Technology360

CBS O&Os Get Broadband

Of CBS's 29 O&O TV stations, Will Richmond writes:

... CBS TV Stations drove 89 million video views from their own sites in '07, an average of around 8 million video views/mo from their own sites, a 71% increase over '06. It's gaining an additional 10 million video views/mo through syndication partners. The primary current contributor to syndication is Yahoo, with whom CBS TV Stations partnered in Oct '06. To put this in context, today's WSJ carried the adjacent graphic of select broadcasters' video views. Putting aside CBS TV Stations' 10 million monthly syndication streams, its '07 monthly average traffic would appear to rank it in the top 5, right around Discovery.com.  ¶  In addition, video clips are a big part of CBS TV Stations' success, as it is posting around 520/day and now offers a searchable library of 350K clips.  ¶  Meanwhile the Yahoo deal has been so successful that CBS TV Stations has clearly gotten syndication religion, with several significant announcements planned for the coming weeks. Leess explained how these syndication deals drive unprecedented consumption from out-of-market viewers while also creating valuable ad inventory. For pre-rolls, CBS is getting between $28-75 CPM, with banners fetching $8-18 CPM. Importantly, CBS TV Stations are aggressively bundling on-air/online/broadband packages, having sworn off broadband as a pure "value-add" some time ago.

Link:  Video Nuze.  --Dennis

New WiMAX variation may make it more alluring to carriers

Eric Bangeman writes:

... WiMAX is poised to break out in 2008. But one of the things that could conceivably hold it back from even wider adoption is its confinement to a relatively small slice of spectrum. That may change, as the WiMAX Forum has begun work on a variation of the mobile WiMAX spec that will allow it to operate in spectrum currently used for 3G networks. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.  --Dennis

The impact of wireless Internet on radio listening

Bridge Ratings is out with another interesting report, this one on the impact of emerging wireless Internet services (WiMax, et al.) on traditional radio listening.  It caught my eye because I've been advocating, so far without much success, marrying these devices with HD Radio to expand channels available to listeners via terrestrial radio.  This report suggests it will impact TSL of both terrestrial and satellite stations:

... By year 5 of in-car Wi-Fi acceptance, traditional radio can expect to see the amount of time spent listening to fall below 19 hours a week and by year 8 when we project that more than 23% of the U.S. public will have adopted wireless Internet technology in-car, weekly time spent listening to traditional radio will fall below 18 hours per week.  ¶  What about satellite radio? ¶  Satellite radio has found its greatest audience in-car but has the most to lose with wireless Internet radio reception. This study as well as previous Bridge Ratings studies conducted for the satellite radio industry, show that satellite radio subscribers consumer satellite radio at a far greater weekly rate than do listeners to traditional radio.  ¶  As wireless in-car becomes more accepted, weekly time-spent-listening to satellite radio will also be impacted. ...

Link:  Bridge Ratings.  --Dennis

Unlicensed broadband devices in TV spectrum "white space"

Broadcasters (MSTV, et al.) have been fighting the introduction of unlicensed broadband devices in the spectrum they occupy citing interference concerns.  Both sides have been conducting tests.  The New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program  has been an advocate for this more permissive use of the TV spectrum and it has issued a new policy brief by Sascha D. Meinrath and Michael Calabrese, The Feasibility of Unlicensed Broadband Devices to Operate on TV Band 'White Space' Withoug Causing Harmful Interference: Myths & Facts.  Link:  New America Foundation (see attached pdf).  --Dennis

Mark Cuban: The Internet is Dead and Boring

Mark Cuban has been taking on the Internet of late and this week weighed in again.  He writes:

... Every new technological, mechanical or intellectual breakthrough has its day, days, months and years. But they don't rule forever. That's the reality.  ¶  Every generation has its defining breakthrough. Cars, TV, Radio, Planes,highways, the wheel, the printing press, the list goes on forever. I'm sure in each generation to whom the invention was a breakthrough it may have been heretical to consider those inventions "dead and boring". The reality is that at some point they stop changing. They stop evolving. They become utilities or utilitarian and are taken for granted.   ¶  Some of you may not want to admit it, but that's exactly what the net has become. A utility. It has stopped evolving. Your Internet experience today is not much different than it was 5 years ago. ...

Link:  Blog Maverick. 

Update 27 August 2007:
In a follow-up post today, Cuban says The Internet Is Still Dead and Boring.  Link:  Blog Maverick.

Update 29 August 2007:
Be sure also to read broadband expert Om Malik's surprisingly supportive response, Cuban's Theory & The Internet Infrastructure Questions.  Link:  GigaOm.  --Dennis

Digital must-carry vs. faster IP-over-cable Internet access

Michael Harris makes the following proposal:

... Not surprisingly, MSOs and cable programmers continue to cry foul over broadcast digital must-carry and the possibility of multicast carriage. They well should. (See Cable's All-Upset Over All-Digital.)  ¶  But what the cable industry has failed to articulate is an alternative plan for the use of the spectrum that would be wasted under digital must-carry requirements.  ¶  Here's a suggestion. If the FCC deep-sixes digital must-carry, MSOs pledge to use the spectrum to rollout 100-Mbit/s Internet access nationwide. Move the argument into the marketplace, and empower consumers to pressure politicians still under the spell of broadcast lobbyists. ...

