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LOUISVILLE, Colo –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 19, `07 — In a major milestone for the cable industry, CableLabs has awarded qualification status for Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0.

DOCSIS 3.0 specifications enable downstream data rates of 160 Mbps or higher and upstream data rates of 120 Mbps or higher.

Casa Systems received “silver” qualification while Arris and Cisco received “bronze” qualification for their cable modem termination systems (CMTS) headend gear. The announcement comes at the conclusion of the recent test wave in which the first products built based on the DOCSIS 3.0 specifications were formally evaluated.

The headends were tested under a tiered program that was created as a way to encourage CMTS makers to submit gear for testing earlier than they otherwise might. CableLabs also offered suppliers numerous informal interoperability events where vendors work together in CableLabs’ facilities to test and evaluate their implementations of the specifications.

“This technological achievement is a great step for our industry,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corp., and Chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors. “CableLabs rapid certification effort will enable companies to begin to develop products that will support the rapid deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 services in 2008.”

To achieve these higher data rates DOCSIS 3.0 describes a methodology for channel bonding in both the upstream and downstream directions. A minimum of four channels, each with throughput of 40 Mbps, is specified. DOCSIS 3.0 also incorporates support for the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol and greatly expands the number of Internet addresses that cable operators may use, allowing them to provide consumers with more IP-based services. In addition, DOCSIS 3.0 is backward compatible with all existing DOCSIS products.

IPv6 also will allow cable operators to effectively manage the proliferation of devices that are capturing consumer interest, including portable media players, cellular phones, gaming consoles, PDAs and others. More at CableLabs.

Washington — Dec 18, `07 — The Federal Communications Commission approved rules today to allow ownership of a newspaper and a television station in the same market in the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the US, easing a long-standing rule prohibiting such ownership in any market and voted to maintain its cap on cable ownership, limiting the number of subscribers a cable operator may serve at 30% of US households.

Cable:
The 30 percent limit, set first in 1993 and modified in 1999, was challenged by Time Warner in 2001. The DC Circuit Court then remanded it back to the FCC seeking further justification. That remand has been pending six years at the Commission.

The 30 percent cable horizontal ownership limit set by the Commission will ensure that no single cable operator can create a barrier to a video programming network’s entry into the market or cause a video programming network to exit the market simply by declining to carry the network. In devising a limit to achieve this goal, the Commission first determined the minimum number of subscribers a network needs in order to survive in the marketplace, and then estimated the percentage of subscribers a network is likely to serve once it secures a carriage contract.

Newspaper/Broadcast:
The newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule currently prohibits common ownership of a broadcast station and a daily newspaper in the same market. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Court), affirmed the Commission’s determination that this blanket ban on
newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership was no longer in the public interest while remanding the specific cross-media ownership limits drawn by the Commission in 2003. The Court agreed that “…reasoned analysis supports the Commission’s determination that the blanket ban on
newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership was no longer in the public interest.”

The media marketplace has changed considerably since 1975 when the newspaper/broadcast cross ownership was put in place. At that time, cable was a nascent service, satellite television did not exist and there was no Internet. Consumers have benefited from the emergence of new sources of news and information.

But according to almost every measure newspapers are struggling. For example, at least 300 daily papers have stopped publishing over the past thirty years and circulation and advertising revenues at approximately half of all U.S. dailies has dropped precipitously in recent years. Permitting cross-ownership can preserve the viability of newspapers by allowing them to share their operational costs across multiple media platforms.

The rule adopted today would presumptively permit cross ownership only in the largest markets where there exists competition and numerous voices. Under the new approach, the Commission presumes a proposed newspaper/broadcast transaction is in the public interest if it meets the following test:
(1) the market at issue is one of the 20 largest Nielsen Designated Market Areas (“DMAs”);
(2) the transaction involves the combination of only one major daily newspaper and only one television or radio station;
(3) if the transaction involves a television station, at least eight independently owned and operating major media voices (defined to include major newspapers and full-power TV stations) would remain in the DMA following the transaction; and
(4) if the transaction involves a television station, that station is not among the top four ranked stations in the DMA.

More at FCC here and here (in Word).

