July 12, 2012 (Verizon's Cable Deal Could Widen Digital Divide)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012

Today the NTIA convenes the first Privacy Multistakeholder Meeting http://benton.org/calendar/2012-07-12/

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Verizon's Cable Deal Would Widen Digital Divide, Lawmakers Say
   Verizon's competitors look to restrict cable deal
   Free Press Asks FCC to Deny Verizon/T-Mobile Spectrum Swap
   VZ/SpectrumCo Update: Actually Pretty Good, Except For That ‘Cartel’ Thing - analysis
   Print Edition of the United States Frequency Allocation Chart Now Available [links to web]
   New York starts turning payphones into free Wi-Fi hotspots [links to web]
   Here’s Something Novel: A Carrier That Thinks International Roaming Fees Are Too High
   Making T-Mo’s MyTouch is just step 1 of Huawei’s master plan [links to web]
   Amazon's Tough Call [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   White House Official Call for Broad Regulations on Internet Use
   Verizon Playing Dangerous Game in Network Neutrality Battle - analysis
   Fiber Is the Key to US Telecom Diet - op-ed
   Stakeholders Seek Diverse Options for Funding Broadband
   Champaign and Urbana residents can compete for expanded broadband service
   Who’s afraid of Google fiber? Time Warner for starters. [links to web]
   Sens. Whitehouse, Blumenthal call for action on cybersecurity legislation [links to web]
   NSA Chief Plugs Federal Standards to Regulate Industry Computer [links to web]
   Retail groups intensify push for online sales tax [links to web]
   ISPs credited with dampening DNSChanger's impact [links to web]
   New Online Users Have A Longer Timeline

OWNERSHIP
Regulators at FTC, DOJ caution against misuse of patents

CONTENT
   Hey DOJ, where are the public comments on the e-book pricing case?
   In surprise move, judge quits Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ case [links to web]
   Twitter is building a media business using other people’s content - analysis [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Station News Staffing Soared in 2011
   Web Video Inflames Fight Over TV Fees
   Judge Says Aereo, a TV Streaming Service, May Continue
   NBCU Rolls Local News Channels Into New National Network

PRIVACY
Rep Markey questions Justice Department on cellphone data collection
Mobile App Developers Getting Privacy Savvy, Per Study

HEALTH
Mobile health is taking off but what’s still in its way?
President Obama signs FDA safety bill, affirming agency's role in medical app guidance [links to web]

EDUCATION
Venture capital funding for ed tech at ‘unprecedented’ levels, expected to rise [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Political Ad Bonanza a Boon for Broadcast
   What Romney's Right-Wing Media Revolt Reveals About The GOP - analysis
   Political convention sites brace for flood of mobile traffic [links to web]
   Obama to raise funds July 23 in Oakland, Piedmont [links to web]
   AFL-CIO: WSJ 'twists union spending data' [links to web]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Rep Markey questions Justice Department on cellphone data collection
Information Technology Reform: Progress Made but Future Cloud Computing Efforts Should be Better Planned [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Brussels backs down on telecoms pricing
   Vodafone To Buy Telstra’s New Zealand Unit [links to web]
   Branson Offers a Service To Launch Small Satellites [links to web]

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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

