Communications-related Headlines for 11/30/98
CABLE & TELEVISION
1999: Big Year For Cable Regulation (B&C)
Digital Public Interest Demands Toned Down (B&C)
FCC Says Nets Do OK Job of Kids TV (B&C)
Media Talk: Internet News Fanatics Prefer Television Sites (NYT)
INTERNET
The Web's Free Ride (NYT)
U.S. Report on Net Commerce Set for Release (NYT)
White House to Unveil Plan to Expand Internet Projects in Developing
Nations (WSJ)
Start-Ups Pin Hopes on an Internet Route Through the Sky (NYT)
Internet Advertising, Just Like Its Medium, Is Pushing Boundaries (WSJ)
Where to Store the E-Mail (WP)
One Year Old and Off to School (WP)
Dept of Commerce and ICANN (NTIA)
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Candidate Carte Blanche (NYT)
RADIO
In Military-Run Niger, Station Manager Sees Talk Radio as Democratic
Duty (NYT)
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CABLE & TELEVISION
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1999: BIG YEAR FOR CABLE REGULATION
Issue: Cable
The cable industry is awaiting some important decisions from Washington in
the coming year. One of the biggest questions facing the industry is weather
they will be required to carry both broadcasters' analog and digital signals
as they make the transition to digital TV. The FCC will also determine
weather cable Internet services should be regulated as local telephone
service is. Meanwhile, Congress is scheduled to review laws regarding
satellite TV, which could potentially provide important competitor to cable.
Congress will also consider a bill to encourage competition by restricting
exclusive deals between programmers and distributors. Additionally, the bill
would allow communities to determine if their local cable franchise is
offering desirable programming at a fair price. If not, they could be forced
to offer different programming packages.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p98), AUTHOR: Bill McConnell and Paige
Albiniak]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
DIGITAL PUBLIC INTEREST DEMANDS TONED DOWN
Issue: DTV
The Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital TV
Broadcasters, known as the Gore Commission, has softened its recommendation
that cable operators should fully carry broadcasters' signals in return for
broadcasters meeting minimum public interest requirements. The current draft
of the committee's report still recommends mandatory minimum standards for
digital broadcasters, but it no longer ties 'must carry' to the fulfillment
of the minimum standards. 'Must carry' is offered as one option of
expediting the deployment of digital broadcasters that have met their
obligations to the American public. [For more info see
http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/piac.html]
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p11), AUTHOR: Paige Albiniak]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
FCC SAYS NETS DO OF JOB OF KIDS TV
Issue: Children's TV
While the major broadcast networks won approval from the Federal
Communications Commission for their programming aimed at children, media
advocacy groups say that both the networks and the FCC deserve bad grades
when it comes to kids. The Center for Media Education says there needs to be
stronger rules to prevent excessive preemption of kids' shows during
Saturday morning sporting events. The FCC found that children's shows were
preempted nearly 7% of the time on networked owned-and-operated stations.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p18), AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
MEDIA TALK: INTERNET NEWS FANATICS PREFER TELEVISION SITES
Issue: Internet
Broadcast and cable television news sites on the Internet attract more
people for a quick look at breaking headlines than newspaper sites,
according to a recent survey by Jupiter Communications. Eighty-seven
percent of Internet news consumers responding to the survey felt online news
was at least as reliable as more traditional news outlets. The main
attractions for those surveyed: national and international news (61%),
business news (39%), sports news (34%), and entertainment news (31%). The
study also concluded that few people on the Internet look at the video clips
that are available for some news events.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Felicity Barringer]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/media-talk.html
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INTERNET
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THE WEB'S FREE RIDE
Issue: Electronic Commerce
After heavy lobbying from the Internet industry, Congress overwhelmingly
passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Ledbetter warns that when consensus is
this strong, something is being ignored. First there is the problem of the
"digital divide" -- half the US homes with annual incomes over $75,000 have
Internet access while only 10% of the rural poor use the global computer
network. The Internet tax moratorium creates a duty-free zone that is
largely inaccessible for the poor. Second, electronic commerce confounds
traditional tax categories when a person in Chicago can make a purchase from
a Seattle company that maintains a website in California and ships the
product from Tennessee. The Clinton Administration will release an
interagency report on the Internet today and the White House is expected to
stay laissez-faire on Web commerce. A Congressionally-appointed advisory
commission will also study Internet taxation. Ledbetter concludes: "State
and local governments need to make the commission understand that they lose
revenue every time an Internet purchase is made, and that it must remember
those who don't have the opportunity to buy on the Web."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: James Ledbetter, The Industry Standard]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/30ledb.html
U.S. REPORT ON NET COMMERCE SET FOR RELEASE
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Ira Magaziner who has headed up the Clinton Administration's interagency
working group in electronic commerce will be wrapping up his White House
duties in the next few days following the release today of a report
establishing the foundation of the Administration's new Internet commerce
policy. The report argues for stronger consumer protection and privacy
rights. Many of the laissez-faire approaches supported by Magaziner seem
very different from his work on the proposed Clinton health care plan that
was criticized as government meddling. After his work on the failed health
care plan he began explorations in the Internet. Magaziner says, "It became
very clear to me that if we set the right environment, the Internet and
electronic commerce were going to explode." Magaziner feels he has
accomplished more than he expected and is prepared to return to private life.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/biztech/articles/30net.html
WHITE HOUSE TO UNVEIL PLAN TO EXPAND INTERNET PROJECTS IN DEVELOPING NATIONS
Issue: Internet Regulation
The White House has scheduled a ceremony today to announce a new electronic
commerce agenda. The plan includes: 1) financial assistance for Internet
projects in developing nations, 2) more research on information
technology's economic impact, 3) promotion of Internet use by small
businesses with Small Business Administration loans, 4) a request to
international trade groups to establish a set of consumer-protection
standards, and 5) a promise to keep the Federal Communications Commission's
regulations away from cyberspace. The most sweeping proposal would link
remote areas to the Internet via satellite through private-sector funding
and World Bank loans. The White House will also announce the replacement for
Ira Magaziner, the departing leader of the Administration's Internet
oversight efforts.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: John Simons]
http://www.wsj.com/
START-UPS PIN HOPES ON AN INTERNET ROUTE THROUGH THE SKY
Issue: Internet
In remote areas where traditional land lines are expensive or unavailable,
some customers have started to use satellites to access the Internet.
