July 31, 2008 (Wanted: A National Broadband Policy)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY JULY 31, 2008
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FCC Meeting on Public Safety Communications and the D Block Auction
Police and Fire Radios Are Talking to Each Other
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Media Shield Measure Stalls in Senate
IOC admits Internet censorship deal with China
Bush Criticized for Interviews With State-Run Chinese Media
FCC REFORM
Barton Issues FCC Reform Draft Bill
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Wanted: A National Broadband Policy
Network interference
Project to rebuild Internet gets $12M, bandwidth
Broadband war gets bloodier
When "free" is no longer free
New York advised to study broadband alternatives to municipal Wi-Fi
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC Hearing Overcoming Financing Barriers to Media Ownership
Private equity firms complete Clear Channel buyout
Sam Zell's Deal from Hell
POLICYMAKERS
Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison named Commerce Committee Ranking Member
QUICKLY -- Don't wait to buy TV signal converter box; You've got too much e-mail; They Know Where You Are
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS AND THE 700 MHZ D BLOCK PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On July 30, the Federal Communications Commission heard from expert panelists regarding public safety interoperable communications and the 700 MHz D Block proceeding. Experts from public safety, 911 commission, NYC government, state governments, and communications industry discussed ways to bring vitally important interoperable communications to America's first responders.
http://benton.org/node/15701
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POLICE AND FIRE RADIOS ARE TALKING TO EACH OTHER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Christine Hauser]
Emergency medical workers can now contact the police directly via radio. Fire officials use information beamed down from police helicopters. Law enforcement officers and emergency service agencies hold joint drills at high-rise buildings, jails and the city's tunnels. Seven years after the harsh lessons of the Sept. 11 attacks, New York City has improved the ability of its Police and Fire Departments to operate together. On Wednesday, these and other advances were enumerated before the Federal Communications Commission at a public hearing in Brooklyn on improving public safety through better communications among government and emergency agencies. Speakers at the hearing focused on the lack of a national broadband public safety network, noting that some cities, including New York, Washington and Philadelphia, had improved agencies' ability to talk to one another on their local networks, while others had lagged behind.
http://benton.org/node/15705
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MEDIA SHIELD MEASURE STALLS IN SENATE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Julie Hirschfeld Davis]
A bill to protect journalists from having to reveal their sources in some federal courts stalled in the Senate on Wednesday, the latest victim of a partisan fight over what to do about gas prices. Democrats wanted to put aside an energy bill to debate and pass the media bill, which would shield reporters from being forced by federal prosecutors to reveal their sources, except in certain circumstances. But, on a 51-43 vote, the bill fell nine votes short of the 60 it would have needed to move forward over the GOP objections. A vote on the shield bill may now be delayed until the fall. The American Civil Liberties Union, which backs the shield law, was concerned that the bill's protections for journalists were being weakened by "the administration's relentless effort to gut significant protections in what will be the first federal shield law." The Bush administration and many congressional Republicans are strongly opposed to the media shield, arguing the bill could damage national security by harming prosecutors' ability to track leaks.
http://benton.org/node/15700
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IOC ADMITS INTERNET CENSORSHIP DEAL WITH CHINA
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Nick Mulvenney]
The International Olympic Committee cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access. China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.
http://benton.org/node/15699
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BUSH CRITICIZED FOR INTERVIEWS WITH STATE-RUN CHINESE MEDIA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Dan Eggen]
President Bush sat down yesterday for interviews with foreign journalists, including two unusual media outlets: the People's Daily newspaper and the Central China Television network, both controlled by China's ruling Communist Party. The two state-run organizations were subject to the same rules as independent media companies, meaning they may edit the interviews as they wish, White House officials said yesterday. The CCTV's report on the interview is scheduled to be broadcast today, U.S. officials said. The arrangement raises concerns among activist groups on both the right and the left that criticize Beijing's heavy media censorship. It came on the same day China announced that journalists will be restricted in the Internet sites they can access while covering the Olympics.
http://benton.org/node/15710
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BARTON ISSUES FCC REFORM DRAFT BILL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Rep Joe Barton (R-TX) is circulating draft legislation aimed at forcing the Federal Communications Commission to act more openly under predictable deadlines. The bill would not allow the FCC to adopt, modify or delete a final regulation without publishing the specific rule in advance. Before voting, the FCC would have to give the public 60 days to comment on proposed rules, and the chairman would not be allowed to rush the other commissioners into voting immediately after the 60-day window had closed. Relative to internal deadlines, the bill would give the FCC no more than 30 days to publish "any order, decision, report or action" previously adopted. The agency would also need to publish annually its "anticipated release schedule" for all statistical reports. A House aide said the draft bill's intent was to get a conversation going among lawmakers about ways of reforming the FCC.