LAWMAKERS WEIGH IN ON VERIZON SPECTRUM DEAL
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Gerry Smith]
A proposed deal between Verizon and four major cable companies could lead to consumers paying higher prices and having less access to high-speed Internet, a group of lawmakers said. In a letter sent to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Attorney General Eric Holder, more than 30 House members warned the agreement would have “far-reaching implications on the competitive landscape across the nation" and would give Verizon and the cable companies involved an "enormous advantage over their competitors." The deal appears to limit competition in voice, video, Internet and wireless markets, they said. "This could lead to reduced investment in infrastructure, job loss, fewer choices, and ultimately higher prices for consumers," the lawmakers warned. The lawmakers also claimed the deal would “eliminate thousands of good, middle-class jobs needed to build competing broadband networks." Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden said in a statement, "Over the past six months we have addressed these issues, made a persuasive case that bringing unused spectrum to the marketplace to serve millions of consumers is strongly in the public interest, and we believe we are on track for approval later this summer."
benton.org/node/129086 | Huffington Post, The
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VERIZON-SPECTRUMCO OPPOSITION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
A host of Verizon's cellular competitors want to make sure the company does not get any preferential access to Wi-Fi networks through its $3.6 billion deal with a coalition of cable companies. In filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week, Sprint, MetroPCS and a coalition of mid-sized carriers argued that if regulators approve the deal, they should attach conditions to ensure that all carriers have equal access to the cable companies' Wi-Fi hot spots. Verizon agreed in December to buy blocks of radio spectrum from a group of cable companies, including Comcast, Time Warner and Cox. The companies also agreed to cross-sell each other's services and to launch a joint-research venture. Many of the same cable companies have been setting up high-speed Wi-Fi Internet hot spots around the country, and in May, they announced that they would allow each other's customers to access all of the hot spots. But Verizon's competitors are worried that the company's arrangements with the cable companies will give its customers special access to the Wi-Fi hot spots.
Consumer advocacy groups also filed comments with the FCC this week calling for conditions on the Verizon-cable deal. The groups are not satisfied with Verizon's recent announcement that it will sell off some of the newly acquired spectrum to T-Mobile, the smallest national carrier. Free Press said Verizon, the largest carrier, should be forced to relinquish more spectrum holdings in certain markets. Public Knowledge argued that the commercial arrangements still pose a serious threat to competition. The group said that although Verizon's deals with T-Mobile "may alleviate some of the spectrum concentration concerns posed by the proposed transactions in this proceeding, they do nothing to prevent or remedy the harms threatened by the proposed transactions to the development of competition in the telecommunications landscape."
benton.org/node/129058 | Hill, The
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OPPOSITION TO VBERZION/T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Free Press has filed a petition to deny Verizon's proposed swap of spectrum with T-Mobile, but its real issue is Verizon–SpectrumCo. The group says the deal by itself would, for the most part, be in the public interest since it entails a net sale of spectrum to T-Mobile and swaps that enhance efficiency. But the deal cannot be looked at in isolation, says Free Press, and is not in the public interest when coupled, as it is by definition, with approval of the Verizon–SpectrumCo deal. The swap, which would have the net effect of spinning off some of the SpectrumCo purchase to competitor T-Mobile, is contingent on the FCC's approval of Verizon's purchase of spectrum from cable operators - SpectrumCo (which comprises Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House) and Cox in a separate transaction (some Leap Wireless spectrum is also part of the deal). Free Press opposes that SpectrumCo deal, particularly in combination with associated marketing agreements that have Verizon and cable ops selling their respective services and teaming on R&D to integrate wired and wireless broadband. That is too cozy a relationship among competitors, suggests Free Press.
benton.org/node/129056 | Broadcasting&Cable
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VZ/SPECTRUMCO UPDATE
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] I have been doing some analysis of Verizon’s latest move in the VZ/SpectrumCo transaction, the announcement VZ will engage in a series of AWS spectrum swaps with T-Mobile. Between this and Verizon’s commitment to sell off its Lower 700 MHz A&B block licenses, I am almost happy — except for that whole cartel thing with the major cable companies. But if we ignored the cartel thing, this deal now becomes the rare bird that actually enhances both Verizon’s position in the market and that of a prospective competitor. This is not quite a triumph for Coasian market efficiency, since it took the threat of agency action to nudge Verizon in the ‘right’ direction. I also need to point out that when we start out with a fairly dismal market structure, it does not take much to improve things. Giving spectrum to T-Mo is good, but it does not address all the competition problems created by our unfortunate means of distributing spectrum, which still ends up concentrating it in the hands of a very small number (e.g., two) of companies. So ‘happy’ is a relative term.
