August 2007

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INTERNET/BROADBAND
Band's lyrics cut in Webcast
Broadband Blogging Is Deemed A Success
AT&T targets young DSL users; cuts tie to landline
Are Skins, Bugs or Tickers The Holy Grail of Web Advertising?

BROADCASTING/CABLE
No DTV 'Dog Days' In August For NTIA
Noncoms, Smaller Cable Systems Strike DTV Deal

CONTENT
Poll: U.S. Public Sees Media as Biased, Inaccurate and Uncaring
For the Candidates, Not Just Any Brand Of Soapbox Will Do
UCC Will Appeal Denial of Miami License Challenges
The Fall Season in TV Legislation
PTC Names 'Best,' 'Worst' Advertisers Universal to sell songs
without copy protection

OWNERSHIP
Murdoch taking aim at NY Times
Will Consolidation at MediaNews Group Kill Guild?
Chicago Sun-Times chief dismisses talk of merger

SPECTRUM
Microsoft Disputes FCC's Rejection of Web Devices That Use TV Airwaves

QUICKLY -- Should everything be community media?; Names in the News
Get a Way to Respond; FCC Order Helps Small Wireless Firms; FCC
Revises 700 MHz Rules; NBC Making a Clean Start in a House of Mixed Media

INTERNET/BROADBAND

BAND'S LYRICS CUT IN WEBCAST
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune 8/9, AUTHOR: Jon Van]
A live Internet broadcast of Pearl Jam's performance at Chicago's
Lollapalooza music festival Sunday went off without a hitch -- until
singer Eddie Vedder criticized President Bush. Lyrics critical of the
president didn't make it past editors of the show's Webcast, the band
complained Wednesday on its Web site. The performance, sponsored by
AT&T Inc. and carried on AT&T's "Blue Room" site, omitted the lyrics
"George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself
another home" as part of a version of the song "Daughter," according
to the Pearl Jam Web site. Fans had complained to the band about the
possible censorship, the site said. "When asked about the missing
performance, AT&T informed Lollapalooza that portions of the show
were, in fact, missing from the Webcast and that their content
monitor had made a mistake in cutting them," the Pearl Jam site said.
An AT&T spokeswoman confirmed the omission Wednesday, saying that it
had been a mistake made by someone working for the agency hired by
AT&T to handle its Blue Room content. "We don't have a policy in
place to censor," said AT&T's Tiffany Nels. "We have a policy on
excessive profanity. This was an honest mistake. There was no
censorship intended."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-thu_jam_0809aug09,1,2218...
* AT&T Plays Gatekeeper. Censors Pearl Jam.
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/
* AT&T Censors Pearl Jam -- Another Reason for Net Neutrality
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1157
* Pearl Jam's Brick In The Wall
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1162

BROADBAND BLOGGING IS DEEMED A SUCCESS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 8/2, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
When readers of a Republican blog got the chance to talk candidly
with Senate Majority Whip. Richard Durbin (D-IL) last month in a
bill-writing experiment, the discussion that resulted from the
exchange was more productive than most of the political shows aired
on television, the event's organizers said. Open Left co-Editor Matt
Stoller said, "I challenge you to find any cable news show that's as
civil as what we did" on Open Left and RedState. "Actually, there's
power here," he added, because soliciting input online broadens who
can participate. "I'm just blown away by the level of participation
we had on the site," Robert Bluey, a contributor to the conservative
RedState blog, said in referring to the more than 240 comments posted
to help Sen Durbin craft high-speed Internet legislation. Bluey said
it is "remarkable that there are that many people talking about
public policy [on blogs]." The dialogue began while Sen Durbin was
conversing with the "netroots" on the liberal blog Open Left about
the same subject. Bluey expressed the need for a two-sided discussion
and invited Sen Durbin to "speak" on RedState. Next, Sen Durbin will
use the feedback to compose the bill, post a draft of it online and
again seek public comment through Open Left and RedState. The goal is
to introduce legislation in September, Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/2007/08/broadband_blogging_is_deemed_a.html

