DOJ Realizes That Comcast & Time Warner Are Trying To Prop Up Cable By Holding Back Hulu & Netflix

from the took-'em-long-enough dept

For quite some time now, we've been reporting on how the big television players were so upset that Hulu and Netflix were dragging them kicking and screaming into the 21st century (even though they owned Hulu) that they were working on plans to kill off both services -- or at least cripple them. Mostly, what this goes back to is the inevitable fact that the internet is going to subsume television. But, these days, there's so much money in TV, thanks to the ability to be a gatekeeper, that all efforts are on holding back the internet for as long as is humanly possible. Want to know why HBO refuses to offer a standalone internet streaming option? It's because of the monopolistic power of cable.

This has all been pretty obvious for years, but the Justice Department has finally begun investigating Comcast/NBC Universal and Time Warner Cable to see if any of their actions with regards to Netflix and Hulu trip the antitrust wire. In particular, they seem focused on whether or not tiered broadband plans are actually designed to keep people from using competing online services, and preventing people from cord cutting. For Comcast, the risk may be much higher. As part of the merger with NBC Universal, it made certain promises to the government concerning how it treats online services. If it's not living up to those promises, it could mean trouble.

Unlike some other antitrust investigations, this is one where you can make a strong case that these companies are making life worse for consumers, by using their natural monopoly positions to keep prices artificially high. That said, I have little faith that the DOJ will get things right with the investigation. I think it's likely that the natural economic pressure of cord cutting (which, despite denials from Hollywood and the cable industry, is very very real) is going to have much more of an impact on the eventual massive reconfiguration of the television market than any antitrust lawsuit.

Filed Under: cable, competition, cord cutting, doj, television
Companies: hbo, hulu, netflix, time warner

NBCUniversal Pirates NBCUniversal SNL Skit That NBCUniversal Refuses To Put Online

from the right-hand,-left-hand dept

Danny Sullivan has an amusing blog post about his attempt to track down a Saturday Night Live skit that he wanted to watch online. Given how key the online audience has been to SNL over the past five years, you would think that, by now, NBCUniversal would have this process down cold, and would have all the skits easy to access and ready to go. Instead... for whatever reason, it doesn't have this particular skit that Sullivan wanted ("Downton Abbey Meets Spike TV"). He checked the official SNL page. No luck. He checked Hulu. No luck. Then he went digging... and he found lots of unauthorized versions, including in two unlikely places. One was on Time's website -- which is owned by Time Warner, a major media competitor to NBCUniversal. Time Warner also was a backer of SOPA/PIPA. Perhaps it should be careful about posting unauthorized versions of competitors' TV shows on its own site...

But, even more interesting? Sullivan found an unauthorized copy at iVillage -- a site owned by NBCUniversal: Yup. That embed at the bottom? Unauthorized version uploaded to YouTube. Posted on an NBCUniversal site... because NBCUniversal won't post it itself.

Filed Under: downton abbey, skit, snl
Companies: nbc universal, time warner

US Court Brings Back Price Fixing Lawsuit Against Major Record Labels

from the all-priced-the-same? dept

For many years, we've wondered why the major labels haven't gotten in trouble for what appears to be clear price fixing -- having all of the major labels band together to both demand identical wholesale pricing and attempt to dictate retail pricing by partners as well. There have been various investigations by both local and federal officials, along with a few lawsuits -- but nothing has really gone very far. One lawsuit was tossed out by the district court back in 2008, but in a surprising move, the 2nd circuit appeals court has revived the lawsuit, claiming that the evidence is "sufficient to plausibly suggest" price fixing by the major labels with regards to digital music. So now it goes back to the lower court. I still doubt this will really have much of an impact, but it's nice to see some recognition of what's seemed pretty obvious for quite some time.

Filed Under: antitrust, price fixing, record labels
Companies: emi, sony music, time warner, universal music, vivendi, warner music group

A Look Back: NBC's Words Against AOL/Time Warner Merger May Come Back To Haunt

from the ooops dept

NBC Universal is probably wishing that people didn't remember stuff from a few years ago right now. The folks over at the National Journal dug up NBC Univeral's vehement opposition to the AOL/Time Warner merger, which used all sorts of arguments that I would imagine NBC Universal would prefer were not used against its pending merger with Comcast. The letter, sent to the FCC in July of 2000 included this point:

"Given the size and scope of the proposed merged company, AOL/Time Warner will have both the ability and the incentive to discriminate against unaffiliated content providers such as NBC."

Furthermore, NBC Universal was quite worried about how that deal would impact net neutrality and asked the FCC to make clear net neutrality principles if it allowed the merger to move forward, asking the FCC:

"to establish firm principles of non-discrimination in the treatment of unaffiliated content providers in the broadband services marketplace"

Of course, Comcast is now very much against that concept.

