Four years. This is bloomberg. Bloomberg technology is next. Caroline this is bloomberg technology. Up, the Obama Administrations parting shot at russia for hacking during the u. S. President ial election. Lust, the roadmap for cable tv in 2017. How the at t and time warner marriage could be the new norm. And the ai addiction. We will look into the exploding voiceactivated Smart Speaker market. Now to our lead. Administration brings new sanctions against russian officials and agencies for trying to interfere with the u. S. President ial election by hacking Democratic Party males. In a statement, the president said, all americans should be alarmed by russias actions. These could only have been directed by the highest levels of the russian government. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the kremlin says the russian reaction will create discomfort for the u. S. , and the sanctions are to undermine the Trump Administration. Joining us is a former analyst for the Central Intelligence agency. Wonderful to have you joining. The u. S. Has aimed certain groups of people and individuals. Could you give us a clue and really elaborate who this is targeting . Sure. There are nine people and entities mentioned on the sanctions list. Crucially, there are two really big names. One is the fsb, the inheritor agency to the kgb, russias prime intelligence agency. The other is its military intelligence service, the tru. Gru. We have been speaking to analysts all afternoon that say you wont necessarily see targeted,s at the gru though individual members are mentioned as a mom the nine as among the nine, but it really sends a huge signal from the Obama Administration, pointing out the seriousness of their to name and shame russian individuals and entities as they press ahead looking for ways to punish russia for the election related hacks. The name and shame approach has been used by the Obama Administration before, but could there be covert action going on as well . Absolutely. This is the Obama Administrationparting shot againsts administrations parting shot against putin. Having said that, that does not close the door to covert measures, took a bit to potential covert cyber measures. A obama and his statement did imply that this might not be the last of the retaliation from the u. S. It seems his days are waning, so if the administration is going to do anything else, we probably are not going to see it. The russians came out today saying theyd too are likely to retaliate. The other thing to watch is to see if russia faces any additional Cyber Attacks if russia launches any additional Cyber Attacks in the coming months. Caroline the fact that we are hearing already that russia might ring these countermeasures as soon as tomorrow, what are the people you are speaking to reacting in terms of the retaliation . Potentially they are bracing themselves for russia . Would likely know about in that case would be the expulsion of american diplomats. These things tend to operate on a titfortat basis. Expel my diplomat, i will expel yours. At that would be a very public move. I think one of the things the Obama Administration was waiting in the last couple of months is how far down this path they want to go, because if they continue with covert action as well and press ahead with actions that russianrhaps attack infrastructure or wipe hard drives owned by hackers or delete their bitcoin accounts, then you are really getting into almost the cyber war type of situation, and i can escalate more quickly. This is not just the expulsion of diplomats. There is a long historic precedent for that over years. But when you come to really escalating cyber war between two that isrld towers, something the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration would want to consider carefully. Caroline its interesting you mention the Trump Administration. These sanctions were, in many parts, bipartisan. But it looks as though donald trump himself perhaps has been a little bit cooler to want to see any rapprochement of russia. We heard him discuss this yesterday. Have a listen. Think computers have complicated lives very greatly. Computer has of made it are nobody knows exactly whats going on. We have speed, we have a lot of other things, but im not sure we have the kind of security that you need. Ara, he says everything and nothing there. What do you think is the reaction of donald trump . Will he unwind all this . A i think what you saw today is a move that needs to be taken seriously. It is sort of unprecedented, and an executive order was revised to include deterrence to anybody messing with our infrastructure. If anyone in the future is to take cyber action that affects the election in any way, whether that is the leaking of females or attacks on election systems themselves about that as part of president obamas executive order. To see howesting donald trump will react. Saying computers, k our lives does not seem like a policy response. Cyber security is one of the most for most threats the country faces in terms of espionage, on private companies, on facilities like the pentagon, on our nuclear facilities. This is a serious issue, so to brush it aside those remarks last night does not demonstrate a clear policy. It will be interesting to see what donald trump does in response to this russian activity when he takes office. Also, the action taken by the Obama Administration today is not just about russia. Part of it is diplomatic in response to a problematic behavior, in this case a cyber targeted deviancy servers any males, is to deter future nonstate actors from doing this again. On this iseasures