Nov 25, 2008 (Net Neutrality Pressures)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2008
THE TRANSITION
Net Neutrality Pressures Target House Democrats
Lobbyist's work for Obama transition raises concerns over ethics guidelines
TELEVISION
Americans Can't Get Enough Of Their Screen Time
Needed: Network bailout?
ADVERTISING
RTNDA: Current Sponsorship Rules OK
CCFC Wants FCC To Ban Product Placement In Kids Shows, Limit In Primetime
PTC Singles Out Best and Worst TV Advertisers
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Citizenship 2.0
Rural areas lack quick Internet
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NTIA head argues for no restrictions on AWS-3 licenses
Obama Cell Phone Mishap Prompts Leahy Letter
CYBERSECURITY
US vulnerable to Chinese cyber espionage
JOURNALISM
Violence Against Journalists Grows in Mexico's Drug War
QUICKLY -- Zell's Sell; Apple sued over tech that helps iPhone surf Web; NLRB Judge Rules Against CNN, Which Will Appeal
THE TRANSITION
NET NEUTRALITY PRESSURES TARGET HOUSE DEMOCRATS
[SOURCE: PublicKnowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Just how possible is Network Neutrality legislation in the 11th Congress? Newly elected House Committee Chairman Henry Waxman has been a proponent, but he represents Hollywood, Hollywood has been generous to Waxman's campaigns, and Waxman's support for Net Neutrality came before Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), launched his industry's broadside against Net Neutrality earlier this year. One question now is whether Waxman will follow Glickman's lead, or try to work out some accommodation with Hollywood over Net Neutrality. It would make his job easier if MPAA members backed away from Glickman's opposition, realizing that the studios would benefit from a free and open Internet. Perhaps they will see that wisdom in the coming months. Or perhaps Waxman will simply ignore Hollywood and do what's right. And don't let a Democratic majority fool you into thinking legislation will easily be passed: Reps Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Gene Green (D-TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), John Barrow (D-GA), Ed Towns (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Bart Stupak (D-MI) have all opposed Network Neutrality.
http://benton.org/node/19286
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LOBBYIST'S WORK FOR OBAMA TRANSITION RAISES CONCERNS OVER ETHICS GUIDELINES
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
James Halpert, an attorney and registered lobbyist with DLA Piper, is advising the Obama-Biden Transition Team on matters involving the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and intellectual property. Critics are crying foul because they insist Halpert lobbied these issues just a few months ago, in violation of Obama's strict ethics guidelines, which state that parties joining the transition effort are prohibited from working in areas in which they focused as registered lobbyists in the last 12 months. Halpert is married to Karen Kornbluh, who served as Obama's policy director in his Senate office and is considered a potential candidate for Federal Communications Commission chairman.
http://benton.org/node/19285
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TELEVISION
AMERICANS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THEIR SCREEN TIME
[SOURCE: Nielsen Company, AUTHOR: ]
As of third quarter 2008, the average person in the US watched approximately 142 hours of TV in one month. In addition, people who used the Internet were online 27 hours a month, and people who used a mobile phone spent 3 hours a month watching mobile video. The average time a U.S. home used a TV set during the 2007-08 television season was up to 8 hours and 18 minutes per day, a record high since Nielsen started measuring television in the 1950's. Americans are spending more time than ever with their televisions, computers and mobile phones, with television remaining the dominant screen, watched more than 142 hrs a month 5 hours more than last year. Americans spend more than 6 hours per month watching timeshifted TV, which is more than double the amount of time they watch video online. Men are more likely than women to watch video on mobile phones, while women are more likely then men to watch video on the Internet.
http://benton.org/node/19284
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NEEDED: NETWORK BAILOUT?
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Michael Schneider]
Already smarting from a writers strike-impacted season, the broadcast television networks haven't had much more to celebrate this fall. Collectively, the Big Five (including the CW) are down 13% among adults 18-49 vs. last year. How low can they go? And at what point can the networks no longer monetize ratings that don't look much better than cable? Among the possible scenarios: One of the traditional major nets -- ABC, NBC or CBS -- could mirror the Fox sked and drop an hour of primetime and return that extra hour to the affiliates. The networks have so far resisted; there's danger in giving up real estate, as you'll probably never get it back. But cutting out seven hours would level the playing field, and save in program costs (not to mention bolster what's left by cutting out the dead programming weight). The nets might also start looking to emulate the cable programming model: Fewer originals, more runs of those originals, and even some off-net fare. Why should the cablers capitalize on "CSI" repeats, when CBS could strip them instead? Also, the nets may look at farming out more low-rated programming blocks (Saturday or Friday night, for example) to outside entities, be they production companies or advertisers.
