Nov 16, 2009 (Broadband, Spectrum, Google)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2009

A very busy week before the Thanksgiving Day break -- http://bit.ly/4rgyGV

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   Universal Service, Intercarrier Compensation, and the National Broadband Plan
   Expanding and Accelerating the Adoption and Use of Broadband Throughout the Economy
   Think People
   What Will This Congress's Broadband Legacy Be?
   FCC Misses Two Key Barriers For Broadband Adoption
   The Broadband Needs of Public Safety
   USTelecom: Broadband Benefits Public Safety
   Cable wants public-private initiatives to ensure cybersecurity
   CTIA Weighs In on Broadband and Public Safety
   AT&T Recommendations on Broadband and Public Safety
   OneCommunity: An Important Model for America's Broadband Revival
   Center for Social Media prof suggests Congress revamp Broadcasting Act
   Community Connect Broadband Grants
   Lessons from the land of cheap broadband

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
   Licensed, Fixed Use of the TV White Spaces
   NAB: Don't Curtail Broadcasting to Achieve World-Class Broadband
   Station Groups Oppose Spectrum Grab
   Lost Spectrum Could Be Cable's Gain
   Seller Beware
   The iPhone wars: AT&T vs. Verizon
   Is There a Method in Cellphone Madness?
   Lack of 3G in India an 'issue'

PRIVACY
Swiss Privacy Official Sues Google
Affinion Promises Changes To Marketing Tactics

OWNERSHIP
   Too Big to Block? Why Obama Must Stop the Comcast-NBC Merger
   Comcast-NBC Deal Would Draw Lengthy Scrutiny in Washington
   Comcast aspires to be a major global communications player

NEWS FROM COURT
   Google narrows book rights in revised settlement
   A serious challenge to campaign laws
   Tribune Co. asks bankruptcy court to extend management's 'exclusivity' on reorganization plan

ADVERTISING
   PhRMA Proposes FDA-Approved Logo for Marketing in Social Media
   Talking Back to the TV
   Two-Way Communications

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Chinese quiz Obama on Internet freedom
MSNBC Presses Obama on Campaign Promises

MORE ONLINE
   Hutchison won't resign Senate seat before gubernatorial primary
   CAC Dec 4 Meeting Agenda
   Internet Might Still Change TV Language
   More Than Ever, You Can Say That on Television
   New Salvos In MPAA FCC Fight
   Judge Rules That RIAA Had Right To Sue Woman Wrongfully Accused Of File-Sharing
   14 tech firms form cybersecurity alliance for government
   Unions want say in telework policymaking
   Little Benefit Seen, So Far, in Electronic Patient Records
   Minorities find a warm reception through online channels
   Under the chamber's cyber-skin
   Glyde Aims to Simplify Online Sales of Used Media
   General Electric Pursues Pot of Government Stimulus Gold
   Bangladeshis rush to learn English by mobile
   It's a Free Country... ...So why can't I pick the technology I use in the office?
   Shield law expected to win approval

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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
Universal Service, Intercarrier Compensation, and the National Broadband Plan

