June 2014

The Internet Is Fracturing Into Separate Country-Specific Networks

[Commentary] The World Wide Web celebrated its 25th birthday recently. Today the global network serves almost 3 billion people, and hundreds of thousands more join each day.

If the Internet were a country, its economy would be among the five largest in the world. Yet all of this growth and increasing connectedness, which can seem both effortless and unstoppable, is now creating enormous friction, as yet largely invisible to the average surfer. Fierce and rising geopolitical conflict over control of the global network threatens to create a balkanized system -- what some technorati, including Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, have called “the splinternet.”

Some experts anticipate a future with a Brazilian Internet, a European Internet, an Iranian Internet, an Egyptian Internet -- all with different content regulations and trade rules, and perhaps with contrasting standards and operational protocols. Whether or not this fragmentation can be managed is up to question, but at a minimum, this patchwork solution would be disruptive to American companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay, which would see their global reach diminished. And it would make international communications and commerce more costly.

An argument that the shortage of cyber workers is a problem that will solve itself

Talk to any talent professional in the Washington region and they’ll tell you cybersecurity jobs are among the most difficult for them to fill. Workers with the right skills are relatively hard to come by, and in a labor market dominated by the federal government and its contractors, they’re in especially high demand.

Now, the Rand Corp argues in a study that this problem will solve itself. Study authors Martin Libicki, David Senty and Julia Pollak examined existing studies on the cybersecurity workforce; interviewed government agencies, defense contractors and security firms; and looked at labor economics research to try to get a handle on the nature and scope of the cybersecurity worker shortage.

Based on that compendium of information, they predict that the high levels of compensation in this industry will be enough to lure more workers to its ranks. They predict that as the supply of these skilled workers increases over the long term, we won’t see the kind of eye-popping pay packages that we see for them now. The report forecasts that we won’t see cybersecurity pay dip below where it was in 2007, when a rash of high-profile Internet attacks made this field seem more essential. But they do predict that pay will cool off from where it is now.

The next thing Silicon Valley needs to disrupt big time: its own culture

[Commentary] Silicon Valley has become a social clique with its own subculture. We’ve created a make-believe cult of objective meritocracy, a pseudo-scientific mythos to obscure and reinforce the belief that only people who look and talk like us are worth noticing.

After making such a show of burning down the bad old rules of business, the new ones we’ve created seem pretty similar. Because the talent market is tight, that insularity presents a problem. It’s hard to find good people to hire.

The problem with gathering a bunch of logically-oriented young males together and encouraging them to construct a Culture gauntlet has nothing to do with their logic, youth, or maleness, but more with the fact that all cliques are self-reinforcing. There is no way to re-calibrate once the insiders have convinced themselves of their greatness.

The first step toward dissolving these petty Cultures is writing down their unwritten rules for all to see. The word “privilege” literally means “private law.” It’s the secrecy, deniable and immune to analysis, that makes the balance of power so lopsided in favor of insiders.

Then, try, just for a moment, to suppose that it’s probably unnatural for an industry to be so heavily dominated by white and Asian middle-class males under 30 who keep telling each other to only hire their friends. You want a juicy industry to disrupt? How about your own? [Bueno is senior engineer at MemSQ and the author of “Lauren Ipsum," a children’s novel about computer science and critical thinking]

Weekly Digest

Two Decisions Shed Light on the Supreme Court's Role in Telecommunications Policy

Report On Ownership Of Commercial Broadcast Stations

The Federal Communications Commission biennial commercial broadcast ownership report, FCC Form 323, is designed to obtain comprehensive data on racial and ethnic minority and female broadcast ownership -- statistically valid broadcast ownership information data that can be compiled and aggregated and used as a source for further analysis.

The Commission requires full power commercial television and radio broadcast stations and low power and Class A television stations, including any of these stations owned by sole proprietorships and partnerships of natural persons, to file a biennial ownership report using the same “as of” date (October 1) for reported data during each filing cycle.

This report presents the results of the third data collection and reflecting attributable ownership interests as of October 1, 2013. These data represent three snapshots of broadcast ownership in a series of planned biennial data collections that, taken together, should provide a reliable basis for analyzing ownership trends in the industry, including ownership by racial and ethnic minorities and women.

Current Broadcast Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, and Race.
The following summary uses only data from the 2013 FCC Form 323 biennial reports and thus represents information current as of October 1, 2013 (the most current biennial information available).

Broadcast ownership and gender.

Women collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 997 broadcast stations, comprised of 87 full power commercial television stations (6.3 percent) of 1,386 stations; 217 low power television stations, including Class A stations(13.1 percent) of 1,651 stations; 310 commercial AM radio stations (8.3 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 383 commercial FM radio stations (6.7 percent) of 5,714 stations.
Men collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,214 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,005 full power commercial television stations (72.5 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,246 low power television stations, including Class A stations (75.5 percent) of 1,651 stations; 2,737 commercial AM radio stations (73.2 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,226 commercial FM radio stations (74.0 percent) of 5,714 stations.

Broadcast ownership and ethnicity.

Hispanic/Latino persons collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 571 broadcast stations, comprised of 42 full power commercial television stations (3.0 percent) of 1,386 stations; 155 low power television stations, including Class A stations (9.4 percent) of 1,651 stations; 194 commercial AM radio stations (5.2 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 180 commercial FM radio stations (3.2 percent) of 5,714 stations.
Non-Hispanic/Latino persons collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,879 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,052 full power commercial television stations (75.9 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,271 low power television stations, including Class A stations (77.0 percent) of 1651 stations; 2,912 commercial AM radio stations (77.9 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,529 FM commercial radio stations (79.3 percent) of 5,714 stations.

