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The Department of Justice announced that in order for Google to proceed with its proposed acquisition of ITA Software, the department will require Google to develop and license travel software, to establish internal firewall procedures and to continue software research and development.
The department said that the proposed settlement will protect competition for airfare comparison and booking websites and ensure those websites using ITA’s software will be able to power their websites to compete against any airfare website Google may introduce. The department said that the acquisition, as originally proposed, would have substantially lessened competition among providers of comparative flight search websites in the United States, resulting in reduced choice and less innovation for consumers. The department said that Google will also be required to provide mandatory arbitration under certain circumstances and provide for a formal reporting mechanism for complainants if Google acts in an unfair manner. The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Washington (DC) to block the proposed acquisition. At the same time, the department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns of the lawsuit.
Under the proposed settlement, Google will be required to continue to license ITA’s QPX software to airfare websites on commercially reasonable terms. QPX conducts searches for air travel fares, schedules and availability. Google will also be required to continue to fund research and development of that product at least at similar levels to what ITA has invested in recent years. Google will also be required to further develop and offer ITA’s next generation InstaSearch product to travel websites, which will provide near instantaneous results to certain types of flexible airfare search queries. InstaSearch is currently not commercially available, but is in development by ITA.
To prevent abuse of commercially sensitive information, Google will be required to implement firewall restrictions within the company that prevent unauthorized use of competitively sensitive information and data gathered from ITA’s customers. The proposed settlement delineates when and for what purpose that data may be used by Google. Google is also prohibited from entering into agreements with airlines that would inappropriately restrict the airlines’ right to share seat and booking class information with Google’s competitors. Finally, the proposed settlement provides for a formal reporting mechanism for complainants if Google acts in an unfair manner.
Justice Department Requires Google to Develop and License Travel Software in Order to Proceed with Its Acquisition of ITA
Katie Couric and CBS are now negotiating how and when to end her five-year run as anchor, one marked by early criticism, later journalistic successes and disappointing ratings over all.
Couric is pursuing the idea of her own syndicated talk show, possibly with her former “Today” show co-host, Matt Lauer. Any such move would be intensely complicated. Lauer’s contract extends to the end of 2012, while the new show would be expected to start in September. And NBC can be counted on to make perhaps the biggest offer in television news history to keep him at “Today.”
For Katie Couric, the offer in 2006 to become the anchor of “CBS Evening News” came with another incentive, one she prized almost as highly, according to two of her friends: the chance to report for “60 Minutes,” the newsmagazine that for Ms. Couric stood for the kind of serious journalism she had always aspired to. Regular appearances on “60 Minutes” were written into her $15 million-a-year contract with CBS, but once she arrived at the network, she found a chilly reception from some of the staff members at the venerable program. Some of Ms. Couric’s associates said that the chilliness seemed to stem from the top, the show’s executive producer, Jeff Fager. Her appearances on the show have been fewer than she hoped for — averaging not even five a year. Even after the show won an Emmy for her interview with the airline pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III, Couric’s visibility on the program never increased. In February, when Fager was named chairman of CBS News, his tepid response to the hugely public question of whether she might continue as anchor (Fager said he hadn't thought about it yet) sent an additional signal to Ms. Couric and her representatives: it was time to move on.
Couric’s Rocky Path to a Likely Parting With CBS Couric Explores Show With Lauer (WSJ)
[Commentary] Americans are right to be concerned about a huge data breach at an online marketing company, Epsilon, which resulted in the theft of names and e-mail addresses for customers and employees of some of the nation’s largest businesses, including Citibank, Disney and Verizon.
Epsilon issued a statement assuring that no other information was compromised. But millions of consumers could still be vulnerable to sophisticated identity-theft ploys — “spear phishing” — in which scammers target e-mails to specific people and make it appear as if they came from a company they trust. Familiarity can lure victims into clicking on links, downloading malware, or responding to requests for account numbers or passwords. This is not an isolated case. The breach at Epsilon underscores the urgent need for a federal standard of data safety that ensures companies follow adequate policies and procedures to protect consumers’ information and determines companies’ legal liability for breaches. As Congress debates new data privacy rules, it should put data security at the forefront. Possibilities include imposing maximum periods for retaining personal data and rules about how to protect data that is flowing through corporate networks, stored on corporate servers or, increasingly, on the cloud. It certainly seems risky to have one company handle sensitive information about the customers of so many large firms. Consumers must also be vigilant. For starters, they should be wary about clicking on any e-mail attachment, even if it comes with a seemingly personal greeting from a business they know and trust.
Who Really Sent That E-Mail?
Just in case Gannett employees thought 2011 might bring better news after years of layoffs and furloughs, the year was just four days old when a note landed in the in-box of people who work for the community news division saying, once again, they were required to take an unpaid week off.
After explaining that revenues at the newspaper giant continued to be soft and the outlook was uncertain, Robert J. Dickey, Gannett’s president of U.S. Community Publishing, said, “I know furloughs are very hard on you and your families and I thank each of you for the continued commitment and great work.” Dickey made it clear that not only did the company’s executives feel their pain, they would share the sacrifice, noting that he too would take a furlough and that Craig A. Dubow, the chief executive, and Gracia C. Martore, the president and chief operating officer, “each will be taking a reduction of salary that is equivalent to a week’s furlough.” But as it turns out, the buck stopped just short of Dubow and other executives. Dubow had agreed to lower his salary by 17 percent through 2011, but then again, last month he received a cash bonus of $1.75 million for 2010 and Martore received $1.25 million. For 2010, they were also awarded stock, options and deferred compensation that would bring their combined packages to $17.6 million if the company and its stock hits certain targets.
