Pay-per-view TV is not on Netflix’s radar screen, CEO Reed Hastings said on an earnings call. “It would confuse the brand,” Hastings said, saying the company has built a “precise” model on $7.99 a month subscriptions, and that the market is well-stocked with other pay-per-view models from Amazon, Blockbuster, iTunes and more. He compared Netflix’s strategy with that of Dolby Digital -- “to be in every platform and get along with everyone.” The market is large enough at an $8 monthly subscription rate “to have us grow very large,” he said.
Pay-per-view TV is not on Netflix’s radar screen, CEO Reed Hastings said on an earnings call. “It would confuse the brand,” Hastings said, saying the company has built a “precise” model on $7.99 a month subscriptions, and that the market is well-stocked with other pay-per-view models from Amazon, Blockbuster, iTunes and more. He compared Netflix’s strategy with that of Dolby Digital -- “to be in every platform and get along with everyone.” The market is large enough at an $8 monthly subscription rate “to have us grow very large,” he said.
Dish Network hires Hadass Kogan, ex-House Commerce Committee, as associate corporate counsel … Univision promotes Antonio Roman to senior vice president of national sales for the TV station group, effective May 11 … Land Mobile Communications Council board elections: Douglas Aiken, IMSA, president; Donald Vasek, Utilities Telecom Council, vice president; and Mark Crosby, secretary-treasurer; newly formed T-Band Working Group is chaired by Ralph Haller, FCAA.
More than 505,000 Nintendo hardware systems were sold in March in the U.S., Nintendo of America (NOA) said Friday. That included “more than 225,000” 3DS systems and “nearly 175,000” Wiis, it said. (See separate report in this issue.) The remaining 105,000 systems sold were DS systems other than the 3DS. NOA said other “noteworthy milestones” achieved in March included “strong launches” for the games Mario Party 9 for the Wii, released March 9, and Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS, released March 23. More than 230,000 copies of the Wii game were sold and 135,000 units of the 3DS title, it said. The 3DS games Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land continued to “perform well in their fourth and fifth respective months on the market,” NOA said. It said 118,000 copies of Mario Kart 7 were sold last month, boosting the game’s life-to-date U.S. sales to 1.6 million, while 100,000 copies of Super Mario were sold, increasing that game’s U.S. life-to-date sales to 2 million. NOA also said Ubisoft’s Just Dance franchise had sold 15 million copies on the Wii to date.
There was strong audience interest in last month’s Supreme Court oral arguments on healthcare reform law, broadcast executives told us. During the three days the case was heard and covered extensively, Fox News saw an average daytime audience of 1.2 million viewers and 213,000 in the core demographic of ages 25 to 54. Primetime drew 2.4 million viewers, among whom 613,000 were ages 25-54 on average, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers provided by Fox News. The court provided same-day audio recordings and transcripts of the arguments and didn’t allow the hearings to be aired live, something executives hope will change but aren’t optimistic will anytime soon.
The FCC should act on an April 2009 petition for rulemaking by the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) asking the commission to modify its rules to permit licensing of interstitial, full-power 12.5 kHz channels in the 800 MHz band, Motorola Solutions said in a filing. The company “strongly supports the EWA Petition and urges the Commission to issue a NPRM that proposes to add full power interstitial 12.5 kHz channels in the 800 MHz band,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bm3ik9). “The addition of these interstitial channels in the interleaved portion of the 800 MHz band as proposed by EWA would be of great benefit to this nation’s businesses, critical infrastructure industries and local/state agencies that rely on land mobile radio systems to support their business-critical and mission-critical operations. It would also provide applicants wishing to offer Part 90 services with much needed spectrum, while protecting incumbent licensees in the band from harmful interference."
State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls name/address change notifications:
Custom installer MyerConnex, “after a fairly slow” January and February, is landing “a lot of jobs right now,” President Jon Myer told Consumer Electronics Daily Monday. Myer started MyerConnex in 2010 (CED July 1/10 p6), just a few months after the seven-store MyerEmco CE retail chain he ran closed its doors after 55 years (CED Feb 16/10 p1).
The FCC must consider the trust relationship between the U.S. government and federally recognized tribes as it enacts policies impacting tribally owned telecom companies, the Mescalero Apache Tribe told officials from the FCC Wireline Bureau and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy, said an ex parte letter (http://xrl.us/bm2w6b). The USF/intercarrier compensation order “does not sufficiently incentivize broadband development on Tribal lands,” it said. Representatives from Mescalero Apache Telecom expressed concern about the use of regression analysis to limit reimbursable capital and operating expenses to determine high-cost loop support (HCLS), and suggested the regression methodology include inputs on climate, soil-type, terrain, density, percentage of Lifeline customers and amount of unemployment. They also requested a cap of 95 percent on HCLS benchmarks rather than the proposed 90 percent.
There’s growing concern that U.S. telecommunications equipment manufacturers may be disadvantaged by the growing use of local content requirements in countries such as Brazil, India, and Indonesia, the U.S. Trade Representative said in its 2012 annual review of telecommunications trade agreements. The report also cites the use of equipment standards and conformity assessment procedures (including testing requirements) that act as barriers to entry for U.S. telecommunications equipment, including policies in the following countries: China (multi-level protection scheme), India (restrictions on use of strong encryption and onerous security requirements for the importation of telecommunications network equipment), and Brazil, China, Costa Rica and India (mandatory certification requirements and requirements for local testing).