1. Monthly archive
  2. May 2015

May 2015

Agencies in Wonderland: Due process and enforcement at the FTC and FCC

[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission -- and it increasingly seems the Federal Communications Commission as well -- does not feel bound by these principles of due process. Since the turn of the century, the FTC has sought to use its broad enforcement authority to develop new legal norms to govern online privacy and data security. It is motivated by, and attempting to address, real problems. But its approach is scarcely more sophisticated than that of an angry king displaying the heads of those whose conduct he dislikes -- and likely even less effective. The FCC has also indicated that it is also jumping on the enforcement bandwagon. Stakeholders have been debating the role of privacy online for the past two decades -- and now the FCC, with no experience in the area, is simply inserting itself into the discussion. This raises an incredibly broad range of questions. It’s unfortunate that the FCC seems to be modelling its approach on that of the FTC: when firms fall into the FCC’s disfavor (as, it seems, almost all telecommunications firms have), will we hear screams of “off with their heads!”

[Gus Hurwitz is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law]

Is tech industry making progress on diversity?

[Commentary] Fall 2014 I wrote a guest column for USA TODAY: "Three questions about diversity in tech." The article was in reaction to the pervasive lack of diversity at technology companies. The three questions I asked were: What diversity initiatives are these companies launching? Will anything really change? What's next? Here's an update.

We've seen Intel and Apple put millions of dollars behind efforts to increase their pipeline of talent. Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) launched its Next Wave program with CODE2040's Residency program and other GFE tech-hub partners. To continue to add fuel to the conversation, Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Push Coalition held the Push Tech 2020 Conference. One trend is that more high-net worth minority individuals are looking to learn about tech investments. The second trend is that new minority-owned seed funds and venture capital firms are being founded, such as Cross Culture VC, which is led by Lady Gaga's former manager Troy Carter and Intel Capital partner Marlon Nichols. With a more diverse investor landscape and more minority tech founders building start-ups, hopefully by the end of the year we'll be reading about new innovations and "unicorn" start-ups that were founded by minorities.

[Wayne Sutton is a serial entrepreneur and general partner at BUILDUP]

May 27, 2015 (Charter-Time Warner Cable news)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2015

Find all your Charter Communications | Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks at https://www.benton.org/headlines/charter-comm-time-warner-bright-house-n...

OWNERSHIP
   Charter Communications to Merge with Time Warner Cable and Acquire Bright House Networks - press release
   Charter says it’s buying Time Warner Cable. Here’s what customers can look forward to next. - analysis
   Broadband at the Center of Charter-Time Warner Cable Deal - analysis
   Charter’s Guarded Optimism That This Time a Merger Will Clear
   Charter deal to test FCC's merger appetite - analysis
   Statement of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on the Charter/Time Warner/Bright House Announcement - press release
   The latest Time Warner Cable merger isn’t Comcast all over again, execs argue [links to web]
   In Cable Deal, Charter Seeks National Heft [links to web]
   For Cable Subscribers, Little Hope to Get Better Satisfaction [links to web]
   Charter’s Time Warner Cable Bundle is No Bargain - Miriam Gottfried analysis [links to web]
   John Malone: The ‘King of Cable’ Behind a Charter-Time Warner Cable Deal [links to web]
   Deal Reunites Charter Chief Tom Rutledge With Time Warner Cable [links to web]
   Planned Charter Mega-Merger Does Nothing to Benefit Customers or Boost Competition - Free Press press release [links to web]
   If You Like the Airlines’ Consolidation, You Might Love an Even More Concentrated Broadband and Cable Marketplace - Rob Frieden analysis [links to web]
   Department of Deal-Killing - WSJ editorial [links to web]
   Washington Makes a Broadband Hash - : Holman Jenkins Jr/WSJ editorial [links to web]
   Vox Media Adds ReCode to Its Stable of Websites [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   What Periscope Reveals About US Telecom Infrastructure - Vienna Rye op-ed
   Zero rating: The FCC’s war on affordable broadband - AEI op-ed [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   President Obama Warns Senators on Lapse in Surveillance [links to web]
   The Senate must find a solution on phone data collection - Washington Post editorial [links to web]
   Tech industry must secure privacy rights - San Jose Mercury News editorial [links to web]
   Apple and Google Just Attended a Confidential Spy Summit in a Remote English Mansion [links to web]
   Which Students Get to Have Privacy? - danah boyd op-ed [links to web]
   This start-up is helping the government keep track of social media [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Push to name donors in political ads hits FCC roadblock
   For tech in politics, thinking beyond echo chambers - Bart Myers op-ed

