Nov 10, 2008 (Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2008
THE TRANSITION
Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy
Obama Weighs Choices for FCC Chairman
Inouye Leaving Commerce Committee Chair
Reid looks to chop Republican committee seats
Rift Over Key Committee Post Threatens To Distract Democrats From Agenda
Dingell Names Whip Team
Google CEO on Obama tech czar job: No thanks
Change.gov: Obama Brings Webroots Mojo to Transition Planning
Comcast looking ahead to Obama
THE ECONOMY
Bailout Bill Provided Tech Workers With Tax Relief for Stock Options
Broadcast Blues Hit Media Firms
BROADCASTING
House Commerce Leaders Have DTV Transition Questions For FCC, NTIA, Broadcasters
Democrats Balk At Return Of Fairness Doctrine
FCC Releases Decision on Closed Captioning Matters
FCC Releases New Rules on Use of Distributed Transmission System Technologies for DTV
WIRELESS
Net Neutrality Advocates: Wireless Carriers' Network Management Must be 'Reasonable'
AT&T Acquires Centennial in $2.8 Billion Deal
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Some Video Gamers Leery of Obama's Views
How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power
Local TV Big Winner in Election Spend Sweepstakes
TV news aims to maintain audience
Over Long Campaign, Obama Videos Drew Nearly a Billion Views
CYBERSECURITY
Internet Attacks Grow More Potent
QUICKLY -- The Google Library; This Math Whiz Called It for Obama Months Ago
THE TRANSITION
OBAMA WEIGHS QUICK UNDOING OF BUSH POLICY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeff Zeleny]
President-elect Barack Obama is poised to move swiftly to reverse actions that President Bush took using executive authority. His advisers were compiling a list of policies that could be reversed by the executive powers of the new president. The assessment is under way, aides said, but a full list of policies to be overturned will not be announced by President-elect Obama until he confers with new members of his cabinet. "There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for Congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," John D. Podesta, a top transition leader, said Sunday. "He feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set." The executive orders of the Bush administration are among the many items being reviewed by the new Obama team. The transition operation that was set up in August, even before Sen Obama was formally nominated at the Democratic convention, included a plan to scrutinize the policies that could be reversed through executive orders
http://benton.org/node/18723
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OBAMA WEIGHS CHOICES FOR FCC CHAIRMAN
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Olga Kharif]
Who will the next Federal Communications Commission chairman be? Candidates include Julia Johnson, Mignon Clyburn, Blair Levin, Scott Blake Harris, Don Gips, and Larry Strickling. Some within the telecom industry expect Obama to appoint one of the FCC's current Democratic commissioners, most likely Michael Copps, to be an interim chairman until a candidate for the permanent job is selected, most likely in January. While Copps could stay on as the permanent FCC chairman, several Washington insiders view this as unlikely. The other Democratic commissioner, Jonathan Adelstein, a former Senate staffer, could take another position within the Obama Administration. Whoever makes the final cut may have to pass muster with Tom Wheeler, who according to one person familiar with the matter is expected to have a big say in selections for technology-related appointments in the Administration. Wheeler is currently managing director at private equity firm Core Capital Partners. Previously, he was CEO of the powerful CTIA - The Wireless Industry Association, which represents carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Prior to that, from 1979 to 1984, he was president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Other key advisors include Julius Genachowski, previous FCC chairmen Bill Kennard and Reed Hundt, and former-FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera.
http://benton.org/node/18722
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INOUYE LEAVING COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHAIR
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
In January, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) will step down in order to become the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen Robert Byrd, 93, announced Friday that he would yield his gavel after numerous reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wanted Sen Inouye, 84, to lead the panel responsible for more than $900 billion in federal spending annually. Inouye's departure means that Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) would become Commerce Committee Chairman but that would require Sen Rockefeller to give up the chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. If Sen Rockefeller didn't take the top Commerce post, Sen John Kerry (D-MA) would be next in line. But Sen Kerry is reportedly interested in becoming President-elect Barack Obama's Secretary of State. If Kerry passes on the top Commerce position, Sen Byron L. Dorgan (ND) would have seniority to be Commerce chairman.
http://benton.org/node/18711
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REID LOOKS TO CHOP REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE SEATS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Alexander Bolton]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may follow a model set at the start of the 103rd Congress, when Democrats held a 57-seat Senate majority, to determine how many seats the two major parties get on each Senate Committee. If so, the number of seats Republicans hold on committees may be cut by or as many as two. Democrats will hold at least 57 seats in the next Senate and could as many as 60. During the 103rd Congress, Democrats held a 10 to 9 advantage on the Commerce Committee which might give Republicans an argument to preserve the 11 seats they hold on the Commerce Committee now.
