To view Benton's Headlines feed in your RSS Aggregator, paste
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/6/all/feed into your reader.
For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Bush Would Let Secret Court Sift Wiretap Process
FCC MEETING RECAP
FCC Approves Adelphia Deal
Nationals' Chances on Comcast Get a Boost
FCC fines alleged phone records scammer
Medical Radio Communications Devices
TRS Compensation
Gabelli Settles FCC Auction Charges
QUICKLY -- Music Deal Is Rejected in Europe; Limit Cellphones in Cars
or Just Let Freedom Ring?; GOP Officials Can Be Deposed on Phone
Jams; Commercial Ratings Spur Cablers to Experiment With Ad Breaks;
Parents and Kids' Media Consumption; Ted Stevens, Jon Stewart and the
Internet -- Now That's Comedy
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
BUSH WOULD LET SECRET COURT SIFT WIRETAP PROCESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Lichtblau]
After months of resistance, the White House agreed Thursday to allow
a secret intelligence court to review the legality of the National
Security Agency's program to conduct wiretaps without warrants on
Americans suspected of having ties to terrorists. If approved by
Congress, the deal would put the court, the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, in the unusual position of deciding whether the
wiretapping program is a legitimate use of the president's power to
fight terrorism. The aim of the plan, Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales told reporters, would be to "test the constitutionality" of
the program. The plan, brokered over the last three weeks in
negotiations between Senator Arlen Specter and senior White House
officials, including President Bush himself, would apparently leave
the secretive intelligence court free to consider the case in closed
proceedings, without the kind of briefs and oral arguments that are
usually part of federal court consideration of constitutional issues.
The court's ruling in the matter could also remain secret. The court
would be able to determine whether the program is "reasonably
designed" to focus on the communications of actual terrorism suspects
and people in the United States who communicate with them. That
determination is now left entirely in the hands of the security
agency under an internal checklist. If the court were to rule the
program unconstitutional, the attorney general could refine and
resubmit it or, conversely, appeal the decision to the FISA appellate
court and ultimately perhaps the Supreme Court, officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/washington/14nsa.html
(requires registration)
* Bush to Allow Court Review Of Eavesdropping Program
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115281170350905919.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(require subscription)
* Bush Compromises On Spying Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR200607...
* Bush agrees to court review of surveillance program
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060714/a_eavesdrop14.art.htm
* Bush Agrees to Review of Domestic Spying Program
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-nsa14jul14,1,711...
FCC MEETING RECAP
FCC APPROVES ADELPHIA DEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As expected, the FCC Thursday approved -- by a 4-1 vote -- Comcast
and Time Warner's $17.6 billion purchase of bankrupt Adelphia
Communications, with the two dividing up the systems. Only
Commissioner Michael Copps opposed the deal, although Commissioner
Jonathan Adelstein dissented in part, saying the Commission should
have imposed network neutrality conditions, a deficit that also
troubled Copps. The merger, said the commission, serves the public
interest, complies with all rules and statues and whatever public
interest harms there might be are outweighed by public interest
benefits, including principally system upgrades that will bring high
speed voice and data, HDTV and video on demand to Adelphia's systems
that are upgraded, and resolving the Adelphia bankruptcy. The key
conditions the FCC did put on the merger had to do with regional
sports networks. Comcast and Time Warner must put disputes over
pricing or access to its regional sports networks (RSNs) to
arbitration. The companies also cannot deny access to its sports
networks to other multichannel programming providers, with, as
expected, a carve-out for Philadelphia. The decision does close the
terrestrial loophole for regional sports networks, which means that
program access rules will now apply to landline-delivered RSNs.
Previously, they only applied to satellite-delivered programming.
"The conditions apply regardless of the means of delivery.
Terrestrial means are included." The conditions on the merger sunset
after six years.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6352882.html
* FCC Approves Adelphia Merger
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6352881.html?display=Breaking+News
* FCC Gives Approval To Adelphia Acquisition
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-CKVO1152820954647.html
* FCC Clears Adelphia Sale With Conditions
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060713/fcc_adelphia.html?.v=1
* FCC Clears Sale of Adelphia
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115281814985706009.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)
* Cable Giants Cleared to Buy Systems of Adelphia
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-adelphia14jul14,1,446...
