Roger Yu

Count local TV station owners among the industries emboldened by President-elect Donald Trump. In changing of the guards at the White House, the local TV industry sees an opportunity in their ongoing quest to toss out the Federal Communication Commission's rules on media cross-ownership that bar media companies from owning newspapers and TV stations in the same market.

The National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group for TV station owners, "is cautiously optimistic a Trump FCC will take a fresh look at reforming outdated local broadcast ownership rules," said Dennis Wharton, NAB's executive vice president of media relations. "These are 'I Love Lucy' era rules in a 'Modern Family' world." The rules, devised in 1975, specifically prohibit media companies from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same local market. Companies are also barred from owning more than one top-4-in-ratings TV station in any market.

In ruling against Aereo, the US Supreme Court may have just bought broadcasters more time.

With Aereo announcing in a tweet that it would pause operations, questions linger as to what similar -- but legal -- alternatives will come to consumers who want to divorce their cable companies and still get reliable local TV. One can always monkey around with rabbit-ear antennas.

But broadcasters will be better served if they take the initiative to further develop their streaming options for those without cable, says Richard Doherty, technical director for the Envisioneering Group, a tech consulting firm.

"Broadcasters have their mandate, and they're under attack (by upstarts)." The nation's broadcasters have been given free spectrum to deliver free over-the-air broadcasts and have a responsibility to "make it easier for people to get their stuff," Doherty says. If they don't, "I dare say, people inside the Beltway may decide it for them."

The TV networks have a case of the Innovator's Dilemma here. Push forward with live streaming on their own, and they stand to trigger the ire of cable and satellite distributors that pay dearly to distribute their content. Ignore the savvy cord-cutters who vent on Twitter their frustration at the lack of streaming options, and the networks will increasingly come to look like slumbering giants interested only in retaining revenue streams.

[Commentary] Fans of streaming prime-time network TV live will have to wait a bit longer. In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that Aereo, a start-up backed by media mogul Barry Diller, violated the copyrighted work of major TV networks by streaming their content to paid subscribers. Who are the winners? Primarily, the major TV network owners -- Disney, CBS, Comcast and 21st Century Fox -- that have argued in court that Aereo is stealing their content. They also have plans to stream TV over the Internet and don't want to see start-up technology companies get in the way. Pay-TV providers are also breathing a sigh of relief. Aereo would have given consumers one more reason to "cut the cord" by getting rid of cable. Who loses the most? Obviously, those associated with Aereo, including employees and primary investor Diller. But consumers are also complaining loudly on Twitter and other social media channels, as they saw Aereo as a David charging up the hill against the Goliaths of the pay-TV business.

[Commentary] Bundling is at the heart of AT&T's desire to acquire DirecTV's satellite service.

By folding the 20 million-strong pay-TV service into its broad telecom portfolio -- wireless, phone and fiber-optic broadband and TV -- AT&T hopes to actually create better bundled packages that, in turn, will lead to increased revenue from customers.

Talks between AT&T and DirecTV were reported in April, and stepped-up discussions and AT&T's willingness to pay a premium, about $50 billion, to consummate the deal came to light. "This deal is about getting more money from the same customers," says Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. "We are running out of people who want to buy wireless service."

AT&T wants to build a better bundle of services, wrapping up mobile and data connectivity, TV programming and other services like home security. But the company can only do that in 22 states where it offers its U-verse fiber-optic service, which bundles broadband, phone and TV.

Currently, AT&T has 11 million U-verse customers, but only 5.7 million of them get TV. With DirecTV -- the second-largest pay-TV provider in the US, behind only Comcast -- AT&T instantly becomes a national TV player. New bundling could include AT&T wireless voice and data services with satellite TV, and eventually wireless TV.

AT&T said its first quarter net income dipped 1.2 % to $3.65 billion as expenses rose but robust demand for its more expensive wireless data plans drove quarterly revenue higher.

Revenue totaled $32.5 billion for the three-month period ending March 31, up 3.6% from in 2013. Customers "are choosing to move off device subsidies to simpler pricing while at the same time, they are continuing to move to smartphones with larger data plans," said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson.

Revenue for the wireless unit, which runs the nation's second largest wireless carrier, grew 7% year-over-year to $17.9 billion as it added more than 1 million subscribers. About 625,000 new customers signed up for postpaid plans -- contract-based wireless voice-data plans that are considered the most profitable in the industry -- during the quarter.

U-Verse had 11.3 million customers in the first quarter, including 201,000 new TV customers who signed up during the quarter. Its Internet service gained 634,000 subscribers. About two-thirds of U-verse TV subscribers take "three or four services" from AT&T, the company said. The average revenue per U-verse triple-play customer continues to be more than $170.

Vox Media, the online publisher that runs SB Nation sports blogs, launched its general news site Vox.com, providing a forum for renowned blogger Ezra Klein's experiment in broadening explanatory journalism.

Klein, who led The Washington Post's public policy blog, Wonkblog, left to join Vox Media in January after he failed to secure funding from the newspaper's editors for a new site. After several weeks of preparation and recruiting journalists, Klein and Vox Media released more details on their plans for Vox.com, promising readers news stories packaged with contextual information and graphics.

The site's mission is to make news more digestible by roasting it "to perfection with a drizzle of olive oil and hint of sea salt," Klein said. Vox.com joins a crowded field of data-driven news sites that aim to incorporate more analysis, statistics and graphics in their content. The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have similar plans.