Link:  Cable Digital News.  I'm not advocating a position here, but we broadcasters might think about whether having a 100 mbps pipe to consumers might be better for our business model in the long run than trying to monetize more linear channels on already over-stuffed cable systems.  --Dennis

The BBC's iPlayer and ISP pushback

The BBC's current iPlayer beta has attracted a lot of comment in the blogosophere -- mostly about DRM and the Windows XP limits of the beta version -- but real story here is that ISPs in the UK have chosen this announcement as an occasion to make political points about capacity issues.  These complaints have the strong potential to be heard elsewhere in the world also as more and and bigger video files transit the Web, especially via P2P networks, legal and otherwise.  Here is a summary of stories about this development.

Jeremy Penston, iPlayer Politics: Behind the ISPs vs BBC row.  Link:  The Register.

Chris Williams, BT rubbishes BBC bandwidth throttling reports.  Link:  The Register.

Jack Schofield, ISPs warn BBC over iPlayer bandwidth use.  Link: The Guardian.  Included mostly for its links.

Bobbie Johnson, Bandwidth threat as on-demand TV grows.  Link: The Guardian.

Om Malik, Broadband ISP's Fear of the Web Video.  Link:  GigaOM.

Tim Ferguson, BBC iPlayer a Bandwidth Hog? Link: BusinessWeek.

Robert Andrews, BBC iPlayer Bandwidth Concerns - More Investment Needed, Regulator Says.  Link: paidContent.

Update 20 August 2007:

William Cooper, Broadband service providers threaten to throttle iPlayer.  Link: Informitv.

Then, to put this into some perspective, also read Om Malik's Online Video To Boost Internet Protocol (IP) Traffic.  He writes:

It should come as no surprise: the big and fat video files are one of the main reason why the bandwidth glut created by overbuilding in the telecom boom of 1990s is evaporating. The good news is that the demand for bandwidth is not going to end any time soon.  ¶  A report released by Cisco Systems (CSCO) predicts that consumer-related traffic running over IP networks is going to grow at a compound annual rate of 58 percent from 2006 to 2011, and will end up totaling 17 exabytes per month by 2011. ...

Link:  NewTeeVee.  --Dennis

IntraNets vs InterNets

Mark Cuban is in the HDTV business, among other things,  and recently wrote a provocative piece in his blog about "why the best days of the Internet are behind it."  He writes:

... What is the increase in your broadband speed THROUGHPUT over the past 1,2,5 or 10 years ? I went from about 200k in 1997 to about 800k (on a 3mbs advertised number) today. An increase of only 600k. True, its cheaper now than then, but 600k is only 600k. Most people think the throughput TO THE INTERNET of our home broadband connections will increase significantly over the next few years. It wont. Other than dropping fiber in the last mile, not much has changed in the last few years and unless you have fiber to your home, not much will change in the next 5 or more years. Face it folks, the Internet as a platform has stagnated. Its dead as a growth platform. Its like Microsoft windows. From about 1985 to 1995 it was a great platform and there was new software coming out continuously. When was the last time you got excited about a new piece of consumer software written for Windows ? Its a stagnant consumer platform. We switched to browsers for most of our PC activity. We are getting to the point where the browser on the net as a platform is becoming stagnant. ...

Link:  Blog Maverick.  Thanks to Stephen Hill.  --Dennis

The Stupidity of Spectrum Auctions in a World of SDR

The television industry is ending some 80 years of analog broadcasting in February 2009 so that spectrum it's vacating (digital television channels can be more tightly packed) can be auctioned off to help pay for all those wonderful benefits our federal government provides.  The impending spectrum auction has broadband providers and associated businesses salivating and others like incumbent broadcasters and major sports operators asserting some of their devices will cause interference (see here and here).

But some people make the case that the whole notion of spectrum is outmoded and wasteful.  Consultant Gordon Cook makes the case in a post of this title.  He writes:

... It is now possible to build software defined radios that can listen for other spectrum users in the neighborhood and fine tune their behavior sufficiently enough to stay out of each other’s way and hence not interfere.  ¶  The problem was that, even if the Republican FCC were not controlled by the duopolists, whom it pretends to regulate, we would still be shackled by the analogue based presumption of spectrum scarcity.  In a mindless effort to raise revenues for the federal government these private equity based non public good companies have paid for exclusive right to use spectrum where it was formerly thought that only a single person could ever talk in the space in a “single time slot” or frequency. ...

Link:  Cook's Collaborative Edge.  --Dennis

FCC sets 700-MHz auction rules

Nate Anderson writes:

... What eventually came out of the meeting was an interesting mix of policies: a Frontline-style public/private partnership for public safety, a weakened form of "open access" for new commercial licensees, and no wholesale requirement. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.

