Michael's Insight

A Roadmap on Video Bandwidth Management (and what it means for faster Internet)

Readers of this blog apparently believe that speed is critical when it comes to the Internet.  Yesterday's post about a post-DOCSIS 3.0 strategy attracted a fair amount of comment.  The basic question is, "How will cable cope with the huge bandwidth demands of streaming video and other highly consumptive apps?"

The most critical part of getting ready for "ultraband" speeds has nothing to do with our Internet business.  It has to do with how we manage our legacy video service.  I thought we'd discuss a road map of that challenge by answering a question raised by one of our readers.

Mark asked,

How much bandwidth can cable TV coax carry? With the never-ending demand for bandwidth for both analog cable, digital cable, digital phone, and broadband internet access, will cable companies have to start replacing the coax running to the customer's home to keep up, or will there be enough bandwidth left in the cable transport everything? I'm curious, as I know that phone companies are running fiber directly into customer's homes now to keep up with the demand.

Great question.  Most modern cable systems are a hybrid between conventional coaxial cable and fiber optics.  And Mark, you're right, the coax definitely is more constraining, in terms of capacity, than fiber.  However, the coax is typically the very last piece of the highway and your bits and streams travel very short distances over it.  Coax is extremely versatile though and, because it's practically universally deployed, it's very cost effective.

The coaxial portion of modern cable networks is typically designed at a minimum capacity of 750 MHz.  Cable has to continue to provide the legacy services of the past 50 years and our plant must continue to deliver analog TV signals, at least until almost all consumers' equipment have digital tuners in them.  Don't confuse this cable digital upgrade with the broadcast digital transition the country is going through until June 12th -- this is a completely different subject, exclusive to cable networks.

Here's the challenge.  Analog channels take up a lot more bandwidth than digital ones.  Even high definition channels, which take up to as much as six times the bandwidth that standard definition digital channels take up, are two to three times more bandwidth efficient than older analog channels.  That's why cable operators eventually will to convert to mostly- or all-digital formats over the next few years.  In the meantime, even more bandwidth will be set aside to simulcast the analog channels in digital, allowing us to deploy digital-only set top boxes during the transition, even for our classic cable customers. 

In a year or two, most cable operators will migrate their remaining analog customers to digital and will recapture the enormous bandwidth those analog channels were occupying.  Before you start flaming me, this really is NOT about forcing people up to more expensive tiers of service. It's all about managing our networks efficiently so we can deliver many more new digital services to those who want them while still providing low-cost classic cable (albeit in digital format) for others, well into the future.

To put the bandwidth challenge in perspective, today most cable systems allocate around 550 MHz (out of 750 MHz) to analog TV.  Everything else we do is jammed into the last 200 MHz.  That includes Broadband, Phone, standard definition digital TV, high def TV, video-on-demand, and those new interactive applications people are developing for Tru2way.  We are working very hard to juggle things to make room for new services and, until we recapture the majority of that analog bandwidth, we're very tight on capacity.  That's why we have and will continue to migrate individual channels from analog to digital -- so we can make room for new services that many desire now, even during this temporary period of tight bandwidth.

Soon, Insight customers will hear a lot more about simulcast, and their new ability to watch our analog channels in a duplicated digital format.  That will result in better pictures and sound on new, large TV sets.  And it will also allow us to install digital equipment into more and more homes so, when the day arrives that we end analog transmissions, very few customers will need to do anything.

So, Mark, as you can see, cable is in a unique position to deliver supersonic Internet speeds in the next couple of years.  We'll do so by deploying DOCSIS 3.0 technology over its new-found, unused (formerly analog) bandwidth.  You referred to phone companies deploying fiber to the home and, although one company -- Verizon -- is doing so, they're doing it selectively in areas where they believe people can afford to pay for expensive services.  For 90% of America to have access to super-fast Internet, cable's already-installed plant will do the job quickly and cost-effectively so everyone can afford it and have access to it.

Details revealed on Comcast streaming video portal

More Details About Comcast's New 'OnDemand Online' [Silicon Alley Insider]

On Monday, I wrote about the plans that some cable operators have for online video portals, similar to Hulu and TV.com. Silicon Alley Insider has published details about Comcast's forthcoming video portal, which will be called OnDemand Online. Comcast's portal will be similar to Hulu, but will have a completely different content focus. While Hulu provides shows from NBC and Fox, OnDemand Online will feature original cable network programming that isn't available on Hulu.

