Cable & Cable Companies

Will Higher TV Ads, Retrans Fees Meet Bottom-Line Expectations? | Wayne Friedman, Media Post
After an expected drop in TV stations’ advertising revenue in 2017 versus the year before, TV stations’ prospects this year look better — thanks to political advertising. At the same time, non-advertising sources in the form of TV retransmission revenues will climb. That’s also expected. The question is: What is the unexpected for TV stations?

Spectrum Ditching Usage Measurement Meter Tool in July; Usage Caps Not in the Cards | Phillip Dampier, Stop the Cap
Charter Communications is abandoning any pretense of data caps on its internet service by decommissioning its internet usage measurement tool for residential subscribers effective this July. Company officials began notifying customers in billing statements that the usage measurement tool will be dropped effective next month. Charter Communications markets Spectrum internet service as free of any data caps, and a usage measurement system only confused customers about whether their internet usage was truly unlimited.

ACA, Charter, Comcast applaud end of net neutrality rules | Daniel Frankel, FierceCable
After collectively spending billions of dollars on things like DOCSIS 3.1 network upgrades over the last few years, the cable industry marked the sunsetting of Title II internet regulations with a strange declaration. Turns out that FCC deregulation has made it safe to invest in the internet again. “Without the regulatory overhang of these rules, businesses like ours will have the certainty they need to make infrastructure investments over the long-term, helping more people get online and enabling even faster broadband,” declared Charter Communications, in an afternoon policy blog post yesterday.

Comcast Kills ‘Congestion Management’ System Launched in 2008 | Karl Bode, DSL Reports
Back in 2008 Comcast introduced a new network management system on its broadband network that throttled back user connections to DSL-like speeds if they engaged in heavy consumption of bandwidth. The move was a response to revelations that Comcast had been throttling all upstream BitTorrent connections — then lied about it to the press and public. Comcast’s failure to be transparent about what was happening with user connections was one of the cornerstones of the modern net neutrality debate, and the argument that rules were needed to ensure that ISPs were transparent with their users. But Comcast appears to have quietly dismantled that system this week.

Comcast, AT&T, Verizon say they have no paid prioritization plans | Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica
The repeal of federal net neutrality rules became official yesterday, giving broadband providers the right to block or throttle Internet traffic or to prioritize traffic in exchange for payment. But at least for now, some major ISPs are saying they won’t do any of those things. The Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T websites all say they aren’t doing any blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization.

Comcast-Fox: Wall Street Expects A Bid Any Minute Now | Dawn C. Chmielewski, Deadline Hollywood
Investors anticipate that Comcast will launch a rival bid for 21st Century Fox in the wake of today’s federal court ruling clearing the way for the AT&T-Time Warner mega-merger. Fox’s stock rocketed in after-hours trading, rising 7% to $43.42 tonight, in a sign that Wall Street expects the U.S. cable giant to challenge Disney for the prized media asset, with its valuable international holdings, lucrative cinematic franchises and well-regarded cable networks.

 

AT&T Merger Approval

AT&T’s $85 billion deal for Time Warner is a humiliating black eye for DOJ officials, but the real worry is if it taught them the wrong lesson | Troy Wolverton, Business Insider
The US Justice Department lost its effort to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. But the biggest losers could be the rest of us, depending on how federal antitrust regulators react to the decision. If the lesson the DOJ (and the FTC which oversees mergers), take away is that they should avoid making a fuss about big mergers and acquisitions, we’re going to see a wave of consolidation that’s inevitably going to lead to higher prices, consumer unfriendly practices, and a stifling of innovation.

Wait’s Over: Judge Clears the Way for AT&T-Time Warner Combo | Amy Maclean, CableFax
Thank goodness there was a parade for Stanley Cup winner the Washington Capitals Tuesday. The celebration a few blocks from the US District Court helped take a little of the tension off those waiting around for the landmark ruling on whether AT&T can proceed with its acquisition of Time Warner. In the end, it was just as the pundits predicted with Judge Richard Leon rejecting the DOJ’s attempt to block the $85bln deal.

AT&T-Time Warner merger approved, setting the stage for more consolidation across corporate America | Tony Romm & Brian Fung, Washington Post
A federal judge approved AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of Time Warner on Tuesday, handing the telecom giant a massive victory that could hamstring U.S. regulators seeking to block big corporate mergers. The case – one of the most closely watched antitrust trials in decades – is viewed as a bellwether for other deals waiting in the wings. From Comcast’s potential bid for 21st Century Fox to CVS’s acquisition of Aetna, massive corporations increasingly have been seeking to expand their reach by buying up companies in different lines of business. The judge’s decision, which is allowing AT&T to merge with Time Warner without conditions, shows the federal government may struggle to rein in such mergers.

AT&T Defeats DOJ In Merger Fight, Opening The Door To Some Major Competitive Headaches | Karl Bode, TechDirt
AT&T has defeated the DOJ in a court battle over whether or not the company will be allowed to acquire Time Warner for $86 billion. In a ruling (pdf), U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon stated that the government failed to make its case that the merger would harm AT&T’s competitors, most of which are now trying to keep pace in the streaming video space. Consumer advocates have routinely warned that AT&T will use its greater leverage to make must-have content (like Time Warner owned CNN or HBO) significantly more costly for companies hoping to compete with AT&T’s own TV services, including its newish streaming video effort, DirecTV Now.

