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	<title>The Viodi View &#187; merger</title>
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	<link>http://viodi.com</link>
	<description>The Bridge Between the Heartland and Hollywood</description>
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		<title>The Future of Broadband Video</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2010/05/13/the-future-of-broadband-video/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=the-future-of-broadband-video</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2010/05/13/the-future-of-broadband-video/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2010 16:56:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Pyle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Regulatory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comcast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mark ellison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[merger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mvpd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nbcu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=1999</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mark Ellison of Patton Boggs LLP asks a very interesting question as to whether the future of broadband video is at stake in a post on the Law360 blog.&#160; He asks this question in the context of the Comcast-NBC merger and he points out that securing content for its broadband properties is, in the opinion of many analysts, a motivation for the acquisition.&#160; Ellison poses many interesting questions as to what this powerful combination of broadband and content could mean in for competition.&#160; Click here to find his article (must be a Law360 subscriber).&#160;&#160; Thanks to Ellison for sending the Viodi View a link to the Comcast/GE economic study of the merger&#160;(this was a recent submission to the FCC)&#160;and its impact on the online video marketplace. A key assumption in this study is that online video is a complement to Comcast&#8217;s traditional form of video distribution. Regardless, it suggests that even if there is a shift and the online video services become a competitor, Comcast will still win by offering a robust broadband offering. It also suggests that the overall company would lose more by restricting access to online programming than it would gain, since it only covers 23.8% of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Gary Reback: US Government Must Enforce Antitrust Laws to Encourage Innovation</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2009/05/15/gary-reback-us-government-must-enforce-antitrust-laws-to-encourage-innovation/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=gary-reback-us-government-must-enforce-antitrust-laws-to-encourage-innovation</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2009/05/15/gary-reback-us-government-must-enforce-antitrust-laws-to-encourage-innovation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2009 02:52:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Weissberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Weissberger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisition]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[android]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=1012</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On the need for government intervention in the free market to protect competition and encourage innovation Gary Reback is one of the nation&#8217;s most prominent antitrust attorneys, best known for spearheading the efforts that led to the federal lawsuit against Microsoft.&#160;&#160; Gary spoke to an attentive and eager audience on May 14th in Santa Clara, CA.&#160;&#160; The Commonwealth Club and Yale Club of Silicon Valley sponsored his enlightening and provocative talk.&#160;Reback&#8217;s main message was that the government l&#8217;aissez faire policies, so strongly promoted by University of Chicago economists, have gone way too far.&#160;As a counter-weight, he says we need more government oversight of the private sector along with more vigilant anti-trust enforcement. &#160; To set the stage for the current recessionary economy, Gary began by chronicling the history of the U.S. antitrust movement. From its beginnings in the 1870s (a time when big business controlled the railroads), through Teddy and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thurmond Arnold and others, there has been an ebb and flow of power and control between the federal government in Washington and big business (e.g. monopolies) or Wall Street investment firms.&#160;Starting about thirty years ago, conservatives forced an overhaul of competition policy that has loosened business rules [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Positive Signs and Positive Cashflow from One Telco</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/10/06/positive/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=positive</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/10/06/positive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:17:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Pyle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[independent telcos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[distribution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iptv]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[mdu]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[telco]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[vod]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jeff Gardner, President and CEO of Windstream Communications, opened his keynote speech at U.S. Telecom&#8217;s Executive Business Forum with a note of appreciation to US Telecom for getting behind what he termed, &#8220;credit stabilization legislation.