Earlier this month John McCain put forth a new bill that would tie a la carte to the compulsory license, and eliminate the sports blackout rule. Most interesting however is a provision that would require the FCC to auction the spectrum of a broadcaster who tried to move its must-have programming to cable. That last bit was a direct shot at broadcasters who have been claiming they’d move their broadcast networks to cable if they [...]

As you’ve probably been noticing, the streaming video market is getting rather fragmented, with different programs getting different exclusive licenses with different streaming providers, a problem that’s likely going to get much worse before it gets better. As licenses expire and these exclusive contracts shift underfoot, it’s also difficult to know when a program you’d like to stream will be available or expire. Unfortunately, Netflix just made finding out much more difficult. Last month a [...]

As I’ve been discussing a lot lately (because it’s the most important issue facing the broadband sector right now), both AT&T and Verizon are in the process of gutting regulations that require they continue offering copper landlines — and by proxy DSL — to tens of millions of Americans. Both companies insist this they’re simply interested in “modernizing regulations” and ushering us into an “all IP age.” In reality, both companies simply want to exit [...]

The idea that faster mobile networks can displace some amount of fixed network broadband is not a new idea, just an idea that is more realistic as networks beginning with Long Term Evolution become widespread, allowing mobile substitution to replicate the experience of fixed network access, if not the same pricing, terms and conditions of service. The Federal Communications Commission itself plans to examine wireless substitution as part of its wider studies of transition issues [...]

The U.S. fixed network business is unstable, and becoming more unstable. In part, that is because revenue is shifting to the mobile networks, stranding assets owned by the largest fixed network providers. That means fixed network operators have a revenue problem. Add to that the increased burden placed on each remaining customer as high fixed costs have to be shared across a shrinking base of customers. That means operating costs must be slashed. Rural service [...]

According to a company insider, additional Verizon customers impacted by Sandy will soon be informed — some seven months after the fact — that they too will never have their DSL lines repaired. As we’ve seen in New York and New Jersey, the telco is foisting a service upon those customers called “Voice Link,” which connects user home phones to the Verizon wireless network. Unfortunately, Voice Link has quirks, lacks some basic features users expect [...]

Based simply on the volume of traffic, you might argue that all transport and access providers now are in the business of delivering video entertainment bits to end users, with the greatest proportion of that content using real time streaming. In part, that drives investment in networks that support higher bandwidths. Just as significantly, real-time video will challenge ISPs on the cost front. Even after capital investment to support higher access bandwidth, IP transit costs [...]

According to a company insider, additional Verizon customers impacted by Sandy will soon be informed — some seven months after the fact — that they too will never have their DSL lines repaired. As we’ve seen in New York and New Jersey, the telco is foisting a service upon those customers called “Voice Link,” which connects user home phones to the Verizon wireless network. Unfortunately, Voice Link has quirks, lacks some basic features users expect [...]

According to a company insider, additional Verizon customers impacted by Sandy will soon be informed — some seven months after the fact — that they too will never have their DSL lines repaired. As we’ve seen in New York and New Jersey, the telco is foisting a service upon those customers called “Voice Link,” which connects user home phones to the Verizon wireless network. Unfortunately, Voice Link has quirks, lacks some basic features users expect [...]

On the heels of yesterday’s pricing changes, broadcast streaming company Aereo has now announced that they’ll soon be expanding into the Atlanta market on June 17. According to Aereo, the Atlanta market (their third launch area so far) technically covers some 5.3 million consumers in 55 counties across Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. The Atlanta launch comes as Aereo this week prepares to launch the service in the Boston market, which technically covers some 4.5 [...]