Who Wall Street Sees as Winners and Losers in the AT&T-Time Warner Verdict | Aaron Pressman, Fortune
After a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that AT&T could buy Time Warner, investors poured into some stocks while unloading others. On the most direct impact, shares of AT&T (T), which were already up 6% over the past week, gave up some of that gain during after-hours trading and declined 2%. Meanwhile, shares of Time Warner (TWX), up only 3% the past week, gained another 4%.

Netflix and Alphabet will need to become ISPs, fast | Danny Crichton, TechCrunch
This week completely scrambled the video landscape, and its implications are going to take months to fully understand. First is the district court’s decision to approve the merger of AT&T and Time Warner announced just moments ago. That will create one of the largest content creation and distribution companies in the world when it closes. It is also expected to encourage Comcast to make a similar bid for 21st Century Fox, further consolidating the market. As Chip Pickering, CEO of pro-competition advocacy org INCOMPAS put it, “AT&T is getting the merger no one wants, but everyone will pay for.”

AT&T-Time Warner merger approved | Eric Fruits, Truth on the Market
AT&T’s merger with Time Warner has lead to one of the most important, but least interesting, antitrust trials in recent history. The merger itself is somewhat unimportant to consumers. It’s about a close to a “pure” vertical merger as we can get in today’s world and would not lead to a measurable increase in prices paid by consumers. At the same time, Richard J. Leon’s decision to approve the merger may have sent a signal regarding how the anticipated Fox-Disney (or Comcast), CVS-Aetna, and Cigna-Express Scripts mergers might proceed.

Court approves merger of AT&T and Time Warner | Jordan Crook & Danny Crichton, TechCrunch
United States District Court Judge Richard J. Leon has ruled in favor of AT&T in the government’s antitrust suit to block AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner . That decision matches word on the street over the past few weeks, and delivers a stern rebuke to the Trump administration, which had opposed the deal from its earliest days. The decision was made following the close of markets in New York, and after-hours trading was muted to the decision.

Judge approves landmark $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger, paving way for T-Mobile-Sprint deal | Taylor Soper, GeekWire
The $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner was approved by U.S District Court Judge Richard Leon on Tuesday, a landmark ruling expected to pave the way for other media and telecommunications industry deals — including the T-Mobile-Sprint tie-up. The Justice Department had sued to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger, citing anti-competitive reasons and violation of antitrust laws. But Leon rejected the government’s challenge, allowing the combination of a content giant and the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier that also operates DirecTV satellite services.

The fate of the world’s media is being decided right now | Ashley Rodriguez, Quartz
A tangled web of deals has tied together the fates of the world’s biggest media conglomerates. A federal judge will decide this afternoon (June 12) whether AT&T will be allowed to buy Time Warner, parent of Westworld and Game of Thrones network HBO, DC Entertainment, and Harry Potter studio Warner Bros. The US Department of Justice sued the telecom late last year to block the proposed $85.4 billion deal. The outcome will influence a number of other potential deals.

Now that AT&T has been cleared to buy Time Warner, here’s what happens next | Alex Sherman, CNBC
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that AT&T could buy Time Warner with no conditions attached, denying a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust challenge to the deal. The DoJ could still appeal, but assuming it doesn’t, here’s what happens next.

 

FAANG Watch

The Three Major Forms of Surveillance on Facebook | Siva Vaidhyanathan, Slate
Back in 2008 I was very careful with Facebook. I saw its hazards—and its benefits—as chiefly social. I established (and maintain to this day) a firm rule against interacting with current students on Facebook. I knew that by friending someone, I could peer into aspects of that person’s life to which I was not invited. And in those early days of social media, few people had developed norms and habits to guide their use of the service. I did not want to know whom my students were dating, what they wore to a Halloween party, or—most of all—what they thought of my courses. I was also pretty careful about what information I posted about myself.

Retailers Beware: Facebook Will Ban Your Ads If You’re ‘Bad’ | Kevin Kelleher, Fortune
For years, Facebook has envisioned its apps as venues where businesses can interact intimately with their customers. But now, under pressure to clean up its service, the social network is taking a more active role in policing shoddy businesses that use its service. Facebook said on Tuesday that it would ban businesses that receive enough customer complaints from advertising. The company is pitching the move as effort to improve customer service through its core Facebook app.

Facebook dishonestly pushes the Honest Ads Act | Luke Wachob, Washington Examiner
Facebook’s lobbyists recently teamed up with Maryland legislators to craft what they call a “national model” for regulating ads on social media. The resulting law is so bad for free speech online that Gov. Larry Hogan warned it may be unconstitutional, and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association threatened a lawsuit. Yet that isn’t stopping Facebook and other tech companies from pushing Congress to adopt a similar plan nationwide.

