Ratings Experts Split Over Future of Measurements (Broadcasting & Cable)
While others see an upcoming inflection point for the business of audience measurement, Preston Beckman, a media consultant and former executive with Fox Broadcasting, instead compared what’s happening to Los Angeles’ notorious Interstate 405. “It’s constantly under construction,” he quipped.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg Outlines Shift to Messenger Bots, VR (Ad Age)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined a 10-year plan to alter the way people interact with each other and the brands that keep advertising dollars rolling at the world’s largest social network. His vision includes getting users to chat with artificially intelligent bots on Facebook’s Messenger to do everything.
‘Walking Dead’ Producer Hurd Hammers FCC Set-Top Proposal (Broadcasting & Cable)
The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd clearly does not like what she has been hearing out of the FCC recently on set-top box reforms. Hurd took to the op-ed pages of USA Today to slam the proposal by FCC chair Tom Wheeler to open up set-top box data and program streams to third party navigation device makers.
AT&T: FCC Is ‘Economics-Free Zone’ (Broadcasting & Cable)
AT&T continued to push back on FCC chair Tom Wheeler’s proposed reform of the special access—or as he has rechristened it, business data services market. Wheeler said he was much in accord with a compromise approach to regulating business broadband offered up on the eve of the FCC’s proposal by INCOMPAS and Verizon.
NBC AFFILIATES WARN FCC OF SPORTS MIGRATION (TV News Check)
Just days after the Four Four — NCAA basketball semi-finals and finals — appeared on cable rather than broadcasting for the first time, a group of NBC affiliates visited the FCC and warned that other top sports programming could migrate from free to pay TV.
Democracy Fund’s Map Points to Fragmented Local News Ecosystem, Barriers to Public Square (Media Shift)
The centerpiece of the new Local News & Participation project is an interactive map that visualizes how citizens gain info and participate in democracy. Among other trends, the ability of news organizations to create inclusive public squares is diminishing, as partisanship and personalized content produce fragmented “echo chambers.”
MPAA Chief Agrees to Meet With Screening Room Execs Over $50 Home Movie Service (Hollywood Reporter)
In what some might view as a surprise turn, Motion Picture Association of America chair Chris Dodd will take a meeting with representatives of the Screening Room, Sean Parker’s controversial new venture that hopes to make new movies available in the home for $50. “They’ve asked us to sit down and say hello.”
VERIZON WON’T FIX COPPER LINES WHEN CUSTOMERS REFUSE SWITCH TO FIBER (ARS Technica)
Verizon has reportedly switched 1.1 million customers from copper to fiber lines over the past few years under a program it calls “Fiber Is the Only Fix.” But some customers have refused the switch to fiber because they prefer to keep their copper lines, even though Verizon apparently is refusing to fix problems in the copper infrastructure.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF CHARTER-TWC (LA Times)
Charter’s blockbuster deal to acquire Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks cleared a major hurdle when a California administrative judge recommended approval of the deal. Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer, in a 74-page opinion, recommended that the California PUC approve Charter’s takeover plans.
How to reboot the FTC (Politico)
The agency’s antitrust policy isn’t up to the challenges of the 21st century. The Federal Trade Commission is an agency adrift, squandering resources on trivial cases while failing to address the structural lack of competition that afflicts our economy. Here’s how to fix it.
‘Your face is big data:’ The title of this photographer’s experiment says it all (Network World)
Got privacy? You may think you do, but a recent experiment by a Russian photographer suggests otherwise. Rodchenko Art School student Egor Tsvetkov began by photographing about 100 people who happened to sit across from him on the subway at some point then used a facial-recognition app to track them down.
Teens are ditching Instagram for Snapchat at a stunning rate (Business Insider)
Snapchat has caught up to and surpassed Instagram as the app of choice for teens, according to a new survey by investment bank Piper Jaffray. In the fall 2015 semi-annual survey of 6,500 US teens, 33% of them considered Instagram their most important social network. By this spring, that number had fallen to 27%.
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Producer Launches $150 Million Royalties Lawsuit (Hollywood Reporter)
The video game business has a new profit participation lawsuit to obsess over. This one entails the massive success of the Grand Theft Auto franchise from Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar North. Take-Two made it to court first on Monday seeking a declaratory judgment in New York federal court.