TELEVISION
   Sen Bennet Asks FCC to Rethink Effective Competition [links to web]

CONTENT
   Web Video Companies Push Branded Entertainment Over Media [links to web]

HEALTH
   Tech Rivalries Impede Digital Medical Record Sharing [links to web]

back to top

OWNERSHIP

CHARTER TO MERGE WITH TWC AND ACQUIRE BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Charter Communications, AUTHOR: Press release]
Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable have entered into a definitive agreement for Charter to merge with Time Warner Cable. The deal values Time Warner Cable at $78.7 billion. Charter will provide $100.00 in cash and shares of a new public parent company ("New Charter") equivalent to 0.5409 shares of CHTR for each Time Warner Cable share outstanding. The deal values each Time Warner Cable share at approximately $195.71 based on Charter's market closing price on May 20, or approximately $200 based on Charter's 60-trading day volume weighted average price. In addition, Charter and Advance/Newhouse Partnership (a parent of Bright House Networks, LLC) announced that the two companies have amended the agreement which the two parties signed and announced on March 31, 2015, whereby Charter will acquire Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion. That agreement, as amended, provides for Charter and Advance/Newhouse to form a new partnership of which New Charter will own between approximately 86 percent and 87 percent and of which Advance/Newhouse will own between approximately 13 percent and 14 percent, depending on the Time Warner Cable shareholders' cash election option described above. The Charter-Advance/Newhouse transaction is expected to close contemporaneously with the Charter-Time Warner Cable transaction.
benton.org/headlines/charter-communications-merge-time-warner-cable-and-acquire-bright-house-networks | Charter Communications
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


WHAT’S NEXT FOR CUSTOMERS?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
What’s Charter’s long-term plan? It may include a new, Internet-based video service and a cellular service that runs primarily on Wi-Fi, said Charter chief executive Tom Rutledge. Both ventures would expand on a key source of growth for cable companies — high-speed broadband — and help Charter fend off attacks by its rivals in other industries. Rutledge also hinted that Charter might someday offer its own Netflix-like streaming video app. And, in what will likely be even shorter time frame, Charter plans to roll out a new customer interface that lists streaming video content right alongside programming from the cable lineup, blending so-called over-the-top video that relies on an Internet connection with more traditional TV offerings. As consumers continue to gravitate toward the Internet, cable companies are following. And that's forcing a whole slew of changes in the way they do business. A heavier emphasis on cheap, ubiquitous Wi-Fi will help cable companies counteract the drive by wireless carriers, such as Verizon, to get consumers watching mobile video over their own networks, for instance. And with many Americans looking forward to the end of the traditional cable bundle (in favor of "skinny" packages that offer fewer channels, but are more affordable), the cable industry is adapting by thinking seriously about Web-based streaming.
benton.org/headlines/charter-says-its-buying-time-warner-cable-heres-what-customers-can-look-forward-next | Washington Post | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


