TELEVISION
FCC Head to Propose Fee for Airwaves (WP)
High Hopes For Set-Top Boxes Prompt Speculation
Over Mass Acceptance (WSJ)
Consumers and Television (PBTV)
INTERNET
AOL Restrictions Alleged (WP)
Tribes Meet Technology (USA)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Software Digs Deep Into Lives of Voters (WP)
GOP Woos Black Voters with Radio Ad Campaign (WP)
FCC
Talk Is Not Cheap To FCC Chief Kennard (USA)
TELEVISION
FCC HEAD TO PROPOSE FEE FOR AIRWAVES
Issue: Digital TV
Federal Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard is expected to
propose today that Congress require broadcasters to begin paying an annual
fee for airwaves they now use for free. The proposal is aimed at pushing
broadcasters to switch from the regular analog channels they have been using
for 50 years to the new digital airwaves Congress granted them four years
ago. According to the draft of the speech that the chairman will deliver at
the Museum of Television and Radio Broadcasting in New York, Kennard plans
to criticize TV stations that chose not to air the recent presidential
debate, saying they failed to live up to their obligations to serve the
public interest in return for the right to use the public airwaves. Both Fox
and NBC chose to air programming other than the presidential debate. This
failure to fulfill their obligation to serve the public interest, Kennard
suggests, could lead to demands that the broadcasters start paying cash to
use the airwaves which Congress gave to them four years ago. "In short, the
people of this country have allowed the broadcasters use of a powerful
national resource worth $70 billion dollars, and the public should get their
money's worth," according to the draft. Specifically, under the proposal, an
annual fee for the use of the analog channels would begin in 2006. Kennard
will suggest that the fee be increased each year to encourage the transition
to digital. National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton
blamed Kennard for any delays in digital television rollout. The FCC, he
said, should have long ago issued industry standards. In addition, Wharton
said, Kennard should require cable operators to carry broadcasters' digital
signals.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), Authors: Christopher Stern]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41031-2000Oct9.html)
HIGH HOPES FOR SET-TOP BOXES PROMPT SPECULATION OVER MASS ACCEPTANCE
Issue: DTV
The next generation of set-top boxes will make their global debut in Europe
this week. Some of the set-top box's will resemble PC's - with the ability
store movies, handle e-mail, transmit digital photographs and play
sophisticated games. U.S. regulators' decision to extend their review of the
proposed merger between America Online and Time Warner is indicative of the
growing importance of the set-top box. While major manufacturers of the
set-top boxes tout them as "home gateways" to a variety of entertainment and
information services, the devises still face the challenge of gaining market
acceptance. Prices are still too high to attract a mass-market audience. And
manufactures have competition from the computer industry, which is
attempting to capture some of the digital-television business by designing
software that can decode digital-TV signals.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Online), AUTHOR: David Pringle]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB971121084314712646.htm)
(requires subscription)
CONSUMERS AND TELEVISION
Issue: Television
On Saturday, October 14, the Consumer Law Center of the South, the Georgia
Public Interest Research Group and the Columbia Consumer Education Council
will be sponsoring a daylong consumer conference in Atlanta. Mark Lloyd of
People for Better TV and Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America
will be speaking on panels. Conference topics include working with
legislatures on consumer issues and other consumer and lending issues.
For more information, contact Melissa Burkholder (burkholder2602( at )aol.com)
or Columbia Organizer Dottie Garrick (803.551.0061, ccecsc( at )aol.com).
[SOURCE: People for Better Television]
(http://www.bettertv.org/20001014at.htm)
INTERNET
AOL RESTRICTIONS ALLEGED
Issue: Internet/Open Access
America Online has imposed contractual conditions on Walt Disney
that aim to deter users from leaving AOL's network to reach competitors on
the Web. The Disney contracts seem to contradict the arguments currently
being made by AOL before the EU that it will not use its corporate power to
discriminate against competitors. According to people who have reviewed the
1996 contract, Disney was prohibited from creating links within the AOL
network to outside sites on the Web without AOL's written approval. Under
one 1997 contractual provision, Disney's ABC News unit agreed to deter users
from leaving the AOL network by limiting or removing hyperlinks to other Web
sites. Under the contract, if 25 percent or more of the traffic left AOL's
offerings, AOL could cancel the contract. Disney agreed to similar
restrictions in online shopping agreements with AOL in 1998 and 1999.
