Media coalition: Comcast merger to create power 'unknown' in U.S. history - The Hill's Hillicon Valley: Via .
A new group opposed to the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal says regulators need to consider whether the size of the proposed deal represents a threat to the public interest.
“It is important to recognize the sheer scope of the proposed acquisition,” the group wrote in a letter to Congress Thursday. “The merged entity will exert a degree of power unknown in our nation’s media history.”
Addressing House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), the Coalition for Competition in Media points to Comcast’s status as the country’s largest Internet service provider and cable company, and NBC’s ownership of “some of the most heavily-visited websites on the Internet," to make the argument that the merger could stifle competition in the media. read more... »
Glenn Beck's war on the FCC (and Satan worshippers): Via arstechnica.
Back in April, Beck railed against net neutrality, saying that "it's about eliminating traditional, constitutional points of view from the public arena. But that's not the way it's being billed. It is about stopping debate. But nobody will tell you that. It's about ending free speech. It is about Marxism."
Julius Genachowski, a former tech executive who worked with startups and media mogul Barry Diller, is pushing unfettered Marxism? The idea is risible, but Beck seems to believe that the FCC has been infiltrated by radical groups who will help to implement Obama's secret censorship agenda. Chief among these groups is Free Press, the nonprofit that pushed the FCC to censure Comcast for its P2P blocking. (Genachowski's press secretary previously worked for the group.)
Read Original Article:(Via arstechnica.)
FCC Lets Hollywood Turn Off Your Output Jacks: Via Threat Level.
Hollywood will soon have the power to remotely disable the analog outputs on your set-top box, under a decision by federal regulators on Friday intended to prevent home recording of new movie releases.
The move by the Federal Communications Commission grants cable and satellite providers the power to block consumers from viewing just-released movies in an analog format through a process known as Selectable Output Control. Hollywood requested SOC powers as a condition of allowing providers for the first time to release movies to their in-home customers while the film is in theaters.
The Motion Picture Association of America said its member studios would not authorize the early movie releases unless it won the ability to deploy Selectable Output Control. The reason: Analog video signals can easily be recorded, while digital video standards include a copy protection scheme that lets providers set a no-copy flag on the signal.
Digital rights group, Public Knowledge, said millions of older televisions, including 11 million HD sets, would be affected, a number the MPAA disputes. Owners of those devices would not have the luxury of being able to view the latest theater blockbuster at home through video on-demand services.
“The FCC is allowing the MPAA to control your television,” John Bergmayer, Public Knowledge staff attorney, said in a telephone interview. read more... »
Comcast Customers Urged To Opt-Out of Settlement: Via Slashdot.
funchords writes "As a settlement to the class-action lawsuits over Comcast's blocking of users' Internet traffic, Comcast stands to pay 'up to' $16.00 to every subscriber who makes a claim at their settlement website and declares, under penalty of perjury, that their online activity was for a lawful purpose consistent with applicable copyright and other laws. Robb Topolski, the veteran networking engineer who kicked off the case when he discovered the blocking back in 2007, says that the proposed settlement doesn't make sense, especially after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled this month that the US Federal Communications Commission didn't have the authority to enforce its Net neutrality principles on Comcast. 'You paid about $50 a month for the service, and the amount that Comcast stands to return is up to about 50c per month for each month that it blocked traffic,' he wrote. 'If that tiny amount of money is compensation, then there is no penalty to Comcast for interfering with its customers, read more... »
Comcast Disables VCR Scheduling In New Guide: Via Slashdot.
An anonymous reader writes "Comcast has quietly launched a new on-screen guide for its cable boxes. What they're not advertising is that they've removed the ability to schedule VCR-compatible channel flipping any time more than a few hours in advance for people who don't buy the $20/month DVR service. What this means is that VCR owners are now forced to pay for Comcast's $20/month DVR service or else start their recordings manually. For us techies there might be a way around this, but ordinary VCR enthusiasts and owners of other recorders are left in the dust. Anyone know a good antitrust lawyer?" Raise your hand if you regularly use a VCR these days, too.
Read Original Article (Via Slashdot.)
FCC to "improve" CableCARD rules this month: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.
The FCC's new National Broadband Plan made it clear that the agency has had it with CableCARD's failings and wants to try something else. Specifically, the FCC wants a new "gateway" device that would apply to all TV providers (cable, satellite, IPTV). Like a broadband modem, the gateway device would take its inputs from the different TV systems, but output a signal in a standard format that can be used by DVRs, TVs, and set-top boxes.
The changes start this month. The FCC has just announced plans for its April meeting, and they include these two juicy items:
Read Original Article:(Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.)
TV Everywhere: Collusion Anywhere?: Via Freedom to Tinker.
FreePress and the National Cable and Telecom Association (NCTA) are talking past each other about TV Everywhere, a new initiative from the cable TV industry. FreePress says TV Everywhere is the cable industry's collusive attempt to limit competition; the NCTA says it's an exciting new product opportunity for consumers. Let's unpack this issue and see who might have a point, and who is blowing smoke.
We're at a critical point in the history of television. In recent years, most people have gotten TV shows from a traditional cable or satellite service. Now more and more people are getting shows on the Internet. Cable companies need to adapt, somehow, or become dinosaurs.
Which brings us to TV Everywhere. The idea, according to the NCTA, is for cable companies to offer their residential subscribers online access to the same shows they get at home. Existing consumers get more, at no extra charge -- who would complain about that? -- but only if they keep buying traditional cable service.
FreePress tells a different story, in which cable industry companies have agreed among themselves that this is their sole Internet distribution strategy. If such an agreement exists, it is problematic -- it looks like a classic market division agreement, which is bad for consumers and (as I understand it) presumptively illegal. read more... »
Satellite TV to FCC: we're special, don't make us open up: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.
If you've tried to pump your fully-paid-up cable connection into, say, a computer running Windows Media Center, you've probably come up against the closed nature of pay-TV and the severe limitations of CableCARD. And what about satellite TV? Don't even think about it.
The FCC wants to blow open the market for third-party video devices, scrapping some of the current (failed) CableCARD rules and adding satellite providers to the list. read more... »
Cable: Let us lock down your TV (we'll offer movies sooner): Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.
The movie studio crusade to take over your home theater system just got an endorsement from Time Warner Cable, whose top staff visited the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last Wednesday to ask, yet again, for permission to let cable operators limit video streams to HDTVs and DVRs. At the meeting, representatives of TWC and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) backed the scheme being pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA): read more... »
Broadcast flag rears vile head, bars viewer from recording: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.
Irony alert: Sons of Anarchy gets broadcast flag. read more... »