Amazon Just Killed a Tax That Helps Homeless People | Glenn Fleishman, Fortune
Amazon’s threat to stall its growth in Seattle over a new business tax that would fund homeless shelters and low-income housing paid off today when the nine-member city council that passed the measure unanimously just four weeks ago voted 7-2 to repeal it after a contentious public hearing. Mayor Jenny Durkan has promised to sign the repeal, a strong retreat in the face of an e-commerce behemoth by an official elected in November who promised to balance community and business interests.

How to Fight Amazon (Before You Turn 29) | Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic
Shortly after i met lina khan, her cellphone rang. The call was from a representative of a national organization, regarding a speech it had asked her to give. Khan was courteous on the phone, but she winced momentarily after hanging up. “That was the American Bar Association,” she confessed. “I don’t know if I’ve passed the bar yet.” This feeling—that Khan’s ideas are in high demand slightly before her time—has characterized much of her life lately. In the past year, the 29-year-old legal scholar’s work has been cited approvingly by the lefty, rabble-rousing congressman Keith Ellison and by a Trump-appointed assistant attorney general, Makan Delrahim. She has been interviewed by NPR and written op-eds for The New York Times.

Here’s every time Amazon has made a play for banking services | Ainsley Harris, Fast Company
Amazon has created a voice-based digital assistant, a smart door lock, and a home security camera. So why not offer a version of home insurance that takes advantage of all that data? As The Information reported last week, that appears to be exactly what Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is interested in doing. By monitoring each aspect of a home’s security, Amazon could, in theory, offer lower premiums than established insurance providers.

Google wants to make searching for college less of a headache | Marrian Zhou, CNet
Google rolled out a new feature Tuesday designed to make it easier for prospective students to search for that perfect college. The feature pulls together college information scattered online into one place. When you search for a four-year US college, it’ll highlight information about the college’s admission rate, cost, graduation rate, average cost after student aid is applied, and other data that could help you make a choice.

Google pampers its employees, who earn an average of $200,000, but some of them still want to unionize | Greg Sandoval, Business Insider
For some Google employees, it’s not enough that the company pays well, provides free food and allows them to occasionally nod off in the company’s nap pods. Some are now demanding that Google operate within their own ethical guidelines. So said a Google staffer involved in protests that forced the company to promise not to build artificial-intelligence tools for the military.

How Tech Companies Like Google Deal With Terrorists on Their Platforms | Erika Fry, Fortune
What should tech companies like Google and Facebook do about terrorists and hate groups that flock to their platforms to search for like-minded individuals and disseminate propaganda? While one may instinctually say banish them, Vidhya Ramalingam, the founder of Moonshot CVE, a startup that works with such tech companies as well as governments, advocates for a different approach: engagement.

 

FCC / Policy / Regulation / Net Neutrality

Can we finally move on from net neutrality? | Casey Given, Washington Examiner
On Monday, the Federal Communication Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order went into effect reversing Obama-era net neutrality rules. For months, pundits and politicians on the left have tried to whip the public into a frenzy over this highly technical matter, portraying the reversal as hailing a new Wild West era for the World Wide Web. This could not be any further from the truth.

Net Neutrality is Antitrust for Dummies | Richard Bennett, HighTech Forum
The US Internet is now free of the restrictions imposed by the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order. Advocates argue that it’s also free of the protections the order provided to consumers, innovators, and established monopolies; this claim remains to be proved. Reading today’s media coverage I was struck by how poorly media – even the writers and outlets who specialize on tech policy – communicate this issue to the public. The coverage says, with great uniformity, that net neutrality is now defunct.

Oddly The Trump FCC Doesn’t Much Want To Talk About Why It Made Up A DDOS Attack | Karl Bode, TechDirt
We’ve discussed for a while how the FCC appears to have completely made up a DDOS attack in a bizarre effort to downplay the “John Oliver effect.” You’ll recall that both times the HBO Comedian did a bit on net neutrality (here’s the first and the second), the resulting consumer outrage crashed the FCC website. And while the FCC tried to repeatedly conflate genuine consumer outrage with a malicious attack, they just as routinely failed to provide any hard evidence supporting their allegations, resulting in growing skepticism over whether the FCC was telling the truth.

Dems question FCC’s claim of cyberattack during net neutrality comment period | Harper Neidig, The Hill
A pair of Democratic senators are demanding answers from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on a 2017 cyberattack following a media report raising questions about the agency’s official story. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent FCC Chairman Ajit Pai a list of questions about an incident last year during which the agency’s comment-filing website was taken offline after the late-night comedian John Oliver urged his audience to flood it with pro-net neutrality comments.

CTIA, CAA, Public Knowledge and more get behind AIRWAVES Act | Monica Alleven, FierceWireless
CTIA and more than a dozen other entities are urging lawmakers to pass the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (AIRWAVES) Act, which would require the FCC to identify more spectrum for commercial wireless use. CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), NATE, Public Knowledge and others sent a letter on Tuesday to lawmakers in hopes of providing some fresh momentum toward getting AIRWAVES passed. The American Library Association, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and National Black Chamber of Commerce are also among the signatories.

 

Security

Around 5% of All Monero Currently in Circulation Has Been Mined Using Malware | Catalin Cimpanu, Bleeping Computer
At least 5% of all the Monero cryptocurrency currently in circulation has been mined using malware, and about 2% of the total daily hashrate comes from devices infected with cryptocurrency-mining malware. These numbers are the results of in-depth research of the coin-mining malware scene by security researchers from Palo Alto Networks.

