New Investment By Goldman And DST Values Facebook At $50 Billion
If Facebook ever does make it to an IPO, it looks like Goldman Sachs has acquired the banking equivalent of a golden ticket. The NYT reporte… Read more »
FCC Chairman Supports Comcast-NBCU Merger — With Strings
The Comcast-NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) merger won’t close in 2010 but the regulatory process got a boost today from FCC Chairman Julius Genach… Read more »
Skype: Down But Not Out
photo: Flickr / dominiekth
The internet telephony service Skype got a good deal out of the net neutrality vote earlier this week, with the FCC deciding that Skype and… Read more »
Comcast-NBCU Tell Staffs Deal Won’t Close This Year
Looks like Jeff Zucker will still be running NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) when the new year rolls around. Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) and NBCU told th… Read more »
FTC’s New Chief Technologist Lays Out The Limits Of ‘Do Not Track’
photo: flickr / Joe Hall
There’s already been plenty of speculation about what the Federal Trade Commission’s “Do Not Track” proposal will mean for online publishers… Read more »
Net Neutrality: The Mobile Takeaway
photo: AP / Harry Hamburg
My colleague Joe Mullin has done a thorough read of the key issues in today’s FCC vote on net neutrality. The bulk of decision-making seemed… Read more »
FCC Pushes Through Net Neutrality–And Draws Fire From Right And Left
photo: AP / Harry Hamburg
In case anyone was still in doubt just how much Republicans dislike FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Net Neutrality plans, this morning’s h… Read more »
EC OKs News Corp’s Sky Bid, Saying People Don’t Want Bundled Media Anyway
The European Commission’s antitrust investigators say competition would not be weakened if News Corp (NSDQ: NWS) buys the 60.9 percent of UK… Read more »
Mozilla CEO: ‘Do Not Track’ Option Will Be In Firefox 4
First Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and now Mozilla. One by one, web browser companies are revealing their plans for beefed-up privacy settings. Read more »
FCC Set To Approve Net Neutrality Rules
Net neutrality has been talked about in tech circles for years, and now the government is finally going to act. New rules proposed by the FC… Read more »
Level 3 Escalates Dispute With Comcast, Tries To Block NBCU Merger
photo: Corbis
Level 3 has raised the stakes in its dispute with Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) over payments for broadband connections. In a letter to the FCC, it… Read more »
Telefonica, Orange, Verizon Hope To Win The Next Round In Mobile Content
photo: Claudio Gennari
The smartphone revolution, as led by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), has given us a whole new way to consume mobile content, in the form of apps. The pr… Read more »
Qualcomm Sells FLO TV Wireless Spectrum to AT&T For Nearly $2 Billion
photo: Tricia Duryee
Last June, Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) CEO Paul Jacobs described the ultimate exit path if wireless TV service FLO TV didn’t turn around: “Say the… Read more »
It’s Hard To Opt Out Of Behavioral Targeting? Really? Our Experiment
photo: Corbis / Jane Marinsky
The Federal Trade Commission’s recent report on privacy offered a pretty damning indictment of the ad industry’s efforts to give consumers a… Read more »
More Consolidation In Mobile Content: Livewire Buys Fonestarz
More consolidation among mobile content players: LiveWire Mobile, a U.S.-based company that sells music and related content like ringback to… Read more »
As Regulatory Scrutiny Intensfies, Ad Targeter eXelate Adds To Second Round
The behavioral targeting business is looking as challenged as it ever has these days, considering the recent developments coming out of Wash… Read more »
France Says Google Is Main Cause Of News Publishers’ Woes
French authorities have finally got some kind of ruling against Google (NSDQ: GOOG) – but it turns out to be rather toothless.
