The (Free) Future of Broadband?

When Verizon announced its "Turbo" bandwidth-on-steroids service last year (and northern carrier Rogers' similar "SpeedBoost"), few technical details were available. Now, observers have started to wonder whether the technology will help with the so-called bandwidth crunch or is it more a way for providers to skirt net neutrality rules.

According to some, incumbent carriers maintain a "brain dead idea" that bandwidth is a scarce commodity. According to Canadian IT consultant Bill St. Arnaud, last-mile infrastructure has the most impact on a user's experience, not bandwidth congestion.

Arnaud says customers aren't interested in buying bandwidth to enhance their service, they just want it to work when needed. "Just as with electricity, they want and expect that (an) appliance or application will simply work with no need for special speed boosts," he says.

The IT vet says an example of a company that "gets it" is Free.FR, a French firm "redefining" the 21st century carrier. Free offers unlimited mobile services (voice/texting/data) by deploying its own STBs that automatically share a portion of subscribers' broadband connection via WiFi. With more then 5M STBs in the market, Free.FR offers cloud coverage over the entire city of Paris.

"Even when away from home, you can easily get broadband instead of resorting to an expensive 3G network," Arnaud says. "This is the future of broadband. Not silly gimmicks like Turbo or SpeedBoost." •

DIRECTV's (Lack of) Broadband Options

As DISH has made public its plans to offer a broadband product with ViaSat, analysts are left wondering what DIRECTV will do in response. With cable better suited to weather video subscriber losses (thanks to a boom in broadband customers), the nation's largest satellite operator faces the same rising costs for content without ways to balance the equation.

According to Bernstein Research's Craig Moffett, DIRECTV is facing a double-edged sword: "Stay competitive by 'accepting' the inevitable decline in margins… or raise prices to preserve margins, and in the process, become less and less attractive to price conscious consumers."

Moffett said DIRECTV competes more with DISH for subscribers than it does cable and therefore remains "dependent" on DISH's "sustained weakness." The analyst believes now, "more than ever, subscriber growth in the satellite industry is a zero-sum game, where DIRECTV's gains must be DISH Network's loss." •

Etc.: Netflix Sued - Closed Captioning Coming to OTT - Anti-Union Claims at Cablevision

In Court: A group of investors have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Netflix (and its management) alleging company "insiders" concealed "negative trends" that preceded the stock's massive downward spiral last year. The suit, which claims the stock was "artificially inflated," names CEO Reed Hastings, COO Ted Sarandos and CMO Leslie Kilgore as defendants.

Rules & Regs: The FCC adopted closed-captioning requirements for IP-delivered video owners, providers and distributors under sections of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. Deadline for compliance is Jan. 1, 2014.

Strategy: While DIRECTV is telling viewers to 'get rid of cable,' Comcast and Verizon Wireless have gone a step further in the fight for precious subs. The companies have launched a joint promo in Seattle and Portlandia enticing customers with a $300 prepaid Visa for switching to a bundled service from either provider. The new deal comes just weeks after Verizon inked the major spectrum (and mutual product promotion) agreement with the cable industry. --- And, here's another look at ESPN in Newsweek and on The Daily Beast is headlined "Big, Bigger, Biggest" but is promoted online as "How ESPN Sold Out."

Labor: NYC elected officials and union leaders railed against Cablevision and its CEO James Dolan for what they call anti-union policies. At a heated MLK rally, several leaders voiced concern with CVC's alleged efforts to keep employees from unionizing with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). PolitickerNY has the story.

Carriage: Verizon FiOS TV signed a new multiyear carriage deal with the Tennis Channel, just in time for the net's coverage of the Australian Open. The channel is now available in TX, FL, CA, NY, PA and upstate NY and will be rolled out to FiOS' remaining footprint this week. --- Bright House signed an agreement with IC Places to host IC Places Hollywood, a weekly half-hour show produced exclusively for Bright House Networks' Local On Demand channel, debuting this Friday. --- Comcast expanded its carriage deal with the Outdoor Channel for Xfinity TV subs in Maryland and Virginia.

M&A: Embattled mobile device maker RIM is said to be looking for any options to help right its ship. The latest comes from BGR with a story that suggests the company is hoping a buyout from Samsung will do the trick. Details here. --- On the heels of its deal to acquire "Twilight" studio Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate is now rumored to be prepping a sale of its TV Guide Network. Nielsen data show the net lost 20% of its audience in 2011. NYP has details.

Tech: What if you could watch all your regular, 2D content in 3D without the goofy glasses? StreamTV says its seeCube converter box will do just that. ElectronicHouse has details. --- Word is Microsoft is making Skype available for Windows phones "soon."

Service: Buckeye CableSystem is working with Stingray Digital to add the firm's Galaxie Digital Music Service to the MSO's channel line-up. --- LodgeNet said its HD interactive TV platform now reaches more than 300K hotel/resort rooms. --- The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) named Level 3 as "Service Provider of the Year" for ethernet services in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Advertising: AT&T is looking to a new software platform from SeaChange for ad insertion capabilities into on-demand and live video piped not only to STBs, but mobile devices like tablets and smartphones as well. LightReading has this story.

Programming: Sony Pictures Entertainment is launching Animax, an all-anime channel on Crackle, the company's in-house multi-platform video network, in the U.S. and Canada. (Crackle is available online, on mobile devices and via certain OTT consoles.) --- AMC is launching an unscripted series called "Comic Book Men" next month following 'fan boy' comics culture. The net will feature some extra content online in accompaniment to the Feb. 12 launch. --- Univision said it would make a Spanish-language version of "Family Guy" available on TeleFutura.

SkyREPORT: DIRECTV is hosting a crazy pre-Super Bowl party in Indy on Saturday, Feb. 4 that will turn the inside of Victory Park (the city's minor league baseball stadium) into a giant beach blanket bingo bash. Deets here.

Over, Up & Under There: YouTube signed a deal with Chinese web-TV firm Ku6 Media to operate a channel for Ku6's international users to see videos produced in China. --- Pyramid Research says mobile penetration in Brazil will grow from 118% in 2011 to 153% in 2016 while IPTV services will increase from 21K subs last year to 1.5M in 2016. --- An independent report commissioned by UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey suggests that BSkyB should be making a greater contribution to the British cinema industry. BroadbandTV News has details. --- According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of people using the internet in China has seen a 12% y/y increase to 513M, and usage of microblogging services (like Twitter) have quadrupled during the same time to 250M.

People: Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang resigned from the company (and the stock went up). --- Clear Channel hired entertainment industry vet John Sykes to lead its push into TV, digital and live events. CEO Bob Pittman and Sykes helped launch MTV in 1981. --- The SCTE extended its agreement with current President & CEO Mark Dzuban for another 5 years. --- Perseus Telecom appointed Wendell Kadunce as EVP of global sales. --- Univision named Hispanic media veterans Luis Fernández-Rocha as SVP and Carlos Bardasano as VP of programming for TeleFutura.

Wow!: Here's audio from a conversation between Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, and an Italian Coast Guard official demanding the captain return to the cruise liner he ran aground and abandoned moments later. Warning: Chilling, gripping content. (Hat tip to TVNewser for the link.)

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •