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April 2014

Pay TV subscriptions expected to rise through 2019

For the pay-TV industry, 2013 was a down year. But pay-TV providers can look forward to growth in the next five years.

Subscriptions dropped less than 1% in 2013 -- the first decline for providers. But homes that subscribe to pay TV are expected to grow annually from 2014 to 2019, increasing from about 101 million to 103.2 million, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.

Better pay-TV services that incorporate Net TV content providers such as Netflix and deliver improved on-the-go content viewing will help drive increased subscriptions, the research firm says.

And more homes will opt for pay TV from telecom providers such as AT&T and Verizon. That explosion of choice -- in TV delivery and programming -- puts the onus on viewers, says Joel Espelien of The Diffusion Group. "You have to be so much more of a sophisticated consumer," he says, "because these services are part-technology, part-user interface and part-original content."

Privacy, media groups want anti-Muslim video kept online

A host of news outlets and privacy rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to keep the anti-Muslim video “Innocence of Muslims” on the Internet.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to reverse a decision to take down the contested video, which was partially blamed for the 2012 attack at a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

“Whatever may be said about the merits of ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ it has unquestionably become part of the historical record,” the groups wrote. If the current ruling is left to stand, they added, it “is likely to harm online expression.”

The Washington Post, National Public Radio, Los Angeles Times and other news companies filed a similar friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that the decision to take down the disputed video “failed to adequately consider the impact its decision could have on core First Amendment rights” and “could empower putative plaintiffs to bypass well-established constitutional protections against restraints on speech...”

The groups are protesting the court’s 2-1 February decision ordering Google, which owns YouTube, to take the video offline. They are looking for a new decision from a slate of 11 judges on the panel, known as an en banc review.

Zebra Pays $3.5 Billion for Motorola Tracking Technology

Zebra Technologies is buying a unit of Motorola Solutions for $3.45 billion, borrowing most of the amount for a bet on mobile-computing services for businesses that need to track employees and products.

Zebra plans to fund the deal with about $200 million of cash and $3.25 billion in new debt. That’s almost as much as Zebra itself is worth, based on the closing stock price, which valued the company at about $3.4 billion. Both companies offer bar-code scanning, radio-frequency identification and other technology that companies can use to control their inventory, whether it’s retailers stocking shelves or hospitals recording doses of medicine.

Motorola also has specialized tablets and computers for various industries.

What Heartbleed tells us about software liability

[Commentary] The technology press has been awash in stories recently about the so-called Heartbleed bug that releases sensitive user data from any service using the OpenSSL encryption library.

To hold companies accountable for Heartbleed, we would need not product liability or restrictions on contract liability waivers, but rather, some sort of tort liability for service operators. Internet services can grow very popular very quickly. Consequently, increased liability could result in a structural shift in the Internet ecosystem.

Large, established companies such as Facebook or Google would likely become more averse to security risks, making them more cautious and shy about innovation. Small startup companies, on the other hand, who are constantly at risk of failing, would not have the resources or incentives to increase security and would take the risk of innovating without investing in security. Therefore, smaller companies would get an increasing advantage over their slower-moving, larger rivals who delayed new innovation in order to minimize security risks. Such a market, where low-security startups represent an increasing share of the computing industry, would be inherently more hazardous.

Ideally, large companies would voluntarily collaborate to improve the security of common shared infrastructure like OpenSSL or Linux. However, no intervention along these lines is likely to more than a moderate benefit. We don’t have robust ways to measure security improvements, or how security-critical any piece of code is. As a result, we aren’t going to be able to construct robust incentives here. Ultimately, the right lesson to draw from the Heartbleed bug is that we do not yet know the right technical or social mechanisms for building large software systems securely and economically.

[Rabkin is a researcher interested in techniques for building and debugging complex software systems]

Should Google know your deepest darkest secrets?

