May 2008

New CPB Nominees

President George Bush has nominated the following individuals to be Members of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Lori Gilbert, of Nevada, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 01/31/12; Cheryl Feldman Halpern, of New Jersey, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 01/31/14; David J. Pryor, of Arkansas, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 01/31/14; Bruce M. Ramer, of California, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 01/31/12; Liz Sembler, of Florida, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 01/31/14.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080529-5.html

Redlasso to Continue Offering Networks’ Clips

Redlasso, an Internet startup that collects hours of footage from selected television networks, said it will continue to allow bloggers to search, clip and embed the video on their own sites. The company explained its plans Thursday in response to a May 19 cease-and-desist letter from Fox, NBC and CBS, adding that it will continue to try to strike deals with the networks. The company is also bringing on former Westinghouse and CBS CEO Michael Jordan as a senior advisor, acting as a liaison between the company and the networks.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6565221.html?rssid=193

Internet Safety Education Bill

Rep Judy Biggert (R-IL) and Nick Lampson (D-TX) have introduce the Protecting Our Children Online Act, a bill to ensure that children exploring the Internet are protected from online predators and other threats. The bill would require that schools and libraries that allow children to access the Internet also provide them with basic instruction on how to avoid common online dangers. Teachers and librarians will be given the flexibility to choose the most effective means for instructing children, but the lessons will focus on the safe use of social networking websites, chat rooms, instant messaging, and e-mail as well as awareness of and response to cyberbullying.
http://judybiggert.house.gov/Newsroom.aspx?FormMode=Detail&ID=860

FCC Weighs Free-Internet Plan

In the quest to increase Americans' access to broadband Internet, federal regulators are considering a new plan: get someone to give it away free. The Federal Communications Commission is considering a plan that would require the winner of a planned airwaves auction to offer free wireless-Internet service to most Americans within the next few years. Details of the plan still have to be worked out, and it isn't entirely clear who might bid for the airwaves. Most of the major carriers have already bulked up their spectrum holdings through recent FCC auctions or acquisitions, and start-ups may have difficulty raising enough capital to not only win the auction but build out a network. If it works, however, the FCC's plan could represent a major step forward in U.S. broadband policy since it would provide at least bare-bones wireless-Internet service to millions of Americans who either don't have access to high-speed Internet services or aren't willing to pay for them.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121202475689428063.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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Amendment Targets Embedded-Analyst Program

It looks like the inspector general of the Defense Department and the Government Accountability Office may be joining the Federal Communications Commission in investigating the Bush administration's “embedded analyst” program. This came after the House of Representatives passed an amendment -- to a Defense Authorization bill -- that would try to end the practice, currently suspended by the DOD, of briefing media analysts for networks in an effort to get them to relay the government line on the war in Iraq. The Defense Authorization bill passed in the House, as well. So if the amendment survives a conference between different House and Senate versions of the bill, it would prevent any DOD funding from being used for propaganda. It would also require the GAO and DOD inspector general to investigate whether the DOD's care and information-feeding of analysts violated existing laws against domestic propaganda.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6564727.html?rssid=193

For McCain, A Switch On Telecom Immunity?

A top lawyer for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign said telecommunications companies should be forced to explain their role in the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program as a condition for legal immunity for past wiretapping, a statement that stands in marked contrast to positions taken by President Bush, Sen McCain and other Republicans in Congress. "There would need to be hearings, real hearings, to find out what actually happened, what harms actually occurred, rather than some sort of sweeping of things under the rug," Chuck Fish, a former vice president and chief patent counsel at Time Warner, said last week at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, according to an audiotape available on the conference Web site. "That would be absolutely verboten in a McCain administration." The comments -- first noted last week on the blog of the technology magazine Wired -- contradict McCain's voting record, and they are almost certain to disrupt negotiations between Democratic leaders in Congress and Bush administration officials, who are seeking blanket immunity for the telecoms' cooperation with the surveillance program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR200805...
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Public Says Media Harder on Clinton Than Obama, McCain

Although Americans in general think that news media coverage of the three major presidential candidates has been "about right," they are more inclined to say the media have been "too hard" on Hillary Clinton and "too easy" on Barack Obama and John McCain. Bill and Hillary Clinton are two of the most prominent people to suggest that the news media have been unfairly critical of her and her campaign. The overall sentiment of the American public seems to tilt in agreement, with significantly more Americans saying the media have been too hard on Clinton than say that about either Obama or McCain. Clinton's supporters generally share this negative view of her treatment by the media -- a majority (56%) of Democrats who support Clinton for the presidential nomination say the media have been too hard on her. That is nearly double the percentage of Obama supporters who say this about Clinton.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/107557/Public-Says-Media-Harder-Clinton-Than-...

Another Tribune unit put on auction block

Tribune Company is attempting to sell off another business – this time, its Tribune Media Services unit, which distributes news and entertainment listings – to boost its short-term liquidity. Tribune, the second-largest US newspaper publisher, has roughly $13bn of debt, with $1.85bn due in 2008 and 2009, following its deal last year to be bought by Sam Zell, the real estate investor. The Chicago-based publisher agreed earlier this month to sell Newsday, the Long Island tabloid, to cable operator Cablevision to pay down some of its shorter-term obligations, but it still faces long-term challenges. Mr Zell had originally pledged not to sell any of the company’s 11 newspapers, which include the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. Tribune, which is also trying to sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Chicago’s Wrigley Field stadium, has now added its media services business to the list of assets on the auction block, according to people familiar with the situation. Tribune Media Services, which operates as a Tribune subsidiary, provides television and movie broadcast listings and distributes well-known syndicated columns and comic strips. Tribune’s advisers have distributed information on the unit, which generates about $25m in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and could be worth roughly $200m, to a range of potential buyers. The sale could spark interest both from private equity investors and from corporate buyers within the media industry, such as cable operators or Internet-based content providers, who may be interested in the unit’s content provision.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95ccfb8c-2d09-11dd-88c6-000077b07658.html
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Azteca shifts production of U.S. newscasts to Mexico

Spanish-language television network Azteca America is now producing its U.S. national and local Los Angeles newscasts from Mexico City. The company, a subsidiary of Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca, until this week had originated its news programs for the U.S. from its facilities in Glendale. The network and its flagship station, KAZA-TV Channel 54 in Los Angeles, made the switch to save money amid a weak advertising market. Azteca America has laid off about 30 people in the last week, including 19 in its news division, the company confirmed Wednesday. The network has long struggled to make inroads in Los Angeles, the nation's largest Latino market, where entrenched rivals Univision Communications Inc.'s KMEX-TV Channel 34 and NBC Universal's KVEA-TV Telemundo Channel 52 dominate.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-azteca29-2008may29,0,1046171.story
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BBC told to slow online development

The BBC Trust on Thursday told the public service broadcaster to slow the pace of its online developments because of competitive tensions with the commercial sector and “poor financial accountability.” In the first of its service reviews under the BBC’s new Charter, the Trust, the corporation’s governing body, said it would apply stronger scrutiny before authorizing new developments at bbc.co.uk, particularly in “hyper-local” news coverage and educational services – areas where local newspapers and other commercial groups have suggested the BBC has overreached its public service remit and distorted the market. The review also revealed weak financial controls that led to £24.9m – a third of the website’s annual budget – being wrongly attributed to other parts of the BBC. That in turn led to it spending 48 per cent more than its budget allocation.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e9f25e62-2d6f-11dd-b92a-000077b07658.html
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