June 15, 2009 (DTV Switch Completed?)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY JUNE 15, 2009

TELEVISION
   Digital TV Off to a Smooth Start
   MGM touting low-cost programming to cash-strapped TV stations
   Digital TV's changing channels
   Copps: DTV Transition Must Result in More Diverse Programming
   Mobile TV benefits from US switchover
   Lawmakers Want TV Stations To Dial Down Advertising Volume

AGENDA/POLICYMAKERS
   A Senate Busy Signal for FCC Nominees
   Public Interest Groups Have Lots Of Questions For FCC Nominees
   House Subcommittee Schedules Two Hearings
   FCC July 2 Open Meeting Agenda
   White House CTO Lauds Google's 20% Time
   Has Hathaway's Star Fallen?
   Broadcasters Hit Hill to Fight Bill
This week's calendar

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   The Next Hard Date
   How to Spend NTIA's BTOP Billions On Deployment
   Rural telcos seek bigger role for Universal Service in National Broadband Plan
   New Broadband Coalition to Push for Focus on 'Anchor Institutions'
   Cable group turns Network Neutrality around over ISP access fees
   Half of Americans Say Broadband Must be Available to All, Government Must Not Regulate

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   Court Won't Lift Stay On Newspaper/Broadcast Crossownership Rule Change
   A World of Risk for a New Brand of Journalist
   In Radio These Days, Small Is Better

WIRELESS
   Providing Cellphones for the Poor
   Mobile money to poor seen $5 billion market in 2012
   The IRS Phones Home
   AT&T Under Pressure To Cut Price Tag On IPhone's Data Plan
   Sprint/Nextel Gets Extension to Move BAS to New Home in Spectrum Band

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Improving Online Public Participation in Agency Rulemaking

MORE ON THE WEB
   The Big Hate
   Why Technologists Want Fewer Patents
   Global PC makers vying for "Green" crown
   On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping
   Cracks in Muzak Monolith as a Young Rival Grows
   Hollywood hits the stop button on high-profile Web video efforts
   EU plans tougher cybercrime laws
   AP in Deal to Deliver Nonprofits' Journalism

