This week the tech world will descend on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show.  While there is nothing subtle about a 152-inch 3D plasma TV there are plenty of subtle forces coming from DC that shape what you see at shows like CES and at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.  Here are just four examples.

AllVid or Why Can’t Apple, Google, Microsoft, Roku, and Boxee Boxes Get Cable Channels?

Public Knowledge’s Position

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress told the FCC to increase competition in video devices—consumer electronics that can display and interact with pay TV content. That competition is still missing.

A consumer should be able to attach any non-harmful device to a cable network and access the programming that they are paying for. After all, when cable was analog you could simply plug your TV directly into cable.

This ability should apply to more than just “cable,” however—today, satellite TV is more popular than ever, and Verizon and AT&T offer subscription TV services that aren’t strictly “cable” (The FCC calls these MVPDs, or “Multichannel Video Programming Distributors”).

We have been talking more and more about the arbitrary limits that ISPs (both wired and wireless) have been imposing on consumers’ internet connections.  These limits are arbitrary because they do not seem to be based on any sort of technical evaluation.  AT&T wireless and Verizon wireless impose a 2 GB limit on their standard data packages – why 2GB as opposed to, say 1 GB or 3 GB?  Similarly, AT&T (wired) imposes a 150 GB limit on customers [update: AT&T imposes a 150 GB cap on DSL customers and a 250 GB cap on U-verse customers].  Comcast’s limit is 250 GB.  Where did these limits come from?  No one (outside of the company) has any idea.  For all we know, the companies just spun a big wheel to choose the cap.  In this murky world the only thing that is clear is that, while AT&T and Comcast’s network supports hundreds of TV channels, their internet limits prevent you from getting rid of their pay-TV offering and replacing it with a competing internet video service.

On today's podcast, we discuss Jay-Z and Kanye's successful battle against album leaks, avoiding the Apple app store rules with rich web apps, cable and satellite drifting towards luxury-only, and Walmart having to keep its DRM servers on even after it closes its online music store.  We also talk with Cody Sumter and Jason Boggess of Minecraft.Print(), the script that bridges the worlds of 3D printing and Minecraft.

You can download the audio directly by clicking here (MP3) or stream it using the player below:

Want to subscribe to our podcast? Click here for the MP3 feed.

On today's podcast we discuss arbitrary wireless internet limits, the potential marriage of DirectTV and Hulu, and the new British report on using evidence to make copyright policy.  We also solicit questions from our listeners for future shows.

You can download the audio directly by clicking here (MP3) or stream it using the player below:

Want to subscribe to our podcast? Click here for the MP3 feed.

On today's podcast we mark a TWiT.tv milestone, discuss Fox pulling content from Hulu, and consider Ars Technica making money selling free content.  We also chat with Paul Geller of Grooveshark about why Grooveshark decided to engage with policymakers here in Washington, DC.

You can download the audio directly by clicking here (MP3) or stream it using the player below:

Want to subscribe to our podcast? Click here for the MP3 feed.

It is being widely reported today that Fox is removing next-day content from Hulu for everyone but selected “verified” cable and satellite subscribers, and that other networks are considering following suit.  Under the new plan, the only people who could watch content in the week following the original airdate are people who already subscribe to some subset of approved cable and satellite services.  This makes sense everywhere but in reality.

In all the hoo ha about the Comcast/NBCU Merger, few folks troubled to read the Department of Justice Competitive Impact Statement, Complaint, and Consent Decree. That’s rather unfortunate, as these documents sets forth a straightforward case under the antitrust laws for program access conditions for online competitors and for network neutrality. Here’s the short version:  Comcast pre-merger makes almost 30 times more money from providing cable service than from programming revenues. Even adding all of NBCU’s revenue, Comcast will still make more than twice as much from selling cable service ($34 billion) as from programming ($16.9 billion).

On today's podcast, we talk the Fox/Cablevision retransmission battle, Comcast's announcement that you don't need to be on a Comcast Internet connection to get Xfinity video, Apple's universal SIM card that will never be useful in the United States, the copyright protections that were the secret to Netflix's success, and Amazon's small step towards allowing book sharing on the Kindle.

You can download the audio directly by clicking here (MP3) or stream it using the player below:

Want to subscribe to our podcast? Click here for the MP3 feed and here for the mixed audio/video feed.