NEW YORK, Dec 05, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for the holiday season, Verizon is unwrapping high-definition video-on-demand in many of its FiOS TV markets.

HD VOD is now available over the FiOS TV systems in Richmond and Virginia Beach, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Pittsburgh. It is coming soon to the FiOS systems in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and to Verizon’s remaining FiOS TV markets next year.

Verizon last month said it expects to have more than 150 HD channels by the end of 2008 as it continues to add to its HD lineup, and programmerslaunch new channels. It also said that it would increase its HD VOD titles to more than 1,000 in 2008.

Verizon’s initial HD VOD offering contains around 75 HD titles including a mix of free programs and recently released blockbuster movies such as “Transformers;” “The Hoax,” starring Richard Gere; “Mr. Brooks,” with Kevin Costner and Demi Moore; and the animated “Surf’s Up.” In the coming months, the company will continue to add HD titles to its VOD library, which now totals more than 10,000 titles.

Customers access video-on-demand simply by pressing the “VOD” or “On Demand” button on their remote control, through a menu on FiOS TV’s
interactive media guide, or by tuning into channel 900. Customers need an HDTV and an HD set-top box to view the on-demand titles in high definition. More at PRNewsWire.

NEW YORK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 03, ‘07 — Klausner Technologies announced today that it has filed patent lawsuits under its visual voicemail patents against Comcast, Cablevision and eBay’s Skype with damages and future royalties estimated at $300 million.

The lawsuit asserts that the above companies’ VOIP voicemail products and services infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patent 5,572,576. The patent has already been licensed to various other companies which provide the same visual voice messaging services, including Time Warner’s AOL for its AOL Voicemail services, Vonage Holdings for its Vonage Voicemail Plus services as well as others, under the Klausner Patents.

Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail and eBay’s Skype Voicemail each violate Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.

Against Apple:
Klausner Technologies also announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against Apple on the iPhone, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail infringes Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.
Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple’s original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display. Apple has called iPhone’s Visual Voicemail “one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind … without question.”

Against AT&T:
Klausner Technologies further announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against AT&T for selling the Apple iPhone, its Visual Voicemail service and other visual voice messaging services, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that sales of Apple’s iPhone, Visual Voicemail and other visual voice messaging services implemented by AT&T infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.

All three suits have been filed by the California law firm of Dovel & Luner in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving toward resurrecting a proposal that would limit the size cable operators could reach on a nationwide basis, agency officials said Thursday, Nov 29, the AP and Reuters are reporting.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is circulating the proposal among his fellow commissioners for a possible vote at the agency’s next meeting, scheduled for Dec 18 and has enough support on the five-member commission to pass a measure that would bar cable companies from owning systems that have more than a 30-percent share of U.S. multichannel video subscribers, according to one FCC source.

Martin, fresh off a marathon meeting that featured a bruising battle with the cable industry, also wants commissioners to vote on a number of media ownership issues, including his proposal to allow one company to own both a newspaper and a radio or television station in the nation’s 20 largest markets.

Fearing the potential monopoly power of cable television companies, Congress in 1992 directed the FCC to establish limits on how many customers cable television companies could reach nationwide. The FCC settled on a 30 percent cap, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the rule in 2001, saying the agency had failed to adequately justify its reasoning.

The issue has remained largely dormant since then as direct broadcast satellite providers — and more recently, traditional telephone companies — have continued to cut into the market share of the nation’s major cable television companies.

The immediate impact of such a cap would appear to be negligible. Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company, reported 26.2 million subscribers to the FCC through Sept. 30, for a nationwide market share of all pay-television subscribers of 27 percent. More at AP, Reuters.

San Francisco — Nov 28, ‘07 — In the wake of the detection and reporting of Comcast Corporation’s controversial interference with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a comprehensive account of Comcast’s packet-forging activities and has released software and documentation instructing Internet users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own ISPs.

Separate tests in October from EFF, the Associated Press, and others showed that Comcast was forging small parcels of digital data, known as packets, in order to interfere with its subscribers’ and other Internet users’ ability to use file-sharing applications, like BitTorrent and Gnutella. Despite having been confronted by this evidence, Comcast continues to issue incomplete and misleading statements about their practices and their impact on its customers.

