Jan 6, 2009 (Broadband Stimulus & Jobs)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY JANUARY 6, 2009

See Headlines online at http://benton.org/headlines

THE TRANSITION
   Reps. Boucher, Markey May Swap Gavels in New Congress
   Richardson move leaves hole in Obama cabinet
   Aide: Obama will only 'scratch the surface' of hiring by January 20
   Obama Makes Four Justice Department Appointments
   Obama Names Gips as White House Director of Presidential Personnel

JOBS
   A Broadband Stimulus Plan
   Innovation Should Mean More Jobs, Not Less
   Stimulus could create thousands of IT jobs
   Life, liberty and connectivity for all
   States hope feds will help replace legacy systems

BROADCASTING
   Feds start wait list for DTV converter box coupons
   Sanders, Boucher Want DTV Antenna Subsidy Bill
   Broadcasters Ask FCC To Expand Number Of Stations Eligible For 'Nightlight' Signal
   Broadcast Networks Face Identity Crisis
   Televisa-Univision court clash could alter landscape of Spanish-language TV
   Lionsgate to acquire TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com

PRIVACY
Data Breaches Up Almost 50 Percent, Affecting Records of 35.7 Million People
Kids reveal a lot about themselves online

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   US Tops Broadband Revenues Chart
   Google Continues to Expand Lead in Search Race
   Online video viewing jumps 34 percent
   In an increasingly wired China, rehab for Internet addicts

QUICKLY -- For the Blind, Technology Does What a Guide Dog Can't; Louisiana Moving Ahead With Incumbent Franchise Opt-Out Provision; Central Virginia using tobacco settlement money for broadband; Semiannual Report of FCC Inspector General; Five ed-tech stories to watch for 2009; Media Predictions 2009: What Won't Happen; New York Times Sells Front-Page Ads; Mirror Awards Applications

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THE TRANSITION

REPS BOUCHER, MARKEY MAY SWAP GAVELS IN NEW CONGRESS
[SOURCE: Congressional Quarterly, AUTHOR: Coral Davenport]
The two senior House Democrats with jurisdiction over energy and telecommunications policies could swap gavels in the 111th Congress, with potentially dramatic implications for the shape of climate change legislation expected next year. Since 2007, Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA), the Energy and Commerce Committee's fourth-ranking Democrat, has led the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, which has taken the lead role in crafting legislation to address global warming. But Rep Boucher said in an interview Tuesday that he expects Edward Markey (D-MA), No. 3 among committee Democrats in seniority, to bid for the subcommittee chairmanship. Rep Boucher said he would "respect that decision" and stake his own claim for chairmanship of Markey's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. "I'm awaiting his decision," Rep Boucher said. Markey has not yet made up his mind, a spokesman said. Rep Markey has long been the top Democrat on the telecommunications subcommittee and may have some reluctance about giving up that prominent post. But with President-elect Barack Obama signaling that a major global warming bill will be among his top priorities this year, Markey may find the prospect of taking a lead role in writing the legislation. His select committee has held dozens of hearings on a wide range of climate and energy issues, but lacks any legislative authority. Meanwhile, Boucher would bring a strong technology background to his new job if he ends up swapping places with Markey. A self-professed "techno-geek", Boucher's obsession with technology has long driven his work in Congress, and he is co-founder of the Congressional Internet Caucus. He currently serves as a member of the technology subcommittee.
http://benton.org/node/20307
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RICHARDSON MOVE LEAVES HOLE IN OBAMA CABINET
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
Who could replace Gov Bill Richardson (D-NM) as commerce secretary-designee? Gov Kathleen Sibelius (D-KS) or Scott Harris, managing partner of the Washington DC law firm Harris, Wiltshire and Grannis who is an expert in trade issues. Leo Hindery, a former chief executive officer of The Yes Network, the nation's largest regional sports network and a senior economic policy adviser to former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. Another Obama backer whose name had surfaced was Oracle President Charles Phillips.
http://benton.org/node/20306
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AIDE: OBAMA WILL ONLY 'SCRATCH THE SURFACE' OF HIRING BY JANUARY 20
[SOURCE: Politico.com, AUTHOR: Ben Smith]
The executive director of President-elect Barack Obama's transition, Chris Lu, told supporters on a conference call that the transition will "really only scratch the surface as of January 20," and will still be filling administration jobs this spring and summer -- although "there are not that many jobs" for the thousands of hopefuls. The transition has "started developing executive orders that the pres elect is considering not only ones the President-elect will sign after January 20, but also ones we will want to repeal," he said.
http://benton.org/node/20305
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OBAMA MAKES FOUR JUSTICE DEPARTMENT APPOINTMENTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
President-elect Barack Obama has made four Justice Department appointments including: 1) David Ogden, partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, who has been heading up the Justice review team for the transition, has been named deputy attorney general. He served in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration and since joining WilmerHale has represented several media clients, including defending a US media company employee from prosecution by the US and Iraqi governments and successfully injoining a state statute regulating Internet speech. 2) Tom Perrelli, managing partner of Jenner & Block in Washington and co-chair of its entertainment and new media practice, has been named associate attorney general. He focuses on copyright and media issues and has represented recording companies in piracy and intellectual property cases, among others. 3) Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University, has been named assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel. If her past writings are any gauge, she will be a friend to journalists seeking more access to government information. Among her recent publications, cited by the Obama transition team, was: "Interpreting the Constitution in the Wake of the Bush Administration's Abuses."
http://benton.org/node/20304
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OBAMA NAMES GIPS AS WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PERSONNEL
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
President-elect Barack Obama tapped a former Federal Communications Commission official, Donald Gips, as White House director of presidential personnel. Previously, Gips also served as chief domestic policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore
http://benton.org/node/20303
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JOBS

