Dec 21, 2009 (What the first broadband stimulus awards tell us)
** Planning a communications-related course for 2010? See http://bit.ly/5N8VHA to learn how Headlines might help. **
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY DECEMBER 21, 2009
January's telecom agenda is filling up http://bit.ly/8FUI7L
NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
The Challenges to Broadband Deployment Financing
Cable and Telecom Tell FCC They Inform Broadband Consumers
Group Requests FCC NOI On Transition To All-Broadband Networks
BROADBAND STIMULUS
What the first broadband stimulus awards tell us about how to win
Hard Questions for the Broadband Stimulus Program
Making universal broadband service a reality
MORE ON BROADBAND
NTCA Letter To House Commerce Committee Counters Prior Call By Techies
BBC given TV Internet go-ahead
BT in sprint for fast broadband
SPECTRUM
Unleashing the Digital Television Band: A Proposal for an Overlay Auction
Genachowski should balance his spectrum policy team with a broadcaster
WIRELESS
Verizon Wireless responds to FCC query, says termination fees tied to administration costs
AT&T survives Operation Chokehold
Can AT&T Tame the iHogs?
Store set to be apple of master's eye
Radio finds new life on cellphones
As Phones Do More, They Become Targets of Hacking
BUDGET
FCC, NTIA Funding Approved
TELEVISION/VIDEO
Public Interest Groups Ask FCC for Rulemaking on TV Set-Top Boxes
DirecTV: Leave Our Set-Top Out of It
FCC Sets Its Sights On Fiber Exemption
Saturday Morning Vote Approves Satellite Extension Bill
TV's Popularity on the Rise
SEE YOU IN COURT ...
Court Asks FCC to Defend Media Ownership Rule Stay
Citadel Broadcasting Files For Bankruptcy Protection
Second Circuit Schedules Oral Arguments In Fox Vs. FCC for Jan 13
French court rules against Google over book copying
OWNERSHIP/CONTENT
Glickman Defends Industry IP Meeting With Biden
Websites Shifting From Free to 'Freemium'
JOURNALISM
Debate the News: Summarizing the Comments Submitted to the FTC
News about the news
Ethnic media's four-step model for the news industry's future
Traffic at Top Newspaper Web Sites Declines in November
HEALTH
Innovation in Health IT: A Key Component to Improving Care
In awaiting meaningful use, ONC's hands not idle
Healthcare IT among PWC's list of top 10 healthcare issues for 2010
Hospitals, vendors - not Washington - to drive EMR use
The Virtual Visit May Expand Access to Doctors
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
No Shield (Again)
Public Access Policy Proceeding
Ready for Open Government? Part 3 | Part 1 | Part 2
Clinton: We Must Continue to Tell America's Story
KIDS AND MEDIA
New Programs Aim to Lure Young Into Digital Jobs
To Deal With Obsession, Some Defriend Facebook
Technology becomes friendlier to older generations
NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
THE CHALLENGES TO BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT FINANCING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
One identified obstacle to broadband access in rural communities is the lack of available private financing for network deployment, whether through capital investment, debt financing, or other financial support. While several federal programs support broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas, challenges in obtaining private debt or equity support that prevent effective deployment remain. Even with government support, many enterprises may be unable to achieve a profitable operating model, and the business case for potential deployment projects in many rural areas may be inadequate to merit sufficient private sector support. In an effort to address these challenges, the Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on the potential private sector and government funding vehicles for effective financing of broadband deployment projects in rural and high cost areas. While many of these vehicles may be outside the FCC's scope and jurisdiction, the Commission is considering a range of potential vehicles in order to address the Congressional call for "an analysis of the most effective and efficient mechanism for ensuring broadband access" to all Americans. The FCC asks: 1) What existing federal government institutions, program mechanisms, and sources of funding could be employed to create greater incentives for privately financed rural broadband deployment? and 2) What new financing methods should be employed to increase effectiveness and encourage entrepreneurship in the private sector for supporting rural broadband deployment? Comments are due January 8, 2010.