“Comcast is discriminating among different kinds of Internet traffic based on the protocols being used by its customers,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. “When confronted, Comcast has been evasive and misleading in its responses, so we decided to start gathering the facts ourselves.”

Protocol-specific discrimination gives ISPs a tremendous amount of power over the kinds of new applications and services that can be deployed by innovators and competitors. To the extent that practices like those employed by Comcast change the “end-to-end” architecture of the Internet, those practices jeopardize the Internet’s vibrant innovation economy.

“This recent interference by Comcast in their subscribers’ Internet communications is a cause for grave concern,” said EFF Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley. “It threatens the open Internet standards and architecture that have made the network such an engine of technical and economic innovation.”

In addition to an account of the results of EFF’s independent testing of Comcast’s packet forging activities, EFF has also issued a detailed document and software to assist other networking experts in conducting their own testing.

“If ISPs won’t give their customers accurate information about their Internet traffic controls, we have to detect and document them for ourselves,” said EFF Staff Technologist Seth Schoen.

For “Packet Forgery by ISPs: A Report on the Comcast Affair”:
http://www.eff.org/wp/packet-forgery-isps-report-comcast-affair

For “Detecting Packet Injection: A Guide to Packet Spoofing by ISPs”:
http://www.eff.org/wp/detecting-packet-injection

For more on EFF’s research into Comcast’s packet monitoring:
http://www.eff.org/testyourisp

More at EFF.

WASHINGTON — Nov 28, ‘07 — The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday backed away from a proposal by the agency’s chairman that would open the door to broader regulation of cable TV operators.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced last night he was tabling his drive to expand the agency’s authority over cable companies after failing to win enough support from fellow panel members. The FCC will revisit the issue after obtaining more data from cable companies.

Commissioners including Republican Robert McDowell and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein said the draft report behind the regulatory push was based on questionable figures. The report said more than 70 percent of U.S. households have access to at least 36 cable channels, and more than 70 percent of those homes subscribe to a service.

The FCC balked at a finding proposed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin that cable companies subscribership levels had risen enough to justify sweeping regulation of the industry, voting instead to postpone a decision and approve more limited restrictions on the industry.

The restrictions include a measure that would limit the rates that cable operators can charge to lease spare channels to independent programmers.

But Martin was forced to drop other new regulations he had proposed to impose on cable, including one sought by the NFL that would have given broadcasters more leverage in negotiations with cable operators.

Martin, a Republican, had earlier proposed that, as part of an annual report on video competition, the agency issue a finding that U.S. cable subscribership figures exceeded 70 percent in areas where the service is available.

Under U.S. law, that finding would give the agency more authority over companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

But the idea ran into resistance from Martin’s two fellow Republicans on the commission. They questioned the way Martin had arrived at the subscriber figures, saying they conflicted with previous reports on the issue.

On top of that, lobbyists with the cable industry waged a fierce campaign against Martin’s initiatives, including meetings with White House officials.

Martin has criticized the cable TV industry over steeply increasing rates, over programming that some viewers find offensive and its reluctance to let customers choose individual channels on an a la carte basis.

Martin proposed to have the report rely on data from a communications industry trade publisher, which put U.S. cable subscribership at 71.4 percent.

Under the compromise, the FCC will try to settle the dispute by seeking more data from the cable operators. Cable companies would have 60 days to provide the additional data.

Washington — Nov 27, ‘07 — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin delayed a vote on a report that would give the agency more power over the cable television industry, signaling he may lack support to pass the measure.

Martin was forced to delay a 9:30 a.m. EST public meeting at which the commissioners were scheduled to vote on the issue. The meeting was postponed to give the five commissioners more time to reach agreement.

FCC members are deciding whether to vote later today on requiring cable companies to submit subscriber data for review, Martin said. The commission, which had been set to meet at 11 a.m., may still vote later on the competition report, he said

The draft report, backed by Martin, found cable companies such as leader Comcast Corp. control enough of the pay-TV market to warrant more oversight. More than 70 percent of U.S. households have access to at least 36 cable channels, and more than 70 percent of those homes subscribe to a service, the report showed.