Online video proliferates

From a Pew Internet & American Life press release:

Fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video, and 19% do so on a typical day.  ¶   The growing adoption of broadband combined with a dramatic push by content providers to promote online video has helped to pave the way for mainstream audiences to embrace online video viewing. Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online.  ¶  The Pew Internet & American Life Project's first major report on online video also shows how many video viewers have contributed to the viral and social nature of online video. More than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them. ...

Link:  Pew Internet.  --Dennis

The 700 MHz Controversy - Fighting Over the Reclaimed TV Spectrum

About FCC rules relating to the upcoming auction of some spectrum currently occupied by UHF television broadcasters, David Oxenford writes:

... Users of the Internet, led by Google, have argued for an open system, where a subscriber pays for access to the wireless spectrum, and can essentially connect any device or receive any service, just as long as it does not damage the network.  This is much like the current wired telephone network, where a consumer can connect a telephone or a fax machine or a laptop computer and get access to the network.  Proponents of this model contend that it will encourage technological development as companies compete to develop different applications that can run on the network,and provide a "third pipe" into the home providing high speed Internet access to compete with that provided by cable and telephone companies.  Some might assume that content providers like broadcasters would favor that open approach so that their content can be easily delivered to the consumer, without the broadcaster having to cut any sort of deal with the network provider to get access. ...

Link:  Davis Wright Tremaine's Broadcast Law Blog.

Also see Eric Bangeman's Google announces intent to bid on 700MHz spectrum auction, if...:

... The four conditions outlined by Google in its letter announcing its intent to bid would go a long way towards ensuring that the freed-up spectrum fulfills its potential as a "third broadband pipe." Under a truly open network, consumers would be able to use any application on any device that they want. Also, winning bidders would be forced to license their spectrum at wholesale prices, which would keep one or two companies from gobbling up all the spectrum and limiting competitor (or even customer access to it). Lastly, ISPs would be able to interconnect freely to the 700MHz network at any technically feasible point. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.

Then see Miguel Helft's F.C.C. Heading Toward Rejection of Google's Wireless Auction Conditions:

... The commission’s chairman, Kevin Martin, proposed his version of so-called “open access” rules that would apply to about third of the spectrum being auctioned. These would allow consumers to connect to the wireless network with any device running any application. The two Democratic commissioners said they supported the idea, and the two Republican commissioners said they were undecided.  ¶   But a key point Martin, a Republican, would not support, and that Google insists on, is a rule forcing whoever wins the spectrum at the auction to wholesale parts of it to other companies who want to resell it. ...

Link:  New York Times. 

Finally, check out Robert X. Cringely's Is Google on Crack?: Eric Schmidt bets the ranch on wireless spectrum.  Link:  PBS. --Dennis

Google to offer Internet portal for Sprint's WiMAX network

I've posted recently about the Clearwire and Sprint WiMAX partnership because I think it's a signal that the broadcasting and consumer electronics industries need to get ready for WiMAX-to-the-dashboard.  Jacqui Cheng gives us another signal with a story about Google coming to the party.  The story ends:

... Google's current collaboration with Sprint will provide a boost as Sprint and its WiMAX partner, Clearwire, try to raise the profile of WiMAX. The wireless broadband technology has had a hard time getting off the ground in the US, but Sprint plans to roll the high-speed wireless tech out in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. by the end of the year, and 17 more US cities by April of 2008. The company says that it hopes to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008.

Link:  Ars Technica.

Also see Cheng's 2008 WiMAX rollout scheduled for Chicago, Indy, Denver, and more.  Link:  Ars Technica.  --Dennis

Clearwire and Sprint partnership

I'm a customer of both Sprint (multimedia phone and PC wireless card) and Clearwire (WiMax-ish WISP for my home), so the news of this collaboration is very interesting.  Clearwire has also recently entered into marketing partnerships with DirecTV and EchoStar.  More importantly, I think, this accelerates the development of mobile WiMax which, with other advanced mobile IP technologies, will quickly bring IP to the dashboard.  Soon I won't have to use my notebook PC and Sprint EV-DO card to listen to NRK's Alltid Folkmusikk channel when I'm driving -- ja, youbetcha!  Here are two articles (thanks to Dave Ostrom at my university).  --Dennis

In Sprint Moves to Build WiMax Network, Kim Hart writes:

Sprint Nextel is taking a different path to high-speed wireless than its rivals: Instead of bidding billions of dollars on airwaves in a federal auction, Sprint is building a network that uses WiMax technology, a move that has attracted plenty of criticism.  ¶   Sprint yesterday mapped out more plans for its network by announcing a 20-year partnership with Clearwire, a three-year-old start-up that provides wireless Internet service and is headed by entrepreneur and early Nextel investor Craig O. McCaw. Both companies hope the partnership will help build the new network faster and cheaper.  ¶  WiMax, like the better-known WiFi technology, connects cellphones and laptops to the Internet at speeds comparable to cable modems. Proponents say WiMax signals cover larger areas and are less susceptible to interference than WiFi and can connect more devices at higher speeds than the networks operated by such Sprint competitors as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. ...

Link: Washington Post.

