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Regulating the Insurgents

If there's one regulatory principle that has largely been inviolate over the past forty years, it is that new entrants should not be subject to rate regulation. FCC leaders through the decades have consistently recognized that incumbent-style rate regulation of new entrants only serves to discourage the investment necessary to spur competitive entry and the deployment of new and innovative
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Winter is Coming for Set-top Boxes: How Game of Thrones and the FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal are Intertwined

Last night, HBO’s wildly popular Game of Thrones returned for its sixth season. We won’t provide any spoilers for those who haven’t yet watched the show but we will highlight an aspect of the show that is important for tech policy and the FCC’s set-top box mandate. That aspect is how the show can be watched via so many sources,
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The FCC Set-Top Box Mandate is Not Only Unnecessary but Legally Unsustainable

Twenty years ago, watching TV meant sitting at home in front of a television set, probably in the living room. It came through a box sitting next to the TV, and if you wanted to watch TV in a different room that it meant setting up a different box and a different connection. Today, apps, tablets, smartphones, streaming services, TV
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The Expanding Consolidation of the Consumer Internet

Today the consumer Internet takes up over 50 percent of traffic in North America, coming from just 35hyper-giant websites. Take a look at the graphic below and you’ll see how quickly the Internet has consolidated. And that the top five are pretty unsurprising. [Click to Enlarge]
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Calling All Entertainment and Technology Rising Stars, We Need YOU!

The roles of technology, entertainment, innovation, and influence are changing every day. INTX, the Internet and Television Expo, is the hub of that change and come May 16th in Boston, INTX will serve as the platform for the most exciting new ideas in these spaces. But we can’t do it alone. And we certainly can’t do it without the full
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White House May Think Weighing in on Boxes is Good Politics, but It's Bad Government

This morning, the White House published a blog on an ongoing FCC proceeding discussing the future of TV technology and weighing in on what kind of set top box you should have in your home. We are disappointed that White House political advisers are choosing to inject politics and inflammatory rhetoric into a regulatory proceeding by what is supposed to
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The FCC’s War on Investment Targets Business Data Services

Another month, another FCC initiative to regulate companies that build networks for the benefit of those that don’t. But rather than wade into the details of Chairman Wheeler’s plan to penalize cable operators for bringing new services, fresh competition, and billions in investment to the market for business data services, we offer the following hypothetical: Imagine a town with a
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Keeping Human Connections Real and Authentic in the Digital Age

Most of us are guilty of it. We pull out our phones in mid-conversation with someone else, or make sure it’s at a reachable distance even as we get ready for bed at night. We’ve come to live off of our phones and personal devices because of the great information and instant connections that they bring us, but are we
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Discovery VR is Celebrating the Story that is Earth

Discovery has long been known for telling the story of all that is Earth. And while that core story hasn’t changed, the way the network is telling or will tell that story in the future will only get more intimate, personal, complimentary, and exciting. Launched last August, Discovery VR features content that not only plays off some of Discovery’s on-air
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Who's Building the Next Gigabit City?

The gigabit trend in the technology space has been hard to ignore as of late, and Comcast, Cox, Brighthouse, Suddenlink, Mediacom, GCI, and Midcontinent, among others, are leading the charge. More and more providers are deploying gigabit services, some even offering 2-gigabit connections, and reaching customers nationwide. But why do we need gigabit services, and how would this Internet speed
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