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- Broadband Discussion at Personal Democracy ForumJuly 2
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As mentioned previously, we were attending the Personal Democracy Forum earlier this week. Winding up Monday’s session was a panel entitled “The Obama Broadband Initiative and the Future of the Internet,” with opening remarks by Blair Levin of the FCC (video here) and a discussion, moderated by PDF’s Andrew Rasiej, involving Free Press’ Josh Silver, NCTA’s James Assey, and AT&T’s Hank Hultquist.
The WSJ’s Digits blog offered an accounting of the panel:
Panelist Josh Silver, the executive director and co-founder of Free Press, a media advocacy organization, ripped into his co-panelists, who represented the wireless and telecommunications industries.
He accused them of price-gauging Americans on Internet service and monopolizing the industry rather than engaging in competitiveness and helping provide affordable access to the poor. “We’re looking at industries which are protecting a very lucrative business model, and there are starting to be increasing numbers of people at the gates understanding that the ISP market should be competitive,” Mr. Silver said.
It was a very spirited discussion.
- Now Broadcasting from the Personal Democracy ForumJune 29
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For the next two days Paul and I will be Tweeting, blogging, and otherwise chattering about the annual Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in NYC. PDF is the premier event for dicsussion of online politics and Cable is a proud sponsor. Cable’s James Assey will be participating on a panel this afternoon focused on the state of US broadband and the Obama Administration’s goals to get every American connected. He’ll share the stage with Josh Silver from Free Press, Hank Hultquist of AT&T, and Blair Levin from the FCC.
PDF explores how we, as a society, are changing the way we interact with issue advocacy and candidate campaigns as well as our governemnt.
If you’re interested, use Twitter Search to follow the discussion. You can find a full program and schedule for the panels at PersonalDemocracy.com
- Big Boost for Online ViewingJune 24
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Time Warner and Comcast held a press briefing this morning to provide some details about the much anticipated “TV Everywhere” project that Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes has been discussing for a few months including during a panel at The Cable Show back in early April. Joining Bewkes for today’s briefing was Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.
The main takeaway from today’s briefing is that Comcast and Time Warner will begin a trial to provide 5,000 Comcast customers access to cable programming (TBS and TNT for now) on a platform (the computer screen) where it wasn’t previously available, for no additional charge. It is no more complicated than that.
The primary details released today include a set of principles that the companies agreed to:
- Bring more TV content, more easily to more people across platforms.
- Video subscribers can watch programming from their favorite TV networks online for no additional charge.
- Video subscribers can access this content using any broadband connection.
- Programmers should make their best and highest-rated programming available online.
- Both networks and video distri
- Broadband Connections Up, But Broadband Stimulus Efforts Can Reach More HouseholdsJune 18
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Rarely a day goes by in DC without a panel discussion, new report or legislative hearing on the importance of broadband. Yesterday, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project released a lengthy survey on Home Broadband Adoption. Not only does the study delve into the importance of Internet in the everyday lives of Americans, but it also shows a noteworthy rise in broadband usage over the last year.
The study notes that now, “63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a 15% increases from a year earlier.” That is up from 54 percent in 2007.
In addition, Pew’s study also looked at specific populations, like seniors, rural Americans and lower income households. Some key statistics from the report include:
- “Respondents reporting that they live in homes with annual household incomes below $30,000 experienced a 34% growth in home broadband adoption from 2008 to 2009.”
- “Broadband usage among adults ages 65 or older grew from 19% in May, 2008 to 30% in April, 2009.”
- “Adults living in rural America had home high-speed usage grow from 8% in 2008 to 46% in 2009.”
The broadband adoption numbers have definitely moved upwards in recent years and we should take a moment to applaud this progress. At the same time, there is still work to be done. We should ensure that al
- DTV Transition Weekend: A Look BackJune 15
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The trends for cable from “DTV Transition weekend” continued into the work week with no major issues on the horizon. A wrap-up call with our industry-wide “DTV War Room” group at mid-day today found cable engineers mopping-up a few remaining challenges with broadcast station signals in a handful of markets. By and large, cable customers weren’t being affected. There were some isolated concerns – and we would stress “isolated” – about possible broadcast interference to the cable plant in a few places that may have resulted from changes in transmission frequencies among broadcast stations. Cable and broadcast engineers were continuing to work together to solve those problems. We have learned also that some broadcast stations in major markets are struggling with challenges around signal strength and contours. That seems to be having some impact on over-the-air viewers, but not cable subscribers.
Cable industry customer care professionals reported only marginally-higher levels of consumer phone calls to cable call centers. They said that while call volume was up on Friday and Saturday, it had begun to tail-off on Sunday and was returning to close to normal levels by mid-day Monday.
We don’t think the transition is “over” yet, probably for millions of Americans. Broadcast stations in many markets are working now to adjust technical parameters and “ease in” to their new frequencies