Australia to relax rules on media ownership
AUSTRALIA TO RELAX RULES ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Virginia Marsh]
July 2006
Canadian Media Group Offers to Buy Rival in Friendly Deal
CANADIAN MEDIA GROUP OFFER TO BUY RIVAL IN FRIENDLY DEAL
[SOURCE: New York Times]
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVISORY COUNCIL IV
Agenda –Fourth Meeting
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Federal Communications Commission Meeting Room
The Portals, 445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C.
10:00 AM -- Opening Jeffery Goldthorp, FCC Designated Federal Officer (DFO)
10:05 -- Introductions and Julius P. Knapp, Deputy Chief, Office of
Opening Remarks Engineering and Technology, FCC
Robert Lucky, Chairman,
and TAC Members
Meeting Focus: Broadband Communications Technology Development
Today's Quote 07.12.06
The feud over whether to prohibit network operators from making deals to prioritize certain Internet content is puzzling because it "amounts to holding a congressional vote on hypothetical business plans," Thomas Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, said in a luncheon speech here organized by the nonprofit Media Institute. "For consumers and the country, government regulation of this developing market is a lose-lose proposition," he said.
Bass Aide: No Telecom Bill in 2006
Tad Furtado, a telecommunications adviser to Rep Charles Bass (R-NH) said sharp policy disputes and election-year time constraints mean that a major telecommunications bill will not pass Congress in 2006. Furtado, a panelist at the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association convention in Newport (RI), said a wide policy gulf existed between Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) on rural phone-company subsidies, and the two lawmakers were unlikely to reach a compromise. "Sen. Stevens' interest in passing as part of the telecom bill comprehensive universal-service-fund reform is at direct odds with Chairman Barton's views on USF," Furtado said. "Although there's a small effort in the House Commerce Committee, led by Rep Lee Terry (R-NE), to engage the topic, we have not done the homework or built the record required for such an important topic. So I can't imagine that we will be able to conference a bill where Sen. Stevens is insisting on USF being part of it." Furtado suggested that a bill dealing strictly with cable-franchising issues had some hope. "The franchise stuff -- I think there is middle ground there," he added. But broader legislation, Furtado said, had little chance of success. "I just the think the differences between the Senate and House versions are just too great," he added. Assuming that Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the November elections, Furtado said, "I do think we'll get a bill ultimately next Congress."
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6351498.html?display=Breaking+News
Does Rupert Murdoch's DIRECTV Own Sen. Ted Stevens?
Swann follows up on an earlier report by Multichannel News noting that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is pushing legislation that could give the Rupert Murdoch owned-DIRECTV a huge advantage over the cable TV industry. In the broad telecom reform bill just passed by the Senate Commerce Committee are provisions that would require cable TV operators to carry all the digital TV signals from local stations. Stevens' aides blocked an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that would permit both cable and satellite TV operators to carry just the "primary video" feed rather than "any digital video signal." Consequently, as Stevens' bill now stands, cable TV operators would be required to carry all local digital TV signals while DIRECTV and EchoStar would not. If the language becomes law, this would give the satellite TV operators more flexibility in what channels and services they want to offer. It also could save DIRECTV and EchoStar considerable money because they wouldn't have to create space for the extra channels. Sen Stevens has not explained why he supports the legislation, but Swann reports that nearly 10 percent of the senator's 2005-2006 individual campaign contributions have come from employees of companies owned by Murdoch, such as News Corp., Fox and DIRECTV. Federal campaign law prohibits a company from contributing more than $5,000 to a single candidate per election. But the law permits each company employee to donate up to $2100 individually, with no limits on total company employee contributions. This loophole allows a company to significantly increase its total contributions to -- and influence with -- a single lawmaker.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/stevens070906.htm
* Part Two: Was Stevens Paid Off?
http://www.tvpredictions.com/stevensparttwo.htm
* See "An Indirect Path to Mandate"
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6350826.html
** And recall "Rush's Million Dollar Conflict?" http://www.benton.org/node/2128
Net Neutrality Debate still Simmers
NET NEUTRALITY DEBATE STILL SIMMERS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Universal Service Fund generated remarkably meager results for $50 billion
UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND GENERATED REMARKABLY MERGER RESULTS FOR $50 BILLION SPENT
[SOURCE: Jeff Pulver Blog, AUTHOR: Daniel Berninger, Tier1 Research]
USF by the Numbers Coalition
USF BY THE NUMBERS COALITION
[SOURCE: press release]
Will It Be TV Stations or Newspapers for Tribune?
WILL IT BE TV STATIONS OR NEWSPAPERS FOR TRIBUNE?
[SOURCE: AdAge 7/10, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]