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Viodi View

Viodi View – 12/08/10

The holiday season is upon us and, fortunately, things will soon start to slow down for the rest of the year. That is, unless you are the FCC, Comcast, Level 3 or just about anyone else involved in the telecom business. With a vote slated for December 21st, the result of the FCC's meeting on Net Neutrality will keep the policy elves busy well past Christmas.


Network Neutrality Revisited: Level 3 Complaint & Comcast Response by Alan Weissberger

Santa will have his hands full deciding who has been naughty or nice in the Level 3–Comcast controversy. Alan Weissberger reported on this story when it broke in this article. Links to the latest crossfire between Comcast and Level 3 are in the comments section. It is interesting timing as this occurred around the same time DISH Network disconnected Comcast SportsNet California after it lost an arbitration decision.  Click here to read Weissberger's article. 


Sprinting to LTE

Alan Weissberger connects the dots regarding several different announcements from Sprint and Ericsson and infers that Sprint is building an LTE network. This is big news, as, to date, Sprint has relied on Clearwire and its WiMAX infrastructure for its next generation network build. Alan suggests, we may see a Sprint offering of an LTE Network as early as 2012.  Click here to read more.


Click here to view moreLTE vs. WiMAX: What Will the Consumer Do?

LTE vs WiMAX? Will consumers care about these TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) as they decide on a next generation wireless access plan. If today is any indication, the battle among next generation wireless networks for consumer mind share is heating up and we may find out the answer to this question in 2011.  Click here to read more. 


Silicon Valley Bubble or Barrier for Web 2.0 Startups? by Alan Weissberger

Who's got it right? Are the new breed of Web 2.0 start-ups good investments now or are they over valued for what they propose to deliver? Have the three musketeers of the new web- Google, Apple, and Facebook- created such huge barriers that it will be extremely difficult for start-ups to compete? Weissberger provides persective on these issues as he examines two recent newspaper articles which take very different points of view.  Click here to read more.


A Boon for IPTV Operators? – GoogleTV’s Acquisition of Widevine

Access to mainstream programming is one obvious reason Google purchased Widevine (announced on 12/3). With Widevine’s well-respected content protection system it should follow that the major TV brands will release their product in one form or another to a GoogleTV offering. With Widevine, Google could allow the content owners to set their own rules for how they package and sell their product on GoogleTV.  A less obvious meaning of this move is that it may create a new middleware option for IPTV providers.  Click here to read more. (image courtesy of Iacta)


Click here to learn more about Parks Associates Connections SummitPreview of CES 2011 with Parks Associates by Looking Back at 2010

We are pleased to be producing ViodiTV for Parks Associates' Connections Conference at CES 2011.  This conference is a great one for sorting through the noise of the conference floor and is a productive use of time, while at CES.  From 3DTV to remote healthcare monitoring to SmartGrid opportunities, the Parks Associates events have a broad following, such as broadband providers, content owners and consumer electronic device makers.  To see Kurt Scherf's summary of the 2010 conference, click here.    


Click here to learn moreMore About Cool Gadgets and Gizmo at CES

As mentioned in the previous issue of the Viodi View, I will be moderating a panel at the Lightbulb Communications-produced, Broadband Unlimited conference at CES. This is shaping up to be an interesting panel, as we have three expert panelists and a number of companies that will be giving us a preview of what they will be showing, for the first time, at CES. To learn more about the Broadband Unlimited Conference and its agenda, which includes companies such as OnLive, AT&T and Samsung.  Click here to learn more about this conference. 


A Christmas Gift Wishlist  for Uncle Sam

Although this was published on the Viodi site more than a month ago, this is worthy of a mention given the time of year.  The FCC is looking for technology donations for their Tech Experience Center. This is a no-brainer for technology vendors and donating their latest and greatest should be a priority.   Click here to read why Communications Service Providers should consider being part of this program.  


Wild Rice Soup from Christmas PointThe Korner – Wild Rice, Fall Snow and a Christmas Wonderland

It was chilly and snowy outside, but there were many hot ideas on how to attract customers at the Minnesota Telecom Alliance’s Video Peer Group at the Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, MN. Viodi produced a mini-version of our local content workshop as a prelude to this event. This was an opportunity for us to learn from Minnesota operators as to the challenges of producing local content, while imparting some painful lessons we have learned about content production. 

To this theme of local, the MTA did the right thing by bringing this conference to a venue within one of their member companies’ service area (CTC). The facility at the Grand View was first class and state-of-the-art (HD projectors, etc.) and the grounds were beautiful and relatively affordable. Even the speaker gifts of wild rice soup from the Christmas Point Wild Rice Company of Brainerd, MN were from a local company and provided a unique way of remembering this special event.  What an appropriate name for this company, as the area gave me the feeling of a chilly Christmas morning in front of a warm, crackling fireplace.  Click here to read the entire article.  

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

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