http://benton.org/node/18712
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RIFT OVER KEY COMMITTEES POST THREATENS TO DISTRACT DEMOCRATS FROM AGENDA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Greg Hitt]
A fight is intensifying over whether Rep John Dingell (D-MI) should continue to head the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, fraying unity among House Democrats soon after they widened their majority in the chamber. Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) said the day after the Nov. 4 election that he would challenge Mr. Dingell for the chairmanship. The tiff threatens to distract House Democrats from implementing the policy goals of President-elect Barack Obama and their party. "Congressional committee battles can be more vicious than presidential elections, and can leave lasting scars that can directly affect a president's program," said Larry Sabato, a political-science professor at the University of Virginia.
http://benton.org/node/18721
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DINGELL NAMES WHIP TEAM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) has named the whip team for his effort to retain that powerful chairmanship, which includes oversight of the FCC and media issues, including the DTV transition. A whip team is a group of legislators who are charged with lining up enough votes to make sure a Member will win when a party caucus votes on committee chairs for the next Congress. Dingell's team includes a number of powerful committee chairmen and subcommittee chairmen. The team also includes 9 of the House Commerce Committee's 31 members and 3 of the Committee's 6 subcommittee chairman.
http://benton.org/node/18710
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GOOGLE CEO ON OBAMA TECH CZAR JOB: NO THANKS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Gabriel Madway]
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Friday he would not serve as technology czar in Barack Obama's administration if he was asked. "I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google, so the answer is no," Schmidt said. Schmidt, who was one of the president-elect's most high-profile supporters, was in Chicago Friday as part of Obama's 17-person economic transition economic advisory board. The group met to discuss how to deal with the ongoing financial crisis. Schmidt favors a new stimulus package that is more carefully focused than the previous effort. He said the first stimulus plan was "a bad decision on their part. A much better decision is to give out money that solves some other problem, like infrastructure."
http://benton.org/node/18709
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CHANGE.GOV: OBAMA BRINGS WEBROOTS MOJO TRANSITION PLANNING
[SOURCE: The ClickZ Network, AUTHOR: Zachary Rodgers]
A few questions raised by change.gov, the new online presence for the Obama-Biden transition team: 1) Is this a marketing or a government site? 2) Political operators have wondered what will become of Obama's immense list of supporters -- what's to become of their e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers? What of the Twitter account and its 121,000 followers? Will he tell them about this site? And what will he do with the e-mail addresses he's collecting on the Change.gov site? 3) Does Obama's administration really want to know what you think?
http://benton.org/node/18707
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COMCAST LOOKING AHEAD TO OBAMA
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, AUTHOR: Bob Fernandez]
Comcast is a clear winner in one Washington area with Tuesday's election: Kevin Martin's day as Federal Communications Commission chairman are numbered. Chairman Martin was annoyed by the cable industry's refusal to adopt stricter decency standards early in his tenure as FCC chair. Indeed, while many companies and industries experienced a broad relaxation of federal regulations during the Bush presidency, cable has faced a broadening of regulation under Chairman Martin. Comcast executive David Cohen backed the election of Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) -- Will it translate into an easier ride in Washington with an Obama administration for the cable giant? It's not a slam dunk, say industry experts. President-elect Obama was helped in his historic presidential campaign by powerful Comcast opponents who also claim Democratic ties: unions and Internet advocates.
http://benton.org/node/18708
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THE ECONOMY
BAILOUT BILL PROVIDED TECH WORKERS WITH TAX RELIEF FOR STOCK OPTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Scott Thurm]
The recent $700 billion rescue package to bolster the financial system also threw a lifeline to thousands of people who owed taxes on stock options dating to the technology-stock crash of 2000. Some individual tax bills exceeded $1 million for shares that later plunged in value. A five-paragraph section tucked into the bailout bill effectively erased those taxes, at an estimated cost to the Treasury of $2.3 billion. Most of the people affected weren't top executives, but lower-level workers and middle managers at tech firms in the 1990s. Stock options give holders the right, but not the obligation, to purchase stock at a preset price, known as the strike price. For most stock options, holders must pay income tax on the difference between the strike price and the share price when the options are exercised, or converted to shares.