A BROADBAND STIMULUS PLAN
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Michael Mandel]
[Commentary] Although demand for communications services is rising, employment in the field is falling. This shortfall in communications jobs, however, need not be permanent. A new report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, to be released on Jan. 7, suggests that government fiscal stimulus, directed toward improving the broadband infrastructure, can go a long way toward boosting communications-related jobs. Remember that the auto industry had its infrastructure—highways and streets—built and maintained by the government. Consider this: In 1965, as the interstate highway building boom was winding down, government at all levels spent roughly $12 billion on highway and street construction and maintenance, paid for in large part by gas taxes and other motor vehicle fees. The total wholesale value of new cars, trucks, and buses the same year was only about $22 billion. In all likelihood, if the automakers had been forced to bear the full cost of building the roads and highways, they would have had to charge considerably more for their vehicles. Alternatively, fewer roads and highways might have been constructed, especially in rural areas. In either case, the process of creating jobs would have proceeded much more slowly. Unfortunately, that's the situation of the communications industry, which has to fund its own infrastructure. From that perspective, $10 billion a year in broadband is a fairly conservative investment.
http://benton.org/node/20315
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INNOVATION SHOULD MEAN MORE JOBS, NOT LESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Janet Rae-Dupree]
Creating new jobs is a good way to get America's economy moving again. That's not the controversial part of President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plans. As usual, the devil is in the details. And innovation advocates fear that if the devil runs amok, a short-sighted emphasis on jobs over long-term productivity may bog down the economic recovery. The problem, as they see it, is a centuries-old misconception that innovation is synonymous with automation, which in turn leads to the elimination of jobs. "If you invest in a technology that makes something more efficient, the fear is that people will be put out of work," says Kevin Efrusy, the venture capitalist whose firm Accel Partners is the lead funder of several important Silicon Valley start-ups, including Facebook. "But it's just the opposite. When anything becomes cheaper, we consume a lot more of it. The overall economic effect is, you create and expand entire new industries and employment goes up." While creating jobs by upgrading the nation's physical infrastructure may help in the short term, says Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, "there's another category of stimulus you could call innovation or digital stimulus — 'stimovation,' as a colleague has referred to it." Although many economists believe that a stimulus package must be timely, targeted and temporary, Atkinson's organization argues that a fourth adjective — transformative — may be the most important. Transformative stimulus investments, he said, lead to economic growth that wouldn't be there otherwise.
http://benton.org/node/20302
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STIMULUS COULD CREATE THOUSANDS OF IT JOBS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Patrick Thibodeau]
A federal economic stimulus package expected early this year from the administration of President-Elect Barack Obama should boost the job prospects of information technology professionals. Katherine McGuire, vice president of government relations at the Business Software Alliance, said Obama's "pro-tech agenda" could increase the number of technology jobs in the U.S. by 10 percent, adding about 300,000 high-paying IT positions, she said. Regulatory mandates could also lead to the creation of new jobs for tech workers who have related systems integration and Web skills.
http://benton.org/node/20301
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LIFE, LIBERTY AND CONNECTIVITY FOR ALL
[SOURCE: Guardian, AUTHOR: Sascha Meinrath]
[Commentary] An optimal free broadband system would include both wireless (for mobility and cost efficiency) and wireline (for capacity and reliability) components. And, as it turns out, two proposals are currently pending that could make free broadband connectivity for life a reality. The first is an innovative public interest obligation on licensed spectrum. But financial support and spectrum licensure reforms are not enough on their own. A multi-faceted solution is needed. Fuel-efficiency and car-safety standards have helped shape today's national transportation grid, but the US had to make a major public investment in the infrastructure itself. Broadband poses a similar opportunity. Building the 21st-Century Information Superhighway is a proposal synthesized by the New America Foundation in consultation with numerous interested parties that would create a national information superhighway, providing fibre capacity to cities, towns and rural areas throughout the US. At its core, the idea is very simple: each time we rip up, repave or build a road, we should also lay fibre infrastructure along that route that anyone can use. Over the next half-decade, this initiative would create a web of connectivity a critical new infrastructure for the digital age. Across the country, communities, Internet service providers and municipalities are engaging in demand-side aggregation, but lack entree to affordable Internet access, a bottleneck that this proposal solves.
http://benton.org/node/20293
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STATES HOPE FEDS WILL REPLACE LEGACY SYSTEMS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Patrick Thibodeau]
With President-Elect Barack Obama proposing to spend billions of dollars on road and bridge projects as part of his economic stimulus plan, some state chief information officers are hoping that their aging information technology infrastructures might also qualify for makeovers. There's a lot that needs to be updated. In an online survey of state CIOs conducted last summer by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, nearly two-thirds of the 29 respondents said that between 40 and 80 percent of their IT setups consisted of legacy systems. And many reported that they were still running code written 20 or more years ago.
http://benton.org/node/20300
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BROADCASTING

FEDS START WAIT LIST FOR DTV CONVERTER BOX COUPONS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Joelle Tessler]
Consumers who apply for federal coupons to pay for converter boxes ahead of next month's transition to digital television broadcasts are being placed on a waiting list and may not receive their vouchers before the switchover, the Commerce Department said Monday. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the coupon program, created the waiting list on Sunday after hitting a $1.34 billion funding limit set by Congress. The agency will send out coupons to those on the list only as unredeemed coupons currently in circulation expire, freeing up more money for the program. The waiting list already has requests for 103,000 coupons. And Meredith Attwell Baker, head of the NTIA, urged consumers now requesting coupons not to wait for them to arrive and to instead act quickly to ensure that they have at least one television set ready for Feb 17 transition.
http://benton.org/node/20299
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SANDERS, BOUCHER WANT DTV ANTENNA SUBSIDY BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA), long concerned about the need for more rooftop antennas in a world of digital-only full-power TV, says he is prepping his own DTV antenna subsidy bill to address what he calls a "looming problem." It is similar to a bill proposed by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the last Congress and expected to be introduced in the new one not long after that new Congress is sworn in Tuesday (Jan. 6). Boucher says he supports that bill, though he says it may need more money than the $80 per over-the-air-only household Sen Sanders is proposing. His own version may shape up in the next two or three days. Sen Sanders and Rep Boucher both want to subsidize rooftop antennas, just as the government does with DTV-to-analog converter boxes, arguing that a lot of people who could get by with rabbit ears for analog service will need the antennas to get a digital picture.
http://benton.org/node/20298
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BROADCASTERS ASK FCC TO EXPAND NUMBER OF STATIONS ELIGIBLE FOR 'NIGHTLIGHT' SIGNAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Broadcasters have asked the Federal Communications Commission to expand the number of stations eligible to continue an "analog nightlight" signal for 30 days past the Feb. 17 DTV transition date, as well as streamlining the process for applying to remain on the air. They also want the freedom to sell the educational/emergency information on that analog nightlight to underwriters similar to those on noncommercial TV. The FCC is required by Congress to vote on an implementation regime for the nightlight service by Jan. 15, so comments are already due on a proposal that was only outlined Christmas Eve.
http://benton.org/node/20313
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BROADCAST NETWORKS FACE IDENTITY CRISIS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
Evidence is mounting that at least one broadcast network may have to find a new way of operating in the not-too-distant future. Already, many of the broadcasters are cutting back on the time they would otherwise have to fill with costlier fare. A world without NBC or CBS in their current form? The notion would have been laughable just a decade ago. Now it seems inevitable. Even Leslie Moonves, the CBS Corp. CEO who is one of the most vocal proponents of broadcast TV, suggested change is on the way to how broadcast networks operate. He has hinted that the traditional relationship of broadcasting content through a variety of local TV stations and affiliates may not be as strong in years to come. Advertisers want broadcast networks around because they still help them reach the largest number of consumers in a single burst. As ratings chip away, however, and as more cable outlets produce must-see programs such as "Damages" or "Mad Men," there is a strong likelihood that a top-rated cable network could reach as many people as one of the weaker broadcast outlets. "If one [broadcast network] was not to be around, it probably would not matter very much" three or four years from now, said Michael Nathanson, a media analyst at Bernstein Research. "You probably could lose one."
http://benton.org/node/20297
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TELEVISA-UNIVISION COURT CLASH COULD ALTER LANDSCAPE OF SPANISH-LANGUAGE TV
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
A real-life soap opera in Spanish-language television -- a saga of family legacy, corporate ambition and allegations of treachery -- is expected to shift today to a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. The civil trial will pit two titans against each other and bring to the witness stand key executives who are accustomed to controlling the media behind the scenes rather than fighting over it in open court. At stake is the future of the widely popular telenovelas, a steamy mix of sex, romance and family intrigue that has made the Spanish-language shows among the most popular and profitable on American airwaves. After years of squabbling, Televisa, the world's largest producer of telenovelas, four years ago sued longtime partner Univision for breach of contract, alleging it had been cheated out of more than $100 million in royalties. More significantly, Televisa is seeking to terminate a 25-year programming contract with Univision. The 1992 compact between the two companies requires that Televisa, which is controlled by Mexico's 40-year-old media scion Emilio Azcarraga Jean, provide its shows exclusively to Univision through 2017. Those prime-time dramas, which hook viewers with ageless themes of love and betrayal, have helped establish Univision as the dominant Spanish-language television company in the U.S., crushing rivals in the ratings.
http://benton.org/node/20311
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LIONSGATE TO ACQUIRE TV GUIDE NETWORK AND TVGUIDE.COM
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Claudia Eller]
In a surprise move, Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. agreed Monday to buy TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com for $255 million, torpedoing a deal announced just over two weeks ago with media entrepreneur Allen Shapiro and a private equity unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The purchase from Macrovision Solutions Corp. is expected to significantly expand Lionsgate's cable holdings and reach, giving the Santa Monica studio one of the most widely distributed cable networks in the United States. The TV Guide Network is available in 83 million homes and has an established brand name, yet previous owners including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. failed to make it a major player.
http://benton.org/node/20310
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PRIVACY

DATA BREACHES UP ALMOST 50 PERCENT, AFFECTING RECORDS OF 35.7 MILLION PEOPLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
Businesses, governments and educational institutions reported nearly 50 percent more data breaches last year than in 2007, exposing the personal records of at least 35.7 million Americans, according to a nonprofit group that works to prevent identity fraud. Identity Theft Resource Center of San Diego is set to announce today that some 656 breaches were reported in 2008, up from 446 in the previous year. Nearly 37 percent of the breaches occurred at businesses, while schools accounted for roughly 20 percent of the reported incidents. The center also found that the percentage of breaches attributed to data theft from current and former employees more than doubled from 7 percent in 2007 to nearly 16 percent in 2008.
http://benton.org/node/20314
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KIDS REVEAL A LOT ABOUT THEMSELVES ONLINE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Liz Szabo]
A new study shows that more than half of teenagers mention drugs, alcohol, sex or violence on their MySpace pages. Yet getting teens to clean up their pages is easier than many might assume, researchers say. More than 90% of adolescents have Internet access, and about half of these use social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, according to the study of 500 18-year-olds in Monday's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For all their Internet savvy, however, teenagers are still immature and impulsive, which can make them targets for online predators or bullies. Young people also could be rejected by college or business recruiters who see coarse language or photos on their profiles, says the study's lead author, Megan Moreno, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Online boasting also can make it seem as if everyone is drinking and having sex — which can pressure other teens to take risks, Moreno says. She notes that some teenagers whose profiles mentioned church, sports or hobbies were less likely to mention risky behaviors. Moreno says she motivated some teens to clean up their profiles with a single e-mail.
http://benton.org/node/20312
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