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TELEVISION

CHANGEOVER TO DIGITAL TV OFF TO A SMOOTH START
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
For most US television viewers, the transition to all-digital broadcasting amounted to a minor hiccup at most. But the industry estimated that 12 million homes had not installed the necessary converter boxes, putting them at risk of losing TV altogether. Across the country, television stations set up help lines and community organizations held events to aid confused viewers. Most stations didn't receive the flood of calls they had expected, a sign that the transition was smoother than many had predicted. Most American households now pay for television through a cable or satellite company. They were mostly unaffected by the switch, which will allow state-of-the-art wireless services and emergency communications to exist on the newly available analog spectrum space. The Federal Communications Commission's DTV help line received 317,450 calls on Friday. About 20% of the calls dealt with reception issues.
http://benton.org/node/25928
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MGM TOUTING LOW-COST PROGRAMMING TO CASH-STRAPPED TV STATIONS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has found an economical solution for cash-strapped TV stations looking to fill their digital space: "Beach Blanket Bingo." Nearly eight months ago, the venerable movie studio created a low-cost programming service for television stations called This TV. Stocked with B-level films found deep within MGM's vault, the venture serves up vintage fare like the 1960s beach movie with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello as well as TV shows such as "The Addams Family" and "The Patty Duke Show." The shift to digital TV, which had been in the works for two decades, was envisioned by the federal government as an opportunity for stations to provide comprehensive coverage of local news and sports, public affairs and multilingual programs on their digital sub-channels. But a market to underwrite that vision has not materialized, and the lousy economy and crimped local advertising spending have not helped. During the last year, TV stations have cut costs and shed employees, leaving few resources to develop original programming that could be used to draw viewers to their digital channels.
http://benton.org/node/25937
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DIGITAL TV'S CHANGING CHANNELS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission has a number of loose ends to tie up concerning the switch to digital television, including the question of how broadcasters fulfill their public-interest obligations in the digital era. TV and radio stations receive free access to the airwaves, but to keep their licenses they're obliged to serve the public "convenience, interest or necessity." In the Supreme Court's view, that means providing "adequate coverage to public issues." But it's not clear what that means when broadcasters are supplemented by effectively unlimited outlets online for news, information and opinion. The FCC needs to finish its long-delayed rule-making on the subject, bearing in mind that five political appointees in Washington are poorly equipped to dictate how local viewers' interests are best served. A better approach would be to make sure broadcasters listen to their viewers and share their publicly subsidized megaphone with their communities in the creative and competitive ways that broadcasters are in the best position to develop.
http://benton.org/node/25927
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COPPS: DTV TRANSITION MUST RESULT IN MORE DIVERSE PROGRAMMING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The digital television transition is not really over, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps said Saturday. There will be a period of adjustment as we all figure out how to make this new technology work in the real world. At the same time, there may be changes from the transmission side of the equation that will make consumers' lives easier. Chairman Copps said the transition would Copps said it would not be a home run until "one, we solve all the consumer problems that are out there, and number two, very important in my mind, is to make sure that enhanced digital capacity broadcasters have available to them [goes to] good and solid public interest use." He said that beyond the technical fixes, "how is the American public going to be benefited by this." Saying broadcasters have the capacity to broadcast five or six channels, he suggested he wanted to see a multiplicity of cultures and races and ethnic groups represented. "I don't think we have done a particularly outstanding job of covering it in the analog age, but I think here is an opportunity to do it here in the digital age." He said that he recognized there needed to be a business plan, but that he thought coming up with that multicasting plan could be a way for broadcasters to give lie to reports of their decline, saying it could "rejuvenate" broadcasting.
http://benton.org/node/25926
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MOBILE TV BENEFITS FROM US SWITCHOVER
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Chris Nuttall]
It may not have been a practical alternative for viewers staring at blank television screens, but a mobile TV broadcaster was able to switch on nationwide in the US at the weekend as analog transmitters turned off. At the same time, organizations representing the elderly and minorities in San Francisco reported fielding hundreds of calls from confused viewers who had lost their pictures and did not know how to receive the new digital channels now being offered by local broadcasters. The freeing up of channels 54, 55 and 56 in Friday's long-awaited digital switchover meant FLO TV, an offering for mobile phones from wireless chipmaker Qualcomm, could begin broadcasting immediately on the spectrum. FLO was also able to launch straightaway in the three other top-ten US markets previously denied it by the blocked-off bandwidth - Boston, Houston and Miami - as mobile TV's hold in terms of adoption and coverage began to look less patchy. The service forecasts it will now have access to 100 major markets and more than 200m potential customers by the end of the year.
http://benton.org/node/25938
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LAWMAKERS WANT TV STATIONS TO DIAL DOWN ADVERTISING VOLUME
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Fawn Johnson]
Television commercials are too loud, as most viewers know, and members of Congress want broadcasters to turn down the volume. A bill sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) would require the Federal Communications Commission to "preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany." That idea is hard to resist, but it might be difficult to mandate. "Many different entities are responsible for producing and distributing the content consumers see and hear," Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) said Thursday at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee. Broadcasters say they are addressing the problem already. "The major television broadcast networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS (CBS) and Fox, are each, individually, implementing policies that attempt to control loud commercials," said David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, or MSTV, a broadcast industry trade group.
http://benton.org/node/25925
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AGENDA/POLICYMAKERS

A SENATE BUSY SIGNAL FOR FCC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
Everyone seems to like and respect Julius Genachowski, President Obama's nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission. So why is it taking so long to get him confirmed by the Senate? It is hard to find any pocket of opposition to his nomination. Instead, his confirmation seems to be slowed by the senate's desire to approve nominees for all four open spots on the commission—two for Democrats and two for Republicans—at once. The effect of the delay is that the commission is falling behind in dealing with a number of critical issues. Congress has charged the commission with creating a national broadband policy. The commission is also likely to look at how to reform the Universal Service Fund, which taxes long distance bills to subsidize phone service to poor people and those in rural areas. There are some other internecine battles about how money and market power is divided up among various telecom companies. The commission needs to make a new plan for what to do with a block of wireless spectrum, meant to help public service agencies, that was not sold in the auctions last year. And it has to rule on the proposed merger between Embarq and CenturyTel.
http://benton.org/node/25923
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PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS HAVE LOTS OF QUESTIONS FOR FCC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a letter to Senate Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), public interest groups including the United Church of Christ, Public Knowledge and the Media Access Project raise a number of questions they's like Congress to ask nominees for seats on the Federal Communications Commission. The Senate Commerce Committee meets Tuesday to consider the nominations of Julius Genachowksi and Robert McDowell. The groups would like to hear them address questions about broadband, localism, diversity, open networks and wireless.
http://benton.org/node/25922
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HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE SCHEDULES TWO HEARINGS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
This week, the House Communications Subcommittee will hold two hearings -- the first June 16 to consider a draft of the Satellite Home Viewer Act reauthorization bill. The big question there is how narrow the bill will be. Among the issues is could address are allowing satellite and cable to import distant signals from adjacent markets when those markets cross state lines (split markets), and important adjacent signals into so-called "short" markets that lack one or more network affiliates. A bill needs to pass by the end of the year, or satellite companies' blanket license to import distant network signals to viewers would expire and they would theoretically have to negotiate individually with any station they wanted to import. On June 18, the Subcommittee will discuss behavioral advertising, a priority for Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA).
http://benton.org/node/25915
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FCC ANNOUNCES TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR JULY 2, 2009 OPEN MEETING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps has released the tentative agenda for the July 2 FCC meeting. Big. Fun. We're talking presentations on the digital television transition and the national broadband plan; we're talkin' AM radio station's using FM translators; yes, we're talking fixed wireless services in the 6 GHz and 23 GHz bands; and that's not all -- think about on allocating spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 5.2 GHz bands and establishing service and technical rules for operation of medical body area networks for monitoring a patient's physiological data. Rumor has it Peter Frampton will be added as an opening act.
http://benton.org/node/25924
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WHITE HOUSE CTO LAUDS GOOGLE'S 20% TIME
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andrew LaVallee]
Aneesh Chopra, the White House's newly appointed chief technology officer, encouraged tech executives to adopt Google's "20% time" practice. "Many of you might know that Google, as a company, reserves 20% of their time for their engineers and others to experiment with ideas that they may not have developed," he said at a Consumer Electronics Association conference in New York. "To my friends in the room who make consumer devices, think about your 20% time," and consider using it to develop products and services with a societal benefit. Americans across the board are consuming more bandwidth, he said, but public policy around broadband and technology in general is lagging. He noted President Barack Obama's recent comments on the importance of technology education, and said technology must be considered as part of health-care, energy, education and economic policy, not an isolated area.
http://benton.org/node/25911
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HAS HATHAWAY'S STAR FALLEN?
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
A lot of names are being floated around as possible picks for the position of cyber czar, and interestingly enough, none seem to be Melissa Hathaway. She led the 60-day cyber review ordered by the White House in February, and for a long time it seemed certain she would advise President Obama on all things cyber. One intel official, when asked whether he thought she'd get the job, said "probably so." Now, less than two weeks after Obama announced his comprehensive approach to the issue, Hathaway seems a long shot.
http://benton.org/node/25909
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BROADCASTERS HIT HILL TO FIGHT BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone]
A traveling party of about a dozen Fox affiliate leaders will descend on Washington this week to voice its concern for a bill co-sponsored by Rep Mike Ross (D-Arkansas). The group says the bill could rewrite the Designated Market Area map and put a major drain on station revenue. The Ross bill and the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) are top priorities for broadcasters in the coming months. Both pertain to the rules that govern a station's right to market-exclusivity for its programming. SHVERA, which the FCC says "created an opportunity for subscribers to qualify, via signal-strength tests, to receive distant digital television broadcast signals from satellite carriers," comes up for renewal every five years, and is due for reauthorization by the end of 2009.
http://benton.org/node/25914
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