In Clearwire and Sprint: Racing Ahead, Tom Giles writes:

Shares of Clearwire, a provider of wireless Internet access, surged on news that it's pairing with Sprint Nextel to create a nationwide network designed to provide mobile Internet access at faster speeds than typically available now.  ¶  The fruit of their cooperation will be the first coast-to-coast network providing broadband using WiMAX, a technology related to Wi-Fi with a wide-reaching signal so that users need not keep close to a hotspot at home or in a coffee shop to stay connected (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/11/07, "Will Mobile WiMAX Crack Fortress Europe?"). The companies plan to market mobile WiMAX services under a common service brand.  ¶  Sprint Nextel ... and Clearwire ... had been planning separate WiMAX systems, but they say combining forces will let them build a network more quickly and cheaply. ...

Link:  BusinessWeek.

Broadband Adoption in 2007

From a Pew Internet press release:

Nearly half (47%) of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a February 2007 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 42% in early 2006 and 30% in early 2005. Among individuals who use the internet at home, 70% have a high-speed connection while 23% use dialup.  ¶  The 12% growth rate from 2006 to 2007 represents trails the 40% increase in the 2005 to 2006 timeframe, when many people in the middle-income and older age groups acquired home broadband connections. ... 

Link:  Pew Internet & American Life Project.

David Weinberger: Delaminate the bastards

David Weinberger writes:

I've posted a long-ish call for structurally separating the businesses that provide us with connectivity and those that provide us with services and content that uses that connectivity.  It's called "Delaminate Now!."  ¶  It's based on David Isenberg's Making Network Neutrality Sustainable, which argues that the only way to get an enforceable Network Neutrality policy is to restructure the industry itself.  I also highly recommend Susan Crawford's Moving Slowly in the Fast Lane.

Link:  Joho the Blog (or just go directly to the links above).  David's most recent book is Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder.  --Dennis

YouTube represents 10% of North American Internet traffic

Steve O'Hear writes:

YouTube accounts for ten percent of all North American Internet traffic, according to a recent report (PDF) by Ellacoya Networks. Based on data of approximately one million broadband subscribers in North America, the study also revealed that — bucking a four year trend — HTTP traffic now surpasses that of p2p, largely due to the proliferation of video streaming sites such as YouTube. Remember that for years it has been p2p traffic that’s dominated broadband usage, as users download pirated music and movies over p2p file-sharing networks. ...

Link:  last100.

A Better Way to Stream TV?

Neal Sandler writes:

... a startup called Arootz ... says it has devised a solution [to bandwidth problems for video content] that greatly increases the Net's ability to deliver video without requiring substantial new infrastructure. The approach takes advantage of two existing (and not very esoteric) technologies: a standard Internet feature known as multicasting, by which the same information can be sent simultaneously to many recipients using just one data stream; and off-the-shelf hard drives that can store vast amounts of data fast and cheap.  ¶  The combination of the two represents a radical new approach to using the Net. Here's how it works: In today's world, when a person sitting at a PC clicks a link to watch a video, a series of servers delivers the content from its source to the end user in what's essentially an individualized person-to-person channel. If 10,000 people in a city all want to watch Desperate Housewives, each one of them gets their own personal bandwidth-hogging data stream. ¶  Imagine, instead, that by keeping track of basic patterns and preferences, an ISP could anticipate that those 10,000 viewers might want to watch Housewives in a predictable time window—say, within 24 hours after each episode was released. So rather than delivering 10,000 individual streams whenever the viewers choose to watch the show, the ISP can blast it simultaneously via multicasting (using far less bandwidth) to capacious hard drives in all 10,000 homes, and then the customers can watch the show at their leisure directly from an in-home media server. ...

Link:  BusinessWeek.

Google Proposes Innovation in Radio Spectrum Auction

John Markoff writes:

Google filed a proposal on Monday with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to let companies allocate radio spectrum using the same kind of real-time auction that the search engine company now uses to sell advertisements. ...

... In their proposal, Google executives argue that by permitting companies to resell the airwaves in a real-time auction would make it possible to greatly improve spectrum use and simultaneously create a robust market for innovative digital services. For instance, a company could resell its spectrum on an as-needed basis to other providers, the executives said in their formal proposal to the federal agency. ...

... The proposal is for the wholesale auction of spectrum. However, in the future such a system might require that advanced computing technology be built into wireless handsets and computers to automate the auction bidding process and permit it to take place without users noticing. The Google proposal states that such a system would reduce retail prices for wireless spectrum and extend Internet access into rural areas not now served by existing providers. ...

Link:  New York Times.  If the NYT link doesn't work for you, CNet has "reprinted" the article.

Corey Boles of the Associated Press has more in, Google's novel idea for FCC spectrum auction.  Link:  USA Today.  --Dennis

Google, Intel, Skype and Yahoo! Seek Rules for Bidding on Broadcast Frequencies

Drew Clark writes:

The country's two satellite television companies have joined forces with four major technology companies and a wireless company to promote the auction of frequencies currently used by television broadcasters.  ¶  In a March 5 meeting at the Federal Communications Commission with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, the tech companies – Google, Intel, Skype and Yahoo! – joined with Access Spectrum to promote their "Coalition for 4G in America."  ¶  The engagement of Internet giants like Google and Yahoo!, which traditionally have not lobbied the FCC, suggests considerable interest by the technology industry in the upcoming auction, which is set to begin no later than January 28, 2008. In 2006, Congress fixed February 19, 2009, as the end-date for analog television, freeing a wide swath of radio-frequencies for use by new technologies. ...

