Study: U.S. Broadband 'Leveling Off'

Marking the two-year anniversary of the FCC's National Broadband Plan, a new study suggests that home broadband adoption in the United States remains approximately the same as it was in 2009... This despite the major increase in smartphone penetration.

According to TechNet, a bipartisan policy network of tech executives, government and private sector broadband interests have successfully worked together to address emerging policy infrastructure. However, the group says, their combined efforts have suffered from "insufficient coordination and a lack of clear strategy" to produce real results.

As such, the group now says, 65% of Americans had broadband in their homes in 2009, but by the fall of 2011, only 68% had adopted the high-speed technology. TechNet says taken in its entirety, the National Broadband Plan helped create a framework for improving the country's broadband environment, but the adoption rate has not changed very much since the plan went into effect.

"Unless policymakers and private sector stakeholders take action to improve our understanding of the important broadband adoption initiatives under the NBP and the stimulus bill, we're risking second class status the the U.S. broadband ecosystem," said NetTech President & CEO Rey Ramsey.

NetTech says since the NBP was announced, there has been a "great deal of dynamism" in communications technology. Citing recent Pew Research data showing nearly half (46%) of American adults in Feb. 2012 having smartphones - up from 17% in 2009 - the group says broadband adoption has severely lagged.

"It took roughly 9 years for 50% of Americans to subscribe to broadband at home. If we date the beginning of the smartphone era to the release of the iPhone in mid-2007, smartphones will hit the halfway mark in only 5 years," the group's study says. "To take another point of comparison, home broadband adoption grew from 37% to 47% in two years' time (2005 to 2007), while smartphones have traveled that path in just 10 months." •

CableLabs: 'Sleep-Mode' Saves 20%

Digital set-top boxes being deployed by the U.S. cable industry this year are projected to offer energy savings of at least 20% or more when the devices shift into a newly-developed "light-sleep" mode, says new research from CableLabs. The non-profit research firm says six of the nation's largest cable operators, serving about 85% of cable HHs, have committed to incorporating the energy-saving function into their STBs by September 2012... some of which have already been deployed.

According to recent measurements from CableLabs, the new set-tops show significant improvement in overall power consumption when using the new "light sleep" software. The group says due to the new functionality, more than 10M installed DVRs will now use between 20% and 30% less energy saving consumers more than $44M per year in electricity costs. CableLabs said "light sleep" refers to a lower-power setting that allows units to continue essential activities while limiting energy usage associated with operating tasks, such as channel tuning and video display.

In addition, CableLabs says by the end of 2013, at least 90% of all new set-top boxes purchased by the cable industry will be Energy Star 3.0-certified. •

New Content at Google TV – Dreadful Year for James – Premium Gains

Online:  Among the new content popping up on Google TV: A Yupp TV suite offering 60 live Indian TV and VOD channels in multiple regional languages; plus the Euronews network which is available in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian. --- ABC Family has an exclusive DVD deal with Amazon, offering "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" via Amazon’s CreateSpace on Demand service.

People:  James Murdoch is having a very, very bad year as the U.K. phone hacking scandal has cost him his position atop News Corp's UK publishing group, News International, his position on the boards of Sotheby's and GlaxoSmithKline Plc and – potentially – his position on the News Corp. board itself.  In the latest call for the younger Murdoch's head, investment heavyweight (more than $200B in assets for union-sponsored pension funds) CtW Investment Group says independent directors should vote him off the board.  More from Bloomberg. ---  More shakeup at Cablevision as former AT&T SVP Gregory McCastle steps in as president, Cablevision Media Sales.  Before joining AT&T, McCastle held advertising sales positions with Westwood One, The Weather Channel, Sony International and News Corp's News Digital Media and Fox Sports Net businesses.  Former CVC media sales head David Kline will be leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. --- When Cisco completes its acquisition of NDS, CEO Dave Harbinger will be headed for the door, says Broadband TV News. --- Former AOL entertainment and video honcho Kerry Trainor is the new CEO at video site Vimeo. 

Gov't:  FCC chairman Julius Genachowski says repacking TV channels won't cut into broadcasters' ability to offer mobile DTV.  Speaking at a House Financial Services and General Gov't subcommittee hearing, he said the FCC is seeking to boost innovative uses of spectrum.

Programming:  Full-premium networks gained nearly 2.2M units during 4Q11, say analysts at SNL Kagan.  Particular standouts were Showtime and Starz, up 700K and 595K respectively. --- Turmoil at Discovery's OWN continues as 30 staffers (20% of the work force) have received pink slips while various Discovery honchos have moved into key positions.  Can the network be saved?  So far Discovery is down about $300M on OWN ... and while ratings have been improving they're reportedly still lower than those earned by Discovery Health, the network OWN replaced. --- In yet another face off of giants, USA Today reports that season to date, Disney Channel ratings among kids 2 to 11 "inched up 1%, while Nick's plummeted 22%."  It's a good look at how the duo are girding for battle amid the Popsicle set. --- ESPN scored big (again) with the Sports Emmy Award nominations, garnering 52 across its platforms for 2011. 

Analyze This: Disney said that it could lose up to $200M on its latest feature film "John Carter" ... and by extension $80M-$120M for the studio on the quarter. However, says Bernstein Research's Todd Juenger, investors should 'write-off' the write-off. "No future harm is expected to the theatrical or other segments, and no change is being made to our investment thesis in DIS," the analyst writes. "If the stock trades down on the news, we see it as an opportunity to add to long positions." Juenger gave Disney an 'outperform' rating with a price target of $50. (We thought the movie was pretty darn good, btw.) -mc  (Reprinted from yesterday's Evening BRIDGE.)

Battles:  It's starting to look like TWC v. News Corp's Fox Sports in the battle for the LA Dodgers.  Could be a "multi-billion dollar showdown," says Reuters.

Spectrum: Will the LightSquared-GPS interference problems come to haunt Charlie Ergen's spectrum-rich DISH Network?  Nope, says Bloomberg, the spectrum is well insulated.  And, should Charlie want to sell it, Barclays Capital analyst James Ratcliffe estimates it at a worth of ~$7.3B. 

More news in The Evening BRIDGE ... in your mailbox, after the Bell.•