Michael's Insight

AT&T implementing caps and overage charges for landline Internet

Exclusive: AT&T To Impose Caps, Overages [Broadband Reports]

As if being slower than cable broadband wasn't enough, Ma Bell has decided to cap residential DSL and U-Verse Internet starting on May 2. DSL customers will be capped at 150 GB of usage and U-verse customers will be capped at 250 GB for each month. 

In a somewhat similar way to how AT&T prices mobile data plans, customers who go over will incur overage charges. Those overages kick in when a customer exceeds the cap three times at any point during the life of their account. The overage charge will be $10 for every additional 50 GB the customer uses.

According to AT&T, only around 2 percent of customers would reach the usage cap. As high-bandwidth consuming services, like streaming video, continue to gain popularity, more providers are considering usage-based pricing similar to AT&T's plans.

The company intends to notify customers of the new caps and provide additional notification when they use 65 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent of their maximum.

Nielsen observes increase in DVR viewing

Nielsen: Dramatic Rise In Time-Shifted Viewing [MediaDailyNews]

Nielsen has released its quarterly “State of Media” report, which shows that DVR time-shifted viewing continues to see rapid growth, particularly among age groups over 25.

In the fourth quarter of 2010 people between the ages of 25 and 64 watched roughly thirty (30) hours of DVR time-shifted programming each month. This accounts for 22 percent of all TV viewing for those between 25 and 34, 19 percent for those between 35 and 49, and 16 percent for the 50 to 64 age bracket. I am part of the oldest group in the study so count me in as helping to skew that group's percentage higher.

The numbers for time-shifted viewing among younger viewers, while still seeing growth, were lower than even the 50 to 64 age bracket. Viewers between the ages of 18 and 24 use their DVRs about 19 hours each month, which accounts for 15 percent of all of that groups TV viewing. Viewers between 12 and 17 time-shifted 18 hours each month, or 16 percent.

Overall, television watching (both DVR and non-DVR) increased from a total of 145 hours per viewer each month in the third quarter 2010 to 154 hours in the fourth quarter. Much of this increase (and the increase from a mere 55 hours per viewer per month in the third quarter of 2009) is due to DVR usage. Time-shifted viewing across all age groups increased 17.9 percent in the third quarter of 2010 and 13.4 percent in the fourth quarter. The total number of DVR users was up to 105.9 million, an increase of 16.7 percent over last year’s number.

Insight launches truTV HD in Louisville in preparation for March Madness

The brackets are drawn and the seedings have been made - March Madness is here and I have some good news for customers in our Louisville district with regard to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

For the first time ever a signicant number of games in the tournmaent's initial rounds are exclusively appearing on cable channels TBS, TNT and truTV, allowing viewers to watch every game live. With the addition of 3 teams to the field of 68, there are four play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday that appear on truTV. In order to bring our customers every second of the tournament in HD, we have moved up the launch of truTV in high definition in Louisville to this week. 

TBS, TNT and truTV are now available in full HD in our Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky districts.

Games appearing on truTV can be watched in HD on channel 995. For a full schedule of games, check SportsonInsight.com. 

In other March Madness news, cn|2's Kentucky Sports Television is giving viewers the opportunity get in on the basketball hoopla with the KSTV Championship Challenge. Viewers can submit their bracket picks for the chance to win a 40" HDTV. Head over to the KSTV Championship Challenge for contest rules and information on how to enter your picks.

 

Senators express concerns over Facebook users' data privacy

Senate Democrats push Facebook on privacy [Politico]

Facebook's planned policy to allow third-party app developers to request access to users’ personal contact information stored in their profile on the site has been met with criticism, which resulted in Facebook deciding to postpone implementing the new policy for the time being.

Now the newly formed privacy panel of the U.S. Senate is getting involved. Senators Al Franken (Minn), Chuck Schumer (NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn) are pressing Facebook on the policy.

The senators are requesting that Facebook reconsider the policy, at least as it applies to younger users who may not understand the consequences of not protecting their personal information. Further, the senators are demanding that Facebook provide detailed disclosure information to any users who could be affected. Their preference would be that these apps still be available to users even if they decline to provide the contact information, if at all possible.

Facebook has responded by saying that, while they appreciate the feedback and will use it to influence future decisions, they see great value in giving users the opportunity to share information about themselves. The company went on to say that any external app could not access personal information without the user granting permission through Facebook.

Still, Congress has its concerns, and even some House members have gotten involved in the issue. Rep. Joe Barton (Texas) and Rep. Ed Markey (Mass.) from the Bipartisan Privacy Committee have expressed similar concern to that of the Senate.

Facebook is still weighing their concerns so it remains to be seen if, when and how they will implement the policy.

CEA looks to develop standard for active shutter 3D glasses

CEA kicks off process to standardize active 3D glasses [EngadgetHD]

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is requesting that manufacturers adopt a standard interface for active 3D glasses, allowing glasses from one manufacturer to work on the televisions made by a different company. In order to develop concensus, CEA has issued a RFP for proposals on a standard IR sync interface and is requesting that member companies join the 3D Technologies Working Group that will work through the issues surrounding glasses interoperability.

Active shutter glasses have been one of larger barriers to widespread adoption of 3DTV due to their expense and the fact that they are manufacturer-specific.

The CEA is looking for responses to its RFP by the end of this month, indicating that they plan to develop a set of standards quickly. 

Study indicates cable industry growing and creating more jobs

Study: Cable represents 1.8M jobs – and growing [CED Magazine]

The Bortz Media and Sports Group conducted a new study on the economic impact of the cable industry and they’re sharing some very interesting results. The report, recently released by the NCTA, shows that the cable industry in the United States (including operators, programmers and suppliers) represents economic output of well over $250 billion and supports, both directly and indirectly, roughly 1.8 million jobs.

Despite the economic recession of the past few years, the cable industry is one of the very few to continue to have had steady job creation and growth.

Across the country, cable operators directly employ 233,700 people with a combined personal income of $17.3 billion. These figures are bolstered by the 136,000 individuals that work indirectly for cable providers, such as contractors or consultants. These employees bring in additional personal income of $11.1 billion.

In Kentucky, where we serve over 60% of all cable customers, 20,000 jobs are directly and indirectly attributed to cable operators and their suppliers.  Indiana has 27,000 cable-realted jobs and Ohio has 63,000.

Over the past eight years, the industry has created 638,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Further, the cable industry has made huge investments in infrastructure and local community development.  Over the past 15 years or so, over $170 billion has been invested by cable operators in developing broadband and cable infrastructure. The study concluded by stating that “through these investment and innovation initiatives, the industry has exerted a substantial impact on the United States economy.”

 

Apple adds support for MLB.TV and NBA League Pass on Apple TV

New sports channels signal shift in Apple TV [CNET News]

Apple TV is making some additions to its lineup, adding some live sports streaming options that are already available on other streaming set-tops.

When Apple released its iOS 4.3 update this week, it included access to subscription sports services MLB.TV and NBA League Pass on Apple TV. The services operate similar to a Netflix subscription, which was supported by the original interface of the second Apple TV device. The Apple TV user enters his or her existing MLB.TV or NBA League Pass account info and can view all the programming through Apple TV.

Aside from added programming options for Apple TV, this addition marks the first live sports programming to be made available on Apple TV, bringing it up to speed with devices like the Roku.

Unlike its music devices, which only provide access to music downloads from Apple's iTunes store, Apple's strategy for its video set-top has embraced other subscription services that don't go through the company's walled garden.

Rockmelt browser now available for all to download

RockMelt Browser Opens Up To All, More Quietly This Time [TechCrunch]

Users looking to try the new Rockmelt browser, which has a social networking focus, are in luck as it came out of private beta testing this week in an open release. The project is based on Chromium - the open source browser code that is the foundation of Google's Chrome browser. Rockmelt counts the creator of the first web browser, Marc Andreessen, as a significant backer, which has added to its intrigue.

Rockmelt adds a listing of Facebook friends to a left-hand rail giving users the ability to interact with them directly from the browser rather than having to surf over to Facebook. A right hand rail contains custom apps along with a Twitter feed, RSS feed and access to Gmail.

Because Rockmelt and Chrome share code, their updates often occur with a similiar frequency. 