Not surprisingly, the letter was signed by NBC Universal's General Counsel, Rick Cotton, who has a long history of sticking his foot in his mouth in saying things he later regrets -- such as his still hilarious quote about how corn farmers were being harmed by movie piracy, and who was a major source for the bogus Hollywood propaganda piece on 60 Minutes. Still, you have to imagine that he now regrets that letter -- and the fact that reporters have now brought it back to light.

Filed Under: mergers, net neutrality, rick cotton
Companies: aol, comcast, nbc universal, time warner

Entertainment Industry: Yes, Please Keep Negotiating Secret Copyright Treaty To Save Our Asses

from the yeah,-that's-convincing dept

Sherwin Siy (one of the few people who actually was allowed to glance briefly at parts of the proposed ACTA treaty, though under strict NDA) has written about yet another letter sent by the entertainment industry to the government in support of ACTA. This letter includes pretty much everyone who benefits from abusing copyright laws and is afraid of the internet:

Advertising Photographers of America
American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
American Society of Media Photographers, Inc. (ASMP)
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI)
Commercial Photographers International
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Evidence Photographers International Council
Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA)
National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)
NBC Universal
News Corporation
Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)
Professional Photographers of America (PPA)
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Reed Elsevier Inc.
Society of Sport & Event Photographers
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
Stock Artists Alliance
Student Photographic Society
The Advertising Photographers of America
The Walt Disney Company
Time Warner, Inc.
Universal Music Group
Viacom Inc.
Warner Music Group

Funny... isn't it, that all these companies and industry groups are supporting a deal that no one's seen yet? Oh wait... that's because many of them have seen it and actually have had a hand in creating it. But what's really damning is that no where in the letter do they explain why this is actually needed or how it will do anything valuable. Instead, it's a pure faith-based letter saying "if you pass this secret treaty, good things will happen." I don't know about you, but generally, I prefer there to be actual proof and evidence that restricting consumer rights around the world actually leads to some sort of real benefit.

Tellingly, they don't respond to any of the points we raised earlier. This is not a treaty to help people or the economy. It's a deal to try to sneak through a system for propping up an obsolete business model by companies who don't want to adapt.

Filed Under: acta, copyright, counterfeiting, evidence, lobbyists, secrecy
Companies: a2im, aap, aftra, ascap, asmp, bmi, disney, gda, iatse, ifta, mpaa, nbc universal, news corp., nmpa, paca, ppa, reed elsevier, riaa, siia, time warner, viacom, warner music group

Should There Be A Penalty For Falsely Claiming Copyright Over Public Domain Material?

from the happy-birthday... dept

Slashdot and The Register point us to a new paper by Jason Mazzone about "copyfraud" -- or the ability of someone to claim copyright on something that is in the public domain. The issue, Mazzone points out, is that there's no penalty for falsely claiming copyright on something, so there's plenty of incentive to claim something is still covered even if it's not. Remember the story of "Happy Birthday"? While the common wisdom is that the copyright is owned by Time Warner, there's a lot of evidence that this is not the case at all, and the song is in the public domain. Oh, and that could be true of Mickey Mouse as well. But, of course, neither Disney nor Time Warner risks any punishment in claiming that they still hold the copyright to each of those... so who's going to challenge it?

Filed Under: copyfraud, copyright, false claim, jason mazzone, public domain
Companies: disney, time warner

Movie Screening Phone Bans Reach Ridiculous Levels

from the oh-come-on... dept

For years, we've found it absolutely ridiculous that the movie studios have required that anyone attending early preview screenings remove and deposit their mobile phones in some (often unguarded) box. The entire policy has never made much sense. First of all, a mobile phone is unlikely to have a decent enough camera or enough memory to actually video tape a movie. Second... who cares? This is all part of studios stupidly overreacting to the idea that their movies might leak online before the official release date. Yet, as we've seen there's almost no evidence to support the idea that the availability of the movie online has any negative impact on box office proceeds. So, for the uncomprehendingly small chance that someone at a screening is able to record the movie with his or her phone and get it online, and that version of the film somehow destroys box office proceeds... Hollywood has decided it makes sense to treat everyone (including movie critics) who attend preview screenings as if they're criminals.

It's even being taken to more ridiculous levels now. Valleywag points out that Time Warner entertainment critic was stopped from watching a Warner Bros. (yes, owned by Time Warner...) screening, because he refused to give up his iPhone. Yes, the same iPhone that does not have a video recording function. Perhaps they were afraid he'd be playing games through the screening? Or maybe Twittering away a live commentary?