AT&T TARGETS YOUNG DSL USERS; CUTS TIE TO LANDLINE
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Jon Van]
In a trial launched in Chicago; Austin, Texas; and Jacksonville,
Fla., AT&T will drop its requirement that customers have a wired
phone to get DSL, or digital subscriber line, and the company will
offer DSL to AT&T mobile customers at the same price it charges those
who use its wired phones. The new trial high-speed Internet service
will be available from AT&T stores in the Chicago area for $23.99 a
month. The plan, featuring 1.5 megabits per second speed, will cost
$19.99 a month for AT&T's wireless phone customers. To win federal
approval last year of its acquisition of BellSouth Corp., AT&T agreed
to offer stand-alone DSL at reasonable prices. AT&T will launch a
stand-alone DSL service for under $20 a month later this year to
comply with that pledge, said Cara Birch, a company spokeswoman. That
service will feature speeds of 768 kilobits a second, which is half
as fast as the 1.5-megabit-per-second speed offered now. But AT&T
says it is investigating stand-alone DSL service as a marketing
strategy. "Today's offer is separate from the merger condition,"
Birch said. "This trial focuses on college students in three markets
who may not have an access line but wish to take advantage of
broadband." While aimed at new and younger customers, AT&T's offer is
available to anyone, including current DSL customers, Birch said. The
trial offer will run through Nov. 3 and isn't available online.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat_dslaug11,0,4243771.story?...
* AT&T's Shenanigans in Hiding $10 DSL Service Go From Exasperating
to Infuriating
http://www.consumersunion.org/blogs/hun/2007/08/post_1.html

ARE SKINS, BUGS AND TICKERS THE HOLY GRAIL OF WEB ADVERTISING?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kevin J. Delaney at
kevin.delaney( at )wsj.com and Emily Steel]
Sites ranging from Google Inc. to Break.com have been experimenting
intensively with replacements for the preroll, the video ads that
users are forced to watch before viewing a clip. The sites and
advertisers are now citing success with such things as graphics that
slide over the bottom of the video-viewing screen that allow them to
market to users without interrupting the clip. A user can usually
click on the graphic -- sometimes known as overlays, bugs or tickers
-- to pause the video and see more information from the advertiser.
Other marketers are seeing results with ad graphics that surround the
video player screen, often known as player skins, especially when
used in concert with video ads dropped into clips like TV
commercials. And the preroll itself has been reinvented, now limited
to as little as five seconds and sometimes including timers that
count down the length of the commercial in order to grab consumers'
attention without turning them off.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118694625293695336.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

BROADCASTING/CABLE

NO DTV 'DOG DAYS' IN AUGUST FOR NTIA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
There's no summer break this year for folks the National
Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), a part of the
Department of Commerce. Congress has tasked the NTIA with running the
digital-to-analog converter box program which is meant to smooth the
transition to digital-only television in Feb 2009. The NTIA says it
is still on track for a mid- to late-August date for awarding the
outside contract to administer the controversial program through
which the government must distribute millions of coupons good toward
the purchase of a converter box for analog-only TV sets. It's bound
to become more controversial as the digital conversion date comes nearer.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6467973.html
* Adelstein Sees a 'Tsunami'
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein called for the creation of a
digital-TV-conversion task force to head off a potential "tsunami of
consumer complaints" when analog TV sets are rendered useless in February 2009.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6465604.html

NONCOMS, SMALLER CABLE SYSTEMS STRIKE DTV DEAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Public Broadcasting Service (PSB), the Association of Public
Television Stations and the American Cable Association have reached a
10 year deal on carriage of public TV stations' digital channels on
small and mid-sized cable systems. FCC Commissioner Jonathan
Adelstein praised the deal as "historic," a "win-win for cable
operators, public broadcasters and, most importantly, the viewing
public." Commercial broadcasters are still looking for some help from
the FCC to make sure that cable operators carry their
digital-multicast signals.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6466937.html?rssid=193

CONTENT

POLL: US PUBLIC SEES MEDIA AS BIASED, INACCURATE AND UNCARING
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher]
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that more than
half of Americans say U.S. news organizations are politically biased,
inaccurate, and don't care about the people they report on.
Respondents who use the Internet as their main source of news --
which is roughly one quarter of all Americans -- were even harsher
with their criticism, the poll reported. More than two-thirds of the
Web users said they felt that news organizations don't care about the
people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was
inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased. Among those
who get their news from newspapers and television, criticism of the
news organizations was up to 20 percentage points lower than among
Internet news audiences, who tend to be younger and better educated
than the public as a whole, according to Pew.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* Internet News Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=348

FOR THE CANDIDATES, NOT JUST ANY BRAND OF SOAPBOX WILL DO
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Milt Romney, on Sunday mornings,
appear almost exclusively on Fox News Sunday. The leading Democratic
presidential candidates present a mirror image, with Hillary Clinton
and John Edwards granting no interviews to Fox since January, and
Edwards now bashing Rupert Murdoch's network as unfair to his party.
To a striking degree, the candidates are picking their spots,
carefully choosing which media operations they will court and which
they will ignore. That leaves some of them preaching to the political
choir, but also shields them from especially aggressive questioning.
The new media order has been spawned by a 500-channel universe and a
polarized climate in which news organizations are increasingly
viewed, fairly or unfairly, as leaning to one side or the other. And
with a cornucopia of choices, politicians tend to gravitate toward
what they see as friendly arenas.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR200708...
(requires registration)

UCC WILL APPEAL DENIAL OF MIAMI LICENSE CHALLENGES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable 8/8, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The United Church of Christ said it plans to appeal an Federal
Communications Commission Media Bureau decision denying its challenge
to two Miami TV-station license renewals. The UCC had complained that
NBC and CBS, which own the stations, declined to air an editorial ad
citing company policies against it. The ad advocated for religious
tolerance. The commission pointed out that it was the network, not
the individual stations, that had made the call, so it had no grounds
to even consider the challenge. "This is clearly an erroneous
decision that acts to shield the networks from public scrutiny," said
Andrew J. Schwartzman, one of the attorneys who brought the challenge
on behalf of UCC. "Networks do not hold licenses, so unless the
public is able to challenge network-owned stations through the
license-renewal process, there is no recourse," he added, describing
the decision as having "far-reaching implications, far beyond the
issue of religious tolerance."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6466939.html?rssid=193

THE FALL SEASON IN TV LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Human Events, AUTHOR: Brent Bozell, Media Research Center]
[Commentary] This fall, just in time for a slate of new TV shows sure
to insult the tastes of millions of viewers, watch for congressional
action on a list of potential new television legislation circulating
on Capitol Hill to address the public's outrage. The fastest-moving
item is a congressional fix for the bizarre Second Circuit court
ruling that the networks can't be fined by the Federal Communications
Commission for fleeting profanities, since expecting TV executives to
employ their own seven-second delay system is supposedly "arbitrary
and capricious" regulating, and never mind that a) that is the only
reason for which to have a delay, and b) it is the "technology"
solution the industry claims makes federal intervention unnecessary.
There are other bills in the works. Congressman Dan Lipinski of
Chicago is sponsoring a bill pushing to give parents the right to
"cable choice," allowing them the right to choose not to subsidize
smutty or ultraviolent cable networks like MTV or FX. This version of
the bill is picking up prominent sponsors, from leading House
conservative Mike Pence to freshman Democrat Heath Shuler, one of
those touted Southern moderates. Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas is
proposing an interesting bill that pushes the FCC to look harder into
the next generation of content-blocking devices for parents across
all media platforms, from TV to the Internet to wireless
communications. Since the Telecommunications Act passed in 1996, the
FCC is supposed to keep its eye on emerging new technologies, but
Sen. Pryor hopes to "light a fire" under the FCC on this matter.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21904

PTC NAMES 'BEST,' WORST ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to the Parents Television Council's annual list of
advertisers, Procter & Gamble is the "best" TV advertiser, while
Toyota Motor Sales is the "worst." Getting high marks are those that
sponsor "wholesome, family-oriented television shows," as defined by
the PTC, and getting low grades for programming -- some of which PTC
president Tim Winter called "heinous" -- are those that put their ad
dollars in "sexually graphic, violent or profane material." The PTC
determines the best and worst according to how many ads they place in
shows it gives a red light rating to for sex, violence and language,
and how many sponsor "green-light" shows with family-friendly content.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6466626.html?rssid=193
* PTC Reveals Best and Worst TV Advertisers
http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/release/2007/0808.asp

UNIVERSAL TO SELL SONGS WITHOUT COPY PROTECTION
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Vivendi's Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label, on
Thursday said it will test the sale of songs from artists such as Amy
Winehouse, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas, without customary
copy-protection technology. The company said in a statement it will
allow the sale of thousands of its albums and tracks available in
MP3-form without copy-protection software, known as digital rights
management, over a trial period.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0929803820070810

OWNERSHIP

MURDOCH TAKING AIM AT NY TIMES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
If the Gray Lady didn't have enough problems battling industrywide
woes, now she has Rupert Murdoch to worry about. The media
billionaire has made no secret of his desire to take aim at the New
York Times once his News Corp. acquires Dow Jones & Co. and its
flagship Wall Street Journal in a $5-billion deal expected to close
this fall. Murdoch said during an earnings conference call last week
that he wanted the financial newspaper to have "more coverage of
national, international and nonbusiness news . . . all to better
compete with the New York Times and other national newspapers." In
private, Murdoch has been more blunt. "Rupert thinks the Times is
vulnerable," a longtime senior executive said. "He's going to go
after them." Like other newspapers across the country, the Times has
been tightening its belt and has seen its stock price languish as
readers and advertisers migrate to the Web. Nonetheless, it has fared
better than other publications, retaining much of its circulation and
advertising by remaining the essential newspaper of the East Coast
elite. So where does Murdoch believe the Times is vulnerable? Murdoch
has publicly signaled he will beef up editorial coverage, adding four
pages to the paper and hiring more staff in Europe and Asia. Murdoch
also is thinking about expanding the Journal's franchise on global
financial news. But several current and former employees said they
thought Murdoch was coyly talking up what he might do to the news
operation to draw attention away from his more immediate plan -- an
attack on the Times' business side. "I would expect that he would be
very aggressive on ad rates, and I would also predict that he would
be very aggressive on cover price, whether it's home delivery or
newsstand," said Ken Chandler, whose 29 years under Murdoch included
stints as publisher of the New York Post and editor of the Boston
Herald. Indeed, some observers expect Murdoch to leave the newsroom
more or less alone for some time.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-nytimes13aug13,1,4637...
(requires registration)

WILL CONSOLIDATION AT MEDIANEWS GROUP KILL GUILD?
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Joe Strupp]
A plan to consolidate editorial functions of two Northern California
newspaper groups owned by MediaNews could mean the end of the
Newspaper Guild unit at one of the entities, union leaders fear.
Starting Monday, MediaNews will combine the editorial functions of
the company's six-paper Alameda Newspaper Group, which includes The
Oakland Tribune, with the neighboring five-paper Contra Costa
Newspapers, led by the Contra Costa Times of Walnut Creek.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

SUN-TIMES CHIEF DISMISSES TALK OF MERGER
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune 8/10, AUTHOR: Phil Rosenthal]
Maybe it was hearing that Sun-Times Media Group's operating revenue
was down around 12 percent, both for the quarter and the first half
of this year, compared with a year ago. Maybe it was hearing how the
company expects to save more than $5 million annually through its
newly inked deal to have its papers delivered by the rival Chicago
Tribune. Maybe it was the second-quarter operating loss of $80.6
million through a series of unfortunate circumstances. But one of the
analysts participating in the Sun-Times Media's conference call
Wednesday was moved to put the question bluntly to Chairman and Chief
Executive Cyrus Freidheim Jr. "Why do we need two newspapers in
Chicago?" the guy from Merrill Lynch asked. "Shouldn't these things
just be mashed together?" Freidheim pointed out that the only way
such a mash-up could happen is through a joint operating agreement,
"because I don't think the Justice Department would approve of a
merger." And JOAs, he said, have a spotty record of return for
shareholders. Besides, Freidheim said, "one of the prerequisites is
that one of the two newspapers be a failing newspaper, and neither
one of us is willing to declare we're a failing newspaper."
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=128300

