. When Congress failed to pass a five-year extension of the license that allows satellite companies to offer distant network TV station signals to subscribers who can't receive a viewable local version, the license was extended to Feb. 28 along with several jobs-related programs that were also scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2009. That deadline passed without either a reauthorization or extension and the license briefly expired, but was extended within days to March 28 in hopes that the full, five-year extension could pass by then. It did pass in the Senate, with language to retroactively cover the few days when the license expired, but that bill has gotten caught up in the House, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee source, hence the introduction of yet another extension.

Update:

The House passed HR 4851 on March 17, according to a Hill staffer following the satellite bill's progress. The bill is a stop-gap measure that extends until April 30 the satellite blanket license, along with other programs--like unemployment benefits--that had been scheduled to sunset back in December. Now the bill must go to the Senate for passage before March 28, when the current license expires. The House is also currently considering the Senate-passed full, five-year reauthorization of the satellite license, which allows satellite companies to offer distant network TV station signals to subs who can't receive a viewable local version.

Cable Web Sites Dominate Top 10 News Destinations in February

CNN closed in on MSNBC in the month of February as the two cable news destinations vie for the top of the 10 most visited current events and global news destination Web sites, according to Nielsen Online.

MSNBC had 45.1 million unique visitors, up 9.9% year-over-year and 22% compared to the previous month of January. CNN Digital Network had 44.1 million uniques in February up 22.8% in year-ago comparisons and 8.7% from January. CNN Digital was the top news destination in January. The data comes on the heels' of The Project For Excellence in Journalism's newly released State of the Media 2010 report that revealed people who read the top 20 news and information sites defined by Nielsen return more often, averaging five visits per month and 18 page views. The rest of the 179 sites on the list of 199 averaged 3.3 visits per person and 14 web page views.

Benton

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