Sept 17, 2009 (FCC Goes to the Hill)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009
Lots going on today -- see http://bit.ly/2jQM1j
AGENDA
Technology Issues on Back Burner in US Congress
Network Neutrality back in spotlight for debate
FCC Heads To Capitol Hill For Oversight Hearing Today
House Hearing Will Show FCC's Character
Free Press Sends Letter to FCC, Congress in Support of Mark Lloyd
FCC Announces Broadband Field Hearing in Austin, Texas
JOURNALISM
What Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh Are Really Afraid Of
Why we need a clearer view of both our wars
With science journalism in retreat, universities try new strategy for informing the public
Newspapers a Distant Fourth as America's News Source
Freedom of the Press
GOP lawmakers criticize Obama for snubbing Fox News
Your News Content Is Worth Zero to Digital Consumers
Arabs tackle free speech taboo
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Proposals for Using Broadband to improve Electronic Government and Citizen Engagement
Broadband Internet Service Helping Create a Rural Digital Economy
An Open Apology To Public Interest Broadband Advocates
Comcast Hiking Cable-Modem Fee to $5 From $3 Monthly Nationwide
The walled garden hasn't died — just evolved
TELEVISION/RADIO
House Judiciary Approves Satellite Bill Unanimously
Coalition of Creatives Say FCC Profanities Pursuit is Violation of Speech Rights
Cable: Let us lock down your TV (we'll offer movies sooner)
CEA Asks FCC To Review CableCard Rule
Even media is buying less media
Ernest Wilson III Elected Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Radio Shows Tune In to Listener Habits
HEALTH & MEDIA
Interest in health IT is high, but meaningful use will take time, experts say
Michigan Announces Intent to Expand Health IT Efforts to Strengthen Patient Privacy, Improve Care
OWNERSHIP
Skype Founders File Copyright Suit Against eBay
Airline, media and auto companies risk bankruptcy
MORE ONLINE ...
Library of Congress Highlights Uses of Digital Library
White House Appoints President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities Leaders
US Tops IT Competitiveness
Bing grabs 11 percent of search market
Taming Your Digital Distractions
Recent Comments on:
Obama, Kanye West and the trouble with Twitter
AGENDA
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES ON BACK BURNER IN US CONGRESS
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
With a huge fight over health-care reform unresolved, many observers of technology-related legislation before the US Congress have low expectations that major bills will be passed in the remainder of 2009. Issues including Network Neutrality, cybersecurity mandates and patent-litigation reform may sit on the back burner late this year as Congress continues to debate controversial plans to provide health insurance to more US residents. "I don't think this is a big telecom session," said Jot Carpenter, vice president for public policy at CTIA, a trade group representing mobile carriers. "Too many of the key players ... are busy with other projects." Congressional staffers for two tech-savvy lawmakers agreed, saying health care was likely to take up much of Congress' bandwidth. "It's tough to say what will move after Congress deals with health care and appropriations," added Colleen Ryan, a Dell spokeswoman.
http://benton.org/node/27952
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY BACK IN SPOTLIGHT FOR DEBATE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
The debate over network neutrality has reignited as many large broadband providers such as AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon Communications have decided not to apply for stimulus funds. "These debates are always moved forward when an event like this happens," said Harold Feld, legal director at Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group that supports Net neutrality legislation. "The debate around the stimulus funding helped focus attention on the issue." Network neutrality, in general, refers to the concept that Internet users should have unfettered access to content and services. In other words, service providers should not be allowed to either impede or favor access to particular sites or applications. Most supporters agree that there should be two exceptions to this. One is that service providers should be able to block unlawful content like child pornography. And they should also be able to provide "reasonable network management."
http://benton.org/node/27951
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FCC HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL FOR HEARING THURSDAY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet plans to hold an oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission Thursday. The hearing will focus on progress of the national broadband plan to bring high-speed Internet to all American homes and businesses. Lawmakers will also review the slow progress of creating a public safety network for emergency first responders. And they plan to quiz the five-member commission about its review of competition in the wireless industry.
http://benton.org/node/27950
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HOUSE HEARING WILL SHOW FCC'S CHARACTER
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Congress and the public will learn a lot about the Federal Communications Commission tomorrow. All five commissioners are due to testify before the House Communications Subcommittee at a general oversight hearing. It's basically open season for any member of the subcommittee to ask any question about anything the Commission does. This is the time the Commission has to stand firm in defense of a couple of primary principles. Anything less will signal a fatal weakness that this Commission can be rolled by any industry and any industry's friends, as well as by ideological opponents. The principles at stake are an open Internet (Network Neutrality), localism and diversity.