benton.org/node/30737 | Federal Communications Commission
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CABLE AND TELECOM TELL FCC THEY INFORM BROADBAND CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
In response to a Federal Communications Commission request for comment on consumer transparency and measurement of fixed services, the cable and telephone industries let the FCC know they are transparent -- and that measuring actual speed is a tricky thing. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association says cable operators provide a great deal of information about their broadband services to consumers at every stage of the purchasing process. With respect to information regarding the "actual" speed of broadband services, we continue to encourage the Commission to consult with Internet engineering experts to develop measures that would be meaningful to consumers and not unduly burdensome to providers, rather than adopting new rules based on potentially flawed data or unwarranted assumptions. The United States Telecom Association says consumer disclosure and measurement of fixed broadband services are enormously complex areas that elude simple, one size fits all, answers. Fixed broadband services are constantly evolving and service choices are expanding with each innovation. Moreover, consumers' uses of their fixed broadband services are also evolving and vary considerably. Consumers who use the Internet simply for web surfing and e-mail may need a different type of broadband service from consumers who use the Internet for gaming and real time entertainment. As new applications come online, usage patterns change. In the face of these variations, defining and providing transparency is very difficult. Measurement presents similarly difficulties because the type of measurement most relevant to meet one consumer's needs may be different from the type of measurement that will provide the most meaningful information for a different consumer. coming to thoughtful and practical answers will, USTelecom believes, require more than the on-going workshop and notice and comment processes already underway at the Commission. Further, given the variety of approaches to resolving the issues of measurement and transparency, it is vital to build consensus among the stakeholders. Therefore, to complement and improve the outcome of the Commission's ongoing processes, USTelecom believes that industry, public interest groups and other interested stakeholders should join together to articulate best practices with respect to disclosure and to create a technology neutral and understandable measurement methodology.
benton.org/node/30722 | NCTA | USTelecom
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GROUP REQUESTS FCC NOI ON TRANSITION TO ALL-BROADBAND NETWORKS
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: ]
The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies on Friday called on the Federal Communications Commission to request public comment on how public policy can best facilitate the transition of the public switched telephone network to a broadband network. Elements of an FCC notice of inquiry should include questions related to "the length of time for the transition, jurisdictions, definitions for a completed transition, legacy network needs until all customers are switched over, PSTN maintenance during and after a transition, carrier of last resort issues, consumer choice and pricing issues, and quality and reliability issues," the group said in comments it filed on a proposed national broadband plan.
benton.org/node/30757 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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BROADBAND STIMULUS
WHAT THE FIRST BROADBAND AWARDS TELL US
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
It is too soon to say how well the first broadband stimulus fund awards will represent the awards that follow (they represent less than 10% of the first-round funds, and the rules may change for the second round), but given how publicly the White House touted these first picks, it would seem they're intended to be exemplary, to some degree, of what the administration wants in an applicant. Assuming that's true, what do these early winners tell us about how to win broadband stimulus funds? 1) Middle-mile projects took two thirds of the nearly $183 million in awards announced on Thursday and 70% of the funds devoted to broadband infrastructure. 2) The vast majority of broadband infrastructure funds went to private telecom service providers. 3) Public/private partnerships. 4) The vast majority of projects that won funding were contained (or mostly contained) within a single state. 5) Don't panic over protests. Program administrators had promised that it wouldn't be easy for challengers to disqualify stimulus applications, and they may be making good on that promise. More than one of the projects that won funding was opposed by companies claiming to already serve the area in question.
benton.org/node/30736 | TelephonyOnline | App-Rising.com
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HARD QUESTIONS FOR BROADBAND STIMULUS PROGRAM
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Under the terms of the Recovery Act the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service is supposed to distribute $2.5 billion in total broadband stimulus funds. In July they said all of that was supposed to be allocated in the first tranche. So if the RUS is only sending out $400 million as part of this first disbursement, then knowing when the rest will become available, and the rules that will govern who gets it, is important. Both agencies are seeking input as to how to adjust the rules for the second tranche, so what happens to those who applied under the older rules thinking the first tranche was the only chance they had at RUS funds?
benton.org/node/30745 | GigaOm
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MAKING UNIVERSAL BROADBAND A REALITY
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Until this year, the federal government has been largely absent from the delivery of fast Internet service. That's been the work of the private sector - the cable, satellite, and telecom companies. They've done a good job. Some studies show that nearly 90 percent of US households now have access to broadband. But the private sector can't do it all. Companies only go where there's profit, which means that many poor neighborhoods, and rural and tribal areas don't have access to a high-speed Internet connection. Once a leader in the Internet, the US ranks 15th in broadband market penetration. And compared with a country such as Japan, the average Internet speed in the US is a tenth as fast. It's time for the federal government to get involved, and this year, it did. Congress provided $7.2 billion of Recovery Act money to help reach the goal of universal, affordable broadband access. Wisely, it also required matching funds from states to augment this assistance. Congress has also required the Federal Communications Commission to come up with a National Broadband Plan, due in February. From a preliminary report released this week, the FCC looks to be on the right path. It says competition should be a "guiding principle" of any plan, because competition drives innovation and provides consumer choice. It also recognizes limited government funding and says federal help will have to be "leveraged with private sector investment." That seems to be the reality of the 21st century. The federal government simply doesn't have the money to expand the Internet in the way it built Interstate highways or electrified rural areas. And government can't always know which Internet technology to support. But there's also no denying that universal, high-speed Internet service is as essential to American competitiveness as universal phone service has been. Broadband for all will have to be a public-private partnership for now.
