Benton RSS Feed
Acknowledging that so-called cloud computing will blur the distinctions between computers and networks, about two dozen big information technology companies plan to announce a new standards-setting group for computer networking.
The group, to be called the Open Networking Foundation, hopes to help standardize a set of technologies pioneered at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, and meant to make small and large networks programmable in much the same way that individual computers are. The changes, if widely adopted, would have implications for global telecommunications networks and large corporate data centers, but also for small household networks. The benefits, proponents say, would be more flexible and secure networks that are less likely to suffer from congestion. Someday, they say, networks might even be less expensive to build and operate. The new approach could allow for setting up on-demand “express lanes” for voice and data traffic that is time-sensitive. Or it might let big telecommunications companies, like Verizon or AT&T, use software to combine several fiber optic backbones temporarily for particularly heavy information loads and then have them automatically separate when a data rush hour is over. For households, the new capabilities might let Internet service providers offer remote services like home security or energy control.
Open Networking Foundation Pursues New Standards
The Federal Communications Commission should require sponsors of political advertising to disclose their biggest financial backers to the public, according to a petition to be filed by the Media Access Project, which advocates on behalf of consumers in telecommunications issues.
MAP argues that the FCC has interpreted federal law too narrowly when it comes to disclosure for political ads. Under current rules, some of which date back to the 1940s, the FCC requires disclosure only for the group claiming responsibility for the ad, no matter how it paid for it. But Andrew Schwartzman, the media project’s senior vice president and policy director, says the Communications Act of 1934 and subsequent legislation anticipates a much broader standard: disclosure of those actually paying for the message. Schwartzman’s petition asks the FCC to revise its rules to require groups to disclose financial backers who contribute more than 10 percent of their budgets as part of public documents filed with broadcast stations. It would also require on-air disclosures for donors who provide more than 25 percent of a television commercial’s budget.
Consumer advocates: FCC should require more disclosure on political ads Who Writes The Check? Group Wants Voters To Know (NPR)
Radio stations are receiving a surprisingly strong signal from audiences and the financial markets this year, even as they face intensifying competition from satellite and Web-based audio services including Sirius XM Satellite Radio XM and Pandora. An average of 241.6 million people 12 and older listened to conventional radio stations each week last year, an increase of 2.1 million over 2009 — and up 4.9% vs. 2005, according to an annual study that media and marketing research company Arbitron.
In a renaissance for radio, more listeners are tuning in
Liberty Global, the US cable operator, has agreed to buy Germany’s Kabel Baden-Württemberg for €3.2bn ($4.5bn) in what would be a leap towards national consolidation, provided antitrust officials give it the green light.
People briefed on the matter said Liberty, which owns Germany’s Unity-Media, clinched the deal with Kabel BW’s owner EQT Partners after rival bidders dropped out, including private equity groups CVC Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman. A person familiar with Liberty’s strategy said it was “very confident” of gaining antitrust approval, even though a combined Unitymedia and Kabel BW would leapfrog Kabel Deutschland to be Germany’s biggest operator by sales and profits. The person said Liberty may lower “slightly” the feed-in fees paid by broadcasters to gain access to its network. But he noted that “the regulator has moved” on consolidation since blocking deals in past years.
Liberty to buy Kabel BW for €3.2bn
Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, has defended his decision to allow News Corp to go ahead with its plan to take British Sky Broadcasting private, but said new rules could be introduced to limit concentration of the media.
Sec Hunt said he would be sending out a consultation paper next month to extend “public interest” legislation on UK media ownership so that regulators could act on their own timetable to curb excessively powerful owners. This follows a recommendation at the end of 2010 by Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, that the current system should be changed because it meant regulators could only intervene if there was a significant merger or acquisition. Sec Hunt said that enabling Ofcom to intervene based on an organization’s “economic growth” was something that should be considered by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
UK Culture Sec Hunt hints rules could curb media owners
UK regulators proposed rules for a long-awaited auction of radio spectrum, and signalled that they wanted to ensure that 3, the smallest British mobile network operator, could obtain a significant chunk of the airwaves.
Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, outlined draft rules for the auction early next year, which should be the UK’s biggest spectrum sale to date. The spectrum is suitable for rolling out new mobile networks based on a fourth-generation wireless technology called LTE, which supports fast web browsing on smartphones and tablet computers. Consumers in several other countries, including the US, Japan and some European nations, are already enjoying the benefits of 4G networks, but a legal dispute between Britain’s mobile operators over spectrum ownership has delayed the construction of high-speed infrastructure in the UK. The UK’s four mobile network operators – Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and 3 – desperately need more spectrum to cope with booming consumer demand for bandwidth-hungry smartphones. However, 3, which is owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, has expressed fears that its larger rivals could try to outbid it in the auction. If 3 failed to secure enough spectrum, it could struggle to continue as a network operator.