http://benton.org/node/19283
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ADVERTISING
RTNDA: CURRENT SPONSORSHIP RULES OK
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: ]
The Radio-Television News Directors Association is telling the Federal Communications Commission that existing sponsorship identification rules and disclosure requirements for radio and television stations are sufficient to inform viewers about broadcast content that has been paid for, including embedded advertising, and that the proposals advanced by certain advocates would represent an unconstitutional intrusion into broadcast newsrooms. As it did in a similar proceeding concerning the use of video news releases, RTNDA cautioned the FCC not to open the door to, or otherwise legitimize, government regulation of the content of newscasts because of misplaced concerns about commercialism. RTNDA maintains that existing sponsorship rules serve to inform the public when material that is broadcast has been paid for or otherwise sponsored by a third party.
http://benton.org/node/19282
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CCFC WANTS FCC TO BAN PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN KIDS SHOWS, LIMIT IN PRIMETIME
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) wants the FCC to explicitly ban product placement in kids shows and limit it in primetime, saying embedded advertising is misleading speech, and thus deserves "no First Amendment protection." Broadcasters have argued just the opposite, that the speech is fully protected because it is so inextricably intertwined with the programming that it is not actually advertising but part of the "expressive" speech of the program content.
http://benton.org/node/19281
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PTC SINGLES OUT BEST AND WORST TV ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: Parents Television Council, AUTHOR: ]
The Parents Television Council released its annual ranking of the "Top Ten Best and Worst Advertisers." The report ranked television advertisers from best to worst according to content in the prime time broadcast television programs they chose to underwrite. Advertisers that landed on the best list primarily sponsored family-friendly television shows, while those on the worst list often supported programs containing graphic sexual content, excessive violence or profanity. PTC says Coke, Clorox and Century 21 are the best advertisers; General Motors, Nissan, and L'Oreal are the worst.
http://benton.org/node/19280
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CITIZENSHIP 2.0
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Danielle Allen]
[Commentary] We've finally reached something of a left-right equilibrium in the dramatic restructuring of the public sphere that has been underway for the past decade. Against this background, on Nov. 4 the Obama campaign sent an e-mail to supporters from the president-elect signaling aspirations to convert the campaign's success with social networking technologies into a tool not merely for winning but for good governance. Such a conversion would require transcending the factional patterns that currently define Internet-based political communication. It would demand a category shift: to remake the tools of factional organization as instruments of broad, cross-partisan and respectful public engagement. Can this be done? If not, the Obama team's digital network could well become nothing more than an outsized, 21st-century version of a ward machine. If it can be done, it could restore a richer experience of citizenship.
http://benton.org/node/19300
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RURAL AREAS LACK QUICK INTERNET
[SOURCE: Billings Gazette, AUTHOR: Charles Johnson]
Montana Common Cause and Montana State University Professor Richard S. Wolff find that many rural Montana areas can't get high-speed Internet service, and their county governments lack interactive Web-based services. The research concludes that Internet access in Montana costs 20 percent to 40 percent more than the average charges for all categories of service nationally. Many rural counties' Web sites, sponsored by tourism agencies and local chambers of commerce, offer little to enable people to engage in government online.
http://benton.org/node/19299
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NTIA HEAD ARGUES FOR NO RESTRICTIONS ON AW-3 LICENSES
[SOURCE: RCR Wireless News, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Silva]
A major schism in the Bush administration has erupted over an anticipated Dec 18 vote by the Federal Communications Commission on a national wireless broadband plan that T-Mobile USA and others fear will cause interference to mobile-phone operations in spectrum they paid billions of dollars for at an auction two years ago. Responding to one of six House Republican members who raised concerns in August about the FCC's advanced wireless services-3 rulemaking, President Bush's top telecom policy advisor — Meredith Attwell Baker — expressed a negative view on attaching conditions to licenses sold at auctions. Martin's AWS-3 initiative would do just that by requiring the winning bidder to use 25% of network capacity for free, family friendly service, the latter obligation necessitating the use of network-based filtering. The AWS-3 licensee operator also would have to allow third-party devices and applications on the network and provide service to at least 95% of the U.S. population by the end of the 10-year license term.
