Jan 20, 2009 (The 44th President)
On an otherwise hopeful day, the Benton Foundation morns the loss of Woodward Wickham. Woody, you will be deeply missed.
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY JANUARY 20, 2009
THE TRANSITION
A vigilant press
Bush leaves behind a mixed technology legacy
Obama's link to America: his BlackBerry
Obama staff will say cu l8r 2 IM
And You Thought You Had E-mail Problems
Holder for Wiretaps
All Digital Eyes on Obama
Genachowski May Enhance FCC Clout
What Would Julius Do?
THE ECONOMY
Broadband Bill Disappoints Nearly Everyone
Mayors Mull Broadband Future
DIGITAL TELEVISION
Waxman Says DTV Date Likely To Move
Stations Don't Want to Wait
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC head warns of regulatory excess
FCC Concludes 70/70 Threshold Not Met
FCC's Martin Aims Parting Shot At Cable Industry
Martin Opens New Comcast Net Data Probe
FCC Warns LFAs About Rate Regulation
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Billionaire Reaches Deal On Funding For New York Times
Tribune Co. building its case to stay intact
Radio, ad company Clear Channel cutting 1500 jobs
Music industry urged to embrace the Internet
THE TRANSITION
A VIGILANT PRESS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Today is an occasion for celebration, for basking in the warm fulfillment of a long-deferred promise, as a black man stands before us as our president. In President Obama, America has chosen a leader of eloquence and vision, of patience, intelligence and extraordinary capacity. It is also, however, a moment in which we must pledge vigilance, not unqualified encouragement. Obama offers much promise, but he is confronted with problems of staggering magnitude. He will disappoint some supporters. Recent history supplies a sobering lesson in what happens when support for a president dulls the skepticism needed to ensure public accountability. Journalism was not to blame for those travesties, any more than it was for the administration's callous disregard for hurricane-swept New Orleans. But journalists' responsibilities during any administration of either party remain fixed: We must search out what the government would prefer to keep from the public; we must remind those in power of the pledges that brought them to office; we must encourage debate, not out of cynicism but in the conviction that openness and public discussion produce the most satisfying results in a democratic society. The Constitution, which Obama today will swear to "preserve, protect and defend," includes only one profession under its guarantees of protection: a free press. It does so not to protect journalists, but in defense of the American people and their right to know their government. As President Obama sets forth in his historic administration, as Americans and people around the world invest their optimism and hope in his success, we pledge to watch him, to hold him to his work, and to report back.
http://benton.org/node/20908
Comment on this Headline
back to top
BUSH LEAVES BEHIND A MIXED TECHNOLOGY LEGACY
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh, Stephanie Condon]
The 43rd president leaves behind a technology legacy characterized less by intent than by casual neglect. Bush and (especially) Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were adamant in their defense of warrantless wiretapping, and made it a priority of their administration. "The president has the inherent authority under the Constitution, as commander-in-chief, to engage in this kind of activity," Gonzales said in 2005 after details became public. Yet wiretapping and its cousins such as monitoring financial transactions were the exception, not the rule. On more routine, humdrum topics, the White House seemed happy to defer to Congress or to its appointees in various federal agencies, rather than use the authority of the president to focus attention in certain tech topics--something President Bill Clinton regularly did to applause from Silicon Valley firms, whose executives would rarely turn town an invitation to the White House. That apparent neglect occasionally led to embarrassing results, such as the Bush administration acknowledging last month that it opposed a spectrum plan backed by Kevin Martin, Bush's own appointee who heads the Federal Communications Commission. Bush's Federal Trade Commission warned that Net neutrality regulations would be dangerous, as did the Justice Department; but the FCC went ahead anyway and now is trying to defend its actions in court.
http://benton.org/node/20905
Comment on this Headline
back to top
OBAMA'S LINK TO AMERICA: HIS BLACKBERRY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: John Podesta]
[Commentary] Let President Obama keep his BlackBerry. An off-line Obama isn't just bad for Barack. It's bad for all of us. The president's ability to reach outside his inner circle gives him access to fresh ideas and constructive critics; it underscores the difference between political "victories" and actual solutions; and it brings the American people into a battle we can only win by working together.