Under U.S. law, that finding would give the agency more authority over companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

But the idea ran into resistance from Martin’s two fellow Republicans on the commission. They questioned the way Martin had arrived at the 70 percent figure, saying it conflicted with previous reports on the issue. The FCC’s two Democratic commissioners also had reservations.

Beyond doubts over the data, many Republicans, including lawmakers who have written to the FCC, have fundamental objections to imposing new federal regulations on an industry they say is competitive.

The two Democrats on the FCC, meanwhile, had come under pressure from consumer groups, who support Martin’s 70 percent finding and say previous estimates undercounted the number of cable subscribers.

Consumer advocates say the FCC should adopt rules to spur competition among pay-TV providers. The cable industry surpassed the 70/70 threshold as early as 2005, said Andrew Schwartzman, president of the Washington-based Media Access Project.

“The cable industry has been exercising monopoly power,” Schwartzman said yesterday in an interview. “Cable rates have been rising far in excess of inflation and it’s time to do something about it.”

The proposed compromise to collect more data from the cable operators “would be a reasonable step for the commission to take,” Martin said.

Martin has criticized the cable TV industry over steeply increasing rates, over programming that some viewers find offensive and its reluctance to let customers choose individual channels on an a la carte basis.

In his comments to reporters on Tuesday, Martin said he had not given up on the data he originally cited in the report, gleaned from a communications industry trade publisher, that put U.S. cable subscribership at 71.4 percent.

WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Communications Commission is struggling to find enough support from a majority of the U.S. agency’s commissioners to more tightly regulate cable television companies. Reports the International Herald Tribune.

The IHT further writes, “the five-member commission is set to vote Tuesday on a report proposed by Kevin Martin, the agency’s chairman, that would give the commission expanded powers over the cable industry after making a formal finding that it had grown too big.

After news reports earlier this month that Martin supported the finding - along with the commission’s two Democrats - the cable industry heavily lobbied the commission and allies in Congress to kill the proposal. Those efforts may be paying off.

One of the Democrats, Jonathan Adelstein, recently joined with one of the Republican opponents of the measure to unsuccessfully try to postpone the vote, commission officials said.

Without Adelstein’s support, Martin’s proposal would almost certainly fail. I don’t think the FCC should be voting this on what’s expedient, but what the facts are,” Adelstein said.

A defeat would be a major blow to consumer groups and a setback for Martin, who has led the commission in an effort to more tightly regulate the cable industry.

Last month, the commission approved his proposal to strike down exclusive contracts that a particular cable company could have to service an apartment building.” More at IHT.

Nov 23, ‘07 — CableLabs has begun testing the first set of DOCSIS 3.0 gear, as five companies have submitted cable modems to the organization for official approval. We’ve seen precertification equipment tested, and some cable ISPs in Asia have rolled out pre-DOCSIS 3.0 equipment, but this is the first set of gear to be tested for compliance with the final DOCSIS 3.0 standard, says ARSTechnica.

ARSTechnica further writes, “Cable ISPs currently use DOCSIS 1.1, which has been “good enough” in the past. Unfortunately, when compared to fiber, DOCSIS 1.1 lacks in the speed department. DOCSIS 3.0 has the potential to drastically change that, with download speeds of up to 160Mbps and uploads of up to 120Mbps possible. In addition, DOCSIS 3.0 also offers full support for IPv6, along with enhanced network management and security features. DOCSIS 3.0 also offers enough bandwidth for IPTV and other high-def video services.

The first round of DOCSIS 3.0 certification comes at an important time for the cable industry. Cable companies used to be the unquestioned kings of download speeds, but they’re finding it impossible to compete with fiber-optic deployments such as Verizon’s FiOS service. Last month, Verizon announced its new 20/20 symmetrical FiOS service, and earlier this week made the service available across its entire territory. The company also rolled out a new service tier with speeds of 50Mbps down and 30Mbps up.” More at ARSTechnica.

New York — Nov 21, ‘07 –Reuters is reporting on much speculated EchoStar, AT&T deal, “EchoStar Chief Executive Charlie Ergen holds the key to whether the satellite television provider may be sold to AT&T and he’s unlikely to be swayed easily by money, industry sources and analysts said.

