December 2006

Two events of note at the FCC this week: 1) An open meeting and
possible new rules for video franchising (see story below) and 2) the
FCC Diversity Advisory Committee begins work again. For these and
other upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org

AGENDA
FCC Extends Media Ownership Comment Deadline To Jan. 16
FCC aims to Help Telcos offer TV Service Faster
Phone, Cable Companies to Battle in 2007

TELEVISION
TV Stations Asleep at the Wheel
Censured PBS Bunny Returns, Briefly
Smithsonian TV deal Irks Investigators
CBS Says Profanity Crackdown Is Illegal
Donovan Gives "White Spaces" Warning To Sports Broadcasters

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Tribune execs, family said to plan rival bids
Old Model Versus a Speedster
After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America
Copyright Tool Will Scan Web For Violations

QUICKLY -- Internet critical tool for political cash; Regular Folks,
Shooting History; A short circuit for cellular E911; Big Phone Firms
in Asia; Library Patrons Object To Some Graphic Novels

AGENDA

FCC EXTENDS MEDIA OWNERSHIP COMMENT DEADLINE TO JAN 16
[SOURCE: Radio&Records, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Yorke]
Some people just got some time freed up to catch up on their holiday
shopping... late Friday, in perhaps the first bag of gifts from Harry
Hanukkah, the FCC's Media Bureau agreed to extend to January 16 the
deadline for public comment on media-ownership rules. Last Tuesday,
Media General, a big proponent of loosing media ownership rules,
asked the Commission to consider its request to extend the December
21 comment deadline to Jan. 16 or, better yet, eliminate the
duplication of two comment periods and delay all comments until after
all 10 of the FCC-commissioned ownership studies are completed and
released. The FCC agreed with the first proposal, noting that "a
brief extension of time is necessary for parties to complete their
analyses and prepare a more comprehensive response" and a "more
complete" record after the holiday rush. But the government denied
the second part of the request, concluding that the public interest
would not be served by so long a delay.
http://radioandrecords.com/radiomonitor/news/business/top_news/article_d...
* FCC Order
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-2514A1.doc

FCC AIMS TO HELP TELECOS OFF TV SERVICE FASTER
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
The Federal Communications Commission this week hopes to do what
Congress could not accomplish this year -- help AT&T and Verizon get
into the television business faster. New subscription television
providers like the telephone carriers must apply with thousands of
cities and towns for permission to offer the service and they have
complained that the process could take years. The FCC is slated to
vote on Wednesday on a plan that would likely restrict local
authorities to 90 days to review applications from providers who
already use public rights-of-way and 180 days for new providers, as
well as limit unrelated public works projects. Telephone carriers see
offering television service as a way to better compete against cable
companies, which are vying for more customers with new voice and
high-speed Internet services. The FCC sees the move as a way to spur
more competition.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...
* NCTA Opposes Two-Tiered Franchise Relief
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400336.html?display=Breaking...
* FCC Chairman Martin: Cities Block Cable Competition
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CABLE_COMPETITION?SITE=CARDB&SECT...

PHONE, CABLE COMPANIES TO BATTLE IN 2007
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Bruce Meyerson]
Vonage tanked after its IPO. It's not entirely clear anymore why eBay
paid $2.6 billion for Skype. And the long-awaited rollout of advanced
TV services based on Internet technologies has resembled the drip of
a faucet. It wasn't a banner year for some of the biggest names in
Internet Protocol, the technical standard that makes the Web hum. But
the technology itself continued to blossom, with newer innovations
picking away at every corner of the telecommunications business, from
voice to video to wireless. No doubt the main event for 2007 will be
the impending smack-down between the traditional phone and cable TV
industries. The regional Bell companies, after losing millions of
customers to rival phone services from cable providers in 2006, are
just starting to ramp up their risky push into TV. As the giants of
phone and cable do battle, however, both sides will find themselves
flicking away at technological termites that threaten to hollow their
victories by offering new ways to communicate and deliver content,
always for less and sometimes for free.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/Y/YE_TELECOM?SITE=NYELM&SECTION=HOM...