benton.org/node/30759 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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MORE ON BROADBAND
NTCA LETTER TO HOUSE COMMERCE COUNTERS CALL BY TECHIES
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Winter Casey]
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, an association representing locally owned and controlled telecommunications cooperatives and commercial companies in rural America, sent a letter Friday to members of the House Commerce Committee urging lawmakers to oppose a recent request by a number of technology companies to ban state regulation of Internet protocol-based services. "As you know, the FCC is statutorily required to provide its National Broadband Plan blueprint to the Congress on February 17, 2010. Consequently, any consideration of a request of the nature that is outlined in the AT&T et. al. communication to you, on a stand-alone basis, would be premature and disruptive to this major undertaking the FCC already has underway," wrote National Telecommunications Cooperative Association Vice President Government Affairs Tom Wacker. He urges policy-makers to oppose legislation that would subject IP-based services to exclusive federal jurisdiction and says such a move would not be an affirmation of existing policy.
benton.org/node/30758 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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BBC GIVEN TV INTERNET GO-AHEAD
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Tim Bradshaw, Andrew Parker]
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been given the go-ahead for the controversial venture to bring Internet services to the television set, a decision that could make the public service broadcaster a leading player in a new TV technology. The venture - known as Project Canvas - which is designed to strengthen free-to-air broadcasters in the Internet age, has been fiercely criticized by British Sky Broadcasting, the pay-TV operator. Set-top boxes using Canvas software are expected to be available late next year for about £200, allowing people to access websites such as the BBC's iPlayer, NHS Direct and Amazon through their TVs. Canvas is likely to become the dominant platform for Internet services on TV, as the venture's partners are the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, plus BT and Carphone Warehouse, the leading broadband providers. The BBC Trust, the public service broadcaster's governing body, has been reviewing whether Canvas is a suitable use of the licence fee.
benton.org/node/30754 | Financial Times
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BT IN SPRINT FOR FAST BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
British Telecommunications (BT) is accelerating the roll-out of its superfast broadband network to ensure the infrastructure is completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Britain's broadband speeds lag behind those of many industrialized countries and BT is under pressure from Labour and the Conservatives to fix the problem. The UK's largest fixed-line phone company is planning to spend £1.5bn on a new broadband network based on optical fibre, but it will run past only 40 per cent of homes, mainly in towns and cities. BT said last year it could take until March 2013 to build the urban-focused network, but, following successful trials, it now intends to finish it by June 2012. The Olympics start the following month. The new network will increase broadband download speeds 10-fold, to about 40 megabits per second, to cope with the rise of bandwidth-hungry services such as high-definition video.
benton.org/node/30753 | Financial Times
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SPECTRUM
UNLEASHING THE DTV BAND
[SOURCE: Thomas Hazlett, AUTHOR: Thomas Hazlett]
Americans could be accessing more advanced wireless networks, developing more useful technologies, and enjoying decidedly more productive opportunities in the economy were the TV Band the Mother Lode of underutilized radio spectrum allocated to its highest valued use. This paper puts forward a simple proposal to accomplish that. It does not impose any given business model on the market, or dictate how airwaves should be utilized. Rather, it uses modern tools of spectrum management to create incentives for key players to cooperate, remedying conflicts and ending hold-outs. It is a specific plan in terms of its basic components, but it is sufficiently generic as to accommodate policy choices reflecting differing goals. It is a platform whose specifications can be customized. The plan would:
divide the 294 MHz DTV Band into seven national overlay licenses;
allocate each overlay seven contiguous TV channels (42 MHz), reducing borders (as opposed to non-contiguous channel allotments);
allot overlays exclusive, flexible-use rights as defined in the 700 MHz licenses previously sold at auction,18 subject to incumbents' encumbrances;
grandfather DTV broadcast incumbents indefinitely;
DTV stations are required to distribute video content free-to-viewer, but the mandate is platform-neutral;
overlay licenses are sold at auction;
limit two per customer.
