BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2013
Today’s agenda: Creating Digital Opportunities for Communities of Color: Is IP-Based Broadband the Answer?; Satellite Video 101; Senate Commerce Committee Organizational Meeting http://benton.org/calendar/2013-02-13/
STATE OF THE UNION
Order Gives Firms Cyberthreat Information
Fix Copyright for a Creative World
SOTU: Gun Violence Plan Makes No Mention Of Entertainment [links to web]
Stop blaming video games for America's gun violence - op-ed [links to web]
White House Marshals Social Media for Obama Address [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Comcast to Buy Out GE’s Stake in NBC for $16.7 Billion
How Comcast Scared Up All That GE Cash
Apple Defends Position on Cash [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Whole Picture: Where America’s Broadband Networks Really Stand - research
NTIA Looking to Lift Freeze on Public Safety BTOP Grants
Real Cyber Reform Demands White House Leadership - op-ed
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
NAB Backs T-Mobile/MetroPCS Merger [links to web]
LightSquared’s Ghost Raised in Fight Over Talking Cars
Dish to Sell Wireless Spectrum If Network Plans Fail [links to web]
In-House App Stores Rise, Streamline Mobile Strategy [links to web]
Why Is Verizon Reviewing Smartphone Apps? [links to web]
Startup Nomi Tracks Shoppers By Their Mobile Phone Signals [links to web]
CONTENT
Obama administration defends $222,000 file-sharing verdict
Authors Guild Presses Class-Action Case Against Google [links to web]
Do Governments Need Personal Social Media Policies? [links to web]
How Social Media Will Make You Fall in Love with Brands [links to web]
Nielsen Chief Says It Will Dominate Streaming Media Measurement, Just A Matter Of Time [links to web]
John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos, As Conservative Talk Radio Program Expands To New York
VIOLENCE AND MEDIA
Shooting in the Dark
John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos, As Conservative Talk Radio Program Expands To New York
SOTU: Gun Violence Plan Makes No Mention Of Entertainment [links to web]
Stop blaming video games for America's gun violence - op-ed [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
NAB: Congress Should Consider Expiration of Distant-Signal License
For HBO, a la Carte Programming Is Still a Ways Off, Says Eric Kessler [links to web]
John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos, As Conservative Talk Radio Program Expands To New York
TELECOM
FCC Reforms Cut Waste in Lifeline Program - press release
LABOR
Silicon Valley and Immigrant Groups Find Common Cause
POLICYMAKERS
FCC to Recharter the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council - public
LOBBYING
New GPS lobbying group moves on from LightSquared battle [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
When E.T. and I.T. Meet ID - analysis
Cyber defense skills lacking in UK, says report [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
The collateral damage of cutting postal service - op-ed [links to web]
STATE OF THE UNION
CYBERSECURITY ORDER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Schmidt, Nicole Perlroth]
President Barack Obama signed an executive order that promotes increased information sharing about cyberthreats between the government and private companies that oversee the country’s critical infrastructure, offering a weakened alternative to legislation the Administration had hoped Congress would pass last year. The order will allow companies that oversee infrastructure like dams, electrical grids and financial institutions to join an experimental program that has provided government contractors with real-time reports about cyberthreats. It will also put together recommendations that companies should follow to prevent attacks, and it will more clearly define the responsibilities for different parts of the government that play a role in cybersecurity. But the measures considered most important by cybersecurity experts — like minimum requirements for how crucial infrastructure should be protected — were not included in the order because they require Congressional approval. They say the equipment used by companies overseeing the nation’s critical infrastructure is notoriously outdated and insecure because it was not built with the potential for a serious cyberattack in mind.
