March 13, 2009 (USF Reform)

20 YEARS AGO... THE WORLD WIDE WEB WAS BORN (San Jose Mercury News)
It all began 20 years ago with a frustrated 29-year-old programmer who had a passion for order. Tim Berners-Lee, now famous as the founder of the World Wide Web, was working as an obscure consultant at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in the suburbs of Geneva. Berners-Lee loved the laboratory. It was full of stimulating projects and creative people, but his work, and the work of his colleagues, was stymied by the lack of institutional knowledge. So Berners-Lee proposed adding "hypertext" to the Cern network, basically embedding software in documents that would point to other related documents. And thus was born the Web, a global communications network that has shaken up industries, created enormous wealth and transformed the way ordinary people live their lives. Cern will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Berners-Lee's proposal in its trademark wooden sphere called "the globe," which it touts as a symbol of the Earth's future. In Silicon Valley, where there is less appetite for pomp, the celebration will take the form of hundreds of thousands of workers using the Web to build the future and update their Facebook pages.
http://benton.org/node/23227

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY MARCH 13, 2009

Lots going on next week including a number of public meetings on NTIA/RUS broadband grants. See http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-03-15--P1W

UNIVERSAL SERVICE REFORM
   Universal Service: Reforming the High-Cost Fund
   Tate: Change information and communications rules
   Georgia House passes telecom reforms

DIGITAL DIVIDE
   Will High-Speed Cable Broadband Really Reach Rural America?
   The Broadband Gap: Why Do They Have More Fiber?

HEALTH INFO TECH
   Tech Rx for health care
   HIT Standards Committee and HIT Policy Committee Nomination Letters Sought

JOURNALISM
   Many Would Shrug if Their Local Newspaper Closed
   The Real Problem with CNBC
   Forget Britney; Media Outrage Hits Big Spenders
   Pope Admits Online News Can Provide Infallible Aid

CABLE
   Comcast To Challenge 30% Cap In U.S. Court of Appeals
   Cablevision to stop selling analog TV by year-end

QUICKLY -- Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee Assignments Announced; Kundra not a target in FBI raid: DC mayor; New fed funding for ed tech nears $1 billion; Outlook for cell phone makers worsens

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UNIVERSAL SERVICE REFORM

UNIVERSAL SERVICE: REFORMING THE HIGH-COST FUND
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing on Thursday to examine aspects of the Universal Service Fund (USF), possible reforms to the High Cost program, and the growing demand for advanced services including broadband and mobility in high cost areas of the country. Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) said the $4.9 billion high-cost program, intended to subsidize telephone service to rural and other hard-to-reach areas, should cover broadband service and needs to expand the services taxed to pay for the fund. "Broadband is to communities today what electricity and basic telephone service were 100 years ago," Chairman Boucher said. "It is the new essential infrastructure for the commercial success of all communities." [much more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/23224
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CHANGE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS RULES
[SOURCE: Washington Times, AUTHOR: Former FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate]
[Commentary] The government's "universal service" subsidy regime is saddled with antiquated rules that fail to provide incentives for the deployment of new lower-cost technologies, while at the same time supporting the provision of service by multiple providers in the nation's highest cost areas. Here's what the FCC should do without delay: 1) Eliminate its "Identical Support Rule" whereby new entrants receive subsidies based on the assumption their costs are identical to those of the traditional wireline provider. 2) Expand the Lifeline and Linkup programs, which presently provide modest assistance to qualified low-income consumers for ordinary telephone service, to include subsidies for increasing broadband subscription among those who meet a needs-based test. 3) Require any subsidies to additional providers be awarded through a competitive bidding process, such as a "reverse auction." 4) Develop a process for fundamental systemic reform. Some have suggested the already exploding high-cost fund should be expanded even more to include broadband.
http://benton.org/node/23223
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GEORGIA HOUSE PASSES TELECOM REFORMS
[SOURCE: Atlanta Business Chronicle, AUTHOR: Dave Williams]
The Georgia House approved legislation to abandon a program that critics say subsidizes small rural telephone companies with funds primarily supplied by giant telecommunications firms. The bill, which passed 123-42 and now moves to the Georgia Senate, would abolish the state's Universal Access Fund, which last year allocated $10.2 million to 15 rural phone companies. The General Assembly created the fund in 1995 to help compensate small phone companies for the impacts of a state law reducing intrastate access rates to interstate levels. Since that goal was achieved by 2000, there's no legitimate reason the fund should remain, said Rep. Clay Cox, R-Lilburn, the bill's chief sponsor.
http://benton.org/node/23222
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DIGITAL DIVIDE

