Whether or not that’s true is certainly arguable. What is not arguable is that usage-based pricing is better for cable operators and for wireless carriers. Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) last week said that it planned to drop its 250-gigabyte data plan and introduce a new pricing scheme that would allow its customers to consume 300 gigabytes of data at a base rate and pay $10 for each 50 gigabytes customers use above that limit. The usage-based plan could squeeze streaming video providers like Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) that have built their entire business models on essentially unlimited bandwidth. Streaming a 2-hour movie in HD consumes about 4 gigabytes.

It’s probably only a matter of time before other cable providers like Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Cablevision Corp. (NYSE: CVC) adopt similar plans. Wireless carriers AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone Group plc (NASDAQ: VOD), appear set to announce shared data plans that will allow more than one device to share usage on a single data plan. The carriers already charge more for usage above the plan limit.

Genachowski appears to believe that usage-based plans will level the playing field between the cable operators and the wireless carriers. Time Warner Cable experimented with a usage-based plan in 2009, but decided not to adopt the plan because customers hated it. Customers will still hate the plans, but without FCC backing customers no longer have any heavyweight help.

Comcast and the other cable companies will argue that the 300-gigabyte limit affects a small number of very high usage customers. They will also argue that by adopting a usage-based plan the vast majority of customers will pay less. But the data plan will also include internet access from computers, smartphones, and tablets, as well as Wi-Fi access from the local coffee shop.

Comcast has not yet announced pricing for its usage-based plan, but the odds of prices actually dropping don’t seem particularly good. Especially because the company is throwing in another 50-gigabytes of usage.

Cable companies need to prevent customers from “cutting the cord” and choosing to use their wireless data plans to drive home entertainment. An Internet TV box that really works is their biggest nightmare.

But if the cable guys and the wireless carriers can grab enough wireless spectrum and do enough cross-licensing deals and keep the content creators happy, the cost to consumers will not fall. The cable and wireless industries will appear to be competitive, but they’ll really operate an oligopoly and some small carriers and cable companies will be allowed to stick around to make things look good by providing service to low density markets. If the FCC really wants competition in the wireless business, then the agency better stick up for consumers, not cable or wireless providers.

Paul Ausick

24/7 Wall St. screened out selective short interest data with the latest changes from the settlement date of April 30, 2012 versus the prior April 13, 2012 in shares of the following: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU); Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).   Does this make for a “Short-Sell in May and go away!” theme?  The short interest changes are for the April 13 versus March 30 settlement dates, with selective color added if applicable:   Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw another rise in the short interest but this gain was massive by over 25% to 28.67 million shares in the short interest.  Based on its earnings botch, the short sellers made some real money here.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is not one of our usual short interest names but investors are back to betting against Spain and the PIIGS all over again now that austerity measures are being fought publicly.  The prior gain was a whopping 214% gain in the short interest to 55.7 million shares and the newest gain was only 2.5% to 57.1 million shares.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is back to seeing a rise in the short interest after a prior drop.  Short sellers lifted the short interest by 9.9% to 142.3 million shares.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) saw a small increase ion its short interest, which you know helped to exacerbate that pop from the Microsoft deal while activist investors press on here.  The short interest rose another 3.7% to 19.768 million shares.

We get more evidence of the switchover today from Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR), which reported results this morning including miss on an already awful estimated EPS loss of -$0.57. Charter’s EPS loss came in at -$0.95. The company added a scant 20,000 customers for video in the first quarter compared with 141,000 new customers for Internet service.

As we noted last week in our look at earnings from Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), bundling of services and content is becoming the new way of doing business in the space once dominated by cable providers. For example, Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Comcast both have long-term deals with Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) to offer WatchESPN, the online and mobile version of Disney’s ESPN network. The cable providers are hoping that the offer of free mobile content will stem the flow of unsubscribers.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: V) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) also offer high-speed digital content and are working on deals to offer new bundles to customers. Verizon’s attempt to acquire more wireless spectrum in its $3.6 billion deal for SpectrumCo gives the company’s wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, the opportunity to bundle programming from Comcast and Time Warner Cable along with access to mobile broadband.

The cable providers, in turn, are able to offer a bundle to their customers that now includes Verizon’s high-speed mobile broadband. It should be no surprise that smaller carriers like MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), and Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) are struggling.