Will Rockmelt become a trusted tool for users wanting to surf the web with their social media contacts close at hand? Time will tell, but all users now have free reign to give it a spin.

Facebook moves into online video streaming

Warner Bros. to deliver movies on Facebook [CNET News]

Warner Bros. is turning to Facebook to grow its movie rental business. The studio recently announced its intentions to incorporate videos for rental or purchase on the Facebook fan pages of its movies. The service is reported to be launching as a test on Wednesday with rentals of “The Dark Knight” being made available on the movie’s fan page.

Through this service, Facebook users will be able to rent the movies using Facebook Credits. Until now, Facebook Credits were the virtual currency that could only be used on the numerous games and apps within Facebook. Expanding to movie rentals is a strategic change for Facebook’s e-commerce business and their long-term strategy to have Facebook users buy all products within Facebook with these credits, and not with credit card payments.

“The Dark Knight” will be available to rent for 30 credits (or $3.00) with a 48 hour viewing window and will be available from the user’s Facebook account for use on any connected device. Further, a user will be able to pause the video and resume when they log back into their profile, even if they return using a different device. Users will also still be able to use Facebook’s social networking features while watching and will be able to post comments on the video.

This deal is a signifcant for Warner Bros., which was looking for new ways to expand its digital distribution. Getting Facebook into the online movie game not only achieves Warner’s goal, but also adds a groundbreaking development for the whole online video industry. Netflix, Hulu, Apple, and Amazon are likely watching this launch very closely.

With the millions of active Facebook users, the social networking giant could quickly become a major player in the online video industry.

Adobe releasing tool to convert Flash to HTML5

Adobe Gives In To Apple, Releases Flash-to-HTML Converter [Silicon Alley Insider]

It looks like Adobe is close to calling uncle in the battle with Apple over the lack of Flash support on its iOS devices. Apple specifically chose to omit Flash from iOS as a battery conservation measure, opting instead for the open HTML5 standard. Since Flash is so popular on the web, this left many sites missing some functionality on iOS. 

Adobe has lobbied Apple for Flash's inclusion in iOS and has managed to get Flash support built-in to many manufacturers' Android devices, but iOS remains Flash-free. So, rather than continue to paddle upstream, Adobe has decided to release a tool for Flash developers to convert their content to HTML5.

Nicknamed Wallaby, Adobe's new tool takes Flash content and translates it to HTML5, which can be viewed in the web browser on the iPhone and the iPad. 

With Adobe's Wallaby release, does this signal the death of Flash on the web? Adobe says it's not, because it plans to continue its Flash development platform alongside support for HTML5. But, given the proliferation of iOS devices, it's a fairly sure bet that Adobe and Flash developers couldn't afford to continue to allow these users to use web sites that have limited capabilities on their devices.

Google removes malicious apps from users' Android devices

Google disables Android malware [Financial Times]

If you're an Android phone owner and you downloaded an app called Steamy Window, you may have noticed that the app disappeared from your phone recently. Last week, Google decided to use its app "kill switch" to remove around 50 apps directly from users' phones because the apps contained malicious code. The malicious apps were available for download from Google's Android Market and were subsequently downloaded and installed by around 250,000 users.

The malicious apps included some that roped a user's phone into a botnet, allowing the app's developers to control that user's phone with a command from a control server.

Google's open source approach to Android, which includes allowing developers to upload apps to the Android Market without a testing or approval process, lets these problematic apps make their way onto users' phones. In response, Google decided to use its ability to reach into the phones in users' pockets to remove the applications for the first time.

There are many obvious advantages to the open source approach. Just this week, sales numbers indicated that Google's Android passed RIM's BlackBerry OS to become the most popular smartphone OS, based largely on phone manufacturers' ability to use Android off the shelf without a licensing royalty. But unlike Apple's and RIM's walled-garden iOS, which requires developers to submit code for testing and approval, Android is far more vulnerable to incidents like these.

Report indicates malware sites double from 2009 to 2010

Report: Malware-laden sites double in a year ago [CNET News]

A troubling report released this week by Dasient indicates that malware sites doubled in the fourth quarter of 2010 from the same time period one year ago. The Internet security company tracks malware sites, which number more than one million. According to the report, the sheer number of these malware sites have created a probability that the average Internet user will hit an infected page at 95 percent within a three month period. 