Russian cyber sanctions blowback | Tim Starks, Politico
U.S. sanctions on Russian companies accused of helping the Kremlin launch cyberattacks caught the security research community and several of the targeted firms off guard. The Treasury Department sanctions announced Monday seek to punish Digital Security, the Kvant Scientific Research Institute and Divetechnoservices, along with two companies that the U.S. says are “owned or controlled” by Digital Security: ERPScan and Embedi. But cyber experts were surprised to see ERPScan and Embedi on the list. The companies are “key infosec vendors,” tweeted independent security researcher Kevin Beaumont. ERPScan is highly respected by the research giant Gartner for its analysis of SAP enterprise security platforms, Beaumont told MC in an email. Embedi is well-known for finding flaws in Intel’s computer chips. “There is either a huge mistake or the US knows something amazing we don’t,” said a respected security researcher who goes by the pseudonym “the grugq.”

For almost 11 years, hackers could easily bypass 3rd-party macOS signature checks | Dan Goodin, Ars Technica
For almost 11 years, hackers have had an easy way to get macOS malware past the scrutiny of a host of third-party security tools by tricking them into believing the malicious wares were signed by Apple, researchers said Tuesday. Digital signatures are a core security function for all modern operating systems. The cryptographically generated signatures make it possible for users to know with complete certainty that an app was digitally signed with the private key of a trusted party. But, according to the researchers, the mechanism many macOS security tools have used since 2007 to check digital signatures has been trivial to bypass. As a result, it has been possible for anyone to pass off malicious code as an app that was signed with the key Apple uses to sign its apps.

Cryptojacking malware proves a big winner for web crooks | Danny Palmer, ZDNet
Web crooks are making money by forcing PCs and other devices to mine cryptocurrency for them according to new research. Cryptojacking malware uses stealth: it secretly infects a victim’s computer or smartphone with malware which uses the CPU of the device to mine for cryptocurrency, which is secretly transferred into a wallet owned by the attacker.

Malware is Infecting Fire TV Devices | Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News
Do you sideload apps on your Fire TV? Well, it may be installing a malware that is using your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick to min for cryptocurrency. The new ADB.Miner software spreads by downloading and sideloading 3rd party apps for the Fire TV. So far there have been no reports of getting the new malware from the official Amazon Fire TV App Store. Once your Fire TV is infected it will be turned into a miner to earn cryptocurrency for the creator of ADB.Miner.

Android Malware Found Mining Cryptocurrency on Amazon Fire TVs | Ryan Whitwam, ExtremeTech
Amazon’s Fire TV devices are a popular way to watch streaming content on a TV because they support plenty of services and come with a low price tag. However, a new spate of malware infections has the potential to interrupt your viewing as the device secretly mines cryptocurrency in the background. The good news is you have to make several critical mistakes to get infected.

 

Content Protection / Piracy

Illegal memes? Weak Safe Harbor? Unpacking the proposed EU copyright overhaul | Glyn Moody, Ars Technica
“Modern copyright rules fit for the digital age” is how the European Commission describes its proposals for the first major overhaul of EU copyright law since 2001. But a wide range of startups and industry, academic, digital activist and human rights groups believe that key elements of the proposals will cause serious harm to the functioning of the Internet in the EU and beyond. A vote taking place next week in the key European Parliament JURI committee will determine the likely shape of the law.

BitTorrent Sells to TRON Cryptocurrency Founder Justin Sun | Ernesto, Torrent Freak
Last month we were the first to report that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency TRON, was in the process of acquiring BitTorrent Inc. The San-Francisco based file-sharing company confirmed the interest from Sun but noted that the acquisition was not yet 100% finalized.

Over the Top / Streaming / Cord Cutting

Roku is The 3rd Largest “Cable TV” Company In The United States | Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News
So how big and successful is Roku? If you look at it as a cable TV company, it would be the 3rd largest provider in the United States. Larger than Spectrum with Roku falling just behind Comcast and AT&T. Look for Roku to someday top Comcast and AT&T. According to their recent quarterly report, the number of Roku accounts rose 47% as Comcast and AT&T remained falt. (Note that is not devices but new accounts that could represent multiple devices.)

Hulu Gives Us a Close Look At What People Are Binge Watching | Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News
Today Hulu gives us a rare look into what people are watching on Hulu. Rarely do streaming services give us an in-depth look but today we get to look into what Hulu subscribers are binging on. Hulu viewers are watching, on average, 10 different shows at one time — a personalized mix of originals, comedies, dramas and reality.

 

Miscellany

How Big Tech Is Dealing with the Big Backlash | Adam Lashinsky, Fortune
It’s a big day in the world. Two unlikely leaders of powerful countries met in Singapore. Later in the day a federal judge will rule on the most significant antitrust case in years. Peace among women and men and massive conglomeration of tech and media assets are among the potential outcomes. If you’ll permit me to draw a thin thread between these events and what’s on my mind today, it’s the importance of face-to-face communications. That summit meeting and the ruling in court are the result of humans arguing, discussing, negotiating, and, dare I say, learning from each other.