OnDemand Online will provide free content to Comcast's cable subscribers, but the possibility exists that there will be premium content that requires a fee. In several articles about the concept of cable companies developing online video portals, there has been mention of efforts to bring premium streaming content from networks like HBO and Showtime.

Comcast's OnDemand Online will only be available to users in Comcast's geographic service area, but will be accessible from non-Comcast broadband connections. And, according to this article, there are no plans yet to stream live television (like Slingbox) from Comcast's online portal.

Cable operators are quickly embracing the concept of television and Internet convergence and the popularity of streaming video portals. Other cable operators can easily adopt the strategy and I wouldn't be surprised of some join forces to share in the development of such products. 

Sometimes I lean back in my chair and marvel at the speed at which everything is changing.  Then I snap out of it and get back to work for fear of getting left behind!

Online video streams surpass 10 billion last month

Nielsen: Total Video Streams Top 10 Billion [NewTeeVee]  

President Obama's inauguration had a significant impact on the number of web users streaming video last month. Nielsen's January Video Census, released yesterday, reports that 1 billion individual videos were streamed online last month by 135 million users. That's an increase of around 900 million streams over the December totals. 

Sites like CNN.com capitalized on their live streaming of the presidential inaugural ceremony. CNN increased from 95.5 million streams in December to 152 million video streams in January. YouTube maintained a wide lead among all sites serving up streaming video, serving well over half of all videos viewed on the web - 5.8 billion videos viewed by 92 million unique web viewers. 

The popular long-form streaming site Hulu streamed 232 million streams for only 7.7 million viewers. Though Hulu doesn't have a relatively large user base, they sure are loyal. By my math, each visitor to the Hulu site viewed an average of 30 videos. 

With Hulu recently removing itself from the Boxee open-source video interface, I wonder whether there will be a drop off in Hulu's numbers when Nielsen releases it's February Video Census. Whether the answer is yes or no, video streaming is here to stay and all ISP's have lots of work in front of them to be ready for the dramatic increase in bandwidth consumption it will require. 

TV.com releases iPhone application

CBS Beams ‘Star Trek’ Episodes to iPhones [NYT Bits Blog]

The CBS video portal TV.com may have lost all its Hulu-provided content, but it's venturing into the realm of mobile video with an application designed for the iPhone. Want your C.S.I. to go? With the new iPhone application, you can.

According to a review of the application at Gizmodo, it streams show episodes from either a wi-fi connection or the mobile network, but the wi-fi offered a much quicker download and more enjoyable experience. The application's interface is well designed, based on the review.

But many popular shows are missing from the TV.com application's library. If you like the original Star Trek series, then this application is definitely for you. Both the Bits and Gizmodo review mention the plethora of Star Trek episodes. If your tastes are a bit more modern (in Star Trek terms does that mean post-23rd Century?), you may not find the show you're looking for.

This is still a work in progress.  It's a neat idea to put streaming television shows on a portable device, but with slow downloads on the mobile network and a small video library, so far it's more like a proof of concept than a product that's ready for prime time.

Already looking beyond DOCSIS 3.0

Looking Beyond DOCSIS 3.0 [Communications Technology]

DOCSIS 3.0 is the ultra fast broadband technology that is beginning to be rolled out by cable operators across the country. Download speeds with DOCSIS 3.0 are being offered by one cable operator at up to 100 Mbps, and higher speeds are theoretically possible. But at a Light Reading DOCSIS 3.0 conference in Denver, Rouzbeh Yassini, CEO of YAS Broadband Ventures and a key developer of the DOCSIS 3.0 standard, says that the industry needs to plan for higher speeds beyond what DOCSIS 3.0 can provide in the upstream. Yassini told the conference that, "Good job, but no cigar yet. Even 35 Mbps upstream is still not enough."  You gotta love this guy!

By today's residential broadband standards, a 100 Mbps downstream and 35 Mbps upstream connection is a supersonic connection. I suspect most customers, especially those using HD streaming video and other bandwidth intensive applications would be more than thrilled with those speeds.  Even today's fast speeds are, for the most part, handling all applications, we can think of, with ease.