THE NEXT HARD DATE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] With the digital television transition (mostly) behind the Federal Communications Commission, it now faces a February 17, 2010 deadline to deliver Congress a National Broadband Plan. The challenge will be to find a spur to deployment that does not discourage the private-sector investment that will be crucial to its success. FCC Chairman Michael Copps has said that charting the broadband course will be the most important thing the FCC has ever done, and he is not overstating the case. That's because it goes far beyond communications or entertainment or even education into every corner of the economy—from medicine to energy to just about everything else we do, from shopping to banking to finding a mate. Community is not about geography; it is about electronic connectivity. Some agencies have already made it easier and cheaper to do business online. Unless we make sure that every school and library has the Internet, and as many households as humanly possible, that will be the equivalent of taxing the least able to pay. Only a little more than half the population subscribes to an ISP, though over 90% have the option. That has to change.
http://benton.org/node/25921
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HOW TO SPEND NTIA'S BTOP BILLIONS ON DEPLOYMENT
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] A look at how the National Telecommunications and Information Administration should spend approximately $4 billion in Recovery Act funds earmarked for broadband deployment. 1) Set aside $1 billion for best-of-breed testbed projects selected based on the level of connectivity being deployed, the number of unserved homes getting connected, the amount of local buy-in, and the potential for these models to be scalable if successful. 2) A second $1 billion should be focused on projects that can get large numbers of unserved homes online as quickly as possible. 3) Devote $ 2 billion to start wiring and interconnecting schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities with fiber.
http://benton.org/node/25920
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RURAL TELCOS SEEK BIGGER FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE IN NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Many familiar themes and a few new ones can be found among the comments filed by associations representing rural telcos with the Federal Communications Commission this week in response to the Commission's April notice of inquiry about a National Broadband Plan. Among the familiar themes—the idea that universal service funding should cover broadband, including the cost of providing "middle mile" connectivity to the nearest Internet point of presence. To raise the additional funding required, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association and the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies both advocate requiring Internet service providers to pay into the USF Fund. But the NTCA went a step further in its comments, recommending that Internet content providers such as Google also should pay into the fund.
http://benton.org/node/25919
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NEW BROADBAND COALITION TO PUSH FOR FOCUS ON 'ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS'
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Ryan Womack]
More than two-dozen separate organizations joined to reinvigorate the public library as a community "watering hole" for broadband access as the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition held a launch event Thursday at Washington's Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. The coalition grew out of a realization that the Internet is now a "fundamental cornerstone of modern education, learning...and the dissemination of information of free speech," said director Jim Windhausen. The goal of the coalition is to direct Broadband Technology Opportunity Program funding to anchor institutions in unserved areas, particularly schools, libraries, and health facilities. While Jenni Terri of the American Library Association said that the economic stimulus funds are "only seed money," ALA's hope is that the coalition can stand for the long term as a continual advocate for universal broadband. Made up of 28 schools, libraries and health-care providers (and Microsoft and the Benton Foundation), the SHLB says these groups need between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps.
http://benton.org/node/25935
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CABLE GROUP TURNS NET NEUTRALITY AROUND OVER ISP ACCESS FEES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Small cable operators say they worried about content providers charging Internet service providers "discriminatory" access fees, which they say Disney does with ESPN360.com. They want the Federal Communications Commission to stop the practice before it spreads, turning the arguments about Network Neutrality in a new direction. Free Press' Ben Scott says his "gut reaction" to ESPN360 was that "it's a terrible business model that defeats the whole idea of maximizing exposure on the Internet." "E-commerce is built on an online marketplace where companies are free to charge for their services, and consumers are free to buy them," Scott added. "The situation changes when companies begin walling off content and selling network operators the right to distribute it."
http://benton.org/node/25918
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HALF OF AMERICANS SAY BROADBAND MUST BE AVAILABLE TO ALL, GOVERNMENT MUST NOT REGULATE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Americans are increasingly supportive of government programs to guarantee universal Internet access while remaining wary of regulation, said a Zogby poll released Friday. Almost half of the 3,030 respondents to the survey - 44 percent - believe universal Internet access should be guaranteed by the federal government. Of respondents, 20 percent said they support programs to give Americans personal computers if they lack them. And more than two-thirds, or 71 percent, say those who lack Internet access will be less successful economically than those who regularly go online. But universal access remains a partisan issue, the survey said. While 78 percent of liberals said the government should make sure the Internet is available to all, only 18 percent of conservatives agreed with the statement.
http://benton.org/node/25917
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

