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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

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

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

DISH is first to complete the 4K product-content-distribution loop

6 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Any 4K you have.

Like HDTV before it, 4K ultra high definition television programming will enter the U.S. consumer mainstream via satellite. At its CES press conference yesterday, DISH Network announced that it will soon offer the 4K Joey. That’s what it calls its new set top box that streams satellite-delivered UHD channels to any 4K-capable television. Content availability, though, is less clear. According to the company…

DISH will deliver 4K content from several providers.

… More

Sling TV offers traditional channels via broadband for $20 a month

5 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Best of all, no cable company.
Roger Lynch, CEO Sling TV

Targeting the millennial generation, Sling TV – a sister company of DISH Network – announced it will offer a line up of 25 to 30 traditional cable channels via broadband for $20 per month, with no commitment or contract, beginning later this month.

“All you need is a credit card and a broadband connection”, said DISH CEO Joe Clayton. The channels can be streamed on pretty much any device you have: mobile phone, tablet, PC, smart TV and, crucially, streaming devices made by other online television providers like Netflix or Hulu.… More

Don't expect consumer electronics to drive FTTH builds in 2015

4 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Don’t expect them to do your job for you. Not this year, anyway.

If there’s one new consumer electronics product on the horizon that’s going to drive demand for fiber to the home service, it’s advanced televisions of the 4K and 8K ultra high definition variety. The big players at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be showcasing their latest ultra TVs, and several events and panel sessions are devoted to it.… More

Eastern California gets more FTTH love

2 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Race Telecommunications is on the way to becoming the fiber king of eastern California. On New Year’s Eve, Race submitted 3 more grant applications to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for fiber-to-the-home projects in Mono, Inyo and eastern Kern counties: Gigafy Backus, Gigafy Mono and Gigafy North 395.

Backus – actually, the Backus Road area – is south of the Mojave Air and Space Port, where Race received its first grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) in 2010.… More