March 2008

New survey finds gaps in U.S. broadband

Sixty-five million Americans depend on broadband services for work, education, entertainment, and communications. But too many other Americans have no access to broadband services, according to a new telecom industry survey of readers of leading U.S. telecom publications, commissioned by Tellabs. Respondents strongly support expanding broadband availability in the United States, especially in under-served rural areas. The lack of broadband availability, whether due to geographic or economic reasons, hurts productivity. 89% of respondents think lack of broadband access hurts an individual's educational, productivity, and employment potential. 81% think America should use some of the current Universal Service Fund to expand rural broadband. 79% think where you live should not dictate broadband availability. 77% think economic status should not determine broadband availability. Industry professionals called for a new definition of broadband. An overwhelming 94% of respondents said that the current FCC definition of broadband does not deliver a true broadband experience. In fact, 84% of respondents feel that a better definition of broadband is a service that can deliver high-quality streaming video.
http://lw.pennnet.com/display_article/323620/13/ARTCL/none/none/1/New-su...

Will the FCC endorse filtering?

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein gave the Hollywood studios some reason for concern but more reason for cheer in comments Tuesday on Network Neutrality. Commissioner Adelstein said, “All of the Net neutrality proposals that have been promulgated include exemptions for illegal activity,” including the illegal downloading of copyrighted content. “The Commission’s policy statement [on net neutrality] applied to legal activities, not illegal activities.” In other words, the MPAA, whose recent harsh denunciation of Net neutrality has been all the buzz in Washington telecom circles, is getting worked up over nothing. “We have to be very careful about the use of the Internet for illegal purposes, and that includes the illegal downloading of copyrighted works, which is a very serious problem,” he said. “What we’re talking about is legal activity.” So content filtering is OK? Not necessarily. “The problem is, how can you ever tell what’s illegal?” Commissioner Adelstein said.
http://www.contentagenda.com/blog/1500000150/post/1800023580.html?nid=3800
* FCC commish: Net neutrality shouldn't extend to illegal acts
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080320-fcc-commish-net-neutrality...

McSlarrow: We're only trying to help our Internet subscribers

With discontent still festering over Comcast's admitted slowing of file-sharing uploads, the cable industry's chief on Thursday set out to do a little damage control. Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said he's "amused" that in all the coverage of the Comcast-BitTorrent spat, no one's talking about the cable industry's role in getting high-speed Internet service to millions of American households and, by extension, enabling online applications and services to take off. [People in Washington do have an odd sense of humor.] McSlarrow said it is important to allow network engineers to tackle "challenges" that arise from heavy peer-to-peer file-sharing use, particularly at peak hours where the potential for "congestion" is high. They're only trying to help cable Internet subscribers have the smoothest possible surfing experience, he suggested.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9899366-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2...

Voice, Broadband Poised For 'Bumper Year': Study

Even as the U.S. economy appears to be in a recession, two cable industry services – voice over Internet Protocol and broadband – will see double-digit growth in 2008, according to a study by research firm IBISWorld. VoIP service topped IBISWorld’s list of the top 10 growth sectors for the year, with the firm predicting a 24.3% annual increase in revenues, to reach $3.19 billion. IBISWorld expects the number of VoIP subscribers to rise by 21.2% this year, to 16.6 million. The firm also expects broadband to be a top growth area, with high-speed Internet connections forecast to rise by 15.1% and Web search portal revenues rising 13.4%.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6543641.html?nid=4262

Sweden proposes law, seeks open broadband market

Sweden proposed on Tuesday its telecom regulator be given extra powers to ensure the country's broadband market was open, legislation that could require TeliaSonera to make structural changes. The legislation is aimed at making sure that former monopoly provider TeliaSonera does not discriminate in providing access to its copper wire network. Last autumn, not long after draft legislation was proposed, TeliaSonera created a separate company for its copper and fibre networks with a requirement that the unit sell access to them on equal terms to all wholesale companies. The move pre-empted government legislation, but the bill announced on Tuesday could give the regulator power to ask for further changes if it believes the broadband market is not open.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSL18202213200...

