Sept 15, 2009 (National Lifeline and Link Up Awareness Week)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

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For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-09-13--P1W/

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN AND THE STIMULUS
   Health Care, Content and Spectrum on Agenda This Week
   Consumers and Broadband
   AT&T to FCC: gaming is not "broadband," but an added service
   BTOP's Headed For The Ditch; Here's How We Can Save It
   New York Tops All State Broadband Stimulus Applications With a $775 Million Bid
   Push would spread broadband across America

WIRELESS/TELECOM
   T-mobile Considers Sprint Nextel Takeover
   Would Sprint sell its Clearwire stake?
   Why Comcast & Not T-Mobile Should Buy Sprint
   Fewer wireless carriers could rein in price cuts
   The Case Against Buying Sprint Nextel
   Guess What Texting Costs Your Wireless Provider?
   Mobile VoIP is driving network neutrality
   National Lifeline and Link Up Telephone Discount Awareness Week
   Proposed Universal Service Contribution Factor
   Verizon CFO: Plans More Job Cuts In Coming Years
   Texting to Death
   Experts urge more study of cellphone radiation, especially on kids

JOURNALISM
   Senate Weighs New Shield Law
   Glenn Beck = MSM
   A Speech and a Shout Drive Health Care Coverage

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Chipping Away At Free Speech
    See also: Yahoo sells $150 million shares of China's Alibaba.com
   Chinese schools quietly discard controversial Web filter
   The FCC Gets Serious On Outreach

HEALTH & MEDIA
Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
Blumenthal calls for more study on uses of health IT

TELEVISION
ACA Presses FCC on Bundling of Programming, Retransmission Consent Fees
FCC may finally act on WWOR-TV license renewal

POLICYMAKERS
Mayfield Nominated for National Council on the Arts
Wood Named MAP Associate Director

MORE ONLINE ...
   AHRQ: Consumers don't understand health IT
   Digital tools let doctors see patients via Internet
   Smart grid's new world of partnerships
   Government should help widen cyber knowledge
   Radio's Public Option
   Google Releases News-Reading Service
   Intel sets out case against record EU fine

Recent Comments on:
Telemedicine targets better care at lower cost

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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN AND THE STIMULUS

HEALTH CARE, CONTENT AND SPECTRUM ON AGENDA THIS WEEK
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission's staff workshops this week for the development of a National Broadband Plan will explore: 1) Telehealth and the barriers facing the health care community in accessing broadband connectivity (Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.) 2) Online content, piracy, and the tradeoffs between availability that drives broadband adoption, and content protection (Thursday at 9:30 a.m.) 3) Spectrum supply, demand, sources and innovation (Thursday at 1:30 p.m.)
http://benton.org/node/27875
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CONSUMERS AND BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Christopher Naoum]
The September 9th National Broadband Plan workshop -- moderated by John Horrigan, the Consumer Research Director for the Federal Communications Commission's Omnibus Broadband Initiative -- focused on the Internet consumer. Academics, policy experts and industry participants discussed the challenges and opportunities for Internet consumers as the Internet becomes the focal point of commercial transactions, social networking, and a host of other activities involving information gathering and exchange. Although consumers generally benefit from electronic commerce and online health information, the prospect of sharing financial and personal information with unknown entities raises some serious security concerns.
http://www.benton.org/node/27845
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AT&T TO FCC: GAMING IS NOT BROADBAND, BUT AN ADDED SERVICE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The computer gaming industry is not pleased with comments that AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission on how to define "broadband," particularly the suggestion that online games should be relegated to the category of "aspirational services." "For Americans who today have no terrestrial broadband service at all," AT&T wrote the FCC, "the pressing concern is not the ability to engage in real-time, two-way gaming, but obtaining meaningful access to the Internet's resources and to reliable email communications and other basic tools that most of the country has come to expect as a given." This did not sit well with Kenneth L. Doroshow, Senior Vice President of the Entertainment Software Association. "What AT&T describes as aspirational services are no less important to the future of the Internet than email and web browsing were to the past and are today," he told the Commission.
http://benton.org/node/27873
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BTOP'S HEADED FOR THE DITCH; HERE'S HOW WE CAN SAVE IT
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
Apparently the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has dumped Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants on states for their review without conducting any initial review to weed out ineligible projects or including any guidelines to help frame how states should go about making their recommendations. But most states don't have any formal decision-making process or the in-house tech or business expertise to enable them to pick the right projects. Few if any states have thoroughly read and tried to understand the grant guidelines, so they're not ready to pick the best projects relative to the original rules that were set out. And there's no end to the potential conflicts of interest that could negatively influence a state's recommendations, including the fact that some states have put in their own applications. Daily offers a three-step process for the public vetting and review of BTOP applications: 1) conduct an initial review, but instead of doing so behind closed doors with three reviewers reading and ranking the applications separately, create review panels, 2) hold an event or series of events in every state capitol where everyone who's applied for money in a state would come together to give a 5-10 minute presentation on why their project deserves the money, and 3) once states make their recommendations based on this process and incumbents have a chance to flag projects that may not qualify because of existing broadband service, the final step would be to have a core NTIA, and possibly RUS, team lock themselves in a room for a couple of weeks to review the materials and to pick the best possible project for each state.
http://benton.org/node/27872
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WIRELESS/TELECOM

