A handful of congressional Democrats have publicly bucked their party’s overall resistance to negotiating with the Republican majority on net neutrality legislation, and they are unlikely to bring their colleagues back to the bargaining table soon, lobbyists told us. Top telecom-focused Capitol Hill Democrats, including Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., have signaled their party’s lack of short-term appetite for legislation amid FCC possible rollback of 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers under Communications Act Title II (see 1707130063). Some meanwhile wonder if the FCC will OK new rules based on Communications Act Section 706 authority (see 1707210040).
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FirstNet updated the FCC with a list of public safety systems operating in band 14, the band FirstNet will use to build its network. Three of the public safety licensees on the list -- Kalamazoo County, Michigan; Monroe County, Michigan; and the Tennessee Department of Corrections -- were eligible for federal grants to move their systems out of the band but chose not to apply, FirstNet said. In August, the network awarded grants of as much as $14 million to help public safety systems relocate (see 1608180057). FirstNet awarded $14 million to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, $7.3 million to Virginia State Police, $3.8 million to the Arkansas State Police and $1.6 million to the Massachusetts State Police. The Department of Defense, Honolulu County; the Marshall, Michigan, Police Department; Stamford, Connecticut, Fire Department; and Post Falls, Idaho, Police Department each got less than $45,000. FirstNet filed a report in docket 12-94.
Shipments of flexible displays for smartphones and other devices are expected to reach 139 million units in 2017, up 135 percent from 2016, said IHS Markit in a Monday report. But flexible displays are expected to account for only 3.8 percent of total display unit shipments in 2017, said IHS. Many manufacturers have plans to develop foldable, bendable or dual-edge curved smartphone designs, and Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 8 in 2017 using a flexible active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display, it said. Apple’s move into that sector “would dramatically drive up expected demand for flexible AMOLED panels,” enough for them to account for 20 percent of total OLED display unit shipments in 2017, said the researcher. “During 2016, many smartphone manufacturers have pressured display panel makers to supply them with more flexible AMOLEDs for their new smartphone designs.” Limited production capacity prevented all but “a few players” having their orders “met in quantity,” it said. Tight supply conditions are expected to ease in 2017 once Samsung Display and LG Display “start operating their new fabs to increase supply capacity for flexible displays, resulting in earlier availability of new smartphone entrants in the market,” IHS said.
Tech spending will grow 3.1 percent to $36.05 billion during this holiday season, lower than the overall retail sales increase of 3.8 percent to $825 billion (excluding gas and restaurant sales), a CTA forecast said Tuesday. CTA estimates total online holiday sales will grow by 16.4 percent to $84.2 billion.
Comcast's $3.8 billion takeover of DreamWorks Animation is complete, with DreamWorks now part of Comcast's Universal Filmed Entertainment Group that also includes Universal Pictures, Fandango and NBCUniversal Brand Development, Comcast said in a news release Tuesday. NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke has said the deal moves forward NBCU's TV animation plans and will help create consumer products and theme park properties (see 1606130022).
FirstNet will have stability at the top as it nears a key development: selection of a group of companies that will help build the network. The Department of Commerce said Thursday that Sue Swenson, FirstNet chairwoman, was reappointed to the board and will continue as chair. Jeff Johnson also was reappointed and will continue as vice chairman. Meanwhile, FirstNet took care of additional business Thursday, awarding grants to public safety systems that will have to move from the spectrum FirstNet will use to build its network.
Use of encryption, whether over the web with HTTPS, in the cloud or via email and messaging services like WhatsApp, has rapidly risen over the past few years as worries over cybercrime, government hacking, corporate collection and use of people's personal data have soared, several experts said in interviews over the past week. Despite the encryption advancements that are less costly now to implement than in past years, the experts said the lack of widespread encryption remains an issue within companies and governments protecting their data, as well as in mobile apps, which could expose considerable information about users if hacked.
AT&T Q2 lobbying is staying about as strong as in last year’s, $4.07 million in the disclosure report due Wednesday and $4.1 million the year before. The quarterly spending is far above many entities in the telecom and media sectors (see 1607200077). Comcast, another big spender, reported $3.38 million, down from $3.8 million. USTelecom spending didn’t shift greatly, $1.05 million vs. $1.18 million. Dish Network lobbying spending rose by $30,000 to $470,000. CenturyLink spending dropped greatly, down to $410,000 from $980,000.
About 12 million domain names were added to the internet during Q1, up 3.8 percent from Q4 2015, domain registry Verisign said Tuesday in a report. The additional 12 million domains in Q1 brought the total number of registered domains to 326.4 million, including 126.6 million domains using the .com top-level domain and 15.9 million using .net, Verisign said. The domain registry said it processed 10 million new domain registrations on the .com and .net TLDs in Q1, up from 8.7 million domain registrations during the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, ICANN said in a report Tuesday that domain registrations using generic TLDs grew by 7.3 percent year-over-year between 2014 and 2015.
U.S. broadband homes watch an average 3.8 hours of internet video on TV each week, a fifth of all video viewed on TV, said a Parks Associates report Wednesday. Consumers might increasingly use advertising-blocking technology while streaming video if digital ads disrupt the viewing experience, Parks warned. "Ad blockers have their roots in web publishing, often to prevent full-page overlays or popups that would disrupt the experience,” said Parks analyst Glenn Hower. Content and over-the-top providers and advertisers “need to ensure their methods do not interfere with the viewing experience, which would otherwise drive viewers to ad-blocking technologies,” he said. Growth in personalized OTT service offerings, automated media buying and selling, and advertising in low-income markets have driven greater interest in dynamic ad insertion, said Parks, which forecasts digital video ad revenue will jump from $14.4 billion worldwide this year to $28.9 billion in 2020. Ad blocking, meanwhile, cost the digital publishing industries an estimated $41.4 billion worldwide in 2015, Parks said, at the same time the number of OTT video services tripled from 2010. "Connecting advertisers with appropriate, and accepting, audiences is a significant challenge for ad-supported video providers," Hower said. There are opportunities for more meaningful ads with better response and overall brand retention, he said.