Broadcast ownership and race.

Racial minorities collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 499 broadcast stations, 41 full power commercial television stations (3.0 percent) of 1,386 stations; 64 low power television stations, including Class A stations (3.9 percent) of 1,651 stations; 225 commercial AM radio stations (6.0 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 169 commercial FM radio stations (3.0 percent) of 5,714 stations. Ownership of majority interests by racial group was as follows:

American Indian/Alaska Natives owned 49 broadcast stations.
Asians owned 184 broadcast stations.
Black/African Americans owned 199 broadcast stations.
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders owned 36 broadcast stations.
Persons of two or more races owned 31 broadcast stations.

Whites collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,919 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,070 full power commercial television stations (77.2 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,386 low power television stations, including Class A stations (83.9 percent) of 1,651 stations; 2,893 commercial AM radio stations (77.4 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,570 commercial FM radio stations (80.0 percent) of 5,714 stations.

ACA to FCC: Preventing Blackouts Is Job One

The American Cable Association wants the Federal Communications Commission to act on retransmission consent reforms before most of its smaller cable op members have to start negotiating new three-year retrans deals starting in October of this year.

Key to those reforms, says ACA, is allowing cable operators to import out-of-market signals during retrans blackouts.

"It is axiomatic that MVPD subscribers should no longer be held hostage and subjected to broadcaster blackouts during retransmission consent negotiating impasses," ACA told the commission.

That came in comments to the FCC on further reforms of its retransmission consent rules. The FCC has already voted to prevent coordinated retransmission consent negotiations between top-four non-commonly owned TV stations in a market. ACA wants the FCC to prevent all third-party participation in retrans negotiations, including preventing a network from "interfering" with the ability of a station to grant out-of-market retransmission consent.

What TV retransmission service Aereo got right

Aereo may be gravely wounded, but the idea behind it has plenty of life. Aereo -- the broadcast television retransmission service ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court -- saw opportunity in consumers' desire to escape the cable television bundle. It enabled customers to get channels they want without paying for a lot of others they never watch.

As just about anybody with a television knows, cable companies have pulled off the difficult trick of forcing people to buy stuff they don't want. Most of us pay for a lot more channels than we actually watch. I don't even know how many channels I get. I do know my cable company has raised my monthly bill steadily for years without providing much new programming that interests me. How do they get away with it?

By forcing us to buy programs we don't want in order to get the ones we want. As Aereo demonstrated, digital technologies make it possible to offer select channels at prices far lower than cable companies charge. Aereo also proved plenty of people would rather pick and choose than buy the bundle.

No Aereo? Alternatives Require More Money, Savvy

For cord cutters who want to ditch their cable service, watching broadcast TV on a computer or tablet is still possible even if Aereo disappears. Companies like TiVo and SiliconDust USA make products that work with TV antennas to turn live programs into digital bits and bytes.

And online, many shows from networks like NBC and Fox are available through Hulu. Still, those alternatives don’t offer the same combination of ease of use, affordability and up-to-the-minute programming that Aereo does.

The potential demise of Aereo’s $8-a-month service eliminates one of the easiest options for viewers who wanted to watch live football and basketball games, late-night talk shows and local news at a fraction of the cost of cable, which can cost $75 a month. That’s presenting a challenge to a new generation of consumers who have grown accustomed to viewing the programs they want on any device at any time, not just on a television on a network’s schedule.

“I should be able to get on my phone or any device and watch what’s on TV, and that’s been difficult for so many years,” said Jason Gaylor, a 38-year-old freelance application designer from Springfield, Missouri, where Aereo isn’t available. “If I want to watch the Super Bowl or the Oscars or anything that’s a huge part of American culture, I should be able to get it as easily as possible.”

Media Mergers? Analyst Makes The Case for Multiple Deals

The media business has been anticipating mergers on the programming side since Comcast agreed to buy Time Warner Cable.

In a new report, analyst Todd Juenger lays out a bunch of potential combinations and looks at their pros and cons. The major advantages would be increased leverage to grow affiliate fees as distributors consolidate, added international exposure and chances for cost savings by combining assets such as studios with networks.

Threat to net neutrality could choke innovation

If Internet service providers are allowed to speed up, slow down or block various Web-based services to serve their own interests, it will have a chilling effect on innovation, investment and startup activity in Maine and elsewhere, said a panel of experts including Sen Angus King (I-ME) who spoke in Portland.

The issue of equal treatment by Internet providers such as cable companies is known as “net neutrality.” It has become a topic of heated debate in recent months because the Federal Communications Commission is considering rule changes that would let Internet providers create a tiered environment in which web-based companies could pay a premium to obtain a speed advantage over their competitors.

Dispensing with net neutrality could result in the “creation of fast and slow lanes on the Internet,” said panelist Craig Aaron, president and CEO of Free Press, and an advocate for media and Internet freedom. That would hurt small startups and give cable companies an unfair competitive advantage over content providers that do not own their own delivery infrastructure, he said. A tiered system in which companies pay extra to have their content delivered more quickly to consumers would create strong financial incentives for Internet providers to constrict speeds for those unwilling or unable to pay for preferential treatment, said Aaron.

Benton

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