TELEVISION

TV STATIONS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Meredith McGehee, Campaign Legal Center]
[Commentary] When a group like the University of Wisconsin-NewsLab
actually tries to systematically study what is on the air, they
immediately churn up broadcasters' complaints about methodology to
discredit what is obvious to the viewer: that, when it comes to
substantive coverage of our nation's political discourse, local
television stations are asleep at the wheel. Stations crow about the
one or two long-format debates they offer, which are fine as far as
they go but certainly have their own weaknesses, including the times
they actually air and the audience they are geared to reach (i.e.,
people with enough time to sit down and watch for one or two hours).
The truth is, TV stations don't do half of what they could -- or
should -- given that they receive their licenses for free in exchange
for serving the "public interest, convenience and necessity."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400562.html?display=Opinion

CENSORED PBS BUNNY RETURNS, BRIEFLY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Dennis Gaffney]
What happens to a children's public television show after it has been
attacked by the secretary of education, pilloried by conservatives,
then abandoned by its underwriters? In the case of "Postcards From
Buster," it manages to return, belatedly but unbowed, for a second
season. After a controversy over the content of one of its shows, the
producers, musicians, editors and writers of "Buster" were let go
from the show for almost a year; under normal circumstances the
second season would have begun in fall 2005. That fall PBS decided to
provide most of the money needed for a season of 10 shows. With PBS
on board other underwriters, among them the Arthur Vining Davis
Foundations and the Annenberg Foundation, pitched in. WGBH also found
about a half-dozen nontraditional donors, like the Gill Foundation
and the Small Change Foundation, which support gay and lesbian
causes. Perhaps surprisingly, this season continues to deal with
hot-button issues. In an episode being shown today, Buster visits
Fort Leonard Wood, an Army post in Missouri, to meet the family of a
father who is stationed in Iraq. On Jan. 29 Buster will learn about
the Mexican border, traveling with children to Tijuana from San Diego
to meet their pen pals. And in the last show of the season, scheduled
for Feb. 19, Buster revisits some children from the first season,
whose homes in Louisiana were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/arts/television/18bust.html
(requires registration)

SMITHSONIAN TV DEAL IRKS INVESTIGATORS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Heilprin]
Two filmmakers were refused access to the Smithsonian Institution's
collections for their projects but researchers generally have not
been restricted so far by the Smithsonian's semi-exclusive deal with
a cable network, congressional investigators say. The public has
justifiable concerns nonetheless about the 30-year contract between
the Smithsonian and Showtime Networks Inc., a cable network owned by
CBS Corp., according to the Government Accountability Office. "It is
too early to determine the long-term impact of the contract,"
Congress' investigative arm said in a report Friday. "Access to the
Smithsonian's collections and staff for research purposes remains
unchanged, but the direct impact on filmmakers will depend largely on
how many request permission to use a substantial amount of
Smithsonian content." The GAO also criticized the Smithsonian for not
providing enough information to the public about the contract and for
assuring filmmakers their access would not suffer based on analyses
that rely on "incomplete data and oversimplified criteria."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMITHSONIAN_SHOWTIME?SITE=MIDTN&S...
* Smithsonian Institution: Additional Information Should Be Developed
and Provided to Filmmakers on the Impact of the Showtime Contract. (GAO-07-275)
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-275
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07275high.pdf

CBS SAYS PROFANITY CRACKDOWN ILLEGAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
CBS weighed in with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
in New York late Friday on the broadcaster challenge to the FCC's
March profanity rulings profanity. It tasked the court to find the
FCC's move illegal while granting the plaintiffs "such other relief
as may be deemed proper." "There is something profoundly disturbing
about the FCC's approach to this case," said CBS. "It is grounded in
the cynical notion that a government agency is not only free to
punish speech protected by the First Amendment against just such
infringement, but that it may do so without fear that its policies
will be scrutinized by the federal courts. The FCC is assuredly wrong
on both counts."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400549.html?display=Breaking...

DONOVAN GIVES "WHITE SPACES" WARNING TO SPORTS BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Glen Dickson]
Broadcasters could face significant problems in using wireless
microphones for live sports coverage if the government approves the
use of new unlicensed wireless devices in the broadcast frequency
band, warns Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV)
president David Donovan. At issue are consumer devices, such as
laptop computers with wireless cards, which would use free spectrum
or "white spaces" within the broadcast band to enable broadband
services. Using wireless technology to increase broadband penetration
has been a priority for both the FCC and Congress, and the FCC issued
a proceeding on the matter in 2004. The idea of allowing unlicensed
devices was then addressed by Congress this year with the Wireless
Innovation Act, which suggested using slivers of spectrum between
Channels 21 and 51 to transmit data to such devices. MSTV, the
spectrum watchdog for the broadcast industry, lobbied hard against
that bill on the grounds that unlicensed devices would interfere with
the reception of digital television (DTV) signals by consumer DTV
sets. The bill ultimately didn't pass, despite the support of the
Senate Commerce Committee. But Donovan says the issue isn't going
away, and that its impact could reach beyond the digital television
in a consumer's living room and onto the sidelines of major sporting
events, where networks routinely rely on wireless mics for audio coverage.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400474.html?title=Article&sp...