http://benton.org/node/18717
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BROADCAST BLUES HIT MEDIA FIRMS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
The TV industry today is like a tale of two cities. Earnings from big media companies this past week showed cable channels are comfortably surviving the economic slowdown. Broadcasters? Not so much. Since cable networks effectively share in fees that households pay to cable and satellite operators, they have been insulated from the severity of the downturn. TV station profits are being walloped by the economic slump.
http://benton.org/node/18716
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BROADCASTING
HOUSE COMMERCE LEADERS HAVE DTV TRANSITION QUESTIONS FOR FCC, NTIA, BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)]
House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) still have some unanswered questions coming out of the September early analog cut-off in Wilmington (NC) and have asked the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; the National Association of Broadcasters, and broadcasters to fill in the blanks. In the letters, the two chairmen note that the Wilmington test identified many problems related to the DTV transition, including matters concerning rescanning analog-to-digital converter boxes, adjusting or acquiring antennas and changes in the areas where stations' signals are available. They asked each stakeholder to outline the steps it will take to avoid similar problems when the rest of the Nation transitions to digital on February 17, 2009. They requested responses by Friday, November 14.
http://benton.org/node/18706
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DEMOCRATS BALK AT RETURN OF FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Reps Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) tried to take some of the edge off the growing flap over possible re-imposition of the fairness doctrine, the defunct Federal Communications Commission regulation that required stations to air both sides of controversial issues. Rep Van Hollen, a rising star in the Democratic Party who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was responsible for getting more Dems election to the House, said that even if Democrats wanted to reimpose the doctrine—he did not say whether or not he wanted them to—technology may have moved beyond that kind of regulation. "Right now, I think you have such a proliferation of media," he said, that "I think it is increasingly difficult to try and put sort of quotas on political speech over any medium. I think that would be the challenge anyone would face if they wanted to try and do that...As far as I know it will not be the first order of business if it is ever part of the agenda."
http://benton.org/node/18705
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FCC RELEASES DECISION ON CLOSED CAPTIONING MATTERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission released a ruling and notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at taking steps to ensure that all Americans, including persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, can enjoy video programming. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps noted that the order "improves our complaint process. It makes it easier for consumers to get immediate help with specific captioning problems. And it clarifies some important captioning issues as we continue to transition to digital television." But he also noted the move fell short of adopting a recommendation "to convene a working group on digital closed captioning that includes representatives from the broadcast, cable and satellite industries, consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers, and captioning providers and consumers. The working group would: 1) identify current and anticipated problems with the transmission and display of digital captioning; 2) evaluate the captioning capabilities of digital equipment; and 3) develop solutions to ensure that captions are passed through intact to the consumer."
http://benton.org/node/18704
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FCC RELEASES NEW RULES ON USE OF DISTRIBUTED TRANSMISSION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES FOR DTV
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission released a ruling on the use of distributed transmission system (DTS) technologies in the digital television (DTV) service. The FCC finds that DTS will provide broadcasters with an important tool for providing optimum signal coverage for their viewers. For some broadcasters that are changing channels or transmitting locations for their digital service, DTS may offer the best option for continuing to provide over-the-air service to current analog viewers, as well as for reaching viewers that have historically been unable to receive a good signal due to terrain or other interference. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said, "Anyone looking for an example of how the digital television transition would have benefited from a national commitment on the level of Y2K need look no further than this item."
http://benton.org/node/18703
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WIRELESS
NET NEUTRALITY ADVOCATES: WIRELESS CARRIERS' NETWORK MANAGEMENT MUST BE 'REASONABLE'
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Emboldened by their summertime victory against Comcast, advocates of network neutrality said Thursday that the next front in battle for the principle would be against wireless carriers who make "unreasonable" network management decisions. In a panel discussion on managing wireless networks at the Wireless Communications Association conference, Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott and Google Telecom Counsel Richard Whitt said that the FCC's Net neutrality principles would bar discrimination over wireless networks while conceding that the networks are, for the time being, more bandwidth-constrained than wired-based network. Wireless networks "are not different," said Scott. "We made this mistake in the 1996 Telecom Act, and regulated different technologies under different rules, and we are paying the price."
http://benton.org/node/18702
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AT&T ACQUIRES CENTENNIAL IN $2.8 BILLION DEAL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
AT&T said late Friday that it has agreed to purchase regional wireless and wireline communications company Centennial Communications for $2.8 billion in cash and assumed debt. The deal will broaden AT&T's wireless coverage especially in rural areas of the country -- many of Centennial's 1.1 million wireless customers are located in largely rural locales in the Midwest and Southeast portions of the country as well as in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. AT&T, in contrast, has about 75 million wireless customers in the US. AT&T said in a statement that it hopes to close the deal by the end of the second quarter of next year.