http://benton.org/node/27949
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FREE PRESS SENDS LETTER TO FCC, CONGRESS IN SUPPORT OF MARK LLOYD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
More than 50 civil rights, public interest and grassroots organizations sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and congressional leaders supporting Mark Lloyd, the associate general counsel and chief diversity officer of the FCC, and the agency's longstanding mission to promote localism, diversity and competition in the media. Lloyd is the latest flashpoint for an issue that has been hot for months, tied to proposed FCC localism initiatives, proposed then Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, that could include local programming advisory boards. Those boards have been viewed by some critics of localism proposals as a back-door version of the Fairness Doctrine, though FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has on several occasions said he would not re-impose the doctrine. That is the doctrine, scrapped by the FCC in 1987, that required broadcasters to actively seek out and air opposing views on issues of public importance. Its demise helped give rise to conservative talk radio.
http://benton.org/node/27948
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FCC ANNOUNCES BROADBAND FIELD HEARING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
In an effort to solicit input from the public in the development of a National Broadband Plan, the FCC announced today the dates and sites for initial field hearings. The Commission will host field hearings on September 21, 2009, in Austin, Texas; October 1, 2009, in the Washington, D.C. area; and October 6, 2009 in Charleston, South Carolina. Details on the latter two field hearings, as well as dates and locations for additional field hearings, will be announced later. FCC Commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker will represent the Commission at the initial field hearing in Austin, Texas next Monday from 9am to 12 noon. Two panels will explore the challenges of broadband deployment in Texas, including spectrum access, infrastructure, and rural issues. FCC Commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker will attend the event at the Texas University Club, 2108 Robert Dedman Drive.
http://benton.org/node/27955
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JOURNALISM
WHAT BECK, DOBBS AND LIMBAUGH ARE REALLY AFRAID OF
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
[Commentary] Can you smell the fear? Switch on cable news or tune in to talk radio and it comes wafting in. Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck has bottled his own scent. Lou Dobbs' fear gives off a distinct undertone of racial intolerance. And Rush Limbaugh takes to the air to spread an odor that's designed to make Americans angry at, well, other Americans. It's a fear that's laced with paranoia, stoked by misinformation and prejudice and fed to millions of people via powerful media. But most of all, it's a fear of the changes that an overwhelming majority of Americans called for when they stepped into voting booths last November. Since then, the old guard has fallen into alignment with old media to hijack the public debate over reform, and vilify reformers as anti-American. And to them the most anti-American notion of the lot is the idea that we need to reform the media itself. The ultimate irony of Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh is that they couch in populist rhetoric a message that, in its very essence, is anti-populist -- designed to protect the swindle at the core of our media system's failure. And that is why the media's old guard is targeting the idea that this system needs to change. In his media and technology agenda, President Obama took up the cause of reform by committing to "diversity in the ownership of broadcast media," and pledging to "promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints." Obama is right, but he needs to get started on fulfilling that commitment. Winning real change and giving more people a media voice is ultimately the best response we have to fear campaigns.
http://benton.org/node/27947
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WHY WE NEED A CLEARER VIEW OF BOTH OUR WARS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism review, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] When a democracy goes to war, its citizens need to know how it is going and what is being done in their name. They have a right to as close an approximation of truth as journalists can deliver, given the limitations. The right to bear witness is part of what you fight for. We have two wars on now, and not enough truth. The chief impediment is the media's own situation -- the vicious advertising recession and the economic upheaval. Going to war is costly and many newsrooms can't do it anymore. But diminishing resources is not the only problem. The military has changed too. The quality of the military-journalist relationship in Iraq got better around 2006 under the command of General David Petraeus, who wanted officers talking to the press, partly as a way to explain his approach to counterinsurgency. But the window has closed.
http://benton.org/node/27946
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WITH SCIENCE JOURNALISM IN RETREAT, UNIVERSITIES TRY NEW STRATEGY FOR INFORMING THE PUBLIC
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Paul Rogers]
Concerned that journalism's economic problems are reducing Americans' understanding of science, medicine and other research, 35 of the nation's top universities on Tuesday announced they will feed their own accounts of their discoveries directly to top news sites on the Internet. Under the plan, the universities have formed what is essentially their own nonprofit wire service, called Futurity, to provide articles to popular Web sites such as Yahoo News and Google News, along with MySpace and Twitter. Participating universities include Princeton, Yale, Duke, the University of Chicago (Go Maroons!) and UC-Irvine. Every week, each sends several news releases and articles written by university staff members to an editor at the University of Rochester. The editor then highlights stories to showcase the research.