BROADBAND AT CENTER OF DEAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Emily Steel]
When Charter Communications announced a pair of deals to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks for a total of $67.1 billion, it put the focus squarely on the cable industry’s future: broadband. Executives said the acquisitions would create a stronger national player that would offer faster services meant for watching online video and playing games, as well as new out-of-home wireless Internet options. They even raised the possibility of introducing a national streaming television service that would not require a traditional cable subscription. “It is not just the small screens or the large screens in the house, it is the mobile screens and more,” said Thomas M. Rutledge, Charter’s chief executive. “I am not sure how the services will evolve, whether they will be sold in a big pack, a little pack or individually,” he added. “As a true pure play, we are open to all of that.” Charter’s promises underscored the features that it hopes will appeal to regulators and consumers alike: that Internet service now is the most important component of a cable package as the ultimate gateway to information and entertainment. And that Charter’s new heft — the acquisitions would approximately quadruple its customer base to about 24 million, compared with Comcast’s 27 million — will give it more resources and incentives to introduce innovation and competitive services.
benton.org/headlines/broadband-center-charter-time-warner-cable-deal | New York Times | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


REGULATORY REVIEW
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jonathan Mahler]
In Charter’s case, as in Comcast’s, the government is likely to focus less on what the merger would mean for cable TV packages and more on what it would mean for the public’s high-speed Internet access. Had the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal been approved, a single company would have controlled about 57 percent of that access. For its part, Charter would end up with under 30 percent of the country’s high-speed Internet market, less than Comcast currently holds. But if we learned anything from the government’s handling of the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, it is that antitrust oversight has been reinvigorated in Washington, and those who enforce it are not afraid to say no to powerful cable companies. Also, in the largely unsettled realm of Internet regulation, the winds can shift very quickly. The Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal would have combined the nation’s two largest cable companies. This one would bring together the fourth-largest, Charter, and the second-largest. Still, like Comcast’s, this merger debate will almost inevitably become part of a larger one over America’s nascent Internet policy.
benton.org/headlines/charters-guarded-optimism-time-merger-will-clear | New York Times | WSJ
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


TESTING FCC’S APPETITE
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
The Charter-Time Warner Cable transaction gives Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former cable lobbyist-turned-regulator, a fresh chance to put his imprimatur on the rapidly evolving industry — and combat the impression that he’s become hostile to all industry consolidation. Chairman Wheeler publicly cheered the end the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal— hailing it as in the “best interests of consumers” — but his agency might look differently at Charter’s play. The combined Charter-Time Warner Cable will be substantially smaller than Comcast is now. It won’t have the same broadband market power as a merged Comcast-Time Warner Cable and it doesn’t have the extensive programming interests that Comcast does with NBCUniversal. Regulators feared that a bigger Comcast could have used its position to muscle emerging online video providers or favor its own programming.
benton.org/headlines/charter-deal-test-fccs-merger-appetite | Politico
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


STATEMENT OF FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER ON THE CHARTER/TIME WARNER/BRIGHT HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
The Federal Communications Commission reviews every merger on its merits and determines whether it would be in the public interest. In applying the public interest test, an absence of harm is not sufficient. The FCC will look to see how American consumers would benefit if the deal were to be approved.
benton.org/headlines/statement-fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-chartertime-warnerbright-house-announcement | Federal Communications Commission
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

WHAT PERISCOPE REVEALS ABOUT US TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] When Periscope exploded onto the scene in April, it quickly set a new industry standard for the possibilities of video-streaming. Launched by Twitter, Periscope carries significant potential to change not only the speed and intimacy by which we interact, but to ultimately redefine the power of citizen journalism. Amplified by Spotify’s newly announced video-streaming service and the recent launch of Reddit’s own video curation service, the demand for digital video shows no signs of slowing down, leaving us with a very important question: can the current telecommunications infrastructure keep up with consumer data demand? If the US can shell out billions of dollars to ensure its public safety agencies have 21st century wireless networks like FirstNet, surely the same can be done for its people. Because yes, in summary, we can be prepared for video-streaming en masse -- but, in reality, telecom companies are choosing not to be. The real question is why? The responsibility falls to those of us who work in these fields, who understand how these networks and systems function, to continue asking the tough questions and holding the overarching telecom industry accountable. The future of Periscope  --  and mobile app innovation at large -- may very well depend on it.
[Vienna Rye is strategist and activist in NYC]
benton.org/headlines/what-periscope-reveals-about-us-telecom-infrastructure | Medium
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

PUSH TO NAME DONORS IN POLITICAL ADS HITS FCC ROADBLOCK
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Democratic Representatives' push to strengthen political ad disclosures in time for the 2016 elections appears dead for now after hitting a roadblock at the Federal Communications Commission. Amid a divisive legal battle over new network neutrality rules and other pressing telecommunications issues at the FCC, Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested the FCC has little appetite to take up a fix on its own. "Maybe you noticed -- we have a long list of difficult telecommunications related decisions that we are dealing with right now. And that will be our focus," Chairman Wheeler said when asked if the FCC would initiate new rules on its own. Billions of dollars are expected pour into the 2016 election, and Democrats have pressed the FCC to update its rules to require large donors to be identified at the end of television ads purchased by super-PACs and other outside groups. Lawmakers in both chambers have introduced bills to force the agency's hand and Chairman Wheeler, a Democrat, noted he would "clearly follow" any mandate from Congress. But the title of the House proposal -- which overtly references GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch -- indicates that the party sees it as more of a messaging bill than anything else. And a failed vote on the legislation in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee confirmed that the proposal would not be able to get passed Republican opposition. "This isn’t the place for it. If you want to do campaign finance reform, there are other committees of jurisdiction," said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). Convincing Chairman Wheeler to move alone appeared to be the only avenue ahead of 2016.
benton.org/headlines/push-name-donors-political-ads-hits-fcc-roadblock | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


FOR TECH IN POLITICS, THINKING BEYOND ECHO CHAMBERS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Bart Myers]
[Commentary] Listen to campaign managers, and they'll tell you that the holy grail for tech in politics is increased segmentation; tracking opinions based on demographic information and reaching people through the media they’re most likely to consume. Yet for groups and movements, the apps that serve them, and voters, the future of tech will prove to be the exact opposite. The dichotomy isn't quite as drastic as it may sound. While increased segmentation serves a real purpose for campaigns, for groups and civic tech start-ups, those same predictions of how people will and will not react to issues, and where they receive their information, has a hard limit, where growth essentially stops. On the other hand, the political apps and websites that will find success are the ones that will place less emphasis on divisions. They will drive constant reengagement by introducing people to a wider array of issues and causes that audiences might not have been aware of, but care about. Tech in politics is so exciting. At its best, it can become a true game changer, if it is used in the right way. It can lend itself to paradigm shifts on many issues, dynamically altering the staid course that we seem to have been on for so long. Ditching divisions means that the future can be limitless.
[Bart Myers is the CEO of Countable.us, a legislative advocacy and congressional engagement app]
benton.org/headlines/tech-politics-thinking-beyond-echo-chambers | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

President Obama Warns Senators on Lapse in Surveillance

With time running out, President Barack Obama urged the Senate to pass legislation to renew surveillance programs that are scheduled to expire June 1 or risk endangering the American people.

“The problem we have now is that those authorities run out at midnight on Sunday,” President Obama told reporters as he hosted NATO’s secretary general at the White House. “So I strongly urge the Senate to work through this recess and make sure that they identify a way to get this done.” The president’s plea, though, fell on absent ears. With Congress on recess, the chances of the Senate’s passing the legislation before the deadline are problematic at best even with senators called back for a rare Sunday session. And so the White House faces the prospect that its legal authority to carry out some of these programs will vanish at least for a few days until the political gridlock in the Senate is resolved.

The Senate must find a solution on phone data collection

[Commentary] Whatever solution lawmakers embrace, it must preserve the painstakingly negotiated compromise embodied in the USA Freedom Act. And the burden is properly on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to rein in Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) and get an acceptable bill to the president’s desk quickly, with as little additional drama as possible. Having used his considerable powers to help create this predicament, the Senate majority leader needs to use them to resolve it.

Tech industry must secure privacy rights

[Commentary] The tech industry should lead a national conversation on privacy as a major component of the 2016 presidential campaign. The notion that Americans no longer care about privacy is absurd. A comprehensive Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday shows that 93 percent of adults say "being in control of who can get information about them is important," and 74 percent feel it is very important. The tech industry should get the candidates on record and engage them in a broad, public debate.

