ISPs Boot Up 'Six Strikes' Anti-Piracy Plan

Welcome to today's broadband and cable news roundup.

A handful of major U.S. ISPs have begun to issue alerts to customers who are believed to be sharing or downloading movies, TV shows and music illegally via broadband under a new "six strikes" program, Center for Copyright Information (CCI) Executive Director Jill Lesser said in this blog post, noting that the "implementation phase" of the Copyright Alert System is now underway. The program, she adds, is "meant to educate rather than punish, and direct [broadband users] to legal alternatives." Under the program, suspected users will receive an alert, and it will stop there if no additional infringing activity is detected. Up to six alerts will be sent before "mitigation measures" ensue, including a temporary throttling of Internet speed, a redirection to a landing page until the primary account holder of the account contacts his or her ISP; and a redirection to a landing page where the primary account holder must review and respond to "educational information." ISPs can modify these measures so they align with their own internal policies, but "ISPs will not use account termination as a Mitigation Measure," the CCI says. Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. are among the ISPs participating in the program, reports Multichannel News.

TW Cable's Business Class unit has tailored a product bundle for remote workers called Teleworker Solutions, and has introduced the new product set in systems serving New York, New England and the Carolinas. The new package offers speeds up to 50Mbit/s down by 5Mbit/s upstream, a secure, Wi-Fi local area network, and the operator's business-class phone service, and 24/7 customer support.

TiVo Research and Analytics Inc. (TRA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TiVo Inc., has launched TRA Cross Media Measurement, a service that lets advertisers and TV networks measure the effectiveness of TV and online ad campaigns and content based on a sample of more than 100,000 households.

Video streaming workflow startup upLynk LLC has integrated a free advertising insertion and analytics service to its adaptive bit rate, multi-screen platform. Rather than requiring partners to build, store and stream a wide range of adaptive bit range streams for each type of supported device, upLynk's system lets them create one version that can be stored centrally. When a stream is requested, it's delivered to the end device, such as an iPad or an Xbox 360 console, in the proper format for playback. Walt Disney Co. is the startup's launch partner. (See Streaming Startup Tackles the 'Netflix Problem' .) — Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable