For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
CABLE
FCC to Examine Cable Ownership Rules
Cable Group Takes On Big Interests
Cable's Eyes on Wireless Prize
TELEVISION
Stay Tuned for Balance Debates
With Ratings Tight, TV Networks Vie For Richest Viewers
Venezuela Backing International News Channel
Web Pulls Ad Buyers From TV
Pols Seek Softer DTV Date For Translators
MUNICIPAL/GOVERNMENT BROADBAND
The Case For Municipal Broadband
Deceptive Myths About Municipal Broadband
The Six Leading Access Technologies
Information Security: Federal Agencies Need to Improve
Controls over Wireless Networks
QUICKLY -- Gene Kimmelman Profile; 911 dialing for Internet phones; Power
to the Edges -- Online Civic Engagement; I Want My God-TV
CABLE
FCC TO EXAMINE CABLE OWNERSHIP RULES
On Tuesday the FCC announced the adoption of a rulemaking proceeding that
examines the Commission's cable horizontal and vertical ownership
limits. The Commission intends to take a fresh look at rules that are
meant to foster competition and diversity in the video programming market.
The proceeding seeks additional comment and empirical evidence to enable
the Commission to formulate sustainable cable horizontal and vertical
ownership limits. The Notice suggests regulatory approaches and solicits
empirical evidence and theoretical justification supporting or
contradicting each of the suggested approaches by taking the following
actions: 1) Examining the legal framework governing cable ownership, 2)
Examining industry developments that may affect the development of
sustainable cable ownership limits, 3) Examining the relevant product and
geographic markets, the economic basis for establishing particular cable
horizontal and vertical ownership limits and the potential benefits and
harms of cable industry consolidation; and 4) Addressing the viability of
proposals for setting limits suggested in the record in response to a 2001
rulemaking proceeding. In a joint statement, FCC Commissioners Copps and
Adelstein expressed disappointment that the Commission never acted on the
four year old proceeding -- and ask that it now become a top priority.
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
* Press Release:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258699A1.doc
* Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-96A1.doc
* Copps & Adelstein Joint Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-96A2.doc
Coverage --
* FCC Tries Again On Cable Ownership
Media Access Project has threatened to take the FCC to court if the sale of
Adelphia assets to industry giants Comcast and Time Warner is approved
before a new cable limit is imposed. MAP President Andrew Schwartzman said
setting a limit has increased in importance because the pay-TV industry is
more concentrated than it was in 2001. Schwartzman said he supports new FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin's decision to seek a new round of comments on cable
ownership because the record generated by the 2002 attempt is stale.
Nevertheless, Schwartzman doubted that Chairman Martin would set a limit
low enough to gain MAP's support for the final product.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA602187?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* FCC Opens Cable-Ownership Rulemaking
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA602137.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* FCC To Review Cable Ownership Regs
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-JUSV1116363915680.html
CABLE GROUP TAKES ON BIG INTERESTS
An association of smaller cable operators kicked off its annual convention
in Washington Monday by pushing a list of public policy proposals that it
wants to see Congress and the FCC adopt on behalf of rural cable and
communications customers. Among the groups that ACA aims to challenge:
local broadcasts and the broadcasting networks, direct broadcast satellite
companies, telecommunications companies seeking to expand into video
services and the broadband division of the Agriculture Department's Rural
Utility Service. ACA has taken the lead in Washington -- even garnering
support from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and
BellSouth -- in a petition urging the FCC to jettison a decades-old rule
protecting local broadcasters against out-of-market competitors, part of a
campaign -- admittedly uphill -- to eliminate the ability for broadcasters
and networks to charge cable operators a "retransmission consent" fee.
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-ROSG1116358390804.html
CABLE'S EYES ON WIRELESS PRIZE
Large cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have been able to
offer television programming, high-speed Internet connections and, most
recently, phone service. But, unlike phone companies, they haven't been
offering a wireless product. After the recent spate of deals among huge
telecommunications companies, all eyes are now focused on their rivals:
cable companies. Cable companies have been in talks with wireless companies
for months about joining forces as a way to give cable operators another
weapon in their battle against the telephone giants. The repercussions
would be especially significant if such a move was made by Comcast Corp.,
the country's largest cable operator, with more than 21 million
subscribers. The question Wall Street is asking is whether Comcast will act
as part of a cable-industry consortium, or strike an alliance of its own.