T-MOBILE CONSIDERS SPRINT NEXTEL TAKEOVER
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng]
Sprint Nextel shares jumped more than 13% early Monday on the prospect that it could be an acquisition target for Deutsche Telekom. The German telecommunications giant is reportedly prepared to make a bid for the U.S.'s third-largest wireless carrier by subscriber, according to the U.K. paper Sunday Telegraph. Sprint would presumably be folded into T-Mobile USA, combining two of the country's weaker nationwide players. But it wouldn't be cheap. An offer would have to exceed Sprint's current $11 billion market capitalization. While Wall Street has been eyeing further consolidation in the overcrowded U.S. wireless market, a combination between Sprint and T-Mobile is fraught with risk. Differing technologies, various problems at both carriers, and Sprint's sensitive U.S. contracts complicate any deal. The key obstacle to a smooth integration are the multiple technology standards that Sprint and T-Mobile employ. T-Mobile runs on a technology called GSM, while Sprint operates two more networks for its core Sprint service, as well as for its Nextel and Boost offerings, best known for their walkie-talkie feature.
http://benton.org/node/27869
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WOULD SPRINT SELL ITS CLEARWIRE STAKE?
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: Baz Hiralal]
Although still suffering integration headaches from its merger with Nextel, Sprint Nextel saw its stock jump on Monday with rumors of Deutsche Telekom AG mulling a bid for the troubled wireless carrier. Besides the incredibly daunting task of integrating US No. 3 Sprint with Deutsche Telekom's US No. 4 unit T-Mobile, Sprint would have to figure out its WiMax strategy. The company has been touting its 4G WiMax network as the dominant force in next-generation wireless communication. Sprint has been rolling out the service in conjunction with its big Clearwire joint venture. Deutsche Telekom and its T-Mobile unit are also proponents of LTE (long term evolution).
http://benton.org/node/27868
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WHY COMCAST & NOT T-MOBILE SHOULD BUY SPRINT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Colin Gibbs]
A tie-up with Comcast would be a better fit for Sprint, the beleaguered wireless carrier. The nation's largest cable company has been hoarding cash since its failed $54 billion bid to take over Disney in 2004, amassing a bankroll of $4 billion in cash and short-term investments and leading some analysts to speculate it has another big-budget acquisition in mind. Sprint is attractive in a number of ways. It's offloaded its network-management operations to Ericsson, eliminating the need for any buyer to deal with the hassle of operating the infrastructure. It's also building out the WiMAX technology that Comcast is already backing, and the carrier's portfolio of devices has vastly improved with hardware such as the Palm Pre and Pixie and the upcoming Android-based Hero. And Sprint's wireline businesses could offer Comcast an advantage when it comes to access and peering agreements for middle mile access.
http://benton.org/node/27867
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FEWER WIRELESS CARRIERS COULD REIN IN PRICE CUTS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
How many wireless carriers do we need? It's a question that's popping up again as T-Mobile USA is said to be looking at buying Sprint Nextel Corp. Now that most people have a cell phone and once-heady growth in the industry is slowing, analysts say carriers are going to be looking at buying each other to increase their scale and to avoid competing too much on price. Consumers have been benefiting from relentless price-cutting on cell phone service in the past few years. Verizon Wireless and AT&T, No. 1 and No. 2 in the industry, have been grabbing most of the remaining customers who are willing and able to sign two-year contracts — Verizon because it has the best network, AT&T because it has the iPhone. That leaves No. 3 Sprint and No. 4 T-Mobile USA scrambling for lower-paying prepaid customers, where they are also competing with smaller carriers like MetroPCS and Leap.
http://benton.org/node/27883
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THE CASE AGAINST BUYING SPRINT NEXTEL
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: ]
Deutsche Telekom's decision to merge its British division, T-Mobile U.K., with the local affiliate of Orange in early September fueled speculation a similar overhaul may be in the offing in the US. Although Sprint has become cheaper in recent years amid dimming financial prospects, Deutsche Telekom may still struggle to finance the purchase. Sprint Nextel may hold out for as much as $5.50 a share, or $15.84 billion, says Michael Nelson, an analyst at Nelson Alpha Research. But in an effort to avoid overextending itself, Deutsche Telekom may not be able raise more than $14.6 billion, says Phil Cusick, an analyst at Macquarie Research. But US antitrust regulators may not quickly green-light a merger. The U.S. wireless industry is already highly concentrated, with two players -- Verizon Wireless and AT&T -- controlling 62% of all wireless subscribers. Together, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile would have about 30% of the total. From 1996 to 2005, the Federal Trade Commission blocked 16 of 20 mergers in cases where industry concentration was at comparable levels.
http://benton.org/node/27882
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GUESS WHAT TEXTING COSTS YOUR WIRELESS PROVIDER?
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Eric Bender]
A decade ago, just about no one in the US sent text messages, known as Short Message Service (SMS) texts. This year, we will zing out 1.2 trillion of them, predicts market-intelligence firm IDC. That translates to a barrage of messages from each user, especially teens, who seem to be receiving new text messages — a.k.a. "blowing up" — more than they take new breaths. The average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text messages per month, according to Nielsen Mobile. "With teens, the act of picking up a phone and calling someone is dropping away," notes Christopher Collins, a senior analyst with Yankee Group. hat's most amazing about the texting craze is just how inexpensive it is for mobile carriers to provide this wildly popular service. SMS messages are not only extremely short (maxing out at 160 characters), but they also cleverly exploit today's digital phone networks, leveraging transmission channels between phone and cell tower that were originally designed to coordinate voice calls. "They cost the mobile carriers so little that you could argue that they're free," says Collins. That situation set antitrust alarm bells ringing when AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all raised their pay-per-use costs of sending a text message from 10 cents to 20 cents over the past three years. That prompted Senator Herbert Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, to hold hearings on the matter in June.
http://benton.org/node/27866
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MOBILE VOIP IS DRIVING NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: VentureBeat, AUTHOR: Larry Golob]
When Voice over IP first began to get a foothold in the Internet landscape, traditional phone companies failed to realize the potential and the threat of this new type of communication system. This, in turn, allowed new businesses, such as Skype and Vonage to establish themselves as legitimate competitors to the Baby Bells. Now the technology, commonly known as VoIP, is starting to reach into the mobile marketplace and wireless carriers are making just as many mistakes. As a result, a new battle is brewing - one that could result in major changes to the mobile landsacape. The level of network usage for a mobile carrier determines the quality of service - so the rules governing how these resources are allocated is becoming a hot debate. Several carriers are facing legal headaches after capping bandwidth or blocking VoIP applications.
http://benton.org/node/27865
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NATIONAL LIFELINE AND LINK UP TELEPHONE DISCOUNT AWARENESS WEEK
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission and various state and local agencies throughout the country will be participating with outreach activities and events to promote the Lifeline and LinkUp programs which provide financial assistance to low-income consumers in connecting a residential phone line and paying their monthly bill. The programs have been active for years and are administered by the FCC and state public utility commissions, but at least half of eligible consumers nationwide do not take advantage of this assistance. To help call attention to the availability of these programs, the FCC joins the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), and urges government agencies and non-profit organizations to help disseminate information on Lifeline and Link Up to their constituents. Scott Deutchman, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Telecommunications, writes, "Even as we work hard to connect more Americans to all of the fantastic technologies of today and tomorrow, we must not forget that there are still too many American families who are disconnected from this most basic type of communication." He adds, "The challenge is to make those without phone service aware of the fact that such programs exist. It's not just a problem for others to solve. We should all be thinking of and sharing ideas—not just next week but throughout the year—about how to bring more attention to the importance of getting telephone service to those Americans who struggle without it today. Have you got some ideas? Let us know about them."
http://benton.org/node/27864
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PROPOSED UNIVERSAL SERVICE CONTRIBUTION FACTOR
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) estimate that the Universal Service Fund will need to collect more $1.86 billion in the final quarter of 2009. The total projected interstate and international telecommunications revenues in that same period are $17+billion. The proposed contribution factor, then is 12.3 percent.
http://benton.org/node/27863
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VERIZON CFO: PLANS MORE JOB CUTS IN COMING YEARS
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Roger Cheng]
Verizon Chief Financial Officer John Killian said the company still needs to trim down its work force and plans additional cuts over the next couple of years. The cuts are in response to a shift in businesses to focus on the faster- growing wireless and FiOS video services. The company has already cut 8,000 jobs in the past 12 months, and plans to cut another 8,000 positions in the second half.
http://benton.org/node/27862
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TEXTING TO DEATH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] A leading road safety group, the Governors Highway Safety Association, has reversed field and announced its support for state laws banning drivers from sending and receiving text messages. The move is a welcome response to growing evidence that texting creates a greater risk of crashing than even drunken driving. While stronger state laws are essential, texting at the wheel is a national hazard that calls for a firm federal response. One answer would be to condition federal highway money on state compliance with reasonable safety standards. This has helped produce stronger laws against drunken driving.
http://benton.org/node/27885
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EXPERTS URGE MORE STUDY OF CELLPHONE RADIATION, ESPECIALLY ON KIDS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
More research is needed to determine whether cellphone radiation is harmful to humans, especially children, a panel of scientists and cancer researchers told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Monday. Scientists to date have not been able to establish a hard link between cellphone radiation and cancer. But that doesn't mean that wireless devices aren't harmful, Dariusz Leszczynski, a radiation expert at the University of Helsinki, told the subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services. To say that cellphones are "safe is premature," he said. Recent studies have suggested that people who use cellphones for 10 years or more are most at risk, Siegal Sadetzki, director of the cancer and radiation epidemiology unit of the Gertner Institute in Israel, told the committee. Cellphones have become commonplace only in the past decade or so. One thing most panelists agreed on: Children, because of their thinner skulls, are far more susceptible to radiation than adults. Radiation is emitted each time a cellphone call is made. Sen Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) promised to probe deeply into any potential links between cellphone use and cancer. Sen Harkin -- the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- said he was concerned no one has been able to prove cellphones do not cause cancer.
http://benton.org/node/27884
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JOURNALISM

SENATE WEIGHS NEW SHIELD LAW
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Walter Pincus]
The Senate Judiciary Committee this week will take up a new version of a reporter shield law. The bipartisan-backed legislation, which establishes a qualified privilege for reporters to withhold the names of confidential sources who provide information under promise of confidentiality, has been the subject of intensive lobbying by media companies for years. The companies were reacting to an increase in the number of subpoenas to reporters during the Bush administration, including the highly publicized case involving disclosure of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, a covert CIA officer. Though a similar bill passed the House on March 31, as it had in 2007, the shield legislation has had trouble gaining traction in the Senate, due mainly to Republican opposition. Former president George W. Bush as well as the Justice Department under his administration also opposed the legislation.
http://benton.org/node/27852
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GLENN BECK = MSM
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Justin Miller]
Glenn Beck's recent successes in getting Van Jones to leave the White House, a member of the National Endowment for the Arts reassigned, and pushing ACORN out of next year's census are more examples that the "right-wing noise machine" is no more. It is now part and parcel of the mainstream media.
http://benton.org/node/27853
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A SPEECH AND A SHOUT DRIVE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
The debate over how and if to reform the American health care system re-intensified and dominated the news agenda last week. That was fueled by a much anticipated Presidential speech and an unanticipated outburst from a South Carolina Congressman. For the week of September 7-13, the battle over health care reform accounted for 32% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That equals the previous high-water mark in PEJ's News Coverage Index, which monitors the agenda of the mainstream media. That occurred during the week of August 10-16, when angry town hall confrontations were driving the press narrative. Last week, the event fueling media attention was President Obama's September 9 prime time address to Congress. In much of the coverage, the speech was depicted as a crucial attempt to regain momentum after a month when Obama opponents seemed to assume the upper hand in the message/political wars. But as it turned out, Obama had to share the media's post-speech post-mortems with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, who heckled the President with the now famous "you lie" shout.
http://benton.org/node/27879
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

CHIPPING AWAY AT FREE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Anne Applebaum]
[Commentary] In different ways, the Russian government, the Chinese government and unnamed Islamic terrorists are now capable of placing de facto controls on American companies -- something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. In a world that seems more dangerous and less profitable than it did in the past, either greed or fear proved stronger than these companies' commitment to free speech. By caving to pressure, they have not made the world a safer place, however, either for themselves or for anyone else. In fact, each time an American company caves to illiberal pressure, the atmosphere is worse for everyone else. Each alteration made in the name of placating an illiberal group or government makes that group or government stronger. What seems a small lapse of integrity now might well loom larger in the future. All of these companies are making it much harder for everyone else to continue speaking and publishing freely around the world. There is no law or edict that can force these companies, or any American company, to abide by the principles of free speech abroad. But at least it is possible to embarrass them at home.
http://benton.org/node/27887
See also: Yahoo sells $150 million shares of China's Alibaba.com
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CHINESE SCHOOLS QUIETLY DISCARD CONTROVERSIAL WEB FILTER
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Huang Yan, Lucy Hornby]
Schools in Beijing are quietly removing the Green Dam filter, which was required for all school computers in July, due to complaints over problems with the software. China last month formally backed down on a plan to preinstall the Internet filter software on all new computers sold in the country after July 1 after an international and domestic outcry. But schools were still ordered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to install the web filter, which Chinese officials said would block pornography and other unhealthy content. Critics said it could be used to spy on Internet users and block politically sensitive sites. Nonetheless, some schools have chosen to uninstall it.
http://benton.org/node/27886
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THE FCC GETS SERIOUS ON OUTREACH
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] One of the longstanding problems noted but not generally addressed before in Federal Communications Commission policy has been "how to get the word out to folks not already plugged in as insiders to file comments." Traditionally, the FCC (like most federal agencies) has taken a very passive attitude. (Indeed, the FCC has traditionally been ahead of the curve. Many federal agencies have made it downright difficult for members of the public to find out what has been going on, or to file comments.) In the last few weeks, the FCC has taken a number of steps forward on this. It started modestly with Twitter. Then came the blog, including a video blog of Chairman Genachowski. As if that weren't enough, last week the FCC launched a slew of social networking and crowdsource tools including an RSS feed, a crowdsourcing platform, and a site to track all the social media tools, such as the FCC's Facebook and Youtube pages. And, perhaps more important from the perspective of actually considering the public comments, FCC Spokesperson Mark Wigfield stated that comments on the blogs will become part of the official record. All of these are tremendous steps forward and worthy of applause.
http://benton.org/node/27861
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HEALTH & MEDIA

