Google TV missed the boat in first-generation products that launched in October by not understanding what the consumer wants, said panelists at the NexGen Entertainment Home Experience panel at the Digital Hollywood 2011 Media Summit in Manhattan Wednesday. The platform should come back strong in subsequent generations, assuming Google addresses issues that limited its appeal the first time out, panelists said. But Google’s stab at an undefined, fast-moving target shows how far the entertainment industry has to go in defining the home entertainment experience of the future.
Drawback
A duty drawback is a refund by CBP of the duties, taxes, or fees paid on imported goods, which were imposed upon importation as prescribed in 19 U.S.C. 1313(d). More broadly, a drawback also includes the refund or remission of other excise taxes pursuant to other provisions of law.
A forthcoming U.S.-wide check of the emergency alert system will help point out ways to make technical and operational improvements before switching to a new government standard for EAS, broadcast officials involved with such tests said in interviews Friday. Thursday afternoon, the FCC released an order (CD Feb 4 p10) requiring annual nationwide tests, which won’t immediately use the new standard, the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). It was finalized late last year by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Not using CAP for the first test, which FCC officials have said could occur in late 2011, has benefits and drawbacks, state broadcast officials said.
Aloha Partners called on the FCC to resume making bidder information available after each round, starting with auction 92 this summer of 16 700 MHz licenses. The FCC required disclosure of bidder information for auctions through 2008, when it decided to keep bidding anonymous starting with the first 700 MHz auction. “While it is possible that there may be some economic benefit to anonymous bidding, there are also a number of major drawbacks,” Aloha said. “One of the major advantages of a ’transparent’ bidding approach is that the participants can self-police to assure that the rules are being followed.” With anonymous bidding, “only the Bureau staff can see what is going on and often times they do not have the resources to appreciate all the implications of different bidders’ actions.” Aloha said it had concluded that a bidder used 85 million more bidding units than it had available to buy licenses. “This error resulted in the Bidder buying over $2 Billion worth of licenses that it did not have eligibility to purchase,” the company said. The 700 MHz Block A Good Faith Purchasers Alliance, meanwhile, urged that the FCC require all equipment used on spectrum sold in the auction to work on the other 700 MHz bands. The group is made up of Cellular South, Cavalier Wireless and King Street Wireless.
Comcast’s planned buy of control in NBC Universal has potential costs and benefits to customers, and some of the drawbacks “merit thorough review and careful consideration,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski last week. He pointed to small Oregon cable operators’ concerns about prices charged by Comcast and other large content providers and the rising cable and broadband prices in the state and few pay-TV providers there carrying games of the Portland Trailblazers on Comcast’s regional sports network. “How will the FCC protect net neutrality for Comcast customers?” Merkley asked. A draft order on the deal would bar Comcast from prioritizing its broadband content over that of some rivals (CD Jan 7 p3).
Developing applications for the Android platform is difficult because each manufacturer has its own version of the operating system which can vary by device and carrier, said Joe Inzerillo, MLB.com senior vice president. “It’s really not one operating system, it’s ten or 12 that you really care about and need to support,” he said, “and that makes you question whether you really want to deal with this handset or that manufacturer.” Another drawback to Android is it’s easier to steal applications on Android devices than on Apple devices, he said. MLB.com is interested in working with partners to develop applications for TV sets, but only if it retains control over the content, Inzerillo said. “The more a manufacturer or carrier or whoever it is tries to get into our pocket from a content perspective, the more we're going to find that platform objectionable."
Businesses should oppose net neutrality because they need ISPs to continue investing in their broadband networks and opportunities to innovate, said an op-ed in the Harvard Business Review by Kauffman Foundation Vice President Robert Litan and Navigant Economics Managing Director Hal Singer. Until now, the net neutrality debate has largely focused on how broadband consumers would be affected by it, they said. The Google-Verizon framework represents a large step in the right direction, the economists said. It would bolster the FCC’s authority to enforce its open-Internet principles based on Congressional authority, establish the concept of a case-by-case approach, forbid the agency from promulgating detailed rules on the kind of conduct that is permitted, and immunize wireless ISPs from any net neutrality requirements, the op-ed said. Despite the important advances, the proposed framework has one significant drawback: It advocates a “presumption against prioritization of Internet traffic -- including paid prioritization,” it said. “This is a mistake.” That would mean that no enhanced service offerings would be permitted unless an ISP could prove it wasn’t discriminating, it said. All deals for priority delivery would be presumptively procompetitive, which would place the burden of proof on the complaining content provider, it said. In particular, a content provider who objected to some ISP conduct would have to prove it has been discriminated against on the basis of affiliation, and as a result of that discrimination the content provider had been materially impaired in its ability to compete against the affiliated network, Litan and Singer wrote. In the meantime, they wrote, ISPs would be free to contract -- at a “positive price” -- with content providers for enhanced services offerings.
"Net neutrality is not about imposing old telephone regulations on the Internet,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. In a letter Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, she said his plan to reclassify broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act is “well intended” but “has significant drawbacks.” Title II was good for the telephone network but “includes numerous prescriptive regulatory obligations” that “do not properly capture technological advancements,” Snowe said. The commission may forbear from enforcing some sections, but “the action’s tactical nature presents a notable level of uncertainty that could hamper or delay investment in much needed broadband infrastructure,” she said. The Comcast decision shows that Congress needs to update telecom laws to reflect 21st century technology, she said. “Updating our laws is paramount to regaining our leadership in global broadband rankings and more importantly, technological innovation.” Snowe didn’t sign a letter last month by 37 Republican senators opposing the FCC proposal. In the House, 249 members, a majority that includes 76 Democrats, have objected.
The FCC’s long-awaited changes to an ownership form for radio and TV stations (CD April 9 p9) and their investors to fill out offer a mixed bag for industry and public-interest advocates, our survey of both sides found. The version of Form 323 unveiled by the Media Bureau earlier this month ought to make filing information about those who own more than 5 percent of each station or broadcast company easier because Excel spreadsheets can be uploaded to the commission’s Consolidated Database System where the documents will be filed, industry lawyers said. And the document ought to be searchable by keywords, making for an easier job when public interest groups and others want to do research on who owns what, some of those advocates said.
Statistical multiplexing technology doesn’t justify taking spectrum to use half of each station’s digital broadcasting capacity for other purposes, a station testing the technology told the FCC. “A central feature of this technology is that it provides the station with flexibility in using its entire bandwidth,” WBOC-TV Salisbury, Md., said Friday, http://xrl.us/bgubt6. “And the potential technical and other drawbacks to the technology are still being explored.” If the commission allocates half a station’s bandwidth to another user, the broadcaster “would no longer have the ability to make critical adjustments to our bit stream, and this entire approach would not be possible” the filing said. “The result would be an inefficient use of our channel capacity.” WBOC had met with FCC broadband officials at their request to discuss broadcasting 720p and 1080i and streams and adjusting the bitrate (CD Jan 25 p11).
The National Emergency Numbers Association urged the FCC to establish a subsidy mechanism for public safety that follows the model of the Universal Service Fund E-rate program. In comments on a National Broadband Plan public notice on public safety broadband issues, NENA and other public safety groups said adequate broadband service isn’t available in rural and tribal areas. Meanwhile, disabilities-rights advocates backed upgrades to the 911 system to support relay services for the deaf.