Research firm Convergence Consulting recently released studies on broadcast and cable TV and bundling. Between 2000 and 2009, cable TV subscriber additions averaged 2 million a year. In 2010 additions totaled 272,000 and in 2011 additions totaled just 112,000. The firm estimates that 2.65 million cable subscribers “cut the cord” between 2008 and 2011, choosing instead to rely on “over-the-top” services from Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) and others. By the end of this year, the firm estimates there will be 3.58 million cord cutters.

Convergence Consulting estimates that the audience for free online/mobile viewing has plateaued at 19% of all TV viewing. But that seems low, especially in light of the cross-licensing deals between the wireless carriers and the content providers like Disney and the cable networks.

The other thing that could raise that plateau is another technological wonder from Cupertino. Rumors of an “insanely great” Internet TV box from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have been rampant for months, if not years. There are already several options available for these ‘over-the-top’ boxes, but if Apple were to come up with a killer piece of hardware, the ground could shift in a hurry.

Of course the TV and movie industries have learned from the music industry that Apple drives a hard bargain, and they can’t let themselves give up currently large broadcast revenues in exchange for much smaller online sales. What Apple should hope for is that a game-changing device with one or two significant content partners will convince consumers to force the rest of the media moguls to toe the line.

The transition from wired high-speed broadband connections to wireless connections is just starting. There are lots of different companies involved and the one or two with the deepest pockets or that are able to discern what the future holds will prosper. As for the rest, who knows?

Paul Ausick

MarketWatch reports that some observers are concerned that Netflix might be weakened if the Viacom channel becomes available through Hulu or the streaming service from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Netflix would not lose the right to stream Epix content, but would lose its exclusive right to do so.

Netflix has been trying to bolster its offerings of new or exclusive content to combat dwindling subscriber numbers.

Shares in Netflix fell -7.6% today to close at $75.95 in a 52-week range of $62.37-$304.79.

But both Amazon and Netflix face pretty tough competition from the likes of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and its HBO network, CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) and its Showtime channel, and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) and its Nickelodeon network, among others.

In its announcement today, Amazon said it will option one new project a month to add to its development list and to test with an audience. If the company picks up the option, the creator will receive a payment of $55,000 plus a share of merchandise licensing, royalties, and bonuses.

Like Netflix, Amazon’s streaming video offering needs a constant stream of good quality content. Licensing that content from the existing studios is getting more expensive as the studios get the idea that they can do it just as well or better, and keep more of the money.

Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, the mantra was, “Content is king.” But that content was generally static. Today’s streaming video and live Internet programming were a distant dream. But content is still king. The issue is whether that content can be licensed or created at a reasonable cost.

Amazon and Netflix are fighting an uphill battle here, and, as in all uphill battles, the odds favor the folks on the high ground.

Paul Ausick

Comcast posted EPS of $0.45 versus an estimate of $0.42. Revenue grew nearly 23% year-over-year to $14.89 billion, again higher than the consensus estimate of $14.43 billion.

The cable companies are losing subscribers to Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) both of which offer high speed wireline broadband service in addition to voice and mobile services. And the competition is about to get even keener.

Verizon Wireless’ $3.6 billion bid for additional wireless spectrum from SpectrumCo LLC, a joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and privately-held Bright House Networks and Cox Communications Inc., is about to change the landscape. The additional spectrum is what the other wireless carriers and the Federal Communications Commission are examining with a fine-toothed comb, but the cross-licensing agreements that give Verizon and Comcast and Time Warner Cable the ability to sell each other’s products are, perhaps, the bigger deal.

Although the FCC has not yet ruled on Verizon’s acquisition, the companies are acting like the deal is done. A Verizon-Comcast cross-licensing deal in San Francisco adds digital TV to its standard triple-play offer. AT&T, which offers its wireline U-verse high-speed service in San Francisco, has no comparable offer.

Similar deals between Comcast and Verizon are already in place in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle and Spokane, Washington. Verizon and Time Warner have launched a similar bundle in Raleigh, North Caroline, Kansas City, and Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. Subscribers can bundle cable services with Verizon Wireless mobile phone service and get the same deal from either the cable company or Verizon.