benton.org/node/30735 | Thomas Hazlett | Hazlett testimony
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BENJAMIN A BIG MEANIE TO BROADCASTING
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] As long as Duke Law Professor Stuart Benjamin remains an adviser to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, everything that comes out of the commission relating to broadcasting will be suspect. How much of this or that policy is intended to achieve the stated goal (more diversity, localism, better kids' programming) and how much meant simply to weaken broadcasting so that the FCC can recover the spectrum for other purposes? So far, Chairman Genachowski has shown little interest in broadcasting. It's come up primarily in the context of a proposal to shift some of the broadcast spectrum to wireless broadband operators. That has put broadcasters on the defensive, afraid to even talk to the FCC about spectrum. The presence of Benjamin is now pushing broadcasters from defensiveness to hostility. It wasn't just what Benjamin said, it was how he said it. To him, over-the-air broadcasting is something to scrape off your shoe before stepping into the future. For the record, Benjamin isn't advocating driving broadcasters out of business. He just wants to drive them off the airwaves. He believes that they can continue as cable channels and that idea has some merit. He also opposes indecency regulation. But Chairman Genachowski should at least add some balance to his spectrum policy team. He should hire an adviser or two who has actually worked in broadcasting and believes in its future as an over-the-air medium. And if the broadcasters' mobile DTV effort fizzles and their over-the-air audience continues to dwindle and it comes time to talk about a spectrum deal, the broadcasters will have someone at the FCC they can talk to, someone they can trust.
benton.org/node/30730 | TVNewsCheck
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WIRELESS
VERIZON RESPONDS TO FCC ON ETFs
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Verizon Wireless defended its recent decision to double penalties for smart-phone customers who leave their contracts early (known as early termination fee or ETF), telling the Federal Communications Commission that it needed to do so to keep up with the rising costs of mobile devices that it is subsidizes for its users -- and the "costs and risks of providing service, which include advertising, commission, store costs, and network costs." Verizon said consumers are protected from the fees being too onerous: They are given 30 days to leave a contract without penalty; a user can buy a phone at full price without signing a long-term contract; and termination fees are prorated throughout the length of the contract. The Verizon letter reveals nothing but tries to pass itself off as a manifesto that anything it does is good for consumers. Verizon writes: "The new ETF structure for Advanced Devices begins at $350 and declines by $10 per month for a two-year contract. Thus, a customer terminating in the last month of a two- year contract term could be assessed an ETF of $120. This ETF structure is fair and reasonable for several reasons. First, taking customers who terminate their contracts before the end of the contract term as a whole, Verizon Wireless still incurs a financial loss from early terminations, even with the $350 ETF. Second, prorating the ETF to zero in the last month would mean that, to recoup the same amount of the losses caused by early terminations as a whole, Verizon Wireless would have to set the starting amount for the ETF higher than $350." The letter drew immediate criticism from consumer groups that said Verizon is unfairly charging consumers for costs unassociated with the phones. Such policies, they say, deter users from switching carriers even when they move to areas without service and can add up to hundreds of dollars of penalties for households that want to terminate service even close to the end of their contracts.
benton.org/node/30738 | Washington Post | GigaOM | TechDailyDose | Reuters | Read Verizon's letter | Free Press
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AT&T SURVIVES OPERATION CHOKEHOLD
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Philip Elmer-DeWitt]
The appointed hour — Friday, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. PST — came and went and AT&T's wireless had not been brought to its knees, despite the best efforts of thousands of Apple iPhone users. "As far as I can tell, there's been no impact at all," wrote Dan Lyons in The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs at 12:19 p.m. "My iPhone is working just the same as ever. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30733 | Fortune
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CAN AT&T TAME THE IHOGS?
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Peter Burrows, Olga Kharif]
With the smartphone fast replacing the PC as the center of many consumers' digital lives, changes in the way people use mobile computing are inevitable. Analysts and other experts say wireless operators need to train American consumers that bandwidth isn't unlimited. That won't just be good for phone companies; it'll be good for virtually all mobile phone users. Today, AT&T says 3% of iPhone users account for 40% of the traffic on its data network. The other 97% may get better, cheaper service if YouTube video and online radio addicts paid more for the network upgrades required to support their habits. "It's not a question of if this changes, it's a question of when," says analyst Charles S. Golvin of Forrester Research. The moment may be upon us. In an interview, AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega says the carrier is mulling changes to the $30-a-month unlimited data plan that most of the company's smartphone customers use. He emphasizes that no final decisions have been made, but AT&T could institute tiered pricing models similar to today's voice plans or caps on the amount of bandwidth a consumer could use before getting bumped to a slower, cheaper network. "Carriers need to end up with a sustainable model," says de la Vega.
