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Verizon's $3.6 billion spectrum deal: Who wins and who loses?

Verizon Wireless' move to buy 20MHz of AWS wireless spectrum from cable operators has caused a seismic shift in the wireless industry.

The deal announced today will give Verizon access to spectrum licenses that cover about 259 million potential customers. The company plans to pay the cable consortium SpectrumCo--which consists of Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House Networks--$3.6 billion for the spectrum licenses.

In a market where wireless operators are all jockeying for more spectrum resources, Verizon has scored a major win by taking a huge swath of unused spectrum for itself. Spectrum is the lifeblood of the … Read more

Comcast, Time Warner preparing to bid farewell to Clearwire

Cable providers Comcast and Time Warner Cable will stop reselling Clearwire's 4G wireless service following their agreement to hand off their unused mobile spectrum to Verizon Wireless for $3.6 billion, CNET has learned.

Part of the Verizon deal gives the cable companies the right to resell Verizon's wireless service, which will become the cable providers' exclusive partner once the spectrum aspect of the agreement goes through, said Time Warner Cable spokesman Alexander Dudley.

Both companies will slowly wind down their Clearwire business over the next six months, and plan to move their existing customers to other options. … Read more

Verizon Wireless nabs cable's wireless spectrum for $3.6B

Verizon Wireless will acquire a swath of spectrum that cable providers have been sitting on, bolstering its own position even as its competitors scramble for more of the limited resource.

In a joint announcement today, Verizon said it would pay $3.6 billion to Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks--collectively known as SpectrumCo--to get what's known as AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum. The deal also includes the option for Verizon to sell cable service in its stores and for the cable companies to get access to the wireless network on a wholesale basis.

The deal underscores the … Read more

Competition and a weak economy plague cable TV

Cable TV is not dead, but its audience isn't growing either.

Cable operators all over the country have been steadily and slowly losing TV subscribers quarter after quarter. A year ago, some people wondered if Internet TV services like Netflix and Hulu were attracting so-called cord cutters. But Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein, thinks there are other forces at work.

Increased competition from satellite and phone companies offering TV service is the main reason that cable operators are losing TV subscribers. But the sluggish economy is also contributing to the malaise.

"The category itself isn't … Read more

Comcast falls short of earnings targets

Comcast lost fewer video customers than Wall Street expected, but fell short of earnings targets for the third quarter.

The cable and media giant reported third-quarter net income of $908 million, or 33 cents a share, on revenue of $14.34 billion. The results included NBC Universal. Wall Street was looking for earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $14.25 billion. Comcast blamed swings in investment income for the miss.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Comcast results is that cable continues to carry the team’s bottom line. The cable unit delivered third-quarter revenue of $9.… Read more

Xbox TV deal no solution for cable cutters

commentary Microsoft just turned Xbox into the Swiss Army Knife of cable boxes.

Forget calling Xbox a game console. That doesn't go far enough. Microsoft today announced licensing deals with 40 television content suppliers, including Comcast, HBO, Verizon and even Vevo, a music-video service.

Microsoft can tell consumers, any kind of entertainment you want--games, movies, music--we got it. One important caveat: the price isn't cheap. To watch shows from HBO or Comcast on the Xbox, you have to subscribe to those services.

If you're one of the cost-conscious people who railed against Netflix after the Web's … Read more

Microsoft looking into Xbox TV service, report says

Microsoft is said to be planning a Web-based pay-TV service that it can build onto its Xbox Live platform.

The software company is in talks with two dozen content companies, as well as Comcast and Verizon Communications, according to a Bloomberg report. The menu of programming will include music, movies, sports, and TV shows.

Last week, the blog Digiday, citing anonymous sources, reported that Microsoft was nearing a deal with Comcast that would allow Xbox 360 owners to sign up for the cable provider's service and watch its programming from the game console. CNET blogger Don Reisinger wrote, "… Read more

The 404 909: Where we get evicted out of Starbucks (podcast)

Walk into any Starbucks and you'll see the usual Internet leeches sipping on $5 cups of coffee, but not all of them are shopping for designer handbags on eBay or checking the scores from last night's game--sometimes you'll see a student working on homework because his or her family can't afford broadband Internet access at home.

For these individuals, Comcast is offering discounted monthly Internet plans for $9.95 a month with its new Internet Essentials Program. Participating families of three must quality for the national free lunch program and make less than $24,000 a year, which also allows access to discounted computers from Microsoft, Dell, and Acer for just $159.

On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, we'll also tell you about a first-person shooter game coming out of Australia that does away with firearms and instead puts you in the eyes of a photojournalist embedded in a war zone.

The game is called Warco, which stands for "war correspondent," and the object of the game is to film conflicts and create a story from start to finish alongside other journalists covering the same story.

It's up to you to choose which side should be framed as evil and good since there's no obvious protagonist, but we're doubtful that mainstream gamers are willing to forego a gun for a camera, especially since part of the game involves editing the footage you shot earlier.

Next, we'll chat about a gang that used 3D printers to produce their own ATM skimmers. For those unaware, skimmers consist of a plastic card acceptance slot that fits over the ATM machine and can read the data stored on any card's magnetic stripe, while a pinhole camera next to the ATM key pad records the associating code.

Making clever use of a 3D printer in action, a group of four men from South Texas are currently serving time in Houston for stealing over $400,000 between August 2009 and June of this year. It's unclear whether the men built their own 3D printer or bought one online, but KrebsonSecurity.com speculates that a high end device costing anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 would do the job. Don't get any ideas.

We've got a handful of voice mails to play after the break, and Mickey Mouse pays us another visit, so if you want to be heard on the show, phone us up at 1-866-404-CNET and tell us what's up!

The 404 Digest for Episode 909

Warco: an FPS where you hold a camera instead of a gun. Comcast offers cheap broadband to poor families. Facebook employee leaks music service details on Twitter. Gang used 3D printers for ATM skimmers.

Episode 909 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Comcast offers cheap broadband to poor families

Cable giant Comcast is making good on its promise to help the U.S. boost broadband adoption rates and eliminate the so-called digital divide by offering poor families more affordable broadband.

The company announced today its Internet Essentials program that will target low-income families with school-age children and help them get connected to the Internet by offering a combination of discounted broadband service, low-cost computers, and free training programs to teach people how to use the technology.

The company kicked off the program at Ballou High School in the District of Columbia. David Cohen, an executive vice president at Comcast, … Read more