http://benton.org/node/20904
Comment on this Headline
back to top
OBAMA STAFF WILL SAY CU L8R 2 IM
[SOURCE: Politico.com, AUTHOR: Ben Smith]
Barack Obama may get to keep his BlackBerry, but David Axelrod is losing his IM. The lawyers broke the bad news to Obama aides at a briefing Friday morning convened by incoming Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts: Not only are they leaving the modern world to enter a White House where some of the clunky desktop computers still run Windows 2000 but — worst of all — they'll be forced to surrender a form of communication staffers have relied on for the last two years to communicate with each other, outside allies, and the press. From Axelrod, the chief campaign strategist, down to junior staffers in the press office, Obama's campaign relied heavily on software many of them began using in high school — AOL Instant Messager and Google Chat. Instant messaging, though little mentioned, is — perhaps as much as e-mail—deeply woven into contemporary politics and media, whose fabric is the constant, quick, gossipy transmission of spin and information. But a calculus that's perhaps one part security, one part law, and two parts politics, has long barred instant messaging from the White House.
http://benton.org/node/20903
Comment on this Headline
back to top
AND YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD E-MAIL PROBLEMS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Nagourney]
For anyone who works for a company that is plagued by e-mail troubles, feel a little sympathy for the members of incoming Obama administration. Tomorrow, they are going to be forced to change their e-mail not once, but twice. That means that they will have had four e-mail addresses over the past four months.
http://benton.org/node/20902
Comment on this Headline
back to top
HOLDER FOR WIRETAPS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] At a confirmation hearing last week, Sen Orrin hatch (R-UT) asked Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, "you believe," asked Sen Hatch, "that the President has -- that whoever is President has -- inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to engage in warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance? Or, in your opinion, does FISA trump Article II?" The WSJ finds that Holder now concedes that Presidents have inherent powers that even a statute can't abridge. His concession is further evidence that the liberal accusations about "breaking the law" and "illegal wiretaps" of the last several years were mostly about naked partisanship. Mr. Holder's objection turns out to be merely the tactical political one that the Bush Administration would have been better off negotiating with Congress for wiretap approval, not that it was breaking the law.
http://benton.org/node/20901
Comment on this Headline
back to top
ALL DIGITAL EYES ON OBAMA
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Mike Shields]
It's doubtful that -- between managing two wars and implementing a massive economic stimulus package—behavioral targeting ranks high on President-elect Obama's first 100 days' to-do list. Yet, with a new administration set to take charge this week, backed by a larger Democratic congressional majority, the online ad industry is swiftly moving to present itself to Washington as a business that can police itself. Thus, when a coalition of the marketing world's largest trade groups formed last week to announce plans to develop a set of self-regulatory guidelines for behavioral targeting ads, the timing seemed deliberate, and the message clear: you don't need to handle this, we're on top of it. The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, pledged to tackle privacy concerns over just how consumers' Web searching and surfing data is used by marketers. IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg said the timing of the announcement was coincidental, as planning for this coalition has been in the works ever since Google acquired DoubleClick back in 2007. But consumer-advocacy groups charge that the coalitions' announcement was panic driven. "The industry's response was about dodging a regulatory bullet," said Jeff Chester, founder and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "They are very concerned that they'll lose self-regulation [as a tactic]. The industry blinked."
