Telecom Tidbits for Thursday (Part 2922)

Zoom (the modem manufacturer) is just one of a number of companies and organizations opposing the Charter-TWC-BH deal.

And firms – including Apple and Yelp – are also opposing a new cyber-security bill – CISA. Got to be tough to give all that Super PAC money and not get your way.

TechDirt: Tim Berners-Lee: ‘Just Say No’ To Facebook’s Plan To Bastardize The Internet. To give free Internet to the third world, Facebook wants to subsidize it; limit it to unencrypted and approved sites; and watch all the traffic to design ads. How thoughtful.

The FCC had to remind carriers that booze and other personal items are not part of telecom costs.

Recognizing that viewers are tired of ads, Google Unveils YouTube Red: a $10 Per Month Ad-Free Option that allows downloading.

ESPN – the most expensive channel package on cable – lost over 3 million viewers in the last year. ESPN blames lite channel packages (like Sling, Google Fiber and others) and cord cutting. As a Chris Berman fan, I have been watching ESPN since almost the beginning. Look, Poker is not a sport. Hours and hours of repeated SportsCenter should only be on ESPN News! Why pay $7 per month for just Monday Night Football, some MLB games and basically for the NFL Network. It stopped being a top sports spot years ago — and it catching up to them.

The difference between ESPN and Google is that Google takes risks and uses data to guess what its consumers want. ESPN only listens to sponsors. That is the problem I see with so many companies today.

Want to make money? Make the viewing experience personal. Then Boom! people will flock there and pay for it.

Tags: content, FCC, fcc, google, politics, security
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