Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said MetroPCS shareholders should vote against the proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, arguing Wednesday in a report that MetroPCS shareholders would receive a “lower equity split than justified” and that MetroPCS could “continue to thrive” as a standalone company. Under the current deal, MetroPCS shareholders would receive $1.5 billion in cash and 26 percent ownership of the merged carrier (CD Oct 4 p1). The ISS recommendation will likely prompt T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom to modify the current deal terms in order to win approval when MetroPCS shareholders meet April 12, industry analysts say.
T-Mobile USA is “canceling our membership to the Wireless Carrier Club,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at a press conference Tuesday, saying the carrier will begin selling the iPhone 5 on April 12 and start a series of other steps to brand T-Mobile as the “Un-carrier.” T-Mobile said it will be selling the iPhone 5 for $99.99, plus a monthly $20 fee over the course of two years. The carrier will offer the iPhone 4S for $69.99 plus a $20-per-month fee over two years, and the iPhone 4 for $14.99 and a $15-per-month fee over two years. The fee is in addition to the cost of a customer’s voice, text and data plan. T-Mobile said it will offer other new smartphones on similar fee schedules (http://t-mo.co/ZqQaqh).
T-Mobile USA is “canceling our membership to the Wireless Carrier Club,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at a press conference Tuesday, saying the carrier will begin selling the iPhone 5 on April 12 and start a series of other steps to brand T-Mobile as the “Un-carrier.” T-Mobile said it will be selling the iPhone 5 for $99.99, plus a monthly $20 fee over the course of two years. The carrier will offer the iPhone 4S for $69.99 plus a $20-per-month fee over two years, and the iPhone 4 for $14.99 and a $15-per-month fee over two years. The fee is in addition to the cost of a customer’s voice, text and data plan. T-Mobile said it will offer other new smartphones on similar fee schedules (http://t-mo.co/ZqQaqh).
Broadband is the fastest-growing segment of Comcast’s business, but innovation will change Comcast’s traditional cable base “more in the next five years than it has in the past 50,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the Washington Economic Club Thursday. When Microsoft invested $1 billion in Comcast in 1997, Roberts said Bill Gates told him then that Comcast’s business would expand far beyond delivering TV service. That prediction has held true, Roberts said. Comcast has about 22 million video customers and 20 million broadband customers, he said. “Those lines will cross some time in the next couple of years and we will have just as many -- if not more -- broadband customers than we have video customers,” he said. Comcast faces a “different broadband every year,” he said. “We change the speeds, the nature of it, so Wi-Fi is now … part of our definition of broadband. So we want to have the fastest Wi-Fi as well as the fastest pipe. We want to offer you access outside of your home."
Broadband is the fastest-growing segment of Comcast’s business, but innovation will change its traditional cable base “more in the next five years than it has in the past 50,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the Washington Economic Club Thursday. When Microsoft invested $1 billion in Comcast in 1997, Roberts said Bill Gates told him then that Comcast’s business would expand far beyond delivering TV service. That prediction has held true, Roberts said. Comcast has about 22 million video customers and 20 million broadband customers, he said. “Those lines will cross some time in the next couple of years and we will have just as many -- if not more -- broadband customers than we have video customers,” he said. Comcast faces a “different broadband every year,” he said. “We change the speeds, the nature of it, so Wi-Fi is now … part of our definition of broadband. So we want to have the fastest Wi-Fi as well as the fastest pipe. We want to offer you access outside of your home.” Comcast will show off a new version of its cloud-based program guide at the Cable Show in June, Roberts said. The first version of the guide, X1 is being rolled out market-by-market and has been very popular with subscribers, he said. The program guide, which includes some voice control features and improved search, is designed to make it easier for viewers to find programming they want to watch, he said. Roberts said he’s “bullish” about Comcast’s move toward full control of NBCUniversal. While Comcast’s move into the business of creating content is “not easy, it’s not perfect,” Roberts said NBCUniversal has it “pretty close to just right, right now.” Bob Greenblatt, NBCUniversal’s chairman of entertainment, is a “super person in picking shows,” Roberts said. “He’s going to get grief when it fails and praise when it succeeds. … That’s the nature of the content business.” He declined to comment on reports that NBCUniversal is preparing “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon to replace “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno. “There’s a lot of people issues and you keep that stuff confidential,” he said.
Broadband is the fastest-growing segment of Comcast’s business, but innovation will change Comcast’s traditional cable base “more in the next five years than it has in the past 50,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the Washington Economic Club Thursday.
States should increase their role as a partner with the federal government to address Internet privacy issues, said Steve Ruckman, Maryland assistant attorney general and director of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Internet Privacy Unit, at a joint Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA)-American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law event Wednesday. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has made Internet privacy protections a priority -- both in his in-state work and in his role as president of the National Association of Attorneys General NAAG), Ruckman said. Gansler was originally scheduled to speak at the FCBA event, but needed to testify at a Maryland General Assembly hearing.
States should increase their role as a partner with the federal government to address Internet privacy issues, said Steve Ruckman, Maryland assistant attorney general and director of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Internet Privacy Unit, at a joint FCBA-American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law event Wednesday. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has made Internet privacy protections a priority -- both in his in-state work and in his role as president of the National Association of Attorneys General NAAG), Ruckman said. Gansler was originally scheduled to speak at the FCBA event, but needed to testify at a Maryland General Assembly hearing.
There has been little movement in the debate over the Marketplace Fairness Act (HR-684, S-336) since it failed to pass the Senate in December, eBay Senior Director of Global Public Policy Brian Bieron told us. The Senate had rejected including the bill’s provisions as an amendment to the 2013 Defense Authorization Act. The bill would allow state governments to collect sales taxes when an in-state resident makes an online purchase from an out-of-state retailer. “It seems like the same people who were for [the bill] before are for it now, the same people who had objections to it before have objections to it now,” Bieron said. “It seems to be pretty much the same debate it’s been for some time now, only louder.” The bill effectively gives states a “new power” to tax people outside their own borders, he said during an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation event Tuesday. EBay has been an active opponent of the Marketplace Fairness Act -- the company organized a gathering of small business owners on Capitol Hill earlier this month to voice their concerns about the bill.
There has been little movement in the debate over the Marketplace Fairness Act (HR-684, S-336) since it failed to pass the Senate in December, eBay Senior Director of Global Public Policy Brian Bieron told us. The Senate had rejected including the bill’s provisions as an amendment to the 2013 Defense Authorization Act (WID Dec 4 p4). The bill would allow state governments to collect sales taxes when an in-state resident makes an online purchase from an out-of-state retailer. “It seems like the same people who were for [the bill] before are for it now, the same people who had objections to it before have objections to it now,” Bieron said. “It seems to be pretty much the same debate it’s been for some time now, only louder.” The bill effectively gives states a “new power” to tax people outside their own borders, he said during an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation event Tuesday. EBay has been an active opponent of the Marketplace Fairness Act -- the company organized a gathering of small business owners on Capitol Hill earlier this month to voice their concerns about the bill (WID March 5 p1).