UNIVERSAL SERVICE, INTERCARRIER COMPENSATION, AND THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission seeks more focused comment on its universal service and intercarrier compensation (ICC) policies and to explore various policy options that would further the goal of making broadband universally available to all people of the United States. The FCC seeks input on: 1) the size of the universal service fund (USF), 2) the USF contribution methodology, 3) transitioning the USF to supporting advanced broadband deployment, 4) the impact of changes in intercarrier and USF revenue flows, 5) the competitive landscape, 6) USF oversight, and 7) the low-income, Lifeline and LinkUp programs. Comments are due December 7, 2009.
benton.org/node/29726 | Federal Communications Commission
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EXPANDING AND ACCELERATING THE ADOPTION AND USE OF BROADBAND THROUGHOUT THE ECONOMY
[SOURCE: US Broadband Coalition, AUTHOR: ]
On November 13, the US Broadband Coalition delivered a report to the Federal Communications Commission on how to improve broadband adoption and use. The report includes policy options for the National Broadband Plan. As computers and the Internet become more critical to daily life and work, America will benefit greatly from
expanding the geographic reach and capacity of broadband networks and from increasing the adoption and use of information and communications technology (ICT). Digital literacy and broadband access are not merely an individual or household concern. The lack of access and technical literacy for some impacts quality of life, economic development and job creations, health care and wellness, educational methods and outcomes, energy conservation and environmental sustainability, public safety and security, and democracy and civic engagement for all U.S. communities. Even among households, businesses and institutions that are connected, increasing the intensity of use by simplifying application interfaces, removing barriers to interoperability and encouraging innovation will dramatically increase the value that broadband investment brings to the society as a whole.
benton.org/node/29693 | US Broadband Coalition
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THINK PEOPLE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Charles Benton]
[Commentary] Speaking at the Federal Communications Commission on the release of a new report on broadband adoption and use, Benton Foundation Chairman and CEO Charles Benton said people are the "killer app." From e-mail, to digital pictures, to today's social media, connecting people to people has always been a motivating force for getting people on and keeping them on the Internet. And the value of the network grows and grows with each additional person on it. Deployment, of course, is a threshold issue for the National Broadband Plan - one cannot use a tool that is not available to them. But today we focus on what comes after the wires - and the wireless. What will prepare, what will motivate, what will sustain people's use of the tool we here today know is critical to our nation's success moving forward? Just as deployment has its many challenging questions about how to extend broadband's reach, adoption and use of broadband services and applications must also be addressed if we are to reach our full potential.
benton.org/node/29692 | Benton Foundation
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WHAT WILL THIS CONGRESS'S BROADBAND LEGACY BE?
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] What if Members of Congress worried more about their legacy than their reelection? Next year we'll see the release of broadband stimulus grants, the release and initial implementation of a national broadband plan, the formalization of net neutrality, the reform of USF and possibly E-Rate, the upgrade of government networks and systems, and (hopefully) the optimization of all facets of society around the use of broadband. There's arguably going to be no more significant year than 2010 in the history of broadband. By this time next year we're going to have a clear sense for what direction our country's broadband future is heading in. We'll know if Congress has decided to take bold action, or continue being satisfied with half steps. Next year is going to set the stage for decades to come. So the question becomes: what will this Congress's broadband legacy be?
benton.org/node/29691 | App-Rising.com
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FCC MISSES TWO KEY BARRIERS FOR BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
While the Federal Communications Commission has identified what it thinks are the top five barriers to broadband adoption (affordability of service, affordability of hardware, lack of digital and technical literacy, lack of awareness of the relevance of broadband and physical and mental disabilities), Daily offers two more: 1) customers need to feel they are getting a good value for their money and 2) user interfaces associated with accessing the Internet.
benton.org/node/29725 | App-Rising.com
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THE BROADBAND NEEDS OF PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation, AUTHOR: Harlin McEwen]
In comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission to inform the National Broadband Plan, the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation says the only practical option for public safety to access broadband today is through the use of the publicly offered 3G commercial networks. Although there are a limited number of other options, such as municipal Wi-Fi (unlicensed) networks or mesh networks, these networks are few and far between. Public safety is accessing the Internet, private networks, and databases using these services where available, but the services lack key features such as mission-critical redundancy, reliability, public safety priority, data security, and wide-area nationwide coverage. They are also generally unavailable in many rural areas. The data rate requirements for public safety are fairly straightforward. The faster the data rates, the better for public safety in the performance of their mission critical duties. The PSST expects that technology will continue to advance and data rates will continue to improve, which will be very good for public safety. However, past experience with both public safety systems and commercial systems has shown that the demand for services usually grows faster than the speed of improvements in technology. In regards to Quality of Service ("QoS") issues, public safety needs much higher QoS than what is offered today by commercial services providers.
benton.org/node/29703 | Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation
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USTELECOM: BROADBAND BENEFITS PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: United States Telecom Association, AUTHOR: Jonathan Banks]
In comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission, the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) says it shares the FCC's view that broadband offers numerous benefits to emergency responders and other public safety agencies that will help them to achieve their respective and diverse missions.1 USTelecom's members are particularly focused on aspects of cybersecurity and implementation and deployment of next generation 911 (NG-9-1-1) services. USTelecom fully supports the nation's migration of public safety and homeland security services to more advanced offerings that are possible in a broadband environment. USTelecom's member companies are working diligently to support and implement this migration, which will bring more advanced and robust public safety and homeland security services to the nation. It is imperative that at this critical juncture, the successful migration of public safety and homeland security services to a full broadband-enabled environment does not come at the expense of the security of the nation's broadband networks. Today's cyber ecosystem is a highly complex universe consisting of a global set of stakeholders engaged in a system of multifaceted cooperation designed to facilitate information sharing, reduce vulnerabilities, and to mitigate cyber threats. Telecommunications carriers play a central but not exclusive role in this diverse ecosystem, where the actions of independent entities directly impact other stakeholders in the network.
benton.org/node/29702 | United States Telecom Association
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CABLE WANTS PUBLIC-PRIVATE INITIATIVES TO ENSURE CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: National Cable & Telecommunications Association, AUTHOR: Neal Goldberg]
In a filing at the Federal Communications Commission in reply to questions about broadband's role in public safety, homeland security, and cybersecurity, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the lobbying arm of the cable industry, says cable operators have implemented cybersecurity measures. The organization suggests the FCC should incorporate into the national broadband plan ongoing public-private initiatives aimed at securing the nation's digital infrastructure from growing cyber threats. And it should promote policies that foster the development and deployment of innovative applications and tools to improve cybersecurity and address
burgeoning threats to consumers.
benton.org/node/29701 | National Cable & Telecommunications Association
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CTIA WEIGHS IN ON BROADBAND AND PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: CTIA, AUTHOR: Brian Josef, Michael Altschul, Christopher Guttman-McCabe]
In response to the Federal Communications Commission's inquiries about the development of Next Generation 911 ("NG911") systems, CTIA, the lobbying arm of the wireless industry, urges the FCC to engage in a technology neutral and consensus-driven approach that will involve all stakeholders. Also, CTIA reminds the FCC that significant funding challenges exist for public safety answering points that are currently slowing the deployment of E911 and must be resolved to ensure a successful NG911 build-out. Regarding cyber security, CTIA details some of the dynamic means of network management that wireless carriers utilize to protect their subscribers from cyber attacks. CTIA stresses that network operators require significant flexibility in their network management approaches to respond to the ever-changing nature of cyber threats.
benton.org/node/29700 | CTIA
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AT&T AND PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Robert Vitanza, Gary Phillips, Paul Mancini]
In a filing at the Federal Communications Commission in reply to questions about broadband's role in public safety, homeland security, and cybersecurity, AT&T recommends that: 1) the FCC adopt a "leveraged network" model for a national interoperable wireless broadband public safety network, 2) Congress repurpose the 10 MHz of 700 MHz D-Block commercial spectrum (758-763/788-793 MHz) for public safety broadband use, 3) the FCC should encourage public safety entities to use a standard Request for Proposal ("RFP") process perhaps with PSST consultation to negotiate agreements with commercial operators on a regional basis and leverage existing and future commercial networks based on the unique needs of local and regional public safety agencies, 4) the FCC should establish technological standards and minimum system requirements for these public safety broadband systems and ensure that all networks adopt the LTE radio technology platform and infrastructure. Ultimately, nationwide interoperability would be achieved by linking the 700 MHz local and regional networks and establishing reciprocal roaming agreements and credentialing procedures between all public safety entities.
benton.org/node/29699 | AT&T
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THE ONECOMMUNITY MODEL
[SOURCE: Baller Herbst Law Group, AUTHOR: Jim Baller, Sean Stokes, Casey Lide]
In a paper filed at the Federal Communications Commission, Baller Herbst provides extensive, detailed information about numerous successful middle mile and second mile projects. The paper concludes that communities across the United States would benefit from considering the model when developing their own broadband initiatives and that the Federal Communications Commission and Congress should study it carefully in developing America's National Broadband Plan.
benton.org/node/29698 | Baller Herbst Law Group
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REVAMPING BROADCAST ACT
[SOURCE: Current, AUTHOR: ]
Ellen Goodman, a Rutgers law professor and Fellow at the Center for Social Media, submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on the development of a national broadband plan noting various current pubmedia activities using high-speed connections, and suggests that further progress will only happen "if public media systems become more diverse, open, networked, innovative, technologically sophisticated, and focused on a service mission to meet public needs where the market will not go."
benton.org/node/29711 | Current
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COMMUNITY CONNECT BROADBAND GRANTS
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: Press release]
Twenty two projects in 10 states have been selected for grants totaling $13.4 million to provide financial assistance to furnish broadband service in unserved, often isolated, rural communities. The grants are used to establish broadband service for critical facilities such as fire or police stations, while also providing service to residents and businesses. The project must also include a community center that provides community residents with free broadband service for the first two years.
benton.org/node/29720 | Department of Agriculture
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LESSONS FROM THE LAND OF CHEAP BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Jeffrey O'Brien]
Hong Kong's City Telecom's 400,000 customers pay $13/month for 100 megabit synchronous broadband. And they get a money-back guarantee: If they don't clock 80% of the promised speed, the company pays them twice their monthly fee. In the US, if you live within coverage area of Verizon's FiOS service, you pay as much as $150 a month for up to 50 megs downstream and 20 upstream. How can City Telecom possibly offer service that's more than twice as fast at less than 10% of the price? It's partly geography and partly vision.
benton.org/node/29724 | Fortune
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

