AOL's Smart Patent Move – Aereo Winners/Losers – Whole Lotta Highs

Patents:  AOL is selling its patent portfolio and that, says the Business Insider's Henry Blodget, is "a very smart move."  That 800-patent portfolio is just ripe with opportunities for extortion (a la Yahoo's suit against Facebook), Blodget reasons.  But rather than risk a black eye as a blackmailer, AOL's move will let it reap a nice reward so someone else can do the blackmail.

Analyze This:  If Aereo's argument – that it does not stream broadcast channels but rather provides them over-the-air via leased equipment holds up in court – Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett sees several key outcomes:  Broadcasters could lose their retrans fee advantage ... but gain viewers as Aereo would serve up broadcast only; cable and satellite providers would win big with relief from those rising retrans rates; and the move to usage-based pricing for high-speed services could get a bump as Aereo would rely mainly on the cable infrastructure. 

Money & Markets:  Watch for a wave of TV station mergers as dollars from rising ads and retrans rates make the combos more attractive.  The latest to hit the auction block?  Newport Television, says Reuters.  --- The first "Hunger Games" film will bring in $310M in profit for Lionsgate, while the whole series will net $1.5B, James Marsh of Piper Jaffray told the LA Times. --- A soaring morning market brought a bouquet of intraday, 52-week highs to: CBS ($32.56);  Comcast ($30.25); Discovery ($48.92); IAC ($50.50); and TWC ($81.49).

Tech: DVD and Blu-Ray disc rentals topped $5.65B in 2011 say data crunchers at Rentrak.  Still 4Q11 DVD and Blu-ray rentals fell 21.3% y/y for the fourth quarter and, as noted in Friday's Morning BRIDGE, forecasters at IHS Screen Digest expect online film viewing to easily pass DVD and Blu-ray viewing this year. --- Hillcrest Labs – a pioneer in motion control that struck out in cable – has developed its cool tech for smartphones and tablets with accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes ... one back door way into a better remote control.

Up, Over & Under:  Apple says it will boost its investment in China after CEO Tim Cook met with various Chinese officials.  More from Bloomberg.

More news in The Morning BRIDGE ... first thing in your mailbox.•

 ... and while they’re at it – especially all those neighborhood watchers in Florida – listen to Johnny Cash’s “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” 24/7 for a week. Click here to watch and listen. 

Too many of today’s politicians didn’t grow up watching Bat Masterson, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel or any of a hundred thousand western movies.

Guns got checked either at the edge of town or the saloon door.

Or chaos reigned.

So why is America learning those lessons all over again?

Meanwhile, (1) time for target practice with my M-79 grenade launcher (it was quite a feat to ship it home from Saigon undetected).  It was more than merely useful in Southeast Asia.  Don’t know if I’ll carry it around in the US, though.  Could move to a state with automatic concealed weapon OKs ... hard to conceal it.  Bummer.  Makes quite a deterrent at the shopping mall or church anyway.

Meanwhile (2) we got a couple good suggestions for HBO’s 40th ... so let’s ask for more than sports ... if you’ve got anything from HBO’s history, send it to The Cable Center.

Meanwhile (3) thinking ahead to May and Boston ... if anyone out there might like to be a sponsor for the 46th Annual Cable TV Pioneers Dinner, send me a note and we’ll follow-up (like real quick) ... max@mediabiz.com.

Meanwhile (4) our old friend Steve Symonds (got a bet with him about Manning v. Tebow) rightly points out Aereo compared to Radio Shack as an argument for the courts won’t fly ... the contrast is too apparent ... Radio Shack sells an antenna for a fee ... Aereo might argue it is just “selling” (leasing?) an antenna but that’s not the business model; rather the business model is cheating copyright holders out of any compensation ... also known as stealing.

Meanwhile (5) we don't have MediaCensus around here anymore ... it is off to SNL Financial's SNL Kagan unit and is in good hands.  Our quarterly, The BRIDGE, will be featuring "their" real numbers next quarter ... look for it soon.

Meanwhile (6) this week is Ski-TAM in Vail ... one of the best schmooze-fests and the best use of funds (for the Adaptive Ski Team) ... another of cable's under-appreciated (except by the Adaptive Ski Team) accomplishments for the good of others.

Meanwhile (7) The Wall Street Journal reported today that "Ratings Take Slide on Cable" ... not necessarily.  The article notes that, while many traditional leading channels declined, some not accustomed to being leaders gained.  Cable built its quiver of channels by creating genre-based channels.  MSO "programmers" didn't buy programs, they bought channels.  Then along came original hits on some channels ... the inevitable result is another "hits-driven" business ... that means – just ask the music, movie and "program" business – ups and downs.•