INSURERS FIGHT SPEECH-IMPAIRMENT REMEDY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ashlee Vance]
Medicare and private health insurers decline to cover cheap devices like iPhones and netbook PCs that can help the speech-impaired, despite their usefulness and lower cost. Instead, public and private insurers insist that, if patients want insurance to pay, they must spend 10 to 20 times as much for dedicated, proprietary devices that can do far less. The logic: Insurance is supposed to cover medical devices, and smartphones or PCs can be used for nonmedical purposes, like playing video games or Web browsing. "We would not cover the iPhones and netbooks with speech-generating software capabilities because they are useful in the absence of an illness or injury," said Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Private insurers tend to follow the government's lead in matters of coverage. Two years ago, iPhones and netbooks barely existed, so it may not be surprising that the industry has yet to consider their role as medical devices. But the health care system has long had trouble keeping up with Moore's Law, the principle that computing power rapidly increases even as costs fall sharply. Doctors must still bring a patient into their offices instead of, say, inspecting an e-mailed photo of a rash if they want most insurers to pay for the consultation. Digitizing medical records is such a vast undertaking that the government is now spending billions of dollars to jump-start it.
http://benton.org/node/27888
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BLUMENTHAL CALLS FOR MORE STUDY ON USES OF HEALTH IT
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, anticipates an enormous amount of research will be needed to determine the effectiveness of health information technology at the same time as it is widely deployed under the stimulus. In remarks at a conference sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Blumenthal said more documented research will help providers put their systems into practice and use it effectively. Until now, research about health IT has been limited, he said. Public and private organizations have conducted research to identify the value of electronic health records and other health IT systems in specific situations and institutions, like a single hospital, practice or health care network, Blumenthal told the AHRQ audience. But the stimulus will establish EHRs in many settings that have not been studied. So research will have to be ramped up to learn the best approaches of using health in those areas, he said.
http://benton.org/node/27881
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TELEVISION