http://benton.org/node/27945
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NEWSPAPERS A DISTANT FOURTH AS AMERICA'S NEWS SOURCE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: ]
Americans still turn to mainstream media to get their news -- but that doesn't mean newspapers are anywhere near their primary source, a survey released Wednesday finds. Television is far and away the principal medium Americans use to learn about and follow major news stories, according to the 2009 State of the First Amendment national survey conducted by the First Amendment Center. TV was the first source for news for nearly half -- 49% -- of the survey respondents. Far behind were Internet, the first source for 15%; radio at 13% -- and then newspapers at 10%. And while newspapers position themselves as the in-depth medium to follow up on stories, TV still dominates when Americans went next-day stories. Some 48% of Americans polled said TV is their primary source for follow-up reports, with the Internet next at 29%, and newspapers well behind at 9%. For all the talk about new social media, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter and similar sites were each named by just 1% of respondents as their primary source of news.
http://benton.org/node/27944
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FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Congress and President Obama face a test Thursday of their commitment to freedom of the press and to holding government accountable. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider a proposed federal shield law that would protect the public's right to learn vital information about the workings of its government. But some senators are trying to weaken the bill, and the White House has sent mixed signals. It is critical that the committee approves a strong version of the law to ensure that the news media are free to report news obtained from confidential sources. Without the ability of reporters and news organizations to protect confidential sources, many important reports about illegal, incompetent or embarrassing behavior that the government is determined to conceal would never see the light of day.
http://benton.org/node/27966
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GOP LAWMAKERS CRITICIZE OBAMA FOR SNUBBING FOX NEWS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Molly Hooper, Sam Youngman]
A handful of Republican lawmakers, including Rep Joe Wilson (R-SC), say that President Barack Obama is ignoring a large segment of the public by refusing to appear on Fox News. President Obama is scheduled this weekend to appear on every major Sunday talk show except for "Fox News Sunday." "If people are going to be on the Sunday talk shows, they should be on all of them," Rep Wilson said. Rep Wilson, incidentally, appeared on "Fox News Sunday" last week, but not on any of the other Sunday shows.
http://benton.org/node/27965
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YOUR NEWS CONTENT IS WORTH ZERO TO DIGITAL CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Steve Outing]
[Commentary] News publishers expecting to make money from their digital readers will need to figure out how to offer something tangible -- and mobile represents big-time opportunity, especially for phone applications. The key to getting paid for news in digital format is that what's being sold is not fleeting. "It" may be digital bits that remain on your device(s); it may be a service that's always available to you (as opposed to news content, which is fleeting). Paid news memberships. With a membership to a news organization (or consortium), you get something: a membership card (physical perhaps, or a digital ID to show on your mobile phone) to be used repeatedly to get special privileges (a discount at an advertising restaurant; front-section seats to a Thomas Friedman lecture; access to premium digital content; etc.). 2. Access. Think "preferred e-mail" that gets your message bumped to the front of the line weekly live chats with authors, discount tickets and premium seating to public lectures, member-only invitations to columnist-reader in-person discussions, and extra content unavailable to others. 3. Special Web applications for PCs. If apps sell so well on mobile phones (albeit at generally very low prices), can news companies sell applications for the PC that offer consumers an enhanced experience over reading news on a Web site?
http://benton.org/node/27963
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
PROPOSALS FOR USING BROADBAND TO IMPROVE ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT AND CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
In order to solicit and rank ideas for the National Broadband Plan, the Federal Communications Commission has launched a crowd-sourcing platform powered by IdeaScale. Today we point you to the recommendations on e-government and citizen engagement. Current proposals include: 1) relying on private industry sector groups to vet ideas, 2) providing tax incentives for closing the Digital Divide, 3) addressing digital literacy, 4) bringing broadband to public housing, 5) creating a National Youth Tech Corps, 6) supporting the Public Interest Channel, 7) promoting e-government programs that reduce costs and empower citizens to interact with their government online, and 8) bringing more government information online in open formats. Cast you vote and/or share your comments today.