Seattle’s City Council Surrenders, Will Repeal Head Tax It Passed Last Month | John Sexton, HotAir
That was fast. The Seattle City Council voted to approve a $275 per employee per year head tax on May 14th. Yesterday, less than a month later, Mayor Jenny Durkan and seven members of the city council (out of nine) put out a statement saying they had reconsidered and would repeal the tax.

Amazon says Seattle head tax repeal ‘is the right decision for the region’s economic prosperity’ | Monica Nickelsburg, GeekWire
Whatever bridge existed between Amazon and Seattle government has been slowly burning for weeks as the debate over a new tax on the city’s top-grossing companies raged on. The City Council threw water on the issue Tuesday, voting 7-2 to repeal the tax, which was originally intended to address homelessness, a consequence of Seattle’s historic boom. Although the city turned down the heat, it remains to be seen whether that bridge can ever be rebuilt. But Amazon did indicate a willingness to move forward with its hometown in a statement issued after the vote.

Facing Pressure From Amazon, Seattle Repeals ‘Head Tax’ | Michael Hobbes, HuffPost
In a 7-2 vote, the Seattle City Council voted to repeal a tax on large corporations to fund affordable housing and homeless services. The council had voted unanimously to pass the tax just over a month ago. Amid boos, cheers and chanting, three councilmembers who’d voted for the tax ― then voted to repeal it ― told a packed City Hall audience that they had no other option.

The internet is finally going to be bigger than TV worldwide | Ashley Rodriguez, Quartz
Next year, for the first time, we’ll spend more time using the internet than watching TV. People will spend an average of 170.6 minutes a day, or nearly three hours, using the internet for things like shopping, browsing social media, chatting with friends, and streaming music and video in 2019, a recent report by media agency Zenith estimated. That’s a tad more than the 170.3 minutes they’re expected to spend watching TV.

AT&T Upgrades Home Internet Plans – 5, 100, 300, and 1,000 Mbps Now Available | Phillip Dampier, Stop the Cap
AT&T quietly changed their home internet plans this week, dramatically boosting speeds for some of their lower-priced offerings in areas served by fiber, while boosting gigabit pricing by $10 a month in some instances. Last week, AT&T was selling 5, 50, 100, and 1000 Mbps plans in AT&T Fiber areas. This week, customers can choose 5, 100, 300, or 1000 Mbps. Existing customers will likely have to switch plans to get the speed upgrades.

Over the past year, a quiet revolution in broadband services has been happening, thanks to investments cable operators are making around the globe: gigabit services are available to tens of millions households for the first time ever. Already, over half of households in North America can buy a 1 Gbps service from their cable operator, and the percentage is growing rapidly. This shift is driven by a new technology making it economically feasible for operators to provide gigabit services in most areas. And the technology is not limited to a single gigabit – it is capable of much higher speeds over time.

The technology? DOCSIS® 3.1. This innovation is now being quickly deployed by operators.

While the broad availability of gigabit services may have escaped notice, there is even less awareness of the potential for DOCSIS technology to provide higher speeds. With existing DOCSIS specifications and comforming vendor gear, operators could use DOCSIS to:

• Provide shared, downstream capacity of over 15 Gbps
• True downstream speed tiers of 10 Gbps or more for individual households

How can DOCSIS provide that much speed?

The technology is actually already in the DOCSIS 3.1 specifications. However, getting to these speeds will require an evolution of DOCSIS silicon, along with some outside plant improvements. Here is the roadmap:

As you can see, the first generation of DOCSIS 3.1 silicon has been available for deployment for over a year, and it enables downstream speed tiers of roughly 1-2 Gbps. As demand materializes for higher speed tiers, operators may ask silicon providers for a second and third generation of DOCSIS 3.1 silicon. Each new silicon generation supports broader frequency ranges for DOCSIS, possibly up to the full DOCSIS 3.1 limit of about 1.8 GHz. At the 1.8 GHz range limit, over 1.5 GHz of spectrum can be used for downstream DOCSIS 3.1 channels. At 10 bits per Hertz that is more than 15 Gbps of total capacity.

Expanding Spectrum
Most operators are using 1 GHz of spectrum (or less) in their networks today. If an operator wanted to use spectrum as high as 1.8 GHz in a high-demand neighborhood it can push fiber to within 800 feet of many homes, and install taps that can pass the full 1.8 GHz of spectrum.

Thanks to the work of our CableLabs members, homes in the tens of millions are gaining access to 1 gigabit services for the first time ever. With more homes enjoying gigabit and even higher speeds, there will be a growing market for application developers and artists to develop immersive entertainment and interactive network services such as those in our Near Future video series. Radiologists working from home will be able to move massive files back and forth from medical centers. Grandparents will join their grandchildren in virtual family rooms for a game of virtual Uno. Immersive holographic movies will stream to a new generation of entertainment devices. And this is only the beginning.