http://benton.org/node/20900
Comment on this Headline
back to top
GENACHOWSKI MAY ENHANCE FCC CLOUT
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
President-elect Barack Obama's expected appointment of longtime friend Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission will put the agency's leader closer to power than any FCC boss in recent administrations. Genachowski's close relationship with President-elect Obama stretches from Harvard Law School to a role leading the transition team's technology policy wing. That may mean the FCC leader's role will expand beyond its customary scope, potentially including reworking tech policy and playing a role in crafting the government's economic stimulus package. Genachowski's background as a legal scholar -- he was a Supreme Court law clerk -- may also lead him to play a stronger role in determining legal strategy on FCC court cases -- normally a task left to the Justice Department. President Obama's first move at the FCC this week is to name someone other than Mr. Genachowski to lead the department on an interim basis. One of the two FCC Democrats, Michael Copps or Jonathan Adelstein, is expected to be designated temporary chairman, pending Mr. Genachowski's Senate confirmation.
http://benton.org/node/20899
Comment on this Headline
back to top
WHAT WOULD JULIUS DO?
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
If President-elect Barack Obama officially names his friend and technology adviser Julius Genachowski to be Federal Communications Commission chairman as expected, the cable industry should breathe easier about pricing and packaging of TV channels. But cable wouldn't be free and clear of regulation. The 46-year-old Genachowski comes from the Internet venture-capital world, a market segment whose leaders, such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, are deeply suspicious that cable and other broadband access providers want to hog the profits by dictating network access terms. "We would expect Genachowski to pursue the Obama communications agenda (which he helped develop) of promoting greater broadband deployment and access, an open Internet and network neutrality ..." Stifel Nicolaus analysts David Kaut and Rebecca Arbogast said.
http://benton.org/node/20898
Comment on this Headline
back to top
THE ECONOMY
BROADBAND BILL DISAPPOINTS NEARLY EVERYONE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Spencer Ante, Arik Hesseldahl]
The initial stab by the U.S. government to promote high-speed Internet access has something to disappoint nearly everyone. Most communications companies and consumer advocacy groups say the $6 billion in broadband stimulus measures contained in the House Democrats' $825 billion economic recovery package are a good first step. But they warn that the money won't be nearly sufficient to meet incoming President Barack Obama's objective of providing affordable high-speed Internet access to all U.S. households. Communications providers and various advocacy groups have pegged the cost of creating universal broadband in the tens of billions of dollars.
http://benton.org/node/20907
Comment on this Headline
back to top
MAYORS MULL BROADBAND FUTURE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
The US Conference of Mayors and the Knight Center of Digital Excellence hosted a Sunday discussion about how making investments in broadband technology can connect, enable, and transform communities. The event took place in conjunction with the mayors' annual winter meeting in Washington. Panelists included USCM President Manny Diaz, mayor of Miami; Akron, Ohio Mayor Donald Plusquellic; Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibarguen and others. At the organization's June meeting, members voted in favor of a resolution calling on the president, Congress and the FCC to develop a comprehensive national broadband strategy that includes high-speed deployment to cities as an imperative and preserves the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services within their communities. The resolution also urged the FCC to begin immediately collecting detailed information on broadband coverage and use and share said data with local governments.
http://benton.org/node/20906
Comment on this Headline
back to top
DIGITAL TELEVISION
WAXMAN SAYS DTV DATE LIKELY TO MOVE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) says he expects Congress will delay the DTV transition date. Asked Monday whether he thought the date would move, he said "I think so, but only short-term." Chairman Waxman last week proposed a bill that would move the date from Feb. 17 to June 12, as well as speed the distribution of DTV-to-analog converter box coupons, allow viewers to reapply for expired coupons, and take other associated steps. Expected to be added to Waxman's draft bill by the mark-up is language related to first responders, who were scheduled to get reclaimed analog TV spectrum Feb. 17 for use in emergency communications. The bill as drafted made no mention of that issue. Chairman Waxman also said that a mark-up of his version of the DTV date-move bill was still on track for a Wednesday hearing (1:30 p.m.). A mark-up is when legislators discuss and amend bills before sending a bill along -- if it is approved -- for a vote in the full House.
