There will be 618.7 million subscribers to fixed broadband worldwide by the end of 2012, an increase of 7.3 percent from 2011, ABI Research said Friday. More than one-third of the world’s households will have a fixed broadband connection by that time, according to ABI. While growth occurred in all fixed broadband platforms, growth slowed to 1.5 percent from Q1. The slowdown indicates DSL subscribers are looking at fiber and other alternative platforms, ABI Research said. “Development of next generation broadband networks is creating opportunities to upgrade customers to fiber optic,” ABI Research Vice President Jake Saunders said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnsr4y). Fiber broadband’s market share is expected to increase to 13.2 percent by the end of 2012 -- from 12 percent in 2011 -- while DSL’s market share will decline nearly 1 percentage point from 64 percent in 2011, he said. The increased penetration of connected devices, apps and services over broadband has continued to help drive adoption of high-speed broadband, ABI Research said. At the end of Q2, more than 44 percent of subscribers were using a service with speeds of 10 Mbps and up, ABI Research analyst Khin Sandi Lynn said in the release. Operators are finding it challenging to know how much to invest in fixed broadband networks and services, Infonetics Research analyst Jeff Heynen said in a separate analyst note (http://xrl.us/bnsr4q). “On one hand, fixed broadband is among the most profitable services a provider can offer,” he said. “On the other hand, the investment required to roll out or upgrade mobile networks is eating into their available capital.” Infonetics’ latest broadband access survey shows the transition to next-generation fixed access technologies like 10G EPON and XGPON1 will take longer than the industry hoped, Heynen said. “The fundamental drivers are there, but they aren’t pressing enough to force a wholesale shift in deployment timelines, and they don’t outweigh the higher costs of next-gen equipment,” he said.
Sprint Nextel had no comment Friday on media reports the carrier may make a counter-offer for MetroPCS, after T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom said Tuesday it agreed to buy its smaller competitor (CD Oct 3 p1). The rumor mill was fueled in part by a filing at the SEC stating that Keith Cowan, Sprint president of strategic planning and corporate initiatives, had delayed his planned departure from the company by three months until January (http://xrl.us/bnsr2b). “According to press reports, Sprint has waited until Friday to convene its Board to consider a transaction. Unfortunately for Sprint, the slow reaction likely means that once again they have lost the opportunity to make an offer for T-Mobile,” said BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk. Based on a merger document, “T-Mobile’s $250 million break-up fee only applies to regulatory approvals and it would therefore be in breach of contract if it walked from the MetroPCS deal in order to consider a takeout bid from Sprint. Oops,” Piecyk said. Sprint “might be in a position to offer PCS shareholders a more favorable deal given the complicated deal structure proposed by Deutsche Telekom,” said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. “We also believe the deal would be highly accretive to Sprint given complementary technologies, Sprint’s prepay focus, and the $6-7 [billion] in potential synergies highlighted in the T-Mobile/PCS deal versus an all-in price of ~$7-8 [billion]."
Time Warner Cable (TWC) falsely claimed that Mauna Kea Broadcasting manipulated the programming schedule of KLEI-TV Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, to bolster its case for mandatory carriage on TWC’s cable systems, the broadcaster said in a motion to file a surreply in the ongoing dispute (http://xrl.us/bnsr3x). The cable operator has sought to exclude the station from the designated market area covering its systems in Honolulu, Kauai, Kalawao and Maui (CD July 16 p12). “Fundamental fairness requires that Mauna Kea be allowed to respond to blatantly incorrect factual assertions” that TWC raised in its reply even though the normal pleading cycle has ended, the broadcaster said.
Dish and Gannett may not be able to reach a new retransmission consent agreement, they said. Dish subscribers were poised to lose access to Gannett TV stations heading in to the weekend. “We remain committed to continuing to negotiate with DISH right up to that deadline and believe an agreement is possible,” a Gannett spokesman said. “We are seeking nothing more than the same market-based terms that have allowed us to reach deals with TV providers across the country.” The broadcaster said it has begun a public information campaign to alert viewers to the situation. Meanwhile, Dish said a major sticking point in the talks is its new ad-skipping AutoHop service. “Gannett has demanded that DISH eliminate customer-enabled commercial skipping technology found on its Hopper Whole Home DVRs or pay a massive penalty,” the company said. Markets affected include St. Louis, Little Rock, Tampa, Jacksonville, Macon, Ga., Bangor and Portland Maine, Buffalo, Greensboro, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Knoxville.
WealthTV wants the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear on an expedited basis its lawsuit against the FCC for dismissing the independent programmer’s complaint that four cable operators favored their own channel over the indie. The channel last week asked for oral argument to be scheduled for no later than February. Comcast, among the operators WealthTV alleged unsuccessfully at the FCC favored a channel owned by In Demand over the indie, won’t do business with it until the case is finished, Wealth said. “The four Intervenors together control approximately 70 percent of the cable market,” the motion said of Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. The plaintiff said in an exhibit that it has been unable to “engage in meaningful discussions” with any of the four operators for carriage since its FCC program carriage complaint. “WealthTV is foreclosed effectively from doing business with them while this case pends before this Court,” the motion said. “WealthTV is a small business, and such broad foreclosure causes it continuing financial harm.” WealthTV v. FCC is docket 11-73134 at the 9th Circuit. A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument last week on Time Warner Cable’s appeal of program carriage rules adopted after WealthTV made its complaint. (See separate report above in this issue.)
