Also Noted: Spotlight On... Submarine cables face increased risks of accidents, attacks, political instability
NAMIC announces Vision Awards nominees; Charter using Cologix data center for IP peering and much more... The Contenders: Municipal fiber providers meeting or beating the incumbent competition
 In this installment of The Contenders, we take a look at five standout municipal broadband providers. Just a few years ago, municipal broadband looked like a long shot to many communities. State or local regulations, legal challenges by established broadband providers, and a shaky economy were among the hurdles that communities had to surmount to bring affordable, high-speed service to businesses and residents. But times appear to be changing... Check out our new feature  Follow @FierceCable on Twitter!
News From the Fierce Network:
1. Research: Almost half of viewers watch the entire online video ad
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Today's Top News 1. Google Fiber to take on Comcast in Provo, Utah
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) said Wednesday afternoon that it plans to expand its Google Fiber service to Provo, Utah, where it would compete with incumbent cable MSO Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). The Internet giant announced a deal with Provo Mayor John Curtis to purchase iProvo, a municipal broadband network that the city launched in 2006. While the Provo City Council still must approve the deal, Google said that it agreed to upgrade iProvo to its 1-Gig fiber network. In addition, it will offer a free 5 Mbps Internet service to 115,000 residents in the city that pay a $30 activation fee. If the deal closes, Google hopes to have the service available by late 2013, making Provo the second market to launch the Google Fiber broadband and pay TV service. Earlier this month Google announced that it will launch the service in Austin, Texas. However, the Austin market won't launch until mid-2014. Provo is also the first market where Google has announced plans to acquire an existing provider. It is overbuilding Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and AT&T (NYSE: T) in the Kansas City area and Austin. Google Fiber GM Kevin Lo said that the Provo City Council will vote on the Google Fiber proposal April 23. "We intend to begin the network upgrades as soon as the closing conditions are satisfied and the deal is closed," Lo wrote in a blog post Wednesday. Provo could be the first city where Comcast would face head-to-head competition from Google Fiber. While Comcast CEO Brian Roberts ran a demonstration of a 1-Gig Internet connection at The Cable Show convention in 2011, the fastest Internet product the MSO offers on cable systems that have upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0 plant is 105 Mbps. For more:
- see Google blog post
- see blog post from Curtis Related articles:
Google Fiber targets Time Warner Cable, AT&T U-verse subscribers in Austin
Report: Google Fiber putting pressure on Time Warner Cable's pricing in Kansas City
Google Fiber TV to charge $120 monthly for 1 GB Internet connection and hundreds of HD networks
Google Fiber comes to Austin, mayor announces Read more about: Google Fiber
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2. Verizon sells Quantum to 27% of FiOS Internet subscribers
About 27 percent of FiOS Internet subscribers are on one of Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) Quantum tiers, which offer download speeds of at least 50 Mbps, Verizon disclosed on its first-quarter earnings call Thursday. Verizon said it gained 188,000 FiOS Internet and 169,000 FiOS TV subscribers in Q1. CFO Fran Shammo attributed growth in the Quantum tiers, which Verizon launched in July 2012, to efforts to replace its copper network with fiber in markets where it markets FiOS, including systems in the New York area that saw damage from Hurricane Sandy. The telco posted net broadband subscriber growth of 99,000 in Q1 as it continues to lose DSL subscribers. But Shammo said Verizon managed to convert 83,000 customers from copper to fiber in Q1, and has a goal of converting 300,000 homes in 2013. The copper-to-fiber migration "provides customers with opportunities to purchase FiOS services, and could result in additional RPU [revenue per unit]," Shammo told analysts. Verizon posted monthly RPU of $150 in FiOS homes in Q1, and said two-thirds of customers subscribe to a triple-play of video, voice and Internet service. Verizon now counts 4.9 million FiOS TV and 5.6 million FiOS Internet subscribers. The company has a 34 percent penetration rate for FiOS TV in markets where it is available, such as New York, Texas, Florida, Maryland and California. FIOS Internet has a penetration rate of 38.2 percent, Verizon said. While Verizon still offers a 15 Mbps tier, it is marketing Quantum to FiOS subscribers who have been on its 25 Mbps service when their contracts expire. It also has 75 Mbps, 150 Mbps and 300 Mbps