monopoly – Page 15 – Steve Blum's Blog

Feds flex anti-trust muscle and sue to block AT&T-Time Warner deal

21 November 2017 by Steve Blum
att, competition, monopoly, public policy, time-warner

The federal justice department challenged the proposed merger of AT&T and Time Warner in court yesterday, on anti-trust grounds. The problem, according to the justice department’s complaint (h/t to Brian Fung at the Washington Post for the pointer) is that if it owns the entire content creation-ownership-distribution chain, AT&T will use that market power to muscle out its competitors, – traditional linear distribution companies and emerging over-the-top players alike…

If allowed to proceed, this merger will harm consumers by substantially lessening competition among traditional video distributors and slowing emerging online competition.

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Big cable, telcos bleed TV subs, but monopoly broadband pricing could be the cure

20 November 2017 by Steve Blum
broadband, business model, monopoly, video

It’s been a bad year for the traditional television subscription business. An analysis by Daniel Frankel in Fierce Cable shows that it’s not quite as awful as stock analysts expected, but it’s close and awful enough…

As earnings season has approached in each quarter of 2017, analysts have predicted the watershed moment where linear pay TV losses surpass 1 million customers.

The market came close in the always-volatile second quarter, losing 976,000 subscribers…

The top 10 publicly traded operators, which account for about 95% of the market, reported losses of around 398,000 video customers in the third quarter.

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California broadband subsidies will be top down, incumbent focused

9 November 2017 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, monopoly, public policy

The California Public Utilities Commission plans to take a more active role in deciding where and how broadband infrastructure will be subsidised, and to work more closely with incumbents in the process. Yesterday, commissioners discussed how they will run the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program under new rules adopted by the California legislature. Assembly bill 1665 was signed into law by governor Jerry Brown last month. It requires the commission to periodically designate which communities in California can receive CASF money, based on a slower minimum broadband speed standard – 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload – that will slash the number of eligible households from 300,000 to just 20,000, according to one CPUC estimate.… More

FCC misses night and day difference between lit and dark fiber

7 November 2017 by Steve Blum
broadband, dark fiber, fcc, monopoly, public policy

The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow CenturyLink to buy Level 3 Communications might have broken with merger review practices, but it is solidly in line with its past nonsense regarding wholesale broadband services. Earlier this year, the FCC justified backing away from common carrier regulation of business-to-business service with the circular argument that if ISPs – Comcast and Charter Communications, in particular – don’t follow common carrier rules, then common carrier rules don’t apply.… More

FCC limits scope of merger reviews as it okays CenturyLink-Level 3 deal

31 October 2017 by Steve Blum
centurylink, fcc, level 3, monopoly, public policy

CenturyLink can close its deal to buy Level 3 Communication, and will probably do so tomorrow. The Federal Communications Commission gave the final green light to the deal on Sunday, without imposing any significant conditions. The FCC’s decision amounts to a manifesto that lays out how the republican majority will sharply restrict its review of future mergers and acquisitions.

The previous democratic-majority FCC took a broad look at proposed mergers, sometimes imposing conditions aimed at extracting general public benefits, but not necessarily directly related to problems caused by the transaction itself.… More

California broadband subsidy program heads for the deep freeze

20 October 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

With the stroke of a pen, governor Jerry Brown transformed the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) into a piggy bank for AT&T and Frontier Communications. Carve outs for federally subsidised service areas and the right of first refusal on unserved areas give them an opportunity to claim CASF money for the projects they want to do, and block independent projects virtually everywhere else in their service areas.

Going forward, two questions need to be answered: what will happen to pending CASF infrastructure grant applications and how will the California Public Utilities Commission implement the new rules?… More

CPUC posts final decision allowing CenturyLink to buy Level 3

18 October 2017 by Steve Blum
centurylink, cpuc, monopoly, public policy

The final version of the California Public Utilities Commission’s decision allowing CenturyLink to buy Level 3 Communications was just released. There are no apparent changes from the draft on the table when the CPUC unanimously approved it last Thursday – minor formatting aside, that could not happen under CPUC rules. Even an obvious typo on page 3 wasn’t corrected.

Download: CPUC decision approving settlement regarding proposed transfer of control of the Level 3 operating entities, 12 October 2017.… More

California broadband subsidies are now a rigged game

18 October 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, casf, monopoly, public policy

The era of state-subsidised independent broadband projects is over in California. It ended Sunday night when governor Brown signed assembly bill 1665 into law, with immediate effect.

AB 1665 added $300 million to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) specifically for infrastructure subsidies, but drastically changed the way the money can be spent. It’s messy and meandering, like most pork laden bills, but the key elements are:

The money has to be spent in areas where broadband service is available at less than 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds.

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Brown approves $300 million gift to telcos but vetoes streetlight giveaway

16 October 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, monopoly, public policy, sb649

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=082KfTzWOxE

Nobody says it like Linda.

Just before the clock hit midnight last night, California governor Jerry Brown signed assembly bill 1665 into law, but vetoed senate bill 649.
AB 1665 takes effect immediately. It lowers California minimum broadband service standard to 6 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speeds and adds $300 million to the California Advanced Services Fund for broadband infrastructure, to be spent under rules will give it to AT&T and Frontier in exchange for token upgrades.… More

One way or another, major California broadband policy decisions due this weekend

14 October 2017 by Steve Blum
ab1665, broadband, monopoly, public policy, sb649

**Update, 15 October 2017, 0754**: no decision yet on AB 1665 or SB 649. Governor Brown signed AB 1145 into law yesterday.
There are two significant broadband-related bills remaining on governor Jerry Brown’s desk, and one relatively minor one, and he’s leaving them until the last minute. For each, he must choose one of three options by 11:59 p.m. Sunday:

Sign it into law.
Veto it.
Do nothing and let it become law automatically Monday morning, at the stroke of midnight.

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