Charter says it’s buying Time Warner Cable. Here’s what customers can look forward to next.

What’s Charter’s long-term plan? It may include a new, Internet-based video service and a cellular service that runs primarily on Wi-Fi, said Charter chief executive Tom Rutledge. Both ventures would expand on a key source of growth for cable companies — high-speed broadband — and help Charter fend off attacks by its rivals in other industries.

Rutledge also hinted that Charter might someday offer its own Netflix-like streaming video app. And, in what will likely be even shorter time frame, Charter plans to roll out a new customer interface that lists streaming video content right alongside programming from the cable lineup, blending so-called over-the-top video that relies on an Internet connection with more traditional TV offerings. As consumers continue to gravitate toward the Internet, cable companies are following. And that's forcing a whole slew of changes in the way they do business. A heavier emphasis on cheap, ubiquitous Wi-Fi will help cable companies counteract the drive by wireless carriers, such as Verizon, to get consumers watching mobile video over their own networks, for instance. And with many Americans looking forward to the end of the traditional cable bundle (in favor of "skinny" packages that offer fewer channels, but are more affordable), the cable industry is adapting by thinking seriously about Web-based streaming.

Broadband at the Center of Charter-Time Warner Cable Deal

When Charter Communications announced a pair of deals to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks for a total of $67.1 billion, it put the focus squarely on the cable industry’s future: broadband.

Executives said the acquisitions would create a stronger national player that would offer faster services meant for watching online video and playing games, as well as new out-of-home wireless Internet options. They even raised the possibility of introducing a national streaming television service that would not require a traditional cable subscription. “It is not just the small screens or the large screens in the house, it is the mobile screens and more,” said Thomas M. Rutledge, Charter’s chief executive. “I am not sure how the services will evolve, whether they will be sold in a big pack, a little pack or individually,” he added. “As a true pure play, we are open to all of that.” Charter’s promises underscored the features that it hopes will appeal to regulators and consumers alike: that Internet service now is the most important component of a cable package as the ultimate gateway to information and entertainment. And that Charter’s new heft — the acquisitions would approximately quadruple its customer base to about 24 million, compared with Comcast’s 27 million — will give it more resources and incentives to introduce innovation and competitive services.

Charter’s Guarded Optimism That This Time a Merger Will Clear

In Charter’s case, as in Comcast’s, the government is likely to focus less on what the merger would mean for cable TV packages and more on what it would mean for the public’s high-speed Internet access.

Had the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal been approved, a single company would have controlled about 57 percent of that access. For its part, Charter would end up with under 30 percent of the country’s high-speed Internet market, less than Comcast currently holds. But if we learned anything from the government’s handling of the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, it is that antitrust oversight has been reinvigorated in Washington, and those who enforce it are not afraid to say no to powerful cable companies. Also, in the largely unsettled realm of Internet regulation, the winds can shift very quickly. The Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal would have combined the nation’s two largest cable companies. This one would bring together the fourth-largest, Charter, and the second-largest. Still, like Comcast’s, this merger debate will almost inevitably become part of a larger one over America’s nascent Internet policy.

Charter deal to test FCC's merger appetite

The Charter-Time Warner Cable transaction gives Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former cable lobbyist-turned-regulator, a fresh chance to put his imprimatur on the rapidly evolving industry — and combat the impression that he’s become hostile to all industry consolidation.

Chairman Wheeler publicly cheered the end the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal— hailing it as in the “best interests of consumers” — but his agency might look differently at Charter’s play. The combined Charter-Time Warner Cable will be substantially smaller than Comcast is now. It won’t have the same broadband market power as a merged Comcast-Time Warner Cable and it doesn’t have the extensive programming interests that Comcast does with NBCUniversal. Regulators feared that a bigger Comcast could have used its position to muscle emerging online video providers or favor its own programming.

© 1994-2025 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.