LICENSED, FIXED USE OF THE TV WHITE SPACES
[SOURCE: Sprint Nextel, AUTHOR: Michele Farquhar]
In meetings with Federal Communications Commission officials, representatives from Sprint Nextel, FiberTower, Alcatel-Lucent, COMPTEL and the Rural Telecommunications Group argued for point-to-point licensed, fixed use of the TV Bands White Spaces ("White Spaces"). The parties highlighted the urgent need for the Commission to act immediately to permit point-to-point licensed, fixed use of a portion of the vacant White Spaces channels to provide dramatically more cost-effective backhaul options and facilitate the goals of the broadband stimulus funding programs. The parties noted that often 15-to-45 vacant channels exist throughout rural areas, and reiterated their proposal to allow licensing for fixed use on UHF TV Channels 21-35 and 39-51 of: 1) up to six vacant White Spaces channels second or greater adjacent to a TV broadcast station in rural counties; and 2) any vacant White Spaces channels third or greater adjacent to a TV broadcast station in all counties. The parties noted the extraordinary spectral efficiency whereby a single fixed TV White Spaces backhaul or transport link may result in enabling broadband in an entire unserved or underserved area. Specifically, the parties noted the benefits of licensed use of the White Spaces, including the exceptional propagation features of the band (which are ideal for lowercost backhaul over much longer distances and offer significant cost savings compared to other spectrum bands) and the promotion of less expensive build-out costs in rural areas which could reduce the reliance on universal service support mechanisms to the extent they might be used to support broadband deployment. They also discussed their comparative survey of various microwave and TV Bands fixed path lengths available in Utah, including the existing number of links, the average and maximum length of the links, antenna gain, and antenna size issues, highlighting the many advantages of the TV Bands channels for point-to-point services such as backhaul. In addition, the parties described the smaller, lighter, and less expensive antennas available for the TV Bands. Finally, the parties noted that the 6 GHz band is already heavily used and, as a result, there would likely
benton.org/node/29697 | Sprint Nextel
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NAB: DON'T CURTAIL BROADCASTING TO ACHIEVE WORLD-CLASS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: National Association of Broadcasters, AUTHOR: ]
In comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television encourage the FCC to embrace a consumer-focused approach to spectrum management that takes into account the public policy goals served by a given allocation. As has been well documented in the record for the National Broadband Plan, sound spectrum management requires such a holistic understanding so that consumers can continue to use the important services on which they rely as well as gain access to new service offerings. In contrast, the groups note, an estimation of the revenues that a licensee may derive from a given use is a poor predictor of whether a spectrum allocation will serve the interest of consumers. MSTV and NAB reject the notion put forth by a select few commenters affiliated with the commercial wireless industry — namely, that to achieve a world-class broadband ecosystem, one must curtail (or even eliminate) consumers' access to a free and robust over-the-air digital television service.
benton.org/node/29696 | National Association of Broadcasters | TVNewsCheck | B&C
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STATION GROUPS OPPOSE SPECTRUM GRAB
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Kim McAvoy]
A coalition of 16 local television station groups stated their strong objections to any attempts by the Federal Communications Commission to reallocate their spectrum to wireless broadband. They said reallocating TV spectrum would be "anti-competitive" and could "conveniently eliminate the wireless industry's most serious competitive threat — Mobile DTV." In reply comments filed at to the FCC today, the TV groups also said any spectrum reallocation from television to wireless broadband would amount to the FCC "picking industry winners and losers." The public would be denied the "triple play" of HD, multicast and mobile, said the filing. The comments were submitted on behalf of Allbritton Communications, Bahakel Communications, Boise Telecasters, Cocola Broadcasting Companies, Communications Corp. of America, Evening Post Publishing Co., Granite Broadcasting, Gray Television, Jovon Broadcasting, Local TV, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, Media General, Meredith Broadcasting, Midwest Television, Smith Media and WNAC.
benton.org/node/29723 | TVNewsCheck
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LOST SPECTRUM COULD BE CABLE'S GAIN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission staffers have been talking to cable-industry representatives about spectrum reclamation, but those conversations have been about technology rather than broader policy issues. According to broadcast sources, one such conversation the FCC will need to have is on extending the must-carry rules to signals no longer delivered over the air, or now transmitted in a different format. "The historic legal justification for must-carry was ... to preserve an over-the-air service for the non-cable home," said cable attorney Daniel Brenner of Hogan & Hartson. "But if you eliminate that service, then that justification goes away." According to broadcast sources, one take on the spectrum-reclamation proposal being floated by FCC broadband adviser Blair Levin in talks with broadcasters and others would have the stations maintain at least a standard-definition over-the-air signal, with cable operators required to carry an HD feed of that station to their customers. Under another scenario, outlined by economist Coleman Bazelon in an FCC filing, broadcasters would give back all their spectrum, becoming essentially another cable or satellite channel. Cable would find upside in Bazelon's proposal that the government subsidize multichannel video service to the 10 million or so households that still rely on over-the-air TV. "You are offering them 10 million new customers, so that's worth something," Bazelon pointed out. Such lifeline service would be subsidized for life, he said. But is that worth enough for cable operators to accept a continued must-carry regime, perhaps for stations that don't even deliver an over-the-air signal? "Maybe not, but must-carry is going to be in the bargain," he said. Bazelon figures that subsidized service would mean an additional $9.3 billion in cable subscriptions.
benton.org/node/29722 | Multichannel News
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SELLER BEWARE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Both television broadcasters and cable operators have a stake as the Federal Communications Commission considers reclaiming some broadcast spectrum for wireless broadband. Most cable viewership is through broadcast programming; most broadcast viewership is over cable channels. Broadcasters with government money, and no over-the-air or HD signal except cable or satellite carriage, would have to prove their local value to multichannel video programming distributors, and risk getting cut out of the equation. Yes, more spectrum for wireless broadband is a given, but from whom and how it will be taken should remain an open question, not a foregone conclusion. The FCC is all about not predetermining outcomes these days (its mantra for the broadband plan, network neutrality, media ownership, etc.). While some debt-laden, cash-strapped broadcasters could be tempted by the easy out of a government payoff, and cable operators contemplate their own payoff in government benton.org/node/29721 | Broadcasting&Cable
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MORE AT&T V VERIZON
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Philip Elmer-DeWitt]
Claiming "irreparable harm," AT&T has filed its second lawsuit in two weeks asking a U.S. District judge to force Verizon to pull its new TV ads — cartoons that depict the iPhone as the latest arrival to the "island of misfit toys." The issue, once again: coverage maps that AT&T claims are "false" and "misleading." On Thursday, AT&T followed up with a "set the record straight" letter reminding customers and the press that it, not Verizon, carries the "most popular smartphones" — i.e. Apple's iPhone — and that its customers, not Verizon's, have access to more than 100,000 applications. The letter includes a link to the version of AT&T's coverage map — shown above — that the company thinks Verizon should be showing in its ads.
benton.org/node/29709 | Fortune
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CELLPHONE PRICING MADNESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
Here's a consolation prize to the millions who recoil in bafflement from cellphone companies' labyrinthine price plans, with their ever more intricate arrays of minutes, messages and megabytes: Economists don't understand them, either. "The whole pricing thing is weird," said Barry Nalebuff, an economics professor at the Yale School of Management. "You pay $60 to make your first phone call. Your next 1,000 minutes are free. Then the minute after that costs 35 cents." To economists, it simply doesn't make sense to make chatterboxes pay that penalty. After all, most businesses tend to give discounts to customers who buy more. But for all the complexity, cellphones American-style do have a certain supersized logic. Americans spend more money each month on their wireless bills than people in any other country. But the money we spend buys a whole lot more talk time and text messages than it does elsewhere. On average, we effectively spend about 5 cents per minute of talk time and about a penny a text message, lower than anywhere else in the developed world.
benton.org/node/29718 | New York Times
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3G IN INDIA
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Lamont]
Delays in bringing third generation (3G) mobile telephone technology to India threatens to stunt one of the fastest growing markets in the world, according to the chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent, the telecommunications equipment supplier. "That you [India] do not have 3G established [in India] yet is an issue. You need to get that established," Ben Verwaayen said last week. India's auction of third-generation telecommunications services is expected to go ahead in January, after repeated delays shifted the event more than a year later than it was originally planned.
benton.org/node/29731 | Financial Times
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OWNERSHIP

WHY THE COMCAST-NBC DEAL MUST BE STOPPED
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Josh Silver]
[Commentary] A Comcast purchase of NBC Universal would mean increased costs for cable television service; currently free online NBC content locked behind a pay wall; less opportunity for the distribution of independent media; even fewer choices and less programming diversity. On average, nearly one quarter of all channels offered to cable subscribers would be owned by the bloated Comcast. Our lawmakers should have been reining in these out-of-control corporations long ago. But therein lies the problem: Corporate-friendly judges, appointed by corporate-friendly politicians, elected with contributions from their corporate patrons, have created a body of legal precedent that makes even the most common sense antitrust rulings difficult to impossible. If President Obama really wants to change the system that green-lighted the bailout of "too big to fail" banks and would allow the looming crisis of too-big-to-block media mergers, he will have to overhaul federal antitrust laws so that they actually protect the greater good.
benton.org/node/29719 | Huffington Post, The | Broadcasting&Cable
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COMCAST-NBC TO GET WASHINGTON SCRUTINY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shira Ovide, Amy Schatz]
Comcast has courted NBC Universal for months, but the companies would need to take a long detour to Washington before they make it to the altar. If Comcast agrees to purchase majority control of the movie and television company from General Electric Co., the Obama administration would face its first media megadeal. Regulatory approval is expected to take from six months to more than a year. The government is unlikely to derail the tie-up, legal experts and others familiar with the matter say. But regulators would likely impose restrictions to mitigate potential harm to rivals and consumers. Those restrictions could wipe out some of the benefits of the deal, which if completed could be announced as early as this week. At issue is the broad reach the proposed new company would have in the American home. Comcast, the nation's biggest cable-TV carrier by subscribers, would combine its TV programming with NBC Universal. The venture would control both the pipes carrying programs into homes and many popular networks—including NBC, USA Network, Bravo and E!—that run over those pipes. Antitrust experts say that, on paper, there is little to suggest a Comcast-NBC combination would seriously threaten competition in media, as people increasingly spread their leisure hours across a multitude of diversions. Still, President Barack Obama has said his administration will take a harder line on antitrust enforcement than the preceding one.
benton.org/node/29739 | Wall Street Journal | TVNewsCheck
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COMCAST WANTS TO BE GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS PLAYER
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
The cable TV giant's efforts to buy NBC Universal would give it two prizes that would put it on the same level as Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and Fox: a movie studio and broadcast network. "Comcast wants to become a major global communications player on the same scale as a Disney, Viacom, Time Warner or Fox," said Marc Nathanson, a cable television pioneer who founded Falcon Cable TV. "Brian Roberts and his management team see this move as one of survival." Thrusting Comcast into the upper echelons of the entertainment firmament would cast the Philadelphia-based cable operator beyond its traditional role of distributing programs made by others, a lucrative business but one that appears to have peaked. Comcast would become one of the world's largest owners of programming. At the same time it would not only assure Comcast a powerful voice in determining how and when consumers watch movies and TV shows, but also provide a hedge against one of its fastest-rising costs: the content that flows through those "pipes."
benton.org/node/29738 | Los Angeles Times
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NEWS FROM COURT
Google narrows book rights in revised settlement