Cable operators have invested over $275 billion over the last two decades to deploy and continually upgrade hybrid fiber-coaxial cable (HCF) networks and other infrastructure to thousands of communities—large and small—throughout America. The cable industry alone makes high-speed internet service available to over 93 percent of American households, including millions of households in rural America. While this and other private investment fuels deployment, the cable industry recognizes that some Americans live in areas where it is uneconomic to build and operate broadband networks absent financial support from the government. Governmental support includes multiple broadband programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and through the Universal Service Fund (USF).

The Universal Service Fund
To implement the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC established four programs:

• The High Cost program provides support to eligible telecommunications companies that in turn offer rates and service comparable to those available in urban areas.
• The Schools and Libraries (E-rate) program provides discounts to eligible schools and libraries that qualify for reduced rates.
• The Lifeline program provides support to telecommunications companies that in turn offer discounts to eligible consumers.
• The Rural Health Care program provides support to eligible rural health care providers that qualify for reduced rates.

In 2011, the FCC fundamentally reformed the High Cost program so that it could support both telephone and broadband service. That order, for the first time, capped that portion of the fund at $4.5 billion per year and set limits on the amount of funds available to carriers.

• Pursuant to the reforms adopted in 2011, the Commission created the Connect America Fund, which has committed to provide $1.8 billion per year for the next six years in high-cost areas served by price cap local exchange carriers. Carriers accepting the money must provide broadband service at speeds of at least 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream to a specific number of locations in census blocks not already served by unsubsidized providers. Incumbent price cap LECs were given a right-of-first-refusal for this funding and roughly 90 percent of the money was accepted by these carriers. The remaining funding, nearly $2 billion over 10 years, will be available through an auction mechanism open to all providers. The auction is scheduled to begin on July 24, with a March 30 deadline for applications to participate.
• The Commission also has committed to provide $2.0 billion per year for the next ten years to incumbent rate-of-return carriers. Carriers were provided the choice between funding calculated using a cost model or remaining with a revised version of rate-of-return regulation.
  For carriers selecting the model, support is available only for census blocks not already served by an unsubsidized provider. Under both options, a carrier’s deployment obligation varies (either 25/3, 10/1, or 4/1) based on the cost of the areas they serve.
• The Commission has created, but not funded, a Remote Areas Fund for areas not covered by the Connect America Fund. The budget for that program is supposed to be $100 million annually.

The Commission also distributed $300 million in Phase 1 of the Mobility Fund to provide support for areas that do not have 4G wireless coverage, along with $50 million through a Tribal Mobility Fund. The Commission recently approved Phase II of the Mobility Fund which will award $453 million to extend 4G service.

The Schools and Libraries program, also known as the E-rate program, makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries in America. Mandated by Congress in 1996 and implemented by the FCC in 1997, the E-rate program provides discounted telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries, funded by the Universal Service Fund. In 2014, the FCC adopted the E-rate Modernization Order and the Second E-rate Modernization Order as part of a comprehensive review to modernize the program. Among the most notable reforms, the Commission increased the budget for the E-rate program from $2.25 billion to $3.9 billion per year, indexed to inflation.

Lifeline is the FCC’s program to help make communications services more affordable for low-income consumers by providing a discount of up to $9.25 per month on the price of service. Lifeline provides subscribers a discount on monthly telephone service purchased from participating providers in the marketplace. On March 31, 2016, the FCC approved rules to modernize Lifeline so that subscribers can also purchase discounted broadband from participating providers. Discounts will apply to stand-alone broadband, bundled voice-broadband packages – either fixed or mobile – and stand-alone voice service. Unlike other programs, the Lifeline program has no fixed annual budget. In 2017, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on whether it should establish such a budget and make a number of other significant changes to the program.

The Rural Health Care program, which includes the new Healthcare Connect Fund, provides funding to eligible health care providers (HCPs) for telecommunications and broadband services necessary for the provision of health care. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of health care available to patients in rural communities by ensuring that eligible HCPs have access to telecommunications and broadband services. Funding for the Rural Health Care Program is currently capped at $400 million annually, butin 2017 the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on whether to increase the budget, as well as a number of other potential changes to the program.

USDA Rural Broadband Programs

Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans & Loan Guarantees Program: The Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans & Loan Guarantees Program (Telecom Program) is administered by the USDA Rural Development’s Utilities Program with an annual authorization and appropriation of $670 million. The Telecom Program finances construction, maintenance, improvement and expansion of telephone service and broadband in rural areas for a wide range of entities – state and local governments, Indian tribes, nonprofits, including cooperatives, and for-profit companies. Eligible areas include rural areas and towns with a population of 5,000 or less or areas without telecommunications facilities where the 3 applicant is the recognized telecommunications provider. There are three types of loans: cost-of-money loans at U.S. Treasury rates, guaranteed loans from the Federal Financing Bank (variable interest rates), and hardship loans at a fixed interest rate. Telecom Program funds may not duplicate similar services available in the same area. To date, billions from the Telecom Program have been dispersed to rural America.