The cable industry has always been at the forefront of amping up broadband speeds and technology with the various iterations of the DOCSIS standard, developed through the cable industry's research and development consortium, CableLabs. Though cable operators are still testing and beginning the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 speeds, there's no doubt that the cable industry will be putting good thinking behind the next big thing beyond DOCSIS 3.0, upping the ante again. 

New cable programming premiering in coming weeks

On Tap: Cable’s New Shows [Multichannel News]

I wrote on Tueday about American's increased appetite for television. If you're looking for something new to watch, I'd like to share Multichannel's listing of new cable shows premiering in the next few months. This listing only includes new shows that are original cable programming. Shows like the Discovery Network's One Way Out, which kicks off on March 2nd, several original documentaries on HBO, and a new Spongebob special on Nickelodeon are on the list.

Though the new shows aren't linked through to the networks' web sites in this article, some quick Googling will yield information about these shows. Original cable programming is becoming more and more popular, and you next favorite cable show might just be on this list.

Beside "24", most of my favorite shows are on cable.  People look at me with some concern when I start talking about America's favorite serial killer, Dexter.  Some others?  Check out "Big Love," "Weeds" and "Entourage."  They're all on Showtime or HBO.  I've also been checking out the new series, "The United States of Tara" on Showtime too. 

Another data breach at a credit card processor?

Another credit card processor breached, fraud extent unknown [ArsTechnica]

This is starting to sound like a broken record.  About a month ago, Heartland Payment Systems revealed that hackers had penetrated their network and stolen credit card information from possibly 100 million cardholders. Now, the web site Databreaches.net is indicating that there may be another breach of credit card information out there from another compromised card processor. The site is tracking bank notices to customers of a data breach that has compromised their card number. 

Information about which processor might be involved is limited according to the site, with the only information indicating that the company is U.S. based. The good news for consumers is that the breach appears to be less extensive than the Heartland breach. In the Heartland breach information was stolen that would allow criminals to duplicate the information on each stolen card's magnetic stripe, allowing fake cards to be created that could be used to make fraudulent charges. In this more recent breach, only card numbers were stolen, without the additional information needed to create fake duplicate cards.

Customers can protect themselves and their credit card information online by securing their wi-fi network and only shopping on secure web sites. But, with card processors', criminals can target network vulnerabilities, making off with information about millions of cardholders, allowing billions in fraudulent charges.

Celebrating CableFAX's "Best of the Web" award

Forgive me.  I have to brag. 

Yesterday, CableFAX, the cable industry's daily publication that delivers important business and regulatory updates, held their first "Best of the Web" awards ceremony in New York City. I was thrilled to hear that this blog was recognized by CableFAX as the cable industry's best blog. Here's what they had to say about it:

Winner

Insight Communications, Michael’s Insight
Michael Willner, CEO

Yes, CEO blogs often are boring regurgitations of the company line. Not Willner’s blog, which aims beyond Insight subs to, as he blogged recently, “people all around the country who simply are interested in telecommunications issues.” His numerous well-written posts usually comment on policy. But we also love his well-written (ahem) insights about fascinating tech, like Facebook.

I want to thank CableFAX and their judges for this award. I am deeply honored.  Almost a year ago, I started this blog with a mission to challenge the conventional thinking about how a cable company (and more generally, a CEO) should communicate with its customers, policy makers, and others who are just simply interested in our business. So far, thanks to a group of loyal readers that enjoy challenging me and asking great questions, I think this effort has been a huge success. I've learned a lot about what some of our tech savvy readers are looking for, and I share those views with the management team charged with making key decisions.  I hope my readers have learned a bit about the issues that we deal with in providing our customers with cable, phone and broadband services and benefited from my (ahem) insights.

Insight Business unveils new high speed broadband in Columbus

Insight Business provides phone, broadband data, and video solutions to businesses throughout Insight's service area. In Columbus, Ohio, Insight Business is announcing a new tier of service for broadband customers.

We have completed our new suite of Columbus high-speed Internet services and are pleased to announce the offering of two new additional speeds of 10 Mbps and 15 Mbps in addition to our existing broadband offerings. Customers can add static IPs in groups of 1, 5, or 13 as needed by their specific application. If your Columbus-based business is still using an expensive and slow T1 or DSL for your Internet connection, give us a call. With these new speed offerings, Insight can offer competitively priced broadband at higher speeds than T1 or DSL.

