Huge Opposition to SOPA Swells

Count Facebook, Google and a slew of other technology companies that have voiced strict opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act being championed by Hollywood and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On their side includes a growing number of consumer-protection groups like Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla and Free Press that are adamant about killing HR 3261, otherwise known as SOPA.

To be clear, SOPA was introduced as a compliment to PROTECT IP - two bills designed to give the government and certain industries more power to combat online piracy. Critics, however, say SOPA goes too far in its inclusion of off-shore websites and exposes law-abiding domestic internet firms to new uncertain liabilities and technological mandates.

In addition to the major companies and organizations that oppose the bill, Twitter, Yahoo and LinkedIn have all signed on to a letter asking leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees to clarify any new regulations that would make online firms liable for copyrighted material. The companies say language within SOPA is too vague and will make websites responsible for pirated content when they had no part in putting it up.

The Motion Picture Association of America, along with the U.S Chamber of Commerce have lobbied strongly in favor of the legislation claiming businesses are losing millions, if not billions, in revenue from illegal distribution of copyright-protected entertainment like movies, music and software.

Media reform and consumer activist groups quickly launched an opposition campaign dubbing Nov. 16 as "American Censorship Day" urging internet users to write their representatives to vote against the measure. Critics have gone so far as to say if the legislation passes, major features of China's "great internet firewall" will be erected right here in the States.

A simplified video of the opposition's case can be seen at Vimeo. •

Sony Wants a Piece of Pay-TV

Earlier this week Sony hinted that it was working on a next-generation television. Now it seems the company wants to 'reinvent' itself by taking on cable and launching a pay-TV service.

A report in the Wall Street Journal says the Japanese electronics giant is negotiating with several major media companies for rights to deliver TV channels over the internet. Citing people close to the company, the story says Sony may compete with the likes of cable and satellite by streaming TV channels directly to Sony-made devices including HDTVs, PlayStations and Blu-ray consoles.

Of the pay-TV operators in the country, Comcast is the largest U.S. cable operator with ~22.4M video subscribers while DIRECTV is the largest satellite company with ~20M U.S. subs. According to NPD Group, Sony has more than 18M internet-connected PlayStation consoles in American living rooms in addition to untold millions of HDTVs and Blu-ray players.

Among the companies Sony is reportedly in talks with are Comcast's NBCU, Discovery and News Corp. •

Etc.: (Healthcare) Revolution to be Televised? - TWC Scores Galaxy Rights - Comcast Calls Sat Subs Di**Heads

Rules & Regs: C-SPAN is asking the Supreme Court to drop its ban on courtroom cameras when it hears the arguments over President Obama's healthcare reform law. The high court has never allowed cases to be televised (instead releasing written transcripts), but C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb is hoping the court will make a one-time exception. --- CEA Pres. & CEO Gary Shapiro says proposed restrictions that would disallow gov't officials from accepting complimentary trips to trade shows (i.e. CES) suggest that "job creators are enemies rather than partners… in growing the economy." The exec's comments are in response to the Obama Administration's proposal to amend the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.

Strategy: Cox is discontinuing its wireless service this week. The MSO said it would continue to provide service to existing customers through March 30 and that each subscriber will receive a $150 credit for each line of wireless service disconnected. In related news, Cox also said it will start streaming linear TV channels to tablets by the end of the year. Details were sparse, but reports say the Cox TV Connect product will launch by Christmas. --- Local reports say Time Warner Cable 1) added 8 new HD channels in Cincinnati (Game Show Network HD, YES HD, NESN HD, HBO Signature HD, HBO Comedy HD, Showtime Showcase HD, Showtime Extreme HD and Starz! Kids & Family HD) and 2) is raising rates in North Carolina by $2-$4.50 per month starting Dec. 5. No word if TWC plans rate increases in other markets.

