•
Online:
The ultimate overbuild? Rumors have long bubbled below the surface
about cable ops marketing content out of their franchise markets via the
Web ... Now
Ad Age says
Microsoft (via Xbox Live),
Verizon and other companies are looking at the idea
here.
•
Analyze This: May 23rd is the
Liberty Media voting day for the
Liberty Starz and
Liberty Capital spinoff tracking stocks. ---
Citadel’s
Vijay Jayant adds
Liberty Global coverage with an ‘add’ and $50/share target. ---
Envivio filed for a $69M IPO.
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Rules & Regs:
ACA would like the
FCC to create a “fiscally responsible” broadband USF program ... without overbuilder $s.
•
Tech:
Seagate is buying
Samsung’s disk drive unit for $1.375B in cash and shares. ---
In-Stat says the migration from SD to HD helped global set-top box revenues to grow from 4Q09 of $5.3B to 4Q10 $5.7B. ---
Apple says
Samsung copied too much of its iPads.
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Sports:
NBC +
Versus gets the
NHL for 10 years for $2B; now, about those
Olympics.
•
Retail: A
DISH filing in the
Blockbuster bankruptcy sale indicates DISH will pick up the leases on about 600 of the Blockbuster retail stores ... meaning over a thousand will be shuttered.
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Up, Over & Down There: European net neutrality? EU will investigate ISPs over “traffic shaping” in ways that might harm consumers. ---
Fujitsu has unveiled a plan to build an FTTH network in rural parts of the UK.
•
Mobile: As
Sprint and
Clearwire have announced a wholesale agreement (finally),
Citadel’s
Shing Yin puts the wholesale ARPU at $6-7/month ... and Sprint will pay Clearwire about $1B over two years.
Bernstein Research’s
Craig Moffett’s quick take: “Sprint finally strikes a deal with Clearwire ... progress, perhaps ... but towards what?”
•
Spectrum: Our friend
David Lieberman, now at
deadline.com, takes look at the spectrum battle in “Who will blink first over TV spectrum? Obama Administration battles broadcasters”
here.
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More News in The Morning BRIDGE ... early tomorrow morning in your in-box.•