http://broadband.ideascale.com/akira/ideafactory.do?discussionID=7373
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BROADBAND INTERNET SERVICE HELPING CREATE A RURAL DIGITAL ECONOMY
[SOURCE: Amber Waves, AUTHOR: Peter Stenberg, Mitch Morehart, John Cromartie]
During the past two decades, the Internet has grown rapidly, joining telephones, televisions, and cars as a common necessity and becoming an integral part of the economy. Rural America has shared in the growth of the Internet economy as more business, government, and personal activities have gone online. In 2007, 71 percent of the rural population used the Internet, and 55 percent of farms reported using the Internet for business purposes. As the Internet economy has evolved, more online applications require higher data transmission rates. The low transmission capability and speed of dial-up Internet service severely limit access to content-dense applications and websites. As a result, broadband Internet access has become a necessity for those wishing to benefit from the Internet's full economic potential. An ERS study found that investment in rural broadband Internet access seems to lead to a more competitive rural economy and rural economic growth, helping create a rural digital economy. Comparing the economic growth of counties with broadband access in 2000 with that of otherwise similar counties without broadband suggests that broadband availability helped spur the formation of new businesses and increased the growth of existing firms.
http://benton.org/node/27943
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AN OPEN APOLOGY TO PUBLIC INTEREST BROADBAND ADVOCATES
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Daily called out America for its do-nothing attitude towards broadband policy, criticizing both those that'd rather see little done and may fight against progress, as well as those that aspire to achieve great progress but often don't have specific plans for reaching their goals. His criticism of public interest broadband advocates was swiftly denounced and refuted by a series of comments, which forced him to reconsider what he wrote and thereby realize that he'd made a big mistake. Namely, he forgot to acknowledge the tremendous amount of great things being done by community broadband activists across this country today on a whole range of issues, from protecting consumers, to spurring adoption and use, to getting the networks we need built. Not to mention the many good ideas that have fallen by the wayside over the years as America failed to realize the importance of having a national broadband strategy. "I cannot state strongly enough how much I appreciate, admire, and aspire to emulate the many public interest broadband advocates that have been working tirelessly for years on these issues that I'll admit to being a relative neophyte on."
http://benton.org/node/27942
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COMCAST HIKING CABLE-MODEM FEE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Comcast will increase the monthly lease fee for cable modems to $5 nationwide -- a 66% increase over the current $3 monthly fee -- which the operator said is necessary to offset the cost of rolling out next-generation services such as DOCSIS 3.0. Comcast said: "We continually invest in providing customers with next-generation equipment and technology that delivers advanced voice and Internet services with enhanced capabilities. Our costs for this new equipment will increase by 167% over the next two years. As a result, we will increase modem equipment charges by $2." Comcast said the increases will occur market-by-market but in general will begin this fall.
http://benton.org/node/27941
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THE WALLED GARDEN HASN'T DIED -- JUST EVOLVED
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Apple's iPhone is probably the ultimate culmination of the walled garden approach in mobile — one implemented elegantly and artfully but a walled garden nonetheless, where a single entity controls the platform and access to applications. Rather than reject the walled garden, consumers are flocking to it, frolicking happily within its confines. The iPhone isn't the only example. The success of the Amazon Kindle was built behind high topiary walls. Every book, newspaper and magazine downloaded to the Kindle comes from the selections available offered at the Amazon store, which offers no access to hundreds of thousands of titles available across the Web from such sites as Google Books. Rather than tearing down those walls, operators and application developers are erecting new ones. The industry is abuzz with this idea that an open and expansive mobile Internet is in our future. But today, consumers don't want expanse; they want alcoves — nests of innovative content. Maybe as tastes evolve consumers will gravitate toward truly open devices and they'll develop the sophistication to hunt down the content, applications and services on their own. But for now they seem content to hop between one walled garden to another, and the winners in such a world will likely be the companies that can lay out the best garden plans.