benton.org/node/129055 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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INTERNATIONAL ROAMING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
It’s rare to hear a telecommunications provider admit that the industry has been charging too much, but that’s just what Telefonica Germany CEO Rene Schuster did. “Let me be one of the first industry executives to hold up my hand and say the industry has really missed the (boat) and missed an opportunity to be a champion for the consumer,” Schuster said during an onstage interview at the DLDWomen conference in Munich, Germany. Roaming charges may have made sense at one point, Schuster said, but he added that “it is not justifiable going forward, and the industry will change.” Schuster said his company has stopped some charges for its customers who roam onto rival’s networks, and also applauded European regulations that are forcing the issue.
benton.org/node/129039 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL CALLS FOR BROAD REGULATIONS ON INTERNET USE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Eric Katz]
Daniel Weitzner, deputy chief technology officer in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology, spoke at the conservative Hudson Institute and called for a broad and flexible regulatory framework for Internet use, leaving the specifics of implementation to individual industries. He pointed to President Obama’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights -- which the administration released in February -- as an example of policy Congress should pass into law to set parameters for use of the Web. “We think the flexibility of having a broad sense of principles but then tuning them to a particular business context is critical,” Weitzner said, “and provides . . . what we think the Internet needs.” The Federal Trade Commission would act as a “safe harbor” to ensure industries were complying with the broad framework, Weitzner added. He also pointed to a set of proposals the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development laid out -- including global free flow of information and intellectual property protection -- as guidelines for broad Internet regulation.
The basis of these guidelines should fit three main principles:
The first relates to the large scale of the Internet, which, according to the White House, indicates that regulatory structures cannot mimic those of other industries. The widespread nature of Internet development does not lend itself to “traditional command and control” guidelines, Weitzner argued.
Second, the Obama administration official said Internet public policy must “accommodate and encourage” the speed of the rapidly developing Internet medium.
Finally, Weitzner emphasized the need for international cooperation in regulating the Web, comparing any company that does business on the Internet to a multinational corporation. He called for global standards to fill the void left by a lack of treaties.
benton.org/node/129021 | nextgov
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VERIZON’S DANGEROUS GAME
[SOURCE: PCWorld, AUTHOR: Tony Bradley]
It’s been awhile since network neutrality has been in the headlines, but that doesn’t mean the war is over--far from it. In its renewed challenge to the network neutrality rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon is citing its First Amendment right to free speech. The argument itself seems dubious, but if Verizon wins it could lead to unintended consequences it might like even less. The challenge, essentially, is that by limiting Verizon’s ability to choose which content to block or promote, the FCC is infringing on Verizon’s right to free speech. There are a couple major flaws in the argument.
First, an individual’s right to free speech shouldn’t apply equally to a corporation. I’m not a Constitutional scholar nor a legal expert, but it seems to me that a corporation can say what it chooses as a function of the fact that the people actually saying it have an individual right to free speech. However, the corporation as an entity doesn’t necessarily enjoy that same right, and—in fact—the corporation’s right to free speech is already limited by rules governing false advertising or mandates to include specific text or warnings on products.
Second, the FCC network neutrality rules don’t actually inhibit an ISP’s ability to express itself freely. Under the FCC rules, Verizon is free to publish whatever content it chooses--it simply can’t block or discriminate against other content as a matter of business practice.
benton.org/node/129060 | PCWorld
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FIBER IS KEY
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] An extraordinary story that will actually have an impact on the day-to-day lives of tens of millions of Americans is rolling efficiently forward in dozens of state legislatures. And neither mainstream media nor the public is paying much attention. The National Regulatory Review Institute reported earlier this month that between January 2010 and April 2012 intense industry lobbying had resulted in passage of laws removing or reducing oversight of telecommunications providers in 20 states. It’s a deregulatory tsunami. So many state bills are pending that it’s hard to keep up: 14 more states are now considering legislation, and new bills are likely before the end of the year in several other places. In Michigan, a local phone company no longer has to provide wired service and is no longer subject to any quality-of-service requirements or rate regulation. A carrier in that state doesn’t have to build lines to any household if it doesn’t want to, and can stop selling services to you if you just want a phone line. Although every state is slightly different, and some states have hung on to the authority to require lines to all of their inhabitants, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin have also passed flavors of deregulatory bills. Now, you may be saying, “So what? Who needs a landline phone? I love handheld devices!” Here’s what’s at stake. As a country, we’ve made a historical commitment to ensuring that virtually every American has access to reasonably priced, standard, high-quality communications. Our national phone system was the envy of the world when it was first built. Now we’re moving to a time of deep communications inequality.
benton.org/node/129083 | Wired
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USF FUNDING
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
As the Federal Communications Commission transitions today’s voice-centric Universal Service program into a broadband program, the focus of those efforts is about to shift to the contribution side: How should money be collected from the telecom industry to fund the program? Back in April the FCC gave stakeholders a couple of months to respond to this question and respond they did. Among those commenting were the American Cable Association, Comptel, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, and USTelecom. In addition, several rural telecom carrier groups – including the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and the Western Telecommunications Alliance – filed comments jointly. Contributions to today’s voice-focused Universal Service Fund are assessed as a percentage of service providers’ voice revenues – and several respondents suggested that a logical approach to the broadband Connect America Fund would be to base contributions on broadband revenues. Others, including the ITTA, suggested a “hybrid” approach that would assess a flat monthly fee for each working residential and business number and a tiered flat monthly charge for each connection to all other assessable services. The ITTA argued in a press release that this approach would decrease arbitrage opportunities by eliminating the self-classification of services by providers. Some commenters – including Comptel and the rural telco groups – suggested that enterprise broadband revenues be included in the revenue base used for calculating contributions.
benton.org/node/129081 | telecompetitor
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BROADBAND IN ILLINOIS
[SOURCE: News-Gazette, AUTHOR: Patrick Wade]
City officials in Champaign and Urbana (IL) want residents and businesses to vote with their checkbooks to bring expanded broadband service to the area. They announced that a competition has opened pitting Champaign-Urbana against 36 other research university communities to bring in low-cost, high-speed Internet infrastructure. Six cities will be chosen as locations where private supplier Gigabit Squared will invest in fiber optic hookups directly to homes and businesses. Officials say it's a step that would enhance Champaign-Urbana's burgeoning Big Broadband initiative, for which a $22.5 million federal grant is helping to hook up residents in underserved areas and community institutions like schools, churches and city facilities with high-speed Internet. "There's just one problem," said Urbana Alderman Brandon Bowersox-Johnson. "It only connects about 10 percent of the community."
benton.org/node/129079 | News-Gazette
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SENIORS ONLINE
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Stan Alcorn]
Facebook started as a social network for college students. But now that anyone can join, here's a status update: Many of its newest members are senior citizens. "For the first time, half of adults 65 and older are online," says Mary Madden, a researcher at the Pew Center's Internet and American Life Project. That's up from just 14 percent in 2000, when the project started. She says the number of seniors online has really taken off in the past year, and the biggest driver is happening offline, in outreach. And grandkids — and their pictures — are a magnet for seniors, pulling them into a new social space at a time when most of them are socializing less. "People actually narrow down their social networks as they grow older," says Shyam Sundar, professor of communications at Penn State. Sundar thinks websites like Facebook can help seniors fight that isolation. He compares the sites to an ongoing Thanksgiving dinner. However, that only works for people who already have friends and family to fill the seats at the table.
benton.org/node/129095 | National Public Radio
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OWNERSHIP