benton.org/node/144983 | New York Times | Presidential Policy Directive | White House Fact Sheet | Executive Order | WH press release | Politico | WSJ | The Hill
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COPYRIGHT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Virginia Postrel]
[Commentary] In a parallel universe, President Barack Obama, a progressive Democrat, says the following in his State of the Union address…
Creativity is central to our prosperity and progress. The Constitution recognized this by granting Congress the power of “securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Copyrights give creators a financial incentive to produce new works. But, as artists from Walt Disney to Jay-Z have demonstrated, new works also build on the past. Locking up creative works for generations hampers the progress copyrights are supposed to encourage. And the retroactive extensions of the past few decades have convinced too many Americans that Washington cares more about corporate interests than about the public good. I will therefore send a bill to Congress restoring the copyright terms in effect before 1976: 28 years of protection renewable for another 28 years. The bill will also include a requirement that copyrights be registered with the Library of Congress so that we don’t lose track of their owners.
benton.org/node/144957 | Bloomberg
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OWNERSHIP
COMCAST TO BUY OUT GE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Alex Sherman]
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, will buy out General Electric’s ownership of NBC Universal for $16.7 billion, following through on the cable company’s purchase of a controlling stake two years ago. The deal also involves buying the properties used by NBC Universal at 30 Rock building and CNBC’s headquarters for $1.4 billion, Comcast said. The enterprise value of NBC Universal is now $39.1 billion, up from $37.5 billion when Comcast bought the stake in 2011. Comcast bought 51 percent of NBC on Jan. 29 of that year for $13.8 billion in cash and assets. Since then, the company has benefited from improving ratings among 18- to 49-year-olds at the broadcast network and better-than-expected ad revenue from the Olympics. For GE, the deal lets it turn an asset that didn’t fit with its business into a source of cash. “This is an attractive price for us and it gives GE a lot of cash,” Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts said. “We like the NBC Universal business.” The sale will result in a pretax gain of about $1 billion for GE. Those gains will be offset by increased restructuring costs this year, GE said.
benton.org/node/144972 | Bloomberg | | The Hill
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COMCAST CASH
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Sam Thielman]
Comcast will pay $16.7 billion to acquire the 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal owned by General Electric, a move that accelerates the buyout well ahead of analysts' expectations. So how exactly did the cable operator manage to pull together that much dough that quickly?
April: The company’s sort-of subsidiary, SpectrumCo, sells $3.6 billion worth of wireless spectrum to Verizon in a deal that causes major agita on Capitol Hill. Comcast has a 63.6 percent stake on SpectrumCo and gets $2.3 billion out of the deal.
May: Comcast sells its stake in A+E Networks, netting an estimated $3.03 billion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The high-performing private cable network group operates heavyweights History, A&E and Lifetime, among others.
July: Comcast completes the sale of $1 billion in senior notes due in 10 years, and another $1.25 billion due in 20 years.
September: Comcast lays off some 1,000 employees in its Northern California call center (this isn’t a huge savings, to be fair to Comcast—assuming the call center employees were mostly making minimum wage, it’s unlikely this helped secure much more than $20 million. Still, every little bit helps). In November, NBCUniversal will lay off another 500 as the company attempts to shave costs.
January: NBCUniversal finishes selling nearly $3 billion in senior notes—$725 million is redeemable in 10 years, another $1.7 billion redeemable in 20, and $500,000 are redeemable in 30. The company finishes selling them on the 14th.
Here’s an intriguing entry from this afternoon’s SEC filing: Comcast appears to enter into a “revolving credit agreement” to borrow up to $6.25 billion “for general corporate purposes” from itself, or rather, from Comcast Cable LLC, a limited liability company that effectively counts all Comcast’s assets as its own, but is a subsidiary of the company proper.
benton.org/node/144974 | AdWeek
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
AMERICA’S BROADBAND NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Richard Bennett, Luke Stewart, Robert Atkinson]
This report finds that the United States has made rapid progress in broadband deployment, performance, and price, as well as adoption when measured as computer-owning households who subscribe to broadband. Considering the high cost of operating and upgrading broadband networks in a largely suburban nation, the prices Americans pay for broadband services are reasonable and the performance of our networks is better than in all but a handful of nations that have densely populated urban areas and have used government subsidies to leap-frog several generations of technology ahead of where the market would go on its own in response to changing consumer demands. The chief findings are:
1. America enjoys robust intermodal competition between cable and DSL fiber-based facilities, with the third highest rate of wired intermodal competition in the OECD (behind Belgium and Netherlands).