&#8221; These opening comments set the theme for his talk, which was primarily about the financial condition of his company. In doing so, he provided insight into Windstream&#8217;s thoughts on the basic business, but also on topics such as wireless and IPTV. Gardner spoke of the transformation of Windstream Communications from a telephony-based to a broadband-centric company. As proof points, he cited metrics that showed growth in broadband customers from 81k to 934k from 2002 to present. Revenues have increased from $3.1 to $3.21 billion in that same period, which is remarkable given the ongoing voice line loss of approximately 5% per year. Windstream was born out of a merger of Alltel&#8217;s wireline properties together with those of VALOR Communications and instantly became a top-ten telco. It is primarily a rural and suburban carrier with about 20 access lines per mile. Still, they are facing strong competition, particularly in their suburban areas, as evidenced by the fact that 50 to 55% of their markets have voice [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>An Unhealthy Industry: Telecom reports indicate continued contraction in revenues and growth</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/07/29/an-unhealthy-industry-teleco-reports-indicate-continued-contraction-in-revenues-and-growth/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=an-unhealthy-industry-teleco-reports-indicate-continued-contraction-in-revenues-and-growth</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/07/29/an-unhealthy-industry-teleco-reports-indicate-continued-contraction-in-revenues-and-growth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:25:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Weissberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Weissberger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alcatel-lucent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadcasters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comcast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dsl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exclusivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[India]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motorola]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[nokia]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[sprint]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Having just analyzed recent reports from telecom companies, we conclude that the telecom recession/ depression continues. Revenues are falling way short of expectation, growth is limited to mobile data, and profits are minuscule with the exception of Verizon (VZ). But even at VZ, the growth seems to be coming almost entirely from new wireless data services for mobile subscribers, while customer installations for FiOS seems to be stalling (despite the huge build-out cost and heavy promotion). Perhaps the most important earnings report tidbit was that VZW (a joint venture between VZ and Vodafone-UK) said its churn rate &#8212; the pace at which customers defect to other carriers &#8212; fell to 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent in the previous quarter. By comparison, Sprint Nextel has a churn rate of 2.45 percent. Comment:&#160; With all the consolidation that has taken place in telco land- both in the network operator and equipment spaces- one would expect profit margins to be a lot higher, due to less competition and the power of scale. But they aren&#8217;t. The industry seemed to be a lot healthier in the late 1990s when competitive carriers were expanding their business to both enterprise and residential customers. But alas, they [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>IEEE ComSoc-SCV Workshop: Location Based Technologies and Services</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/06/26/ieee-comsoc-scv-workshop-location-based-technologies-and-services/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=ieee-comsoc-scv-workshop-location-based-technologies-and-services</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/06/26/ieee-comsoc-scv-workshop-location-based-technologies-and-services/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:23:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Weissberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Weissberger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[applications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadcasters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[engage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LBS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Location Based Techonologies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[merger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MIDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Navigation]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[nokia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[order]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[social acquisition]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[undefined]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wimax]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=170</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Summary of Location Based Technologies and Services Workshop [June 19, 2008, Crown Plaza Hotel, San Francisco International Airport]&#160; Alan J. Weissberger IEEE ComSoc- SCV Secretary and Program Chair Backgrounder: &#160; Yankee Group tele-briefing report on Location Based Services and Technologies: http://viodi.com/2008/06/13/location-based-services-and-technologies/ Speaker Remarks 1. Dave Reid, Director of Business Development, SiRF Technology Inc.&#160;http://sirf.com/ &#160; The world is on the go (which implies that mobile telecom services and devices will grow rapidly).&#160;SiRF believes that location awareness brings convenience to our lives.&#160;SiRF is predominantly a (fabless) semiconductor company- with the largest market share of discrete GPS chips and related intellectual property.&#160;SiRF powered mobile devices include personal navigation devices (PNDs), handheld GPS receivers, smart phones, feature phones, personal media players (PMPs), and in-dash car navigation systems.&#160; &#160; There are many types of Location Based Services (LBS&#8217;s) being deployed and being considered by network operators: navigation, social networking, location based advertising, mobile commerce, transportation, child locator, pet tracker, etc.&#160;New mobile broadband networks, like WiMAX, will be location enabled; so will new devices, including Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and even location aware watches.&#160;Applications and content are intersecting and this will lead to innovative new mobile services with location awareness.