http://benton.org/node/15698
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
WANTED: A NATIONAL BROADBAND POLICY
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Bruce Mehlman, Larry Irving]
[Commentary] The next President—whether Barack Obama or John McCain—has an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to broadband and the skills and knowledge to benefit from it. This must start with development of a national broadband strategy, a coherent road map of policies and goals that complement and accelerate efforts in the marketplace to achieve universal adoption of affordable high-speed Internet connections. The Internet Innovation Alliance on July 30 is announcing the formation of what it's calling a group of Broadband Ambassadors. The group will help IIA raise awareness of the need for universal broadband availability. IIA is also calling on the next Administration to: 1) convene a bipartisan and inclusive group of political and economic leaders to offer recommendations for a national broadband strategy, 2) include actions by federal or state governments and recommendations for the private sector or Internet users, 3) expand the supply (and speed) of Internet connections, and 4) offer policies that address barriers to broadband demand, such as digital illiteracy, unaggregated demand, and illicit online activities.
http://benton.org/node/15697
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NETWORK INTERFERENCE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is poised to slap the corporate wrist of Comcast, the nation's leading cable operator and second-largest broadband provider, for interfering surreptitiously and deceptively with its customers' use of BitTorrent, a popular program for sharing files online. It makes sense to manage heavy users by making them pay more for their outsized appetites for data, possibly by selling bandwidth in tiers. Such a broad and neutral approach wouldn't run afoul of the FCC. Granted, DSL and cable-modem providers have so little competition today that they might set unreasonably low bandwidth limits in order to collect ample fees for excess usage. That risk will fade, however, as more wireless companies enter the broadband market. And it's a less frightening prospect than having Internet providers secretly play favorites among applications.
http://benton.org/node/15708
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PROJECT TO REBUILD INTERNET GETS $12M, BANDWIDTH
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
A massive project to redesign and rebuild the Internet from scratch is inching along with $12 million in government funding and donations of network capacity by two major research organizations. Many researchers want to rethink the Internet's underlying architecture, saying a "clean-slate" approach is the only way to truly address security and other challenges that have cropped up since the Internet's birth in 1969. On behalf of the government, BBN Technologies Inc. is overseeing the planning and design of the Global Environment for Network Innovations, or GENI, a network on which researchers will be able to test new ideas without damaging the current Internet. The $12 million in initial grants from the National Science Foundation will go to developing prototypes for the GENI network.
http://benton.org/node/15707
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BROADBAND WAR GETS BLOODIER
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
[Commentary] Judging from the earnings announcements from Comcast, Verizon and AT&T, adding new broadband customers is getting more tough as many people already subscribe to either cable or DSL. As a result, cable operators and phone companies are battling each other head to head to steal customers from one another. With the economy in trouble and 90 percent of active Internet users connecting via broadband, these companies are going to rely more heavily on promotional pricing to entice customers to switch. Media Metrics analyst Laura Martin says the fairly miserable subscriber numbers from AT&T and Verizon suggest that cable is stealing a share of the broadband market from DSL. The upshot, she thinks, is that DSL will become the equivalent of a narrowband service over the next five years -- that is, it will become obsolete.
http://benton.org/node/15696
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WHEN "FREE" IS NO LONGER FREE
[SOURCE: Content Agenda, AUTHOR: Paul Sweeting]
With its pending decision to censure Comcast over its network-management practices, the Federal Communications Commission could be planting the seed for an interesting natural experiment on the economics of "piracy". On Comcast's earnings call COO Steven Burke said the company "disagrees" with the apparent decision but added, "we're going to adjust our network management techniques to go to a bit more of a consumption-based model." In other words, charging by the bit, as Time Warner Cable is now testing in a few markets. While Time Warner launched its tiered-pricing test on its own initiative, heightened scrutiny of ISPs' network-management practices by the FCC could turn the Time Warner test into a trend, as Burke's comment suggests. One effect of that trend would be to pass some of the bandwidth costs associated with P2P file-sharing on to those who are actually engaging in it, whether legally or illegally. The upshot could be the "free" is no longer so free. "Piracy" would start to have a price (of sorts).