2. America leads the world in the adoption of 4G/LTE mobile broadband, a technology that’s a credible competitor at the lower end of the broadband speed spectrum and a gateway technology for bringing broadband non-adopters online.
3. Entry-level pricing for American broadband is the second lowest in the OECD, behind Israel.
4. The average network rate of all broadband connections in the United States was 29.6 Mbps in the third quarter of 2012; in the same period, we ranked seventh in the world and sixth in the OECD in the percentage of users with performance faster than 10 Mbps.
5. Of the nations that lead the United States in any of these four metrics (deployment, adoption, speed and price), no nation leads in more than two.
6. In the last few years American firms bought more fiber optic cable than all of Europe combined. 2011 was the first year in which America’s fiber purchases exceeded those of 2000, and 2012 orders have remained strong.
7. 82 percent of American homes are passed by a cable technology capable of supporting broadband speeds of 100 Mbps or higher and a new technology known as Vectored DSL may soon bring a second 100 Mbps service into the market.
8. Broadband adoption in the United States is not as high as some leading nations, but our 68.2 percent adoption rate for all households exceeds the EU-15’s 66.9 percent. When looking at adoption rate for households with computers, the U.S. rate is close to the top (four percentage points from the leader) and three percentage points above the EU-15’s 85.9 percent for this population.
9. American broadband service providers are no more profitable than those in the rest of the world.
10. American broadband prices are progressive: American users of low-speed, entry-level broadband services pay less than their peers in other countries, but those who use the fastest services pay more.
benton.org/node/144945 | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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PUBLIC SAFETY BTOP GRANTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) is looking to lift the freeze on seven Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants for emergency communications network buildouts. That came out of a board meeting of FirstNet, the national, interoperable broadband communications network being funded by broadcast incentive auction proceeds. Those seven grants are administered by NITA under its stimulus bill-funded the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The seven projects began a couple of years ago, before FirstNet was authorized by legislation passed last year. NTIA did not want to continue spending $380 million in taxpayer dollars for state efforts that might be superseded by FirstNet. But now, subject to confirmation by NTIA that those buildouts will be interoperable with the planned nationwide network, they will be allowed to go forward as kind of a test-bed for the network, whose board chairman, Sam Ginn, said at the meeting would combine national interoperability with state and local operational control. Board member Craig Farrill outlined the five key goals of the network: 1. Reliability, 2. coverage, 3. exceeding public safety requirements, 4. low cost, and 5. early availability.
benton.org/node/144968 | Broadcasting&Cable
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REAL CYBER REFORM DEMANDS WHITE HOUSE LEADERSHIP
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Kevin Gronberg]
[Commentary] In the wake of Congress’s inability to pass comprehensive cyber legislation last year, the White House is poised to release an executive order on cybersecurity and critical infrastructure. With this executive order, President Barack Obama has the opportunity to hit the reset button and begin developing an effective national cybersecurity policy. It won’t change much on the ground but it could reenergize efforts to craft needed legal reforms. The first step is to make cybersecurity a top-level national security priority; President Obama said he would do this by creating the office of the cybersecurity coordinator in the White House. The second and possibly more important step, which no one has yet been able to accomplish, is to bring all of our collective assets to bear on the problem. The White House must put in the effort and bring all the players to the table to craft real, workable solutions. President Obama has the power to oversee meaningful improvements to our cybersecurity posture. He can provide the adult supervision that is badly needed, but only if his administration is willing to exercise real leadership. Finally, Obama and his advisers must remember that compromise is an important element of leadership. Without it, we will be doomed to bemoan our lack of progress even after a major incident shows us just how vital a national security issue cybersecurity is.