Gmail services go down affecting millions of users

Four Hours Without Gmail [NYT Bits Blog]

When millions of users depend on a single web mail service, the consequences can be catastrophic when it goes haywire for a few hours. At around 4:30 AM Eastern time yesterday, Google's Gmail service went offline for around four hours. The outage had some impact on U.S. Gmail users, who were just beginning their day, the outage's impact in Europe and Asia was more pronounced because it occurred in the middle of the work day Tuesday. Google's Google Apps product is a popular choice for many corporate email set-ups, and it was also affected by the Gmail outage, since they run on the same system.

Google explained the outage as a result of routine maintenance at one data center responsible for the Gmail system. When Google shut down the data center for a software update, the load overwhelmed the other data centers, shutting them all down.

This morning, there was a routine maintenance event in one of our European data centers. This typically causes no disruption because accounts are simply served out of another data center. Unexpected side effects of some new code that tries to keep data geographically close to its owner caused another data center in Europe to become overloaded, and that caused cascading problems from one data center to another. It took us about an hour to get it all back under control.

Four hours after the outage began, Google restored their data centers and Gmail was accessible again.  I felt their pain when I heard about this outage as we've all experienced these types of misfortunes.  Happily, Google was able to restore service in a few hours.

Google has championed the idea of "cloud computing," which basically means storing all your mission-critical data on the Internet, with applications like Gmail and Google Docs promoting the concept. Cloud computing has some definite advantages when it comes to accessibility of information and the ability to readily share that information, but when the cloud goes down...well, you know.

More Facebook malware revealed

Facebook users targeted by rogue application [CNET News]

Facebook malware spottings are becoming more and more commonplace as the popular social networking site has attracted over 175 million users with nearly a half million more joining daily. A new malicious application that's making the rounds is designed to fool users into thinking that their friends are having trouble viewing their profile. Called "Error Check System," once installed, the application sends a user's friends a message in their notifications window telling them that their friend had trouble viewing their profile. It's a trick designed to cause those receiving the false error message to click on the message, installing the "Error Check System" application onto the viewer's Facebook account.

One researcher's review of "Error Check System" did not reveal evidence that the application was stealing personal information. But there is some reason to believe that the purpose of the application is a phishing attempt, to cause users to Google "Error Check System." Googling that search term will return a link that contains malware masquerading as antivirus software.

If you see a message on Facebook telling you that a friend has had trouble viewing your profile, just ignore it and check into it the old fashioned way -- call them -- or just send them an email and ask.

Conficker virus now has updating ability

New variant of Conficker worm circulates [CNET News]

Over 11 million PCs have fallen victim to the Conficker virus, which transmits itself using USB memory drives. I've written here before about how Conficker tricks Microsoft Windows users into copying the virus from their USB drive to their computer. Now, computer researchers have identified a third variant of the Conficker virus that has the ability to download updates to the virus from the Internet.

What does that mean for infected machines? It gives the virus programmers the ability to stay one step ahead of antivirus programmers. Even if an antivirus patch is released that could clean the Conficker from infected computers, virus programmers can automatically update all infected machines with a newer, less vulnerable version of Conficker. This bug is already a difficult one to clean, and this newest variant aims to make it even tougher.

Researchers have yet to identify what Conficker does on infected machines other than attempt to propagate to other computers. Some speculate that Conficker could become a huge botnet to send spam or attempt denial of service attacks. Regardless of what malicious intent Conficker's programmers intend, Microsoft has offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the programmers.

Nielsen releases report on Americans' television, Internet and mobile video viewing habits

Nielsen: Americans still love their TV, embracing DVRs [ArsTechnica]

Nielsen has released their Three Screen Report for the fourth quarter of last year, measuring usage of television, Internet, and mobile video. And the results show that, more than ever, Americans enjoy watching television. In the last three months of 2008, the average American watched 151 hours of television each moth - an all time high. And while 285 million Americans enjoyed watching television programming in the most traditional fashion, other methods are growing quickly.