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

TRIBUNE EXECS, FAMILY SAID TO PLAN RIVAL BIDS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James Rainey]
The Chandler family and Tribune's management appear to be considering
making competing bids for all or parts of the company that they have
held in an uneasy alliance for six years. The Chandlers have been in
discussions with billionaire Ron Burkle's investment firm, Yucaipa
Cos., about making a joint offer for some or all of Tribune's assets,
said two people who are familiar with their plans. The family already
owns 20% of Tribune's stock. Meanwhile, Tribune executives, led by
Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons, are expected to enter a bid of
their own in alliance with a consortium of three private investment
firms. The entire bidding process is cloaked in secrecy, producing
few public statements. Sources familiar with the potential bids
agreed to discuss them on condition of anonymity, saying they had not
been authorized to speak publicly about a deal. They did not disclose
details, including how much the two groups might offer for the
company, which is worth $7.58 billion based on Friday's closing stock
price of $31.75. Tribune owns 11 daily newspapers, two dozen
television stations and parts of cable TV's Food Network and the
Internet job site CareerBuilder.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune18dec18,1,7988...
(requires registration)

OLD MODEL VERSUS A SPEEDSTER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Siklos & Bill Carter]
When YouTube emerged as one of the Internet's most popular Web sites
last year, many TV executives dismissed it as a flash in the pan --
and a largely illegal one at that. But after Google agreed to pay
$1.65 billion for YouTube in October, they adopted a radically
different stance: suddenly they wanted to take it on. Now, a handful
of giant media companies, like NBC Universal, the News Corporation,
Viacom and possibly CBS, are close to announcing a new Web site that
will feature some of their best-known television programming and
other clips in an attempt to build a business for distributing video
on the Internet to rival YouTube. The new business could be announced
as soon as this week. Whether or not the new venture goes ahead --
and such a collaboration among these companies would be nearly
unprecedented -- the flurry of activity around its creation
underscores the complex and high-stakes dance that media companies
are having with new online outlets for their wares, and the potent
combination of Google and YouTube in particular. Executives from the
companies have been in intense negotiations over the ownership and
management structure of the new entity -- which is as yet unnamed --
and the talks could continue until the end of the year or fall apart entirely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/technology/18youtube.html
(requires registration)

AFTER BANKRUPTCY FILING, RECRIMINATIONS FLY AT AIR AMERICA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Jensen & Lia Miller]
At Air America, business and politics always mixed, and that was the
problem, critics contend. Begun with an onslaught of publicity in
spring 2004 as an alternative to right-wing talk radio, the network
is given some of the credit by its supporters for having helped
achieve the Democrats' Congressional election victory in November.
Detractors label the liberal network's programming as combative,
one-note and emotional. At least its business dealings seem to fit
that last description. Even before Air America and its corporate
parent, Piquant L.L.C., sought bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13, its
management was engulfed in a series of financial crises. The search
for new investors and managers has been marred by infighting among
those who want the network to succeed. In recent weeks, Air America,
which has its headquarters in New York and reaches about 2.4 million
listeners weekly, has suffered the defection of a handful of its more
than 80 affiliated stations and soon faces the likely departure of
its most visible host, Al Franken, even as it cobbles together a plan
to emerge from Chapter 11. A possible solution surfaced on Friday.
Douglas Kreeger, an initial investor and former chief executive who
stabilized the network in its early months, said in a telephone
interview that there is "a signed letter of intent" for a new group
to take over the network and that he is "likely" to be a part. The
lead equity position would be taken by Terence F. Kelly, of Madison,
Wis., also an Air America investor from the beginning and a former
board chairman.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/business/media/18air.html
(requires registration)

COPYRIGHT TOOL WILL SCAN WEB FOR VIOLATIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney( at )wsj.com]
To deal with the mounting copyright issues swirling around video and
other content online, a start-up founded by some respected Silicon
Valley executives is taking a novel approach: combing the entire Web
for unauthorized uses. Privately held Attributor Corp. of Redwood
City, Calif., has begun testing a system to scan the billions of
pages on the Web for clients' audio, video, images and text --
potentially making it easier for owners to request that Web sites
take content down or provide payment for its use.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116640468524853020.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

