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Weekly Update September 14, 2012

Legislative and Political

Judge throws out Walker's union bargaining law

Gov. Scott Walker's law repealing most collective bargaining for local and school employees was struck down by a Dane County judge Friday, yet another dramatic twist in a year and a half saga that likely sets up another showdown in the Supreme Court. The law remains largely in force for state workers, but for city, county and school workers the decision by Dane County Judge Juan Colas returns the law to its status before Walker signed the legislation in March 2011. Colas ruled that the law violated workers' constitutional rights to free speech, free association and equal representation under the law by capping union workers' raises but not those of their nonunion counterparts. The judge also ruled that the law violated the "home rule" clause of the state constitution by setting the contribution for City of Milwaukee employees to the city pension system rather than leaving it to the city and workers. The decision could still be overturned on appeal - the Supreme Court has already restored the law once in June 2011 after it was blocked by a different Dane County judge in a different case earlier that year.

Quick appeal expected in collective bargaining case

A Dane County judge's ruling striking down many limits on collective bargaining for public workers will likely be appealed quickly and could go straight to a showdown on a divided, but often conservative-leaning state Supreme Court. What is less clear is whether the state's highest court will repeat last year's decision when the justices restored the collective bargaining law after it had been struck down following a very different challenge. Last year's case required the justices to decide whether lawmakers violated the open meetings law when they passed the collective bargaining measure, but the current case "is much more fundamental," said Janine Geske, a former state Supreme Court justice, now a distinguished professor of law at Marquette University. Geske said the prior case looked at the process followed, while Friday's ruling by Judge Juan Colas focuses on whether the law violated the constitutional rights of people who belong to unions - a question likely to have broad repercussions.

Baldwin to debate Thompson 3 times, campaign says

Democrat Tammy Baldwin and Republican Tommy Thompson have agreed to three debates before the Nov. 6 general election. The candidates will debate Sept. 28, Oct. 18 and Oct. 26. Each of the debates will be broadcast statewide. The first debate on Sept. 28 is sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation and will be in Milwaukee. The second debate in Wausau on Oct. 18 will be sponsored by Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and TMJ4. The third and final debate will be Oct. 26 hosted by Mike Gousha from WISN-TV in Milwaukee in partnership with the Marquette University Law School.

Ryan focuses on taxes, spending in Ashwaubenon

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan sure knows how to play up home-field advantage. From a quick and decisive "Go Packers" to ticking off the names of local technical colleges, the congressman from Janesville was at ease Wednesday during a town-hall meeting in front of 1,500 supporters. He even referred to a Milwaukee talk- radio host, Charlie Sykes, crediting him for using the term OPM - Other People's Money. "You've got to stop the OPM mind-set," Ryan said of government spending. "It's not other people's money." But the appearance at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center wasn't merely designed to show off Ryan's Wisconsin roots. He and the GOP were in search of voters and volunteers in Brown County, a key electoral battlefield in tight races. Recent polls have shown President Barack Obama has a narrow lead in Wisconsin over GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In introducing Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker reminded the audience that Republicans haven't won Wisconsin in a presidential race since 1984. "It's pretty nice to have a cheesehead on the ticket," Walker said.

Biden aims for young voters in talk at UW-Eau Claire

Playing to a younger audience, Vice President Joe Biden stressed differences Thursday between the presidential campaigns on education, college debt and entitlement programs more in doubt for future generations. The education emphasis during a stop at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire figures into the campaign's newfound urgency to protect a state the Democratic ticket of Biden and Barack Obama won with ease in 2008. Younger voters were a key part of their victory. Speaking to a crowd estimated by local fire officials at 3,000 people, Biden highlighted tax credits, grant programs and other moves by the Obama administration to defray college costs and increase spending that schools could use to hire more teachers. He portrayed Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan as hostile to those programs.