benton.org/node/30720 | BusinessWeek
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THE APP STORE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
In 2007 Steve Jobs launched the iPhone with a fanfare of fiery rhetoric. The iPhone, Apple's chief executive claimed, was three "revolutionary" devices in one. Combining a touch-controlled iPod media player, a phone and an "Internet communicator", the iPhone was "a leapfrog product that is way smarter than any mobile device has ever been". In contrast, when Mr Jobs introduced the App store a little less than 18 months ago, his vocabulary was considerably more muted. The digital distribution channel, he said, was a "pretty cool" way for programmers to get their applications into the hands of millions of iPhone users. Yet, more than 2bn downloads later, the app phenomenon that has fueled and fed off the iPhone's success not only appears more significant than that blockbuster product, it might prove to be the most important thing Apple has ever created. Apps for the iPhone and an array of imitators are generating billions of dollars in annual sales even as most of the technology industry slumps. They have proved the key to Apple's disrupting of a fourth industry after computers, music, and phones: the world of video games. And they have created a gold rush mentality in Silicon Valley and elsewhere as coders try to strike it rich with a new gimmick or must-have feature.
benton.org/node/30755 | Financial Times
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BUDGET
FCC, NTIA FUNDING APPROVED
[SOURCE: The White House]
On Wednesday, December 16, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 3288, which provides FY 2010 appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, and other agencies. The law restricts the Federal Communications Commission from changing its universal service rules regarding single connection or primary line restrictions. The FCC is directed to work expeditiously to conduct a successful auction of the D Block spectrum so that first responders have an interoperable communications network. The FCC is urged to ensure that public, educational, and governmental (PEG) channels remain on the basic service tier of programming and to prevent cable service providers from impeding the public's access to PEG programming. For the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the law requires a report to Congress by June 1, 2010 detailing the collection of reimbursements from other agencies related to spectrum management, analyses, and research. By mid-January, the NTIA and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting must issue a report to Congress clarifying the funding authorities of the two agencies for the Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction program which has been the primary source for telecommunications infrastructure assistance for public radio and television stations seeking assistance, particularly in under-served rural areas. Congress is concerned that some Federal agencies may not be improving controls over wireless networks. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30721 | White House, The
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TELEVISION/VIDEO
PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS ASK FCC FOR RULEMAKING ON SET-TOP BOXES
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer, M. Chris Riley, Matthew Wood]
Public Knowledge, Free Press, Media Access Project, Consumers Union, CCTV Center for Media & Democracy, and the Open Technology Initiative of New America Foundation are asking the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a rulemaking to address the lack of competition in the video device market. Specifically, they ask that the FCC: 1) combine all open proceedings relating to cable set-top box commercial availability and device interoperability, 2) freeze all separable security waiver requests until the rules are updated, and 3) issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to require a standards-based gateway for accessing the video services of all multichannel video programming distributors.
benton.org/node/30723 | Public Knowledge
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DIRECTV: LEAVE OUR SET-TOP OUT OF IT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
DirecTV continues to argue that it should not be subjected to the same Federal Communications Commission regulations that require cable to let retail consumer electronics — like TiVo DVRs — access programming without a separate set-top box. The satellite-TV giant reiterated in a filing with the FCC last week that it should not be required to open its set-top boxes to allow consumer-electronics manufacturers to sell devices at retail that would be able to access its satellite TV programming along with other sources of video. In the Dec. 15 filing, DirecTV responded to the FCC's request for input on how Internet-delivered video and pay TV operators' services could be accessed through the same set-top box, and potentially further the national adoption of broadband. Specifically, the agency said it wanted to "spur the development of a retail market for nationally portable video devices that will work across all delivery platforms, including MVPD [multichannel video programming distribution] platforms and broadband-based video platforms." The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has long advocated an "all-MVPD solution" that would work across cable, satellite and telco TV — an approach also favored by consumer-interest groups.
benton.org/node/30742 | Multichannel News
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FCC SETS ITS SIGHTS ON FIBER EXEMPTION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has circulated an order that would narrow the so-called terrestrial loophole by applying the 1992 Cable Act's prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices. The Cable Act requires pay TV distributors to make "satellite cable programming," such as networks, in which they hold a financial interest available to their competitors on a nondiscriminatory basis (section 628c for those keeping track). But current FCC rules allow providers to withhold such programming from competitors in instances where it isn't distributed via satellite. According to the sources, the order does not add "and terrestrial" to the exclusivity prohibition. Instead, it says the ban in that section can be extended to terrestrially delivered programming if a case can be made that an exclusive contract violates the rule against "unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices." (Section 628b, for those still keeping score.)