Farm Bill Rural Broadband Loans & Loan Guarantee Program: The Farm Bill Rural Broadband Loans & Loan Guarantee Program (Broadband Program) funds the costs of construction, improvement or acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide service at the “broadband lending speed” in eligible rural areas. The 2014 Farm Bill set the broadband lending speed at 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. The USDA Secretary may adjust the speeds, and in its most recent 2017 NOFA, the RUS listed the required lending speed at 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. Eligible rural areas must include at least 15 percent unserved households; must not include any areas where there are three or more “incumbent service providers” (defined now as offering service of 25/3); and must not overlap the service area of current Rural Utilities Service (RUS) borrowers or grantees. For the Broadband Program, an eligible rural area has not more than 20,000 people and is not in an urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town that has a population of greater than 50,000. These cost-of-money loan terms are limited to the expected life of the assets to be financed plus three years. The 2014 Farm Bill authorized $25 million annually for this Program, but appropriations have been less ($4.5 budget authority for FY2017).

Rural Gigabit Network Pilot Program: The 2014 Farm Bill authorized the Rural Gigabit Network Pilot Program (the Pilot Program) for $10 million annually consisting of loans, loan guarantees or grants, but the Pilot Program has not been funded to date. Eligible entities must meet very specific criteria. This program has not yet been funded. Community Connect Grants: The Community Connect Grant Program funds the construction, acquisition, or leasing of facilities, spectrum, land or buildings used to deploy broadband service for unserved residential and business customers and/or critical community facilities. Free broadband service must be available to the critical community facilities for at least two years. Eligible applicants are State and local governments, Indian tribes, non-profits and for profits. Matching funds of at least 15% from non-Federal sources are required. Rural area is defined the same as for the Broadband Program. Appropriated funding for FY2018 is $30 million.

Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants: The Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants Program (DLT Program) provides grants to entities that provide education health care through telecommunications. Grant funds may be used for eligible capital assets, which include audio and video equipment, terminal and computer equipment and software, and inside wiring and other required infrastructure; acquisition of instructional programming; and technical assistance and instruction for using eligible equipment. DLT Program grant awards are made through a national competitive process and may range from $50,000 to $100,000. A 15 percent match from a non-Federal source is required. USDA field representatives help determine whether a service area qualifies. Funding varies annually through the appropriations process. Funding for FY2018 is $32 million.

Rural Broadband Loan/Grant Pilot Program: The omnibus funding bill passed in March 2018 allocated $600 million to a new pilot grant/loan broadband program to be administered by USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), to provide loans and grants for rural broadband deployment. The statutory language stipulated that at least 90% of households to be served by a project receiving funding under this new pilot program must currently lack access to broadband (defined at 10/1 mbps), and also included transparency, notice, and challenge language previously applied to the Broadband Loan Program. USDA is currently in the process of drafting funding rules for the new program, and Secretary Perdue has publicly stated they plan to have the program ready for a NOFA by June 2018. Appropriated funding for FY2018 is $600 million.

CABLE OFFERS CAREER PATHWAYS FOR VETERANS
Cable operators and programmers work year-round to support veterans across the country transition into careers and to utilize the talents and skills that these men and women have to offer.

A COMMUNITY FULL OF JOBS: CABLE ENGINEERS
A lot goes into maintaining and evolving the cable experience for the millions and millions of users that benefit from connectivity every day. Engineers take on the responsibility of crafting an experience that has the speed, quality and capacity needed to stay ahead of consumer demand

WE’RE DOING OUR PART TO GROW THE ECONOMY
The internet and television industry has long supported and been responsible for the innovation, creativity, and expansion we’ve seen in the media and entertainment space in recent years, one which millions of consumers benefit from every day.

From NCTA.com

INDIANAPOLIS – In southeastern Indiana in the middle of miles of cornfields is a long stretch of road that is home to students, laborers and farmers, but lacks one necessity of the 21st century – access to efficient internet service.

“It’s very frustrating not having the internet because it limits what you can and can’t do,” said Paulette Varble, who has lived on St. Peter’s Road in St. Leon for 13 years. She has been trying to get internet access for 10 of those years.

Almost every Hoosier has access to mobile broadband, which is the kind of internet service available through cell phones. But as many as one in five people living in Indiana have limited access to wired internet connections that allow for downloading information like work documents and movies at high speeds.

In rural Indiana, connecting to the internet often depends on a connection requiring a line of sight to towers that relay signals from orbiting satellites.

In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology, there are still those in rural parts of Indiana that have limited access. Those without access are left without the ability to work from home, unable to access information for school or use the internet for entertainment.

For Varble, an employee at Med Mizer in Batesville, a lack of reliable internet connection meant giving up her goal of working from home. Varble’s only available internet option was a satellite connection that ran much too slow for her to work from home.

The Federal Communication Commission’s definition of broadband is a minimum 25 mbps, which would allow a sufficient speed for multiple people to stream video. However, these speeds are not adequate for those wishing to work from home.

“I feel that people out here are very disadvantaged because I mean there’s so much that you can’t do,” said Varble.

For students, not having a reliable internet connection is no longer an option. Many schools are making it a requirement for students to have internet access for homework.

When Varble’s daughter was in school, she would often have to go to the local library or a friend’s house that had internet.

Students in Richmond Community Schools in Richmond, Indiana, have similar issues.

Richmond teacher Lisa Wilkerson said that a third of her 9-12 grade students struggle with having no internet due to either cost or availability.