* MORE ON THE ADELPHIA DECISION FROM THE FCC
News Release:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A1.doc
Fact Sheet: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A2.doc
Martin Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A3.doc
Copps Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A4.doc
Adelstein Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A5.doc
Tate Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A6.doc
McDowell Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266394A7.doc
NATIONALS' CHANCES ON COMCAST GET A BOOST
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed and Thomas Heath]
Many Washingtonians are about to learn that their city has a baseball
team. Federal regulators yesterday took a step that may help resolve
a dispute that has kept Washington Nationals games off the region's
largest cable network. The Federal Communications Commission gave the
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which carries most of the team's games,
the right to demand arbitration as part of its efforts to get on the
Comcast Corp. system. The action, part of the FCC's approval of a
major acquisition by Comcast, does not guarantee that the 1.3 million
Comcast subscribers in the Washington area will be able to see
Nationals games, but it dramatically strengthens the hand of MASN.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR200607...
(requires registration)
FCC FINES ALLEGED PHONE RECORDS SCAMMER
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to impose
fines on a Florida company accused of thieving phone call records and
selling them on the Web for as little as $100. The FCC unanimously
adopted an order that would force LocateCell to pay $97,500 -- the
highest fee possible for an unregulated company in such a situation
-- for allegedly failing to provide the agency with all the
information it had requested about how the company obtained the data
it had sold.
http://news.com.com/FCC+fines+alleged+phone+records+scammer/2100-1037_3-...
* FCC Press Release:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266392A1.doc
MEDICAL RADIO COMMUNICATION DEVICES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The FCC initiated a proceeding to establish a new service for
advanced medical radio communication ("MedRadio") devices in the
401-406 MHz band. The FCC noted that an ever-increasing number of
medical devices are coming to rely upon radio transmissions for
critical aspects of their functionality. These devices are improving
the health care of all Americans by providing relief and recovery of
function from many types of illness and injury. In today's Notice of
Proposed Rule Making, the FCC proposed designating an additional
two-megahertz of spectrum for these devices, at 401-402 MHz and
405-406 MHz, adjacent to the existing Medical Implant Communications
Service (MICS) band at 402-405 MHz, for a total of 5 megahertz
specifically designated for medical device
radiocommunications. Underscoring the flexibility and scope of
potential uses under this new service, the FCC proposed to revise its
nomenclature and designate the entire 401-406 MHz band as MedRadio service.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266397A1.doc
TRS COMPENSATION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The FCC is seeking comment on a broad range of issues concerning the
compensation of providers of telecommunications relay services (TRS)
from the Interstate TRS Fund (Fund) for their costs of providing
TRS. Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
requires common carriers offering "telephone voice transmission
services" to also provide TRS so that persons with hearing and speech
disabilities will have access to the telephone system. The ADA also
mandates that eligible TRS providers will be compensated for certain
costs associated with providing TRS. TRS enables an individual with a
hearing or speech disability to communicate by telephone with a
person without such a disability. This is accomplished through TRS
facilities that are staffed by specially trained communications
assistants (CAs) using special technology. The CA relays
conversations between persons using various types of assistive
communication devices and persons who do not require such assistive
devices. The CA, in turn, places an outbound voice call to the
called party. The CA serves as the "link" in the conversation,
converting the caller's conversation into voice, and all voice from
the called party into typed or signed messages for the relay
user. The process is performed in reverse when a voice telephone
user initiates a voice call to a relay user. TRS includes Internet
Protocol (IP) relay, Speech-to-Speech (STS), Captioned Telephone, and
Video Relay Services (VRS) in which a user communicates with a CA
using American Sign Language over a broadband video link.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266399A1.doc
GABELLI SETTLES FCC AUCTION CHARGES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brooke A. Masters]
Money manager Mario Gabelli and companies affiliated with him agreed
yesterday to pay $130 million to settle allegations that he used sham
companies to buy cellphone licenses under a federal program for small
and minority-owned businesses. The federal government alleged that 38
individuals and companies backed by Gabelli's money improperly
participated in eight wireless spectrum auctions under special
Federal Communications Commission rules reserved for small
businesses. The Gabelli-backed entrepreneurs included his relatives,
a former aerobics instructor, the caretaker of his vacation home and
a retired professional basketball player, the government alleged.
Gabelli was not eligible.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR200607...
(requires registration)
QUICKLY
MUSIC DEAL IS REJECTED IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeff Leeds]
In a rare move, a European court invalidated regulators' approval of
the 2004 merger of the music divisions of Sony and Bertelsmann, a
ruling that cast doubt on consolidation plans in the recording
industry as well as regulators' ability to examine mergers. The move
by the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, Europe's
second-highest court, means the companies must submit to a new review
of the music venture, Sony-BMG Music Entertainment. The court, in
ruling on an appeal brought by independent record companies, said the
European Commission had conducted a sloppy analysis and had erred in
approving the merger that created Sony-BMG. In a new review, the
commission could approve the deal again, force the companies to
accept conditions like a sale of assets or dissolve the venture,
though most analysts said that step was unlikely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/business/14music.html
(requires registration)
* Court annuls European Commission's OK of Sony-BMG union
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060714/music14.art.htm
* Sony BMG Loses EU's Merger OK
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-sony14jul14,1,3069044...
LIMIT CELLPHONES IN CARS OR JUST LET FREEDOM RING?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Bob Pool and Lynn Doan]
A look at the debate over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support for a
ban on the use of hand-held cellular phones by motorists. While some
fear that driving in California would change forever if state
lawmakers prohibited drivers' use of hand-held phones, the lessons of
other states that have adopted similar rules might offer pause. A
study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent
auto safety research center funded by insurers, found that drivers
obeyed the law the first year but went back to their old behavior by
the second year.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-cellphone14jul14,1,...
(requires registration)
* Kick Cellphones Out of Cars
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-cellphones14jul14...
(requires registration)
GOP OFFICIALS CAN BE DEPOSED ON PHONE JAMS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
In New Hampshire, a judge gave state Democrats the go-ahead Thursday
to question high-ranking Republicans in a civil suit over the jamming
of Democrats' phones on election day 2002. Three former GOP officials
have already been sentenced in the phone jamming scheme. In the civil
suit, state Democrats want to know who knew about the plan. They
point to a record of phone calls showing that former Republican
National Committee official James Tobin, one of those convicted, made
two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period as the
phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly
shut down. The national GOP said that the contacts involved routine
election business and that any suggestion they involved phone jamming
was "preposterous."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-jam14jul14,1,164...
(requires registration)
COMMERCIAL RATINGS SPUR CABLERS TO EXPERIMENT WITH AD BREAKS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Abbey Klaassen]
If advertisers start buying TV time based on commercial ratings, as
ABC's President-Sales Mike Shaw and others have predicted, networks
will have a greater incentive to keep viewers tuned in during breaks
-- which means networks are looking at re-jiggering pod structure,
rethinking promo time and even cutting commercial inventory. Already
Comcast's E! and Style networks have introduced isolated messages and
programming integrated into pods, Turner's TBS is launching
minute-long, humor-themed commercial pods that interrupt its comedic
fare, and The Weather Channel has made commercial breaks shorter but
more frequent. The CW introduced at its upfront a commercial concept
coined "content wraps" or "CWs" -- minishows featuring advertiser
brands that stretch across multiple ad breaks. More changes will be
on the way if advertisers agree to buy TV time based on an average
commercial rating, network executives said.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=110488
* Nielsen: We Can Offer Various Commercial Ratings Data
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10028...
PARENTS AND KIDS' MEDIA CONSUMPTION
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: Naveen Lakshmipathy and Brian Beutler]
On June 7, the New America Foundation hosted a policy roundtable at
the Washington, D.C. offices of the Kaiser Family Foundation that
discussed and debated "Policies and Technologies to Enhance Parental
Control Over Children's Media Content." U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Mary Landrieu, along with FCC Commissioners Michael Copps
and Deborah Taylor Tate, led off the roundtable, followed by a
discussion among an expert panel of 19 industry, academic and child
advocacy experts. New America Foundation Vice President Michael
Calabrese moderated, along with Drew Clark, Senior Writer for the
National Journal Group. The discussion progressed along a continuum
of proposed solutions, beginning with traditional regulatory
approaches, continuing with a look at technological solutions --
including those that promise not only to block out bad media, but
serve as guides for parents to identify good media -- and concluding
with an exploration of the emerging wireless, convergent,
user-generated media world. A new Issue Brief by the New America
Foundation summarizes those proceedings.
http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_3174_1.pdf
TED STEVENS, JON STEWART AND THE INTERNET -- NOW THAT'S COMEDY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DClkE64nFDY
--------------------------------------------------------------
...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
does not always represent the tone of the original articles.
Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang headlines( at )benton.org -- we
welcome your comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------