On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported ESPN is in talks with at least one wireless carrier about the possibility of subsidizing bandwidth fees of users viewing sporting events and videos via their mobile phone.
On Monday, the Senate voted to take up the Marketplace Fairness Act, the bill that would force Internet retailers to begin collecting sales tax on purchases made online. Currently, Internet retailers have no obligation to collect sales tax, as the process would be a burdensome and arduous task, on both the businesses and consumers. The Senate could take a full vote later this week.
The Federal Trade Commission dropped their investigation of Google over its business practices on Thursday.
The shortage of spectrum in the wireless market is no secret. It’s been written about ad nauseam, including by me and many others at the American Consumer Institute.
This past Friday, in a 5-0 vote, the FCC gave approval to begin the process of conducting incentivized spectrum auctions. This has been in the works for months, triggered by the Jobs Act that was passed earlier this year that allowed the FCC to start exploring the option to conduct the auctions.
Last month, Google made a big announcement of a new service that they’ll be offering. Known as Google Fiber, it is a consumer broadband service that promises Internet speeds of up to 100 times faster than current consumer Internet speeds. The new service will also offer cable service, giving subscribers a full cable line-up in addition to their Internet service.