[Commentary] Google opens up its Explorer Program, offering the general public an opportunity to purchase Glass for $1,500. Although spots are limited, the expansion of the Glass club has created tremendous excitement across tech blogs and Silicon Valley -- finally, the tools are readily available to record our complete existence, every moment of our lives on Earth, every face we encounter.

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, we need not be concerned if our entire lives are recorded and made visible to others, because: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Reality, of course, is far more complex than Schmidt's vision of a flat monoculture of morals. We all do things that we don't want our grandmothers, significant others, friends, or bosses to see. But Glass changes all that because we no longer have control over how our lives are recorded and shared online.

A key driver of our cultural output is our robust civil society -- the private sphere of human interactions outside of business or government that creates and nurtures new ideas. We don't need to go back far in history -- the Stasi, McCarthyism, the Salem witch trials, etc. -- to observe the disastrous cultural effects wrought by the breakdown of civil society. In all of these cases, the usurping of privacy was a key tool of the regime in control; the perception of being constantly watched created a normalizing effect, where citizens slowly internalized the surveillance and modified their behaviors to be less and less idiosyncratic.

[Madsbjerg is a senior partner at ReD Associates]

Boomers, Seniors Embrace Mobile for Retail

Mobile shopping is no longer the purview of Gen Y and Gen X, as boomers and seniors are increasingly incorporating mobile into their brick-and-mortar shopping behaviors.

Univision Debuts Its First English-Language Video Network for Millennials

Univision is launching an English-language video channel called TheFlama with an eye on Hispanics between ages 15 and 30. Condom maker Trojan is the cross-programming launch partner for the online endeavor, while McDonald's is sponsoring the funny-minded show, Super Accurate Soccer History.

The initiative builds on the youngster-targeted, English-language television channel, Fusion, which Univision debuted last fall in conjunction with Disney. The developments underscore a widely held belief among marketers that Hispanic teens and young adults speak Spanish with their families while addressing their friends in English. At the same time, it is the media company's first online attempt at corralling this particular millennial set, which increasingly consumes video via smartphones and tablets.

"It's about digital, short-form and mobile," explained Steven Benanav, general manager for Flama, a new Univision department. "The programming will [utilize comedic] vernacular used on the Internet."

National Urban League
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
12:00-1:30pm
121 Cannon House Office Building

A briefing and panel discussion on how advancing a broadband agenda for urban America begins with a continued commitment to finding and elevating solutions that will support continued industry growth to create job opportunities and reduce unemployment in our urban communities.

Panel Moderated:
Hazeen Y. Ashby, Legislative Director for Research & Policy, National Urban League Washington Bureau

Keynote Speaker:
Rebekah Goodheart, Legal Advisor to Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn, Federal Communications Commission

Featured Panelists:
Dr. John B. Horrigan, Independent Communications and Technology Policy Consultant (formerly of the Pew Research Center and the Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies)
Dr. Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist, Progressive Policy Institute
Timothy R. Robinson, Legislative Director, Office of U.S. Representative Bobby Rush (IL-1)

RSVP: http://bit.ly/NULWBBroadband4All

*Lunch will be Served*


New America Foundation
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2014/media_in_syrias_evolving_conflict

The conflict in Syria is being presented to the international community through a complex mix of state, opposition, international and local media sources. Individuals and NGOs in Syria have also effectively used social media to show the world the horrors of the conflict. As the crisis has evolved, so too have the ways in which activists have deployed the media available to them.

We hope you will join New America to discuss the evolution of media throughout the conflict with award-winning filmmaker and activist Orwa Nyrabia. Mr. Nyrabia, an independent documentary film producer, filmmaker, actor, writer, and former journalist, is in the forefront of efforts to illuminate the ongoing destruction of Syrian creative culture. In addition to focusing on developments in the independent media sector, Mr. Nyrabia will also discuss how civil society groups are struggling to navigate the dynamics of conflict. Mr. Nyrabia will present a selection of video clips to frame the discussion.

Join the conversation online using #MediaInSyria and following @NatSecNAF.

