BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2015
A hearing on Internet Governance https://www.benton.org/calendar/2015-07-08
OWNERSHIP
AT&T teases a $5 Internet service to help seal the DirecTV deal
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Code Specialists Oppose U.S. and British Government Access to Encrypted Communication
INTERNET/BROABAND
Broadband Coalition Launches Pro-Competition Petition [links to web]
TELEVISION
US TV Station Retransmission Fees Now Expected to Reach $10.3 Billion by 2021 [links to web]
Mediacom Asks FCC to Limit Retransmission Blackouts
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Carriers Waive Charges for Crisis Text Line [links to web]
Republic Wireless Shifts From Unlimited Plans to Ones That Offer Refunds [links to web]
That’s the sound of the (policy) police: The FCC and Sprint’s unlimited data plan debacle - op-ed [links to web]
LABOR
Hats Off to Web Advertising. No, Really. - Christopher Mims analysis [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
It's a man's world in European tech, too [links to web]
European telecoms groups invest in data networks to underpin consolidation [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
AT&T TEASES LOW-COST INTERNET
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
AT&T will offer cheap Internet to food-stamp recipients if the Federal Communications Commission approves the telecom company's big acquisition of DirecTV. In a regulatory filing, AT&T says it's prepared to make two plans available to low-income consumers. The first would provide speeds of up to 5 megabits per second (or roughly half as fast as the current national average) for $10 a month. After the first 12 months, that price would rise to $20 a month. The other plan would be offered in places where AT&T lacks the infrastructure to provide faster speeds. In those areas, poorer Americans would be able to buy a 1.5 Mbps plan starting at $5 a month for the first 12 months. At that point, the price would increase to $10 a month. AT&T says it would commit to offering the discounts for four years, at which point the subsidies would expire. To take advantage of the deal, applicants would have to prove each year that they qualify for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for US government food stamps.
benton.org/headlines/att-teases-5-internet-service-help-seal-directv-deal | Washington Post
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
ENCRYPTION PAPER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nicole Perlroth]
An elite group of code makers and code breakers is taking American and British intelligence and law enforcement agencies to task in a new paper that evaluates government proposals to maintain special access to encrypted digital communications. The group -- 13 of the world’s pre-eminent cryptographers, computer scientists and security specialists — is releasing the paper, which concludes there is no viable technical solution that would allow the American and British governments to gain “exceptional access” to encrypted communications without putting the world’s most confidential data and critical infrastructure in danger. Given the inherent vulnerabilities of the Internet, they argued, reducing encryption is not an option. Handing governments a key to encrypted communications would also require an extraordinary degree of trust.
benton.org/headlines/code-specialists-oppose-us-and-british-government-access-encrypted-communication | New York Times
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TELEVISION
RETRANSMISSION FILING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Mediacom is filing a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking it to prevent blackouts during retransmission consent disputes for any station that does not reach 90 percent of its market over-the-air or via the Web, which Mediacom suggests is most stations in its market and in the country. What Mediacom wants most is some action out of the FCC on what it calls the "growing crisis" in retransmission consent and in response to various petitions and inquiries on the subject dating back years. Without some action to rein in retrans prices and blackouts, Mediacom says, all but the largest cable operators will have to:
Cease carrying broadcast stations that elect retransmission consent.
Get out of the video business altogether, which will necessarily require broadband customers to bear a larger share of network costs.
Raise the price of retail PayTV service to a level that is unaffordable for tens of millions of consumers.
benton.org/headlines/mediacom-asks-fcc-limit-retransmission-blackouts | Broadcasting&Cable | B&C reform fans
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