Economic Theory in Action: The FCC’s Assault on the Mobile Broadband Consumer…

November 30th, 2012 | Posted by George Ford in "Over the Top" Services | Broadband | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Law and Economics | MVPDs | Net Neutrality | Network Agnostic Devices | Regulation | Wireless - (Comments Off)

Recently, I spotted an interesting blog by Scott Wallsten at the Technology Policy Institute.  In this blog, Scott discusses the FCC’s recent decision that Verizon violated the open access rules of the 700 MHz C-Block auction by charging its customers an additional $20 per month on its data plans to tether a device.  In response, Verizon paid a fine and now allows tethering on all new data plans.  However, Scott observes that: Verizon effectively abandoned the post-paid market for light users after the FCC decision.  Verizon no longer offers individual plans.  Even consumers with only a single smartphone must purchase a shared data plan.  That’s …
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Professor Susan Crawford and the Looming “Cable Monopoly”…

November 16th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in "Over the Top" Services | AllVid | Broadband | Broadband Credibility Gap | Cable | CableCard | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | Investment | IP Transition | Law and Economics | MVPDs | National Broadband Plan | Net Neutrality | Regulation | Susan Crawford - (Comments Off)

Next month, a new book entitled Captive Audience:  The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age (Yale University Press 2012) from Cardozo Law School Professor Susan Crawford will hit the bookshelves.  According to her publisher’s blurb, Professor Crawford’s book will examine how the United States has “created the biggest monopoly since the breakup of Standard Oil a century ago.”  But what is this “monopoly” to which Professor Crawford refers?  While the publisher’s promotional blurb is silent on this question, according to a 2010 paper authored by Professor Crawford in the Yale Law and Policy Review, it appears that she is talking about …
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How the Retransmission Fight May Affect MVPD Industry Structure…

July 12th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in Cable | Congressional Oversight | Federal Communications Commission | Industry Structure and Market Performance | MVPDs | Regulation | Regulatory Reform | Retransmission - (Comments Off)

One of the growing hot-button issues of late has been the fight between programming networks (including traditional broadcast networks) and multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”) over retransmission fees.  As we have seen with increasing frequency, as a programming carriage contract expiration deadline looms larger, either the MVPD pays up, or the channel goes dark.  Just this week, DirecTV just dropped a whopping SEVENTEEN channels owned by Viacom—running the full gamut from MTV to Comedy Central—from their lineup when the parties failed to reach a commercial agreement. In retaliation, Viacom pulled much of their coveted programming from free Internet outlets.  Needless to say, consumers were none …
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More Observations From CES…

January 19th, 2012 | Posted by Larry Spiwak in "Over the Top" Services | AllVid | Cable | CableCard | Federal Communications Commission | MVPDs | Regulation | Set-top Boxes - (Comments Off)

One of the major stories that came out of CES last week was (in the words of the Wall Street Journal) the “flood” of new Internet content and mobile devices reaching consumers’ living rooms.  In fact, this has been the story coming out of CES for the past few years.  Given such developments, it continues to puzzle me not only that the FCC refuses to announce, at least formally, that it intends to drop its ill-conceived AllVid paradigm, but that it also refuses to announce that it intends to seek to sunset Section 629 of the Communications Act altogether. By way of quick background, Section …
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