ACA PRESSES FCC ON BUNDLING OF PROGRAMMING, RETRANSMISSION CONSENT FEES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
American Cable Association executives met with new Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau Bill Lake last week, to make their case against bundling of programming, Internet business models they argue boost costs to operators and consumers, and retransmission consent fees they say fall disproportionately more heavily on smaller operators. ACA has singled out ESPN360 as one of those services that could drive up retail prices and drive down broadband adoption, saying at the Independent Cable Show last month that the association was "drawing a line in the sand." But ESPN parent Disney has called the claims unsubstantiated and an attempt to get valuable programming for free. "We don't force distributors small or large to carry any of our product," David Preschlack, executive VP of affiliate sales and marketing, for Disney and ESPN Media Networks, told B&C back in June. "ESPN360.com is a business that would simply not exist except for this economic model."
http://benton.org/node/27859
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FCC MAY FINALLY ACT ON WWOR-TV LICENSE RENEWAL
[SOURCE: Hudson Reporter, AUTHOR: Assata Wright]
They changed their web site. They changed their slogan. But it's the content that matters. WWOR-TV, which is located in Secaucus, is still fighting to keep its broadcast license nearly two years after Sen. Frank Lautenberg held a public forum with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to determine whether the station is living up to its mandate to serve the needs of Northern New Jersey. The FCC has required WWOR-TV Channel 9 to "perform a higher degree of service to its Grade B coverage area than is normally required of a broadcast licensee. At renewal time, WWOR-TV will be judged by how it has met the obligation to serve the greater service needs of Northern New Jersey." This requirement was first imposed on the station in 1984 when it made the move from New York City to Secaucus. Since then, some critics have charged that the station continues to be too-New York-centric in its news coverage, branding, and marketing. When the station's license came up for renewal in 2007, these critics used the opportunity to flag what they saw as problems with the station's coverage.
http://benton.org/node/27880
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