Mari Silbey

Spectrum means money. Even the unlicensed kind. It's a rare thing to see FCC Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel in agreement with each other. But when it comes to unlicensed spectrum policy, the two are of like minds. Not only do…

After several years of failing to launch an IPTV service, Verizon now says it will partner with another OTT provider. In an astounding about-face, Verizon is abandoning plans to launch its own over-the-top live TV service, and instead says it will…

There's still a lot of ambivalence from operators around edge computing, and the killer app for many of them is anything that helps deliver more bits for less money. Edge computing came up repeatedly at last week's Big Communications Event. Intel VP…

Comcast deal uses smart home devices to lock down home insurance discounts for residential customers. More info about everything in your home for them, more discounts for you. Always intent on expanding its broadband-based revenue opportunities,…

Dr. Arianne Hinds doesn't shrink before skepticism. The CableLabs principal architect and futurist flat out announced that she's working on a new media format for glasses-free virtual reality, and didn't back down one iota when her fellow panelists…

And if so, what does a devil's bargain with Android TV mean? AT&T has confirmed that it will launch a premium over-the-top video service later this year, but it hasn't answered one fundamental question about how it will bring that service to market:…

Enemies no more. AT&T and the city of San Jose pulled off a major feat late last month. In a new agreement, the network operator agreed to pay the city approximately $5 million over a maximum 15-year period to access public assets like light poles…

Dry those tears. Completing a transition years in the making, Tivo has announced that it will now outsource the hardware portion of its retail DVR business. The set-top pioneer said in its latest quarterly earnings report that it has signed an…

Meanwhile, advocates in the Senate continue waging a public fight to keep net neutrality rules in place. The FCC has announced that the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, a ruling that rolls back net neutrality regulations put in place in 2015, will…

If Disney succeeds in its deal to acquire top media assets from 21st Century Fox, its stake in jointlyowned streaming company Hulu will jump from 30% to 60%, with such other investors as Comcast at 30% ownership and Time Warner at 10%. But how much…

Allegations of physical assault led New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to resign Monday night. In an extremely abrupt move, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman stepped down from his post Monday night amid accusations from several…

USTelecom, the lobby for the nation's largest telecom companies, claims to be sticking up for consumers as it attacks regulatory rate-setting. Once upon a time in 1996, Congress created requirements for telecommunications providers to unbundle…

The Sprint/T-Mobile deal complicates the cable MVNO universe. The prospect of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger is already causing waves throughout the wireless industry. And that includes not just the traditional carriers, but the cable providers entering…

The signs were clear before Cisco announced the sell-off of its Service Provider Video Software Solutions business earlier this week. In fiscal year 2017, Cisco managed to stem the unit's losses somewhat over time, but revenues still dropped…

No matter what you call it -- fog computing, reverse cloud, distributed intelligence -- there's no question that the network edge and its computing possibilities have come into sharp focus this year. Which is why it's no surprise that the new 2018…

The set-top is Comcast's primary consumer interface, but it's not the best tool for smart home control. Comcast has always gone against the grain with its X1 video platform. At a time when other cable operators were minimizing their set-top…

The cost of 5G deployments depends in part on the cost of pole attachment fees. As part of the working group efforts within the FCC's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), one subcommittee has collected data on telecom pole attachment rates…

Time to gaze into the crystal ball. In an environment that's changing as fast as the broadband access network, it's difficult for operators to build out upgrades today with any guarantee they'll still meet customer needs tomorrow. High-demand…

A new wireless partnership announced today between Comcast and Charter may offer a clue as to where the two cable companies are headed next. The companies say the platform will tie together back-end sales and support systems as well as logistics and…