WILL DOCSIS 3.0 REALLY REACH RURAL AMERICA?
[SOURCE: dslreports.com, AUTHOR: Karl Bode]
Since the cable industry's TV footprint extends to nearly 90% or more of America (the industry's independently unverified numbers), there seems to be a new meme mysteriously circulating that assumes DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades will soon be everywhere. That's the general consensus of a new Pike and Fisher report that claims that blisteringly fast cable DOCSIS 3.0 speeds will be "available to nearly all of their customers within the next five years." That optimism is largely driven by Comcast's promise to deploy DOCSIS 3.0 to all of their customers by the end of 2010 (and 65% by the end of this year), and since Comcast services about half of all cable customers in the country, that's considered a solid base. Analysts then assume that all other carriers, including Cox, Time Warner Cable and soon-to-be-bankrupt Charter Communications will slowly deploy the technology to everyone by 2013. Of course, nobody seems to talk about what drove cable into all of those rural American neighborhoods in the first place: those "annoying" local franchise authorities the phone companies just got done dismantling so they could avoid having to deploy telcoTV to less profitable portions of rural America. With fairly weak state-level franchise agreements now the norm, and no telcoTV competition that can't be handled by DOCSIS 2.0, what pushes cable the extra mile?
http://benton.org/node/23221
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THE BROADBAND GAP: WHY DO THEY HAVE MORE FIBER?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
[Commentary] In the paradises of broadband — Japan, South Korea and Sweden — nearly everyone can surf far faster and far cheaper than anyone in the United States. What is their secret sauce and how can we get some? The short answer is that broadband deployment in those countries was spurred by a combination of heavy government involvement, subsidies and lower corporate profits that may be tough for the economic and political system in the United States to accept. Those countries have also tried to encourage demand for broadband by paying schools, hospitals and other institutions to use high-speed Internet services. The lesson from the rest of the world is that if the Obama administration really wants to bring very-high-speed Internet access to most people faster than the leisurely pace of the market, it will most likely have to bring out the taxpayers' checkbook.
http://benton.org/node/23220
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HEALTH INFO TECH

TECH RX FOR HEALTH CARE
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Julia Ioffe]
The stimulus law passed in February includes $19 billion for grants and incentives to get health care providers to switch from paper to electronic records. The money will begin to flow in 2011. The transition would enable doctors and nurses to update records easily, share health information with others in the industry, and even diagnose diseases remotely - while saving the system billions. It won't be an easy upgrade, though. The system is made up of tens of thousands of doctors' practices, hospital chains, and insurers, all of which operate on different software platforms that don't talk to one another - if computers are used at all. Older physicians are often cool to the idea of ditching their charts and prescription pads; getting them onboard will take time and training.
http://benton.org/node/23219
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HIT STANDARDS COMMITTEE AND HIT POLICY COMMITTEE NOMINATION LETTERS
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Robert Kolodner]
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is seeking nominations for the Health Information Technology Standards Committee and the Health Information Technology Policy Committee. Letters of nomination and resumes should be submitted by March 16, 2009 to ensure adequate opportunity for review and consideration of nominees prior to appointment of members.
http://benton.org/node/23218
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JOURNALISM

MANY WOULD SHRUG IF THEIR LOCAL NEWS PAPER CLOSED
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Kohut et al]
As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community "a lot." Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available. Not unexpectedly, those who get local news regularly from newspapers are much more likely than those who read less often to see the potential shutdown of a local paper as a significant loss. More than half of regular newspaper readers (56%) say that if the local newspaper they read most often no longer published ­ either in print or online ­ it would hurt the civic life of the community a lot; an almost identical percentage (55%) says they would personally miss reading the paper a lot if it were no longer available.
http://benton.org/node/23210
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THE REAL PROBLEM WITH CNBC
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Cenk Uygur]
[Commentary] The real problem with cable business news network CNBC is their reporting -- or lack thereof. The CNBC reporters and anchors make the Bush press corps look like draconian inquisitors. They are obsessed with access. This is a problem with all of the media, and something Jon Stewart points out all the time. But it is particularly acute at CNBC (and all other business news channels).
http://benton.org/node/23211
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FORGET BRITNEY; MEDIA OUTRAGE HITS BIG SPENDERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
The celebrity Web site TMZ and TV shows like "Extra" and "Inside Edition" are expanding their coverage of starlets and Hollywood break-ups to include billion-dollar business scandals and the economic collapse. The tabloid media, of course, have always peered into the excesses of the rich and famous with a mix of puritan disapproval and voyeurism. But these outlets and other news organizations are now recording troubling uses of taxpayer money at country clubs, private airports and glamorous retreats and, in so doing, explicitly tapping into a fierce populist anger at corporate America, and even pressuring Congress to hold companies accountable. Tabloids aren't the only ones wagging their fingers. In recent months, network news divisions have relied more heavily on watchdog segments that, producers believe, resonate with viewers who are angry about their own economic status.
http://benton.org/node/23226
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POPE ADMITS ONLINE NEWS CAN PROVIDE INFALLIBLE AID
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Rachel Donadio]
The Vatican, a 2,000-year-old monarchy built on the ruins of the Roman Empire and run by octogenarians, has officially recognized the demands of the 24-hour news cycle, not a 24-century one. "I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on," Pope Benedict XVI wrote to admit the Vatican made "mistakes" in handling the case of a Holocaust-denying bishop. "I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news."
http://benton.org/node/23225
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CABLE