GOOGLE NARROWS BOOK RIGHTS IN REVISED SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Google scaled back its ambitious digital book project in a revised legal settlement announced late Friday that would narrow its control over millions of online titles. The concessions come after heavy scrutiny by the Justice Department, Web competitors and some authors groups who said that the original $125 million agreement with authors and publishers would give Google too much control over pricing in the distribution of book titles and could edge out competitors. They also argued that the deal would allow Google to profit off of the scanning and distribution of books whose authors are unknown, violating copyright laws. The new settlement was submitted just before midnight to Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court of Southern District of New York, who will ultimately decide whether to approve the deal. Among several changes, the parties agreed to hand over control of so-called orphan works -- books whose copyright holders are unknown or not found -- to an independent trustee who would administer the licensing of those titles. Previously, Google would have controlled rights to those books. Under the new agreement, the court must approve the appointed trustee, who would have authority to license those orphan works to other companies, including Google competitors Amazon and Microsoft. The trustee would also handle funds generated from those licenses. If unclaimed for 10 years, those funds would go to charities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. After five years, a portion of those proceeds would also go to tracking down the holders of rights to orphan works.
benton.org/node/29727 | Washington Post
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CHALLENGE TO CAMPAIGN LAWS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Advocates of meaningful campaign finance laws are waiting with great trepidation for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in a case that challenges a 60-year-old ban on corporate contributions to candidates for federal office. Five of the nine justices already have established a willingness to chip away at restraints on campaign spending. This case, Citizens United vs. FEC, provides them with an opportunity to declare that the ban on corporate contributions is unconstitutional - which could dramatically increase the already formidable clout of special interests to influence congressional and presidential elections. "In our view, it would make an intolerable situation much worse," said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign, a nonprofit group that has been pushing for public financing of campaigns. At issue is a documentary critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton that the conservative group Citizens United wanted produced for the 2008 presidential primary. The ideological group, which receives corporate funding, had wanted to pay a cable television consortium $1.2 million to allow subscribers to download the movie for free "on demand." Under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law of 2002, corporate-bankrolled television advertisements are prohibited just before an election.
benton.org/node/29735 | San Francisco Chronicle
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TRIBUNE REORGANIZATION
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Julie Johnsson, Michael Oneal]
Signaling that infighting among creditors is bogging down reorganization efforts, Tribune Co. on Friday asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to give its management team until March 31 to craft a plan to exit Chapter 11 without interference from other parties. If all goes according to plan and the bankruptcy court agrees to extend management's "exclusivity," which was due to expire at the end of this month, Tribune Co. indicated it would emerge from bankruptcy by May 31. But the Chicago-based media company is also trying to avoid a lengthy and costly legal battle with some creditors, who are likely to recoup little of their investment in the company, given the distressed values of its core newspaper and TV assets.
benton.org/node/29734 | Chicago Tribune
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ADVERTISING