benton.org/node/144946 | nextgov
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WIRELESS AND CARS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Angela Greiling Keane, Todd Shields]
Automakers and suppliers say a U.S. push to broaden Wi-Fi use could jam accident-prevention technology that may cost as little as $100 per vehicle and save thousands of lives annually. The Federal Communications Commission next week may propose rules to let new users into airwaves near those allocated since 1999 to developing car-to-car wireless communications. That technology, now being road-tested in Michigan, may be the precursor to self-driving vehicles. A former U.S. spectrum-policy official said he sees parallels with the conflict over bankrupt satellite provider LightSquared Inc. The company’s proposal to build a wireless broadband network was initially approved by the FCC, then stymied because of evidence its signals would interfere with global-positioning-system navigation gear.
“In a situation like LightSquared, what happened was the FCC got out ahead of itself,” said Gregory Rohde, a former chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department arm that oversees federal airwaves use. “That will continue to happen if they continue to take on major interests that have too much at stake to lose,” Rohde said. “That may be what happens here.”
benton.org/node/144956 | Bloomberg | ars technica
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CONTENT
FILE-SHARING VERDICT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
The Obama Administration has stepped into a long-running file-sharing lawsuit in Minnesota, urging the United States Supreme Court not to get involved in a six-figure verdict against a woman from Northern Minnesota. The feds don't buy the woman's argument that the massive size of the award makes it unconstitutional. Jammie Thomas-Rasset has been fighting a recording industry lawsuit accusing her of sharing music using the now-defunct peer-to-peer network Kazaa for the better part of a decade. In 2007, a jury found Thomas-Rasset liable to the tune of $222,000 for sharing 24 songs. She appealed the verdict, resulting in two more trials that each produced even larger jury awards. These higher figures were thrown out by the courts, but last year, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the $222,000 award. Thomas-Rasset is now seeking review by the Supreme Court. The Obama administration rejected Thomas-Rasset's argument and urged the Supreme Court not to consider her appeal. It noted that lower courts agreed with the defense in principle that an award could be "so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense and obviously unreasonable." Indeed, the trial judge had rejected a $1.5 million jury award on just those grounds. But the lower courts had concluded that a $222,000 award for sharing 24 songs was not so disproportionate and unreasonable as to violate the Constitution. And in the government's view, the Supreme Court should let that judgment stand.
benton.org/node/144967 | Ars Technica
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VIOLENCE AND MEDIA
SHOOTING IN THE DARK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Benedict Carey]
The young men who opened fire at Columbine High School, at the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and in other massacres had this in common: they were video gamers who seemed to be acting out some dark digital fantasy. It was as if all that exposure to computerized violence gave them the idea to go on a rampage — or at least fueled their urges. But did it really? Social scientists have been studying and debating the effects of media violence on behavior since the 1950s, and video games in particular since the 1980s. The issue is especially relevant today, because the games are more realistic and bloodier than ever, and because most American boys play them at some point. Girls play at lower rates and are significantly less likely to play violent games. A burst of new research has begun to clarify what can and cannot be said about the effects of violent gaming. Playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term. Moreover, youngsters who develop a gaming habit can become slightly more aggressive — as measured by clashes with peers, for instance — at least over a period of a year or two. Yet it is not at all clear whether, over longer periods, such a habit increases the likelihood that a person will commit a violent crime, like murder, rape, or assault, much less a Newtown-like massacre.
benton.org/node/144961 | New York Times
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TELEVISION/RADIO
DISTANT SIGNAL LICENSE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Broadcasters are looking for a narrow reauthorization of the satellite distant signal compulsory license -- or perhaps no reauthorization at all. The National Association of Broadcasters plans to tell Congress that the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act should not be used to revise retrans or "delving into extraneous issues that undermine localism," but that perhaps it should consider letting the distant-signal license sunset. That is according to the prepared testimony from NAB exec Jane Mago for the Feb. 13 House Communications Subcommittee on reauthorizing the satellite compulsory license.
