Wheeler's common carrier plan for broadband doesn't necessarily mean predictable rules

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Honest, I meant to do this all along.

Common carrier regulation of broadband infrastructure and the Internet access services that ride on it appears all but certain at this point. Yesterday, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told a CES audience that new network neutrality rules will be circulated privately at the FCC on 5 February 2015, and voted on by the full commission at its meeting on the 26th. You can bet it’ll be a party line vote in favor of his plan.… More

Be careful what kind of broadband regulation you wish for, because you're about to get it

8 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“I think the devils going to be in the details”, FCC commissioner Ajit Pai told a CES audience yesterday. “Unfortunately, Title II is not going to be the panacea that some people think it will be, especially when we get to the massive discussion of forbearance, deciding which types of regulation we’re going to heed and which types we’re going to jettison”.

Short version: he’s not a fan.

Title II is the section of federal telecoms law that deals with common carrier rules, and it’s about to be applied to broadband infrastructure and services.… More

Looks like enough yes votes for common carrier broadband rules at the FCC

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Immediately after FCC chair Tom Wheeler announced that common carrier broadband rules are on the way, the 4 other commissioners spoke at a panel session, also at CES. All were circumspect about Wheeler’s plan – they haven’t seen it yet, at least not officially.

Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn made generally positive comments. The two republicans – Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly – expressed concerns.

That’s all in line with past statements and positions.… More

FCC chair Wheeler says common carrier regulation of broadband is on the way

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“There’s a way to do Title II right that says that many parts of Title II are inappropriate and would thwart investment” said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler today at CES. “A model has been set in the wireless business that’s had billions of dollars of investment”.

“We’re going to propose rules that say no blocking, no throttling…all that list of issues. And that there is a yardstick against which behavior should be measured, and that yardstick is just and reasonable”.… More

Live sports, new production, high bandwidth will drive 4K adoption

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The killer app.

There’s not much true 4K ultra high definition content available right now, and it’s going to take time for inventories to build.

Sony Pictures has about 75 feature films and fewer than 100 television episodes available now, according to Rich Berger, senior vice president for advanced platforms at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

He was the only representative from the production side of the business at a panel session on 4K content at CES yesterday.… More

Intel CEO pitches product hits, misses making a point

7 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Krzanich drones on.

I didn’t give Samsung CEO BK Yoon enough credit for his keynote address at CES on Monday. Big ideas and industry leadership were front and center; product plugs were sparse and unnoticeable. You might disagree with his ideas and be unimpressed with his leadership, and dismiss it all as self serving, although I wouldn’t. But he filled the true role of a keynote speaker by showing his audience his vision of the future.… More

Wearable, wireless and aware are Intel's 2015 themes

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Intel is pushing three concepts, says CEO Brian Krzanich: computing unleashed, intelligence everywhere and the wearable revolution. That’s the top line from his keynote speech at CES this evening. I’m not entirely clear on Intel’s role: other than a tiny sensor, processing and communications module for wearables, dubbed *Curie*, there wasn’t much talk about Intel silicon. Just lots of product demos in the *powered by* vein.

He ended with a promise to hire more women and minorities, and saluted founder Gordon Moore – 2015 marks the 50th year of industry loyalty to his law.

… More

Consensus: 4K streaming needs 15 Mbps, for now

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“You’re going to need bandwidth speeds in the range of 15 Mbps,” said Michael Schreiber, SVP for content acquisition for Comcast. Ultra high definition content would still flow at a lower speed but “it wouldn’t be a 4K experience”. He was responding to a question about 4K bandwidth requirements at a panel session at CES this afternoon.

Netflix’s Chris Fetner agreed, saying their 4K content runs at 14 to 15 Mbps. Christophe Louvion from M-GO also pegged 15 Mbps as the current minimum, with the caveat that new compression algorithms will bring that down.

… More

Sony tries to reclaim premium brand glory with $1,120 Walkman

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The high resolution NW-ZX2 Walkman introduced by Sony yesterday will sell well enough at $1,120, but its purpose isn’t to drive revenue.

It’s a strategic brand positioning move. It’ll be bought by audiophiles, but the news is that Sony’s trying to position itself for high end mobile audio. Sony’s premium reputation has all but disappeared, and the high resolution Walkman is part of the effort to reclaim it that began last year.

Samsung CEO pledges the Internet of Things will be open, backs it with cash

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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“As president of Samsung I am making a promise: our IoT components and devices will be open”, declared BK Yoon, CEO and president of Samsung Electronics. “The Internet of Things needs an open ecosystem”.

He was speaking to a packed keynote audience at CES tonight. The head of the planet’s dominant consumer electronics company remarks put him squarely on the side of open standards and freedom of access on the Internet.

Samsung will need easy and open access if it’s going to meet the goals Yoon laid out tonight: by 2017, 90% of Samsung Electronics – and all of its phones and televisions – will be IoT enabled, and within 5 years all products, across all lines, will be.… More