Filed Under: movies, reviews
Companies: time warner, warner bros.

Cable Companies Negotiating To Control What TV Shows You Can Watch Online

from the this-won't-end-well dept

Earlier this week when Hulu cut off Boxee, supposedly at the request of its content partners, there was some speculation that the real pressure may have come from the cable companies who are losing customers at a pretty rapid clip. And, while the content companies pretend to deny it, the fact that people can get so much content for free online is almost certainly contributing to that situation.

Now, in theory, this should be a good thing for the TV guys -- who you would think want as many people watching their shows/channels as possible. But, the problem is the business model. Doesn't it always seem to come down to the business model? The TV networks make so much money by selling the channels to the cable companies, that they're scared to death of losing that revenue. We saw a hint of this late last year when Viacom and Time Warner Cable played a big game of chicken over channels like Comedy Central and MTV.

However, now reports are coming out that the cable companies are negotiating with TV programmers to offer their TV content exclusively via their cable internet offerings. In other words, forget Hulu and routing around the cable company and the $80/month they're charging you. You'd have to keep your cable, even if you don't want it, just to get access to many TV shows over the internet (well, legally). Not surprisingly, both the cable companies and the TV programmers seem to like this sort of deal: the programmers continue to get their big fees from the cable companies, and the cable guys avoid losing many more subscribers. Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts is even saying "Online video is our friend, not our enemy."

And, to some extent he's right. If Comcast is going to survive it does need to look at online video as a friend, rather than an enemy -- but the problems may come about if they think that they can force customers to only get online TV if they keep their cable TV service at such a high price. Because, while these deals may make sense for the TV networks and the cable guys, they seem to be forgetting the customers -- many of whom have received a nice taste of TV online for free, and aren't going to be happy about having to pay up for it. The problem is that these cable guys aren't adding any new value. In actuality, it seems like they're looking to take away value from what's already out there -- and that never works. It will likely just lead to increased piracy, increased anger at the cable companies, and a continuing of the downward spiral. But, these days, watching old school companies accelerate their own downward spiral happens so often, you almost have to assume it's likely.

Filed Under: cable companies, exclusivity, internet, networks, tv, video
Companies: comcast, hulu, nbc universal, time warner, viacom

FCC Just Couldn't Stop Voting

from the election-day-festivities dept

Well, it's election day and apparently the FCC commissioners liked voting so much they took votes on just about everything. Amazingly, it looks like they even made some good decisions. The big one, of course, and the one that will get the most press, is the unanimous vote to free up television "white space" spectrum. While the NAB made a last ditch effort to stop this, the FCC made the right call here. This spectrum can be put to much better use, which can have a huge impact on increasing innovation and wireless technologies. This is a big win. The FCC also approved Sprint and Clearwire's deal to set up a joint venture for their WiMax operations, as well as allowing Verizon to buy Alltel. Both of those deals make sense as well, so it's good to see them approved.

Other than that, the FCC said that it's going to start looking into the pricing policies of cable companies... and Verizon. Who's missing? FCC boss Kevin Martin's best friends over at AT&T. To be honest, while it's quite likely that the cable companies and the telcos (yes, including AT&T) are abusing their oligopoly position, the answer shouldn't be having the FCC act as a watchdog over pricing policies, but for a better system to be set up that encourages real competition. In the meantime, though, can someone explain why AT&T was left out of the bunch?

Filed Under: deals, fcc, mergers, spectrum
Companies: alltel, at&t, clearwire, comcast, google, sprint, time warner, verizon

Bandwidth Caps Keep Getting Lower And Lower

from the don't-do-anything-useful dept

When Time Warner first announced plans to test out bandwidth caps, there was some talk that it might set the caps exceptionally low, such as 5GB/month for downloads. While Time Warner did eventually put in place a series of tiers, it admits that the 5GB tier is the "lite" tier for very basic usage. Don't tell that to the folks at Frontier. Reader Shea writes in to point out (via RochesterHDTV) that Frontier is now saying that 5GB of combined upload and download bandwidth is all you can use per month. If you go above that, Frontier reserves the right to "suspend, terminate or apply additional charges" for going over this "reasonable" usage.

See how this works? At first, we're told that such tiers will only touch on those super high bandwidth users. Then we see tiers put in place where it's admitted that the 5GB limit is for "lite" users. And now, according to Frontier, it's "reasonable" usage, and it can kick you off -- or add unspecified fees -- for going over. Welcome to the world where doing anything cool or useful online is discouraged. ISPs are working hard to make their broadband offerings less and less useful by the day.

Filed Under: bandwidth, bandwidth caps
Companies: frontier, time warner