Bright House Networks agreed to begin carrying Time Warner Cable’s two new Los Angeles sports networks, a few days after Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes began programming. Bright House’s Southern California systems will carry the channels in HD and standard definition to subscribers getting standard and digital variety service and analog, Time Warner Cable said in a news release Thursday. Time Warner Cable had been the only distributor of the networks from their start (CD Oct 2 p15).
Light-handed regulation is key to wireless growth, Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter said in a blog post (http://xrl.us/bnsryj). Spalter cited a recent report by Deloitte on the “airwave overload” in the U.S. (http://xrl.us/bnsryw). The U.S. is the world leader on mobile but faces strong challenges to that title from Japan and Korea if it wants to stay on top, Spalter said. “We get there by starting at the end: What outcome most benefits mobile innovation -- and its 300 million U.S. fans? A seamless continued growth of the wireless web, a sustained high-quality experience for consumers and innovators alike and the resulting substantial economic, jobs and revenue growth,” he answered. “Twenty-plus years into our nation’s climb to global tech greatness, Deloitte identifies the core ‘lessons learned,’ warning that the FCC should ‘avoid specific, prescriptive formulations that may be based on assumptions that are overtaken by events’ and instead ‘favor policies that leave to markets the task of determining how best to capitalize on opportunities and resolve challenges related to mobile broadband.’ The blunt translation of this polite assessment? Government has a checkered past when it seeks to shape markets defined by fast-moving innovation and growth. Let the innovators innovate. Let companies compete. Let consumers decide. And, if policymakers exercise restraint, then the U.S. will continue to lead."
Wisconsin Public Service Commission staff is “still working on the comments” received in late August and making edits to the Wisconsin broadband playbook, said Tithi Chattopadhyay, the state’s new and first broadband director. There will likely be a better idea about the playbook’s progress by the second week of October, she told us. The PSC initially expected to integrate edits and present the playbook, intended to foster broadband investment, to the Legislature in September (CD Aug 24 p6). Other priorities delayed the editing, according to Chattopadhyay.
The FCC is trying to update the record on wireless microphone use on an unlicensed basis in the TV band. The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology gathered information in a 2010 public notice, the commission noted (http://xrl.us/bnsrwd). The notice is tied to the commission push to open up the TV white spaces as a band for so-called super Wi-Fi. “We request that interested parties update and refresh the record on whether the Commission should expand license eligibility under Part 74, Subpart H for certain operators of unlicensed wireless microphones or other low power auxiliary devices at specified venues.” Comments should be “as specific as possible,” the notice said. Among the questions teed up is whether the FCC should expand eligibility for some or all of the users or entities which are permitted to register venues for unlicensed wireless microphone use in the TV bands database. “Examples might include entities responsible for major production events that take place at such venues as Madison Square Garden or Broadway theaters in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville,” the notice said. “Consistent with this approach, what other concrete examples would qualify? If the Commission were to expand Part 74 license eligibility for all of these entities operating at such venues, how, precisely, would the Commission define or classify such class(es) of entities in our eligibility rules?” The notice explores whether the commission should make its rules more specific. “For instance, the Commission could require that an entity applying for a license establish each of the following -- (1) that the specified venue periodically hosts events that require the same level of ‘professional’ high production-quality audio as the type needed for broadcast productions; (2) that these events involve a live production, with an audience in attendance, or a rehearsal for such events; and (3) that the venue size meets specified criteria depending on the type of venue or event (e.g., for theaters used for professional productions or house of worship venues, a minimum of 1,000 fixed seats; for auditoriums or convention centers, a space capacity-rated for 3,000 people; for sports venues, a minimum of 10,000 seats for indoors, and 25,000 seats for outdoors)? We ask for comment on this or similar approaches.” Comments are due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, replies 21 days after comments are due.
The FCC International Bureau granted Orbcomm’s application to modify its authorization for a non-voice, non-geostationary mobile satellite service system. It permitted Orbcomm to modify the target orbital inclination of one satellite from 51.6 degrees to 51.7 degrees, the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnsry8). The bureau also granted the company a waiver of a condition that “requires Orbcomm to complete construction of and launch the first two next-generation satellites,” it said. The waiver is limited to extending authority “to launch and operate with respect to the one satellite proposed for imminent launch.” The bureau also granted special temporary authority to Iridium and EchoStar. Iridium was given 60 days to continue to co-locate a spare in-orbit satellite with another satellite in its orbital constellation, the public notice said. EchoStar has 30 days to continue providing direct broadcast satellite service “via EchoStar 6 at 76.95 degrees west using the 17.3-17.8 GHz and 12.2-12.7 GHz frequency bands.”