Regulatory and Industry

FCC Appears to Have Scrapped Broadband Funding Proposal

Hillicon Valley is reporting that the FCC apparently has scrapped the idea of including broadband services in the base of telco revenues against which funding for its broadband Universal Service program, known as the Connect America Fund, would be collected. A spokesperson for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told Hillicon Valley the commission proposed the approach at the suggestion of Republican commissioners and members of Congress and that Genachowski was always skeptical of the idea. Robert McDowell, the only Republican on the commission when the proposal was made earlier this year, told the reporter he never suggested taxing broadband Internet access.

FCC to vote on auction of unused broadcasting spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates the US communications industry, is to vote this month on whether to proceed with an auction of unused spectrum currently held by TV broadcasters. Under the latest proposal, the spectrum would be made available for wireless broadband use, as outlined in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, while broadcasters would receive a share of the auction proceeds. The proposal has already won the support of Congress and the FCC’s approval could allow an auction to happen as soon as 2014. The stumbling block may be the TV broadcasters, some of which have previously voiced objections to the proposed spectrum sale. Telergee: Small Telco Operating Margins Increase after Multi-Year Decline

The nation’s smallest telephone companies saw their operating margins increase by 5.3% in 2011 to an average of 10.3%, reversing a downward trend they experienced in 2009 and 2010, according to a comprehensive financial study of the small telco industry completed recently by the Telergee Alliance. The alliance, comprised of several accounting firms with a specialty in small telcos, has been conducting the study, known as the Telergee Benchmarking Study, for several years. After sharing the report previously with Connected Planet, a telecom news website that ceased operation at the end of 2011, the Telergee Alliance shared this year’s results with Telecompetitor. In last year’s report and in the report from one year earlier, small telcos saw their margins increase on the non-regulated side, but not enough to make up for declining margins on the regulated side, where telcos have experienced erosion of their traditional voice business. But this year small telcos saw margins increase on both the regulated and non-regulated side.

Muni-telco failure: UTOPIA is Broke

We have written extensively about UTOPIA, a government-owned network in Utah that serves several communities in the state. Earlier this year, the state legislature received a dire warning about the system’s finances. Today, it seems UTOPIA was worse off than we thought. (The report received by the legislature revealed UTOPIA has “negative net assets of more than $120 million …”) On Sept. 1 the state’s Standard-Examiner newspaper reported the publicly-owned network would run out of operating funds by the end of September. According to Kurt Sudweeks, UTOPIA’s chief financial officer, the system could tap a $65 million bond for operating funds beyond September. Managers also said they could tap funds from the federal stimulus bill passed in 2009 and that revenues for construction could be repurposed to cover operating costs.

TDS Hosted and Managed Services brings ReliaCloud to Minnesota

TDS Hosted and Managed Services (TDS HMS) on Wednesday announced that it's now offering its ReliaCloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud solution to Minnesota businesses. Offered through its VISI TDS HMS unit, the ReliaCloud solution, which leverages Cisco, EMC and VMware platforms, is located in the telco's Tier III data centers in Eden Prairie, Minn., Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa. ReliaCloud allows customers to configure their cloud services in a public, private, or hybrid environment. The new service also complies with various vertical market segment regulations, including PCI, HIPAA, and GLBA.

There's still plenty of gold in existing copper networks

Extending fiber to every premise may be the endgame for service providers, but the reality is that many operators with existing copper networks can't financially justify that approach for either businesses or residential customers. To tackle the disparity, service providers are often opting for Fiber to the Home (FTTH)/Fiber to the Building (FTTB) in new neighborhoods, and a hybrid copper/fiber approach via Fiber to the Node (FTTN) or Fiber to the Curb/Cabinet (FTTC) in existing neighborhoods.