The most attractive partner may be T-Mobile USA , which isn't a direct
threat to Comcast in the way that SBC Communications and Verizon
Communications have become. An alliance with the newly formed Sprint-Nextel
Communications is also possible, as Sprint has aggressively pursued deals
with cable companies. But Comcast may prefer to get involved with a company
over whom it could have greater influence.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant( at )wsj.com,
Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker( at )wsj.com and Dennis K. Berman
dennis.berman( at )wsj.com ]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111638321449636624,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
TELEVISION
STAY TUNED FOR BALANCED DEBATES
CPB's independent inspector general, Kenneth Konz, said he will investigate
charges by two key House Democrats that CPB Board President Ken Tomlinson
violated the Public Broadcasting Act by commissioning a political content
review of Now with Bill Moyers and recruiting a White House staff member to
write guidelines for CPB's new ombudsmen. If the controversy flags, it's
sure to revive next year if Tomlinson seeks reappointment to the board,
which requires Senate confirmation. His term expires in fall 2006. The
danger to public broadcasting is that the partisan struggle will continue,
poisoning CPB's reputation and perhaps public TV's. CPB's drive for
political balance on the air could lead to a public or private showdown
with PBS over editorial standards. The corporation's annual production aid
to PBS, worth $26.5 million next year, will depend on its approval of the
PBS standards on balance and other journalistic issues, now being reviewed
by a panel of outside journalists. Further conflict could be expected if
CPB hires Tomlinson's reported candidate for president, Patricia Harrison,
a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee who is now an
assistant secretary of state.
[SOURCE: Current, AUTHOR: Karen Everhart and Jeremy Egner]
http://www.current.org/cpb/cpb0509mess.shtml
* CPB Turns to NPR as Latest "Bias" Target
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2516
WITH RATINGS TIGHT, TV NETWORKS VIE FOR RICHEST VIEWERS
What viewers with higher incomes watch on TV is becoming more important to
the broadcast networks as they try to set themselves apart from the pack
and sell their fall schedules to advertisers. The four primary broadcast
networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- are finishing the season in one of the
tightest ratings races ever. Last year, the networks finished with 1.4
ratings points separating them; this year they're running only 0.3 of a
ratings point apart. To distinguish themselves to advertisers, broadcasters
increasingly are touting how popular their shows are with moneyed viewers.
Networks can charge advertisers a premium for delivering wealthy viewers,
since they are the hardest group to reach. High-income people tend to be
light television watchers, and are also more likely to own ad-skipping
devices such as TiVo. NBC, for example, has long played up the youth and
wealth of its viewers, and charges advertisers a premium of 5% to 20% to
reach them. Baiting wealthy types is also a strategy, some network ad
executives say, to lure more luxury marketers to broadcast TV -- a popular
medium for pitching shampoo and crackers, but not five-star hotels and
private jets.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111638115994136568,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
VENEZUELA BACKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS CHANNEL
On May 24 Venezuela's President Hugo Chvez will launch Televisora del Sur
(Telesur) -- TV of the South -- a 24-hour hemispheric TV news network, with
Venezuelan journalist Aram Aharonian at the helm. The idea, Chvez has
explained, is to combat "the conspiracy" by foreign networks to ignore or
distort information about Latin America. "We have been trained to see
ourselves through foreign eyes," Aharonian says. "Europeans and Americans
see us in black and white, and yet this is a Technicolor continent."
Chvez's Telesur is drawing comparisons to Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab
satellite network. Al-Jazeera has been criticized repeatedly by the U.S.
government and military for inflammatory and biased reporting in Iraq and
elsewhere in the Middle East. New sources of news can be healthy, says John
Dinges, associate professor of journalism at Columbia University in New
York. "I am in favor of initiatives that create additional voices in the
news," he says. "Al-Jazeera, for example, has made an important impact on
journalism in the Middle East." If Telesur is a propaganda tool for Chvez,
"that's politics, not journalism," Dinges says. "But if it's being done in
order to spread an alternative journalistic voice, it will be good
journalism and a contribution." Telesur's programming, available by
satellite, will be split between news and "Latin America interest"
documentaries, reaching viewers across South, Central and North America.
The network is a regional endeavor: Argentina owns 20%, Cuba 19% and
Uruguay 10%. But Venezuela, with 51%, is the main player: The government
has provided $2.5 million in start-up money. Other funding will come from
corporate sponsors, though not advertising.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Danna Harman]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050518/a_venezuelatv18.art.htm
WEB PULLS AD BUYERS FROM TV
After years of siphoning ad dollars from newspapers and magazines, the
Internet is starting to chip away at the biggest and most powerful medium
of all: television. The Internet has become another dark cloud on the
horizon, threatening to shrink the $60-billion-a-year market for broadcast
network, cable and local TV ads. Online ad revenue surged 33% to $9.6
billion in the United States last year and is expected to grow as much this
year. A recent study by Forrester Research found that people spend 34% of
their media consumption time, including both home and work, on the
Internet. That's slightly more than the amount of time they spend watching
TV. Still, only 6% of advertising dollars go to the Web. Some broadcast
executives discount the threat. Broadcast networks reach more than 98% of
the estimated 110 million homes with TV sets in the United States, and
marketers say most online ads can't stir up consumers' emotions like the
traditional 30-second spot. But the broadcast networks already are under
pressure from cable television, video-on-demand and ad-skipping
technologies. They also face advertiser resistance to their tradition of
hiking ad rates year after year even as they lose viewers. The broadcast
networks' share of TV-watching time fell to 43% this season from 53% in
1999, according to Nielsen Media Research. But during that period,
prime-time ad revenue jumped 33% to $9.5 billion, according to Goldman Sachs.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Chris Gaither and Meg James]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-internet18may18,1,188...
(requires registration)
POLS SEEK SOFTER DATE FOR TRANSLATORS
Thirteen legislators from states with significant rural areas have sent a
letter to House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and ranking
member John Dingell (D-MI) asking that a new DTV transition bill include a
gradual phase-in for TV translators. Some rural areas need translators to
carry TV signals to mountainous and remote areas where direct reception is
limited. The translators are hard to access and thus costly to upgrade.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA602241.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
MUNICIPAL/GOVERNMENT BROADBAND
THE CASE FOR MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
There are 2,007 municipalities in the United States that provide electric
service to their residents. By 2004, at least 621 of these provided some
sort of communications services to residents as well. This number is
expected to grow. This article attempts to outline some of the prominent
arguments supporting the movement toward municipal broadband, and to
evaluate some of the central arguments against it.
[SOURCE: Broadband Properties, AUTHOR: Carl Kandutsch]
http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2005issues/may05issues/Carl_Kandutsch...
DECEPTIVE MYTHS ABOUT MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
From the home office of the Baller Herbst Law Group, the Top Ten myths
surrounding municipal broad-band. Myth #10. Municipalities should not
invest in risky projects when the private sector is ready, willing and able
to serve the community's needs. Myth #9: Municipalities have unfair access
to poles, ducts, conduits, rights of way, and other public facilities. Myth
#8: Municipal communications projects raise First Amendment concerns. Myth
#7: Municipalities drive investment capital out of the market. Myth #6:
Municipal communications projects are likely to fail. Myth #5
Municipalities use public funds to cross-subsidize communications services.
Myth #4: Municipalities don't have to pay taxes. Myth #3: Municipalities
have access to cheap financing. Myth #2: Municipalities, as regulators,
favor their own service entities over the private companies they regulate.
And the #1 Myth: Municipalities want to compete with the private sector.
[SOURCE: Broadband Properties, AUTHOR: Jim Baller]
http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2005issues/may05issues/Jim_Baller_Ten...