Participants:

Orwa Nyrabia
Filmmaker and Activist
Co-Founder, DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival

Leila Hilal
Director, Middle East Task Force, New America

To RSVP for the event:
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2014/media_in_syrias_evolving_conflict

For questions, contact Liana Simonds at New America at (202) 735-2829 or simonds@newamerica.org


April 15, 2014 (Happy Tax Day)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014 (Happy Tax Day)

Sorry we’re late – some technical difficulties this morning.


CYBERSECURITY
   Heartbleed is about to get worse, and it will slow the Internet to a crawl
   More online Americans say they’ve experienced a personal data breach - research
   Google Knew About Heartbleed And Didn’t Tell The Government
   Trove of Software Flaws Used by US Spies at Risk
   Heartbleed portends larger security threats - Washington Post editorial
   NSA, Target, Heartbleed and Ethics - op-ed

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   On privacy, Silicon Valley needs to step up - editorial
   Google Revises Terms of Its Scans of Gmail [links to web]
   Privacy price gouging, courtesy of phone companies

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   After Netflix pays Comcast, speeds improve 65%
   Remarks by Anthony Wilhelm at National Telecommunications and Information Administration 2014 Broadband Communities Summit - speech [links to web]
   Why I quit writing Internet standards - op-ed [links to web]
   Outcome document arrives before the doors open for the NetMundial conference - AEI op-ed [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   T-Mobile: No more overage charges even on older voice and data plans
   FCC’s Wheeler Said to Plan Limits for Wireless Airwaves Auction
   Bidding Rules Becoming Clearer for Upcoming Airwaves Auction

OWNERSHIP
   FCC should approve the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger but keep a watchful eye - editorial
   Comcast basic cable prices up most
   Here’s Why the Comcast-Time Warner Merger is Bad - Susan Crawford op-ed
   With Purchase of Drone Maker, Google Sees a Fleet of Satellites

RADIO/TV
   Broadcasters Seek an Aereo 'Plan B'
   FCC Agents and USDOJ Seize Equipment from NYC Pirate Radio Stations - press release [links to web]
   TV Bounces Back -- For a Few Months [links to web]

EDUCATION
   Prominent Ed-Tech Players' Data-Privacy Policies Attract Scrutiny [links to web]

JOURNALISM
   Pulitzer Prizes Awarded for Coverage of NSA Secrets and Boston Bombing
   Snowden and His Accomplices - op-ed [links to web]
   There Are Far Fewer Reporters In America Today Than Ten Years Ago [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   The Transformative Impact of Data and Communication on Governance: Part 3 - op-ed [links to web]
   Snowden and His Accomplices - op-ed [links to web]

COMMUNITY MEDIA
   ALA releases 2014 State of America’s Libraries Report - press release [links to web]
   Librarians’ evolving digital roles [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   Al Franken, trustbuster?

AGENDA
   FCC Announces May 6 E-rate Modernization Workshop - public notice [links to web]
   SHLB Coalition’s Fourth Annual Conference May 7-9 - press release [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   Napster co-founder Sean Parker to lead civic startup Brigade [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Sky and TalkTalk’s Fiber Plans for UK Challenge BT’s Dominance [links to web]
   Possible Banksy Mural About Surveillance Pops Up in Britain [links to web]

MORE ONLINE
   Is Film the End of the Road for Small Cinemas? [links to web]

