All Things Digital

Comcast came clean with the Federal Communications Commission late Friday, detailing how it throttled and targeted peer-to-peer traffic–maneuvers it has repeatedly denied.

The cable concern said it indeed hit “particular protocols that were generating disproportionate amounts of traffic.” The peer-to-peer protocols, Comcast said, include Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack and Gnutella–vehicles used to transport copyrighted material without the owners’ permission.

On Aug. 1, when the FCC ordered it to abandon its throttling practices, Comcast denied that it was blocking any services, including “peer-to-peer services” like BitTorrent, or engaged in any blocking of services.

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Comcast Corp. rightfully received a smackdown from the Federal Communications Commission last week for not telling customers that it was blocking some of them from using peer-to-peer services to download videos and other content off the Internet.

Web surfers may want to pause before cheering, though, as some are warning that the move could lead the way to Internet metering–under which people would be charged based on their usage levels instead of the traditional flat rate.

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As you know by now, the FCC on Friday at long last approved the pending merger of XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI). That should clear the way for the completion of the merger.

There were some other steps related to closing the merger unveiled this morning. XM announced an offering of $550 million of exchangeable senior subordinated notes due 2014; the notes will be exchangeable for Sirius shares. The offering is one in a series of transactions to refinance some XM debt in connection with the pending merger.

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Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein has voted to oppose the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), leaving the current tally tied at 2-2, with only Deborah Taylor Tate yet to decide. If she votes yes, the deal goes through. If she votes no, the deal dies.

According to Bloomberg, Adelstein said in a statement that the combination would create “a monopoly with window dressing.” Adelstein and Michael Copps, both Democrats, have voted no. Chairman Kevin Martin and Robert McDowell, both Republicans, have voted yes. That leaves the decision up to Tate–a Republican.

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The future of any technology can be defined by the economic opportunities it creates. Take just one look around Pittsburgh to see the explosion in the number of businesses built around advances in medical technology and the importance of entrepreneurs focusing on new technology. The impact has been enormous. Which brings us to today. What are the opportunities in front of us to get excited about in the digital media field?

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The great satellite radio merger inches ever closer.

This morning, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) announced a $400-million offering of senior notes, which it said is “part of a series of transactions to refinance certain debt,” in connection with its pending merger with Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI). The company said the deal was structured in a way that would allow it to be unwound if the merger is not completed. The deal still awaits final approval from the FCC.

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Kevin Maney smacks his head: While you’re lusting over a new iPhone, think about this: Why can’t you watch free, regular, over-the-air TV on your phone? Isn’t that what you really want–not these bastardized TV offerings that you have to pay for, like AT&T’s Mobile TV and Sprint’s MobiTV?

I just got off the phone with Reed Hundt, former chairman of the FCC and now an investor and consultant. He’s involved in a number of companies, but he said the one that’s most exciting right now is Telegent. It has been working for three years to figure out how to make chips that would go in cell phones and allow them to pick up regular local TV signals. “It’s very hard to do,” Hundt says.

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What should the government do about migrating birds that fatally collide into wireless communications towers at night? The actual number of deaths is disputed, but it may run into the millions each year. A recent mini-conference on the problem held at the Federal Communications Commission went largely unnoticed by most agency watchers, present company included. Five conservation group leaders attended the event, two from the National Audubon Society, two from Defenders of Wildlife, and one from the American Bird Conservancy.

“The conservation groups’ representatives urged the Commission representatives to implement immediately some interim measures in the near term,” their ex parte summary of the June 19 meeting politely concluded, “while the Commission deliberates on how to address all of the outstanding issues relating to the environmental impacts of communications towers on birds.”

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Merrill Lynch’s Glen Campbell this morning raised his rating on Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) to Buy from Hold, while slightly trimming his price target to $2.70 from $2.80. Campbell says he expects “imminent approval” from the FCC for its pending merger with XM Satellite Radio (XMSR). Campbell says the upgrade reflects the recent decline in the stock and the upbeat post-merger guidance the company provided yesterday. The company sees $400 million in merger synergies, positive free cash flow before satellite cap ex and $300 million in EBITDA before stock compensation.

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The MPAA has offered a deal to the Federal Communications Commission that could bring movies to cable and satellite viewers more quickly after their original release. The trade-off, though, is that the movies couldn’t be viewed by some high-definition TVs, nor could they be recorded by stand-alone TiVos.

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Intel has developed a pair of technical issues, American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman asserts today.

One, Freedman says the company had a “mis-step in the completion of FCC certification” for the next-generation Centrino processor with support for the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard. “Without the certification,” he contends, “the CPUs can only be sold outside the U.S.” He says the impact of the issue is likely to be a slower ramp of 802.11n, as the new Montevina chipset can ship with processors that support 802.11 a/b/g.

Meanwhile, he also says that issues have cropped up with the integrated graphics in the Montevina platform. He says failures are occurring at notebook OEMs.

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Next February, somewhere in America, someone out there is going to flip on his tube for some “Law & Order: SVU” and see nothing but fuzz. He’ll probably grapple with his rabbit ears and pound the side of his aging CRT, but no amount of cajoling will bring back Ice-T’s interrogation room or Richard Belzer’s last unfunny stand. That’s because on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, the FCC will repossess the analog spectrum from the major television broadcasters and the networks will go all-digital.

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I hate to break this to you and risk damaging the relationship of trust and faith that you have with your cable company, but according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Comcast has not been totally forthright in describing its handling of bandwidth-sucking BitTorrent transfers of large media files. Ever since it was caught using surreptitious, hacker-like techniques to interrupt such activity, the cable giant has claimed that it was simply exercising sound network management practices to ensure decent service for all, and that the throttling was applied only in times of high network congestion. Tuesday, Martin told a Senate committee that his agency’s ongoing investigation indicated otherwise.

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Now we know why none of the major carriers showed up for Thursday’s open FCC meeting at Stanford University: Who wants to take on Larry Lessig, the lion of Net neutrality, in his own den?

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With the clock ticking on FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure, his special friends in the phone business are asking him to give them the moon, the stars and the sun: In other words, a cable TV version of number portability. Verizon’s arguments and press release may seem consumer-friendly, but one has to take all of it with a barrel of salt. Now, as you well know, I am no fan of cable companies–who apparently want to watch what you are doing inside your living room–but it’s hard to believe Verizon.

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