Welcome to today's broadband and cable news roundup.
Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) is seeking a partnership with Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) that would let the satellite TV giant offer its own brand of mobile services over the Sprint network, Bloomberg reports. In exchange, Sprint would obtain access to Dish's wireless spectrum and give Dish the opportunity to enter the mobile phone and data business without having to build its own wireless network. But everything's on hold as Dish waits for a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote on Wednesday (Dec. 12) that reportedly will allow the company to use 40MHz of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)-4 spectrum in the 2GHz band without having to support its satellite-based access requirements. Dish has already agreed to release 5MHz of that spectrum for use as a guard band with the adjacent H-block, which Sprint is eyeing for its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. (See Dish's Wireless Fate to Be Sealed Next Week and Dish's Wireless Plans Could Get 'Crippled'.)
Media streaming firm Videon Central Inc. has licensedComcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)'s Reference Design Kit (RDK), a pre-integrated software bundle for hybrid QAM/IP set-tops and gateways and IP-only video client devices. Videon said the license will enable it to offer software products and services to its semiconductor and consumer electronics customers. (See Comcast's Set-Top Accelerator Gains Traction .)
Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Comcast-owned NBC Sports Group have struck a joint content and promotions deal covering the Web and regular television. The deal includes provisions to develop original video programs for the Web and the rights for Yahoo! Sports to offer live streams from NBC's top live sporting events, including Sunday Night Football. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and CEO Reed Hastings received a "Wells Notice" from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)threatening civil action over alleged disclosure violations about five months after Hastings posted on Facebook that the company's streaming totals "exceeded 1 billion hours" in June. Hastings maintained in an SEC statement that the disclosure was not material, that a posting to more than 200,000 people on Facebook is "very public," and that Netflix is optimistic that it will quickly clear up the matter. Netflix stock spiked more than 6 percent after the post on July 3, but Hastings argues that shares were rising before that, and "likely driven" by a positive research report from Citigroup the evening before. (See Netflix Sets Streaming Record .)
HBO CTO Bob Zitter is retiring on March 31, 2013, after more than three decades with the premium programmer, reports Multichannel News, noting that the cable pioneer will continue to serve the company as a consultant "for several months afterward" as a yet-to-be-named successor moves into the role. Among his achievements, Zitter oversaw HBO's digital transition in 1992, its move into HDTV in 1999 and he was the technical lead for HBO's jump into video-on-demand and multi-screen, TV Everywhere services. He joined HBO in 1981, and was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2006.
Seen some debate on both sides regarding whether Reed Hastings violated disclosure rules with that FB post. Breaking a streaming record could be construed as material, so does posting something on FB qualify as a public disclosure? Should it qualify as such as more investors look for news on social networks? JB
My question on how big of a deal was in reference to the item on the Netflix/Facebook disclosure fiasco, but, yes, a Dish-Sprint hook-up will be a very big deal, if they can get it pulled together, and that Clearwire/LTE connection is an interesting component that we've been covering right along.
But Sprint has teamed up with others before, notably the cable guys, and those multiple efforts just didn't pan out, so we'd have to see if Dish could reverse that trend...if such a partnership happens, of course. JB
Kicking off BCE 2017, Light Reading founder Steve Saunders lays blame for NFV's slow ramp-up and urges telecom to return to old-fashioned standards building and interoperability.
Six different communications service providers join to debate their visions of the future CSP, following a landmark presentation from AT&T on its massive virtualization efforts and a look back on where the telecom industry has been and where it's going from two industry veterans.
Liz Centoni, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Computing System Product Group, shares why mentoring in all its forms is important for women and what Cisco is doing that's made a difference for women in tech.
At an event in Wembley stadium, EE used its live network to demonstrate gigabit LTE using a Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip.
Guavus unites big data and machine intelligence, enabling many of the the largest service providers in the world to save money and drive measureable revenue. Learn how applying Machine Intelligence substantially reduces operational costs and in many cases can eliminate subscriber impact, meaning a better subscriber experience and higher NPS.
When used to analyze operational data and to drive operational decisions, machine intelligence reduces the number of tasks which require human intervention. Guavus invested in Machine Intelligence early. Learn about the difference between Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence.
Ray Watson, vice president of global technology at Masergy, discusses the advantages and challenges in entering the still-maturing NFV market for the past three years.
Guillaume Le Mener, head of marketing and corporate development at Mavenir, discussed RCS and the recent launch of Multi-ID, which supports T-Mobile's DIGITS, the revolutionary new technology that breaks down the limitation of one number per phone and one phone per number.
Hossam Salib, VP of Cable and Wireless Strategy at ADTRAN, outlines key trends as MSOs begin to deploy next-generation Gigabit and 10-Gigabit cable networks. In the interview, Hossam outlines the advantages of a Fiber Deep architecture, FTTH options including EPON and RFoG, and the importance of SDN and NFV in building next-generation high-bandwidth cable networks.