MISUSE OF PATENTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Federal regulators cautioned against the misuse of standards-essential patents to block new gadgets from entering the United States. Standards-essential patents have been at the center of some large patent wars among mobile companies. Companies that hold standards-essential patents commit to licensing them to others on reasonable and anti-discriminatory terms. But rather than licensing the patents to rival companies for a reasonable fee, some companies have sought to secure an exclusion order from the International Trade Commission that would bar an allegedly infringing product from being imported into the United States. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, regulators from the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department said the exclusion orders should only be granted when appropriate, but that those cases are rare.
benton.org/node/129087 | Hill, The | FTC
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CONTENT

E-BOOK PUBLIC COMMENTS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
The Department of Justice was supposed to publish all of the letters it has received about the e-book pricing settlement on its website by June 25. Bob Kohn, an attorney and CEO of Royalty Share who previously wrote a legal brief in support of Apple and the publishers (but does not work for any of the parties involved), has sent Denise Cote, the judge presiding over the case, a letter stating that the DOJ’s failure to make the letters available to the public — and to provide its response to those comments — on time violates federal antitrust rules.
benton.org/node/129023 | paidContent.org
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TELEVISION

TV NEWS STAFFING
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: ]
With the hiring of 1,131 additional anchors, reporters, producers and other news staffers, employment in local television newsrooms in the U.S. grew 4.3% to 27,653 in 2011, the second highest total on record (behind 2000), according to the latest annual survey by RTDNA and Hofstra University. However, because the number of news producing stations had fallen to 725 in 2011, the average staffing for the newsroom for the year — 38.2 — is an all-time high, RTDNA/Hofstra said. News staffing could get even bigger this year. More than a third of the stations (36.7%) said they expected to increase their staff in 2012, while only 2.4% expected to decrease it. About half (54.6%) expected it to stay the same. Because of duopolies and other news sharing arrangements between stations, the 725 newsrooms produce news for 967 stations, RTDNA/Hofstra said.
benton.org/node/129074 | TVNewsCheck
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FIGHT OVER TV FEES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shalini Ramachandran]
The disappearance of Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central from the TV sets of 20 million American homes marked a line in the sand drawn by one of the biggest pay-TV distributors in a dispute over programming fees with a major entertainment company. What might once have been a run-of-the-mill spat has taken on heightened importance because it occurs at a pivotal time in the TV industry. Low-price or free online video outlets like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube are emerging as serious competitors to traditional cable-TV services, putting the spotlight on the relatively pricey nature of cable TV. That issue is particularly acute in this dispute, where Viacom is seeking an increase in the fees it is paid by DirecTV to carry its channels. Viacom licenses many of its shows to outlets like Netflix and Amazon, prompting industry executives to worry about cannibalizing traditional TV. Several top Viacom channels, particularly Nickelodeon, have recently seen ratings declines. Viacom executives have previously said online availability of content has minimal impact on traditional ratings. "There are probably more people exposed to our programming than ever before, but the ratings industry has not kept up" in measuring online viewing, said a Viacom spokesman.
benton.org/node/129105 | Wall Street Journal | Public Knowledge | B&C
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AEREO’S COURT WIN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Aereo, the service backed by Barry Diller, can keep streaming for now. A federal judge denied a temporary injunction sought by television broadcasters that would have shut down Aereo, a start-up that streams local TV stations’ signals to customers over the Internet without the explicit permission of the stations. The broadcasters said they would continue to pursue their lawsuit against the service. But the ruling by Judge Alison Nathan of the United States District Court in Manhattan gives Diller, the chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp, and the other backers of Aereo the confidence to move forward. Because of the antenna array, Aereo pointedly does not pay fees to stations for the right to retransmit their signals. If courts continue to side with Aereo, the cable and satellite companies that currently do pay such fees may try to replicate the Aereo model. Aereo said in a news release, “Today’s decision should serve as a signal to the public that control and choice are moving back into the hands of the consumer — that’s a powerful statement.”
benton.org/node/129104 | New York Times | WSJ | AP
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BOB TV
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Sharon Waxman, Tim Molloy]
NBCUniversal is folding seven local digital news and lifestyle subchannels into a single national channel that will air retro reruns during the day and lifestyle programs in primetime. The subchannels of NBC affiliates are called NBC Nonstop channels, and the network said in November that it would roll them into one new national channel called Nonstop. But the new plans call for more extensive changes, including adding reruns and a potential name change. "Bob TV" is one name under consideration. Nationalizing the channels will mean cutting local news programs, since California news may not play to viewers in Chicago or Miami. But local channels will still have the option of pre-empting the national network's programming to air local news shows if they choose.
benton.org/node/129097 | Wrap, The
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PRIVACY

MARKEY LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) pressed the Justice Department for details about its collection of people's personal cellphone information. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, he asked about the number of requests the department made in 2011, the kinds of information it collected and the legal standards it applied to the data collection. “The expansive nature of these information requests likely results in the collection of sensitive records of innocent consumers by law enforcement,” Rep Markey wrote in his letter to the Justice Department. “The practices of law enforcement agencies, along with the enormous amount of requests, range of information provided, and large numbers of consumers involved, raise a number of important privacy concerns. It is important to know how law enforcement is handling the records of consumers, especially those who are innocent, which may be collected as part of these information requests.”
benton.org/node/129098 | Hill, The | National Journal
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MOBILE APP PRIVACY
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
Under mounting pressure from regulators and the Obama Administration, mobile app developers are becoming more privacy savvy. In fact, the vast majority, 61.3 percent, have privacy policies that detail what personal data is collected and how it is used, according to a study released by the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington think tank. As more free, ad-supported apps enter the market, more app developers are turning to mobile ad networks to monetize their products. That dynamic has caused more developers to step up their privacy games, per the study. Indeed, the numbers seem to bear that out. The percentage of free apps on the iOS App Store doubled from 40 to 84 percent between last September and June, said the Future of Privacy Forum report. Similarly, on the Google platform, the percentage of free apps with a privacy policy increased 70 to 76 percent. Paid apps were a slightly different story with the percentage of apps on the iOS App Store platform up from 60 to 64 percent and on the Google platform, up 30 to 48 percent.
benton.org/node/129073 | AdWeek | B&C
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HEALTH