Dasient's researchers also discovered that social networking sites can be fertile platforms for malware distribution. They tested a dozen social networking sites - which were not identified in the report - 80 percent of those sites allowed links that had been flagged by Google SafeBrowsing as problematic. All of the social networking sites it tested allowed links to be posted that would download a benign file to a user's computer. In theory, malware distributors could exploit these vulnerabilities to do a drive-by download of malicious code.

All of these statistics make the case for keeping an up-to-date copy of software that provides malware protections on a user's system and using safe browsing techniques. That means using extreme caution when clicking on links, even when they appear to be from a trusted source, like a friend on your favorite social networking site.

 

Another retransmission blackout underway after LIN pulls stations from Dish

LIN Stations Go Dark On Dish [Multichannel News]

It's happening again.

Over the weekend, LIN Media pulled its broadcast channels from Dish’s network because the two companies failed to reach an agreement on increases in retransmission consent fees. It’s a story that unfortunately has become all too familiar over the past couple years.

LIN Media owns more than 24 stations in 17 markets, ranging geographically from Albuquerque to Buffalo, which Dish customers now are no longer able to view.  Within Insight's footprint, one station affects customers in the Columbus, OH market.

Both companies have issued the usual accusatory statements - Dish saying that LIN is asking for an exorbitant increase and LIN insisting they only want "fair" compensation - while Dish customers are left in the dark.

Just last week the FCC voted to begin a rule making on retransmission consent - rules that govern the process by which cable and satellite providers include broadcast channels on their lineups. The Commission is considering eliminating restrictions on providers carrying out-of-market broadcast stations during a dispute and strengthening how it defines good faith negotiations between providers and broadcasters. Both measures could help to bring some sanity to this process for consumers.

As I've said before, under the current rules, broadcasters frequently use their programming monopoly as leverage to ask for double and triple digit percentage increases in retrans fees   While the FCC will seek to tighten the rules surrounding retransmission consent negotiations, some stakeholders claim the agency lacks the jurisdiction to intervene. Unfortunately, the FCC has just begun considering these changes, and the current retransmission rules do nothing to protect Dish viewers from this blackout.

Competing web video formats subject of DOJ investigation

Web Video Rivalry Sparks U.S. Probe [Wall Street Journal]

Remember when VHS and Betamax were battling for video format supremacy? Well something very similar is happening with in online video, and now the Department of Justice is doing something this time that it chose to stay out of during the video format war -- stepping in to ensure one technology is not being "unfairly" prejudiced.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ is investigating MPEG LA, which is the organization licenses patents for MPEG-4 and H.264. MPEG LA  collects royalties from web video sites like Netflix and YouTube. The video sites pay into the MPEG LA, who distributes the royalties to its members (the patent holders), which include Apple and Microsoft.

Recently Google released a new web video format called VP8 which competes with the technologies licensed by MPEG LA. The DOJ is investigating whether MPEG LA is actively creating legal uncertainty as to whether the use of VP8 violates MPEG LA-held patents.

Because they own the competiting technologies, Google and Apple are on opposite sides of the investigation, with very significant implications for the future of online television. This investigation could very well have a significant impact on which video format thrives in the growing web video market.

In addition, this investigation also could lead to interesting determinations about online video copyright in the next generation of web programming language, HTML 5.

WordPress.com impacted by massive DDOS attack

WordPress.com Suffers Largest DDoS Attack In Its History [TechCrunch]

Yesterday was a rough day for around 30 million websites - mainly blogs - hosted by WordPress.com. The hosting service for sites running on the WordPress platform was subjected to a massive distributed denial of service attack, which are usually caused by a malicous botnet operator, directing thousands or millions of Internet-connected computers to simultaneously attempt to access a site multiple times. That creates a traffic tidal wave that overwhelms a site's resources, causing it to perform poorly or totally crash.

That's what happened to WordPress.com sites. The DDOS that hit created multiple gigabits per second worth of traffic overload, making many sites inaccessible to users and publishers. WordPress.com hosts 10 percent of the Internet's web sites, and the attack impacted many of the web's top sites.

