Verizon vs. ESPN! A Slower Netflix?

They did it!  Given the list of significant concessions (we’ll make this so ridiculous you won’t have a choice no matter who David Cohen knows) and a belief that Comcast simply didn’t deserve to get that much bigger, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Confusion Commission nixed the once-pending buyout of Time Warner Cable by Comcast.

The real Tom Wheeler stood up.  All the signs were there when Wheeler promoted former consumer advocate Gigi Sohn to Counselor to the Chairman.  What happened?  Didn’t Tom get paid enough in his former life at CTIA and NCTA?  (Just kidding; meant to talk about Hillary and Putin and $$$.)  Why wasn’t expanding Title II enough?

Ai Yi Yi Katy Bar the Door: Who called whom first?  How long did it take Tom Rutledge to call Rob Marcus (or vice versa)?  Is it true Dr. Malone sent a nice note to Brian Roberts?

Do contracts matter?  I think we’ll find out as lawyers for ESPN, NBCU and others confer with Verizon lawyers about program affiliate contracts and their details upon details.  Having seen a number of affiliate deals, I can’t imagine Verizon will win any argument or lawsuit … never mind how much sense mini-bundles might make for consumers.  That’s another matter; and one high on distributor lists.

That new Verizon base package of two “packs” at $55 also includes slower broadband … is that an attack on over-the-top services?  Netflix at a slower speed?  A mini-war on OTT?  Don’t make broadband fit the definition!  (If they’d only done that sooner, would it have helped Comcast?)

$25 BILLION!  That’s the Congressional Budget Office guesstimate for US proceeds from the broadcast spectrum auction.  Nice number.  Came after admitting they really have no idea but picked a midpoint between low guesstimate of $10B and high of $40B.  OK.

Other Items of Interest:

The Federal Confusion Commission would like comments on its plan to prevent another cute dodge by a big company using little straw horses to get discounted bids on the next spectrum auction.  My advice: run it by a former DISH lawyer.

See many of you in Chicago next week … should be interesting.  As war breaks out between programmers and one sort-of-cable-operator/overbuilder-in-all-but-name, what purpose does the NCTA serve?  We’ll find out.

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