At Light Reading's Big Communications Event in Austin, Texas, Global Capacity's VP of Marketing Mary Stanhope talks about how the demand for bandwidth is changing the way service providers deliver broadband services.
Rogier Bronsgeest, the chief customer experience officer (chief CEO!) at Colt, discusses the way in which the service provider interacts with its customers these days and his aggressive net promoter score (NPS) targets.
By 2020 there will be six security jobs for every qualified worker, and Kate Kuehn, vice president of Security for BT in the Americas, says BT wants to encourage women to fill the shortage in jobs.
Colt's sales director for enterprise, James Kershaw, sheds some light on the services currently in demand and how network upgrades are influencing customer demand.
At an event in Wembley stadium, EE used its live network to demonstrate gigabit LTE using a Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip.
Guavus unites big data and machine intelligence, enabling many of the the largest service providers in the world to save money and drive measureable revenue. Learn how applying Machine Intelligence substantially reduces operational costs and in many cases can eliminate subscriber impact, meaning a better subscriber experience and higher NPS.
When used to analyze operational data and to drive operational decisions, machine intelligence reduces the number of tasks which require human intervention. Guavus invested in Machine Intelligence early. Learn about the difference between Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence.
Hossam Salib, VP of Cable and Wireless Strategy at ADTRAN, outlines key trends as MSOs begin to deploy next-generation Gigabit and 10-Gigabit cable networks. In the interview, Hossam outlines the advantages of a Fiber Deep architecture, FTTH options including EPON and RFoG, and the importance of SDN and NFV in building next-generation high-bandwidth cable networks.
Dave Smargon of AIRSYS explains how doing smart things with air handling and air conditioning can enable cable to take big steps in the right direction with respect to efficiency gains.
Viavi's Koji Okamoto discusses CATV technology and trends with Alan Breznick of Light Reading. From DOCSIS 3.1 deployment to the impact of Distributed Access Architectures (DAA), bringing fiber closer to the home, and leveraging DWDM technology for business services.
At ANGA COM 2017, Cyrille Morelle, president and CEO of VeEX, updates Alan Breznick with VeEX's new products and technology. This includes VeSion cloud-based platform for network monitoring, AT2500-3G advanced spectrum analyzer and MTTplus-900 WiFi Air Expert module. He also comments on DOCSIS 3.1 deployment and Remote PHY technology.
SCTE•ISBE's Chris Bastian discusses Energy 2020's success to date and the importance of a flexible approach that allows for changes in specific strategies in order to reach significant milestones.
Versa CEO Kelly Ahuja discusses with Carol Wilson the current status and trends in the SD-WAN market, Versa's innovation around building a software platform with broad contextualization, and the advantages that startups can bring to the SD-WAN market.
ARRIS's John Ulm says a major accomplishment of SCTE•ISBE's Energy 2020 program is increased focus on power cost and consumption, including inclusion of energy requirements in operators' RFPs and RFIs.
A Gigabit access platform being deployed today must be able to deliver all types of services to an increasing number of devices. A non-blocking architecture is necessary to support the ever-increasing growth in bandwidth demand. The Huawei Gigabit access solution is based on a distributed design that is fully scalable to deliver a unprecedented performance.
As service providers transition their SD-WAN solution from trials and limited deployments into production at large scale, there are important considerations to successfully operationalize these solutions and realize their full potential, without adding complexity, introducing uncertainty or disrupting current business operations. Sunil Khandekar, CEO and Founder ...
With the mobile ecosystem becoming increasingly vulnerable to security threats, AdaptiveMobile has laid out some of the key considerations for the wireless community.
Following a recent board meeting, the New IP Agency (NIA) has a new strategy to help accelerate the adoption of NFV capabilities, explains the Agency's Founder and Secretary, Steve Saunders.
One of the nice bits of my job (other than the teeny tiny salary, obviously) is that I get to pick and choose who I interview for this slot on the Light Reading home ...
Playing it safe can only get you so far. Sometimes the biggest bets have the biggest payouts, and that is true in your career as well. For this radio show, Caroline Chan, general manager of the 5G Infrastructure Division of the Network Platform Group at Intel, will share her own personal story of how she successfully took big bets to build a successful career, as well as offer advice on how you can do the same. We’ll cover everything from how to overcome fear and manage risk, how to be prepared for where technology is going in the future and how to structure your career in a way to ensure you keep progressing. Chan, a seasoned telecom veteran and effective risk taker herself, will also leave plenty of time to answer all your questions live on the air.
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Kicking off BCE 2017, Light Reading founder Steve Saunders lays blame for NFV's slow ramp-up and urges telecom to return to old-fashioned standards building and interoperability.
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