&#160;Enterprise customers have led applications in location [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Independent Telcos Understand the Value of Independent Telcos</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/04/28/independent/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=independent</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/04/28/independent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:52:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Pyle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[independent telcos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acquisitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independent telco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[merger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[swisher telephone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/?p=138</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Two recent acquisitions that did not make the headlines of the New York Times or even any of the traditional telecom industry publications.&#160;The Telephone Acquisition Company, LLC&#8217;s pending purchase of Iowa&#8217;s Swisher Telephone and American Broadband&#8217;s purchase of TelAlaska may be small in terms of the number of subscribers involved, but these acquisitions are extremely important in terms of pointing to another way to operate the telecom infrastructure in rural America.&#160; In both cases, the purchasing companies see the value in having a local presence and local management that can run the business that makes sense for the community.&#160;That is, an independent telco&#8217;s influence goes beyond the telecommunications infrastructure.&#160;The independent telco is an integral part of a community and region&#8217;s economic development.&#160;At the same time, by bringing in owners with deeper pockets, it is possible for the independent telco to bring services, such as wireless, that might be impossible on its own.&#160;&#160;&#160; As Ron Laudner, CEO of OmniTel put it, &#8220;Independent telcos understand the value of independent telcos.&#8221;&#160;&#160; In the case of the Swisher Telephone acquisition, the acquiring entity is the Telephone Acquisition Company, which is a Limited Liability Company consisting of four independent, Iowa telephone companies; Schaller Telephone Company, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>FCC 700 MHz Auction Postscript: Big loss for US Wireless Network Competition</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/04/11/fcc-700-mhz-auction/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=fcc-700-mhz-auction</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/04/11/fcc-700-mhz-auction/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:58:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Weissberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AWS (Advanced Wireless Service)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clearwire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fcc]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/2008/04/11/fcc-700-mhz-auction-postscript-big-loss-for-us-wireless-network-competition/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Abstract: &#160; We have previously opined that the highly touted 700 MHz auction was a win for the U.S. government (almost $20B was raised) and Google (open access rules for C block w/o spending a dime).&#160; Yet it was a big loss for public safety.&#160; &#160; Based on a post auction spectrum analysis from a well placed source, we conclude that wireless competition is all but non-existent in the U.S.&#160; This is due to the huge swath of spectrum acquired by AT&#38;T and Verizon Wireless and their previous acquisitions (especially AT&#38;T&#8217;s acquisition of Aloho Partners, Dobson Communications, and RCC).&#160; As a result, AT&#38;T and Verizon Wireless now have a choke hold on spectrum to be used for cellular telephony and broadband services (via LTE).&#160; This has numerous negative repercussions and questions whether the FCC will follow their rule on the 95 MHz Dobson threshold (explained below). &#160; References:&#160; previous posts on this topic are at: &#160; http://viodi.com/2008/04/04/att-verizon-wireless-underwhelming-plans-for-700mhz-spectrum/ &#160; http://viodi.com/2008/03/03/has-the-700-mhz-auction-been-a-failure/ &#160; Background: &#160; The FCC&#8217;s recent decision consenting to the merger of AT&#38;T Inc. (&#34;AT&#38;T&#34;) and Dobson Communications Corporation (&#34;Dobson&#34;) represents a shift in the how the FCC reviews mergers of wireless carriers, which will affect how carriers view and enter [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Wireless Telecom in Transition &#8211; Moto and Nortel may combine Wireless Infrastructure Units while Alcatel forms partnership with NEC for LTE</title>
		<link>http://viodi.com/2008/02/13/moto-nortel-merger/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=moto-nortel-merger</link>
		<comments>http://viodi.com/2008/02/13/moto-nortel-merger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:34:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Weissberger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Weissberger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://viodi.com/2008/02/13/moto-nortel-merger/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[[editor's note:&#160; To engage Alan Weissberger for consulting services, contact him at alan at viodi dot com] If implemented, the merger of Motorola&#8217;s and Nortel&#8217;s wireless infrastructure businesses would result in the creation of a $10 billion revenue company that would be better positioned to jostle for market share in a fast-consolidating industry.&#160;&#160;Both companies have invested in WiMAX technology and have different product lines. The wireless infrastructure&#160;industry is now dominated by a few large equipment makers including Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia-Siemens Networks, a venture of Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG.&#160; Motorola and Nortel are trying to play catch up with those vendors and fend off competition from Chinese equipment vendors Huaweii and ZTE. Pressures have increased as carriers in the U.S. and Europe slow their spending on network equipment while they wait for the next generation of technology that can handle the high-speed data necessary for richer Internet and video features on cellphones. At the same time, new entrants from China are putting downward pressure on prices.&#160;&#160;&#160; In a sign of how equipment makers are suffering, Alcatel-Lucent on Friday reported a $3.7 billion loss after taking a big charge to write off the value of one of the main businesses [...]]]></description>
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