April 2014

Report links OTT on television with increase in cord cutting

A report by consumer data company Experian shows a direct link between the availability of over-the-top content such as Netflix and an increase in consumers cutting the cable cord.

In data compiled from interviews with 24,219 US adults, the report showed that in 2013 18.1 percent of households with a Netflix or Hulu account fell into the cord-cutter category. In 2010 that number was 12.7 percent. At the same time, the total percentage of cord-cutting US households across all subscriptions climbed to 6.5 percent from 4.5 percent in 2010. "While the term cord-cutter implies that a household had a cable or satellite TV subscription that was cancelled, young adults starting out on their own for the first time may never pay for TV service," the report stated. The numbers seem to back that up as households with anyone in the 18-34 age range comprise 12.4 percent of cord cutter households. That number, too, is up from 7.9 percent in 2010. Perhaps most telling in the statistics -- and the area that would seem most heartening to pay TV subscribers -- is the finding that viewing content on devices isn't driving cord cutting. When that content is available on TV, however, it's another matter. "Despite the fact that a growing number of Americans are watching video on portable personal devices, that doesn't seem to be enough to overwhelmingly convince Americans to cut the cord," the report states. "Rather, it's the ability to stream or download video directly to the television -- the modern caveman's campfire -- that seems to be the tipping point."

Why the Future of Media and Journalism Really Is Bright

[Commentary] When attending two disparate conferences that shunned hype and hyperbole (and despair), and provided a decidedly forward-looking and practical perspective: America East, addressing media and technology strategies, and Journalism Interactive, an event attended mostly by journalism educators, focused on inspiring and preparing the next generation of journalists, I noticed some common themes emerged from both events:

Data will be at the core of everything media companies do going forward.
The future is visual.
Community engagement is critical to business and journalistic success.
Embrace technology to solve problems -- for media organizations and their customers.
Entrepreneurism needs to be the lifeblood of media organizations and the oxygen for journalists.
The takeaways from both events are not about the relative health of media companies or the importance of journalism degrees. Rather, it's about tangible evidence that there are innovators in our midst who are passionately committed to changing the paradigm.

[Bennett is Director of Entrepreneurship and Partnerships, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications]

FCC's Grimaldi Joins Pandora

Dave Grimaldi, former chief of staff to Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and senior legal advisor to acting FCC Chairwoman Clyburn, has joined Pandora as director of public affairs.

Pandora is an online personalized radio service that launched in 2000. It now boasts hundreds of thousands of titles and tens of millions of listeners monthly. Grimaldi had been chief of staff since 2010, as well as media legal advisor.

He was succeeded last November by Adonis Hoffman. Before joining the FCC, Grimaldi had been senior counsel to house Majority Whip James Clyburn (Mignon Clyburn's father), specializing in telecom and technology, among other things. He was also former legislative counsel to Rep Ed Towns (D-NY).

Getting the Incentive Auction Right

The Incentive Auction is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the benefits of mobile wireless coverage and competition to consumers across the Nation -- particularly consumers in rural areas -- offering more choices of wireless providers, lower prices, and higher quality mobile services.

Getting the Incentive Auction right will revolutionize how spectrum is allocated. By marrying the economics of demand (think wireless providers) with the economics of current spectrum holders (think television broadcasters), the Incentive Auction will allow market forces to determine the highest and best use of spectrum.

In developing such an auction, we must also be guided by the rules of physics. Not all spectrum frequencies are created equal. Spectrum below 1 GHz – such as the Incentive Auction spectrum – has physical properties that increase the reach of mobile networks over long distances. As part of the Incentive Auction process, we will also make available on a nationwide basis spectrum for unlicensed use (think Wi-Fi).

With the increased use of Wi-Fi, this spectrum has also become congested. Opening up more spectrum for unlicensed use provides economic value to businesses and consumers alike. Whether television broadcasters participate in the Incentive Auction will be purely voluntary, but participation in the Incentive Auction does not mean they have to leave the TV business. New channel-sharing technologies offer broadcasters a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an infusion of cash to expand their business model and explore new innovations, while continuing to provide their traditional services to consumers.

We will ensure that broadcasters have all of the information they need to make informed business decisions about whether and how to participate. On April 17, I provided my fellow Commissioners a draft Report and Order that will determine many significant issues and policy decisions related to the Incentive Auction. The Commission will also make additional decisions to implement details pertaining to the Incentive Auction in the coming months.

Consumers Circumvent Physicians When Using Mobile Health Apps

In the absence of research on the impact of mobile technologies on health outcomes, in particular, doctors are not convinced that consumers can change health behavior or improve disease management though their use of apps.

Due to this reluctance on the part of physicians to embrace mHealth, consumers are cutting out medical professionals as they pursue mobile technology in their own pursuit of improved health results -- creating a vicious circle.

A new study, which surveyed 1,000 consumers who use or plan to use health and fitness mobile apps, found that while 70 percent of respondents use apps on a daily basis to track calorie intake and monitor physical activities, just 40 percent actually share their data and insights with their doctors.

What's more, 34 percent of mobile health and fitness app users in the survey indicated that they would increase their use of apps if their physicians actively recommended them.

Can ‘Wi-Fi First’ Work?