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CYBERSECURITY

HEARTBLEED IS ABOUT TO GET WORSE, AND IT WILL SLOW THE INTERNET TO A CRAWL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The Heartbleed bug has put many consumers' user names and passwords at risk. Undetected for two years, the bug quietly undermined the basic security of the Internet. But on top of all that, security researchers have now confirmed that Heartbleed could have been used by hackers to steal sensitive data needed to set up fake Web sites posing as legitimate ones. Analysts say criminals could use Heartbleed to impersonate as many as 500,000 sites across the Web. Those sites have yet to replace the security certificates responsible for verifying their identity to Web browsers. But even after the sites do update their security certificates, Web browsers may still be unable to tell the difference between a fake site and the real one. Consumers could easily fall victim to online fraud if they go to one of the fake sites. It gets worse. The expected flood of certificate revocations is likely to seriously degrade the speed of the Internet, primarily because the global system for tracking certificate revocations is not equipped to handle such a massive change.
benton.org/node/180453 | Washington Post
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MORE ONLINE AMERICANS SAY THEY’VE EXPERIENCED A PERSONAL DATA BREACH
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center, AUTHOR: Mary Madden]
As news of large-scale data breaches and vulnerabilities grows, new findings from the Pew Research Center suggest that growing numbers of online Americans have had important personal information stolen and many have had an account compromised. Findings from a January 2014 survey show that:
18% of online adults have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information. That’s an increase from the 11% who reported personal information theft in July 2013.
21% of online adults said they had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over without their permission. The same number reported this experience in a July 2013 survey.
benton.org/node/180431 | Pew Research Center | Washington Post
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GOOGLE KNEW ABOUT HEARTBLEED AND DIDN’T TELL THE GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
For some period of time, Google knew about a critical flaw in Internet security and didn't alert anyone in the government. Neel Mehta, a Google engineer, first discovered "Heartbleed" -- a bug that undermines the widely used encryption technology OpenSSL -- sometime in March. A team at the Finnish security firm Codenomicon discovered the flaw around the same time. Google was able to patch most of its services -- such as email, search, and YouTube -- before the companies publicized the bug on April 7.
benton.org/node/180449 | National Journal
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TROVE OF SOFTWARE FLAWS USED BY US SPIES AT RISK
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Michael Riley]
The White House’s directive to limit the use of software flaws by US intelligence agencies could require the disclosure of thousands of precious exploits now in the hands of elite spying units, intelligence professionals say. The stockpile of exploits is derived from vulnerabilities not just in ordinary computer software, but also in industrial controllers, heating and cooling systems, printers, anti-virus software, video conferencing systems and encryption protocols. The exploits, typically based on simple oversights and flaws in computer code that hackers can use to take control of most anything that runs with the help of a computer chip, are considered essential to gathering some of the most valuable US intelligence.
benton.org/node/180441 | Bloomberg
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HEARTBLEED PORTENDS LARGER SECURITY THREATS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Tens of millions of Americans have been affected by the theft of their personal information in the digital age. Then, it was discovered that a bug had crept into OpenSSL that could allow intruders to read encrypted data contained in memory, such as passwords or credit cards. The bug has been called “Heartbleed” and could allow attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data and even impersonate users and Web services. We’re tempted to say this ought to be a wake-up call, but we have already had so many wake-up calls. To put it bluntly: As a country and as a society, we have come to depend on a vast, interconnected system; if one small part fails, the impact is widespread. As noted in a forthcoming Atlantic Council report, the Internet was created to be based on trust, not security. Yet we continue to discover that it is vulnerable to theft, intrusion and disruption on an appalling scale. We are living in an age of growing danger but reacting with complacency. The Administration unveiled a useful initiative, promising that sharing cyberthreat information among companies would not bring on antitrust liability. But this, and President Barack Obama’s other measures, including his voluntary cybersecurity framework, represent only what is doable given a continued lack of a consensus in Congress and a failure in the private sector to take all threats more seriously. They are timid measures in the face of an epic heartburn that will be costly for us all.
benton.org/node/180435 | Washington Post
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NSA, TARGET, HEARTBLEED AND ETHICS
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Paul Martini]
[Commentary] It’s no surprise that the National Security Agency may have used the Heartbleed exploit to tap into sensitive encrypted communication, including that of Google. If you understand the nature of how the bug works, it goes hand in hand with undercover espionage. Heartbleed, the name given to the OpenSSL (Secure Socket Layer) flaw, allows sensitive information to leak (or bleed) from a server to any client connected to it. What makes this even more interesting is that the data is leaked to any computer connected to the server, so there’s no need to hijack someone else’s connection in order to exploit it. Here’s a simple scenario:
NSA connects to server with the Heartbleed flaw.
NSA stays connected, gathering leaked information until it receives the private SSL key of the server.
NSA stores private key and uses it to decrypt previous and future communication to the entire server’s domain, i.e., Google.com.
The worst part is that this vulnerability can be performed without any detection, and without leaving traces behind. It’s important to note that the ability of not leaving any traces behind makes the bug even worse, because administrators cannot go back to determine what was lost. Now, this could have been used by the NSA, or it could have been used by a hacker. The end result is the same. Snooping and data loss are possible. I would take this a step further and question whether breaches like Target’s data loss were the result of it. [Martini, CEO, Iboss Network Security]
benton.org/node/180433 | Revere Digital
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