key to preventing bad, not just in terms of pushing russia. Punishing russia. This might help the Trump Administration, because perhaps we might see less nonstate actors meddling. Caroline in a global perspective, weve got french elections, german elections, netherlands elections, and we know potential event russia that potentially russia maybe the United Kingdom is exposed as well. How much of this is a global issue . Ra it will be interesting to see if European Countries will follow suit, and they will also designate those individuals and entities and not engage in Financial Transactions and trade and whatnot. Again, you might see europe take action if they are the victim of a cyber attack. I will be curious to see if europe jumps on her but the united states. Be. Made the, they may it is in everyones interest to take on this together. Caroline thank you very much, nick and tyra. Thank you tara. Thank you for your time. A jerusalembased Software Firm with aed a Partnership Mapping institute made up of german automakers. This is one of several partnerships formed this year between auto and tech. Under the deal, mobileyes software, which uses Data Analysis to find a cars position on the road in realtime, will be integrated into mapping technology. Shares in mobile rallied today. Rallied today. Still ahead, cord cutting cause the media landscape to make big moves in order to survive. We will discuss what is ahead in 2017. At a reminder that all episodes nowbloomberg technology are Live Streaming on twitter. Check us out weekdays at 5 00 p. M. In new york. Caroline facebook has more competition on the live video front. Twitter has updated paris scope. It will now feature 360 degree live videos that can connect directly to the service. This is part of the renewed focus on live events. This allows viewers to tilt and rotate their phones for a full panoramic scene. Now turning to the tv industry. This year, and 85 billion deal between time warner and at t have many people wonder if this will be the new normal going into 2017. Tv reached at Sticking Point . Joining us to discuss, joey smith and cory johnson. To kick off things with you, because this has been a bit of a scene throughout 2016, maybe dating back to that. You see cable and content providers teaming up, getting in bed with phone companies. You see time warner and at t. Youve got 20th century fox over with sky in europe. Even in the u. K. Is this inevitable . The need to become powerhouses across every stream do they need to become powerhouses across every screen . Joey that is the strategy between at t and time warner. About 98 Million People in the u. S. That subscribed to pay television, but it loses a couple million subscribers each year. Eventually, Media Companies are starting to look around and say this is not an industry that is growing anymore. Maybe we need to partner up and find someone, whether it is another distributor, or partner with another Media Company potentially. Everyone is sort of looking around in this fastchanging landscape, looking for some security. Cory, not an industry growing tv, but there is an industry growing on the back of it, like hulu and netflix. Are they destroying this . Cory i think so. There is a clear and present danger to the existing Media Companies. I think they know that. We can see the responses, Companies Like time warner who have had Great Success with hbo go products, other companies struggling with these things. Is also the believe that under a Trump Administration, they will be a lot more business friendly. The reason that some of these deals have been opposed by the Justice Department is not because there were more democrats on the fcc then there becauseublicans, or there will always be that kind of a balance. And the Justice Department is under a different administration. The reason they opposed it is because it was bad for the consumers. The effect on consumers will not be different based on who was in office, but the approval might be different. Coryine we just heard talking about the way in which older Media Companies have responded. Some of them are offering skinnier bundles. Is that catching on . Ry yeah, we are seeing more of that. Recently, at t introduced directv now, which has a starting price of 35 for 100 channels, although the price goes up. It remains to be seen how popular these are, but if they do catch on, there is a real threat to a glut of cable channels. Some of these Media Companies have cable channels that get very little viewership. If these packages catch on where there are only 20 or 30 channels in them, we will start to see a lot of those marginal talents marginal challenge channels potentially get shut down. It matters from an editorial standpoint. On a news basis, we want to have odds of providers, not few. From an entertainment basis, we have seen Great Entertainment come out of netflix like house luke cage. Rc we have seen the same thing out of amazon, like transparent, shows that would not have seen the light of day if not for these experiments. The notion of consolidation should be something that concerns consumers, not just the Balance Sheets of the businesses involved. Gerry, so far we have seen the older guard consolidating. What about the new kids on the block . Amazon has a lot of cash. Will we potentially see them eating up some of the older content providers . Ry i think there is always speculation going on. There was speculation about netflix and disney at one this year. Another company we have not mentioned is buzzfeed. Abc has invested 4 million in buzzfeed. I think we will start to see more and more of these old Media