Time-shifted television viewers - those watching shows recorded on DVRs - increased 37 percent from the last quarter of 2007 to nearly 74 million viewers. That's 20 million more DVR users than there were in 2007. Internet streaming video viewers now number 123 million, and 11 million Americans are mobile video viewers according to Nielsen.

Nielsen's study is instructive because even with the plethora of alternatives that American television viewers have to traditional television and the rapid adoption of those options, Americans' appetite for traditional television viewing has only increased. One reason for that may be that television viewers still prefer watching the television during the evening hours - prime hours for Internet streaming video are during the Monday - Friday, 9-5 work week. Time will tell if the adoption of newer technologies that allow Internet streaming video viewing on television screens (like Boxee and AppleTV) will change this fact.

Americans' appetite has not only increased for video, but for information in general. It's interesting to note the large amount of Internet activity that happens in conjunction of television viewing. Nielsen reports that 31% of Internet usage occurs during television viewing. 

As with many technology developments, it's beginning to look like the overall usage seems to add up to more than than the sum of the parts.   Rather than challenge conventional television, new viewing options seems to be creating a bigger pie.

Watch the president's speech online

Where to Watch Obama’s “State of the Union” Online [NewTeeVee]

President Obama is set to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress tonight, and as with his inaugural address, many online venues are streaming the video of the speech live. And a couple sites that are streaming the address are partnering with social networking sites to add a conversational aspect to the speech. NewTeeVee has a list of the sites that will be streaming tonight's speech.

For example, CNN is partnering with Facebook again so you can watch the speech alongside comments from your friends that are also watching. The partnership proved to be very popular during President Obama's inaugural speech, attracting nearly 14 million viewers - keep in mind that the inaugural occurred during work hours when the only screen that many people had access to was a computer screen. Facebook recorded over 600,000 status updates during Obama's inaugural speech.

ABCNews.com is partnering with Twitter in an effort to emulate CNN's success with Facebook. The ABC stream will allow viewers to converse about the president's speech using their Twitter account. And for the bloggers MSNBC is streaming the speech with technology that will allow bloggers to excerpt specific portions of the president's speech to embed them in their blog for additional commentary.  Now that sounds like fun!

FCC Commissioner Adelstein Tells It Like It Really Was

Adelstein Takes Aim at Martin Over Time Warner Cable Spin-Off Hold Up  [Broadcasting & Cable Magazine]

It was nothing short of extraordinary. 

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, already well known for his candor, took openness to new heights over the weekend.  He appeared on C-SPAN's "The Communicators" on Saturday where he took the opportunity to talk about how life has changed at the Commission since the departure of former Chairman Kevin Martin.

Our staff no longer feels that they are being intimidated from communicating directly with us about their concerns. I can't tell you how many staff have come up to me and said what a relief it is."

And Adelstein doesn't have a monopoly on that point of view which crosses the political aisle.  Republican Commissioner Rob McDowell told an audience a earlier this month,

(I give) Copps an 11 on a scale of 1-10 for improved communications and an immediate boost in morale."  Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, "it's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."

I've heard countless stories how people who worked at the FCC were to afraid to state their opinions in an atmosphere drowned in secrecy, fear and deception under Martin.  Decisions were often based on issues having nothing to do with the subject at hand.  Case in point -- Adelstein also commented on the 220 days it took to approve the Time Warner spin-off of Time Warner Cable.

That was being held up over an unrelated issue," he said. "The previous chairman felt he was going to take unrelated issues like a la carte and try to force them into what would otherwise be a rubber stamp. Now, I'm not one to rubber stamp media transactions, but this was deconsolidation. This was a cable company dealing with a lot of the problems Congress was concerned about with integrated cable companies that had programming and distribution."

The Chairman of the FCC only has one vote, equal to the other four commissioners.  Despite that, the position holds an enormous amount of power because the chairman also controls the agenda unilaterally.  If the chairman doesn't want to vote on something, it doesn't get voted on.  Not that he ever connected it, but most people believe Martin held Time Warner hostage to his demand that cable operators be required to offer channels on an a-la-carte basis -- a subject I have written about before (more than once). 

Whether or not you believe the Federal government should regulate how cable networks package their programming, the decision deserves much greater scrutiny than trying to ram it through an unrelated item, under pressure.