benton.org/node/30741 | Multichannel News
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SATELLITE BILL VOTE ON SATURDAY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a vote for 7:30 a.m. on Saturday on the defense appropriations bill (HR 3326) which includes an amendment that acts as a stop-gap measure so satellite and cable operators can continue for 60 days to deliver distant network-affiliated TV station signals into markets across the country. That's because legislators could not agree on reauthorizing the full Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) in time to make the Dec. 31 sunset date. The main sticking point appears to be a deal that would allow DISH Network back into the distant-signal business in exchange for delivering local TV stations signals into every market in the country (the smallest markets are uneconomical to serve). On Saturday, the Senate passed the measure 88-10. The spending measure now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.
benton.org/node/30719 | Broadcasting&Cable
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TV'S POPULARITY ON THE RISE
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Paul Bond]
Even though Americans are pushing domestic boxoffice revenue to new highs, an increasing number of them are indicating they'd rather save money and watch television. According to Deloitte's fourth annual "State of the Media Democracy" report, due out today, 34 percent of Americans cite TV as their favorite medium, up from 27 percent last year. Second through fourth, respectively, were Internet, music and books, all of which are perceived by the average consumer as being less expensive than a night out at the movies. While 71 percent of respondents say watching TV is one of their top media choices, only 22 percent listed going to the movies among their top 3. This year's results suggest that consumers are increasingly looking to stay home for their entertainment rather than open their wallets. Asked whether they are looking to scale back entertainment purchases, 72 percent of American consumers responded in the affirmative.
benton.org/node/30718 | AdWeek
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SEE YOU IN COURT ...
COURT ASKS FCC TO DEFEND MEDIA OWNERSHIP STAY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has given the Federal Communications Commission and backers of its position three weeks to explain why the court should not lift the years-long stay on the FCC's media ownership rule rewrite and start hearing the legal challenges. The judges want more input on why the court should not lift the stay on the revised newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule and set a schedule for briefs on court challenges to that rule -- both those currently before the court and those held in abeyance. In particular, they said, "the parties are directed to address the Media Parties' argument in their status report that, despite proceedings over the last several years repealing the 1975 Ban [on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership] that ban remains in effect. The parties shall file responses to this order to show cause within twenty-one days of the date of this order."
benton.org/node/30734 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CITADEL BROADCASTING FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Citadel Broadcasting, the nation's third-largest radio broadcasting company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday in an effort to restructure its hefty debt load as it continues to face declining advertising revenue. Citadel owns and operates 224 radio stations in all major markets and produces news and talk radio programing for 4,000 station affiliates and 8,500 program affiliates. Citadel's WABC is home to several syndicated hosts, including Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough and Mark Levin. In documents filed in US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Las Vegas-based Citadel listed total assets at Oct. 30 of $1.4 billion and total debt of $2.46 billion. The company said in a statement it has reached an agreement with more than 60 percent of its lenders on a deal that would erase about $1.4 billion of debt in exchange for control of the company.
benton.org/node/30746 | Associated Press
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JAN 13 FOR FOX VS FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Apparently, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York has scheduled oral arguments in Fox vs. the Federal Communications Commission for January 13. The court will give 22 minutes a side for argument. The court is hearing the case on instructions from the Supreme Court, which overturned the Second Circuit's decision that the FCC's crackdown on fleeting profanity was arbitrary and capricious and remanded the decision back to the court. The FCC concluded that the "vulgar expletives" uttered by Cher and Nicole Richie during a Fox 2002 broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards were a violation of community standards for broadcasting. The Second Circuit can now get into the First Amendment issues raised by that indecency decision, but which it did not reach in the first go-around.
benton.org/node/30732 | Broadcasting&Cable
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FRENCH COURT BLOCKS GOOGLE BOOKS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sophie Hardach]
A Paris court on Friday found Google guilty of violating copyright by digitizing books and putting extracts online, following a legal challenge by major French publishers. The court found against Google after the La Martiniere group, which controls the highbrow Editions du Seuil publishing house, argued that publishers and authors were losing out in the latest stage of the digital revolution.
benton.org/node/30731 | Reuters | MediaPost
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OWNERSHIP/CONTENT
GLICKMAN DEFENDS INDUSTRY MEETING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Chairman Dan Glickman called this week's meeting of copyright industry representatives with Vice President Joe Biden, as well as the attorney general, head of the FBI and the secretary of Homeland Security, "very productive," and said the folks who criticized it were "dead wrong." He also defended the industry's request to the Federal Communications Commission for a waiver of its selectable output controls, and said he thought there was a way to protect content and still find common ground with the FCC on network neutrality. The meeting, was requested by the vice president's office to get more information about the copyright industry, Glickman said in an interview for C-SPAN's Communicators series.
