Exclusive: Former FCC Chair Sets Up Growth Capital Shop

on March 29, 2011

Bandwidth.com has raised $22 million in its first round of capital from new growth equity shop Carmichael Partners, which counts former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as a managing partner. Martin helped score $22 million from institutions and individuals for Bandwidth.com, but has not raised a fund.

Finally, Broadband Over Powerline, R.I.P.

Om Malik on April 8, 2010

BPL is finally dead. The City of Manassas, Virginia which spent $1.6 million building and running nations’ biggest BPL network has pulled the plug on the service that had about 500 residential and 46 businesses customers. It cost the city $100,000 a month to maintain.

Dell Mini 10 Netbook Officially Available: $399

on February 26, 2009

laptop-inspiron-10-right-black-alternate-314Your wait is officially over if you’ve been pining for a Dell (s DELL) Inspiron Mini 10 netbook. Dell’s order page is up and ready to accept your $399. As netbooks move away from the 8.9-inch displays and migrate to around 10-inch units, this gets Dell’s foot in the door for that segment. It seems a bit rushed to me, though, due to two constraints: the screen display loses a wee bit of horizontal resolution with the 1024×576 display and there’s a hard RAM limit of 1GB. Not everyone needs or wants more RAM but you won’t even have the option on the debut model. At this price, the ASUS 1000HE with included 6-cell battery is more appealing to me personally (the Mini 10 comes with a 3-cell), but to each his or her own. 🙂

By the way, the Direct2Dell blog says “Initially, all Mini 10s will come with 1GB fixed RAM (which means it will not be upgradable)” which tells me there’s a chance for memory upgrade options on future Mini 10 models. Note that the base Mini 10 comes with the 1.3GHz Z520. The 1.6GHz Z530 will set you back an additional $50.

(via Engadget)

Vid-Biz: DTV, Movielink, Obama

on January 16, 2009

Rockefeller Proposes 3-Month DTV Delay; Democratic senator of West Virginia has introduced legislation that proposes pushing the transition date back to June 12 (The New York Times). Meanwhile, the FCC votes to implement the “analog nightlight” bill, which allows broadcasters to keep analog broadcasts up for 30 days after the switch. (Broadcasting & Cable)

Blockbuster Abandons Movielink; rental chain no longer using the technology from the online movie distribution company it bought in 2007, will now use CinemaNow after forming a partnership with them earlier this week. (Variety)

CBS News Wants Your Video; the network wants to hear your thoughts on what President-elect Obama should do in his first 100 days, and is partnering with Pure Digital to give away 50 Flip MinoHD cameras (one for each state). (The Hollywood Reporter)

FCC Chair Resigns; Kevin Martin to become a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, praises his own tenure at the commission and in his resignation letter. (DSLReports)

NBC Not Cutting Back on Development Spending; despite dour economy and Jay Leno gobbling up 5 hours of prime time per week, the peacock says it will be making the same number of pilots. (TVWeek)

DirecTV Covering the Australian Open From All Angles; satellite service will feature six court channels on one screen plus other interactive features for the grand-slam tennis event. (Multichannel News)