“We went one-to-one with computers this year and some of the students can’t do homework outside of school, said Wilkerson. “They have to be able to finish it in school or go to a McDonald’s or library to their homework.”

Many textbooks are now only available online. Wilkerson has started making downloadable PDF files for her students so that they have access to their textbooks even when they do not have internet.

Wilkerson said that it is important that students have experience with the internet now as it will be something they interact with daily.

“They don’t need to have the best and fastest internet, but at least something so that they’re able to do research,” she said.

In 2014, former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann put together a working group to improve rural internet access, which resulted in Broadband Ready communities.

Being a Broadband Ready certified community sends a signal to telecommunication industries that shows a community has taken steps to reduce the barriers to broadband infrastructure investment.

However, barriers to internet still exist in and outside of the Broadband Ready community system, including making the permitting process simpler, finding ways to compensate for the high cost of installing infrastructure, and the remote locations. Lawmakers are trying to streamline permitting to make it easier for companies to invest.

Rep. David Ober ,R-Albion, chair of the committee of utilities, energy and telecommunications, said there is also discussion around using the Indiana Universal Service Fund to extend internet service to remote area. The fund had been used to expand telephone service to rural areas in the past.

While these are welcomed solutions, it’s not quite the answer those looking for reliable internet quickly were looking for.

“We’ll have more time to vet out the issue over a couple of years and to figure out if there’s anything we need to do to either remove barriers to access and reduce cost, permitting or to even make investments,” said Ober.

Ober says the main focus when it comes to broadband is gaining ground with wired access. However, it is an expensive task especially when trying to reach areas of the state that are less densely populated.

“Anything you do you have to balance whether or not because they have access to wireless, whether it’s necessary for us to run fiber to the very last mile,” said Ober. “When you’re talking about running a line down a mile, it costs $22,000 and there may be half a dozen people there of which maybe three or four want to subscribe to the service.”

Rural Hoosiers who try to connect to the internet are often disappointed with the results.

Louis and Samantha Egbert, also residents of St. Peter’s Road, have one of the only forms of satellite internet that can be accessed in that area.

“I would have gotten the internet a long time ago, but it just doesn’t run fast enough,” Samantha Egbert said.

The Egberts recently had to purchase WI-FI for their son as his school has made the switch to chrome books.

“He has accessibility, it just takes him a while,” said Louis Egbert.

However, this is not the first time they have tried to get internet as Samantha was originally offered the opportunity to work from home, but was not able to as the internet speed was unreliable.

Ober acknowledged that the lack of access rural Hoosiers have to internet affects Indiana economically.

“It’s a huge economic development issue now because it’s less of a luxury item and more of a necessity especially in the business sector,” said Ober.

The Egberts are currently paying close to $70 a month for an internet plan that has a slower data speed than their phone plan.

“Not only do you have ineffectiveness, but we’re paying for a product that really just stinks,” said Louis Egbert.

Both Samantha and Louis need the internet for their jobs, but most downloads have to be completed at work as their current internet cannot support it.

“I thought WI-FI meant instant access and that’s not the case,” said Louis Egbert.

In the 21st century, the internet is used for entertainment as well as business, something rural Hoosiers are also living without.

“It’s also quality of life for more and more Hoosiers,” said Ober. “They want to be able to stream shows on Netflix and send emails back and forth.”

Ober is hopeful that with time, internet service will improve residents of rural Indiana.

“I think as technology progresses it will make it a better-quality service so overtime I think satellite services will get better,” said Ober.

By Makenna Mays at TheStatehouseFile.com

By Tony Romm

U.S. President Donald Trump has named his pick to fill the final open Republican position at the Federal Communications Commission: It’s Brendan Carr, a former telecom lawyer who currently serves as the agency’s general counsel.

Carr’s nomination — confirmed to Recode on Wednesday by two sources, then the White House — gives the FCC’s current chairman, Ajit Pai, a reliable political ally as he continues his push to deregulate the telecom industry, including recent efforts to scrap the government’s existing net neutrality rules.

Carr joined the FCC as an attorney adviser in 2012, and he became a top legal adviser to then-commissioner Pai in 2014. Once Democrats lost the White House — and thus no longer controlled the FCC — Pai became chairman and, in January, he named Carr as acting general counsel of the agency.

Before arriving in government, Carr represented some of the companies he may soon regulate. For years, he served as a lawyer at Wiley Rein, one of the top telecom-focused law firms in Washington, D.C., and he aided AT&T, Verizon and their main trade associations, USTelecom and the wireless-focused lobbying group, CTIA.

Carr must still survive a grilling by lawmakers, followed by a vote in the Senate. But his already-high prospects for confirmation are aided by the fact that there is also an open Democratic slot at the FCC. Typically, lawmakers pair nominees from both parties together, and vote on them as a pack.

Earlier this month, Trump nominated Jessica Rosenworcel, who had served as a Democratic commissioner at the FCC until the end of 2016. The move drew the support of the party’s lawmakers, who merely ran out of time to vote on her renomination before her term expired.

If confirmed, Carr and Rosenworcel would restore the FCC to its full strength of five members: Pai, the chairman, plus Michael O’Rielly, a Republican commissioner, and Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat whose term is soon expiring.