http://benton.org/node/15695
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NEW YORK ADVISED TO STUDY BROADBAND ALTERNATIVES TO MUNICIPAL WI-FI
[SOURCE: Computerworld, AUTHOR: Matt Hamblen]
Technology consultants told New York officials today that a municipal Wi-Fi system there would be inadvisable, given the experiences of several other major cities. Representatives of Chicago-based Diamond Management and Technology Consultants Inc. suggested several other ways that the city could expand broadband Internet access. A study and recommendations by Diamond consultants will be reviewed over the coming week's by the city's Broadband Advisory Committee, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council, city officials said today. The consultant's study did find that New York is mostly on a par with other major U.S. cities regarding broadband adoption. However, it also noted that Internet usage remains limited among low-income New Yorkers and could be improved in industrial areas.
http://benton.org/node/15706
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATIONS FINANCING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On July 29, the Federal Communications Commission held an en banc hearing and conference on overcoming barriers to communications financing. Commissioner Michael Copps identified a starting points: agreement on the overarching goal of supporting more minority and female ownership and recognition that access to capital is a huge barrier to entry. Paths diverged from there. More at the URL below.
http://benton.org/node/15694
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BAIN, THOMAS H LEE COMPLETE CLEAR CHANNEL BUYOUT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jessica Hall]
Private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners said on Wednesday they completed the $17.9 billion purchase of radio-station and billboard company Clear Channel Communications. The deal, which had been slowed by legal battles in two states and negotiations to lower the purchase price, closed almost two years after Clear Channel began exploring strategic options in October 2006.
http://benton.org/node/15693
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SAM ZELL'S DEAL FROM HELL
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Emily Thornton, Michael Arndt, Ronald Grover]
Sam Zell doesn't need Tribune to thrive; merely keeping it alive could earn him an astronomical return when it comes time to sell. That has always been the goal. But amid the credit crunch, the quick asset sales haven't panned out. With the newspaper business deteriorating, his seemingly clever strategy has thrown the whole Tribune enterprise into jeopardy. With the newspaper industry in free fall, Zell's new survival plan is to build out Tribune's broadcasting and Internet groups, which represent 24% of revenues, and slash costs in the newspaper group. And so the layoffs will keep coming. "I knew that I needed to act as both the grenade thrower and the bomb deflector if we were going to get from here to there," Zell says. Getting "there," of course, would mean a big payday for Sam Zell.
http://benton.org/node/15692
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POLICYMAKERS
SEN KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON NAMED COMMERCE COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
In the wake of the indictment of now former Senate Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will assume the role. Sen Hutchison has been a defender of the cable industry from what some perceived as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's heavy regulatory hand. She pushed for giving the FCC the authority to regulate violence and for allowing TV stations on the border with Mexico to continue broadcasting in analog after February 2009.
http://benton.org/node/15691
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QUICKLY
DON'T WAIT TO BUY TV SIGNAL CONVERTER BOX
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Edward Baig]
The digital-to-analog converter boxes some people will need to continue watching older TVs could be in short supply by February 2009. Manufacturers and retailers don't make large margins on the boxes and don't want to be stuck with excess inventory on Feb. 18, says independent tech analyst Rob Enderle. Digital Tech Consulting's Myra Moore says the boxes are already tough to come by in some stores, an issue for people who have an expiring $40-off government coupon. They expire three months after they're issued. A recent Best Buy survey found that while 88% of American consumers are aware of the digital broadcast transition, 54% do not know why it is happening, and many are still confused about what they need to do to get ready. Another reason to think about this now: Consumers can watch digital TV today. Digital channels are already up; it's the analog stations that go bye-bye in February.
http://benton.org/node/15709
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YOU'VE GOT TOO MUCH E-MAIL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Leslie Brenner]
E-mail, the preferred communication channel of millions of Americans is no longer cool. According to a growing number of academics, "technologists" and psychologists, our dependence on e-mail -- the need to attend to a constantly beeping in-box -- is creating anxiety in the workplace, adversely affecting the ability to focus, diminishing productivity and threatening family bonds. The problem has become so severe that a new crop of entrepreneurs has sprung up with antidotes -- which sometimes involve creating more e-mail. Technology geeks who not long ago were comparing the size of their in-boxes as a gauge of Digital Age machismo are now attempting to wean themselves from Outlook and Gmail. Behind the e-mail backlash is a growing perception that, despite its convenience and everything positive it has brought to work and leisure, the tide has turned, and now once-friendly e-mail is a monster that's threatening to ruin our lives.
http://benton.org/node/15704
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THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Rob Pegoraro]
Your computer knows what you did last weekend -- but that's okay because most of your other gadgets do, too. Your browser remembers your Web reading list, your cellphone saved your calls, and your MP3 player can recite the songs you heard. And most of us seem content to have all this sentient machinery memorizing our daily routines, so long as all the data stay with us. A little surveillance of ourselves can be fine if we, and nobody else, get to see the results.
http://benton.org/node/15703
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