In the wake of Comcast's downgraded financial guidance and the company's decision to sit out the 700 MHz spectrum auctions, Comcast's EVP and Co-CFO Michael Angelakis spoke at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this morning (webcast here), shedding a little light on both of these developments.
In terms of the downgraded guidance, Angelakis stated what most people already know: Comcast is getting hit with competition from the telcos and DBS providers and losing customers as a consequence. "We've seen a bit of uptick in churn," he said, adding that the weak economy hasn't helped (although, I might add, cable hasn't ever really felt a negative impact during economic downturns before).
Even though Comcast's "triple-play is clearly a success," Comcast hopes to turn things around a bit with its new dual-play offerings of voice and high-speed data services, Angelakis said. The downgraded expectations aren't solely due to subscriber losses and decreasing gains in new services. Advertising revenue has been lower than expected too. "It's hard to look at quarter over quarter...advertising has been a stepped-down function month-over-month."
In terms of wireless, Comcast is going to take its time to figure out that market. "We already have spectrum [from last year's FCC AWS auction]. I think we need an appropriate business plan and product plan with regard to our AWS," he said. "There's so much in the wireless business...we think there is enough disruption in the marketplace and we should take our time and be opportunistic."
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's campaign to cap cable ownership won't have an immediate impact on Comcast because the company isn't looking to buy right now. "We're pretty inwardly focused. If I had wanted to do deals, I would have stayed at Providence [Angelakis recently joined Comcast from investment firm Providence Equity, where he was Managing Director.}
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:44 AM | Print | Comments (0)Nielsen plans to unveil a digital watermarking system that content owners can use to police web sites for unauthorized distribution of their copryighted video, according to the Wall Street Journal (article appears to still be behind a firewall, but Reuters summary is here.)
Although the details in the article are kind of vague (perhaps because Nielsen itself is being vague), the system will work by using sounds from a video clip uploaded online and matching them with the company databases. The content owners will apparently have the right to adjust the system's settings so that once the program identifies a copyrighted clip using its fingerprinting technology, the content can be allowed to load, allowed to load under only certain conditions or blocked altogether.
What isn't clear is whether web sites have to agree to use Nielsen's system in order for it to work. I assume that's the case, because otherwise how could such a system be effective? YouTube, for example, has already implemented its own content scanning tool and would have to configure its web services to also use Nielsen's technology in order for Nielsen's plan to work.
One big distinction between what Google-owned YouTube has put into place and the new Nielsen technology is that Google won't automatically block uploaded content, something Hollywood has demanded. Consumer advocates say that the automatic blockage of content goes too far and even infringes on free speech rights because the fair use doctrine of the copyright laws permits some replication of copyrighted content.
Another big distinction between what Nielsen is proposing and the other content security solutions out there: Nielsen already has a leg up over competitors such as Audible Magic, Vobile and BayTSP because it has already encoded 95% of national TV programming for its ratings service. One barrier to the effective use of content watermarking or fingerprinting technologies is that copyright holders must first submit vast libraries of video to the technology provider so that their systems know what to look for in the first place, an expensive and time-consuming process.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:40 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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