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.
The FTC signed off on Comcast's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, the agency said in an early termination notice Monday. Comcast has said it expects to conclude the $3.8 billion deal by year's end (see 1604280010).
Comcast will spend roughly $3.8 billion on DreamWorks Animation in an all-cash deal, making it part of its Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, the cable company said in a news release Thursday. Comcast said it expects to close on the deal by year's end, subject to antitrust approvals in the U.S. and internationally. On close, DreamWorks Animation CEO/co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg will be chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which will hold its ownership interest in Awesomeness TV and Nova, and serve as an NBCUniversal consultant, Comcast said.
T-Mobile doesn’t fear the FCC will clamp down on Binge On, its zero-rated streaming video service, CEO John Legere said Tuesday. T-Mobile reported Tuesday it continued its strong growth in Q1 and executives said it's positioning itself to potentially go big in the TV incentive auction. “Binge On was really a first shot across the bow touching into the content area, kind of disrupting some of data monetization strategies” of Verizon in particular, Legere said on Bloomberg TV. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “has been very clear” that he sees Binge On “as innovative and highly competitive,” he said.
Lobbying on encryption policy increased significantly in Q1, while interest in copyright and other tech sector policy issues remained largely on par with previous quarterly filings. At least 60 companies and groups lobbied on encryption issues and specific pieces of legislation during Q1, compared with just seven entities during the same period last year and 24 entities during Q4, according to available lobbying filings. Apple and Google reduced their lobbying expenditures in Q1 from the same period in 2015, while Amazon and Facebook posted significant increases (see 1604200036).
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called FCC rate-of-return USF changes a "win-win" for rural consumers wanting broadband and phone consumers paying into the USF. Clyburn said she was proud the FCC went beyond fixing a stand-alone broadband problem that prevented rural telcos from receiving USF support when customers with high-speed Internet access dropped traditional phone service. "We are also establishing a blueprint to connect unserved households and modernize the Connect America Fund to ensure that rate-of-return carriers use finite resources as efficiently as possible," she said in a statement that accompanied the 249-page Order and Further NPRM released Wednesday (see 1603300065).
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will take on a political hot potato Friday -- bidirectional sharing, in which commercial licensees would be asked to share their underutilized spectrum with the federal government (see 1508260066). CSMAC is to consider recommendations by its Federal Access to Non-Federal Bands Subcommittee during its quarterly meeting. Bidirectional sharing has been controversial (see 1509010059).
T-Mobile doubled branded postpaid net adds and nearly tripled branded postpaid phone net adds during the "Black Friday/Cyber Monday" weekend, compared with the same period in 2014, T-Mobile said in an SEC filing Monday. T-Mobile also confirmed guidance for 2015, projecting adjusted EBITDA of $6.8 billion to $7.2 billion, branded postpaid net adds of 3.8 million to 4.2 million and capital expenditures of $4.4 billion to $4.7 billion.