Though the rise of over-the-top (OTT) video services has forced broadcasters, content producers and video providers to embrace new ways of distributing their products, companies such as Netflix and Aereo aren’t yet a threat to the incumbents, said representatives from 21st Century Fox, Viacom, NBCUniversal, Charter Communications, Starz and others on panels Tuesday at the University of Colorado’s Silicon Flatirons conference on video programming.
Digital technologies have made music and movie content easier to distribute and produce, said executives in the movie and music industries. There are lessons to be learned from music’s digital transition that can help the video industry understand its shifting distribution channels, they said Tuesday evening during a Silicon Flatirons panel discussion webcast from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
A campaign against patent assertion entities is better suited for grassroots effort than other patent reform issues, said industry stakeholders and patent reform advocates in interviews this week. They said that as PAEs seek patent licensing fees or other recourse from a broader array of enterprises, it’s easier to get business owners and others beyond the Beltway to care and advocate about otherwise arcane issues in patent litigation and reform. The Application Developers Alliance, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Internet Association and other groups have taken that attitude to heart in starting nationwide campaigns against PAEs this summer.
Hulu and Sony’s streaming TV services are unlikely to survive for long, said David Bonderman, founder of private equity firm TPG, part owner of Univision, at the opening of the University of Colorado’s Silicon Flatirons Center conference on monetizing video programming Tuesday. Bonderman said investing in content is safer than investing in any particular form of delivering that content. “The tech is gonna continue to shift, but what isn’t gonna shift is people’s attachment to certain kinds of content,” he said. Bonderman said a recent attempt to sell Hulu failed because investors were “skeptical” that content providers would allow the streaming TV service to survive as an independent entity. “In the long term the odds are against success,” said Bonderman.
Superstorm Sandy continues to occupy FCC officials’ time, as Verizon executives have been pushing for permission to discontinue three “obsolete” services that run on the copper destroyed in October. Telegraph, program audio and metallic service were being purchased by only seven customers in the affected areas, and none has objected to their discontinuance, Verizon said (http://bit.ly/19fhxrd): “There is no basis for delaying or denying Verizon’s filing.”
The FCC’s role in encouraging Time Warner Cable and CBS to reach a retransmission consent agreement was likely very minimal, said consumer advocates and cable industry professionals in interviews Tuesday. The agreement disclosed Monday between the companies ended a month-long blackout of CBS programming to Time Warner Cable customers in eight markets. Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn urged media companies on both sides of retrans deals to accept shared responsibility when disputes affect customers (CD Sept 2 Special Report). The resolution shows that the FCC shouldn’t intervene in such disputes, a broadcast attorney said.
Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless didn’t limit the telco’s ability to maneuver, and Vodafone didn’t sell because it has a negative view of the U.S. wireless market, said Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam Tuesday in a conference call with analysts. The U.S.-based telco and U.K.-based carrier said Monday they agreed for Verizon to pay Vodafone $130 billion in cash and stock for its interest in No. 1 U.S. wireless provider (CD Sept 2 Special Bulletin).
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad unveiled the Connect Every Iowan initiative to bring high-speed broadband access to all of the state’s population. About one third of Iowans don’t subscribe to a broadband service, and less than 20 percent of Iowans subscribe to high-speed broadband service, said the Republican at a news conference Tuesday. Iowa ranks 47th in the nation in terms of access to broadband and 11th of 12 Midwestern states on the TechNet State Broadband Index, said Branstad. With Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), Branstad tasked the STEM Advisory Council’s Broadband Committee with developing legislative recommendations by Dec. 1 for broadband build-out throughout the state (http://bit.ly/13a6EpK).
Microsoft’s plan to acquire Nokia’s Devices and Services business for $7.2 billion is the first step in the acquirer’s steep climb to gain solid share in an increasingly brand-driven market dominated by iOS and Android mobile operating systems, analysts said Tuesday. “The branding of the phones to date has been the primary means of success” in the smartphone market, NPD analyst Stephen Baker told us. “The fact that Samsung stepped so far up in front of all the other Android brands shows that more and more the market for phones is a brand market versus an operating system market."
Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn wants media companies to “accept shared responsibility for putting their audience’s interests above other interests,” she said Monday evening as a weeks-long retransmission consent blackout between CBS and Time Warner Cable was ending. Media companies should “do all they can to avoid these kinds of disputes in the future,” Clyburn said in a written statement less than an hour after CBS and Time Warner Cable each said they reached a new deal. Programming will be restored to subscribers of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks within 24 hours, said TWC in a news release, while CBS said programming was resuming at 6 p.m. EST, about an hour after the deal was disclosed.