By the end of the day, the attack had subsided, allowing the sites to recover. WordPress.com is looking into the source of the attack, as well as its intended target, which it suspects to have had a political motivation.

Peel device promises to make television viewing easier with an iPhone remote app

A 'Pear' Gives Apple Devices an Easy Way to Control TV [Wall Street Journal]

A device and accompanying app that are coming to market this month aim to give users a new way to watch television, using their existing TV provider. Peel - it's an iPhone app and a peripherial called the "fruit"  - allows users to use their iPhone as a remote control on a television or a cable set-top with an interface that promises to make browsing favorite shows and movies much easier than a traditional remote and program guide.

The Peel's fruit device contains an IR blaster and connects to the iPhone app via a user's wi-fi network. Using the iPhone, a user selects a program, the selection is trasnmitted over the wi-fi network to the fruit, then on to the television or set-top box via the IR blaster. A user can configure the IR blaster to recognize their provider specific set-top box.

The Peel's charm comes in its iPhone app. Users get to configure the app to recognize when their favorite television shows are on. Rather than looking at a program grid, users see icons that represent their preferred viewing options. Shows that they aren't interested in won't appear, and Peel claims that the app will learn a user's viewing habits to recommend other choices that it believes the user would like.

The Peel looks to be a great enhancement for traditional television viewing. Android and iPad users are set to get Peel apps for their devices sometime later this year.

Supreme Court hands down transparency ruling in E-Rate program

Supremes: AT&T Can't Use 'Personal Privacy' To Hide USF Data [Broadband Reports]

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that AT&T can not claim a privacy exemption on data collected by the FCC regarding the company's participation in the E-Rate program. The program, which is funded by the Universal Service Fund, is designed to provide subsidies to connect schools and libraries to broadband. Ma Bell had fought a court battle to keep its billing records under E-Rate exempt from the Freedom of Information Act under a protection for "personal privacy" in the law.

The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that AT&T's arguements were without merit. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court's opinion, which stated in part, "When it comes to the word ‘personal,’ there is little support for the notion that it denotes corporations, even in the legal context.” And in a bit of wit that indicates that even Supreme Court justices are not without a sense of humor, Roberts wrote, "We trust AT&T will not take it personally."

This ruling is a win for consumers. In 2004, AT&T settled a FCC investigation into its overbilling under E-Rate. This ruling ensures there will be transparency in their E-Rate billing practices going forward, meaning that USF funds are being used for their designated purpose - providing teachers and students broadband and not simply lining AT&T's pockets.

Apple demonstrates iPad 2

Steve Jobs: Tablets Are Not PCs And Our Competitors Don’t Get It [Silicon Alley Insider]

In the midst of Apple’s big Wednesday iPad 2 announcement, CEO Steve Jobs, who surprised people by showing up during his medical leave, made some very interesting statements about how Apple views the tablet industry and why competitors, in Jobs’ opinion, have it wrong.

Since the original iPad came on the scene, everyone has compared its sales to that of the PC market - namely netbook sales. Hundreds of stories were written about whether the iPad and future tablets would eat away at PC sales. Perhaps it was because PCs were all anybody knew at the time, but the tablet vs. PC battle became the major talking point as the iPad grew and grew.

After unveiling the new features of the iPad 2, Jobs talked at length about the philosophy behind the iPad and why Apple has a better grasp on tablets than any of its competitors. According to Jobs, Apple thrives because they do not think of the iPad in PC terms. Jobs said Apple looks at tablets as “post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC.”

All other current tablet players (Google, HP, RIM, Microsoft) include PC-related strategies in their playbooks. Many talk about revamping their operating systems that they use on PCs to work on their tablet devices. Others mention incorporating PC features into tablet devices.

Jobs says Apple looks at the issue differently, treating the tablet as an entirely new device, not just a re-worked PC.

I agree.

Comcast CEO speaks on streaming video with WSJ

At Comcast, No Fear of Web Video [Wall Street Journal]

Fresh off of their recent merger with NBC Universal, Comcast is speaking out on Internet video.

CEO Brian Roberts stated in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Internet video poses no significant threat to pay TV providers and is actually more of a friend than a foe. Roberts does not believe that any pay TV subscriber losses are due to streaming services - ala Netflix. Netflix, in Robert’s opinion, is merely a “rerun” service. Instead, any TV subscriber losses are more likely due to lack of housing growth and competition from other providers.

