AT&T's Stephenson says DirecTV helps it combine wireless, video businesses; WOWaccess changes its name

Wireline news from across the web:

> Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, said its acquisition of DirecTV is helping it combine its wireless and video businesses. CNBC article

> WOWaccess announced that in response to wide ranging changes over the past couple of years WOWaccess, Inc. will be changing its name to Access Broadband. Release

> Early speed tests of New York City's Wi-Fi network are falling short of their gigabit promise, with users seeing download speeds of 280 Mbps and upload speeds of 317 Mbps. Broadband Reports article

> Australia has strengthened its cybersecurity ties with the United States, with Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing that the two nations will hold an annual Australia-US Cyber Security Dialogue. ZDNet article

Cable News
> Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said his company will make changes to its FiOS Custom TV product, which granularly controls which programming networks customers receive in their video service. Article

> Public Knowledge and the Consumer Federation of America have taken highly speculative data on just how much revenue pay-TV operators are making from leasing set-tops, and extrapolated it to one fuzzy level higher. Article

Installer News
> While deployment of 4K/Ultra High-Definition services by pay-TV operators has remained stalled at the starting gate for pay-TV operators in the U.S., a wave of products and services centered out the complimentary High Dynamic Range (HDR) tech is promising to kick-start the market. Article

Online Video News
> Facing a growing demand from the advertising and television industries for more reliable measurement of streaming media, Nielsen is partnering up with Facebook to morph its current Twitter TV Ratings into a new metric it has dubbed "Social Content Ratings," The New York Times reports. Article

Wireless News
> Mobile carriers and infrastructure companies are struggling to support ever-increasing data traffic on wireless networks, and as they prepare to transition to 5G they're betting on Kumu Networks to help them do so. Article

> T-Mobile is once again taking aim at Sprint's customers, and this time it's using MetroPCS to do it. Article

And finally … Vodafone says in its new Cloud Barometer report that businesses prefer #PrivateCloud for delivering tailored customer services. Post