Cable-like companies such as Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) will also find the going getting tougher. Netflix is at the mercy of content providers like Comcast and Time Warner, which are likely to drive Netflix’s costs higher while lowering their own. Verizon could throttle network speeds for Netflix streaming videos, and although the carrier would eventually be stopped, it might be too late for Netflix. The satellite companies, likewise, could find themselves paying more for content.

As for AT&T’s U-verse and Verizon’s FiOS, neither is as valuable nor has as well-defined a growth path as wireless services. Comcast’s Xfinity broadband service will disappear eventually and be subsumed by the Verizon wireless network.

People want mobility and that means wireless services. At first, the deals between Comcast and Verizon and Time Warner and Verizon will be appealing because the companies will be offering free or low-priced smartphones as well as the convenience of a single provider for all of a customer’s communications needs. But as smaller competitors like MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS), Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), and even T-Mobile USA, the US arm of Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC: DTEGY) fall by the wayside, large markets will have at most two choices, Verizon or AT&T, and small markets will not get even that.

The new cross-licensing services launched too late to have any impact on first quarter results, but the deals should make some kind of showing on second quarter results. The smart money says that the deals will be winners.

Comcast’s shares are down -2.7% this morning at $29.76 in a 52-week range of $19.19-$30.88.

For those interested in the Verizon-SpectrumCo deal, the FCC web site has all the relevant documents under Docket Number WT 12-4. To date 539 comments have been filed and thousands of pages of documents.

Paul Ausick

Read The Least Powerful CEOs in America

Read The Most Powerful CEOs in America

Most of the companies with a controlling shareholder are ones in which the founder or founding family had all of the ownership before the company became public. In some cases these founders kept all voting shares for themselves at the time of the initial public offering. In other cases, they kept enough to still have much larger stakes than any other holders. The best example of the evolution from owning all of a company to owning voting control is Walmart (NYSE: WMT). Sam Walton founded the company. He kept the controlling block of shares when it went public. His family retained control after his death and still does.

The fact that a CEO can be dismissed for reasons other than performance does not appear to affect how well these chief executives do. Current Walmart CEO Michael Duke may be the worst chief executive in the retailer’s history, but so far he retains the support of the founder’s family.  The Mexico bribery scandal that Walmart faces will cost shareholders money, probably in the form of large legal fees and perhaps government fines. Walmart’s stock has fallen recently due to investor concerns. Duke has been a poor steward. At the other end of the spectrum is Fabrizio Freda, who runs Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). The company set a record for both profits and revenue last year. Shares are up 100% in just two years. Still, nothing would keep the Lauder family from dismissing Freda — should they choose to — despite those successes.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the corporate structure, governance and voting rights of the 500 largest companies by market cap. Based on a review of company proxies, we identified those companies in which someone other than the CEO had voting control of the company. We then limited the universe to those companies with market cap in excess of $5 billion.

These are 24/7 Wall St.’s least powerful CEOs in America.

24/7 Wall St. has pulled some selective short interest data with the latest changes from the settlement date of April 13, 2012, versus the prior March 30, 2012, in shares of the following: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU); Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK); RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).

The short interest changes are for the April 13 versus March 30 settlement dates, with selective color added if applicable:

Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw another rise in the short interest by 7.3% to 22,899,245 shares after a 4% rise the following period.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is not one of our usual short interest names but investors have really been betting against the PIIGS again and the banks in those nations. A 214% gain in the short interest to 55.7 million shares should catch almost anyone’s attention!

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) saw a larger drop this period of 8.3% in the short interest to 129,449,602 shares after seeing a 1.4% drop he period before.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) remains extremely elevated in its short interest as the activists increase their stake, and this rally may have been in part due to short covering. The April 13 settlement date grew by 8.2% to 19.06 million shares in the short interest.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) just erased the previous drop in the short interest as the short interest rose at the April 13 settlement date to 35,936,945 shares. This is still a high short interest if you are looking backwards.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is still a battleground stock but its short interest may be peaking as the rise as of the April 13 settlement date was only up by 1.4% to 11,464,107 shares.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) recently hit an all-time low and that was even after the April 13 settlement date. The short interest rose again by 13.5% to just over 23.06 million shares.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw a 9.9% gain in the short interest as of the April 13 settlement date to 28,015,423 shares, and that was after a 1.8% to 25.49 million shares in the prior period. This is higher than earlier in the year but well down from last year’s more active short selling.