http://benton.org/node/19279
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OBAMA CELL PHONE MISHAP PROMPTS LEAHY LETTER
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wrote to Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich on Monday requesting statistics on the number of prosecutions and/or investigations the Justice Department has undertaken to date pursuant to the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act -- a 2007 statute that Sen Leahy co-sponsored to address the growing number of data breaches involving sensitive phone records. He also asked Friedrich to state whether the agency has found the law effective in protecting Americans' privacy. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act amended the federal criminal code to expressly prohibit a telecommunications carrier from obtaining confidential phone records by accessing customer accounts through the Internet, or by fraudulent computer-related activities, without prior authorization.
http://benton.org/node/19278
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CYBERSECURITY
US VULNERABLE TO CHINESE CYBER ESPIONAGE
[SOURCE: US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, established by Congress to analyze the economic and national security relationship of the two nations, released its sixth annual report to Congress, making 45 recommendations. The Commission finds that cyber space is a critical vulnerability of the U.S. government and economy, since both depend heavily on the use of computers and their connection to the Internet. The dependence on the Internet makes computers and information stored on those computers vulnerable. China is likely to take advantage of the U.S. dependence on cyber space for four significant reasons. First, the costs of cyber operations are low in comparison with traditional espionage or military activities. Second, determining the origin of cyber operations and attributing them to the Chinese government or any other operator is difficult. Therefore, the United States would be hindered in responding conventionally to such an attack. Third, cyber attacks can confuse the enemy. Fourth, there is an underdeveloped legal framework to guide responses. China is aggressively pursuing cyber warfare capabilities that may provide it with an asymmetric advantage against the United States. In a conflict situation, this advantage would reduce current U.S. conventional military dominance.
http://benton.org/node/19302
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JOURNALISM
VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS GROWS IN MEXICO'S DRUG WAR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: William Booth]
A look at the growing danger to Mexican journalists reporting on the drug war, which has claimed more than 4,500 lives since President Felipe Calderón unleashed the army and police against the cartels and corrupt officials in early 2007. Most journalists continue to do their jobs but concede they are limiting their coverage of the carnage. The attacks against journalists, which run from threats hissed on their cellphones to grenades lobbed into their newsrooms, form a new front in the larger war the drug cartels are waging against Mexico's social and government institutions. The resulting damage is undermining Mexican civil society as the rich, powerful cartels compete for control of smuggling routes into the United States, which is consuming all the cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana the cartels can deliver. Mexican journalists say the threats may serve to muzzle their investigations and stop them from naming names. They also suggest that the cartels are attacking them to demonstrate their own power. For years, Mexican journalists often served as stenographers to the government. Now an increasingly independent press is being weakened by the drug war, just when society may need it most.
http://benton.org/node/19301
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QUICKLY
ZELL'S SELL
[SOURCE: Portfolio.com, AUTHOR: Joanne Lipman]
Tribune Co's Sam Zell declared the worthlessness of Pulitzer Prizes ("I haven't figured out how to cash in a Pulitzer Prize"), said the newspaper business model is "unequivocally...a failure," and challenged New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, saying "If you want to be a charitable trust, be a charitable trust. If you don't want to be a charitable trust, then you've got to focus on producing a return for investors' capital, and it's just that simple." See more in the long Q&A.
http://benton.org/node/19277
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APPLE SUED OVER TECH THAT HELPS IPHONE SURF WEB
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jim Finkle]
Apple Inc is the target of a lawsuit that claims a technology the iPhone uses to surf the Web infringes on a patent filed by Los Angeles real estate developer Elliot Gottfurcht and two co-inventors. The suit alleges that the technology the iPhone uses to navigate and display some websites designed for small phone screens infringes on a patent obtained last month by Gottfurcht and his co-inventors and assigned to EMG Technology.
http://benton.org/node/19276
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NLRB JUDGE RULES AGAINST CNN, WHICH WILL APPEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A judge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has concluded that CNN America violated labor laws and discriminated against workers in Washington and New York, engaging in "widespread and egregious misconduct" and "demonstrating a flagrant and general disregard for the employees' fundamental rights." The judge instructed it to take a series of steps to remedy the situation.
http://benton.org/node/19275
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