Study: Most Viewers Aware of DTV Want it Free

STUDY: MOST VIEWERS AWARE OF DTV WANT IT FREE
More than half of over-the-air consumers who are aware of the digital transition prefer to receive free digital television by buying a converter box or digital TV set instead of pay TV services, according to the latest survey from the Association of Public Television Stations. Roughly 62 percent of the approximately 14.5 million over-the-air consuming households who are aware of the cut off to analog television indicated that they would buy a converter box or digital TV set between now and when the transition takes effect Feb. 17, 2009, compared to 10 percent who would opt for cable, satellite or telecommunications service to receive digital television. Consumer awareness of the transition has also increased to 76.4 percent in February 2008 compared to 51 percent in November 2007. Moreover, 55 percent, or 23 million of these households, correctly identified the year when the DTV transition will occur.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/03/20/daily.6/
* APTS Survey press release
http://www.apts.org/news/APTS-March-Survey-Finds-More-Than-Half-of-Over-...

Tribune to sell Newsday?

MURDOCH MAKES A PLAY FOR NEWSDAY
Rupert Murdoch may not be done expanding his newspaper empire. The News Corp. chairman, who’s still digesting Dow Jones & Co., is now believed to have set his sights on Newsday. According to one newspaper industry insider, the company has made a bid for Tribune Co.’s Long Island paper. Newsday also owns am New York, a daily tabloid handed out free in New York City. Talk of the bid has surfaced at the same time that Tribune’s new Chief Executive Sam Zell has said that an advertising downturn has forced him to consider selling off company assets. Additionally, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered its corporate credit rating. Murdoch has long had an interest in Newsday. A year ago, around the time that Tribune was exploring a sale of the entire company, he tried to establish a joint operating agreement between the Tribune paper and News Corp.’s New York Post. He told analysts and others that the agreement would create “a very, very powerful combination for advertisers” and turn the money-losing Post into a viable business “in five minutes."
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/FREE/54...
* Three New York Moguls in Talks to Buy Newsday
Add Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and publisher who owns The Daily News, and James L. Dolan, whose family controls Cablevision, the cable television operator to the list of possible buyers of Newsday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/business/media/21paper.html?ref=todays...
* Newsday drawing looks from 3 buyers
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-rosenthal-mar21,1,307200....
* Tribune Considers Sale of Newsday; Cablevision Is a Potential Bidder
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120605271913453073.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* Rivals Interested in Newsday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR200803...
* Tribune said to be in talks to sell Newsday
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune21mar21,1,2217...

In nightly news, little that's really new

IN NIGHTLY NEWS, LITTLE THAT'S REALLY NEW
[SOURCE: MediaLife, AUTHOR: Toni Fitzgerald]
Network evening news has seemingly gone through tremendous changes in the past several years, beginning with a complete turnover in anchors. If anything, it's a more contentious race, with the three networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, competing for viewers not only with each other but with the all-news cable networks and increasingly the Internet. And yet across all media, the network nightly news shows have changed the least over the past three decades. Many of the stories that dominated evening news shows then still dominate, the formats are largely the same, and the way the news is presented has changed hardly at all. “Network newscasts actually in many ways have been more consistent across the board than any other media in terms of staying with the traditional story approach,” says Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, based in Washington, D.C., which recently completed a study on the state of media. “Cable is more live and extemporaneous. Network news has very much stayed with packages that are produced and edited.” What surprised PEJ researchers is just how much that is so.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Dayparts_update_51/In_n...

FCC May Be Nearing Sirius-XM Decision

FCC MAY BE NEARING SIRIUS-XM DECISION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride sarah.mcbride@wsj.com and Amy Schatz]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin asked his staff to draft documents on the planned merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., signaling the agency is nearing its decision on whether to approve the deal. The move signals that the FCC has finished its lengthy research phase, and will be prepared to act once the Justice Department, the other regulatory body that must rule on the proposal, issues its decision. Chairman Martin said it was unlikely a ruling from the FCC would come by the end of the first quarter, in contrast to remarks he has made recently. He said he'd like the agency to act soon after the Justice Department makes its decision.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120604671159252807.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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Wiretaps and Blue Dogs

WIRETAPS AND BLUE DOGS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Democratic cynicism on national security reached new heights with a House vote last Friday that deserves more public scrutiny. Lawmakers approved a bill that not only fails to provide liability protection for phone companies that assisted the government after 9/11 but actually greases the skids for trial lawyers. This exercise shows that the Democratic left that runs the House is a danger to American security. Senate Democrats would be doing their party a favor by killing this bill before voters figure out they really believe this stuff.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120605503807153155.html?mod=todays_us_op...
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