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) saw a large drop in the short selling as of the April 13 settlement date with a drop of 17.7% to 19.21 million shares.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) merely reversed its prior drop of almost 5% as the April 13 settlement date showed a gain of 4.8% in the short interest to 46.31 million shares.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) hardly budged as the short interest grew only 2% to 4,380,996 as of the April 13 settlement date. This short interest is still down about one-third from earlier in the year.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is back in the interest of short sellers, likely a move ahead of earnings (or losses). The April 13 settlement date saw a gain of 10.4% to 10.16 million shares in the short interest.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) short sellers apparently missed out on yet more money to be made betting against this stock’s future. The short interest fell by 1.8% as of the April 13 settlement date but this remains elevated at 227.27 million shares listed in the short interest.

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) is one where the short sellers have been winning and one where the short interest has been growing. The April 13 settlement date showed a 9% gain to 35,850,537 shares in the short interest and that is after an 11% rise in the short interest the period before. The bets continue against the company here.

Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) may be down and out, but the April 13 settlement date saw another small drop. The drop this time was only 0.9% in the short interest to 56.75 million shares, and that is on the heels of a 5% drop seen in the prior period. This short interest was more than 60 million shares short as of mid-March.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was down only slightly with a 0.9% drop to 285 million shares on the heels of a 6% drop in its prior short interest. What is interesting is that the Liberty/Malone news was starting to come out after this last April 13 settlement date. Keep in mind that this is down from a peak of more than 300 million shares short in mid-March.

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JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 74 points to 13,001.56 (0.58%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 9 points (-0.30%) to 2,961.60, and the S&P 500 rose 0.37% or about 5 points to 1,371.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $13 at Argus; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $22 at Argus; LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray; Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; and AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: AT&T is up 3.9% at $31.81; Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) is down -4.3% at $84.91; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) is up 5.3% at $43.23 (more coverage here); Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is down -4% at $72.10 (more coverage here); Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) is up 2.7% at $56.71; McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is down -3% at $47.65; RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down -10.3% at $5.36 after posting a new 52-week intraday low of $5.27; Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is up 5.4% at $6.42; The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is up 5.7% at $65.86 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $66.94; and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is down -14.6% at $87.01.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is up .0.8% at $200.24. The tech giant raised its dividend today. More coverage here.

North American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) is up 1.5% at $14.01. Shipping rates for dry bulk shippers are rising and tanker rates, especially for the smaller (1 million barrels) crude carriers of the Suezmax class. Many other shippers are also getting a boost today, including Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: EGLE), which is up 6.8% at $1.88.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee wraps up its two-day meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference this afternoon. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 11:30 a.m. – 5-yr note auction
• 2:00 p.m. – FOMC forecasts

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Paul Ausick

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) sells some of the patents it bought from AOL (NYSE: AOL) to Facebook for $550 million. (Reuters)

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) earnings and projections fail to impress Wall St., which pushed shares down by nearly 15%. (Reuters)

Dow AgroSciences may produce weed-resistent corn. (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) may launch an online storage system to compete with Dropbox. (Reuters)

Yahoo! Japan my buy back shares from Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). (Reuters)

An ITC judge says Microsoft violated some of Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) patents. (Reuters)

Several investment banks will cut employment as deal volume falls. (WSJ)

Social Security and Medicare will run through funds faster than previously expected. (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) CEO Ackerson says he will stay as long as the board will have him. (WSJ)

The smartphone business increasingly becomes a race between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung. (WSJ)

United Continental (NYSE: UAL) to buy 100 737s from Boeing (NYSE: BA). (WSJ)

Jana Partners buys 12% of Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). (WSJ)

Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) earnings press AT&T (NYSE: T) and Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) to do similarly well. (WSJ)

Mexican government officials question the operations of state-owned oil firm Pemex. (NYT)

China’s largest banks are challenged to find more capital. (NYT)

More and more EU officials react badly to Angela Merkel’s stand on austerity. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre