Year: 2017

Trump Administration may roll back Net Neutrality – Why does that matter?

Dan Uff January 25, 2017 1

(CNN): President Trump officially picked Pai on Monday to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that reviews media mergers and broadcast licenses.

But it's Pai's opposition to existing net neutrality rules that worries many in tech and media most.

The net neutrality rules, approved by the FCC in 2015 amid an outpouring of online support, are intended to keep the Internet open and fair.

As written, the rules prevent Internet providers like Comcast (CCV) and AT&T (T, Tech30) from deliberately speeding up or slowing down traffic from specific websites and apps. In short, they're intended to prevent providers from playing favorites.

When the rules were first approved, Pai criticized it by quoting Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. After Trump's victory, Pai said he believed a change was finally coming.

"On the day that the [rules were] adopted, I said that 'I don't know whether this plan will be vacated by a court, reversed by Congress, or overturned by a future Commission. But I do believe that its days are numbered," Pai said in a speech last month. "Today, I am more confident than ever that this prediction will come true."

For those who take for granted that the Internet just works, all the fuss around this issue may be confusing. But longtime net neutrality advocates warn of dire consequences for businesses and consumers if net neutrality is weakened or overturned.

It's about "allowing consumers to pick the winners and losers and not [having] the cable companies make those decisions for them," says Michael Cheah, general counsel at video site Vimeo.

If net neutrality is walked back, an Internet service provider like Comcast could potentially allow its own video content to load faster than competing content on a service like Vimeo. Alternatively, it could force Vimeo to pay more to get its content into the Internet's fast lane.

"[Imagine] sitting home on a Friday night and planning to stream a movie or a television show and then to have that buffer or not work," Cheah says. "When you don't know why that's happening, you blame the service -- the Netflix or YouTube or Vimeo. If it's not caused by them, that's a problem."

Even with the rules in place, telecoms have been accused of flouting the spirit of net neutrality. AT&T, for example, unveiled a streaming video service through DirecTV that doesn't count against the customer's data limits.

The FCC accused AT&T of giving itself an unfair advantage over streaming rivals, which will effectively be viewed as more costly to consumers in comparison. Under Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon (VZ, Tech30), the FCC is less likely to push back. (AT&T "applauded" Trump for picking Pai.)

Disclosure: AT&T has agreed to acquire Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. The deal is pending regulatory approval.

To read the rest of the CNN/Money article, click here.

Apple.com Switches Fonts from Myriad to San Francisco

Dan Uff January 24, 2017 0

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. When you login to Apple.com, you may notice a different font on the web site.

Apple has been slowly converting its web site font from Myriad to a new font called San Francisco. The font was first introduced on the Apple Watch.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sells another $3.6 Million in company stock

Dan Uff January 24, 2017 0

Just days cashing in a chunk of Apple shares worth $3.6 million, CEO Tim Cook sold another batch worth an almost identical amount in a series of trades this week, according to regulatory filings.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public on Tuesday reveals Cook sold 30,000 AAPL shares in three equal transactions dated Jan. 20, 23 and 24. Stock prices were set at $120.41 for a batch of 10,000 shares, while the remainder was disposed of at $120.

A relatively small payday for the ranking Apple executive, Cook's recent sales come on the heels of a similar selloff that netted him another $3.6 million last week.

The recent transactions were leveraged from Cook's sizable hoard of AAPL common stock and options. Last August marked Cook's fifth year on the job helming Apple, a period that saw the company grow to become one of the most valuable in the world. That same month, Cook saw 1.26 million restricted stock units —980,000 time-based RSUs and 280,000 performance-based RSUs —vest as per a compensation package dating back to 2011.

Following today's reported trades, Cook is left with 979,809 shares of Apple worth about $117.6 million.

Earlier this month, Cook was docked $1.5 million in bonus pay as a result of Apple's comparatively poor showing in 2016. With slow iPhone sales, Apple managed net sales of $215.6 billion and operating income of $60 billion, short of target goals set by the company's compensation committee. As a result, top brass like Cook missed out on performance-based cash incentives.

Despite last year's stumble, the Apple chief is due to receive another batch of 700,000 vested RSUs on Aug. 24, 2021, while five 280,000-unit performance-based RSU packages are set to vest in annual installments through 2021.

Via: AppleInsider.com

Donald Trump names new FCC Chairman

Dan Uff January 23, 2017 0

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - President Trump has found his man to regulate the media.

Trump has picked Ajit Pai to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Pai is currently the senior Republican commissioner at the FCC and does not require Senate approval. However, he will need to be reconfirmed by the Senate before the end of this year because his current five-year term as a commissioner expires.

"This afternoon, I was informed that @realDonaldTrump designated me the 34th Chairman of the @FCC," Pai said on Twitter Monday. "It is a deeply humbling honor."

The FCC's five-member board currently has one Democrat and two Republicans, including Pai, with two vacancies left for Trump to fill. Trump will only be able to name one more Republican, though, as no more than three members can be from the same political party.

The FCC could prove crucial to Trump, who is known for his obsession with the media. The agency has the authority to block major media mergers, revoke broadcast licenses and regulate Internet providers.

Pai is known for being an outspoken critic of the net neutrality rules. These are intended to keep the Internet open and fair by preventing providers like Comcast from speeding up or slowing down traffic from specific websites and apps.

When the rules were first approved in early 2015, Pai attacked it by quoting Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. After Trump's victory, Pai said he believed net neutrality's "days are numbered."

Pai, a former counsel for Verizon, may also be more favorable toward media mergers than the previous FCC chair. While talking about the potential for a Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger in late 2013, Pai noted: "A Republican administration likely would be more inclined to approve a deal."

Comcast abandoned the mega merger in 2015 after reported skepticism from the FCC and Department of Justice.

If so, that could put Pai at odds with Trump.

During the campaign, Trump said little about the FCC itself. However, he threatened to block AT&T's deal to buy Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, and to break up the merger of Comcast and NBCUniversal.

But Pai is in good company. Several of the advisers Trump appointed to help with the FCC transition are also against the net neutrality rules and generally in favor of media mergers, raising questions about how much Trump would push back on the latter.

Media companies may also breathe a sigh of relief to learn that Pai describes himself as a staunch advocate of the First Amendment in his official FCC bio.

Tom Wheeler, the previous FCC chairman who was appointed by former President Obama, decided to step down at the end of Obama's term.

Wheeler, a former cable industry lobbyist, quickly established himself as the cable industry's worst enemy. Under Wheeler's leadership, the FCC approved net neutrality regulations, pushed for set-top box reform and helped block the massive merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

"We are at a fork in the road," Wheeler said in his final public speech earlier this month. "One path leads forward. The other leads back to re-litigating solutions that are demonstrably working."