Ofcom moves to help mobile group 3 Ofcom Proposes Limits in U.K. Spectrum Auction to Ensure Four Operators (Bloomberg) Ofcom outlines auction rules for 4G spectrum (Financial Times)
Apple sued Amazon over its use of the phrase "App Store," accusing the online retailer of trademark infringement.
In a complaint filed in federal court for the Northern District of California, Apple asked the court for an injunction stopping Amazon from using the name as well as unspecified damages. "Consumers of mobile software downloads are likely to be confused as to whether Amazon's mobile software download service is sponsored or approved by Apple," Apple said in its complaint. The lawsuit comes as competition heats up between the two companies. Apple and Amazon compete against each other in many businesses including e-books as well as digital music and movie sales. Apple registered for a trademark on the term App Store on July 17, 2008. It has been using the name since then to refer to its applications store for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads that contains over 350,000 games, entertainment, news and other apps that users can download to customize their devices.
Apple Sues Amazon Over Term 'App Store'
A federal magistrate judge ordered Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs to answer questions in an antitrust dispute alleging the company operated a music-downloading monopoly.
Lawyers for consumers who filed the 2005 complaint won permission to conduct limited questioning of Jobs, under an order issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose, California. The deposition can't exceed two hours and the only topic allowed is changes Apple made to its software in October 2004 that rendered digital music files engineered by RealNetworks inoperable with Apple’s iPod music player. “The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge about the issues at the center of the dispute over RealNetworks software,” Lloyd wrote.
Apple’s Jobs Must Answer Questions in ITunes Downloading Antitrust Dispute
When the No. 3 US ad spender, AT&T, makes a bid to acquire a marketer that spends $500 million-plus domestically, the media world braces itself. But AT&T's $39 billion bid for T-Mobile could mean fewer ad dollars for U.S. media companies -- if the deal goes through. Just not at first.
If history is any guide, the combined entity will likely, over time, spend less than the $2.7 billion they collectively spent in U.S. measured media in 2010, according to Kantar Media. If the Federal Communications Commissions and Department of Justice approve the deal -- this will probably take a while -- media companies could enjoy an initial uptick in ad spending as the new entity tries to get the word out. If AT&T and T-Mobile become one entity, the marketer will have to let T-Mobile's 34 million subscribers -- and any potential customers -- know that it's all just AT&T.
Why Media Companies Will Feel the Pinch if AT&T and T-Mobile Seal the Deal
The deal is a classic duopoly case study: if AT&T and T-Mobile combined, it would set up a match-up like Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, with AT&T pitted against Verizon. The other rivals become almost irrelevant.
AT&T and Verizon would control roughly 80 percent of the national market. The next biggest is not that big at all: Sprint is just cracking double digits, at about 12 percent. After that is the bottom tier — MetroPCS, Leap and the like — all in single digits, though their numbers have been growing. Randall L. Stephenson, the chief executive of AT&T, would say this is the wrong way to look at the marketplace. For the last 24 hours, he has been telling anyone who will listen that the Justice Department should and will judge the transaction on a local market-by-market basis. He says on a local level, his company is often competing against at least five players — and in some cities, like Detroit and Miami, T-Mobile is not even in the top tier. But let’s be honest for a moment: MetroPCS and Leap, his supposed competitors, do not offer like-for-like products that can replace AT&T’s offering. One of the reasons MetroPCS has been able to offer lower prices than AT&T is that it does not offer true national service. (It would dispute this assessment because it uses roaming agreements and other companies’ networks — namely Verizon’s and Sprint’s — to extend its reach.) The iPhone? Forget about it. When you think about innovation in the cellular industry, whether it be technology, price plans or service, it has not come from the third-tier companies; instead, the third-tier companies have played copycat to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. The big question is whether an AT&T-Verizon duopoly will create enough competition to further drive competition and keep prices low.
So what will AT&T have to give up to get the thumbs up? That’s the $3 billion question — the amount of money it would have to pay T-Mobile’s parent, Deutsche Telekom, if the deal were blocked. That huge breakup fee should provide a powerful incentive to compromise. But then the question becomes what “remedy” the government could come up with to ensure competitiveness and innovation. AT&T would have to give up an awful lot of spectrum to ever create a true national competitor to it or Verizon. Lesser concessions could include commitments to make their networks open to competitors through roaming agreements and reseller agreements, allowing other carriers to sell service on At&T’s network under another brand. (That is what Verizon had to do in 2008.) Whatever the outcome, it is going to be a long, drawn-out battle.
AT&T’s Full Cost for Getting T-Mobile AT&T open to making deal concessions (Financial Times)