http://benton.org/node/27958
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TELEVISION/RADIO
HOUSE JUDICIARY APPROVES SATELLITE BILL UNANIMOUSLY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
By a vote of 34 to 0, the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday voted to approve the Satellite Home Viewer Update and Reauthorization Act (SHVURA), the latest version of legislation reauthorizing the copyright license that allows satellite broadcasters to retransmit distant TV station signals. The bill allows DISH network to get back into the distant signal business, at least when it comes to filling so-called short markets--one without all four major broadcast network affiliates. But DISH had to promise to deliver local TV station signals in all 210 markets. That means adding signals in 28 markets, according to Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA), chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee, who had pushed DISH and broadcasters to come up with a deal on delivering local-into-local service in all the Nielsen markets. The bill also fixes the so-called phantom signal issue that has required cable operators to pay for signals they weren't delivering to customers, redefines those eligible for distant network signals so that signals that bleed over from adjacent markets don't disqualify that importation, allows for the in-market distribution of noncommercial TV stations if part of a state network, and updates the satellite and cable licenses to reflect the switch to digital.
http://benton.org/node/27940
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COALITION OF CREATIVES SAY FCC PROFANITIES PURSUIT IS VIOLATION OF SPEECH RIGHTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Center for Creative Voices and the Future of Music Coalition, in a brief authored by the Media Access Project and filed at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, said that the Federal Communications Commission's pursuit of fleeting profanities is a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments and should be invalidated. But the groups also suggested that broadcast station owners risk the government reclaiming their station licenses and using that spectrum for wireless broadband and other advanced services by challenging the underpinning of FCC broadcast regulations. The groups said that the court can correct the FCC's errant aim without undermining the Pacifica case upholding the FCC's indecency enforcement authority, or the Red Lion decision that supports FCC regulation of the airwaves based on scarcity. The brief was careful not to ask the court to either endorse or reject the Red Lion decision, saying that it was "irrelevant" to indecency regulation. What was relevant was Pacifica, they said, but advised the court it didn't need to go there to conclude the FCC was wrong.
http://benton.org/node/27939
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CABLE: LET US LOCK DOWN YOUR TV (WE'LL OFFER MOVIES SOONER)
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The movie studio crusade to take over your home theater system just got an endorsement from Time Warner Cable, whose top staff visited the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last Wednesday to ask, yet again, for permission to let cable operators limit video streams to HDTVs and DVRs. At the meeting, representatives of TWC and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) backed the scheme being pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA): Hollywood would send movies to cable before they appear on DVD, but the cable operators would clamp down on some of the features found in their subscribers' TV systems. Specifically, consumers wouldn't be able to receive these flicks from an analog connection, which the studios say is more susceptible to piracy than a digital stream. The overall scheme is called Selectable Output Control (SOC), a practice currently prohibited by the FCC.
http://benton.org/node/27938
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CEA ASKS FCC TO REVIEW CABLECARD RULE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton, Todd Spangler]
The Consumer Electronics Association has asked the Federal Communications Commission to review whether the agency's rule requiring cable operators to use CableCards in their own set-tops is achieving the goal of spurring competition for retail cable-ready devices. On Sept. 14, CEA officials met with Media Bureau chief Bill Lake and bureau staffers. The trade group proposed the commission initiate a rulemaking to assess whether the objectives of a Communications Act provision designed to promote a retail market in cable devices are being met, according to an ex parte filing. Among other things, the CEA asked the FCC to seek comment on whether "the common reliance rule in its current form sufficiently safeguards competition in the retail device market as operators roll out new technology platforms and services," CEA VP of Regulatory Affairs James Hedlund wrote in the filing.
http://benton.org/node/27937
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EVEN MEDIA IS BUYING LESS MEDIA
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
How brutal is the advertising market? Even big media isn't spending as much on big media. Advertising tracker TNS Media Intelligence this morning issued the grim news that ad spending plummeted 14.3% to $60.87 billion during the first six months of 2009 compared with the first half of 2008. The second quarter of 2009 became the fifth consecutive quarter to post year-over-year declines. Among those cutting back on advertising was media itself. Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and Time Warner Inc. all reined in ad spending in the first half of the year. Spending by Time Warner was down 11.1% to $574.3 million; Disney expenditures were down 11.7% to $517.6 million; and News Corp. cut its ad spending by 6.9% to $672.3 million. The cuts were partly because their movie studios released fewer films in an effort to lower marketing costs. TNS said that General Electric Co., which owns NBC Universal, was the only media firm to boost its advertising budget for the first six months of 2009, raising it by 5.1% to $548.3 million. Not surprisingly, automotive, financial services, real estate, tourism and retail businesses took a cleaver to their marketing budgets. Even spending to promote basics such as food and candy was down.