http://benton.org/node/20897
Comment on this Headline
back to top
STATIONS DON'T WANT TO WAIT
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Andrew Krukowski]
While a delay in the nationwide transition from analog to digital television signals might help viewers who are still trying to sort out their receivers, the switch to a June date could force even further belt-tightening on the local station side, imposing extra costs and putting jobs at risk. Nine out of 10 station managers interviewed by TelevisionWeek said they oppose the delay, putting them on the side of Republican legislators and some advocacy groups who say sticking with the original Feb. 17 date would at least cut short the discomfort that will attend the switch. President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 8 urged lawmakers to postpone the digital transition date, fearful that some viewers would be left in the dark on the switch date after Feb. 17. Last week, legislation was introduced to push the date to June 12. That threw into havoc the plans of station managers, who hadn't counted on perhaps having to maintain both an analog and a digital signal for an extra four months. The change has made budgeting in a recession-tinged 2009 even more challenging.
http://benton.org/node/20896
Comment on this Headline
back to top
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC HEAD WARNS OF REGULATORY EXCESS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson]
Excessive regulatory intervention could delay the roll-out of new broadband and wireless infrastructure in the US as the economic crisis shakes telecoms investment plans, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has warned. Kevin Martin, whose controversial eight-year term at the US media and communications regulator saw a 20-fold expansion of broadband access and the release of spectrum for wireless Internet services, said he was worried about regulation going too far under the Obama administration. "There could be a more regulatory environment," he said. "If you come in with too much of an interventionist approach, you could ... deter people from investing in the infrastructure." The economic uncertainty facing companies "makes it even more important you don't reimpose an interventionist approach on infrastructure investment."
http://benton.org/node/20895
Comment on this Headline
back to top
FCC CONCEDED 70/70 THRESHOLD NOT MET
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission finally released its 2006 cable competition report late Friday, and it turns out cable did not meet the 70/70 threshold for re-regulation after all. According to the report, 68% of multichannel video households subscribe to cable, with the figure trending "slightly" downward, according to the FCC. That is primarily thanks to satellite TV, with a little help from the telcos. Satellite operators as of 2006 claimed 29.2% of multichannel video subs. The video competition report had initially concluded that cable had met the 70/70 benchmark, which is cable systems with more than 36 channels passing 70% of households, with 70% of those subscribing to it. Cable has long since topped the first of those, claiming about 85% penetration, but the industry has argued it is nowhere near the 70% figure, with that number declining thanks to competitors.
http://benton.org/node/20894
Comment on this Headline
back to top
FCC'S MARTIN AIMS PARTING SHOT AT CABLE INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Kevin Martin closed his chairmanship of the FCC with hundreds of thousands of dollars in proposed fines against cable operators for failing to provide sufficient information to the Commission in its investigation of the migration of channels from analog to digital, changing rates without sufficient notice, and more. Hit with the fines were a who's who of cable operators, including Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, Charter, Cox, Comcast, Bright House, and Harron. The investigations were in response to complaints from Consumers Union and others that operators were migrating channels from analog to digital without lowering the price of the analog tier and in some cases raising it. Martin said in the letter that the FCC had gotten almost 600 complaints from cable subscribers. Martin called the practice "unacceptable." In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), Martin said it had been "Unacceptable" that nine of 13 cable companies "did not provide the Commission with all of the information we requested," saying it had inhibited the investigation.
http://benton.org/node/20893
Comment on this Headline
back to top
MARTIN OPENS NEW COMCAST NET DATA PROBE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Keeping his feud with the cable industry alive until the bitter end, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin on Sunday opened a new probe into Comcast Corp.'s management of its broadband network. The Commission is investigating whether Comcast is discriminating against Internet-based VoIP providers. Skype and Vonage users could experience call-quality declines during peak congestion times while Comcast's VoIP service, which isn't Web-based, would not. "We request that Comcast explain why it omitted from its filings with the [FCC] the distinct effects that Comcast's new network management technique has on Comcast's VoIP offering versus those of its competitors," the FCC said in a Jan. 18 letter signed by two hand-picked Martin aides, General Counsel Matthew Berry and Wireline Competition Bureau chief Dana Shaffer. Comcast has until Jan. 30, 2009 to file a response.