SILICON VALLEY AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] For online industry to thrive, consumers have to trust that their smartphones today and whatever cool things displace them tomorrow are private. Period. The technology that accomplishes this will be snapped up by consumers around the world. To fail at this is to admit that the real tech geniuses these days reside in government cubicles in Washington. Asian and European companies will become more dominant, since American technology will be suspect. And it's not just privacy from government that's at issue. Consumers need the right to know how their personal information is being used by the companies themselves, which is something the tech giants have resisted. This may require regulation unless the industry decides to put on the white hat and fight for consumer privacy in all contexts, government and private. Without quite realizing it, we have become engaged in a new war. It's over privacy. Silicon Valley needs to face up to the challenge. Now. We're getting tired of changing our passwords.
benton.org/node/180486 | San Jose Mercury News
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PRIVACY PRICE GOUGING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
Millions of AT&T customers have to pay $1.75 a month for the privilege of an unlisted phone number. The company raised the fee in January from $1.25 -- a 40% increase. Before California regulators, in their infinite wisdom, gave the phone companies free rein in 2006 to jack up such fees, AT&T charged 28 cents for customers to keep their numbers out of the phone book and online directories. The company's charge has risen 525% since then. Verizon Communication's unlisted-number fee is even more insane -- if you can figure out what it is. And let's emphasize: This is for a service that a phone company is not providing. It's for them not including your name in a directory and not facing the costs of printing it in a phone book. "It's pure gravy," said Natalie Billingsley, telecom supervisor for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an arm of the state Public Utilities Commission. "They charge whatever they want to charge."
benton.org/node/180484 | Los Angeles Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

AFTER NETFLIX PAYS COMCAST, SPEEDS IMPROVE 65%
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Netflix's decision to pay Comcast for a direct connection to the Comcast network has resulted in significantly better video streaming performance for customers of the nation's largest broadband provider. Netflix has bemoaned the payment, asking the government to prevent Comcast from demanding such interconnection "tolls." But there's little doubt the interconnection has benefited consumers in the short term. Average Netflix performance for Comcast subscribers rose from 1.51Mbps to 1.68Mbps from January to February, though the interconnection didn't begin until late February. In newly released data, Netflix said average performance on Comcast has now risen further to 2.5Mbps, a 65 percent increase since January. Comcast's increased speed allowed it to pass Time Warner Cable, Verizon, CenturyLink, AT&T U-verse, and others in Netflix's rankings. Comcast remains slower than Cablevision, Cox, Suddenlink, Charter, and Google Fiber.
benton.org/node/180440 | Ars Technica | GigaOm | Multichannel News
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