At Gannett, Furloughs but Nice Paydays for Brass
Americans are spending about 20 percent more time consuming radio, television and the Internet than they were a decade ago, according to a survey by Arbitron and Edison Media Research, a polling firm and radio market researcher. That jump reflects in part a rise by 26 percentage points in the number of Americans with access to the Internet. But it also speaks to the increasing ubiquity of smartphones, which have brought media into what were once silent spaces. The telephone survey of 2,020 people also found that those who watch a lot of television — more than 8 1/2 hours a day — skewed older than the population at large, while those who used the Internet often tended to be younger.
More Media Time, on Various Screens
[Commentary] It's time for Silicon Valley to rethink its relationship with Washington (DC) and Brussels.
After generations of technology entrepreneurs keeping their distance, high-tech companies over the past decade became among the biggest employers of lawyers, lobbyists and fixers. As in Detroit, reliance on big government by Silicon Valley undermines the focus on competition and innovation. There's a lesson here for Microsoft and Google—and for Facebook and Twitter as the likeliest next-generation targets of complaints by frustrated competitors. In high-tech, by the time the political and legal systems catch up to an issue, the issue is moot. Soon after the Justice Department considered forcing Microsoft to break itself into separate Windows and Internet Explorer businesses, Mozilla launched a popular competing browser. Apple and Google later did the same.
Silicon Valley Makes Peace With Washington
Growing from a scrappy underdog to one of the biggest technology companies on the planet with a huge base of loyal fans, Apple is looking for even more friends -- this time in Washington.
The company, with a market value greater than Microsoft, Google or Hewlett-Packard, is increasingly evolving from a computer maker to a multi-product international powerhouse and a major force in the entertainment and publishing industries. But Apple's aggressive exploitation of its immensely popular iPhone, iPad and sprawling online marketplace for music and digital applications has raised the eyebrows of regulators and lawmakers, who worry the company's dominance might stifle competition.
With antitrust mutters growing, Apple boosts presence in DC
Newly installed Google Chief Executive Larry Page promoted at least seven executives in charge of some of its most important divisions, as he continued his attempt to cut red tape and improve-decision making at the Internet giant.
The seven known promoted executives -- five of whom are software engineers like Page -- include the chiefs of video site YouTube and mobile-device software Android. They will report directly to Page. The move comes the same week Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president who oversaw four of the newly promoted executives, said he would leave the company. Page is also tying 25% of this year's employee bonuses to the success of Google's social-networking initiatives, which will add a social "layer" atop many of Google's products, including Web search, YouTube, and Picasa, the photo-sharing service, among others, said people familiar with the matter. Google is trying prevent Facebook and other social-networking companies from gaining an upper hand on Web innovation and potential advertising dollars. The reorganization, which makes Google's top product leaders directly accountable to Page, is part of a goal to streamline decision-making after the Web-search company became sluggish in that respect in recent years.
Google CEO Promotes Engineers in Management Shuffle
The budget deal reached April 8 will limit the Obama Administration's ambitious plans for agencies devoted to science and innovation, the White House acknowledged. The bipartisan compromise with Congressional leaders cuts $78.5 billion from President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request and $39 billion in actual spending. The White House released some details of the agreement, arguing the deal preserves key investments in science.
Spending deal cuts proposed funds for R&D
According to a copy of the majority staff memo on this week's House hearing on spectrum, Republicans are convinced more spectrum must be freed up for wireless, but they will look at a range of places to find it.
"There are a number of spectrum bands that hold the potential to help us meet our goals, but there are tough decisions to be made about how, when, and for what purpose spectrum is put to use," according to the Republican staff memo on the upcoming April 12 hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee. The memo pointed to some of broadcasters concerns about the option of auctioning more of their spectrum. "While there are few that have outright opposed incentive auctions," the memo said, "there are concerns as to how they could be done with what spectrum. Broadcasters are emphasizing that incentive auctions be truly 'voluntary.' Broadcasters have also raised concerns about how repacking will be handled once licensees voluntarily auction off their spectrum. "
But the memo makes clear the Republicans are on board with the wireless industry's argument that they need more spectrum from somewhere.
"Everyone agrees that there needs to be additional spectrum for wireless broadband," according to the memo. "American consumers have an increasingly insatiable demand for wireless broadband Internet access. Smartphone's now comprise more than one-third of all wireless devices sold in a given quarter. App stores, such as Apple's iTunes App Store, Google's Android Marketplace, and Research in Motion's BlackBerry App World, have delivered more than 10 billion apps to wireless consumers. Cisco reports that the amount of data delivered over wireless networks last year was three times the traffic of the entirety of the Internet in 2000. Given these growth figures, it is no surprise that the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan and the President of the United States are calling for an additional 500 MHz of spectrum to be allocated for wireless broadband use in the next five years."
Republicans Agree On 'Insatiable' Demand For Wireless Broadband