Media moghul Comcast plans to use protocol agnostic controls to manage online traffic. Comcast, a US cable provider, strives to appease global IPR parties by mediating broadband traffic via time-spaced analysis of internet usage.  As a result, the normally strengthened pipeline for information transfer is deemed as severely handicapped via this inevitable middleman. It thus comes as no surprise that “Comcast’s objective here is still largely to prioritize NON-peer-to-peer traffic above P2P sharing." Commentator Shaun Nichols writes that Comcast plans to use these deliberate traffic limits in order to prevent users from occupying large chunks of bandwidth with the use of P2P services. Comcast claims that online traffic will be analyzed every 15 minutes in order to rank users based on the amount of bandwidth each is occupying. Individuals who appear to be occupying large amounts of bandwidth will be placed at a lower priority for network access, inhibiting access to peer-to-peer applications. This compromise will be met with increased speed for web page viewing during peak access times, leaving non-peer-to-peer users at a general advantage as far as web surfing is concerned. Not to our surprise, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) found this to be an improvement over the ACTA’s (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) initial stringent regulatory stance on file sharing.
         The structure of my argument hinders upon the past and future implications of file sharing legislation. Considering that the middle man (in this case the service provider) is of central importance to the movement of information across the web, it makes for a nice standstill between the normally warring EFF and ACTA. However, the ACTA’s ability to recruit more providers across the country could force users to look elsewhere for alternative means of accessing information. Though this article addresses the role of internet providers in information transfer, it largely ignores the general transfer of information via Bluetooth and other external devices that can also be used in file sharing.

This article focuses on CBS’s measures to assure investors that it is prepared for the new digital age and will remain profitable even as the ways in which consumers consume media radically change. The broadcast network is focused on creating new revenue streams from video-on-demand, internet sites/portals, and more diverse program offerings on other channels that are not dependent on advertising (except in the internet case) and are more amenable to consumers’ new tendency to watch TV when and where they desire. Part of the problem that traditional broadcast networks have been having is that their content is regarded as having a different value for cable carriers than those stations that exist exclusively on their medium. This weakens broadcast newtorks’ bargaining position, for they are not regarded as having the same economic structure. In some senses, CBS (along with all other major networks) is seeking to change that by reconstructing its business model.

Important quotes:

“The shows will cost 99 cents each, and will be available in areas where CBS owns TV stations and Comcast provides digital cable. The deal bears some similarity to recent agreements NBC and ABC have struck with DirecTV and Apple Computer. All are meant to adapt the business model of a broadcast television network to changing technologies and viewer habits, and find additional ways to be paid, beyond the advertising that has been broadcasting's sole source of revenue."

"But unlike NBC and ABC, which reside inside the conglomerates General Electric and Walt Disney and have sizable cable network siblings, CBS has an extra incentive behind its digital hustle: the split-up of Viacom. The breakup will leave the CBS Television Network as the centerpiece of a new CBS Corporation, which will include 40 television stations, the UPN network, the radio group Infinity Broadcasting, Showtime, Simon & Schuster and the Paramount Television production business. The rest of the company, which includes the fast-growing MTV Networks cable channels, BET and the Paramount Pictures film studio, will continue under the Viacom name.”

This article focuses on the fallout of the infamous AOL Time Warner merger.  Even though it is a few years after the stock’s precipitous crash, the company is still having great difficulty reviving itself.  Its stock price has stagnated for the past few years, and recently the financier Carl Icahn has been taking a more aggressive position in trying to get the company to divest itself of some assets to begin a large ($20 billion) stock repurchasing plan.  A few months ago, rumor started spreading of a possible sale of AOL (or at least a portion of it) to another company.  The most probably candidates were Google, Comcast, Microsoft, or Yahoo.  This article focuses on the evolution of that process and gives an update that shows just how complicated these industry alliances can be.  It should be noted that this deal would be larger than most joint-ventures that large media conglomerates work on together.