I agree and have been saying the same thing for a long time.

While Roberts pushed Internet video as a “friend” to pay TV, he also reiterated that Comcast’s Xfinity Internet video services would remain available only to current pay TV subscribers and would not be made available on an individual subscription basis.

Comcast’s Xfinity service currently allows users to access online content from premium providers like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and Starz. 

ESPN announces plans to televise Big East tournament in 3D

ESPN 3D to Broadcast Big East Hoops Tournament [Multichannel News]

Over the past few months, ESPN has announced and heavily-marketed 3D coverage of the BCS Championship Game and the Masters PGA Tournament. They’ve also announced a 24/7 3D network.

Now ESPN is announcing full 3D coverage of an entire NCAA basketball conference tournament. The Big East Tournament which includes a total of 15 games played over 5 days in New York’s Madison Square Garden has always been a major focus of ESPN in early March. Over the past several years, the network has aired all of the tournament’s games on its family of networks, with the majority of the games appearing on prime-time on ESPN’s primary channel.

This year, ESPN will broadcast all 15 Big East Tournament games in 3D. This announcement comes on the heels of the announcement of 3D coverage of 2011 NBA Finals this June.

ESPN continues to make major 3D programming announcements. It will be interesting to see if 3D can grow as much as ESPN clearly believes that it will.  For now, only a handful of consumers own TV's capable of 3D viewing.  Delivering 3D content requires a great deal of bandwidth and with so few TV's out there at this point, we are watching developments closely but not yet ready to allocate the substantial resources to the up-to-now nascent market.

Senator Schumer calls on sites to enable HTTPS to prevent data theft

Senator wants more secure Web sites for Wi-Fi use [CNET News]

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has called on a number of online companies, including Amazon, Twitter, and Yahoo!, to adopt the HTTPS protocol to help curb password and data theft over public Wi-Fi networks. Right now, many users at public Wi-Fi hotspots transmit information, including logins and passwords for popular websites across the airwarves unencrypted.

Sen. Schumer cited the readily-available programs that allow even the most amateur hackers to access private information shared over public Wi-Fi hotspots. Sites that use HTTP protocol do not provide the security of the HTTPS protocol. HTTP is used primarily by sites that do not transmit secure information, while HTTPS uses “secure sockets layer” or SSL to encrypt sensitive information, which makes the data less susceptible to hackers.

For the most part, online retailers and merchants use HTTPS but there is currently no rule requiring them to do so. Many sites, including many that provide webmail do not have a method to allow users to log in on a secure connection. On a public Wi-Fi network, a hacker could intercept their login credentials when the unsuspecting user is signing in to their webmail site. Sen. Schumer would like to see a rule put in place requiring HTTPS, but in the meantime he is simply targeting some of the biggest online companies and requesting they adopt the more secure protocol.

Twitter currently uses HTTP protocol, as does Facebook. However, Facebook allows users to enable HTTPS, but the users must opt-in on their own.

U.S. House planning vote to repeal net neutrality this month

Boehner Says Vote To Invalidate Net Rules Could Come In March [Multichannel News]

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner believes the FCC’s recent net neutrality rulemaking will come up for a repeal vote in the House as early as this month. The rules are only a couple months old, as the FCC voted on December 21 to formalize their position on how providers manage their networks. Since that time, however, Republicans have been sworn in as a majority in the House and have indicated plans to overturn the FCC's assumption of jurisdiction over net neutrality.

House Republicans have already impacted the rulemaking by defunding the net neutrality rules enforcement in the stop-gap appropriations the House recently passed. However, Speaker Boehner believes the opposition will go even further, citing a resolution introduced by Greg Walden (R-Ore.) who chairs the Communications Subcommittee. Walden’s resolution would completely invalidate the FCC’s rules on net neutrality, and Boehner believes that resolution will quickly pass the House.

Of course, in order for any repeal to become law, the Senate must also pass the measure and President Obama must sign it. Even if the House were to overturn net neutrality, it is a long shot that it will ever pass in the Senate and even less likely that the President would ever sign it into law.