Sports: Time Warner Cable is reportedly about to slide tackle TV rights to the Los Angeles Galaxy away from Fox Sports West. According to the LA Times, TWC will pay $55M over 10 years (~$5.1M per year) - a slight increase from what Fox has been paying… >$500K per. TWC is said to be launching both English and Spanish-language nets. Score. --- Copyright infringement charges have been brought against a Philadelphia man for allegedly operating two websites that sold DVDs containing recordings of copyrighted TV broadcasts of NHL hockey games and offered illegal subscriptions to downloading services of other protected hockey-related video. Details here. --- Verizon went public with its MSG plans saying it "expects" to have MSG and MSG+ in HD for subs in NY, NJ and Conn. by "mid-December."

In Court: In response to a lawsuit filed by residents, a judge has decided to block AT&T from installing hundreds of utility boxes on San Francisco sidewalks for its U-verse TV and internet service. According to the SF Business Times, Judge Harold Kahn ordered a stay of the city's approval to allow the telco giant to install as many as 726 boxes as there is a "fair argument" they will negatively affect the community.

Advertising: Hey di**head! Yeah, we're talking to you, satellite subscriber. Well, we're not talking to you, but Comcast is with its new 'Don't be a dish head' ads. The Egotist has the vids. --- A new Advanced Advertising Media Project (AAMP) study says ads within free VOD offerings have a positive impact on consumer engagement. Takeaways from the report include: Ads within VOD have same impact regardless of size; viewers 'accept' VOD ads because they view on-demand as regular TV; VOD allows viewers to feel 'control' over their ad content; and VOD enables longer ad durations for greater story-telling opportunities. Interesting, indeed. More info here.

Research: More data re: kids in front of the screen. Common Sense Media says more than half (52%) of ALL children have access to a mobile device at home. AdWeek has a story with some awesome infographics. --- Congressional approval is at an all-time low. No one likes what's going on in D.C. these days… and, according to a new study, the federal gov't is the only sector that people dislike more than media. Ouch.

Deals: Bloomberg is reporting that Fox is closing in on a deal with Warner Bros. to stream the broadcaster's programs on the internet and mobile devices. The two-way deal would enable Warner Bros. to sell reruns of Fox shows to cable channels and other outlets. No comments have come from either side, but you can read the report here. --- Frontier signed a 3-year deal with AT&T to resell its wireless service. Bloomberg says the details haven't been worked out yet, but the agreement would see a Frontier-branded wireless service piggyback on AT&T's network.

Programming: Comedy Central signed a new deal to keep "South Park" on the air for another 3 seasons. The deal makes the Emmy and Peabody award-winning series the longest-running animated series on cable with 20 years. --- Discovery en Espanol will premiere "Apocalipsis Maya" on Dec. 4 highlighting ancient Mayan prophesies about the end of the world. Better watch before it's too late...

Retail: A new survey says almost half (46%) of U.S. adults say they're going to skip the whole Black Friday mayhem and wait for Cyber Monday to shop online. Reasons? As if there were any doubts, avoiding crowds, better deals and not paying for gas were all given as to why…

Tech: HDTV manufacturer Vizio received Popular Science's "Best of What's New" award for its M-series 3D HDTVs. --- In-browser subscriber data supplier PerfTech added support for IPv6 across its Bulletin System product lines. --- BendBroadband will deploy FourthWall Media's EBIF platform for Motorola STBs with integrated Rovi i-Guide for interactive TV services.

Up, Down & Over There: TalkTalk said it will test a trial of the YouView hybrid TV service in early 2012. The company has already invested $3.1M in YouView joining the venture's other partners BBC, ITV, BT and Arqiva. --- Freeview doesn't seem to care that 90% of the UK's TV viewers have gone digital… the terrestrial platform is launching a $28M ad campaign emphasizing a higher quality of content and that… um, it's free. Says BroadbandTV News: "Such a stance will not be lost on shareholder BSkyB, though partners BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Arqiva arguably have more to gain." --- Portugal Telecom said that within 3 years of launching its IPTV service Meo has garnered more than 1M subs.

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •