March 2007

A busy telecom agenda next week: the Freedom to Connect Conference; a
discussion of wireless Net Neutrality; Columbus (OH) gets it say in
the Media Ownership debate; and the House Telecom Committee discusses
the future of radio. For these and other upcoming media policy
events, see http://www.benton.org

INTERNET/BROADBAND
Berners-Lee pushes Congress on 'nondiscriminatory' Web
CDT Reiterates Call for Balanced Internet Neutrality Policy
Consensus: e-Rate a success -- but still needed
Present and Future of the Universal Service Fund

OWNERSHIP
FCC Officially Raises Station Ownership Cap to 39%
UCC Challenges Tribune License Renewals in Hartford
Gannett To Buy 2 Tribune Co. Newspapers
FCC's McDowell says market key to Sirius deal
Breaking the News

TELECOM
Verizon's army toils at daunting upgrade
Time Warner Nets VoIP Win at FCC

CHILDREN & MEDIA
FCC to ask Congress for violence parameters

QUICKLY -- Why Media Agencies Need Diversity; Is an Economist
Qualified To Solve Puzzle of Autism?; Ergen: Dish Will Defend
Broadcasters; Away From Home, TV Ads Are Inescapable; Your Wi-Fi can
tell people a lot about you

INTERNET/BROADBAND

BERNERS-LEE PUSHES CONGRESS ON 'NONDISCRIMINATORY' WEB
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
World Wide Web father Tim Berners-Lee told politicians on Thursday
that it's critical to shield his seminal innovation from control by a
single company or country. A top priority for policymakers going
forward must be "making sure the Web itself is the blank sheet, the
blank canvas, something that does not constrain the innovation that's
around the corner," he told the House Telecom Subcommittee. That
means ensuring anyone can use the Web regardless of what software or
hardware they're running, which Internet service provider supplies
their connection, which language they speak, and what disabilities
they have, Berners-Lee said. He was the sole witness invited to speak
at a hearing here titled "The Future of the World Wide Web," the
first of a series of events designed to keep politicians up to speed
on communications issues.
http://news.com.com/Berners-Lee+pushes+Congress+on+nondiscriminatory+Web...
* Markey's First Hearing: The Internet Moving Forward
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/21994.html
* Berners-Lee: Congress should consider net neutrality
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/01/HNcongressnetneutrality_1.html...
* World Wide Web Founder Puts in a Plug for Net Neutrality
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6420720?display=Breaking+News
* Web Inventor Tells Congress: Net Neutrality a Top Priority
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2007/03/01/world-wide-web-inventor-s...

CDT REITERATES CALL FOR BALANCED INTERNET NEUTRALITY POLICY
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy & Technology]
In comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), CDT
highlighted ways in which the FTC could play a constructive role in a
broader policy framework for Internet neutrality that benefits
consumers as well as innovators. CDT filed the comments in
connection to the commission's Broadband Connectivity Competition
Policy Workshop, which concluded earlier this month. The comments
address the importance of preserving an Internet without gatekeepers,
and offer several specific recommendations to the FTC going forward.
http://www.cdt.org/speech/net-neutrality/200702028ftcneutrality.pdf

CONSENSUS: E-RATE A SUCCESS -- BUT STILL NEEDED
[SOURCE: eSchool News]
After 10 years of e-Rate support, more than 90 percent of classrooms
in rural, high-minority, and low-income school districts now have
Internet connections, allowing them to leverage modern communications
tools to support student achievement, a new report says. Although
such progress is significant, the report notes the program's work is
hardly complete: Schools and libraries not only must sustain their
current access levels, but also need to expand their bandwidth
capacities to ensure that students, teachers, and community members
keep pace with the ever-expanding digital resources available online.
Created in 1997, the e-Rate is a federally funded program that
provides up to $2.25 billion per year in discounts on
telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal networking
to U.S. public and private schools and public libraries. To date,
nearly $19 billion in discounts have been provided to schools and
libraries. (much more at the URL below)
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6882

PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
On March 1, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps appeared before the Senate
Commerce Committee at a hearing on the Universal Service Fund. In
prepared testimony he said, "If we are going to ensure that no
community, no citizen, is left behind by lack of access to basic or
advanced telecommunications in this new digital age, we need to think
anew, adjust our policies and craft the proper incentives. We must
include these new opportunity-creating technologies as part of our
Universal Service Program. In plainer English, it is time to bring
broadband into the Universal Service System. We must also update and
broaden the USF contribution base. We must make sure funds are
distributed with maximum equity among consumers, areas and
technologies. And we must recognize that the economics of non-rural,
rural and truly remote service areas are fundamentally different."
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimon...
* Links to other testimony:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&...

OWNERSHIP

FCC OFFICIALLY RAISES STATION OWNERSHIP CAP TO 39%
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The FCC Thursday officially rewrote its rules to raise the cap on a
TV group owner's household reach to 39%. That's the total percentage
of U.S. households a single TV station group owner is allowed to
reach, although only half of a UHF stations audience counts toward
that cap. That move comes a little over three years after President
George W. Bush signed the bill into law that changed the cap to 39%.
The FCC had wanted to raise it from 35% to 45%, but Congress stepped
in to split the difference. What is essentially a housekeeping move
by the FCC comes in advance of its oversight hearing before House
Democrats on March 14. Although officially adopted August 10, 2006,
the new rules won't take effect until 30 days after being published
in the federal register.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6420878.html?display=Breaking...
* FCC Order
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-117A1.doc

UCC CHALLENGES TRIBUNE LICENSE RENEWALS IN HARTFORD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The United Church of Christ has challenged the license renewals of
two Tribune stations, WTIC-TV and WTXX, both Hartford (CT) where Trib
also owns the Hartford Current newspaper. "Tribune has not
demonstrated that it is entitled to a permanent waiver of the
[newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO)] rule," UCC said in its
filing with the FCC. "Permitting common ownership of the three media
outlets does not serve the purpose of the NBCO rule of promoting a
diversity of local news sources," it said. "Indeed, the very fact
that Tribune utilizes the resources of the Courant to produce its
news programming for WTIC-TV and then simulcasts the same news
program on WTXX illustrates how Tribune's cross-ownership diminishes
the diversity of sources of local news in Hartford." The UCC said it
shouldn't get another temporary waiver either. "Previously, the
Commission granted three temporary waivers to permit Tribune time to
make its best efforts divest WTXX or the Hartford Courant. The
Commission has granted Tribune more than sufficient time to divest
the appropriate media outlets and yet Tribune has not done
so." Tribune has been operating the stations under a succession of
temporary waivers --the FCC declined to grant permanent ones -- and
has asked for another such waiver, or alternately one that will
extend until the FCC has reconsidered and revamped its media ownership rules.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6420876.html?display=Breaking...

GANNETT TO BUY 2 TRIBUNE CO NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
Tribune Company has agreed to sell its two smallest newspapers, both
in Connecticut, to Gannett for more than $65 million, as the media
giant edges closer to accepting or rejecting bids for the entire
company. Tribune said in September that it planned to sell $500
million in assets. As part of the sale, Tribune offered the Greenwich
Time and Stamford Advocate to two prospective buyers, McLean
(VA)-based Gannett and MediaNews Group of Denver. Gannett eventually
outbid MediaNews for the two papers, which report a combined
circulation of 39,623. Tribune sought as much as $75 million for the
Connecticut papers and $25 million more for the real estate on which
they sit, which is likely to be sold to third parties.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR200703...
(requires registration)

FCC'S MCDOWELL SAYS MARKET KEY TO SIRIUS DEAL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Rachelle Younglai]
The proposed merger between Sirius and XM depends "a lot" on how the
market is defined, Federal Communications Commissioner Robert
McDowell said on Thursday. "A lot is determined on how the market is
defined," HE told delegates at a meeting of the National Association
of Broadcasters, which fiercely opposes the deal. "I will be asking a
lot of questions." "If we are saying that satellite radio competes
with free over-the-air radio then how do we define the markets, and
how does that affect our current broadcast ownership regime?" "If we
say XM and Sirius should not merge because there is not sufficient
competition, does that mean there is not sufficient competition
overall?" Commissioner McDowell suggested that if broadcasters are
successful in making the argument that satellite radio operators
Sirius/XM are not direct and interchangeable competitors, at least on
the national level, that could affect the FCC decision on allowing
broadcasters to own more stations.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID...
* FCC's McDowell Warns Broadcasters About Sirius Argument
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6420763.html?display=Breaking...

BREAKING THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Mother Jones, AUTHOR: Eric Klinenberg]
While our democratic culture could survive the loss of the daily
newspaper as we know it, it would be endangered without the kinds of
reporting that it provides, writes Eric Klinenberg. "Even in the
online era, more than 60% of Americans say they read a local
newspaper daily or several times a week. And with good reason: Few of
the cable channels and websites that newspaper chains claim as
competitors actually provide original news and information. Cable
networks do virtually no local reporting of their own, and while
bloggers do a good job exposing journalistic lapses, they generally
aren't doing the muckraking, beat reporting, and pavement pounding
that generate news." (Much more on journalism -- and the media
ownership debate -- at the URL below.)
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/03/breaking_the_news.html
* The Race
Robert Kuttner believes newspapers have started down a financially
and journalistically viable path of becoming hybrids -- part web,
part print. "Assuming that most dailies survive the transition, my
guess is that in twenty-five years they will be mostly digital; that
even people like me of the pre-Internet generation will be largely
won over by ingenious devices like Times Reader, supplemented by news
alerts, RSS feeds, and God knows what else."
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp

TELECOM

VERIZON'S ARMY TOILS AT DAUNTING SPEED
[SOURCE: USAToday 3/1, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
Verizon has deployed an army of linemen to tackle one of the most
ambitious engineering projects in contemporary America. The goal: to
replace hundreds of thousands of miles of copper phone lines with
cutting-edge fiber-optic technology. The carrier plans to spend $23
billion to make fiber-optic broadband connections available to 18
million households by 2010. For that princely sum, Verizon will reach
about a third of its sprawling territory in 28 states and the
District of Columbia. Verizon hasn't said when, or even if, it plans
to upgrade the rest of its footprint. Meanwhile, it's taking a meat
ax to operations it has deemed not cost-effective to rewire: It
recently announced plans to sell systems, many rural, in New
Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, and more sales could be forthcoming.
One thing's for sure: Once the massive upgrade is completed, Verizon
will control one of the most advanced communications networks on the
planet. The network -- dubbed FiOS for Fiber Optic Services -- will
be capable of easily handling an endless array of phone, high-speed
data and video services, including high-definition TV. Consumers are
the biggest winners in Verizon's high-stakes engineering gamble, says
Jan Dawson, a telecom analyst at Ovum. As phone and cable companies
gird for war and beef up their networks, they'll be able to offer a
cornucopia of new services. Bargains won't be far behind, he predicts.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070301/fios.art.htm
-- In a related story see...
AT&T slows 'Lightspeed' release goals
[SOURCE: USAToday 3/1, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
AT&T won't reach 18 million homes this year with its "Lightspeed"
broadband network, after all. Instead, it will reach less than half
the original target: 8 million. AT&T unveiled its latest 2007 target
in an unusually quiet manner: It was offered up to Wall Street
analysts on an earnings call on Jan. 25. The 8 million figure later
showed up in a few investor notes, where it did not attract much attention.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070301/2b_att01.art.htm

TIME WARNER NETS VOIP WIN AT FCC
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Time Warner Cable won a regulatory battle at the Federal
Communications Commission Thursday over state regulators in Nebraska
and South Carolina, which had been frustrating the cable company's
ability to compete in rural phone markets. In a staff ruling endorsed
by FCC chairman Kevin Martin, the agency concluded that Time Warner
is allowed to use third-party telecommunications carriers as an
indirect means of exchanging voice traffic with market-dominant phone
incumbents. Time Warner offers local phone service by relying on
voice-over-Internet-protocol technology. Because the FCC hasn't
classified cable VoIP as a telecommunications service, Time Warner's
VoIP product hasn't had the federal right to interconnect directly
with phone incumbents. As a result, Time Warner cut deals with
companies with interconnection rights to ensure that its customers
may communicate with customers of phone incumbents. South Carolina
and Nebraska regulators, however, refused to recognize the
interconnection rights of wholesales with which Time Warner signed
contracts, causing the MSO to seek a ruling from the agency.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6420646.html?display=Breaking+News
* FCC Grants Internet Phone Access
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR200703...
* FCC sides with cable phone firms
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070302/2b_ruralphone02.art.htm
* FCC Order: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-07-709A1.doc
* Chairman Martin:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270985A1.doc

CHILDREN & MEDIA
FCC to ask Congress for violence parameters
FCC TO ASK CONGRESS FOR VIOLENCE PARAMETERS
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
The FCC is preparing to ask Congress for a broad expansion of its
authority to regulate the content of television programming, but it
hopes to leave the thorny issue of defining the parameters of how
much violence is too much to Congress, Commissioner Robert McDowell
said Thursday. The FCC is expected to issue a report in the near
future that asks Congress for the power to enforce curbs on violent
content on broadcast TV in the same way it has the power to levy
fines on TV and radio stations for airing what the commission deems
to be indecent speech. Currently broadcasters are restricted from
airing indecent material between 6 a.m.-10 p.m. The report contends
that the agency could use a similar regime to regulate violent
content. However, as he was questioned by reporters, McDowell sought
to downplay the magnitude of the report and its First Amendment
implications. "This particular report is a report on violence," he
said. "It's not legislation, it's not an FCC order; we're not talking
about a rule here. Overall, I think in the long run technology and
competition will really solve this for parents. I think we're going
to have technological solutions."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i1df4dfd4706f...
See also --
* FCC still interfering with freedom of speech
[Commentary] Take the agency's rulings on the F-word: If Tom Hanks
uses the term in "Saving Private Ryan," it's OK, but if Cher does on
an awards show, it's not. Today, most viewers no longer distinguish
between cable and broadcast programs. So having different rules for
each makes about as much sense as having different regulations for
odd- and even-numbered channels. It's high time broadcasters were
placed under America's original rule on how the government should
regulate free expression: Don't.
http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1031662.html

QUICKLY

WHY MEDIA AGENCIES NEED DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Lisa Sanders]
A Q & A with Eugene Morris -- founder of E. Morris Communications, a
Chicago marketing-communications agency -- on the importance of
diversity for advertising firms.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=115248
* Lack of diversity in discussion about media diversity
http://blogs.mediapost.com/AAAA_2007/?p=19

IS AN ECONOMIST QUALIFIES TO SOLVE PUZZLE OF AUTISM?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal 2/27, AUTHOR: Mark Whitehouse
mark.whitehouse( at )wsj.com]
Academic economists are increasingly venturing beyond their
traditional terrain. The wanderlust has produced some powerful
results -- one professor recently questioned TV viewing's role in
autism -- but also has raised concerns about whether they're
sometimes going too far.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117131554110006323.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)
* Is Media Colluding to Silence Autism Study?
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Lisa Sanders]
Last fall an economist put TV in his crosshairs. Cornell University
economist Michael Waldman, in a study announced last October,
suggested a link between early childhood TV viewing and the onset of
autism. Consider what might happen if Professor Waldman's research is
popularized: Parents could turn off their TVs -- forever. It's a
media and marketing executive's worst nightmare!
http://adage.com/outofsite/article?article_id=115224

ERGEN: DISH WILL DEFEND BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
EchoStar Communications chairman Charlie Ergen came to the defense of
broadcasters seeking retransmission-consent cash -- such as CBS,
Nexstar Broadcasting Group and others -- telling analysts on a
conference call that his company will gladly support television
stations that are in disputes with cable operators. he noted that
EchoStar has been paying cash for retrans for years.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6420723.html?display=Breaking+News

AWAY FROM HOME, TV ADS ARE INESCAPABLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Louise Story]
As if Americans do not already watch enough television, there are
digital TV networks popping up on screens in groceries, office
buildings, retail stores, on gas pumps, and just about every place
imaginable. Advertisers increasingly want to reach consumers outside
of their homes in places where they cannot avoid ads. TV screens in
shops and malls display ads to people when they are closest to their
wallets, and some advertising executives think point-of-purchase
advertising may yield the highest increase in sales.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/business/media/02adco.html
(requires registration)

YOUR WI-FI CAN TELL PEOPLE A LOT ABOUT YOU
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Joris Evers]
Simply booting up a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop can tell people sniffing
wireless network traffic a lot about your computer--and about you.
Soon after a computer powers up, it starts looking for wireless
networks and network services. Even if the wireless hardware is then
shut-off, a snoop may already have caught interesting data. Much more
information can be plucked out of the air if the computer is
connected to an access point, in particular an access point without security.
http://news.com.com/Your+Wi-Fi+can+tell+people+a+lot+about+you/2100-7355...
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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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