benton.org/node/30717 | Broadcasting&Cable
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FROM FREE TO 'FREEMIUM'
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Ari Levy, Greg Bensinger]
LinkedIn, ESPN, Skype and other Web sites, which reeled in users with free content, are now boosting sales by adding features that customers have to pay for. LinkedIn introduced a product last month that helps recruiting agencies scour the networking site for job candidates. In June, ESPN merged its online magazine with its Insider service, which costs $6.95 a month. Skype has added features such as voice mail and calling plans that allow users to dial land-line phones for a monthly fee. The shift reflects a desire by Web site owners to reduce their dependence on online advertising. Instead, they're attracting visitors with free content and then selling them premium services or subscriptions, a model known as "freemium." U.S. consumers will spend $8.55 billion on Web content such as games, music and dating in 2010, up 13 percent from this year, according to Forrester Research.
benton.org/node/30714 | Bloomberg
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JOURNALISM
SUMMARIZING COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO FTC ON JOURNALISM
[SOURCE: SaveTheNews.org, AUTHOR: Amy Reiter]
In the lead-up to this month's Federal Trade Commission workshop on the future of journalism, the agency invited the public to submit comments for consideration. After sifting through the 300-some pages of comments on the FTC's Web site, it was clear that everyone agreed on two points: Nobody's happy with the state of journalism today, yet everybody thinks that reputable journalism is worth saving. So how to fix the former so that the latter flourishes? The advice runs the gamut. While some comments discuss current laws, others explore new funding sources mostly government sources to help support or create media jobs. In general, media companies including a group of TV stations argue that consolidation has cut costs without cutting coverage, including local emergency reporting.
benton.org/node/30729 | SaveTheNews.org
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NEWS ABOUT THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Tim Rutten]
[Commentary] This era is like no other in American journalism: People are consuming more news than ever before, but they're also far more critical of its purveyors than they've ever been. We remain generally agreed that a free press is democracy's cornerstone, but there's less consensus than ever on what the news media ought to be -- or, for that matter, what rapid technological, economic and demographic change will allow it to be. That makes three sets of little-noticed numbers released this week of more than passing interest. The first set has to do with the audiences of the three cable news networks. For the first time, CNN's prime-time broadcasts will finish the year in third place, behind Fox and MSNBC among the 25- to 54-year-old viewers advertisers regard as the desirable television audience. To some, that seems to suggest that the television news audience is increasingly split along ideological lines. Fox has made itself king of the prime-time ratings hill by programming a slate of right-wing commentators, while MSNBC has set itself up as the progressive alternative. CNN's attempt to play it down the journalistic middle looks like a ratings loser. So, is the lesson here that most Americans want their news refracted through the sort of forthrightly ideological lens both Fox and MSNBC now provide? No, and here's why.
benton.org/node/30756 | Los Angeles Times
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ETHNIC MEDIA'S FOUR-STEP MODEL
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Sandra Ordonez]
[Commentary] Experts seem to agree that newspapers needed to focus on both niche marketing and community building techniques to be successful. Ethnic media outlets, in many ways, have been doing these things for years. Obviously, while they still face the same challenges as their mainstream cousins, it seems as though they can provide valuable guidance and wisdom on certain philosophies that mainstream newspapers will have to adapt to be successful.
benton.org/node/30713 | Columbia Journalism Review
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TRAFFIC AT NEWSPAPER SITES DECLINE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
The difficult comparisons of the November 2008 presidential news cycle meant that more than half of the top 30 newspaper Web sites lost unique users in November 2009. USAToday.com, NYTimes.com and the LA Times lost more than 20% of its unique users in November 2009 year-over-year. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal eked out gains up 2% and 6% respectively. Newsday went behind a pay wall in late October -- unique users for that month were 2.2 million. In November, Newsday had 1.7 million uniques. The top newspaper Web site on the list that has the most sessions per user? That would be the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at 5.43.
benton.org/node/30728 | Editor&Publisher
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HEALTH
SHARP PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Department of Health and Human Services, AUTHOR: Dr. David Blumenthal]
A key component of securing a healthy future for all Americans relies on harnessing innovation in health information technology. The new Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program announced Friday and funded at a level of $60 million through the HITECH Act, is designed with this purpose in mind. This program will fund projects in areas of research where breakthrough advances are needed to address barriers in health IT adoption. Addressing these breakthrough areas will require the most advanced thinking the nation can bring to bear. Each research project will be charged with formulating and executing an ambitious research agenda. This research agenda will focus on specific goals of HITECH, and the challenges to adoption of health IT and achieving meaningful use that are critical to realizing the full promise of health IT. Each research project will be responsible for thinking ahead of the curve and developing innovative solutions to navigate health IT barriers. The projects selected for participation in the SHARP Program will implement a collaborative, multidisciplinary program of research addressing short-term and long-term challenges within one of four focus areas: security of health IT, patient-centered cognitive support, health care application and network architectures, and secondary use of EHR data. Research in these areas is critical to improving health care through the use of health IT.