COURT WON'T LIFT STAY ON NEWSPAPER/BROADCAST CROSSOWNERSHIP RULE CHANGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals Friday said its stay of the Federal Communications Commission's media ownership rule rewrite would remain in place, saying it wanted to hear back from the parties to the case on October 1. The stay has been in place for about six years, dating from the FCC's first attempt to rewrite the ownership rules back in 2003 under then-chairman Michael Powell, but more recently extended to the loosening of the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rules in December 2007, under then FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, which were almost immediately challenged in court by both sides of the issue. Among those opposing delaying a court decision were the Newspaper Association of America, Media General, Tribune, CBS, Fox, Gannett and a number of other broadcast groups, who have for years been trying to get some regulatory certainty, though they were looking for the FCC to lift rather than modify the ban. In fact, they challenged the rules in court as not sufficiently deregulatory.
http://benton.org/node/25913
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A WORLD OF RISK FOR A NEW BRAND OF JOURNALIST
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Start-up news organizations like Current TV are increasingly sending journalists to the world's hot spots, putting a spotlight on news stories in new ways. It is, experts say, another consequence of the fragmented media landscape and the declines in international news coverage by traditional outlets. The unconventional assignments are an expression of the generational changes in news coverage, especially in TV, where the jobs of camera operators, sound technicians and producers have, in many cases, been subsumed into one do-it-all position. And being unencumbered by a traditional news outlet has its advantages, as the reporters are sometimes free to take more risks. One of the risks of this kind of improvised, headlong journalism is that reporters lack the backing of large established news organizations that might have the experience and leverage to deal with foreign governments.
http://benton.org/node/25947
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IN RADIO THESE DAYS, SMALL IS BETTER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
For much of the 1990s, the radio industry threw a party for investors, fueled by deregulation and mergers. Then came the hangover. Acquisitions have burdened numerous broadcasters with heavy debt, including half of the 10 biggest such as Clear Channel's parent CC Media and Citadel Broadcasting. At the same time, intensifying competition for listeners, from satellite radio and the Internet, helped slow growth in advertising. The recession sent revenues off a cliff. Station ad revenues fell 7.8% in 2008 and are expected to drop a further 15% this year, estimates consultant BIA Financial Network. That has highlighted an excess of capacity. The number of commercial stations rose 2% to 11,213 from 2004 to 2008, according to the Federal Communications Commission. One solution is an industry restructuring involving the closure of stations. That could happen if there are some bankruptcy filings. In the near term, however, the best positioned broadcasters may be those exposed to smaller markets, where competition for ad dollars is less. Average revenue at stations in markets below the top 50 fell 6.6% last year compared with around 9% for bigger stations, BIA estimates. It projects smaller stations will continue outperforming through 2013.
http://benton.org/node/25940
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WIRELESS