Critics say the terms contradict AOL's public pronouncements by AOL that it
does not--and will not--favor its content over that of its rivals. "What
these contracts are [is] evidence of the games AOL is playing, which is to
use its power through contracts and through architecture to channel people
into their service, which discriminates against people on the outside," said
Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford University. AOL executives
say customers can freely leave their online offerings to surf wherever they
wish on the Web. Paul
Cappuccio, AOL's senior vice president and general counsel, said that it
was common business practice for AOL to prohibit partners from linking to
sites that compete with AOL or to sites that compete with partners with
whom AOL has already struck a deal. (:-O) "This principle extends across
all media," he said. "It'll be a cold day in the Magic Kingdom before ABC
allows The Washington Post to air a 30-second commercial [on ABC] that
promotes NBC. Hell, it's not going to a happen. One does not call that the
'walled kingdom.' One calls that common sense."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), Authors: Alec Klein]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40250-2000Oct9.html)
TRIBES MEET TECHNOLOGY INTERNET CONNECTS REMOTE INDIANS TO DIGITAL WORLD,
JOBS
Issue: Digital Divide
In an effort to bridge Indian country's digital divide, representatives from
the tech world, the White House and 32 Indian colleges are meeting Thursday
through Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif., at a conference called "Circle of
Prosperity: A Vision for the Technological Future of Tribal Colleges and
American Indians." Conference attendees will participate in a Prosperity
Game, a sophisticated computer mediated scenario planning tool that is
expected to help tribal colleges formulate strategies to establish better
links with employee-starved tech companies and increase internships; push
for federal assistance to get satellite and other wireless-based connections
to the Net; and work to share resources and tech know-how among Indian
Nations. Native Americans feel that technology represents a "starting line
that we've never had before," says Janine Pease-Pretty On Top, president of
Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, Mont. "Our students must be tech
literate. The opportunity is sitting there." At White Earth Tribal and
Community College in Mahomen, Minn., students are taught word processing and
spreadsheet skills, but machines are too slow for programming. "It's sad to
see bright students using equipment others have found to be outdated," says
White Earth president Helen Klassen of the Chippewa tribe. "Since no one has
access to computers outside the college, students don't know what they're
missing. But I do," she says. "The bottom line? We won't get the jobs."
Both presidential candidates have shown interest in the tech needs of
American Indians. Texas Gov. George W. Bush made a recent campaign stop in
New Mexico, vowing to pressure Congress into spending $802 million to update
tribal schools. Vice President Gore has helped make the issue a priority
with President Clinton, who last spring viewed firsthand the high-tech
improvements at Dine College on the Arizona side of the Navajo Nation. Those
included eight community technology access centers funded by a $10.3 million
Department of Commerce grant.
[Source: USA Today (1D), Author: Marco R. della Cava]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001010/2735070s.htm)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
SOFTWARE DIGS DEEP INTO LIVES OF VOTERS
Issue: Privacy
"I see us on the cusp of a completely new politics, a marriage of old
shoe-leather organizing with the high-tech of the Internet age," said Ralph
Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition and now an
adviser to Texas Gov. George W. Bush, of the new computerized targeting.
"Many believe that this race is so close, and that the two sides will fight
to a draw on TV and in the debates. So it'll come down to the night before
the dance, and these techniques could be the major factor." New software
systems allow campaigns to identify which voters to target with their
calls, letters, visits and, increasingly, e-mails based on data about their
income, lifestyles, past electoral participation and other personal
information. "It scares the hell out of me," said John Aravosis of Wired
Strategies, an Internet consulting firm that advises groups about online
marketing. "Political information is per se more sensitive. . . . People
have no clue about what these companies do." Even Jerry Baumann, an
executive vice president at Map Applications Inc., a company that sells
database software to the Missouri GOP, predicted the American public could
be unsettled as campaigns find themselves in an escalating race to gather
more and more fine-grained data about voters. Politicians "will need to
know more about individuals, but the closer they'll come to offending
voters' sense of privacy," he said. Many campaigns, like the ones in
Missouri, avoid drawing attention to their technological prowess. "They're
just very careful they're not blatant about it," he said.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A01), Authors: Mintz and O'Harrow]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40787-2000Oct9.html)
See Also:
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR CONSUMERS
Wednesday, October 11, 2000 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office
Building The Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer
Protection has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, October 11, 2000 at 10:00
a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will be entitled:
"Recent Developments in Privacy Protections for Consumers." Witnesses will
be by invitation only.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
GOP WOOS BLACK VOTERS WITH RADIO AD CAMPAIGN
Issue: Political Discourse
"Look, we know what you think Republicans are like, but we're working hard
to show you who we really are. We're listening and working to help all
families. . . . Take a look; you might be surprised by what you see." So
goes a radio ad targeted at Black voters, part of an unprecedented effort
by the Republican National Committee to win votes in that community by
spending a substantial sum on an advertising campaign. "This ad campaign
begins a conversation, and is only partially aimed at this election," said
RNC spokesman Clifford May. "Black Americans voted Republican from the end
of the Civil War until the 1930s. We lost that vote, and now we're
beginning a long effort to win it back." In 1996 Republican Robert J. Dole
received 13 percent of the African American vote, compared with 84 percent
for President Clinton and 3 percent for billionaire Ross Perot.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A07), Authors: John Mintz]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40845-2000Oct9.html)
FCC
TALK IS NOT CHEAP TO FCC CHIEF KENNARD
Issue: Policymakers
Many would agree that William Kennard, chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission, has done more than his predecessors to bring
communications services to the poor and disabled. Like every FCC chairman,
Kennard must respond to a cacophony of competing interests. But he has drawn
a particularly harsh spotlight because he has presided over an unprecedented
wave of competition and consolidation, along with the rise of the Internet.
Kennard is known for a hands-off consensus-building approach, which has
drawn criticism from some and admiration from others. "He has made
incremental progress where progress couldn't be made," says analyst Scott
Cleland of Legg Mason Precursor Group. Consumer advocates still resent his
approval of SBC's merger with Ameritech, which cut the number of Bell
monopolies to four from five. Kennard says he knows he can't please
everyone, so he tries to be fair. "I try to figure out, 'What does
everybody need?'" Kennard says. "What do the Bell companies need? What does
AT&T need? What do the consumer groups
need, and what do I need?"
[SOURCE: USAToday (1B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001010/2735245s.htm)
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