In the past, improvements in business entry and regulatory policy have lowered a number of market barriers in the telecom and TV industries, enabling competition and access. As this shift has occurred, what bottlenecks are left or have emerged in the new digital environment?

This event will discuss three asserted bottlenecks:

1. Powerful central digital platform companies have emerged which are integral to user’s daily lives. These companies, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, referred to by the acronym FANGs, (in Europe, GAFAMs by including Microsoft and Apple) have become central intermediaries in the internet environment. As these companies wield market power in their segments, what are the policy implications?

2. In transmission, the bottleneck is alleged to have moved upstream, from the classic Last Mile to the Middle Mile--transporting data from the content provider to the ISP. When there are few companies in the business, how to avoid this segment from becoming the next bottleneck?

3. Video Cloud providers like Amazon, Apple, HP, Microsoft, or Google are providing the infrastructure and bridging for content providers and packagers. If they have market power they affect the entire emerging media system.

This half day online conference will explore the potential or actual disruption by the new content and distribution platforms and their impact on media and technology markets. It will also analyze the various public policy options that have been advocated. The focus will be on real issues that exist and what responses might be.

Agenda

9:00-9:15am Welcome

• Eli Noam, Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, Columbia Business School and Director, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

9:15-10:15 FANG/GAFAM Bottlenecks: Reality and Remedies

• Robert Pepper, Global Connectivity and Technology Policy, Facebook

• Tom Hazlett, Hugh H. Macaulay Professor of Economics, Clemson University

• Robert Frieden, Professor of Telecommunications and Law, Penn State University;

• Others TBA

10:15-11:15 Stuck in the middle: CDNs, Backhaul, and Middle Mile providers

• Henning Schulzrinne, Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University

• William Lehr, Research Associate at Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• David Young, Vice President of Public Policy, Verizon

• Len Cali, Senior Vice President Global Public Policy, AT&T

• Robert Cannon, Senior Counsel, Federal Communications Commission

11:15-12:15 Video Cloud Platforms: Market Power, Reality, and Remedies

• Howard Homonoff, Senior Vice President, MediaLink

• Robert Cohen, Senior Fellow, Economic Strategy Institute

• Eli Noam, Professor, Columbia Business School

• Others TBA

12:15-12:30pm Conclusion