QUICKLY

INTERNET CRITICAL TOOL FOR POLITICAL CASH
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Fredreka Schouten]
This year's midterm elections offered fresh examples of the ways the
Internet is changing how candidates in both parties raise money as
they scramble to collect the $20, $30 and $50 donations needed in the
aftermath of changes to campaign-finance laws in 2002 that banned
large donations. Online fundraising has proved a cost-effective and
lightning-fast method to raise cash, rally the faithful and promote
or smear office seekers. It also could transform fundraising in
presidential races. "It's inevitable that the Internet will become
the principal means of fundraising from now on," said Anthony
Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College in Waterville,
Maine. "It's the only way you get a million people to each give you
$10 on the same day." ActBlue, an online clearinghouse that has
raised more than $17 million since 2004, plans to use that power. It
recently won approval from federal regulators to stockpile cash for
yet-undeclared presidential candidates.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061218/a_internetcash18.art.htm

REGULAR FOLKS, SHOOTING HISTORY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Kevin Sullivan]
The rapid rise of digital technology, which enables ordinary people
almost anywhere to record images and post them quickly on the
Internet, is changing the way the world witnesses history, not to
mention the dependable misbehavior of celebrities. Events that once
were recorded only by human memory may now endure in full, pixelated
detail, available in seconds around the globe. The trend is driven by
the proliferation of camera-equipped cellphones, introduced in Japan
in 2000. Worldwide sales topped 460 million this year and will reach
1 billion by 2010, according to industry analysts. With the
proliferation of images, prosecutors are increasingly relying on
photos as evidence in cases against accused muggers, terrorists and
other criminals. Insurance companies balance cellphone photos against
recollection as they assess auto accidents. And the presence of
cellphone cameras in handbags and coat pockets means that for the
famous, private space is shrinking fast.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR200612...
(requires registration)

A SHORT CIRCUIT FOR CELLULAR E911
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
It's very likely that when you call 911 from your cell phone in an
emergency, the operator on the other end won't automatically know
your location. This is despite the fact that most U.S. mobile phone
companies have met a Federal Communications Commission mandate to
provide location information to 911 operators for millions of
wireless subscribers. After years of work, the wireless phone
industry is still a long way from full deployment of what is known as
enhanced 911 service, or E911. With the exception of only a few
companies, wireless carriers have met obligations set forth by the
FCC to get their networks and phones ready to provide the service to
95 percent of their subscribers. But getting the carriers to support
location technology only solves half the problem. The other half
requires getting the nation's 6,140 emergency call centers or Public
Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) outfitted with the technology and
databases to make use of this location information. So far, progress
on that front is taking longer than many in the safety community had
hoped. About 69 percent of the 6,140 call centers have implemented
the final phase for E911, according to the National Emergency Number
Association, or NENA, a group that promotes 911 research, planning,
training and education. These call centers cover about 80 percent of
the U.S. population.
http://news.com.com/A+short+circuit+for+cellular+E911/2100-1039_3-614433...

BIG PHONE FIRMS DELVE UNDERSEAS FOR ASIAN GROWTH
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Li Yuan li.yuan( at )wsj.com]
Some of the world's biggest telecom companies are racing to tap China
and other rapidly growing Asian markets by building faster pipelines
for the surging volumes of Internet and phone traffic produced by
multinational corporations and the region's consumers. Verizon
Communications Inc. signed an agreement today with five major Asian
telecom carriers to build the first high-speed trans-Pacific undersea
cable system directly linking the U.S. and China. According to the
company, the planned $500 million project will offer an alternative
to the single low-capacity cable that now provides the only direct
link between mainland China and the U.S. Currently most Web traffic
between the two countries has to go through Hong Kong or Japan, at
times causing transmission delays.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116641287818853155.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

LIBRARY PATRONS OBJECT TO SOME GRAPHIC NOVELS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Twiddy]
Libraries across the country are increasingly buying graphic novels
as they seek to reconnect with younger patrons and respond to popular
trends. The novels are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the
publishing industry, selling $250 million last year, according to
market research firm ICV2 Publishing. Milton Griepp, chief executive
of ICV2, which tracks pop culture retail, estimated libraries add
another 5 to 10 percent to retail sales of graphic novels, which
totaled only $75 million in 2001. "Maus," a Holocaust memoir by Art
Spiegelman, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, and this year Gene Luen
Yang's "American Born Chinese" became the first graphic novel to be
nominated for the National Book Award. But the books are also gaining
more visibility among parents and other community members who had
been unfamiliar with graphic novels and are alarmed to see "cartoon"
characters doing and saying very adult things. The Chicago-based
American Library Association said it knows of at least 14 challenges
to graphic novels in U.S. libraries over the past two to three years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR200612...
(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.
--------------------------------------------------------------