Tag Archives: technology

Comcast, Charter, Altice Cable Swaps Eyed After Deal Approvals

Charter Communications ( CHTR ) is moving closer to gaining federal regulators’ approval for acquiring Time Warner Cable ( TWC ) — a deal that could set the stage for assets swaps among cable TV firms, including  Comcast ( CMCSA ), analysts say. The Federal Communications Commission reportedly is set to greenlight the Charter-TWC merger, with conditions, though the deal is still being studied by California’s state regulators. Charter stock rose to just shy of a record high on the report. Regulators thwarted Comcast’s proposed purchase of TWC in early 2015. Europe-based Altice Group , however, expects to gain approval for its purchase of Cablevision Systems ( CVC ) in May, the company said. Altice earlier acquired Suddenlink Communications. If both the Charter-TWC and Altice-Cablevision deals sail through, cable TV firms are likely to explore asset swaps of cable systems in different markets, says a Barclays research report. “Post the completion of pending cable deals, there is some likelihood of potential asset swaps between the remaining distributors to align footprints more closely and extract more in synergies,” said Barclays. “While the regulatory push-back is fair to consider in this instance, we note that the FCC has concluded in the past that pro-competitive effects of clustering of cable systems tend to outweigh the negatives.” Even if the FCC approves the Charter-TWC merger, California’s OK might not come until late May, analysts say. Charter also plans to buy privately held Bright House Networks. Netflix ‘s ( NFLX ) support has smoothed the path for Charter’s deals, analysts say. Both TWC and Cablevision offer services in the New York City area, a big market. RBC Capital says the FCC might still be opposed to any sizable acquisitions by Comcast, the nation’s No. 1 cable TV firm. Comcast also owns NBCUniversal. “Comcast would be unlikely to be allowed to acquire a major cable firm or programmer, but could acquire long-distance assets, a wireless operator, or could engage in clustering and swaps with other cable operators,” RBC analyst Jonathan Atkin wrote in a recent research report. Charter stock rose 6% in the stock market today , to 198.16. Charter peaked at 199 last March. Time Warner Cable stock rose 3.3% Wednesday.

Google Update Boosts Ranking Signal For Mobile-Friendly Web Pages

Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google said Wednesday that it is launching an update to mobile search results to help users find more mobile-friendly Web pages. “Getting good, relevant answers when you search shouldn’t depend on what device you’re using. You should get the best answer possible, whether you’re on a phone, desktop or tablet,” the company said in a blog post . Last year, the company said it would use “mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal on mobile searches.” Beginning in May, Google said, “we’ll start rolling out an update to mobile search results that increases the effect of the ranking signal to help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly.” The company said the goal of the upgrade was to “help our users find even more pages that are relevant and mobile-friendly,” although Google didn’t specify how much of an impact it expects the change to have. Sites that area already deemed mobile-friendly will not be impacted by the update. In November 2014, Google started labeling sites as “mobile friendly” to indicate which pages were size optimized to be read on smaller screens. Then, in February 2015, Google announced plans to roll out mobile ranking changes on April 21. A Web page is eligible to wear the “mobile-friendly” label if it avoids software such as Flash that is not common on mobile devices and uses text that is readable without zooming. Mobile-friendly sites also place links far enough apart so a user’s finger can easily tap the correct one. Google started using the label as a ranking factor worldwide in April. Google’s Mobilegeddon — its rollout of major changes to its search algorithm last April 2015 giving priority to mobile-friendly websites that adjust the look of a Web page on smaller screens — likely had a modest impact on advertising, analysts said. Google offers a Webmaster Mobile Guide with more details for web developers. Look for Google’s mobile-friendly test tool here . The search leader faces tougher competition from U.S.-based rivals led by Facebook ( FB )  and foreign stalwarts such as China search leader Baidu ( BIDU ) .  

Siri, Why Aren’t People Using Voice-Activated Personal Assistants?

Apple ’s ( AAPL ) Siri, Amazon.com ’s ( AMZN ) Alexa, Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google Now, Microsoft ’s ( MSFT ) Cortana and other voice-activated services are getting lots of attention — but they aren’t getting that much use, a new survey, as reported by eMarketer, says. Even as consumers increasingly turn to mobile phones for shopping, communicating and information, only 13% of U.S. mobile phone owners use a voice-controlled personal assistant on their device each day, says the survey from 451 Research, which was taken last June. Adding together the 13% of survey respondents who said they use such a service daily to the 14% who said they used it weekly and to the 10% who reported using it monthly, that still only comes to little more than 1 in 3 mobile phone owners who say they use a personal digital assistant at least once a month. But there are big caveats. For one, June is a long time ago for a fast-emerging technology. Moreover, at the time, fully one-third of respondents said they didn’t have a mobile phone that gives them an option to use a personal assistant, the survey said. EMarketer models the U.S. to have 177.8 million mobile phone users as of year-end, or just over half of the population. By 2018, it forecasts that there will be 207.1 million mobile phone users, or about 63% of the population. “And, as mobile devices become more sophisticated and offer options like voice-controlled personal assistants, more of those searchers may be inclined to try them out,” eMarketer said. Amazon’s Alexa is able to hail rides from Uber , play music, set timers and manipulate smart devices in homes, such as Google’s Nest smart thermostat service, among other functions. This month, Capital One Financial ( COF ) announced that it was adding a “skill” — Amazon-speak for a function — enabling customers to use Alexa to check their credit card balances or make payments. Shares of Apple and Alphabet were up about 1.5% in afternoon trading in the stock market today , while Microsoft stock was near 1.3% and Amazon.com was up a fraction.