http://benton.org/node/27936
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ERNEST WILSON III ELECTED CHAIR OF CPB
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
The board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today elected Dr. Ernest Wilson III to serve as its chairman and re-elected Louisiana Public Broadcasting president and CEO Beth Courtney to serve as its vice-chair. Dr. Wilson holds the Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication, and serves as dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He is also a Professor of Political Science, a faculty fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School and an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. Dr. Wilson was first appointed to the CPB board by President Bill Clinton and re-appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004. During his tenure on the CPB Board, he has chaired the Digital Media Committee and helped launch and chair the Public Awareness Committee.
http://benton.org/node/27935
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RADIO SHOWS TUNE IN TO LISTENER HABITS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride]
Arbitron Inc.'s Portable People Meter two years ago began replacing radio's antiquated diary-based audience-measurement system, in which people kept written records of what they listened to. The People Meter, a cellphone-size device carried by a panel of consumers, instead relays exactly which stations people are hearing and when, be it driving their cars or pushing carts down supermarket aisles. Now, with two years' worth of data in some markets, program directors are figuring out nuances like the optimum ratio of talk to music, or how many commercials a listener can bear before switching the dial. And the highly detailed information is putting programmers under more pressure to make sure listeners don't bolt midprogram. The People Meter has been mired in controversy, with some claiming it undercounts minorities, which Arbitron denies. The device has been investigated by several state attorneys general and is now under Federal Communications Commission review. But most radio companies are determined to stick with the device because offering precise data to advertisers is crucial in a climate of shrinking ad dollars. Radio advertising this year is projected to fall 14% to $16.46 billion, according to ZenithOptimedia.
http://benton.org/node/27960
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HEALTH & MEDIA
INTEREST IN HIT IS HIGH
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Diana Manos]
Experts and federal officials close to the issue of healthcare IT adoption and the promotion of meaningful use under the stimulus package say interest is high, but the actual work that lies ahead is monumental. They were gathered at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality this week. Tony Trenkle, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Office of e-Health Standards and Services, said adoption of healthcare IT by 2011 will be a tough task to accomplish, but "interest has never been higher." According to Trenkle, the HITECH provisions of ARRA are aimed at increasing health IT adoption, but they are also part of a bigger picture to lay an infrastructure for the future of US healthcare.
http://benton.org/node/27934
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MICHIGAN TO EXPAND HIT
[SOURCE: State of Michigan, AUTHOR: Gov Jennifer Granholm]
Gov Jennifer Granholm announced that the state will apply for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) to continue the state's efforts to improve health care quality, reduce costs and enhance patient privacy through electronic exchange of health information. The state outlined its intentions in a letter from Department of Community Health Director Janet Olszewski to the federal Department of Health and Human Services. "This funding will enable us to continue our efforts to create the statewide infrastructure necessary to ensure every Michigan citizen can benefit from the latest technology in health care," Gov Granholm said.
http://benton.org/node/27933
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OWNERSHIP
SKYPE FOUNDERS FILE COPYRIGHT SUIT AGAINST EBAY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
The founders of Skype are escalating their legal battle with eBay. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who became billionaires after selling Skype to eBay in 2005, filed a copyright lawsuit on Wednesday against Skype in the United States District Court of Northern California. The suit comes a little more than two weeks after eBay announced it would sell most of Skype for $1.9 billion to a consortium of investors led by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. In the court filing, Joltid, a company owned by the Skype founders, claims that eBay violated copyright law by altering and sharing the peer-to-peer source code behind the free Internet calling service. The Skype founders maintained ownership of that source code after selling Skype to eBay in 2005, and licensed it to eBay. Joltid seeks an injunction and statutory damages, which it says could total more than $75 million a day. The lawsuit also names as defendants Silver Lake Partners and its partners in the buyout, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
http://benton.org/node/27962
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MEDIA COMPANIES RISK BANKRUPTCY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Emily Chasan]
US companies in the airline, automobile, television and publishing industries are about four times more likely to file for bankruptcy in the next year than companies in other industries, according to a study. The study by Audit Integrity, which usually analyzes accounting risks, used a quantitative model to track liquidity, debt levels, profitability, market prices and governance and fraud risk measures at more than 2,500 companies. Satellite radio operator Sirius XM Radio was second on the study's bankruptcy risk list, with about a 9 percent risk of filing for bankruptcy in the next year. Rounding out the top 10 were media and entertainment companies CBS Corp, Las Vegas Sands and Liberty Media Corp with a 6.2, 5.9 and 5.6 percent chance of bankruptcy, respectively, according to the study.
http://benton.org/node/27961
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