Link:  DrewClark.com.

Ethernet: How high can it go?

Sandra Gittlen writes (22 Nov. 2006) about an IEEE study group that's been formed to develop standards that will take Ethernet beyond its current upper limit of 10 billion bits per second (10 Gigabits):

... "Traffic is doubling every 12 to 14 months. If the industry can't come up with a solution soon, we'll become bandwidth constrained," says Lane Patterson, CTO of Equinix, an Internet exchange carrier in Foster City, Calif.  ¶  At the YouTube Web site, traffic at peak times is hitting 25Gbps and is expected to climb to 75Gbps soon. "User traffic to our site is continuing to grow. We add multiple 10-gig circuits a month to meet this growth," says Colin Corbett, director of networking. ...

... "There is a dynamic happening in the marketplace, where there is a shift in how video is used and consumed by customers," says Suraj Shetty, director of Cisco's Service Provider Routing Technology Group.  ¶  Shetty points to new services -- business- and consumer-oriented -- that enable real-time global viewership. It's this move to mass consumption of video that is straining worldwide resources and sparking the need to move beyond 10G Ethernet, he says. ...

Link:  Network World.

Also see a later (22 Jan. 2007) interview by Gittlen with John D'Ambrosia, who is chairman of that study group.  On the Horizon: 100 Gigabit Ethernet.  Link:  Network World.  --Dennis

 

Only Connect

Ex-FCC staffer currently teaching at the Wharton School, Kevin Werbach, argues that both sides in the network neutrality debate are mistaken:

... My claim is that there are two types of rules for communications networks: interconnection rules and non-discrimination rules. The distinction has never been fully appreciated, even though regulators have imposed both requirements many times. Non-discrimination questions predominate today, but in reality, the central challenge of our era of digital convergence is interconnection. ...

Link:  Werblog.

Here's the abstract of the paper at Social Science Research Network:

There are two kinds of legal rules for communications networks, such as the Internet and the telephone system. Interconnection rules define how and when networks must exchange traffic with each other, and non-discrimination rules prevent networks from favoring some customers' traffic over others. Each approach has unique strengths and weaknesses. The distinction has never been fully appreciated, even though regulators have imposed both requirements many times.   ¶  Non-discrimination questions predominate in communications and Internet policy today, thanks to the high-profile battle over "network neutrality" rules for broadband networks. Yet both sides in the network neutrality debate are mistaken. The central challenge of our era of digital convergence is not non-discrimination, but interconnection. Technological and marketplace developments threaten to undermine the open connectivity that feeds the Internet's extraordinary dynamism. A renewed emphasis on interconnection could better address the concerns that animate the network neutrality debate. At the same time, it could avert a disastrous balkanization of the Internet, which otherwise looms as a real possibility.  ¶  In short, non-discrimination was crucial in the old era of scarcity; interconnection is the essential input of the new age of abundance. The central mandate for the emerging field of network infrastructure policy should be the one eloquently articulated by E.M. Forster: Only connect.

Jerry Brito adds some commentary in, Werbach: Forget Neutrality, regulate interconnection.  Link:  Technology Liberation Front.  --Dennis

Cable, Not The Phone Company, Will Win the Bandwidth Wars

Tiernan Ray writes:

...I n a 70-page report that arrived over the transom this afternoon, replete with diagrams and tables, [Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig] Moffett lays out the argument that after spending billions to build-out fiber-optics around the country, Verizon and AT&T will only be able to cover 40% of the population in the foreseeable future.  While broadband Internet becomes a must for most consumer households, only cable will be able to reach 60% of American homes with fast pipes.  So it makes no sense, he says, that the market is treating both cable stocks AND phone stocks as if both teams can win. ...

Link:  Barron's Online.  Thanks to mediaeater.  --Dennis

Half of all US households will have broadband this year

... says Park Associates via Nate Anderson:

US broadband growth, though slower than that in some other countries, is expected to hit a significant milestone at some point in 2007. Consultancy Parks Associates has just released its annual report on US broadband, and it concludes that more than 50 percent of US households will have a high-speed connection by the end of the year. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.

Opening Bottlenecks: On Behalf of Mandated Network Neutrality

Bill D. Herman of the University of Pennsylvania has written an interesting paper on net neutrality.  Here's the abstract:

This paper calls for mandated “network neutrality,” the principle that broadband service providers (BSPs) should generally treat all nondestructive data equally. Without such a mandate, BSPs will likely begin charging content providers for the right to send data at the fastest speeds available. The present frequency with which BSPs block some data entirely may also increase.  ¶  Neutral networks are preferable for two key reasons. First, they spawn innovation, as illustrated by the explosive online innovation to date. Second, neutral networks better distribute communication power, promoting First Amendment values. Extant and likely future acts of discrimination erode both goals. The danger is real in the highly concentrated broadband market; BSPs have the incentives and means to engage in a high degree of broadband discrimination.  ¶  This paper demonstrates that ad hoc regulation under current statutory authority is ineffective in dissuading even grossly anticompetitive network discrimination. Further, network congestion can be and is managed adequately without resorting to discrimination. This paper also rejects the call for multiple special-purpose networks as both unrealistic and undesirable, and it rebuffs calls to postpone regulation. Finally, it rebuts allegations that regulatory capture will turn network neutrality mandates into incumbents' playthings.