SPECTRUM

MICROSOFT DISPUTES FCC'S REJECTION OF WEB DEVICES THAT USE TV AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Microsoft plans to try to convince regulators that it can connect
consumers to high-speed Internet over unused television airwaves
without interfering with existing broadcasts. In a document that it
plans to file today with the Federal Communications Commission,
Microsoft disputes the agency's recent findings that prototype
devices either interfered with TV signals or could not detect them to
avoid interference. Microsoft's first prototype was defective, but
the firm said another model worked successfully in a demonstration it
gave to the FCC last week. The filing is Microsoft's latest attempt
to get FCC commissioners to approve a plan that would let a new
generation of portable wireless devices connect to the Internet
without relying on existing wireless carriers. The devices in
question, which were designed and made by Microsoft, would use vacant
TV airwaves, known as white space, to carry Internet service to homes
and offices, including those in rural areas. The airwaves will be
available when TV broadcasters move to digital signals in early 2009.
The FCC plans to hold a meeting Thursday to discuss testing options
for white-space devices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR200708...
(requires registration)
* Microsoft to dispute FCC on vacant TV airwaves
http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&story...

QUICKLY

SHOULD EVERYTHING BE COMMUNITY MEDIA? A REVIEW OF "WHAT'S GOING ON IN
COMMUNITY MEDIA?"
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
[Commentary] In a media environment increasingly segmented by
ideology, class, or ethnicity, "is there an electronic place where
people can convene as citizens? Can the new media create a public
square where people can be heard, and hear each other?" Yes,
concludes the Benton Foundation's lively and informative new study
What's Going on In Community Media?: "Communities across the country
are taking control of media, adapting new technologies to the social,
economic, educational, cultural, and information needs of their
residents." But while the scan strives for a concise definition of
"community media," I think that it overuses the concept to map out
the non-corporate media landscape, extending the term to projects and
institutions struggling to be something else.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/444

NAMES IN THE NEWS GET A WAY TO RESPOND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
Internet search giant Google, whose Google News is among the largest
news aggregators, announced a business based on those who chatter
about the news. It is asking the people or companies mentioned in
news articles to comment on those reports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/technology/13google.html
(requires registration)

FCC ORDER HELPS SMALL WIRELESS FIRMS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 8/7, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The FCC took steps to expand the reach of small and rural wireless
phone services by permitting their calls to automatically "roam" on
the networks of dominant mobile carriers. In new rules adopted by a
5-0 vote, the FCC concluded that automatic roaming is a "common
carrier" obligation that must be permitted on a "just, reasonable and
non-discriminatory basis." The agency will continue to permit
wireless customers to roam "manually" on other networks by providing
a credit card number. The regulations cover voice service, text
messaging and "Push-to-Talk," which allows for instant calling, but
don't extend to wireless high-speed Internet services, including
e-mail and Internet-based phone calls. Those limitations were a
concern to the FCC's two Democrats, Commissioners Michael Copps and
Jonathan Adelstein, although they hailed the overall item as beneficial.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/2007/08/fcc_order_helps_small_wireless.html

FCC REVISES 700 MHZ RULES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The FCC has released the 700 MHz auction rules order.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-132A1.doc

NBC MAKING A CLEAN START IN A HOUSE OF MIXED MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes]
Hey, maybe media ownership concentration doesn't work after all -- who knew?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/business/media/13ivillage.html
(requires registration)
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While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
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