MOBILE HEALTH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ki Mae Heussner]
First, the good news: a growing class of mobile health apps are helping people do everything from lose weight to manage diabetes to chat and talk with doctors in real time. Investment in the sector is expected to increase by 25 percent for the next five years and, according to Chilmark Research, it could exceed $1.1 billion by 2017. But healthcare innovation experts say the vast majority of mobile apps fail to engage consumers and the category as a whole has yet to win over doctors. “Most of these apps are actually awful. There may be 12,000 apps out there but they’re not 12,000 good apps,” Chris Wasden, Global Healthcare Innovation Leader for PwC, said at the MedCity Converge health tech conference. “They’re mostly bad apps that people rarely use.” Wasden said effective apps reflect six principles – interoperability, integration (with doctors’ workflows and patients’ lives), intelligence, outcomes, socialization and engagement – but very few actually do that. Aside from the issues with the apps themselves, he said recent research conducted by PwC found that even though patients are eager to adopt mobile health, doctors and the larger system surrounding them are reluctant to change things up.
benton.org/node/129027 | GigaOm
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

POLITICAL AD BONANZA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
For once, the lackluster economy could actually be a boon for the media industry. As a key issue for voters in this year's elections, it will feature prominently in political ads -- set to cost around $9.8 billion in 2012, a 63% increase over 2010, according to estimates by research firm Borrell Associates. The boost comes amid an arms race in political spending, accelerated by the 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed restrictions on political expenditures by corporations and unions. Even though there were only midterm elections in that year, political ad spending still topped 2008's total. In 2000, political advertisers spent $18 per U.S. adult. This year, Borrell estimates the figure will be $42. Around 60% of that is expected to go to broadcast TV, with much on national deals with TV networks. But local stations in swing states like Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will also get their share of presidential ad dollars. And the rise of political action committees, which tend to focus on a particular candidate, initiative or piece of legislation, has funneled more money to local issues. That bodes well for E.W. Scripps, Media General, Journal Communications and Gray Television—broadcast-focused companies with TV stations in large battleground state markets. Meredith and Gannett may see some additional ad dollars in markets with contested gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, but their businesses are still primarily focused on print publishing.
benton.org/node/129100 | Wall Street Journal
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ROMNEY’S RIGHT-WING MEDIA REVOLT
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Eric Boehlert]
[Commentary] As Mitt Romney's team continues to try to defuse the recent conservative rebellion regarding the state of his campaign, it's telling that the right-wing media led the rear-guard charge. Traditionally, when campaign revolts bubble up they're reported in the media, not initiated there. In the past, it was nervous party elites, major donors, state party chairmen, members of Congress and their top aides who aired complaints, through the media, when they felt their party's candidate was falling down, or that his campaign was in need of a course correction. This time it's the right-wing media that's taken upon itself to launch a running critique of Romney's campaign. It's amazing how the conservative press feels completely empowered at this point to brazenly dictate how the Republican Party candidate ought to run for the White House.
benton.org/node/129047 | Huffington Post, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

BRUSSELS BACKS DOWN
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas, James Fontanella-Khan]
Neelie Kroes, Europe’s digital commissioner, will give large European telecoms groups a major boost after agreeing to back down on a threat to regulate pricing of their networks in order to encourage investment in European infrastructure. In recommendations to be published on July 12, Commissioner Kroes is expected to say that the pricing of access to the ageing copper-based networks will not be forced lower, while operators will have freedom to set charges on newer fiber networks that are gradually being built across the region. There will also be a recommendation to impose strict non-discrimination on access to networks that will ensure that smaller telecoms groups can provide the same level of competition. She is expected to say that these recommendations will take effect until 2020. The move is likely to be welcomed by Europe’s largest telecom groups, such as Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, which own most of their respective country’s copper infrastructure.
benton.org/node/129093 | Financial Times
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