Aereo out of capacity in New York, Atlanta and Miami (Update: NY open again to new subs)

Tom Paine

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(Update 2/6: Aereo reopens to new subscribers in New York.)


Aereo, the streaming subscription TV service that picks up over-the-air channels via a network of tiny antennas, said a few days ago it was "sold out" in New York City and couldn't add more subscribers for the time being.

@RichBTIG @KarlBode @Aereo Yes we are sold out. Will reopen as we get more capacity deployed

— Chaitanya Kanojia (@ckanojia) January 31, 2014

Then, on Monday Aereo's CEO confirmed it was also out of capacity in Atlanta and Miami. CEO Chet Kanojia told the Boston Business Journal the the problem was due to "unexpectedly high demand in those markets." "We are hopeful that we will have more capacity coming online later this week or early next week in all those markets," Kanojia told the Business Journal's TechFlash newsletter. He indicated that these were not long-term scaling issues, but short-term problems occurring when demand in a given metro area approaches capacity faster than anticipated.

Broadband Reports originally broke the New York story on Friday.

I had speculated that Aereo might have been facing some short-term capital constraints prior to completing a $34 million funding round last month. Somebody must be paying the
bills for its monumental legal battles. Others have wondered whether Aereo's technology
might have problems scaling within metro areas, although I haven't seen any real analysis
on that. Some have raised concerns about Aereo's power consumption.

Kanojia also said Aereo received about 100 complaints about buffering problems during the Super Bowl, but attributed most of that to general congestion on the Web at the time. Kanojia said Aereo doesn't have much of a buffer to work with since it's broadcasting live content (unlike Netflix).

Despite various guesstimates, no one seems to have a solid idea of how many subscribers Aereo has. It is currently available in 11 US cities, and announced on Monday it would
launch in San Antonio on February 19. Philadelphia, which was originally scheduled
for last year, is expected to launch some time this year.

First Round Capital was an early investor in Aereo and participated in the most recent
round, although FRC's investments are likely relatively small. Barry Diller's IAC is probably the largest investor at this point.

Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans?

Tom Paine



Time Warner Cable's announcement this week that it would invest $25 million to provide fiber to the premise connectivity to selected business locations in parts of New York City generated some hype and inaccurate comparisons from those who compared it to Google's fiber buildout in Kansas City. Time Warner Cable's (TWC) announcment was somewhat vague, besides mentioning a few specific locations, in terms of how broad the coverage would be. And $25 million isn't a great deal of money when you consider a city with the telecommunications infrastructure of New York. Google Fiber's Kansas City project is planned to be residentially focused rather than aimed at businesses, and its investment there would reportedly be several hundred million dollars.

I had heard that Comcast had done a few small fiber buildouts such as this in some downtown areas, so I reached out to Comcast to ask about specifics. A company spokesperson responded by email: "Since 2011, we have been giving businesses more options for connectivity by bringing fiber into sections of cities that are becoming high-tech hubs". Specifically mentioned were a project with the city of Seattle to bring broadband to its Pioneer Square area, a similar partnership with Boston for its "Innovation District", and another arrangement for downtown San Mateo, CA. I'm not certain about the precise network architecture Comcast is using in these areas; it says it offers speeds of up to 100/10 Mbps which I believe can be delivered through its usual fiber optic-coaxial hybrid using Docsis 3.0, but also can provide speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second for heavy users. The latter would preumably require a direct fiber connection to the building.

Comcast says it will "continue looking for more places to expand – giving more businesses more options for affordable high-speed connectivity - but at this time has nothing specific to announce". There was no information available on any plans for Philadelphia.

Of course, in both New York City and Philadelphia the cable operators may face competition from Verizon's FiOS, although the buildouts in both locations are preceding at a snail's pace (but its much further along in New York.) Google Fiber says it will offer symmetrical 1 Gbps connections to individual residences for $70 a month (after an up front fee). Time Warner Cable says its service "enables businesses to be connected to a dedicated Internet network that provides speeds that reach 1 gigabyte per second and faster". although its not clear whether that kind of speed would reach every tenant in a large multi-tenant facility such as the Empire State Building, one of the facilities TWC named as having been recently wired.

Both TWC and Comcast have rapidly growing business telecom services segments. In its most recent earnings report released early this month, Comcast said its Business Services revenue increased 34 percent to $582 million.



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There’s a Map for That: AT&T Reveals Its NJ Upgrade

Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com

In an effort to increase the visibility of its service upgrades in both the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, AT&T has introduced a microsite that includes maps of the upgrades it has completed since January 2011.

To find the maps, go to this website for New York or this one for Philadelphia. Activate the map by choosing a town from the pull-down menu on the left side of the screen. You can zoom in on the map to see in greater detail where the upgrades have been made.

NJTechWeekly.com looked at a North Jersey upgrades sample and noted the following:

• Hoboken has had 11 capacity upgrades (adding more traffic lanes to the cell site to reduce dropped calls and improve service quality) and 11 network connection upgrades (expanded network connections with fiber lines, allowing more traffic to flow back to the network faster.) Also, there are enabled 4G data speeds for compatible devices.


• In Basking Ridge, the company has made five capacity upgrades and five connection upgrades.


• Looking at Newark, we found 67 total upgrades with one new cell site, 35 capacity upgrades and 31 network connection upgrades.

In central N.J. and South Jersey:

• Camden has had a total of nine upgrades, four for capacity and five for network connections, while Haddonfield has received only two upgrades, one for capacity and one for network connections.


• The state capital, Trenton, has received one new cell site, five capacity upgrades and 18 network upgrades.

NJTechWeekly.com didn’t see Princeton or Atlantic City listed on either map.

In a release, AT&T said that in the greater New York region, from the beginning of 2011 through March 26, 2012, it has:

• Built more than 40 new cell sites, providing more bars in the area.


• Upgraded more than 45 cell sites, providing faster mobile internet speeds.


• Added more than 3,000 carriers to increase spectrum on area cell sites, providing extra capacity to reduce dropped calls and improve service quality at busy times.


• Expanded nearly 2,900 network connections with fiber lines at area cell sites, helping reduce dropped calls and enable 4G data speeds for compatible devices.

Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly , and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly.



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First Round "New York City Startup Trek"

First Round Capital will hold a "New York City Startup Trek" tomorrow, January 5, between 9:30 am to 7 pm.  A group of First Round VC's will tour 8 different incubators and temporary work spaces around the city, conducting walkthroughs and "meet and greets".  See schedule here .




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