Companies and digital publishers joining forces, because the old Media Companies want their younger audience and the buzzfeeds of the world really like the money and television. Cory to your point, the groute. Deal is a netflix is a business that is free cashte a lot of flow. We might say the same about hulu, we dont know their financials, but right now it is still a drop the market. There are still very high valuations. These businesses can be supported by wall street when they cant support their own operations. That is a thing that could dissuade investments. If the rules of the road were to change with the fcc and netflix s costs would rise, that could affect the evaluation. Disney could get a much cheaper deal under different fcc rules. Right now, netflix can sustain themselves due to wall street, but not thanks to their own efforts. This prevents acquisitions from happening anytime soon. Caroline gerry, across the border as well. You see more mobile players buying into the television. What consolidation will we see across the border . we just saw 28 century fox by the rest of sky, the biggest paytv provider in the u. K. We are already seeing that. Someone to keep an eye on is john malone, a pioneer in the cable business. Hes got his liberty businesses all around the world, and he is certainly known for his dealmaking. The opportunities are growing, especially overseas where the not the paytv market is as saturated as it is in the u. S. There are a lot of potential combinations internationally. Thanks to bloomberg editor at large cory johnson and ith insmith gerry sm new york. Coming up, the tech breakthroughs of 2016. Can apple and google play catchup to the runaway success of amazon echo . This is bloomberg. Caroline amazons echo speaker helped the online retailer report its best online sales yet best holiday sales yet. Voiceactivated assistance in the home is something google and apple cant ignore. Top five most valuable Tech Companies in the world are all betting big on the success of virtual assistants that respond to voice commands. The race really started with amazons surprise hit, the echo. It is powered by a digital assistant named alexa. Alexa, how many chicken chips has dan marino won . Dan marino has won zero championships. How many oscars has alec baldwin won . Hi april 2016,rter Consumer Reports state that amazon already sold 3 million devices. It was key selling it for the relatively low device of 180 a pop. It is one the fastestgrowing businesses of amazon, and it adds to the ecosystem. They already have a bunch of traffic coming to their website, but this is a chance for amazon to grab the traffic which is not online. Arerter echo owners spending an estimated 10 more time on amazon. Com after buying the speaker. Amazons stock has gone up more than 70 since the echo came out in the u. S. It is no surprise that google wanted in on the action. To amazonto act for creating a lot of action and excitement in the space. We are getting ready to launch something later this year. Reporter that something was google home. It hit the markets in october, priced 50 dollars less than the echo, and loaded with googles own conversational interface, which leaves us with the elephant in the room. Hi, its me. It is great to be on the mac. Reporter apples syria has been siri has been out for five years, but it has been limited to the iphone. That could be a problem, because only 20 of smartphone users use Services Like siri on a weekly basis. Amazon has proven that there sexycustomer demand and a new kind of interface for information. Apple would be insane to not get out there with a product that is similar. But it is all about the implementation, and it is going to be a real disadvantage to not have been first. Reporter then again, apple was not first to the smartphone and tablet market either. With an pushing ahead at goes viral competitor, so we can only expect this market to keep growing in 2017, with forecasted shipments jumping 130 to 21 million. Alexa has already slightly taken over my life. Week, we will be live from the Consumer Electronics show in las vegas with a great lineup of guests and gadgets. The ceo apartment, the ceo of aol. Dont miss our special coverage right here on bloomberg television. That does it for this edition of bloomberg technology. Studio 1. 0 with emily chang is next. Susan widget ski tells us about her plans to take original programming to the next level on the video streaming site. This is bloomberg. Has imposede u. S. Sanctions on russian intelligence officials and agencies in retaliation for Cyber Attacks during the president ial campaign. Will bean operatives expelled from the u. S. Russia says the sanctions are humiliated and to the u. S. And plans to announce countermeasures tomorrow. Dr. Government troops say a ceasefire with aleppo started an hour ago. Russia and turkey both backed the deal. Has reopened its investigation into accusations against former president roasting a fernandez, accused christina fernandez, accused of covering up involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish Community center. 85 died, hundreds others wounded. The accuser was also found dead. Early this week, a judge fraudcharges charges against fernandez and ordered her assets frozen. Italys Prime Minister says priorities for the countrys upcoming g7 presidency including russia and the mediterraneans role in migration. Italy may have Common Ground with u. S. President elect trump on russia. And the Prime Minister spoke earlier today at a year into News Conference in rome. Gentlelady also says there is no suspicion that the berlin Christmas Market