Chairman Copps has has brought the Martin era to a screeching halt.  Beside swiftly allowing the vote on the Time Warner spin-off, he undertook to untangle some unnecessary Inauguration Day mischief that Martin tried to create as he walked out the door.  He also dove into the DTV transition after the FCC had seemed to have completely failed to prepare for the onslaught of calls that would likely be made when millions lose their analog TV signals.  He worked with the cable industry to set up call centers for the quickly approaching February 17 deadline and, now that it's been delayed, will have likely succeeded at putting the FCC in the position of handling the calls on their own.

As most of you know, I often go to Washington to discuss cable industry issues with policymakers.  I have seen how the Chairman of the FCC can influence the way the Commission acts.  The two previous chairs, Bill Kennard (a Democrat) and Michael Powell (a Republican) acted as regulators.  They viewed each item as a stand-alone, regulatory decision.  They encouraged debate among the commissioners and called for a vote.   More recently, decisions were sprung upon commissioners, facts were twisted and arms were twisted even more.  Deals were negotiated under pressure on unrelated issues in order to get anything done.

It sounds like Chairman Copps has returned to the days when the Commission acted professionally as regulators.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Full disclosure -- Former FCC Chairman Bill Kennard is a member of Insight's Board of Directors.

More deadlines for digital transition announced

FCC: Stations Shouldn't Pull Analog Plug Until April 16 [Multichannel News]

Pull out your calendars. Last Friday, the FCC released a series of dates and deadlines for television stations wishing to transition to digital prior to June 12th. As you'll recall, Congress pushed the mandatory DTV deadline back to June 12th. Some stations have already converted, with many transitioning last Tuesday. For those yet to switch, they have the option of requesting a transition date earlier than June 12th from the FCC.

The deadline for stations wishing to switch before June 12th will be March 17th - St. Patrick's Day. TV stations must inform the FCC of those plans by that date. If any stations in Insight's service area announce such plans, you'll read about it here.

Last week's "early" digital transition of 421 television stations continues to appear to have gone very smoothly - with the exception of the TV shooter in Joplin. The number of calls to the FCC's DTV hotline continued to decrease throughout the week last week, and anecdotal evidence from individual stations' DTV hotlines indicate that most viewers got the message and prepared for the transition

Cable industry key in Internet and television convergence

Don’t Count Out Cable Online [NYT Bits Blog]

There were several articles and blog posts published over the weekend about the confluence of television and the Internet and the future of cable distribution. The underlying question - with the growing popularity of the Internet as the distribution medium for content producers that create television and cable programming, what happens to cable operators' current business model?

I thought this article from Bits provided the best synopsis of how cable companies have come to grips with the new realities of the Internet as the future of video distribution and how they're planning to meet those realities. Both Multichannel News and The Wall Street Journal have reported on Comcast and Time Warner Cable's discussions with programmers about the creation of an online platform for cable to distribute their programming. It's still too early to know what kind of programs we might see on such a platform, what it might cost or whether it would be ad-supported. But, it's the direction things are going - with platforms like Boxee becoming the choice of early-adopters and television manufacturers putting sets on store shelves that can stream video from online portals - cable will join the online video crowd.

Some online video enthusiasts have championed the idea of cable cord-cutting, but neither the diversity of programming nor the economics of online video are there to support such a movement, yet. Here at Insight, we've increased video customers over five percent in the each of the last two years, so it's clear to us that people are still opting for more programming via conventional cable. Why?  Because it's still the easiest way to watch TV.

Regardless, broadband video has the possibility of becoming to cable companies what the online distribution of news did to newspapers. Cable companies provide broadband Internet to nearly 40 million U.S. households and they're the trusted television provider to nearly 65 million households. As the future of television converges with the Internet, the cable industry will be a key innovator.

Secure that wi-fi network

Path of Illicit DVD Amounts to File Sharing on Steroids [Wired - Threat Level]

Here's a cautionary tale for those of you who have an open wi-fi network for your broadband connection. Wired brings us the story of the winding, twisting road that brought an illicit copy of last summer's feature film "The Love Guru" onto an Internet file sharing network. The movie, which was watermarked with a message that indicated it was for Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" was taken from a Los Angeles print shop as a screener DVD, digitized and uploaded using BitTorrent, a popular peer-to-peer file sharing application.

