April 2014

Can Google sustain its awesome side projects with decreasing ad revenue?

With buzz building about Google's newest project, the build-it-yourself smartphone known as "Project Ara," it's worth noting that some company observers are concerned about what Google's side projects are doing to its profit margins.

The tech giant is set to report earnings for the first quarter of 2014, and while analysts expect that it will post solid revenue, a growing number of voices are asking whether the company is spending its money wisely.

Google is, primarily, a search and advertising company. But it's clearly happy to invest in a variety of other projects that aim to tackle big problems and new challenges. These, in turn, offer Google new ways to make money -- something that's particularly important as the average cost of an online ad drops, and Web users shift more heavily to mobile devices, where the ads aren't as lucrative.

21st Century Fox Reorganizes Government Relations

As part of a restructuring of the government relations department, Maureen O'Connell, senior VP, regulatory and public policy, government relations for 21st Century Fox in Washington, is exiting her post after 18 years.

The news was announced in an internal memo from executive VP, government affairs, Mike Regan, which was circulated and confirmed by a Fox spokesperson. O'Connell will be available to help during the transition. In the wake of the company's global expansion -- most recently in Hong Kong and Brussels -- Kathy Ramsey, VP of government affairs, has been named senior VP and COO of government affairs.

VP and associate general counsel Jared Sher will assume much of O'Connell's portfolio of domestic and regulatory issues and represent the company before the FCC. O'Connell's successes in that role included Fox's fight against Federal Communications Commission indecency rules, pushback on efforts to weaken retransmission consent and helping shepherd various deals, including DirecTV and the Wall Street Journal purchase.

A top News Corp. executive once dubbed O'Connell the "queen of indecency," a title she was said to relish. Regan thanked O'Connell for her "many contributions to our company."

SCOTUSblog Denied Senate Press Credentials, May Sue

SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein wrote that the Senate Press Galley has denied its application for a press pass and will not renew a previously granted credential to Lyle Denniston, a veteran Supreme Court reporter who writes for the site.

In a post on his site, Goldstein wrote that SCOTUSblog plans to appeal the decision, and if denied, will “litigate the issue.”

Despite winning major journalism awards and becoming a go-to source for comprehensive coverage of Supreme Court decisions, SCOTUSblog has struggled to obtain press credentials. The Supreme Court has never credentialed SCOTUSblog, although Denniston currently has a credential for his work with Boston public radio station WBUR.

For now, SCOTUSblog can request public seats for cases, but cannot send another reporter in Denniston's place. Denniston has covered the Supreme Court for over 50 years, and if he were to retire, SCOTUSBlog would be without anyone with a pass.

NPD: Growth in Mobile Broadband May Push Greater Tablet Subsidies

The number of active mobile broadband devices in Americans’ hands will increase 50 percent to 34 million by year-end 2015, and two-thirds of them will be tablets, according to new market research from The NPD Group.

Today, tablets account for 40 percent of mobile broadband connections. Carriers will have to boost adoption of connected tablets as use of mobile hotspots and USB sticks decline. With the shift, the price of embedded cellular tablets should decline rapidly, according to NPD’s “Connected Intelligence Mobile Broadband Market Share and Forecast Report.”

“Tablets are the next subscriber battleground for the carriers,” NPD director, Connected Intelligence Brad Akyuz was quoted as saying. “The decline in ASPs [application service providers], coupled with the intensified pricing competition, will further boost connected tablet adoption in the coming years.

Recrafting Open Internet Rules

[Commentary] On April 11, the Benton Foundation responded to the Federal Communications Commission’s request for public comment on how to preserve an Open Internet in the wake of the ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which struck down some of the FCC’s Open Internet (or “network neutrality”) rules.

Benton strongly believes that Open Internet rules are necessary for the Internet to continue to be a boon to commerce and our democracy, and they remain an important policy goal of the FCC. It is particularly important to enact strong Open Internet rules because of the disproportionate impact of an ISP’s discriminatory behavior on vulnerable populations, such as people of color, low-income populations, seniors, people with disabilities, and rural communities.

In the current proceeding, the FCC indicated its preference to enact Open Internet standards under Sec 706 authority and to enforce those standards on a case-by-case basis. In our comments, Benton encourages the FCC to take a close look at the issues surrounding use of Sec 706, and consider a pathway to achieve meaningful protections through reclassification of the provision of broadband as a telecommunications service. This may be a politically difficult choice, but it is an inevitable choice if the FCC is to ensure the continued value and viability of the Internet.

In addition, reclassifying broadband delivery services would further solidify the FCC’s authority to make necessary updates to vital universal service programs including E-Rate, Lifeline, and Link-up which ensure that telecommunications services are available and affordable throughout the country.

A Robust Health Data Infrastructure

The Department of Health and Human Services posted a report by JASON, an independent group of scientists that advises the Federal government on matters of science and technology, called “.”

