SAN FRANCISCO -- Media companies and advertisers are frustrated with the variety of data vendors selling Web analytics information, each with its own methods and practices, said executives with Turner Broadcasting and MTV Networks during a panel at the eMetrics Summit late Monday. MTV Networks has put a task force together to audition new social media monitoring vendors, said Shari Cleary, vice president of digital media research for entertainment and games. When the company ultimately selects one to work with, “I'm sure we'll be questioned about why we didn’t go with another,” she said.
NCTA hired Michael Powell as president and CEO, the cable association confirmed Tuesday. That ended several months of speculation that the former Republican chairman of the FCC would get the top job at NCTA. Kyle McSlarrow is vacating that position at month’s end to work for Comcast. Powell will leave Providence Equity Partners, where he’s a senior adviser, to start at NCTA on April 25. He'll have his hands full trying to keep cable operators and programmers, including Comcast, in harmony on issues proving somewhat divisive, industry officials said. Those issues include net neutrality and retransmission consent deals, cable executives have said (CD March 10 p4).
For the most part, undersea communications cables appeared to have held up through the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, though parts of the networks remained out of service Monday. Two segments of a trans-Pacific network were out of service and at least two other cables were damaged.
AT&T will cap Internet usage among its DSL and U-Verse customers and will charge customers who go over their monthly limits, it was announced Monday. Landline customers will be capped at 150 GB per month and U-Verse usage will be capped at 250 GB. For every 50 GB in excess usage, customers will be charged $10. The new pricing scheme begins May 2. In response, Free Press called for a Congressional investigation. AT&T said in a release that the new rate structure will only affect 2 percent of its customers. The plan takes effect May 2.
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) wrapped up its work Monday, approving a report recommending a blue ribbon panel to consider how to pay for upgrading 911. CSRIC also approved a report making 397 recommendations for cybersecurity best practices.
A pair of moderate House Democrats supported the joint resolution of disapproval to overturn the FCC net neutrality order. Reps. Dan Boren, D-Okla., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., joined Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and subcommittee Vice Chairman Lee Terry, R-Neb., on a letter that was circulated among House members Monday supporting the legislation. House Commerce began a markup of the resolution Monday afternoon, but the body put off the vote until Tuesday morning.
The Rural Telecommunications Group, the Rural Cellular Association and public interest groups separately asked the FCC to reject AT&T’s application to acquire six D block and five E block licenses in the Lower 700 MHz band from Qualcomm. Several smaller carriers said the transaction should be approved, but only if the FCC takes other steps to promote competition. AT&T announced the $1.93 billion deal in December. Qualcomm originally bought the spectrum for its mobile TV service, which it’s shutting down.
Mobile satellite service satellites and spectrum could end up in the hands of the major wireless players after MSS companies move through their bankruptcies, said several panelists at the Satellite 2011 conference in Washington. The panelists showed a reticence to predict who will end up with the MSS assets, but many pointed to the wireless players as a logical end, due in part to the FCC’s focus on making that spectrum available for terrestrial use.
TORONTO -- The two largest cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, appear to be taking somewhat divergent paths on an ambitious next-generation architecture for the cable industry, frustrating the original goals of network designers, aggravating equipment vendors, and potentially driving up equipment production costs, officials said at the SCTE Canadian Summit.
Peter Cramton, an expert on spectrum auctions, said Friday he is “optimistic” about the outlook for a voluntary incentive auction. The key to attracting wireless industry interest, he said, is forcing broadcasters to repack their spectrum to make it valuable in multiple markets, he said at a Media Access Project conference.