June 2014

NCTA: We'll Assist FCC In Understanding Peering

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler was getting some support from the Hill and elsewhere, including the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, for his announcement on June 13 of a deep dive into paid peering arrangements -- he said the FCC already had the agreements from the Netflix/Comcast and Netflix/Verizon deals that have drawn complaints, including from Netflix.

“We agree with Chairman Wheeler that Internet interconnection and peering issues are not net neutrality issues," said NCTA, focusing on Chairman Wheeler's statement that peering was a "cousin" to net neutrality. "We look forward to assisting the Commission in better understanding this vibrant, competitive marketplace.”

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee said she welcomed the news, saying interconnection agreements are "a key aspect of connectivity that allows the Internet to serve as the platform for innovation and investment we know today." But she signaled the inquiry was only the beginning of the process.

MMTC Asks FCC to Restore Diversity Items

Saying the Federal Communications Commission could not have meant to purposely leave 23 diversity proposals, including some of the FCC's own, out of its consideration of the quadrennial ownership review, the Minority Media & Telecommunication Council has petitioned the FCC to admit it made a mistake and "clarify" that they remain under consideration.

"The facts surrounding the history of these proposals, many of which have been pending for more than a decade, indicate that they fall squarely within the scope of the 2014 Quadrennial Ownership Review due to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals mandate to consider them within the quadrennial review," said MMTC, "yet the Commission has failed to consider them in the current proceeding."

It's not that the FCC did not mention them. But MMTC points out that its "entire disposition" of them was to say that though “accompanied by detailed and thoughtful analysis, and some of them may warrant further consideration…they are outside the scope of this proceeding.”

AT&T’s hard sell on DirecTV: A new type of broadband network

If you want to sell a telecom merger to the American public, the hip to do is promise more broadband access. Sprint chairman and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is making such claims to justify his forthcoming bid for T-Mobile, and now AT&T is on its own broadband kick to push its proposed acquisition of DirecTV.

In a regulatory filing with the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T promised to deliver broadband to 15 million more homes and businesses, but Ma Bell isn’t just talking about wireline technologies like DSL and U-Verse. It plans to build the bulk of this network using wireless airwaves. AT&T said it would target 13 million primarily rural locations outside of its broadband footprint with a technology called wireless local loop (WLL).

Local loop is the telecommunications term for the circuit a copper line completes going from a telephone company’s switching office to the customer’s home. But in this case of WLL, the circuit is made via wireless, not copper.

AT&T says its WLL network could deliver speeds of 15 Mbps to 20 Mbps. That isn’t as fast as the speed we’ve come to expect from cable, but it’s certainly not bad either, especially considering the limited options in rural areas. The big question is whether it can deliver the monthly capacity to individual subscribers to make it a truly competitive offering.

Looking for World Cup highlights? Google makes it quick

The quickest way to keep up on the World Cup may be Google. People in the US searching for countries playing in the World Cup will see, at the top of the results, links to highlight videos from the country’s most recent match.

Clicking takes users to the website of ESPN, the exclusive domestic English-language broadcaster of the world’s premier soccer tournament. The first-of-its-kind partnership between ESPN and Google gives Google an edge among competitors Yahoo and Bing on World Cup searches. All three search engines are trying to make it easy to get the latest scores and scheduling details by typing in a country’s name or even just “World Cup.”

CBS Wraps Upfront Talks

CBS has largely completed its upfront sales, according to the network.

"As we near the finish line, we are very confident that CBS has once again achieved the highest pricing and most total dollars in the upfront marketplace," the company said. "Agencies and clients continue to value the strength, stability and delivery that we provide as a pure-play broadcaster, and we are very pleased that in addition to C3, C7 is now playing a meaningful part in our negotiations."

CBS has been among the most vocal in asking advertisers to pay for ads viewed within seven days of their original airing rather than the current industry standard of three days. Media agency network GroupM agreed to negotiate broadly on that week-long basis, known as C7.

While CBS again ended the season as the most-watched channel overall, its total viewership dropped 9%, meaning it had fewer ratings points to sell going into next season. It also lost its lead in viewers aged 18 to 49 years old, where NBC came in No. 1.

Rentrak And Nielsen Duel Over Measurement Crown

Rentrak is making headway in its battle for a bigger piece of the audience measurement business.