T-MOBILE: NO MORE OVERAGE CHARGES EVEN ON OLDER VOICE AND DATA PLANS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Starting in May, T-Mobile plans to get rid of all overage charges on all of its customer bills, pushing a new marketing strategy that claims consumers should be charged only for the services they sign up for, not the extra minutes, texts or megabytes that accrue before the end of a billing cycle. The announcement is in part a publicity stunt, as T-Mobile already eliminated automatic overage fees more than a year ago when it launched its Simple Choice plans. Displaying his characteristic bombast, T-Mobile CEO John Legere launched a Change.org petition calling for all US carriers to end overages. But there definitely is substance to this new policy change if you’re an older customer who never signed up for a Simple Choice plan.
benton.org/node/180438 | GigaOm | Washington Post | mostly | telecompetitor | USAToday | Revere Digital | Los Angeles Times | The Hill | Fierce
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FCC’S WHEELER SAID TO PLAN LIMITS FOR WIRELESS AIRWAVES AUCTION
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing to limit the amount of airwaves any single company can purchase at the largest US spectrum auction since 2008, a person briefed on the plan said. Top US wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Communications have said curbs will reduce revenue the government reaps from the planned sale, and unfairly favor smaller competitors Sprint and T-Mobile US. The agency is to sell airwaves given up by television stations so the frequencies can be used by the growing number of smartphones and other wireless devices connecting to the Internet. Finding more spectrum to meet soaring mobile-Internet demand is a goal of President Barack Obama’s administration.
benton.org/node/180436 | BusinessWeek
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INCENTIVE AUCTION RULES
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal officials plan to reserve up to a third of licenses sold in a TV airwaves auction next year for smaller wireless carriers under a plan floated recently by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. Overall, the plan has something for most wireless carriers to both love and hate. While it allows all wireless carriers to bid for airwaves in an effort to drive up revenues from the sale, the plan also potentially sets aside licenses for smaller carriers. And it creates a new standard for how many licenses a wireless company can hold, which could make it easier for Verizon Wireless and AT&T to acquire more airwaves in the future, but hurt Sprint’s ability to do the same. The proposal represents an effort by Wheeler’s aides to meet two broad, conflicting goals of the auction: Raise as much money as possible (by selling licenses to wireless giants AT&T and Verizon) while increasing competition in the wireless market (by selling licenses to smaller carriers who need more prime airwaves to compete for subscribers).
benton.org/node/180488 | Revere Digital
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OWNERSHIP

COMCAST-TIME WARNER CABLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The government’s smartest move is not to block the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, but to make clear that regulators will respond if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness. Some merger supporters overstate the extent of competition the cable industry faces. At the moment, there are few broadband services as attractive as the wired connections cable companies sell. That might change, but it is not clear how fast and in what way. Merger defenders also downplay the conflicts of interest that might encourage firms such as Comcast to promote their products on the wires they own, about which critics are speculating. That is not grounds to take the severe step of blocking a proposed merger. But it is reason for federal regulators to keep a close eye on what cable companies, still huge players in how we communicate and consume culture, end up doing to competitors and upstarts -- and to set clear conditions that allow a crackdown, if necessary.
benton.org/node/180491 | Washington Post
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COMCAST PRICES UP
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Time Warner Cable was the only major pay-TV company to reduce the price of basic cable TV over the past four years. The New York cable company reduced the advertised price of TV service by 2.5 percent between 2009-13, according to Free Press. Meanwhile, Comcast, which moved in April to buy TWC for $45 billion, raised its advertised basic TV rates by 68 percent over the same period.
benton.org/node/180489 | New York Post | Free Press
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HERE’S WHY THE COMCAST-TIME WARNER MERGER IS BAD
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] Among the many threats to the future of Internet access in the United States, nothing tops Comcast’s proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable. The combined company would be in a position to provide high-capacity data services to almost two-thirds of American households and to tightly control everything flowing over its pipe. An episode from Comcast’s past shows why this plan is worrisome. Just two decades ago, Comcast distrusted the idea of giving one company the sort of power that Comcast now aims to amass. The consolidation and geographic clustering that swept the cable industry in the late 1990s eventually destroyed the compact among TCI, Comcast, and Cox that had made @Home possible. Comcast and Cox grew big enough that they didn’t feel the need to cooperate with TCI any more, and by 2002 the @Home company was no more. But now the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable can be understood as the execution -- at long last -- of the @Home business plan. The result might feel just like the Internet -- but it won’t be the Internet. It will be AOL and @Home all over again. But this time there will be no .Com Committee constraining how ComcastTimeWarner treats different streams of bits. Comcast’s recent interconnection tussle with Netflix, its strong support for Streampix, and the rumor that it is planning to license its X1 platform for free to all other cable operators foreshadow the curated walled garden that we have to look forward to. [Crawford is a professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law]
benton.org/node/180434 | Technology Review
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GOOGLE-TITAN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Bilton]
Google purchased Titan Aerospace, a maker of high-altitude drone satellites, which Google says will be used to take photos of the earth and to connect people to the Internet. “Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world,” a Google spokesman said. Atmospheric satellites “could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.”
benton.org/node/180483 | New York Times | WSJ | FT | Bloomberg | Politico
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TELEVISION

