MSO Puts Subs On Internet Diet Time Warner Cable Inc., one of the U.S.’s largest cable MSOs, has proposed a new “consumptionbased billing” system that it will test this summer to address the soaring usage of high-speed Internet. In its tieredpricing trials, the company will offer basic service of one gigabyte of Net usage per month for $15, plus $2 for each additional gigabyte used. Time Warner will also offer highercapacity plans ranging from $29 to $75 monthly, allowing up to 100 gigabytes of consumption. With those plans, additional usage will be billed at $1 per gigabyte, with overage fees capped at $75 per month. Time Warner spokesman Landel Hobbs said that “consumption among our highspeed Internet subscribers is increasing by about 40 percent a year. According to industry analysts, the infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the explosion of online content by 2012. This could result in Internet brownouts [sporadic losses of service].” The biggest challenge to service providers has been the uptick in online video viewing, particularly through services like Netflix, which allows subscribers to instantly view entire movies and shows on their computer or TV via the Internet. Karl Bode, editor ofBroadBandReports.com, implied greedy intentions behind the move, saying, “By charging a ridiculous amount for Internet viewing, they hope you’ll scale back online and go back to watching things on cable.” Time Warner’s new model will be introduced in New York and North Carolina this summer and should reach Texas by fall. Other states could follow. SAG, Studios In Agreement Following nearly a year of battle, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has finally reached a tentative agreement with U.S. studios for a new labor contract, putting an end to a war that has shaken up the entertainment industry during one of the worst economic crises in years. The agreement between SAG and the studios provides actors, who have been working without a contract since last summer, a two-year pact that the union’s president has already promised to oppose when it goes for member ratification this month. But it also spells relief for 120,000 actors who have been facing a worsening job climate due to a drop in film and television production in recent months. The proposed agreement, which grants a 3.5 percent annual pay increase and established fees for shows currently streamed on the Internet, was pretty much the same contract the studios offered last summer — before news of the economy grew bleaker by the day. The negotiations, which began last year, eventually left SAG in a weaker position because it split the union into two opposing factions and pushed most new TV shows toward a rival actors’ union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which negotiated its own new contract last year. Since then, AFTRA has essentially taken over new TV production, signing on for the vast majority of primetime broadcast TV pilots this season — a worrisome development for SAG, which has customarily ruled primetime TV. French Download Law Rejected French politicians have rejected a bill that proposed that people caught illegally downloading music three times would be cut off from the Internet. The legislation, which had been backed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy as well as France’s film and record industries, would have set a strong global precedent for Internet piracy. Had it passed, the legislation would have operated under a three-strikes system. A new state agency would first send illegal file-sharers a warning e-mail, then a letter, then cut off their connection completely if they did it a third time. The legislation failed due to warnings that the wrong people might be unfairly punished should hackers hijack computers’ identities. MAY 2 0 0 9 distributed by 150 Central Park South Suite 310 New York, NY 10019 phone 212 707 8244 email susan@bendermediaservices.net Bikini Destinations Over the Edge Kleo the Misfit Unicorn Billygoats Spotlight On Animal Files Gen’s Guiltless Gourmet Hollywood Buzz Action Zone (Continued on Page 6)
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