Broadband and Internet

Homecloud Hopes to Capitalize on Consumer Cloud, Digital Home

Cloud services are primarily the domain of the SMB and Enterprise sector, but as this important trend begins to mature, cloud services are increasingly finding their way to the consumer market and the digital home. Apple, Amazon, and Google are leading this charge with their cloud offers to manage the digital assets of their customers. Consumer electronics manufacturers are now beginning to catch this consumer cloud services wave and Westell’s launch of Homecloud is a great example of this movement. Westell describes Homecloud as a Digital Home Manager (DHM). It is a piece of hardware that integrates a wireless router, a network hub, and an application server, into a single device.

Where the Free Press Got it Wrong on Broadband “Tax”

I don’t always agree with the Free Press. But even when my interpretation of facts differs, I’ve usually found the information the group puts forth to be credible – that is until a recent op-ed piece titled “Taxing Broadband – An Idea Whose Time has Not Come,” that ran on the Ars Technica site. In the piece, the Free Press research director argues that the high-cost Universal Service program, which helps cover part of the cost of delivering communications services to rural areas, is a “corporate slush fund.” To back up his position, he cites two studies that have been demonstrated to be inaccurate.

Cellular and Wireless

State Patrol tackles texting while driving

The Wisconsin State Patrol is tackling texting while driving with a series of events at high schools around the state. The patrol is teaming up with AAA and AT&T to hold the events this fall at high schools in various cities including La Crosse, Burlington, Racine, Madison, Eau Claire and Wausau. Wisconsin state law prohibits all drivers from texting or emailing while operating a motor vehicle. It is a primary offense, which means police can stop drivers solely for texting or emailing. Fines are up to $400. Wisconsin is one of 37 states with such a law. The high school events will feature a distracted driver simulator meant to show the effects of texting while behind the wheel.

Windows Phone 8: What Microsoft Needs To Compete

Microsoft may never have a better opportunity to gain share in the hotly competitive smartphone market than it does right now with Windows Phone 8. And it's not because the upcoming Microsoft platform is good enough to compete against Apple and Google, although it is. Nor is it because the just-unveiled smartphones from Nokia and Samsung are competitive, which they seem to be. All else being equal, those two things are enough to give Windows Phone 8 a place in the race. But they're not enough to change the standings. The momentum for the smartphone juggernauts is far too great.

The iPhone 5 and LTE: What it means for you

The iPhone 5 is Apple's first mobile handset that uses new "LTE" wireless networks. What's LTE —and why should you care? Here are some answers.

IPTV and Video

CBS plans to rake in big bucks in retransmission consent fees

When AT&T U-verse recently signed agreements with CBS it said it would bring customers "more value with high quality and compelling content." It didn't say it was wittingly or unwittingly contributing a piece to a monetary retransmission fund pie that the Big Eye Network anticipates will reach $1 billion annually. CBS and other broadcasters have for some time used retransmission fees--the money they charge MVPDs for the ability to carry their signals on their programming lineups--as a way to allay an advertising erosion that is blamed, to an extent, on the explosion of different channels seeking viewer attention and advertising dollars. Even CBS, best known as a broadcaster, included more than its network channel in the deal with U-verse. Also, part of the retransmission packages are pay TV network Showtime (which collects money on its own from both MVPDs and subscribers), The Smithsonian Channel and The CBS Sports Network.

Report: Big Jump in Video Viewing on Tablets for Older Americans

Older Americans increasingly are watching TV shows and movies on tablets. The number of Americans 55 and older who use tablets to do so on a weekly basis has skyrocketed in the last year, while usage among U.S. tablet owners under 46 has plateaued, according to new research results from Altman Vilandrie & Co. and Research Now. Survey results show that 19% of tablet owners aged 55 and up are watching movies and TV shows via tablets on a weekly basis in 2012. That compares to 11% last year. The number of tablet owners aged 45-54 doing so increased from 15% in 2011 to 24% this year. The actual number of all older viewers—tablet owners and non-tablet owners— watching TV shows and movies via tablets weekly more than tripled since last year. Their numbers still amount to a small percentage of total tablet TV and movie viewers, however, according to survey results.