Since the movie was uploaded before it was in theaters, the studio called in the FBI to find the culprits responsible. The FBI traced the upload to an Irvine, California man's Internet connection, and initially focused on him as a suspect in the illegal upload. But, as it turns out, the man's broadband connection was connected to an unsecured wi-fi router. The actual uploader turned out to be his neighbor, who had simply connected to the man's unsecured wireless network to upload the movie.

Don't want the FBI showing up on your doorstep to ask you tough questions about your broadband activity? Make sure your wi-fi network is secured with WPA or better security, so pesky neighbors can't use your broadband for their own ends. If you're like the fellow in this story, and you're not sure how to secure your wi-fi, then just follow the steps in this article.

"Sir, please put the gun down and back away from the television."

Okay, so apparently the digital transition of 421 television stations across the nation which was going pretty smoothly has had a hiccup in Joplin, Missouri. A 70 year-old man named Walter Hoover was taken into police custody earlier today after a brief standoff with local authorities.

Turns out that Mr. Hoover's local television stations were among those that transitioned to digital broadcasting earlier this week. Frustrated with a digital converter box that wasn't working, Mr. Hoover allegedly pulled out a gun and fired several shots into his television set.

Police were called, and Mr. Hoover was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a firearm. 

Wouldn't it have been easier to call the FCC Hotline?

Maybe not.  Mr. Hoover's wife told police that he had been drinking.

DTV call centers indicate partial transition going smoothly

DTV Transition Partially Occurs, World Doesn't End [Broadband Reports]

The digital transition of approximately one-third of the nation's broadcasters continues to proceed smoothly. The latest reports from the DTV call centers aiding viewers with questions about the transition indicates that Wednesday call volume - the latest day's reports available - declined slightly from the Tuesday call volume. While many of Tuesday's calls were related to converter box re-scanning issues, a significant percentage of Wednesday's calls related to reception issues.

Those reception issues were a result of digital broadcasting not reaching the antennas of over-the-air television viewers in the same way that the analog broadcasts did. To keep all their channels, some over-the-air viewers will have to purchase a new antenna and have it properly oriented.

On the other hand, cable television viewers don't have to worry about losing some of their channels due to reception or buying an antenna (in addition to converter boxes for each TV). They're relaxed because they're already prepared for the digital transition. Most stations in Insight's service area will be transitioning between now and June 12th. If you still watch television over-the-air, and you would like to be able to relax, give us a call and let us handle your DTV transition.

Netflix working on streaming-only package

Netflix CEO alludes to streaming-only pricing by next year [EngadgetHD]

Netflix pioneered the idea of renting DVDs through the mail, but it looks like the company may be introducing a pricing tier offering that drops the mail entirely in favor of it's streaming product. According to this EngadgetHD post, company CEO Reed Hastings recently announced that the company was working on a streaming-only package to be offered sometime next year. Netflix streams a library of around 12,000 titles using the Roku set-top or the Xbox 360 game console.

Hastings admits that Netflix needs to "nail" the streaming concept. Those 12,000 titles sound like a lot, but coming from someone with a Roku set-top, there are a lot of popular titles that Netflix just doesn't make available to streaming customers.  Compare that number to Netflix's DVD rental library which eclipses 100,000 titles.

In addition to the streaming package, Hastings has also indicated that Netflix wants to strike a deal with HBO or Showtime to stream their video content.

Hulu to be removed from Boxee

Hulu Will Cut Off Users of Boxee Video Software [NYT Bits Blog]

In addition to the news that Hulu, the popular long-form video streaming site, is taking content down from competitor site TV.com, Hulu announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement with Boxee for that company to remove Hulu as a video provider. Boxee provides free, open-source software for television set-tops to stream web video directly to TV.

In a blog entry on Hulu's site, their CEO described the agreement being precipitated by a request from the programmers that provide Hulu's content. NBC Universal and Fox provide the majority of the content on Hulu's site. For it's part, Boxee's founder expressed a willingness to work with Hulu to resolve the issue. Hulu was one of the most popular streaming sites Boxee provides access to, with traffic reaching 100,000 video streams a week from Boxee users.