PHRMA PROPOSES FDA-APPROVED LOGO FOR ONLINE MARKETING
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Rich Thomaselli]
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is advocating for a universal safety symbol -- either the Food and Drug Administration logo itself or an FDA-approved symbol -- to indicate that a Twitter or Facebook mention links to a page that contains the pharmaceutical company's FDA-mandated risk information. The lobbying group for the pharmaceutical industry made its case during the first day of the two-day U.S. Food and Drug Administration public hearings in Washington. The hearings are designed to establish guidelines for how pharmaceutical companies go to market on the web and social-media sites. And while 31 speakers representing such power players as drug maker Eli Lilly and search giant Google each had 15 minutes to present their respective cases to a 12-member FDA panel, perhaps none was more compelling than the PhRMA, which caught the panel's attention.
benton.org/node/29690 | AdAge
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TALKING BACK TO TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Suzanne Vranica]
Marketers are eager to bolster the performance of TV ads. In a 2008 study of big advertisers, more than 60% said TV advertising had become less effective over the past two years. Consumers are unhappy with the large amount of ad clutter that appears during commercial breaks, leading to the explosion of devices that allow viewers to circumvent TV ads altogether. Advertisers believe that the longer they can keep viewers engaged with an ad, the more likely they are to buy. So companies such as Unilever PLC, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods Inc. are increasingly turning to technologies that add interactive capabilities—games, coupons and informational videos—to their TV pitches. Interactive features, which are available from cable and satellite services as well as from technology companies such as TiVo Inc., provide more proof that viewers are watching ads—an important issue for those on Madison Avenue—as opposed to leaving the room or fast-forwarding. They also allow marketers to know which ads viewers are responding to. This month,Burger King Holdings Inc. will roll out an interactive TV ad campaign that is part of the fast-food company's elaborate movie tie-in with "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," the second film in the popular vampire-werewolf series. Viewers of the ads, which will appear on the satellite DirecTV service, will be able to use their remote controls to take a quiz testing their knowledge of the film.
benton.org/node/29741 | Wall Street Journal
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TWO-WAY COMMUNICATIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Suzanne Vranica, San Schechner]
As Comcast gets close to a deal for control of General Electric's NBC Universal, the big cable operator and Madison Avenue think the merger could lead to some major changes in the $65 billion U.S. television-advertising market. The potential new company could speed the development of interactive TV ads and "addressable advertising." Interactive ads let viewers vote in a poll or use their remote controls to request more information about a product. Addressable, or targeted, advertising uses set-top boxes to route commercials to specific households or neighborhood based on data about income, ethnicity or other characteristics. It lets an advertiser, for example, beam a minivan spot to households with children. Comcast executives are looking at such ads as a benefit of an NBC Universal deal, says a person familiar with the company's thinking. Comcast could use its infrastructure to help NBC's TV networks start selling interactive ads, this person says, adding that Comcast sees a "huge amount of money" in them. Comcast had about $15 million of interactive-ad revenue in the third quarter. "But the big number," Chief Operating Officer Stephen Burke told analysts this month, "will be generated when the industry gets together and allows a national advertiser the ability to advertise across the country." He said that "in a very short period of time" about half of Comcast's 24 million homes will have the technology needed to receive interactive ads.
benton.org/node/29740 | Wall Street Journal
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