The firm’s announcement that it struck a long-term deal to provide local market TV ratings to Fox Television Stations follows similar deals with other TV companies recently. Sony Pictures TV enlisted Rentrak to measure syndicated TV shows and CBS began making use of the service in early 2014.

Nielsen, which has long been the industry leader for TV research, still provides the ratings currency upon which national TV advertising is bought and sold. Nielsen collects that data through surveys of a sample of US homes. But broadcasters, which have complained that Nielsen’s numbers understate their true ratings, can use the deals with Rentrak to put pressure on Nielsen.

Typically when broadcasters hire Rentrak they also keep using Nielsen. In the case of Fox Television Stations, an insider says it struck its deal with Rentrak as it negotiates a new contract with Nielsen, but say one has nothing to do with the other. But Fox’s statement about the Rentrak deal highlights its desire for a more refined audience measure.

“We expect this will accelerate the long overdue progress toward an accurate digital measuring system in local TV, one based on a census, not estimates, and one that measures all screens,” Fox Television Stations chief executive Jack Abernethy said.

Rentrak is appealing because it offers the ability to tie viewership to consumer buying habits, which can be a great advantage to marketers planning out local ads. Rentrak has struck agreements with cable and satellite providers to collect data from millions of set-top boxes in different markets. It matches that data with other data sets about consumer purchases.

Comcast: We Offer Top 100 Nielsen-Rated TV Shows On VOD

Comcast tooted its on-demand horn by announcing that its set-top video-on-demand platform now provides access to the top 100 cable and broadcast TV shows as measured by Nielsen.

Of that total, 64 of those Nielsen-ranked shows are also offered on Comcast’s authenticated TV Go app and Web site, said Comcast, which notably has been testing out an On Demand Credit Ratings model that could open the door to the increased offering of all episodes of a current TV season via the multiple service operator’s VOD platform.

Comcast, citing an online survey by Harris Poll commissioned by the MSO, said over half (55%) of binge-watchers would rather watch current season episodes over past season.

Roku CEO On The State Of Internet Video, TV

A Q&A with Roku CEO Anthony Wood Hastings. If Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is the star of the Internet video-streaming phenomenon, then Roku CEO Anthony Wood is the best supporting actor.

Wood shares his views on the convergence of Internet video and television. “To me, it's pretty clear that all TV is going to be streamed. It's either going to be streamed to a smart TV, a gaming console or a streaming player,” he said. “Where it will end up? I am not sure. I do believe people are watching more TV than ever and they have options.”

At $11.6 Billion in Q1 2014, Internet Advertising Revenues Hit All-Time First Quarter High

Internet advertising revenues in the US reached $11.6 billion for the first quarter of 2014, marking a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2013, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report figures by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US.

This is an historic first-quarter high and a significant increase over 2013’s first-quarter revenue level, which was record-setting at $9.6 billion. “Interactive advertising is seeing remarkable gains,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “Digital screens are a critical part of the marketing mix and these landmark figures speak to that irrefutable fact.”

These Q1 revenue levels speak to digital’s unique ability to identify the most relevant audience segments and deliver powerful results,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics & Measurement, IAB.

“With consumers increasingly relying on digital screens for everything from information to entertainment, numbers like these should come as no surprise,” said David Silverman, a partner at PwC US. “Interactive clearly offers a unique proposition for marketers and agencies -- an opportunity they are embracing and will likely rely on more in the future.”

Iraq tries to censor social media, but its success is limited

The Iraqi government moved to block access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in a bid to disrupt the social media tools deployed by insurgents as they have swept through the country in a bold drive toward Baghdad.

But the initiative ran into a hard reality of warfare in the 21st century: Losing physical ground means losing control of cyberspace as well. Companies that monitor Internet traffic reported significant declines in access to social media services in Baghdad and the immediate vicinity as providers complied with censorship orders from the Ministry of Communication.

Internet monitoring services detected several hours of outages in Iraq. In Iraq, overall Internet traffic was running at about one-third of its usual levels, according to Akamai, a network that delivers Internet content from servers across much of the world.

In addition to affecting Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the outages also curbed access to WhatsApp and Viber, both of which provide instant messages through cellphones, said Collin Anderson, a researcher affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, who tested access within Iraq to thousands of top Web sites. “Anything that’s a social media site . . . that’s what they’re going after,” Anderson said.

Benton

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