THE SIX LEADING ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
There are six leading groups of broad-band access technologies, with many
flavors of each available: 1) Hybrid Fiber Coax, 2) Digital Subscriber
Line, 3) Fiber to the Home, 4) Wireless, 5) Broadband over Powerline, and
6) Satellite. This paper explains them.
[SOURCE: Broadband Properties, AUTHOR: Sandy Teger and Dave Waks,
Co-founders, Broadband Home Central]
http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2005issues/may05issues/Sandy_Teger_an...
INFORMATION SECURITY: FEDERAL AGENCIES NEED TO IMPROVE CONTROLS OVER
WIRELESS NETWORKS
Wireless networks offer a wide range of benefits to federal agencies,
including increased flexibility and ease of network installation. They also
present significant security challenges, including protecting against
attacks to wireless networks, establishing physical control over
wireless-enabled devices, and preventing unauthorized deployments of
wireless networks. To secure wireless devices and networks and protect
federal information and information systems, it is crucial for agencies to
implement controls -- such as developing wireless security policies,
configuring their security tools to meet policy requirements, monitoring
their wireless networks, and training their staffs in wireless security.
However, federal agencies have not fully implemented key controls such as
policies, practices, and tools that would enable them to operate wireless
networks securely. Further, GAO tests of the security of wireless networks
at six federal agencies revealed unauthorized wireless activity and "signal
leakage" -- wireless signals broadcasting beyond the perimeter of the
building and thereby increasing the networks' susceptibility to attack.
Without implementing key controls, agencies cannot adequately secure
federal wireless networks and, as a result, their information may be at
increased risk of unauthorized disclosure, modification, or destruction.
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office]
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05383.pdf
*Government says Wi-Fi networks not secure
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0P34Z51RG5TUACRBAEOC...
QUICKLY
AND NOW, IN THE CONSUMERS' CORNER...
A profile of the ubiquitous, the unassuming, the unsinkable... Gene
Kimmelman of Consumers Union. "I have a pretty good sense of the political
trends, what is doable in Congress and the agencies," he says. His tag team
partner is Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of
America. "I'm the brains, he's the brawn," says Cooper, who's also a fellow
at the Center for Internet Society at Stanford University's Law School. He
posts his 44-page resume on his Web site,
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/. Cooper frequently appears
before state public utility commissions, but also conducts press briefings
and testifies on Capitol Hill. See what they are like -- and what they are
up against -- at the URL below.
[SOURCE: National Journal Insider Update, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-BLGC1116360448408.html
FCC SET TO REQUIRE 911 DIALING FOR INTERNET PHONES
Internet telephone providers will soon have to offer full emergency 911
calling services under an order the Federal Communications Commission is
expected to adopt Thursday in response to incidents of customers having
trouble getting help.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0P34Z51RG5TUACRBAEOC...
* FCC to Rule On 911 Access For Web Phones
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/17/AR200505...
(requires registration)
* FCC to Review Cable-TV Rules
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111636179170436103,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
POWER TO THE EDGES: TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN ONLINE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
The age of connectivity brought about by the Internet and other digital
information technologies is reshaping how Americans do business, obtain
news and information about the world, engage in social functions, shop,
express their creativity, and engage in community life. This report
provides an overview of the state of online democracy; what it is, where it
is headed, and what it means for activists and those who support them. A
literature review was completed, online discussions were monitored and
nineteen in-depth interviews with leaders in the fields of online
technologies, nonprofit capacity building, citizen engagement and social
networks were conducted. This effort is intended to be a snapshot in time,
not the ultimate guide, and to serve as a jumping off point for further
discussions to occur online about how these tools and the culture of online
civic engagement can be further developed and scaled for broader, deeper
and more lasting citizen action.
[SOURCE: E-Volve Foundation]
http://evolvefoundation.org/?q=pacesummary
I WANT MY GOD-TV
[Commentary] Facing low ratings, NBC sees the light and offers
biblically-themed programming.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-nbc18may18,1,2782...
(requires registration)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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