CHINESE QUIZ OBAMA ON INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Edward Luce, Geoff Dyer]
In contrast to the last two US presidential visits to China, George W. Bush in 2002 and Bill Clinton in 1998, both of whose words were broadcast live and widely to the Chinese general public, President Barack Obama's 60-minute question-and-answer session in Shanghai was heavily restricted. Only the citizens of Shanghai were able to watch it live on local broadcasts. Elsewhere Chinese citizens were theoretically able to view the event on the White House website, which provided live streaming coverage - although many reported huge difficulties in accessing either images or sound via the site. The irony was hard to miss. In spite of weeks of pressure from US officials to open the event to the general public - wrangling that continued right until the last minute - the Chinese held their ground. Yet in contrast to his two most recent predecessors, who criticized China for detaining dissidents and suppressing freedom of religion in Tibet, President Obama studiously avoided giving his hosts any explicit cause for offence. Furthermore, Obama's highly dextrous attempts to avoid provoking the Chinese were heavily censored. Phoenix television, a Hong Kong-based channel with broadcasts on the mainland, carried the first few minutes of Obama's speech at the start of the meeting, but cut to another item before he made a relatively generic pitch for universal values.
benton.org/node/29744 | Financial Times
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MSNBC PRESSES OBAMA ON CAMPAIGN PROMISES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
While much attention has been paid to the feud between the Fox News Channel and the White House, the Obama administration is now facing criticism of a different sort from Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann and other progressive hosts on MSNBC, who are using their nightly news-and-views-casts to measure what she calls "the distance between Obama's rhetoric and his actions." While they may agree with much of what Mr. Obama says, they have pressed him to keep his campaign promises about health care, civil liberties and other issues. The spectacle of democrats sniping at one another is not new, but having a TV home for it is.
benton.org/node/29743 | New York Times
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