Ergen is not likely to want to leave the business he created, nor is it likely he would want to join a telephone behemoth that would probably frown on a maverick executive known to have ditched quarterly analyst calls for family vacations, they said on Tuesday.

Ergen, 54, owns about 50 percent of EchoStar’s shares and controls about 80 percent of voting rights. “People like Charlie Ergen don’t really care about the money per se at this point, they just want to stay in the game,” said the source, who has dealt with Ergen in the past. “He’s an entrepreneur at heart. He very much likes coming to work and operating his own business everyday.”

Long-running speculation of a deal between EchoStar, the second-largest U.S. satellite television operator, and AT&T, the biggest phone company, was reignited this week by reports in financial news providers Barron’s.

The reports said AT&T was looking to make an offer between $64 and $68 per share for EchoStar, or about $30.2 billion in total. Ergen founded EchoStar in 1980 and it is now the third-largest U.S. pay-TV operator with 13.7 million subscribers.

A source familiar with AT&T, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a bid for EchoStar was not imminent.

Wall Street analysts said the business rationale for a merger makes sense: the two companies already are partners, with AT&T selling EchoStar’s DISH satellite television service alongside phone and Internet services.

Both face competition from cable companies like Comcast, which are selling bundled phone, video and high-speed Internet services to consumers.” More at Reuters.

NEW YORK – Nov 20, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Millions of consumers now can take advantage of ultra-fast Verizon FiOS Internet upload speeds that blow cable away.

Starting today, Verizon is offering its high-speed symmetrical FiOS Internet services to consumers in 16 states served by its advanced, all-fiber- optic network. The symmetrical services make possible equally fast downstream and upstream connections of up to 15 megabits per second (Mbps) or up to 20 Mbps depending on the state where the service is sold.

At the same time, Verizon also has dramatically increased the upload speed of its fastest FiOS Internet services across its FiOS Internet service areas. These new services offer consumers downstream/upstream connections of either up to 50 Mbps/20 Mbps or up to 30 Mbps/15 Mbps depending on the state where the service is sold.

Groundbreaking Consumer Symmetrical Services Expand to 16 FiOS States:
On Oct. 23, Verizon introduced a unique, new, symmetrical Verizon FiOS Internet service for consumers, featuring an upload and download speed of up to 20 Mbps. The service was first available to customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Today Verizon is launching similar symmetrical FiOS services in the 13 other states served by its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.
In Florida, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Verizon now offers the option of a FiOS Internet service with downstream and upstream connections of up to 20 Mbps. In California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, the company has added a new FiOS Internet service with downstream and upstream connections of up to 15 Mbps.

The new symmetrical services are available for as low as $64.99 a month with an annual service plan. Customers who subscribe to the new Internet service can upgrade their backup to as much as 50 GB at competitive rates.

Fastest FiOS Internet Services Get Faster Uploads:
In Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, Verizon is quadrupling the upstream connection speed of its highest- speed FiOS Internet service from five Mbps to up to 20 Mbps (megabits per second). The downstream connection speed of this service is up to 50 Mbps.

In California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, Verizon is tripling the upstream connection speed of its highest-speed FiOS Internet offering from five Mbps to up to 15 Mbps. The downstream connection speed of this service is up to 30 Mbps.

Pricing for these new services varies by market and ranges from $89.95 to $139.95 a month with an annual contract. Existing customers can call Verizon to subscribe to the new offering.

Consumer demand for bandwidth could see the internet running out of capacity as early as 2010, a new study warns. US analyst firm Nemertes Research predicted a drastic slowdown as the network struggles to cope with the amount of data being carried on it.

Such gridlock would drastically affect how people use the web and could mean the next Google or YouTube simply doesn’t get off the ground, it said. The report said billions needed to be spent upgrading broadband networks.

It put the figure at around $137bn (£66bn) globally. For users, the slowdown could see a return to the bad old days of dial-up, the report predicts. “It may take more than one attempt to confirm an online purchase or it may take longer to download the latest video from YouTube,” the report cited. But it is the knock-on effect for new services that could be the real problem, report authors think. “The next Amazon, Google or YouTube might not arise, not from a lack of user demand but because of insufficient infrastructure preventing applications and companies emerging,” the report warned.