The rub for programmers is that Boxee's interface to compete nearly directly with the broadcast of their shows. While Hulu doesn't post content until after it has already premiered on television, the ad revenue produced by Hulu is only a fraction of what programmers produce through traditional distibution platforms. But, streaming video enthusiasts should't despair. A device set-top device with functionality similar to Boxee called VuNow was recently named the "best new idea" by CableLabs, a signal that the cable industry is looking to embrace streaming video to the TV as a future distribution platform.

First wave of DTV going smoothly

FCC: No Problem Handling DTV Calls So Far [Multichannel News]

The reports are still coming in, but it appears that the transition of 421 television stations to digital broadcasting yesterday went pretty smoothly based on the reports of calls fielded by FCC and cable industry sponsored DTV call centers. Over 28,000 calls were fielded yesterday, around 8,000 more calls than Monday. The call centers were more than adequately staffed to handle the call volume.

It appears that many callers had one problem in common - that when stations switched to digital, they lost signal on digital-ready or converter-equipped televisions because they had not rescanned for the new digital signals. So many people reported this issue that the FCC has issued an advisory encouraging viewers to re-scan for new channels if they haven't already. If there's such a thing as a good problem, this sounds like it. The fact that most calls are about this issue means that the majority of callers to the DTV hotlines have the proper equipment for DTV.

I am very, very impressed with the speed and efficiency that the FCC has moved with to deal with this transition.  Immediately upon taking office, acting Chairman Michael Copps moved decisively to ramp up their call center capability, working with the cable and broadcasters to handle problems. 

One word of warning.  Most stations that carry the four major broadcast networks have not converted to digital yet and most won't go until the new deadline, June 12th.  Therefore, many viewers who still rely on an over-the-air antenna for reception may not have yet realized that they lost one of their channels.

Of course, television viewers connected to cable haven't had to re-scan a converter box or worry about the date their favorite channel will switch to digital. That's because cable customers were already prepared for the digital transition. No re-scanning necessary.

Here at Insight, we'll continuing monitoring the DTV transition because most stations in our footprint have yet to convert to digital. If you're not yet a customer and you'd like for Insight to be your solution for a headache-free digital transition, I encourage you to give us a call.

Facebook changes its mind

Facebook's about-face: Change we can believe in? [CNET News]

Well, that didn't take long.

I wrote yesterday about Facebook's efforts to mitigate the fallout from the decision to modify their terms of service (TOS). Those new TOS appeared to grant Facebook total control over the content that users uploaded to the popular social networking site.

Nice try. 

There was quite a response from the Facebook community.  The founder of Facebook blogged on the new TOS, and Facebook was polling users on their opinion of the new TOS. Not surprisingly, users opposed to the changes were leading the poll.

Yesterday, Facebook abruptly decided to revert to the original terms. In explaining the decision, Facebook's founder blogged that Facebook planned a future change to the TOS, but would be adopting a different, more democratic approach to the change. Users were welcomed to join a Facebook group dedicated to answering questions and taking suggestions about the next revision in Facebook's terms.

Facebook has been the catalyst of many a user-initiated movement in the short time it's been part of the mainstream web, and now it appears that one of those movements has managed to change how the site will interact with its users.

Whew!  I feel much better now that I know I still own the pictures of my vacation that I posted last summer.

Hulu pulls Fox and NBC content from TV.com

Hulu Yanks Content from TV.com, the Race Begins [NewTeeVee]

In the world of long-form online streaming video, Hulu has recognized that it's no longer the only game in town. NewTeeVee reports that Hulu has removed its content from the rival TV.com site. Hulu features content from Fox and NBC Universal, while TV.com is a CBS product, featuring that network's shows.

TV.com re-launched last month when CBS aquired the site with the purchase of CNET. And if the numbers from Neilsen VideoCensus are any indication, TV.com is quickly ramping up the number of viewers. In January, TV.com outpaced Hulu in unique visitors - 5.9 million to 4.5 million. Hulu still has a wide advantage in the number of videos served to visitors, with 7.2 million video views compared to TV.com's 250,000. Without the Hulu content, it remains to be seen whether TV.com can continue its rapid growth.

Hulu's aiming to keep itself as the top video provider in this space. Earlier this month, the site aired a commercial during the Super Bowl. That ad has continued to air on Fox and NBC since the game. Hulu also continues to expand HD and feature-length content on the site. TV.com has CBS shows in HD, but I can't find any feature-length movies on the site.