Quantum tiers. Verizon's decision to double the speeds of its most popular tiers drove Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to also increase their download speeds. Verizon said revenue from FiOS services jumped 15.1 percent to $2.6 billion in Q1. It has raised the prices on its programming packages in addition to charging increased fees for set-tops and its high-speed Internet product. The telco faces increased competition from Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH), which bid $25.5 billion earlier this week to acquire Sprint (NYSE: S). Shammo said Dish's move affirms Verizon's focus on the importance of marketing a quadruple play of video, Internet and wireless and landline voice services to subscribers. He noted that the quad-play is the focus of Verizon's joint marketing and innovation venture with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other MSOs. Verizon posted $29.4 billion in total operating revenues in Q1, including revenue from its Verizon Wireless unit. That was a 4.2 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2012. Cash flow jumped 26.4 percent to $1.6 billion, and the company posted earnings per share of 68 cents, up 15.3 percent compared to this time last year. For more:
- see the earnings release Special Report: Cable in the first quarter of 2013 Related articles:
Verizon expands lead over Cablevision in FCC Measuring Broadband America report
Verizon won't automatically upgrade FiOS Internet subscribers to faster tiers
Verizon CEO hints at a la carte pricing for video
Verizon accelerates transition from copper to fiber Read more about: Dish Network
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3. Dish Network CEO Clayton rips broadcasters while accepting award at CEA dinner
WASHINGTON-- Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) CEO Joseph Clayton touted the innovation of the company's Hopper DVR while criticizing the broadcasters that have protested its ad-skipping technology. Clayton made these comments while accepting an award from the Consumer Electronics Association here Wednesday night. The man CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro called a "force bigger than life" emphasized that Dish is focused on meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving consumer electronics industry. "Over the years, I have adopted a radical business strategy that has often been challenged by many incumbent, or should I say entrenched, corporations," said Clayton, who was among the honorees at CEA's Digital Patriots Awards dinner. "Let's give the consumer what he or she wants. This implies embracing change, embracing technology, but most importantly embracing the American consumer. It's also fanatically resisted by some companies," he added. Clayton went on to say that some broadcasters "mistakenly believe that they can prevail if they just keep the American consumer in the dark. Some even censor their own news organizations and their network actors for recognizing consumer benefits of new technology." His comments appear to have been directed toward CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), which in January ordered its trade publication, CNET, to drop Dish's Hopper DVR from an awards program. At issue was the technology's AutoHop feature, which allows subcribers to automatically remove all commercials from primetime programs that Hopper records from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. The Dish CEO also addressed his company's proposed merger with Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), saying he believes he knows what the American consumer wants when it comes to TV. "We all want video content that is easy to use, affordable and available anywhere," Clayton said. "These are the same consumer principles that are driving the recently announced proposed merger of Sprint and my company ... By utilizing the latest in wireless technology, LTE, in combination with over 200 MHz of spectrum, this new corporate identity can provide the American consumer exactly what he or she wants: one national in-home and out-of-home integrated bundle of services." Clayton closed by reminding members of the CEA and other award-winners that "it is the American consumer whom you all represent." Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) won an Innovation Policy Ninja award, while Reps. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) also received Digital Patriot awards. Related articles:
CEA gives Dish Network 'Best of Show' award for Hopper DVR
CNET acknowledges Dish Network's Hopper won 'Best of CES' award before CBS interceded
Dish makes $25.5B offer to buy Sprint, countering Softbank
Dish's proposed acquisition of Sprint evokes questions, concerns from industry Read more about: ABC, Cea
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4. Mediacom CEO Commisso calls FCC response to programming hikes 'unconscionable'
Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso heavily criticized two outgoing FCC commissioners in a letter he sent leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday, calling the commission's decision to stay on the sidelines during disputes between cable operators and broadcasters "unconscionable."  | Rocco (source: | Commisso's cable company lost programming from TV stations owned by LIN TV for six weeks in 2011, after it refused demands to pay increased retransmission-consent fees. While Commisso offered to freeze Mediacom subscription fees if its programming suppliers do the same, he complained that outgoing FCC chairman Julius Genachowski didn't respond his request that he publicly support the idea. "Instead of taking even this informal action to protect American consumers from the effects of unchecked increases in sports programming fees, extortionate demands for retransmission-consent payments, and coercive wholesale bundling tactics, the commission has elected to do nothing," Commisso wrote in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and ranking member Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). "In the absence of pressure from the commission, not a single programmer took me up on my price freeze offers," he added. Former CTIA CEO Tom Wheeler is reportedly in the running to be nominated by President Obama to succeed Genachowski as chairman. FCC commissioner Robert McDowell is also stepping down later this year. Commisso, who has long been one of the most outspoken cable CEOs on the topic of rising programming costs, also called on Rockefeller and Thune to seek commitments from FCC nominees to "protect American consumers by promptly addressing the broken video programming marketplace." Mediacom, which is represented by the American Cable Association in Washington, D.C., is one of several cable MSOs that have been calling on the FCC and Congress to reform retransmission-consent rules to make it more difficult for broadcasters to use the threat of blackouts to extract increased fees from cable and satellite affiliates. Related articles:
Mediacom takes retransmission reform fight to White House
Mediacom pays LIN TV increased retransmission consent fees to end dispute
Mediacom says retransmission fights still squeezing small cable operators Read more about: FCC
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5. Comcast promotes 9 executives to SVP and VP positions
Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Submarine cables face increased risks of accidents, attacks, political instability In today's spotlight, FierceTelecom takes a look at the increased risks submarine cables face, from accidents to direct attacks on the cables. In mid-March, three divers just off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, intentionally cut through the recently lit SeaMeWe-4 submarine cable connecting Europe to Africa and the Middle East. The service disruption, along with an accidental cut of the SEACOM cable in the Mediterranean a few days earlier, slowed traffic between those continents. Read more Cable industry news from across the Web: > The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) named the nominees for its 2013 NAMIC Vision Awards. News release > Cologix said Charter Communications is using its data center in Minneapolis to support IP peering services. News release > Amphenol posted $1.1 billion in sales for the first quarter, up from $982 million during the same period last year. News release > Structured wiring is the most common technology installed in new homes, the Consumer Electronics Association said in its 11th annual State of the Builder Technology Market Study. News release Telecom News > Windstream is now offering its Advanced Application Reporting (AAR) product for enterprise business customers throughout its entire U.S. network footprint, giving enterprises near real-time visibility into their WAN traffic. Article Wireless News > Nokia reported a year-over-year and sequential drop in device sales in North America, but CEO Stephen Elop also hinted that the company will soon bring a "hero" Lumia Windows Phone smartphone to a top U.S. carrier, likely Verizon Wireless. Article And finally... Verimatrix said it'll exhibit its security solutions at the CASBAA 2012 convention in Hong Kong this fall. News release > Competitive Carriers Global Expo - April 17-19 - New Orleans CCA is the premier trade show and conference for the competitive mobile ecosystem and brings together decision-makers for networking, learning and sharing best practices. CCA is the nation's leading association for competitive wireless providers. To register www.ccaevents.org. > Fierce Innovation Awards 2012 Live Announcement of this Year's Winners - Now Available On-Demand Please join Jason Nelson, Publisher of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom, and FierceCable as we announce the winners of the Fierce Innovation Awards 2012. Click here to RSVP today.
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