Cable’s history with mobile services is full of stops, starts and outright disasters.

Now, many of the nation’s top cable operators have hitched their wagons to Wi-Fi, deploying hundreds of thousands of hotspots out on the HFC network coupled with roaming agreements, and an increasing use of in-home gateways as neighborhood hotspots.

Although Wi-Fi has traditionally been a fixed wireless technology, we’re already seeing evidence of next-gen Wi-Fi networks that can enable seamless handoffs between those hotspots, with Time Warner Cable taking the lead with its announced widespread deployment of Hotspot 2.0 technology.

As evidenced by Comcast’s TWC merger filing, Comcast has also been considering a so-called “Wi-Fi First” approach that would favor Wi-Fi over other connectivity options, namely cellular. But despite that important multiple service operator roaming partnership that remains limited to four card-carrying members (albeit large ones), Wi-Fi isn’t everywhere (yet), and there's still some doubt that it can offer mobility that is on par with cellular networks, so any notion of ubiquitous coverage still requires access to the cellular network. Cable doesn’t have one that it can call its own.

Why The World's Largest Provider Of Online Courses Thinks It's The Answer To Getting Ahead In The New Economy

[Commentary] Not every 18-year-old knows what they want to do with their life; few fully understand the market demand for different skills and competencies; and none know exactly how industries and the implications for their future careers will evolve.

Our traditional education model has many virtues, but it is front-loaded and not designed to accommodate the volatility of individual career aspirations or that of the market. A big part of the challenge is that the half-life of knowledge and skills is decreasing.

I look at our Coursera engineers, mostly in their mid to late 20s, and consider all the programming they’re doing in languages that literally did not exist when they were in school. The traditional model is also out of sync with the current generation of highly mobile millennials who, on average, change jobs every 3.2 years in the United States, according to Bureau of Labor statistics.

A front-loaded model focused on general and transferable skills and knowledge has a place, but it’s clear that it needs to be complemented with training that is more current and dynamic. In a high-skills economy, the labor market requires constant infusion of up-to-date skills to work well. Informal education is becoming increasingly relevant for individuals seeking to differentiate themselves in the job market, advance at their companies, or pursue a new career path.

More accessible and dynamic learning options are opening up -- there are a number of MOOCs; coding bootcamps like Dev Bootcamp; sites like Udemy, Code Academy, and Treehouse; and abundant content on YouTube EDU at your fingertips.

[Stiglitz is the Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Coursera]

What Somalia’s New Internet Looks Like From Silicon Valley

Somalia’s first terrestrial fiber optic cables have connected the country to the modern Internet.

The BBC reported that Somalis have been in “culture shock” ever since. “They’re very excited about the speed,” a spokesman from Somalia Wireless, an Internet service provider (ISP), told the BBC, which reports that: People have been flocking to hotels and Internet cafes to try out the fast service -- some seeing video platforms like YouTube and social networking sites for the first time, our correspondent says.

Until recently, Internet connectivity in Somalia came exclusively through dial-up modems and satellite. Then, Internet providers rolled out fiber optic connections in nation’s capital, Mogadishu. The cables run though Somalia’s neighbor, Kenya, which hooked up the first of four undersea cables in 2009.

Gag Order From Israeli Court Raises Questions

[Commentary] The New York Times published an article about an Arab citizen of Israel -- a 23-year-old journalist and Palestinian rights advocate -- who was detained by Israeli authorities.

The man, Majd Kayyal, was initially not allowed a lawyer, and he was interrogated for five days on suspicion that he was being recruited by a “hostile organization” after he visited Lebanon. He was released but ordered to be kept under house arrest.

The Times article mentions a court-imposed gag order that was lifted. What it doesn’t mention is that The Times, too, is subject to such gag orders.

According to its bureau chief in Jerusalem, Jodi Rudoren, that is true. The Times is “indeed, bound by gag orders,” Rudoren said. She said that the situation is analogous to abiding by traffic rules or any other laws of the land, and that two of her predecessors in the bureau chief position affirmed to her that The Times has been subject to gag orders in the past.

In the case of article about Kayyal, Rudoren said, “We probably would have written a modest story or brief about this arrest earlier if there had not been a gag order.”

Waiting a day or two until the gag order was lifted may have done no great harm. Still, I find it troubling that The Times is in the position of waiting for government clearance before deciding to publish.

If the law makes that situation unavoidable, a little transparency would go a long way. Either in a sentence within an article or a short editor’s note, The Times can, and should, tell its readers what’s going on.

[Sullivan is the fifth public editor appointed by The New York Times.]

After another data breach, Congress pressed to act

Credit unions are looking for Congress to take up legislation following news of a new data breach that exposed millions of shoppers’ data.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions told House and Senate leaders that revelations about the data breach at arts and crafts chain Michaels, which affected about 2.6 million customer debit and credit cards, are a reminder to act.

“In light of this and the numerous other large scale data breaches occurring on the heels of major breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus over the holidays, it is clear that Congress must take action to protect consumers’ financial information,” trade group CEO Dan Berger wrote.

The Target and Neiman Marcus breaches that potentially affected more than 100 million people rattled Washington and led to a wave of hearings and proposed legislation.

Benton

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