Month: September 2021

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The cable lobby is trying to stop a possible ban on exclusive wiring deals between Internet providers and landlords, claiming that exclusive arrangements are "pro-competitive" even though they make it harder for new ISPs to provide service in multi-unit apartment and condo buildings.

The Federal Communications Commission last week sought public comment on how to promote competition in multiple tenant environments (MTEs), following a President Biden order that encouraged the FCC to "prevent ISPs from making deals with landlords that limit tenants' choices." The FCC technically bans exclusive agreements for TV and telecom services in multi-unit buildings, but it hasn't stamped out the problem in part because FCC rules allow deals that prevent new ISPs from using existing wiring. These wiring deals are sometimes exclusive to one ISP even when the wires are owned by the building owner and not being used.

The new FCC public notice asks whether the commission should "revisit its conclusion that exclusive wiring arrangements generally do not preclude access to new entrants and thus do not violate its rules." That conclusion was made in 2007 under a Republican majority. The FCC is now asking for public comment on whether exclusive wiring deals "inhibit entry by competing service providers" and on whether the deals have any benefits for tenants to outweigh the drawbacks.

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  The second-generation Sonos Beam soundbar. It comes in white or black. [credit: Sonos ]

Sonos on Tuesday announced a new model of its Beam smart soundbar.

The Sonos Beam (Gen 2), as it’s called, doesn’t change much from its three-year-old predecessor from a conceptual standpoint. Sonos is still positioning the device as a lower-cost and far more compact alternative to its higher-end Arc soundbar, one that’s better suited to smaller rooms or secondary TVs. It‘s virtually the same size as before (25.63 x 3.94 x 2.72 in. and 6.2 lbs.) with a near-identical minimalist design, though the fabric-coated front of the first-gen model has been stripped away in favor of a naked, perforated plastic grille that wraps around the device. Sonos says the latter will be easier to clean over time.

The big addition here is support for Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound. Notably, the Beam (Gen 2) uses the same internal acoustic architecture as before—including five class-D amplifiers, four mid-woofers, three passive radiators, and a center tweeter, but no up-firing speakers to physically create the illusion of audio “height” Atmos promises. But Sonos says the new model is equipped with a faster CPU, allowing it to improve the software that coordinates the soundbar’s audio output and steer it around a room. There are two new virtual "speaker arrays" for height and surround audio information as a result, with the idea being that this will help Atmos content still sound as if it’s coming from above and around your head in addition to the usual left, center, and right channels.