This report is consistent with our intent to support nationwide interoperability in a way that supports care, health and is flexible enough to meet the challenges of the future. The Office of the National Coordinator and the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) have already begun to work on many of the recommendations cited in the report–although this represents the beginning, not the end of our efforts.

The JASON recommendations continue to challenge us to stay focused on the path ahead. As we move forward over the next few years, we will be focusing much of our efforts on supporting advanced care models and completing electronic health record adoption across the spectrum of health care. We will use the policy levers available to support the electronic exchange of health information and support consumer engagement in health-care, while trying to reduce health disparities.

Finally, we will strive to improve our electronic health record certification program -- while we continue our strong support of the standards and technical infrastructure to reach our goals. The JASON report builds upon our understanding of the technical, broad policy and privacy and security issues that are both opportunities and challenges as we advance an agenda of meaningful exchange and interoperability.

NBCUniversal Plans Big Digital Video Push

NBCUniversal said it plans to launch an extensive original programming slate for its digital platforms.

The Comcast unit said the programming would be featured on its channels' websites, through video on-demand services and on streaming service Hulu.

NBCUniversal said the plan is "designed to connect advertising brands with consumers in the most engaging and immersive ways." The digital series, in several cases, will be developed in collaboration with advertising partners, the company added.

"Much of the uncaptured value in the online world can be unlocked with smart collaborations between creators and clients," NBCUniversal content executive Jeff Wachtel said in a release. "This year, we're making a big push to building that bridge."

NBCUniversal's announcement comes two weeks after it reached a multiyear deal to give Hulu exclusive rights to stream several TV shows.

Agencies Model Newsrooms for Real-Time Marketing

Madison Avenue has long been home to creative gurus who had months to produce an advertising campaign. But an explosion of social media has pushed ad firms to work at faster paces and to even hire folks who are used to working on tight deadlines: reporters.

Take Caitlin Francke, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and the Philadelphia Inquirer. After a stint in marketing at Conde Nast and work at various agencies, she’s now senior vice president and director of social strategy at Publicis Kaplan Thaler.

“We know as journalists that we can teach to the advertising agencies the need to move that much faster,” Francke said. Her job includes running Publicis’s so called “Newsdesk” operations, a department of 50 people that includes social strategists, creative staffers and others.

The newsdesk, formed two years ago, monitors social media for eight clients and looks for opportunities for a marketer to jump in on a conversation in real-time. A morning meeting for the newsdesk may include a rundown of the important news of the day, a discussion of what major events to prepare for and a review of the conversations that are unfolding on social media. For big events, like the Olympics, Publicis will set up a pop-up 24/7 newsdesk for its client.

If they spot an opportunity, they post something quickly on social media channels like Facebook or Twitter that links the brand to what’s going on. Finding the right opportunity isn’t easy – a brand doesn’t want to tie itself to bad news.

Dish To Refund $2 million To Washington State Customers

Dish Network will reimburse Washington state customers about $2 million for a surcharge officials called deceptive, but the satellite TV provider denied wrongdoing in the agreement announced by the state attorney general's office.

The Colorado-based company also will give existing customers who were charged the fee cash credit or access to free programming and pay the state nearly $570,000.

Dish denies the fee was illegal or deceptive, saying the state raised its business tax and the company was informing customers why prices were going up by listing a "Washington surcharge" on bills. Dodge said the company decided to settle with the state to avoid a court fight.

AT&T threatens to boycott airwave auction

AT&T is threatening to sit out the Federal Communications Commission’s highly anticipated spectrum auction in 2015, which will sell billions of dollars’ worth of airwaves.

As the FCC plans the auction, it is considering "complicated and unnecessary" restrictions on large companies, AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh said. “Such restrictions would put AT&T in an untenable position, forcing AT&T to reevaluate its potential participation in the auction,” Marsh wrote.

AT&T’s filing pointed to the auction’s x-factors, including where the FCC sets the revenue benchmark. The proposal in front of the agency -- which will be voted on at the FCC’s May meeting -- “does not define the threshold for initiation of the restrictions, instead deferring this determination to a subsequent order,” Marsh wrote. She urged the FCC to set the benchmark “at a significant and material level” to keep the small wireless carriers from getting the airwaves “at a discount that the FCC cannot afford to give in this auction.”

Marsh also noted the uncertainty around how much of their airwaves broadcasters will be willing to sell back. If they’re only willing to sell back 60 MHz or less, AT&T and Verizon will be forced to split the available three 10-MHz blocks.

“The restrictions would thus put AT&T in an untenable and unacceptable position,” the filing said. “AT&T could either participate in the auction, accepting that it will likely obtain only a fragmented and inefficient 600 MHz footprint, or it can choose to withhold its capital for other investments and sit out of the auction entirely.”

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