The competit… Read more »
Local TV: Freeview First, IPTV Later, No Certainty Of Success
Freeview should be used as an initial “transitional platform” to carry local TV services in a handful of areas, until they can flourish all… Read more »
Comcast’s ‘Xcalibur’ Seeks The Edge On Google TV
Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) is testing a new set-top box that would bring together Web and TV programming, reports The Wall Street Journal. Little… Read more »
Will Angry Birds Make Mobile Operators Happy?
photo: Rovio
Angry Birds, the quirky mobile game that’s become a flyaway success in all app stores where it has built a nest, is on course for a new dire… Read more »
Microsoft Joins A Coalition Against A Google-ITA Tie-Up
photo: Corbis / Scott Barrow
Not really a surprise, but noteworthy nonetheless: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is joining a growing coalition of companies that are publicly oppo… Read more »
UK Flexes Its Muscles On Paid Blog And Tweet Disclosure
The Office of Fair Trading has fired a shot across the bows of marketing companies that buy blog posts and tweets for sponsored promotions w… Read more »
Comcast Nixed Metered Pricing. But What About Time Warner Cable?
photo: Flickr / katerha
Earlier this week, Comcast Corp. (NSDQ: CMCSA) president Neil Smit stated pretty emphatically it had no plan to institute usage-based broadb… Read more »
Mobile Discovery: Shazam Finds 100m Users. Has It Found Money, Too?
photo: ryoichitanaka
A milestone reached by mobile music discovery service Shazam: the company says it has come good on its promise and reached 100,000 users, pi… Read more »
Nokia’s N8, Windows Phone 7 In Europe: Slow Burners or Burned Out?
Not a great stat if you’re a Windows or Nokia (NYSE: NOK) fan in the Old World and are hoping for some momentum behind your favorite platfor… Read more »
Who Would Suffer The Most (And Least) Under Do Not Track
photo: Corbis / Chat Roberts
While many major publishers, ad networks and ad agencies have been united in their opposition to the idea of a FTC’s “Do Not Track” button,… Read more »
House Republicans Give Chilly Reception To ‘Do Not Track’ Idea
Congress weighed in for the first time today on the FTC’s plan for a Do Not Track option for web browsing, and key Republicans weren’t exact… Read more »
FTC Is In Talks With Adobe About The ‘Flash Problem’
photo: Adobe
Updated with response from Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE). So-called Flash cookies-chunks of data embedded in the Adobe Flash Player on internet users’… Read more »
FCC’s Net Neutrality Proposal: The Mobile Takeaway
photo: AP / Harry Hamburg
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski today laid out the FCC’s position on net neutrality ahead of a vote later this… Read more »
FTC: Advertisers Can’t Self-Regulate, Consumers Need ‘Do Not Track’ Option
photo: Corbus / Mike Theiler
The FTC released extensive privacy guidelines today [PDF], urging Congress to create a “Do Not Track” option for internet users, saying that… Read more »
Privacy Advocates Call FTC Ad-Tracking Regulations ‘Only A Start’
Privacy advocates had some muted praise for the Federal Trade Commission’s call for a “Do Not Track” tool to be applied as a persistent sett… Read more »
No Blocking Allowed: FCC Lays Out Net Neutrality Proposal
photo: AP / Harry Hamburg
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski gave an overview this morning of his proposal to preserve “a free and open int… Read more »
Proposed FCC Net Rules Would Cripple Video Consumption
FCC commissioner Julius Genachowski has finally put together proposed network neutrality regulations, and made good on his intent to protect… Read more »
Web Could Convince Ofcom To Approve Local Media Consolidation
Last month, BSkyB told Ofcom that its takeover by News Corp (NSDQ: NWS) should be approved because, in the online age, even News Corp doesn’… Read more »
Were Level 3′s Charges Against Comcast Overblown?
photo: Corbis
Yesterday, Level 3 created a stir by accusing Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) of violating net neutrality. Today, the row between the two companies is… Read more »
FCC Endorses Using Broadcast Spectrum For Mobile
photo: AP / Harry Hamburg
Another small advance in the question of what will happen with unused spectrum currently owned by broadcasters: today the FCC voted unanimou… Read more »
Google Faces A Serious And Multi-Pronged EC Competition Probe
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is about to get its most significant scrutiny yet by the European Commission, whose antitrust department is opening a fo… Read more »
Comcast Squeezes Money From Level 3 For Streaming Video
photo: AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac
Skeptics have called the idea of net neutrality “a solution in search of a problem,” suggesting that when supporters of the concept are pres… Read more »
New Pew Stats To Fuel Net Neutrality Fans
photo: 1suisse
With network neutrality poised to make a potential return to Capitol Hill, the latest surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center will be s… Read more »
How The FCC Could Ruin Republicans’ Thanksgiving
photo: Tricia Duryee
Just last week Google (NSDQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt pronounced network neutrality dead for the year. Shows you what he knows. Read more »