http://benton.org/node/18701
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
SOME VIDEO GAMERS LEERY OF OBAMA'S VIEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Gamers are no strangers to politics; indeed, video games are a recurring subject of campaign rhetoric. Blog posts scoring President-elect Obama's positions on video games have received hundreds of comments, with some readers worrying that his admonitions during the campaign to "put the video games away" signaled new regulations or restrictions on the industry. Obama indicated that he supported parental controls for both television and video games and called on the video game industry to "give parents better information" and improve the voluntary ratings system. "If the industry fails to act, then my administration would," he wrote.
http://benton.org/node/18715
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HOW OBAMA TAPPED INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS' POWER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
Like a lot of Web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans. As a result, when he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama will have not just a political base, but a database, millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And there's every reason to believe that he will use the network not just to campaign, but to govern. His e-mail message to supporters on Tuesday night included the line, "We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next." The incoming administration is already open for business on the Web at Change.gov, a digital gateway for the transition. Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly "wired" presidency. Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media.
http://benton.org/node/18720
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LOCAL TV BIG WINNER IN ELECTION SPEND SWEEPSTAKES
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
Despite the record-breaking funds raised by President-elect Barack Obama, total political ad spending for the election will come in below expectations. According to preliminary estimates from Borrell Associates, overall spending will hit $2.16 billion with about $2.14 billion spent on traditional media, including TV, cable and radio -- and $16.6 million spent online. Earlier this year Borrell had forecast total spending would hit $2.6 billion. And TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group had predicted a skyrocketing $3 billion, which was trimmed later in the year to $2.5 billion. "It just wasn't the cornucopia everyone thought it would be," said Kip Cassino, vp of research at Borrell. "Of all the money Obama raised, it didn't all go to advertising." A great deal went to Obama's infrastructure.
http://benton.org/node/18719
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TV NEWS AIMS TO MAINTAIN AUDIENCE
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Cynthia Littleton, William Triplett]
The two-year historic presidential race was very, very good for the news business, particularly the all-news cablers. Viewership spiked, stars were made and news operations were given frequent opportunities to shine with substantive material. The test for TV newsies is to hang on to those ratings. The what-next question is especially interesting for the two outlets that have staked out partisan turf. How will the top-rated Fox News Channel fare in an Obama world? Who will MSNBC's Keith Olbermann rail against if there's a liberal in the White House?
http://benton.org/node/18700
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OVER LONG CAMPAIGN, OBAMA VIDEOS DRAW NEARLY A BILLION VIEWS
[SOURCE: The ClickZ Network, AUTHOR: Fred Aun]
During the presidential campaign, 104,454 videos about Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) were uploaded and they were viewed about 889 million times. The 64,092 videos about Sen John McCain (R-AZ) were viewed 554 million times. So what can advertisers learn from the campaign video research? "The importance of identifying audiences and figuring out how to strategically engage them," said Rajeev Kadam, CEO of divinity Metrics. "The political candidates are very much like brands. They want to go out and get their messages heard. Brands are in the same position."
http://benton.org/node/18699
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CYBERSECURITY
INTERNET ATTACKS GROW MORE POTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
Attackers bent on shutting down large Web sites — even the operators that run the backbone of the Internet — are arming themselves with what are effectively vast digital fire hoses capable of overwhelming the world's largest networks, according to a new report on online security. In these attacks, computer networks are hijacked to form so-called botnets that spray random packets of data in huge streams over the Internet. The deluge of data is meant to bring down Web sites and entire corporate networks. Known as distributed denial of service, or D.D.O.S., attacks, such cyberweapons are now routinely used during political and military conflicts, as in Estonia in 2007 during a political fight with Russia, and in the Georgian-Russian war last summer. Such attacks are also being used in blackmail schemes and political conflicts, as well as for general malicious mischief.
http://benton.org/node/18718
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QUICKLY
THE GOOGLE LIBRARY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Google, whose corporate ambition is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," has reached a breakthrough agreement with book publishers to make millions of out-of-print volumes accessible to the public. Unfortunately, it's not clear how useful the pact will be to libraries and their patrons. That's because the deal promotes a "pay to read" approach that's the antithesis of the free public library model.
http://benton.org/node/18714
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THIS MATH WHIZ CALLED IT FOR OBAMA MONTHS AGO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Clifford]
A look at Nate Silver, baseball statistics genius and founder of FiveThirtyEight.com which ain't too bad at calling elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10silver.html?ref=today...
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Happy Birthday, Steph!
