Headlines

An "outraged" Society of Professional Journalists called on the Pentagon to stop the practice of using military analysts on TV and other media as a "Trojan Horse" to carry the White House's message about the war in Iraq -- a story first reported by The New York Times.

The Community Broadcasters Association is asking Congress for $450 million to make the conversion to digital as soon as possible, saying that many in the industry face bankruptcy and potential ruin due to government policies.

William Saffo, mayor of Wilmington (NC), told C-SPAN Friday that he has assurances from Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin that if a hurricane or serious storm threatens his city, the commission will postpone the planned Sept.

This week, the television upfronts — in which the broadcast networks present their schedules to advertisers — will open with a mystery. Who stole six million viewers? That’s the number who were watching prime time television last May, a month affectionately known as “sweeps,” but have disappeared this year, according to the overnight Nielsen ratings.

States attorneys general continued to register their concerns with the proposed XM Satellite Radio-Sirius Satellite Radio merger. The attorneys generals met with Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein this week to talk about the lack of an interoperable radio that would work with both services, as well as their general concern that "significant harms" would result from "the loss of a direct competitor."

With economic hard times, broadcast groups are reporting disappointing first quarters almost across the board. And while there's still the expectation that the political ad bonanza will arrive later this year, broadcasters need to make good on their promises of new revenue streams if they hope to convince investors of their future.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act (HR 5994), a bill that would subject broadband providers to antitrust violations if they block or slow Internet traffic.

On Thursday Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed that Wilmington, North Carolina, will be the first market to test the transition to digital television (DTV) in advance of the nationwide transition to DTV on February 17, 2009.

Acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Meredith Attwell Baker said Thursday that the NTIA has the authority to allow consumers to reapply for digital-TV-to-analog converter-box coupons, which expire after 90 days.