US TOPS BROADBAND REVENUES CHART
[SOURCE: Light Reading, AUTHOR: Ray Le Maistre]
The U.S. was the largest broadband market by services revenues in 2008, ahead of Japan and Germany, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. According to data compiled for the report, Global Fixed and Mobile Broadband Outlook, the U.S. generated more than $32 billion in broadband revenues in 2008, a long way ahead of second-place Japan, which generated $23 billion in broadband revenues. China, however, still beats the U.S. in terms of the number of fixed broadband connections, with 81.9 million as opposed to the U.S.'s 78.5 million. Japan and Germany come in third and fourth places with 30.3 million and 23.3 million lines, respectively. The fastest growing market in terms of fixed broadband revenues during the next five years will be Indonesia, which is set to generate nearly nine times more revenues from broadband services in 2013 than in 2008, according to the report's findings.
http://benton.org/node/20294
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GOOGLE CONTINUES TO EXPAND LEAD IN SEARCH RACE
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Mike Shields]
Google continues to widen the gap between it and all other competitors in the search race, while rival Microsoft has actually lost search users over the past year despite paying people to use its services, according to the latest figures issued by Nielsen Online. In November of 2008 Google commanded 64.1 percent of all searches conducted on the Web in the U.S., found Nielsen, up more than six percentage points compared to the 57.7 percent share position Google held one year earlier. In fact, Google handled over 900,000 more search queries during the month of November than the previous year (4.3 million in November '07 versus 5.2 million in November '08).
http://benton.org/node/20288
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ONLINE VIDEO VIEWING JUMPS 34 PERCENT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Steven Musil]
Americans appear to be getting more comfortable watching videos online--and Google is the clear winner. Internet users in the U.S. watched 12.7 billion online videos in November, an increase of 34 percent versus a year ago, according to numbers released Monday by market researcher ComScore. Thanks to YouTube, Google Sites retained the crown as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed--or about 40 percent of all videos viewed online--with the video-sharing site accounting for more than 98 percent of Google's traffic. Fox Interactive Media was a distant second with 439 million videos watched (or 3.5 percent), followed by Viacom Digital with 325 million videos watched (2.6 percent). The data also showed that 77 percent of all U.S. Internet users had viewed online videos in 2008, and that the average online video viewer watched 273 minutes of video.
http://benton.org/node/20308
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IN AN INCREASINGLY WIRED CHINA, REHAB FOR INTERNET ADDICTS
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Jonathan Adams]
On a military base outside Beijing, a progressive Chinese psychologist, Tao Ran, has established a treatment center for a distinctly 21st-century malady. The center is an experiment in treating "non-material" addictions - others include work-, shop- and sex-aholism - that are booming along with China's rapid modernization, says Dr. Tao. "The problem is getting worse," says Tao. "[Internet addicts] can't adjust to school and society, so they try to escape their difficulties and avoid problems. They lack self-confidence and often don't have the courage to continue their lives." China has the world's largest number of Internet users - 290 million and counting, with 70 percent under the age of 30. And a recent survey of Internet use by global market information group TNS found that Chinese spend the highest proportion of their leisure time online - 44 percent - out of users in 16 countries. Tao estimates that 4 to 6 percent of Chinese netizens, which includes more than 13 percent of Chinese college students, are addicts - a term he defines as anyone who spends more than six hours per day for three months or more on nonwork- or study-related Internet use. That amounts to as many as 17 million net junkies in China. By comparison, about 8 percent of college students in the US are addicted Web users, he estimates.
http://benton.org/node/20309
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FOR THE BLIND, TECHNOLOGY DOES WHAT A GUIDE DOG CAN'T
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Miguel Helft]
A look at the work of T V Raman, a highly respected computer scientist and an engineer at Google. "What Raman does is amazing," said Paul Schroeder, vice president for programs and policy at the American Foundation for the Blind, which conducts research on technology that can help visually impaired people. "He is a leading thinker on accessibility issues, and his capacity to design and alter technology to meet his needs is unique." Some of Mr. Raman's innovations may help make electronic gadgets and Web services more user-friendly for everyone. Instead of asking how something should work if a person cannot see, he says he prefers to ask, "How should something work when the user is not looking at the screen?" Such systems could prove useful for drivers or anyone else who could benefit from eyes-free access to a phone. They could also appeal to aging baby boomers with fading vision who want to keep using technology they've come to depend on.
http://benton.org/node/20296
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LOUISIANA MOVING AHEAD WITH INCUMBENT FRANCHISE OPT-OUT PROVISION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
Louisiana is moving forward with implementation of its state franchising law, as a state court judge issued a one-paragraph ruling in December that the opt-out provision for incumbent operators in the new law is constitutionally permissible. [more at URL below]
http://benton.org/node/20295
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CENTRAL VIRGINIA BENEFITING FROM TOBACCO SETTLEMENT MONEY
[SOURCE: Lynchburg News Advance, AUTHOR: Ray Reed]