The demand for bandwidth-intensive applications shows no sign of abating. Nearly 75% of US internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video and viewed more than 8.3bn video streams during May, according to research by measurement firm comScore.

The financial invested required to “bridge the gap” between demand and capacity would range from $42bn to $55bn in the US, Nemertes estimates. The report is part-funded by the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) which campaigns for universal broadband in the US.

SAN JOSE, Calif – Nov 14, ‘07 – A San Francisco Bay area subscriber to Comcast’s high-speed Internet service has sued the company, alleging it engages in unfair business practices by interfering with subscribers’ file sharing.

Subscriber Jon Hart based his claims on the results of an investigation by the Associated Press published last month that showed Philadelphia-based Comcast actively interferes with attempts some high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online.

Hart’s lead lawyer, Mark N. Todzo of San Francisco, said his client suspected before reading the AP report that Comcast was interfering with his Internet traffic. “What the AP report did was just confirm to him that it wasn’t just him who was suffering from the problem,” Todzo said. “There was this confluence of events where everyone seemed to reach the same conclusion, which was that Comcast was engaging in this activity.”

A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars formally asked the Federal Communications Commission early this month to make Comcast stop interfering with file sharing. Comcast is the country’s largest cable company and second-largest Internet service provider with 12.9 million Internet subscribers.

The company denies it blocks file sharing. But it acknowledged after the AP report was published that it delays some of the traffic between computers that share files. Comcast said the delays are designed to improve the Internet experience for its subscribers as a whole.

Hart’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges Comcast misleads customers by promising “mind-blowing” speeds and “unfettered access” to the Internet in advertisements while hindering the use of certain applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing. It seeks unspecified money damages.

Todzo is seeking class action status for the lawsuit.

New offering provides SMBs with hosted corporate-grade e-mail, scheduling and document-sharing services backed by 24×7 support.

PHILADELPHIA, and REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 14, 2007 — Comcast and Microsoft have launched a new Internet-based communications product for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), giving SMBs access to services that have traditionally only been available to larger companies with IT staffs.

Comcast’s SMB customers will be the first in the country to receive Microsoft Communication Services from Comcast, which will provide them with corporate-class e-mail, calendaring and document sharing. This product is Internet-based, so SMBs do not need additional server capacity, and is backed by 24×7 Business Class customer support from Comcast, which will serve as an SMB’s “help desk.”

Comcast is the only major U.S. Internet service provider to make this product available at no additional cost with its broadband services. Microsoft Communication Services lets small-business owners focus on running their businesses rather than worrying about IT issues by doing the following:

Microsoft Communication Services is the first major product to be launched in conjunction with Comcast’s introduction of high-speed Internet, phone and video services for small businesses across the country. Comcast is providing SMBs with the first real alternative to the local phone company for these services. More at Microsoft.

November 1, ‘07 –SaveTheInternet.com –Cable giant Comcast has become the poster child for Net Neutrality — with actions to block user traffic that make a clear-cut case for Internet protections.  

Today, SavetheInternet.com members and legal scholars took this case to the Federal Communications Commission. We filed an official action urging the agency to stop the cable giant from meddling with your ability to connect and share information.  

In the “most drastic example yet of data discrimination,” the Associated Press exposed that Comcast was actively interfering with its users’ ability to access legal content and share it with one another.  

Despite mounting evidence that Comcast is crippling peer-to-peer communication, the company’s spokespeople have thumbed their noses at the public and the press — refusing to admit that the blocking of connections is underhanded or in any way threatens the free flow of information that’s become the hallmark of an open Internet.  

In the complaint, Free Press and Public Knowledge are asking the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 for every affected subscriber. Comcast is the nation’s largest cable company and second-largest Internet service provider, with 12.9 million subscribers. If the FCC honors the complaint, the size of the fine for violating Net Neutrality could be astronomical. 

The action puts the FCC on notice. The agency has policies that partially defend against discrimination but these have yet to be tested against a real violation such as what Comcast is doing.  