Link:  Federal Communications Law Journal via Social Science Research Network.  Thanks to Tim Lee at The Technology Liberation Front who adds some critical comments in a post entitled, Telcos are Not Suicidal, and in another one entitled, Hayek, Network Neutrality, and Coercion.  --Dennis

Cable's data, voice biz encroaching on video

Diane Mermigas writes:

Despite all the fuss about online video and the stampede of television and film producers into digital downloading, at least one major industry player concedes video content is not the long-term be-all and end-all of the new media age.  ¶  Comcast says that within the next several years, half of its overall cable subscribers will not be taking video services- opting, instead, for data and voice that don't pose copyright issues but present plenty of untapped opportunities. ...

Link:  The Hollywood Reporter.

To open or not to open, Sprint and its WiMAX network

Katie Fehrenbacher writes:

[Atish Gude, Sprint’s senior VP of mobile broadband operations] said that while Sprint eventually wants to embrace the open Internet-centric model for devices that connect to its WiMAX network — browseable devices and open platforms — the company is still wrestling with whether it should lean toward a closed or open model when it launches. “Do you start with an open model, or start with a closed model and move to an open model,” he asked. ...

Link:  GigaOM.

Mobile Internet Access

Eric Griffith has an article about Autonet, a new service that serves as a mobile wireless connection for your computer that works through multiple service providers.  He writes:

... The Autonet unit will come with the radios inside for the 3G backhaul connection. You won't need to have a separate EV-DO or HSDPA card to plug into the hardware. Using a network layer the company calls TRU Technology, Autonet will manage the network connections. End users won't necessarily even know what 3G provider is in play, as Autonet hopes to have relationships with all the mobile carriers providing 3G. Whether the hardware will carry multiple radios to support both EV-DO (used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint) and HSDPA (from Cingular) is under discussion. ...

Link:  Wi-Fi Planet.  Thanks to Gillian Coldsnow for the tip.

More:  Skip Pizzi discusses the implications of mobile Internet to broadcasters in, What a Wireless World It Will Be.  Link:  Radio World.

Mark Ramsey also picked up on the story and has some good comments in, "The First Internet Service Provider Specifically Designed for Cars".  He writes:

... It is absolutely, positively inevitable that virtually every new vehicle will, within the next five years or so, be a potential roving hotspot. ...

I absolutely, positively 100% agree. Link:  Hear 2.0.

And, Mark Ramsey again with, At Ford, Windows is Job One.  Link:  Hear 2.0.  --Dennis

Faulhaber and Farber on spectrum ownership

Tim Lee has some interesting comments on Yochai Benkler's argument for a spectrum commons and points to a paper by Gerald Faulhaber and David Farber, two University of Pennsylvania professors and former FCC Chief Economist and CTO, respectively, that Benkler cites.  When I read Benkler's book, the Wharton link was down, but Lee provides it here and that 25-pp paper is worth reading along with Lee's post if you're interested in spectrum management.  Lee writes:

... If Benkler is right that new technologies will allow costless sharing of spectrum, then adopting a property regime will simply mean that society bears some unnecessary transaction costs as the manufacturers of equipment have to purchase spectrum rights for their products. The market value of a non-scarce resource tends toward zero, so we would expect the price of obtaining such a license to fall rapidly once efficient sharing technologies came onto the scene. You would still be able to do everything under a property regime that you would under a commons regime, the costs of administering the system would just be somewhat higher.  ¶  In contrast, converting the entire spectrum to a commons rules out many traditional uses, such as traditional radio and television broadcasting. If we adopted a commons regime all at once, and commons-based wireless technologies turn out to be inferior to exclusive uses for some purposes, there will be no easy way to reintroduce exclusive uses. Our only alternative will be to lobby Congress to change the rules. ...

Link:  Technology Liberation Front.  --Dennis

FCC allows limited use of vacant TV airwaves

Reuters is reporting:

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to permit certain wireless devices to use vacant airwaves between active television channels as long as they do not cause interference.  ¶    Companies like computer chipmaker Intel Corp. ... have pushed the FCC to make those airwaves available for use without a license for services like high-speed wireless Internet. But broadcasters have worried about possible signal disruptions. ...

... The FCC agreed to permit the use of fixed, low-powered, wireless equipment on some unused channel frequencies and said it would conduct testing to assess interference and encouraged others to submit their findings. ...

