April 2013

Google Brings Internet of the Future, TV of the Past to Austin

When it comes to the TV part of Fiber, Google is acting just like any other pay TV company — you give it a bunch of money, and it gives you a bunch of channels, no matter which ones you actually watch.

That’s the bundle concept that ties together the entire TV Industrial Complex, and while lots of people are always talking about breaking the bundle, no one’s done it yet. And Google doesn’t seem interested in trying to do it. Google is annoyingly vague about the TV channels it will have in Austin (and any other details about its offering). But it’s reasonable to assume that it’s going to look a lot like the ones it offers in Kansas City. At least some of the programmers it works with in Kansas City have deals that will allow Google to roll over the same offering into new territories, industry executives say. And there’s no reason for the channels not to support the move. Google gives the cable programmers what they want, which means deals to take all of their networks, at rates that are as least as high as the ones they negotiated with AT&T and Verizon, the last two big guys to enter the pay TV world.

AT&T Announces Intent to Build 1 Gigabit Fiber Network in Austin

AT&T is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, Texas, capable of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. AT&T’s expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives. This expanded investment is not expected to materially alter AT&T’s anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.

Facebook closes in on Google for mobile-ad supremacy in US

A new report by market researcher IDC contends Facebook, Pandora and Twitter are rapidly taking over the multibillion-dollar mobile-display ad market in the U.S. at the expense of ad networks such as Google, Apple and Millennial Media. Mobile ad spending in the United States remains strong: it grew 88% in 2012, to $4.5 billion. IDC expects growth of 55% to 65% this year, to about $7 billion, and for Facebook and Twitter to expand their businesses.

Seattle Survey Guides Tech Policy

From now until April 19, Seattle residents will have an opportunity to help their city understand how to adopt technology. By taking a 15 -minute survey, residents will guide the city in its decisions on digital inclusion, cable refranchising, website design, public access TV offerings and public outreach. The survey is part of Seattle’s Information Technology Indicators Project, an effort to increase broadband use and technology access across the city. Similar surveys were conducted in past years.

Disruptive technology is catalyst for change, not the reason

The future of business isn't tied to the permeation of Facebook, Twitter, iPhones and Droids, pins on Pinterest, apps or real-time geolocation check-ins. The future of business comes down to relevance and the ability to understand how technology affects decision-making and behavior to the point where the recognition of new opportunities and the ability to strategically adapt to them becomes a competitive advantage.

This is about the survival of both the fittest and the fitting. It takes more than a new presence in channels to improve customer experiences and relationships. It takes courage. It takes persistence to break through resistance. But, in the end, it's how you work with your leaders, or how you lead, to move toward an empowered and customer-centric culture that sets in motion real transformation. You have a special path you must follow to set in motion the change that opens the door to improve experiences inside and outside the organization.

US government, business leaders push China on cyberattacks, Internet censorship

At a rare event featuring both American and Chinese government officials, U.S. diplomats and business leaders tried using economic arguments to persuade China to stop its cyberattacks and Internet censorship.

China’s heavy-handed Web restrictions not only slow Internet speeds and make company data less secure, they also have “tangible economic” effects on the country, said Gary Locke, the U.S. ambassador to China. Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats was even more blunt in calling out China for its actions. “I ask my Chinese friends to question whether this kind of activity serves China’s real interests as it seeks to attack high-end investment, aims to develop international markets for its innovative products, and wants its companies welcomed and respected as they increasingly invest around the world,” Hormats said.

Stations Reaping Increased Retransmission Revenues

BIA/Kelsey reports that television stations are seeing increased revenues from retransmission consent agreements, the negotiated fees arranged with local cable and satellite delivery systems to carry their stations. In 2012 BIA/Kelsey estimates that these amounts contributed an average 6.5% of total television station revenues. It adds: “An increasingly significant stream of income, this source is expected to grow to 9.5 percent by 2017 as contracts expire and are renegotiated.”

Charter Dangles Broadband Carrot at the FCC

Charter Communications has promised to expand the reach of its 100 Megabits per second high-speed Internet service tier by an additional 200,000 homes and go all-digital in every market if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grants the MSO a temporary set-top waiver that will help Charter deploy a new downloadable video security system.

Those are two of three voluntary conditions and "additional assurances" Charter president and CEO Tom Rutledge outlined in an April 4 filing, delivered as the FCC continues to weigh Charter's request for a two-year waiver that would let the operator deploy set-tops capable of running the new downloadable security system alongside an integrated version of its legacy conditional access platform. The proposed dual-security box would not support a CableCARD interface.

To help Charter secure the waiver, here's what Rutledge is proposing:

Charter will convert 100% of its systems -- including its entire rural footprint -- to all-digital within nine months after the end of the two-year waiver.
Charter will make broadband Internet access service of 100 Mbps or greater available to 200,000 additional homes within two years of grant of the waiver. Charter declined to say how many of its 3.8 million residential cable modem customers currently have access to the MSO's 100 Mbps Ultra cable modem tier today, which is paired with a 5 Mbps upstream, but the vast majority of its plant has the pieces in place to deliver such speeds. According to a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Charter ended 2012 with DOCSIS 3.0 deployed to 94 percent of its homes passed, "allowing us to offer multiple tiers of Internet services with speeds up to 100 Mbits download to our residential customers." About 98 percent of Charter's cable network supported 550 MHz or more of capacity at the end of 2012.
Charter will continue to provide CableCARDs for new CableCARD devices (such as a TiVo DVR) until such time as a third-party retail device with downloadable security is available for use by Charter subscribers.

The downsides of a gig: what other towns have learned after getting a gig

Getting a gig is great, but as Kansas City and other gigabit towns can tell you, there’s a big learning curve.

As Google even pointed out during its launch in Kansas City, equipment and event services such as SpeedTest.net weren’t ready to support gigabit connections. Now Ookla, which runs Speedtest.net, can support a gig, but devices like laptops that don’t support 802.11a/c standards might not. Mike Farmer, the CEO of Leap2, a Kansas City, Kan., startup that has a gig, says that his current MacBook is a bottleneck because, unless he hard-wires it, it can’t support a gig. But he has a bigger problem as well. “I can watch seven simultaneous YouTube streams in 1080p high-def and Netflix, while still having 750 Mbps left over,” he told me. When I asked what he does with the remaining 750 Mbps, there is silence. And that’s one of the downsides.

Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas

Google is pleased to announce with Mayor Lee Leffingwell that Austin, Texas is becoming a Google Fiber city.

It’s a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities, as well as the University of Texas and its new medical research hospital. We’re sure these folks will do amazing things with gigabit access, and we feel very privileged to have been welcomed to their community. Our goal is to start connecting homes in Austin by mid-2014. Customers there will have a similar choice of products as our customers in Kansas City: Gigabit Internet or Gigabit Internet plus our Google Fiber TV service with nearly 200 HD TV channels. We’re still working out pricing details, but we expect them to be roughly similar to Kansas City. Also, as in Kansas City, we’re going to offer customers a free Internet connection at 5 mbps for 7 years, provided they pay a one-time construction fee. We’re also planning to connect many public institutions as we build in Austin— schools, hospitals, community centers, etc. — at a gigabit for no charge. If you live in Austin and want to sign up for more information, please visit our website.

Benton

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