PROVIDING CELLPHONES FOR THE POOR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
There's a small but rapidly growing number of low-income Americans benefiting from a new wrinkle to a decades-old federal law that provided them with subsidized landline telephone service. In a twist, wireless carriers are receiving subsidies to provide them with a phone and typically 68 minutes of talk time each month. It is a form of wireless welfare that puts a societal stamp on the central role played by the mobile device. The users are not the only ones receiving government assistance. Telecommunications industry analysts said the program, while in its infancy, could benefit mobile phone carriers, who face a steep challenge of their own: most Americans already own a cellphone, so the poor represent a last untapped market. Carriers can receive up to $10 a month in government subsidies, sufficient to cover what amounts to about $3 in service. The opportunity has prompted interest from the nation's biggest carriers, including Sprint Nextel and AT&T. But at the forefront is a much smaller company, Tracfone, a Florida provider of prepaid mobile service that has become the face of the fledgling subsidized cellphone.
http://benton.org/node/25946
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MOBILE MONEY TO POOR SEEN $5 BILLION MARKET BY 2012
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Tarmo Virki]
The market of mobile financial services to poor people in emerging markets will surge from nothing to $5 billion in 2012, U.S.-based microfinance policy and research center CGAP said on Monday. Mobile money is one of the hottest topics in the wireless world, but so far take-up of services has been mostly limited to a few emerging markets, as in developed countries the popularity of online banking has been a brake on mobile money. "Theres a lot of excitement, but very little understanding what's going on as the number of implementations is still limited," said Mark Pickens, microfinance analyst at CGAP. The market began in early 2007 with a launch of Safaricom's M-PESA in Kenya, which has attracted 6.5 million customers, or one in six Kenyans. Operators in several emerging countries have followed, and by end-2009 CGAP expects more than 120 mobile money implementations in developing markets. The new estimates are part of GCAP's joint study with industry group GSMA on estimating the size of mobile financial markets. The study is due to be published next week at the Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona.
http://benton.org/node/25945
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THE IRS PHONES HOME
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] The Internal Revenue Service is contemplating a new tax on the use of business cellphones. The IRS believes that some percentage of the costs incurred by employees using company-provided wireless devices should count as a "fringe benefit" and thus be subject to taxation. Since workers inevitably end up taking personal calls or emails, the thinking goes, it's only fair that they pay for the privilege. The IRS isn't proposing a new rule per se, merely planning to strictly enforce a 1989 law requiring workers using company phones for personal use to include the value of those calls as income. The political class may come to regret stepping into this minefield, however, and not only because this is precisely the sort of common non-sense that incites tax revolts. It's one thing if the next Tom Daschle forgets to pay taxes on his company chauffeur. But it'll be quite another if the next nominee goes down for taking too many personal calls without giving the government its due.
http://benton.org/node/25944
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AT&T UNDER PRESSURE TO CUT PRICE TAG ON IPHONE'S DATA PLAN
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng, Ben Charny]
With pricing in the smartphone race heating up, AT&T has been slow to shift gears. The telecommunications giant has stubbornly kept unchanged the pricey data plans required for the Apple iPhone - a chief complaint and impediment for consumers. The decision to hold pat comes as the industry increasingly addresses the downturn in consumer spending with lower priced service plans and phones. AT&T wireless chief Ralph de la Vega said last month that the company was considering a lower tier. Any such plan likely would include limits on how long users could surf the Web or how many programs they can download over the air. But AT&T is reluctant to offer a cheaper plan because it would lose a rich source of revenue used to offset the subsidies it pays Apple to keep the iPhone at the $200 level, as well as the cost of delivering that service. AT&T has to balance the growing number of iPhone users with the amount of traffic they take up in the network.
http://benton.org/node/25908
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SPRINT/NEXTEL GETS EXTENSION TO MOVE BAS TO NEW HOME IN SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has given Sprint/Nextel until Feb. 8. 2010, to complete the move of broadcaster auxiliary services--TV station electronic newsgathering, for example, and studio-to-transmitter links--to a new home in the spectrum band. The move is essentially ENG's digital transition. The company joined with broadcasters to seek the extension, citing the impacts of weather, broadcaster bankruptcies, delays in the DTV transition and the general complexity of the project in asking for the delay.
http://benton.org/node/25916
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

IMPROVING ONLINE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN AGENCY RULEMAKING
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: John Moses]
Every member of the public is touched by federal rules and regulations that have a real impact on such things as the drinking water quality; food inspection; and automobile safety. Since 2003 Regulations.gov has been the primary resource for citizens to access, view and comment on the regulations that affect their lives. Regulations.gov is managed by the eRulemaking Program - an interagency program comprised of more than 30 federal departments and agencies and led by the Environmental Protection Agency. The mission of the eRulemaking Program is to increase public access to, participation in, and understanding of federal rulemaking and improve agencies' efficiency and effectiveness in developing rules. As a next step in improving public access and participation in the rulemaking process, the Administration launched the Regulations.gov Exchange on May 21, 2009. With the Exchange, the Administration presented proposed features and functions for the Regulations.gov web site and solicited public opinions and suggestions on possible improvements. The Regulations.gov Exchange is open until July 21, 2009 and the Administration encourages users to support our efforts to improve Regulations.gov by joining the dialogue. The Administration is also expanding the discussion on how to improve online public participation in agency rulemaking. In the spirit of President Obama's Open Government Initiative, the Administration is looking for better ways to engage members of the public, provide them with the information they need and improve the ways its meet our goals.
http://benton.org/node/25912
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