Amazon Strikes CBS Content Deal

Striking a blow in its rivalry with Netflix and Hulu, Amazon unveiled a content agreement with CBS allowing customers to watch thousands of CBS TV shows online. The undisclosed, non-exclusive deal will reportedly add upwards of 2K episodes of popular shows at no additional cost to subs of Amazon's Prime service.

While details are sparse, reports indicate the agreement is comparable to a two-year content deal CBS inked with Netflix's streaming service worth an estimated $200M. Included in the deal are full seasons of 18 TV series, such as Showtime's The Tudors, Numb3rs, the Star Trek franchise and Frasier.

Company plans also include CBS content becoming available to customers of Amazon's answer to iTunes dubbed Amazon Instant Video - which doesn't require a subscription. That service, Amazon says, offers more than 90K movies and TV shows.•

Kohl Says 'No' to AT&T-Mobile

Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is urging regulators to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, saying yesterday that the deal would be "highly dangerous to competition and consumers." In a letter to the Justice Dept. and FCC, the Senator says a $39B union of the two companies would concentrate the market into a "near-duopoly of AT&T and Verizon."

Kohl wrote that "full and vibrant competition" is crucial for the wireless industry ensuring that consumers have access to the best prices and most choices. "This acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers (and) would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest."

An AT&T spokesman responded by saying the company sees Kohl's view as "inconsistent with antitrust law (and) ignores the many positive benefits... of the transaction."

Pundits note the Senate does not have direct say over the decision but antitrust regulators take seriously the judgements of those on the Hill. It is unclear how Kohl's announced retirement plans for next year will affect the impact of his announcement.•

ETC: Cord Cutting Data - Latino Social Media - Mediabiz User Conference

Research: SNL Kagan's latest cord-cutting report says OTT will continue to chip away at multichannel subs this year with 4% of US HHs opting for internet video services by the end of 2011. --- Parks Associates says nearly 2/3 of smartphone users regularly play games on their mobile devices.

M&A: Quepasa, a multiplatform social media network optimized for the Latino community, has acquired teen-centric social platform myYearbook for $100 million.

Market Movers Redux (in case you missed the Evening BRIDGE):  BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk bumped his fiscal 2013 EPS estimate for Apple to $29.50 from $26.50 and established a 2013 estimate of $32.50. --- Microsoft has dropped out of the bidding for Hulu, says Bloomberg ... but Yahoo is now interested with the promised  "content guarantee." --- Netflix got a rave-up review from the analyst team at shinesrooms.com for its "pro-active and aggressive initiatives to look for joint ventures and alliance opportunities with big Hollywood studios and cable companies."  However, a lack of visibility of Netflix's international strategy earned it only a Neutral rating.

Economy: The Chicago Sun-Times will close its printing plant and lay off more than 400 employees in a deal with rival Chicago Tribune to consolidate printing operations.

Gov't: Watchdog group the Sunlight Foundation says Barack Obama is the all-time leading recipient of political donations from... News Corp.

Our 1st User Conference:  MediaBiz' 1st user conference in NYC drew participants from across the country to share their insights on the best current ... and future ... uses of the MediaCensus data banks which include detailed information on subscribers, footprints, services, programming line-ups and more.  Our thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort!

Sports: Despite public enthusiasm over reports that the NFL lockout is nearing its end, players did not vote on the rumored proposal as of late Wednesday.

Folks:  President Obama said he will nominate cyber-security attorney Maureen Ohlhausen to the FTC, a sign of the agency's focus on tech policy, pundits say. --- Reddit co-founder Aaron Swarts, arrested and charged with hacking articles from MIT, faces up to 35 years and a $1M fine. --- NAB named Paul Dughi to its board of directors.

Online: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson called his company's copper-based DSL broadband service "obsolete." --- ESPN dipped its toes into the casual gaming waters (again) by launching the Facebook game ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. BYO(virtual)B.

SkyREPORT: DISH and ViaSat reiterated the need to include satellite broadband in the FCC's plan to define its universal service fund as the service "is the most cost-effective solution" for more than 40% of homes w/o access to high-speed interwebs.

Deals: Verizon added internet radio service Pandora to its FiOS footprint in CA, TX and VA. --- AT&T will start deploying BigBand's Media Services Platform (MSP) for local ad insertions throughout its national footprint. --- Adara Technologies inked a go-to-market partnership with CCI Systems for its cloud-based video solution for mid-to-small sized providers.

Up, Down & Over There: Dutch telco KPN uncorked steep price hikes for mobile subs just weeks after its Parliament approved one of the world's strongest net-neutrality laws. --- The European agency overseeing the Galileo program says Lightsquared's plans to broadcast a terrestrial signal "presents a grave threat" to GPS reception.

D'oh!: A 45-year-old NY man fired several shots into the air during an argument over someone severing the cable TV line to his mobile home. Analysts predicting the dangers of cord-cutting feel validated, sources say.

Catch up with the markets this afternoon in The Evening BRIDGE.•