Some of Virginia's "tobacco settlement" money has helped pay for broadband networks. "Broadband deployment is the commission's largest single economic development effort, with aggregate grants to date totaling over $86 million," according to its 2007 annual report. Fast Internet access, through a strong broadband network in rural areas, is a requirement for employers who may be thinking about relocating to the region or expanding their local operations, economic-development officials say.
http://benton.org/node/20292
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SEMIANNUAL REPORT OF FCC INSPECTOR GENERAL
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Federal Communications Commission Inspector General Kent Nilsson released his semiannual report to Congress summarizing the activities of his office during the six-month period ending September 30, 2008. The Telecommunications Relay Service Fund has increased 50-80 percent each year since 1999; an audit of TRS finds that some TRS providers are being paid for unallowable minutes of service. An independent consulting firm found that the FCC needs to improve processing of the filing of public comments, consumer inquiries and complaints. The IG reports that FCC Chairman Martin requested an investigation into allegations that Cyren Call Communications discouraged potential bidders from participating in the FCC's D Block Auction by discussing with potential bidders a lease payment that any eventual auction winner would have to pay to the Public Safety Broadband Licensee. The IG concludes that many factors turned potential bidders away from participating in the auction and the lease payment issue was only one of those factors.
http://benton.org/node/20291
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FIVE ED-TECH STORIES TO WATCH FOR 2009
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: ]
The five top education stories to watch in 2009: 1) The College Opportunity and Affordability Act, which Congress passed last year, included a measure requiring colleges and universities to authenticate test takers in online courses through the use of sophisticated identification technology or with exam proctors. How will this be enforced? 2) How will new federal and state regulations affect Internet safety education in schools? 3) Who will replace Kevin Martin at the Federal Communications Commission? 4) Will the transition to digital TV broadcasting next month occur seamlessly--or will schools experience any problems? 5) How will education fare under the Obama administration?
http://benton.org/node/20290
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MEDIA PREDICTIONS 2009: WHAT WON'T HAPPEN
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Ron Grover]
[Commentary] Yahoo won't sell, Rupert Murdoch won't go long without buying something, and TV networks won't disappear. A lot of pundits say one or more of the four major TV networks will cease to exist in the next 12 months. One often-mentioned loser: CBS. Huh? CBS's ratings are actually up this year, albeit by a scant 1%, while the other three networks' ratings are down. (Among the 18- to 49-year-old age group that advertisers love, they're all down, and overall the networks have lost some 1 million viewers this year.) Still, there are plenty more folks fleeing newspapers and magazines. Advertisers are sticking with TV networks, even as they flee local TV stations. So why would one of the Big Four have to fold? One won't. Not in 2009, at least.
http://benton.org/node/20289
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NEW YORK TIMES SELLS FRONT-PAGE ADS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Nat Ives]
The New York Times unveiled a display ad on its front page, despite decades of fear that advertising there could contaminate the journalistic product or brand. Monday's ad, which promotes CBS, occupies a strip of real estate two and a half inches high at the very bottom of page A1. That makes the unit less noticeable than the boxes available on the front of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, but it's still a big departure for the Times. It is also a clear reflection that the Times is taking its situation seriously, something that was questioned after a recent presentation to investors and analysts. The New York Times Co. finally cut its costly dividend payments last November but drew fire for failing to suspend them altogether. Many other papers have already made their peace with front-page advertising. The Journal began selling front-page units in 2006, carefully milking their potential to get big commitments from the five marketers allowed to buy them each year.
http://benton.org/node/20287
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MIRROR AWARDS APPLICATIONS
[SOURCE: Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, AUTHOR: Press release]
Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications is now accepting entries for the third annual Mirror Awards competition recognizing excellence in media industry reporting. This year's competition includes new categories for digital media. Application deadline is Feb. 6. There is no fee to enter. Awards categories include: Best Single Article, Traditional Media; Best Single Article, Digital Media; Best Profile, Traditional Media; Best Profile, Digital Media; Best Commentary, Traditional Media; Best Commentary, Digital Media; Best In-Depth Piece, Traditional Media; Best In-Depth Piece, Digital Media. Established by the Newhouse School in 2006, the Mirror Awards honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public's benefit. The competition is open to anyone who conducts reporting, commentary or criticism of the media industries in a format intended for a mass audience. Eligible work includes print, broadcast and online editorial content focusing on the development or distribution of news and entertainment content. All entries must have been published or broadcast between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2008. Winners are chosen by a group of journalists and journalism educators. Complete competition guidelines and an entry form are available online.
http://benton.org/node/20286
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