COMCAST TO CHALLENGE 30% CAP IN US COURT OF APPEALS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On April 24, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments in Comcast's challenge of a Federal Communications Commission decision to reinstate a cap on cable ownership. In 2007, the FCC voted to restore the 30% cap, saying that it wanted to make sure no cable operator or group of operators could "impede the flow of programming to its consumers" because of its size. The decision came after the same DC court instructed the FCC to either throw out the cap or better justify its continued existence, which the FCC tried to do.
http://benton.org/node/23216
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CABLEVISION TO STOP SELLING ANALOG TV BY YEAR-END
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
New York cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp said on Thursday it will stop selling analog television packages by the end of 2009 as it moves to become an all-digital service. The company said just five percent of its 3.1 million video customers currently receive its analog expanded basic package and these customers will continue to receive the limited service without any required action. But the cable company, which has the highest digital service penetration of any major U.S. cable operator, will no longer market analog TV packages to customers. One advantage of going all-digital for cable companies is that it frees up capacity on an operator's system. One analog TV channel takes up the capacity for up to eight to ten digital channels.
http://benton.org/node/23217
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QUICKLY -- Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee Assignments Announced; Kundra not a target in FBI raid: DC mayor; New fed funding for ed tech nears $1 billion; Outlook for cell phone makers worsens

SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS ANNOUNCED
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
It is mid-March, so John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison really rushed to announce the new Commerce Subcommittee Members for the 111th Congress. Communications, Technology and the Internet will be a key subcommittee, chaired by Sen John Kerry (D-MA). Rookie Sens Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Tom Udall (D-NM) join former Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and veterans Byron Dorgan, Bill Nelson, Maria Cantwell, Frank Lautenberg, Mark Pryor, Claire McCaskill, and Amy Klobuchar. On the GOP side there's Ranking Member John Ensign (NV), Olympia Snowe (ME), Jim DeMint (SC), John Thune (SD), Roger Wicker (MS), Johnny Isakson (GA), David Vitter (LA), Sam Brownback (KS), Mel Martinez (FL), and Mike Johanns (NE). Sens Rockefeller and Hutchison serve on all subcommittees.
http://benton.org/node/23214
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KUNDRA NOT A TARGET IN FBI RAID: DC MAYOR
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
The FBI searched the offices of the District of Columbia's chief technology officer, a post held recently by newly appointed Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. The FBI is investigating employee corruption there. Yusuf Acar, who works in the city's technology office, and another man, Sushil Bansal, were arrested on bribery and other charges, according to court documents. Acar describes himself as the information office's chief security officer in a video posted on its website. Bansal is a former Washington government employee who heads Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp., a technology firm that has won contracts from the city's technology office. According to court documents, Acar was accused of conspiring to commit bribery, fraud, money laundering and conflict-of-interest violations while Bansal was accused of conspiring to commit bribery and money laundering. According to the documents, they allegedly took part in a variety of schemes, including billing for so-called "ghost employees," that involved stealing money from the government of the District of Columbia.
http://benton.org/node/23213
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NEW FED FUNDING FOR ED TECH NEARS $1 BILLION
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: ]
$920 million in new federal funding has been appropriated specifically for education technology since February. Via the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, ed-tech will receive nearly $270 million more for fiscal year 2009, thanks to the $410 billion omnibus spending measure signed by President Obama on March 11. This latest appropriation is on top of the $650 million designated in February under EETT for FY09 and FY10 as part of the economic stimulus package.
http://benton.org/node/23212
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OUTLOOK FOR CELL PHONE MAKERS WORSENS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
The global economic crisis is taking its toll on the cell phone business, with sales even in the hot smartphone category also expected to slow in 2009. IDC said it expects the volume of all mobile handsets to decline by 8.3 percent in 2009. And it expects sales of hot smartphones, like Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry phones, to slow to about 3.4 percent growth. Market research firm Gartner published similarly dismal numbers in its market share report for 2008. The firm said that smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 were only up about 3.7 compared to the previous year. And the firm noted that the growth rate had slowed from the previous quarter. In the third quarter of 2008, smartphone sales increased 12 percent compared to year earlier, and sales were up 16 percent in the second quarter. The firm blames the slowing growth on the deteriorating economic situation.
http://benton.org/node/23215
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