Link:  Reuters.  The FCC's news release on this is available as a pdf.  --Dennis

Bill Moyers on Net Neutrality

Set your TiVo.  The PBS series, Moyers on America, is doing a 90-minute program called "The Net at Risk" next Wednesday evening.  The description reads, in part:

The future of the Internet is up for grabs. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively eliminated net neutrality rules, which ensured that every content creator on the Internet-from big-time media concerns to backroom bloggers-had equal opportunity to make their voice heard. Now, large and powerful corporations are lobbying Washington to turn the World Wide Web into what critics call a "toll road," threatening the equitability that has come to define global democracy's newest forum. Yet the public knows little about what's happening behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. ...  Link:  PBS.

It's nominally scheduled at 9 ET/PT and 8 CT/MT, but owing to the weirdness of public television scheduling, your experience may vary.  Check your local listings or titanTV to confirm air time or find the customary repeats.  --Dennis

Do cable and the telcos have enough bandwidth for television?

The chairman of Liberty Media, John Malone, questions whether telcos like AT&T and Verizon have enough bandwidth to compete in the television arena.  Liberty Media chief: Telecoms could take big hit in cable wars (link:  USA Today).  However, cable's capacity has been questioned as well.  Michael Harris says it's OK:  Cable's Looming Bandwidth Crisis? (link: Cable Digital News).  --Dennis

Pew: The Future of the Internet

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released part 2 [pdf] of its report on the future of the Internet, authored by Janna Quitney Anderson.  They write:

A survey of internet leaders, activists, and analysts shows that a majority agree with predictions that by 2020:

• A low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening” world.
• Humans will remain in charge of technology, even as more activity is automated and “smart agents” proliferate. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future. This significant majority agreed that dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology. This was one of the major surprises in the survey.
• Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity and also spawn new addiction problems.
• Tech “refuseniks” will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.
• People will wittingly and unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process even as they lose some privacy.
• English will be a universal language of global communications, but other languages will not be displaced. Indeed, many felt other languages such as Mandarin, would grow in prominence.

Author Anderson is from Elon University in North Carolina, which is hosting a related 6,000-page site:  Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast.

Part 1 [pdf] was issued in January 2005 and was authored by Susannah Fox, Anderson and Rainie.  --Dennis

Is TV really the killer app for WiMAX?

Om Malik writes:

... MobiTV, well known for its television-to-the-mobile phone service, says it is now going to work with the WiMAX forum, and will participate in a TV-over-WiMAX trial in some Northern California cities. MobiTV will also show off an experimental network built with Navini Networks’ Ripwave gear that can deliver HD television. ...

Link:  GigaOM.

Sam Churchill has more in WiMAX Television?  Link:  DailyWireless. 

Updated 24 Sep. 2006:
Diane Mermigas does her usual penetrating analysis of the Murdoch-Malone deal on DirecTV, which is a significant indicator for the issue above, in Murdoch-Malone deal is glimpse at the future.  Link:  Hollywood Reporter.  --Dennis

US spectrum auction closes

Eric Bangeman writes:

The US government's big spectrum auction wrapped up yesterday with bids totalling $13.9 billion. Touted as one of the largest spectrum auctions in Federal Communications Commission history, the sale was for 1,122 licenses covering 90MHz of spectrum in the 1710-1755MHz and 2110-2155MHz bands. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.

Also see T-Mobile's $4 Billion Tops FCC's $14 Billion Spectrum Auction (link:  Information Week) and Big Guns Dominate Spectrum Auction (link:  Light Reading).  --Dennis

FCC will allow unlicensed devices in analog TV spectrum

Nate Anderson writes:

The FCC has just announced the roadmap (PDF) for giving unlicensed wireless devices access to empty "white spaces" in the current analog TV spectrum. US spectrum is at a premium (just consider the astronomical fees paid by cell phone providers to grab a chunk of it), and the FCC wants to ensure that space is available for innovative unlicensed technology.  ¶  The goal is to replicate the success of WiFi, but with longer range. ...

Link:  Ars Technica.

For the official broadcaster reaction, see FCC sets roadmap for using vacant TV airwaves where Jeremy Pelofsky quotes the NAB's president:

...  "We are pleased the FCC has taken the sensible position of ensuring that these devices will be tested rigorously and that no marketplace introduction will occur until after broadcasters complete a successful transition to digital television," said NAB President and Chief Executive Officer David Rehr. ...

Link: Reuters.  --Dennis
 

Samsung claims to have cracked 4G

Jo Best writes:

Samsung is claiming to have cracked 4G, while most of the mobile industry couldn't tell you what it is yet.  ¶  The electronics giant planned to demonstrate the high-speed technology at the Samsung 4G Forum, which runs through Friday on Jeju Island, South Korea. Using a specially adapted bus, the company promises wireless speeds of 100Mbps ... . The company also said it planned to demonstrate a handover between cells at up to 60 kilometers per hour.  ¶  Fixed speeds for technology will be even greater, getting up to 1Gbps ...--that is, 50 times faster than the current next-generation hype generator, mobile WiMax. ...

Link:  CNET News.com.