Comcast: A Problem Found: Phone and cable lobbyists have called Net Neutrality “a solution in search of a problem.” Well, here’s the problem. In the past three months, incidents of censorship and blocking by Verizon, AT&T and now Comcast have made headlines around the world. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  

The FCC should immediately declare that Comcast is violating the FCC’s policy. The Commission now faces a clear choice. It can either side with the interests of consumers and for an Internet unfettered by corporate gatekeepers, or it can let companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T erect “walled gardens” and destroy the most democratic communications tool in history. 

You can help convince the agency to do the right thing. More at SaveTheInternet.

Washington–October 31, ‘07–FCC on Wednesday approved a rule that would ban exclusive agreements that cable television operators have with apartment buildings, opening up competition for other video providers that could eventually lead to lower prices.

The Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the change, which Chairman Kevin Martin said would help lower cable rates for millions of subscribers who live in apartment buildings and other multi-unit dwellings, or about 25 million households. He said the move would particularly help minorities who disproportionately live in multi-unit dwellings.

The rule would prohibit cable companies, such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable from enforcing existing exclusive cable TV contracts with apartment managers and allow telecommunications companies, such as Verizon and AT&T to offer video services along with high-speed Internet access and phone service.

The cable industry, which had previously said it is unlawful for the government to invalidate existing contracts, said the deals provide apartment residents with better pricing and service.

WASHINGTON — The FCC, hoping to reduce the rising costs of cable television, is preparing to strike down thousands of contracts this week that gave individual cable companies exclusive rights to provide service to an apartment building, the agency’s chairman says. 

The new rule could open markets across the United States to competition. It would be a huge victory for Verizon Communications and AT&T, which have challenged the cable industry by offering their own video services. The two phone companies have lobbied aggressively for the provision. They have been supported in their fight by consumer groups, satellite television companies and small rivals to the big cable providers. 

Commission officials and consumer groups said the new rule could significantly lower cable prices for millions of subscribers who live in apartment buildings and have had no choice in selecting a company for paid television. Government and private studies show that when a second cable company enters a market, prices can drop as much as 30 percent.

The change, which is set to be approved Wednesday, is expected to have a particular effect on prices for low-income and minority families. They have seen cable prices rise about three times the rate of inflation over the last decade. A quarter of American households live in apartment buildings housing 50 or more residents, but 40 percent of households headed by Hispanics and African-Americans live in such buildings. 

“Exclusive contracts have been one of the most significant barriers to competition,” said Kevin Martin, chairman of the commission, in a recent interview. Cable prices have risen “about 93 percent in the last 10 years,” he said. “This is a way to introduce additional competition, which will result in lower prices and greater innovation.”

Washington — Oct 26, ‘07 — Two Senators on Friday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports that phone and cable companies are unfairly stifling communications over the Internet and on cell phones.Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the incidents involving several companies, including Comcast, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, have raised serious concerns over the companies’ “power to discriminate against content.”

They want the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to investigate whether such incidents were based on legitimate business policies or unfair and anticompetitive practices and if more federal regulation is needed.

An Associated Press report on Oct. 19 detailed how Comcast was interfering with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP found instances in some areas of the country where traffic was blocked or delayed significantly. Comcast — the nation’s No. 2 Internet provider — has acknowledged “delaying” some subscriber Internet data, but said the delays are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users.

AT&T reportedly changed a service agreement that previously included language permitting the company to cancel accounts of Internet users who disparage the company.

Several lawmakers, including Dorgan, earlier this year introduced so-called legislation promoting “Net neutrality,” which is the principle that all Internet traffic be treated equally by carriers. More at AP here and here.

To raise your voice against internet traffic blocking/filtering,  go to Save The Internet and Act Now. The Associated Press reports on this troubling story of ISP blocking BitTorrent traffic. Peter Svensson of The AP writes, ”Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.

The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.

If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.”

Apparently Comcast accomplishes this using technology from the broadband network traffic management company Sandvine. The technique Comcast uses at its Internet boundaries to interrupt P2P file transfers is to forge packets to both ends of the session telling them that the other machine closed the link.

The obvious solution is enactment of Net Neutrality legislation requiring ISPs to treat all traffic equally without discrimination as to source or nature of the communication. However, the Net Neutrality legislation is presently stalled in the US Congress.