AEREO PLAN B
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma, Brent Kendall]
The nation's largest television broadcasters are considering contingency plans in case they lose a high-stakes Supreme Court battle against online video startup Aereo. The most radical of the contingency plans is the recent suggestion from CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves that the company could offer its own Internet service if Aereo wins. Moonves hasn't provided details, but a person familiar with the situation said CBS has the ability to launch a service that would stream its programming over the Web simultaneous with its television broadcasts. CBS would charge a few dollars a month and show ads, the person said. Such a service would also likely offer on-demand programming. It could include Showtime, the CBS-owned premium cable channel, which would increase the subscription fee, the person said. CBS would use technology company Syncbak, in which it owns a minority stake, to power streaming of local TV stations' signals over the Web, the person said. There would be challenges for CBS in rolling out an online subscription service, including pricing it at a level that can compete with Aereo's $8-a -month fee and dealing with new billing and customer service costs. Ad rates online would likely be much lower than for TV. One potential issue: When broadcasters license rights from sports leagues, the deals normally assume the outlet will be an over-the-air TV network. Leagues may worry that audiences for their games could shrink on TV as Web audiences grow, reducing the value of those TV rights in future deals. Broadcasters point out that some major leagues have filed court briefs supporting their legal case.
benton.org/node/180487 | Wall Street Journal
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JOURNALISM

PULITZER PRIZES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ravi Somaiya]
The Washington Post and Guardian US won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, among the most prestigious awards in journalism, for their articles based on National Security Agency documents leaked by the former government contractor Edward Snowden. Through a series of reports that exposed the NSA’s widespread domestic surveillance program, The Post and Guardian US set off an international debate on the limits of government surveillance. The papers also came under heavy criticism by the American and British governments, with lawmakers accusing them of compromising national security. The Pulitzer board said that it gave the award for the “authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security.” David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, who was not a Pulitzer judge, said that the story was “the epitome of important reporting and the epitome of what public service in journalism is all about.”
benton.org/node/180493 | New York Times | Pulitzer winners | WSJ | CSM
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POLICYMAKERS

TRUSTBUSTER FRANKEN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Sen Al Franken’s (D-MN) battle against consolidation in the media and communications industries is quickly becoming his signature issue. While the senator keeps a low profile in Washington and generally avoids the press, he’s become a visible and vocal force when it comes to merger deals like the one now being proposed by Comcast. He opposed the company’s 2011 purchase of NBC, where he worked for years as a performer and writer for Saturday Night Live, and is now waging a one-man crusade against Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable in hearings, letters and television appearances. Sen Franken argues the combination of the nation’s two largest cable companies would be harmful to consumers and give more market share to a company with a poor reputation on customer service. “I’ve heard from consumers who are worried that this deal will result in higher prices, fewer choices, and even worse service — and it’s important to me that their voices be heard,” Sen Franken said, pointing to his past experience challenging mergers between telecom giants. “That’s why I oppose this deal, and it’s also why I actively opposed AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile and Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal.”
benton.org/node/180490 | Hill, The
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