http://benton.org/node/20892
Comment on this Headline
back to top
FCC WARNS LFAS ABOUT RATE REGULATION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
In so many words, the Federal Communications Commission is banning local governments from placing limits on basic tier rates charged by cable operators that are new entrants into the market. The media regulator said in a public notice released Jan. 16 that local governments likely have no basis to regulate a new provider when incumbents have been broadly deregulated as a result of competition from satellite TV providers and, more recently, local phone companies. The FCC was vague about the reason for its public notice. It didn't provide even one example of where a local government had stepped in, or threatened to step in, to regulate basic rates of a new video provider, such as Verizon Communications.
http://benton.org/node/20891
Comment on this Headline
back to top
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
BILLIONAIRE REACHES DEAL ON FUNDING FOR NEW YORK TIMES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Matthew Karnitschnig, Russell Adams]
New York Times Co. raised $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim after agreeing to pay an interest rate of more than 14%, the latest in a series of moves by the newspaper publisher to shore up its finances. The notes Slim will receive in return for the investment include warrants that can be converted into 15.9 million common shares at a strike price of $6.36, a slight discount to where the shares closed on Friday. It isn't clear whether Mr. Slim, who is among the world's richest men with a fortune estimated at $60 billion, would be interested in acquiring full control of Times Co. The Ochs-Sulzberger family, which holds about 19% of Times Co.'s equity and controls the publisher through super-voting shares, has said it isn't interested in selling the company. The main reason for Times Co.'s liquidity crisis is that it borrowed heavily when business conditions were better. Much of that debt is coming due over the next couple of years.
http://benton.org/node/20890
Comment on this Headline
back to top
TRIBUNE CO BUILDING ITS CASE TO STAY INTACT
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Michael Oneal]
A month into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Chicago-based Tribune Co. is beginning to form a strategy for holding the company's major assets together, not tearing them apart, sources close to the situation said. But shaping up to be a central challenge is how to restructure the media conglomerate's $13 billion in debt while preserving its complex, tax-advantaged employee-ownership structure. Though Tribune Co. executives remain in the early days of building a plan of reorganization, sources said Chairman Sam Zell's team is operating on the assumption that Tribune Co. assets like the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and WGN TV-9 are probably worth more held together than they would be chopped up and sold at distressed prices. An exception is the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which is in the late stages of being sold, with a winning bidder expected to be named as soon as this week. Zell is also intent on preserving Tribune Co.'s S-Corp ESOP corporate structure, reasoning that its tax advantages will continue to have significant value if the company can emerge from bankruptcy protection as a going concern.
http://benton.org/node/20889
Comment on this Headline
back to top
RADIO, AD COMPANY CLEAR CHANNEL CUTTING 1500 JOBS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Steve James]
Clear Channel Communications Inc, which operates radio stations and outdoor advertising space, plans to lay off about 7 percent of its U.S. staff, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The newspaper, citing a person familiar with the situation, said the move will affect about 1,500 employees -- mostly in ad sales -- of the 20,000 work force in the United States. The report said Clear Channel, the largest U.S. company, by revenue, in both radio and outdoor advertising, was also implementing other cuts aimed at saving close to $400 million.
http://benton.org/node/20888
Comment on this Headline
back to top
MUSIC INDUSTRY URGED TO EMBRACE THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kate Holton]
The music industry needs to learn from the "dark side of the Internet" that has so decimated its business if it is to ever regain the upper hand in the fight against piracy. At the annual industry gathering in the south of France, executives revealed a sliver of optimism for the first time in years, after agreeing retail deals with the likes of Nokia, Amazon and MySpace. But the music industry's many critics say executives need to relinquish more control and could even pick up some ideas from the pirates - people who have created services to download music illegally - who they are fighting. After years of trying to protect its content and sue anyone who illegally downloaded it, the industry has moved to forge partnerships with online retailers as sales slump.
http://benton.org/node/20887
Comment on this Headline
back to top