Start-up companies are eager to make satellite access more affordable and
widespread in places that don't already have a transmission infrastructure
in place. This technology is particularly useful in rural communities and
developing nations, where it is much faster to get Internet access thought
satellites than waiting for telephone or cable lines to be laid. Expense and
technical problems will probably prevent satellite Internet access from
becoming common in the general market.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/biztech/articles/30bird.html
INTERNET ADVERTISING, JUST LIKE ITS MEDIUM, IS PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Issue: Electronic Commerce
More than 80% of the Internet's available ad slots went unsold in 1997. Not
so in 1998. Outlays for online ad spending this year are expected to reach
$2 billion. Advertisers see new ways cyberspace can fit their strategies.
Major advertisers, like General Motors, are just looking for alternatives to
other expensive advertising. Startup companies buy advertising to get
noticed quickly. The Internet is learning how to target specific customers.
More than in radio or television, the Web also blurs the lines between
content and advertising. Most advertisers pay at least as much to reach an
Internet audience as they would for TV or magazine ads, typically $10 to $40
per 1,000 viewers. Shane Spitzer, who buys advertising for an online loan
service, says, "You get an incredible amount of information on what sites
work well and what sites don't. And you get it fast enough that you can
react to it."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: George Anders]
http://www.wsj.com/
WHERE TO STORE THE E-MAIL
Issue: E-mail
[Editorial] The National Archives faces a great challenge in its mandate to
keep government records, especially since it continues to struggle with the
best way to handle e-mail. The different systems used for electronic
documents within the government and the frequent updating of those systems
makes the archiving of documents more difficult. The courts have said the
Archives cannot ignore e-mail, even if paper documents are available." The
Archives' recent announcement that it had endorsed a standard for electronic
records management arrived at by the Defense Department is, therefore, a
sign of modest progress....How the government ends up storing its records for
posterity also will help shape the approach of libraries and academic
institutions. The stakes in this project are as enormous as its daunting
complexity."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A24), AUTHOR: WP Editorial Staff]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/30/001l-113098-idx.html
ONE YEAR OLD AND OFF TO SCHOOL
Issue: E-rate
The Schools and Libraries Corporation, the nonprofit company entrusted with
carrying out the federal e-rate program, has survived a rocky first year,
but they are beginning to show progress. Last week they sent letters to
3,000 schools and libraries nationwide, committing $73 million for Internet
improvements. That mailing was the first installment in their planned
payouts to schools and libraries that want to build or improve upon Internet
connections with money from monthly long-distance bills. The SLC is working
its way through 30,000 applications, one-third of which arrived within three
days of an April 15 deadline. They intend to commit up to $1.9 billion
dollars in three more waves of notifications between now and the end of
January 1999. SLC's acting chief executive, Kate L. Moore, says, "We will
have enough money to fund 'priority one' requests." Those are requests for
help with telecommunications and Internet services rather than inside wiring.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F5), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/30/021l-113098-idx.html
DEPT OF COMMERCE AND ICANN
Issue: Internet
Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/icann-memorandum.htm
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CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
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Candidate Carte Blanche
CANDIDATE CARTE BLANCHE
Issue: Campaign Fiance
[Op-ed] The rules for the next Presidential election are being written right
now and the message is that candidates can violate campaign finance rules
without consequence. With Janet Reno's refusal to appoint an independent
counsel to investigate Vice President Gore's fund raising role in 1996 and
the same likely decision concerning the President, we may see a return to
not only pre-Watergate days, but the robber baron days of 1907 -- the last
Presidential election that allowed candidates to receive unlimited campaign
contributions from corporations. Many likely Presidential candidates have
already formed political action committees (PACs) and are aggressively
raising soft money to be used on television advertising. The candidates,
citing President Clinton's last campaign, will claim that these are issue
advertisements and therefore outside the campaign finance laws. With a
front-loaded primary calendar for 2000, we can expect a lot of advertising
by Presidential candidates in 1999. Wertheimer concludes: "Absent quick
Congressional action on campaign finance reform, we are about to see our
next President chosen in a process that is corrupt to its core and likely to
taint the next President from the day he takes office. That's some way to
start a new millennium."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: Fred Wertheimer, President of
Democracy 21]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/30wert.html
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RADIO
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IN MILITARY-RUN NIGER, STATION MANAGER SEES TALK RADIO AS DEMOCRATIC DUTY
Issue: Journalism
When people in the African country of Niger want to get on the radio they
don't call into one of Radio Anfani's four independent stations -- they
walk in. Run by Gremah Boucar, Radio Anfani does not rely on the telephone
-- which is a luxury in this country -- to give people a chance to talk
about the issues that matter most to them. "It seems to me that journalism
goes with democracy," says Boucar, who produces health, news, and political
programming for the military run country if 10 million people. He call
journalism his "moral obligation."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C9), AUTHOR: Felicity Barringer]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/niger-radio-host.html
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