Sam Churchill has a detailed report in, Samsung's 4G.  Link:  dailywireless.org.  --Dennis

Wireless Providers Poised to Win Spectrum Licenses

Ken Belson and Matt Richtel have a good coverage in the New York Times of developments so far in the on-going FCC spectrum auction, the subject of earlier posts here.  --Dennis

Satelllite TV companies withdraw from FCC auction

Olga Kharif writes:

On Aug. 16, an entity called Wireless DBS withdrew from the Federal Communications Commission auction, expected to be the most expensive sale ever of the precious airwaves needed for sending wireless calls.  ¶  Of the 168 bidders in Auction 66, the backers of Wireless DBS, rival satellite TV operators EchoStar ... and DirecTV ..., had paid the highest deposit, nearly $1 billion. Those companies, above others, needed the airwaves to help expand into wireless communications and step up competition with cable companies such as Comcast ... and telephone carriers like Verizon ..., or so the argument ran. Why, then, did EchoStar and DirecTV, which is 39% owned by News Corp. ..., pull out?  ¶  Turns out, they've got a backup plan. The companies may be considering entering the mobile communications market by relying on a different technology, so-called WiMAX, which blankets large areas with high-speed wireless Internet access. ...

Link:  BusinessWeek.

Electronic News says that the partnership is likely to be with Clearwire.  Also see a related Associated Press story from Multichannel News at Broadcast Newsroom.  --Dennis

WiMAX not yet around the corner; more like a block away

How close is WiMAX?  Well, I'm using an early version from Clearwire to make this post.  I still have a contract with an 802.11-based WISP here in town also (my house is beyond the range of wired broadband) and, even though throttled down from its theoretical capability, downstream speed is comparable with the older WISP when the latter is working properly and much better than the older WISP upstream.  Clearwire was extremely easy to set up and, unlike the 802.11 WISP, doesn't require an external antenna on my house.  Oh, and I'm five miles from the transmitter.

Nate Anderson at Ars Technica and Robert X. Cringely at PBS are offering good analyses of WiMAX's prospects.  --Dennis

The Distribution War to Come -- A Tale of Two Pipes

Richard Reisman writes:

The battle between the TV distributors and TV sourcing from the Internet is largely a battle over two pipes. One pipe is the TV distribution pipe controlled by the cable companies (or, similarly, by the Telcos). The distributors act as gatekeepers to prime content from TV program networks -- they limit our choices to the TV program networks they choose to carry and charge us a nice premium to see the content they choose to let us receive. ...
[snip]
... But now the big Internet players are getting serious (see my previous post, TV Meets the Internet as Manifest Destiny -- Soon?), and they are finding the premium content owners eager to experiment with this alternate pipe. It is telling that some network executives have referred to this as "cable bypass." The content providers hate the cable distributors for their monopolistic stranglehold even more than we consumers do. They also learned the lesson of the music industry and are getting serious about learning new ways to survive in this new age. ...

Link:  Reisman on User-Centered Media.

Cable and Satellite TV Set Their Sights on Airwaves

Matt Richtel and Ken Belson have more information on the recent FCC spectrum auction in the New York Times.  Here's an earlier post that I made on the auction.  --Dennis

Sprint Goes WiMax

Dan Jones and Richard Martin write:

Taking a flyer on next-generation wireless systems, Sprint Nextel Corp. ... says it will use mobile WiMax technology to create a high-speed wireless network that will serve 100 million subscribers by the end of 2008.  ¶  The firm is teaming up with Intel Corp. ..., Motorola Inc...., and Samsung Corp. on the massive project. Motorola and Samsung will provide mobile WiMax infrastructure and multi-mode devices for the network, while Intel will provide chipsets. All three will contribute undisclosed amounts of money for the infrastructure and marketing of this new network. ...

Link:  Unstrung.  Thanks to AlwaysOn for the tip.  --Dennis

Sprint to use WiMax for 4G wireless network

Marguerite Reardon writes:  "Sprint Nextel plans to spend $3 billion over the next two years to build a fourth-generation wireless network using WiMax technology."  Link:  CNET News.com via TechRepublic.  I have two Sprint 3G (EV-DO) devices, a wireless card for my tablet PC and a cell phone.  Love 'em.  The 4G systems have huge implications for us broadcasters -- huge positive implications if we're smart enough to catch the wave; negative if we don't.  Christopher Price has another story on this at PCS Intel.

Sprint Nextel is in pretty good shape for spectrum, but is participating in this week's auction by the FCC of AWS spectrum.  T-Mobile seems to be the most active among current wireless companies.  Link:  PCS Intel.  BusinessWeek has more on bids by media companies.

Thanks to Stephen Hill for tips on both of these stories.  --Dennis

FCC Votes To Free Up Airwaves, Boost Power Line Broadband

David Hatch writes:

The FCC took steps to increase the availability of high-speed Internet service by expediting the deployment of broadband over power lines, or BPL, and freeing up spectrum for wireless broadband. Both items were approved 5-0.  ¶   But the FCC dropped from its agenda a proposal that BPL be classified as a lightly regulated information service. Sources said the item is expected to be considered soon "on circulation," meaning the commissioners will vote privately.

Link:  National Journal.  Bad news for many hams.  --Dennis (N7DH)