1. Monthly archive
  2. March 2016

March 2016

Charter’s $67 Billion Cable Merger Hinges on the Cord Cutters

Emily Steel, who covers media for The New York Times, and Cecilia Kang, who writes for The New York Times from Washington (DC) about technology policy discuss the Charter Communications/Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks merger.

Kang says, "It looks as if Charter, a small cable company with big ambitions, will find rare success. The Federal Communications Commission shot down two big mergers in the last five years but is about to approve Charter’s bid for Time Warner Cable and Bright House. The acquisitions will create the second-largest broadband provider, after Comcast, with 19.4 million subscribers, and the third-largest video provider, after Comcast and DirecTV, with 17.3 million customers. The combined company will span 40 states and include big markets such as Los Angeles and New York. The creation of such a giant cable and Internet company upsets consumer advocacy groups, which say a lack of competition has led to increased prices and poor customer service. But the FCC thinks the deal won’t harm consumers because the companies don’t really compete in the same markets. While Comcast made a similar argument in its failed bid for Time Warner Cable, the FCC was more skeptical in that case because Comcast’s big media holdings with NBCUniversal held the potential for a conflict of interest. Charter and Time Warner Cable have also persuaded regulators that together, they’ll be able to bring faster broadband to more households. The big focus at the FCC has been on how this deal will affect the fastest-growing area of media: video streaming. Emily, what do people in the media and tech industries think?"

Steel responded, "Streaming has definitely been a hot topic. The big fear is that a gigantic Charter will have both the power and the incentive to hurt rival streaming services. It also could hinder the invention of other new offerings. If Charter is selling traditional cable service, why would it want to ease the way for a new set of competitors? Both Dish and Time Warner, the parent company of HBO, have warned regulators that Charter’s takeover could alter the future of streaming."

Media critic President Obama is worried that ‘balkanized’ media is feeding partisanship

President Barack Obama recently referred to himself, only half­jokingly, as the “cool, early adapter president” regarding the use of digital technology to communicate with his supporters. But after having so successfully leveraged the Internet to circumvent the mainstream media, President Obama is not sounding so bullish of late about this era in politics he helped to spark.

In the waning days of his presidency, President Obama has expressed misgivings about the roiling tone of the 2016 campaign season, in which social media, partisan websites and saturation coverage have made it easier for candidates to disseminate their messages and distort their opponents’ views. And the Washington press corps has had a difficult time trying to sort it out. While all Presidents complain about news coverage, President Obama has taken his critiques further than most and has fretted that a “balkanized” media has contributed to the partisan rancor and political polarization that he acknowledges has worsened during his tenure. In President Obama’s view, although technology has made a wider variety of information more readily available, news consumers are now seeking out only what they “agree with already,” thereby reinforcing their partisan ideology. “Some people are just watching Fox News; some people are just reading the New York Times,” President Obama said. “They almost occupy two different realities in terms of how they see the world.”

Time to rewrite the rules on cyberattacks

[Commentary] How do the recent Iranian assaults differ from Stuxnet? That was the computer worm deployed by the United States and Israel to wreck centrifuges in Iran making enriched uranium that could be used in a nuclear bomb. The attack methods were similar; Stuxnet also targeted industrial control mechanisms. But Stuxnet was aimed only at Iran’s illicit weapons-making ability, not at harming civilians. The distinction is important — just like the difference between military and civilian targets matters in other forms of war. So far, the world’s major powers have managed to coalesce only around some informal and voluntary norms of behavior for cyberconflict. Perhaps it is time to set them down more concretely and firmly rule out floods and blackouts as tools of cyberattack.

Facebook Safety Check for Pakistan malfunctions

Facebook activated its Safety Check after a suicide bomber in Pakistan left scores dead. But the feature malfunctioned, prompting users thousands of miles from the blast to tell friends they were safe.

Social media was flooded with confused Facebook users who'd received a notification March 27 reading: "Are you OK? It looks like you're in the area affected by The Explosion in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park, Lahore, Pakistan. Let your friends know that you're safe." It was unclear how widespread the issue was, although it appeared to primarily affect users in the US and United Kingdom. "Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis [in Pakistan] received a notification asking if they were OK," a Facebook statement read. "This kind of bug is counter to the product's intent." Facebook said it had "worked quickly to resolve the issue."

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