benton.org/node/144958 | Broadcasting&Cable
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JOHN AND KEN SHOW
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: ]
A Latino group is re-launching a campaign against a talk radio show it accuses of fueling hate speech against Hispanics. The National Hispanic Media Coalition said it would renew its push to force the “John and Ken Show” off the air, now that the show will begin syndicating its program in New York. Despite a round of cultural sensitivity training, the radio personalities have built a reputation for offending people of color, the Coalition says. The hosts routinely bash undocumented immigrants on their show.
benton.org/node/144975 | Huffington Post, The
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TELECOM
MAJOR REFORMS TO LIFELINE PROGRAM CUT AT ADDITIONAL $400 MILLION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission announced that savings from its comprehensive reform of Lifeline are on track to reach at least an additional $400 million in 2013, adding to the more than $214 million saved in 2012 by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. Over the past three years, the FCC has taken a series of steps to fundamentally reform the program, including:
In March 2010, the National Broadband Plan recommended consideration of specific reforms to Lifeline to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, including duplicate payments.
In May 2010, the Commission directed the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to make specific proposals for program reforms, and called out eligibility reviews and documentation requirements as particular areas of focus.
In 2011, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to comprehensively reform the program, including proposals developed by the Joint Board.
Also in 2011, the Commission adopted an order to eliminate duplicative Lifeline payments, which began saving the program money that year.
In January 2012, the Commission unanimously adopted comprehensive reform to Lifeline.
benton.org/node/144976 | Federal Communications Commission
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POLICYMAKERS
FCC TO RECHARTER THE COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY, RELIABILITY, AND INTEROPERABILITY COUNCIL
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations and expressions of interest for membership on the fourth Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC or Council) ,which is expected to commence in March 2013 when the current CSRIC charter expires. The Council is a federal advisory committee that provides guidance, expertise, and recommendations to the Commission to improve the security, reliability, and interoperability of the nation’s communications systems. Nominations and expressions of interest for membership must be submitted to the FCC no later than March 20, 2013.
benton.org/node/144953 | Federal Communications Commission
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LABOR
IMMIGRATION REFORM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Somini Sengupta]
What do computer programmers and illegal immigrants have to do with each other? When it comes to the sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws that Congress is considering this year, the answer is everything. Silicon Valley executives, who have long pressed the government to provide more visas for foreign-born math and science brains, are joining forces with an array of immigration groups seeking comprehensive changes in the law. And as momentum builds in Washington for a broad revamping, the tech industry has more hope than ever that it will finally achieve its goal: the expanded access to visas that it says is critical to its own continued growth and that of the economy as a whole. Signs of the industry’s stepped-up engagement on the issue are visible everywhere. Prominent executives met with President Obama last week. Start-up founders who rarely abandon their computers have flown across the country to meet with lawmakers.
benton.org/node/144982 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
INDIAN INNOVATORS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Friedman]
[Commentary] Indian innovators are willing to try, fail and try again (the secret sauce of Silicon Valley). And, as a result, we’re starting to see a merger here between E.T., I.T. and ID. It doesn’t get any better than that. There is nothing that India needs more than an energy technology (E.T.) revolution that would deliver cheap, reliable power to millions suffering from energy poverty. If every village had some reliable power, plus access to high-speed Internet (I.T.), hundreds of millions of Indians would be able to live locally but act globally — that is, they would be able to remain in their villages, yet have access to the education and markets that could enable them to escape poverty and not have to join the hordes in the megaslums of the megacities like Mumbai or Kolkata. When E.T. meets I.T. meets ID, you have a virtuous cycle that potentially can compete with the cycle of energy poverty, broken schools and corruption. While success at scale for these start-ups is by no means assured, they are a taste of what is possible when so many more people on the planet can become inventors, makers and problem-solvers. Anyone who thinks the age of innovation is over isn’t paying attention.
benton.org/node/144981 | New York Times
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