benton.org/node/30727 | Department of Health and Human Services | HHS press release | SHARP Program | GovernmentHealthIT
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ONC NOT IDLE
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
While the Health and Human Services Department must still rule on the definition, standards and certification requirements for meaningful use, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and its advisory team are moving ahead with plans for next year and beyond. "We are beginning to think about what follows and the implementation of programs under way and some of the thorny issues we will be dealing with in the implementation process," said Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator. At a Dec. 15 meeting of ONC's Health IT Policy Committee, Dr. Paul Tang, the panel co-chairman, said that it will hold hearings in early 2010 so that public and private healthcare providers and other organizations can contribute to the development of 2013 and 2015 meaningful use criteria. In January, representatives of states will offer their view of barriers and prospects for information exchange in their regions and coordination with federal health IT programs. In February, experts will be invited to discuss sharing data, including outcomes, with patients and their families. Meanwhile, the healthcare IT community awaits the product of a year's work by ONC and its advisors: federal meaningful use rules that will govern a good portion of health IT investment and development over the next five years.
benton.org/node/30726 | GovernemntHealthIT
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NO SHIELD (AGAIN)
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Another year has passed with no federal shield law to protect journalists and their sources from overreaching prosecutors. The bill, which seemed at one time this year to be headed toward the president's desk after decades of near- and not-so-near misses, will almost certainly have to wait until next year. It is in part a victim of the current tussle over health care, which is occupying a lot of time and attention. But it is also a victim of Republican stalling and White House waffling. It is time for the Senate to join the House and pass a shield law. And while they are at it, they can follow the House's lead and pass the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act.
benton.org/node/30743 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Rick Weiss]
As part of its proceeding on public access to published, federally funded research, on Monday December 21, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will ask the public to weigh in on such questions as: In what format should data be submitted in order to make it easy to search and retrieve information, and to make it easy for others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit? How are these anticipated to change?
[Rick Weiss is Director of Strategic Communications and a Senior Policy Analyst at OSTP]
benton.org/node/30744 | White House, The
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KIDS AND MEDIA
GETTING KIDS TO EMBRACE COMPUTING CAREERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
Hybrid careers that combine computing with other fields will increasingly be the new American jobs of the future, labor experts say. In other words, the nation's economy is going to need more cool nerds. But not enough young people are embracing computing — often because they are leery of being branded nerds. Educators and technologists say two things need to change: the image of computing work, and computer science education in high schools. Teacher groups, professional organizations like the Association for Computing Machinery and the National Science Foundation are pushing for these changes, but so are major technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Intel. One step in their campaign came the week of Dec. 7, National Computer Science Education Week, which was celebrated with events in schools and online. Today, introductory courses in computer science are too often focused merely on teaching students to use software like word processing and spreadsheet programs, said Janice C. Cuny, a program director at the National Science Foundation. The Advanced Placement curriculum, she added, concentrates narrowly on programming. "We're not showing and teaching kids the magic of computing," Ms. Cuny said. The agency is working to change this by developing a new introductory high school course and seeking to overhaul Advanced Placement courses as well. It hopes to train 10,000 high school teachers in the modernized courses by 2015.
benton.org/node/30750 | New York Times
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KIDS DROPPING FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katie Hafner]
Facebook, the popular networking site, has 350 million members worldwide who, collectively, spend 10 billion minutes there every day, checking in with friends, writing on people's electronic walls, clicking through photos and generally keeping pace with the drift of their social world. But many teenagers, especially girls, are recognizing the huge distraction Facebook presents — the hours it consumes every day, to say nothing of the toll it takes during finals and college applications, according to parents, teachers and the students themselves. Some teenagers form a support group to enforce their Facebook hiatus. Others deactivate their accounts. Still others ask someone they trust to change their password and keep control of it until they feel ready to have it back.
benton.org/node/30751 | New York Times
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TECH AND OLDER GENERATIONS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michelle Maltais]
Despite the challenge of learning a new language and a new way of doing things, for many seniors, using the Web, e-mailing, Skyping the grandkids, playing video games and tapping out Facebook updates from their iPhones have become everyday activities. "As each year passes by, the demographic starts getting more and more comfortable with the technology," said Howard Byck, senior vice president for lifestyle products for AARP. And technology appears to be getting more comfortable going a little gray too. Entrepreneurs and researchers are stepping up developing products and services for seniors, including high-tech walking canes with gyroscopes and Internet-based services that encourage social networking.
benton.org/node/30747 | Los Angeles Times
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