July 2008

Debating the Shield Law

[Commentary] Both the USA Today and the LA Times printed commentary on the pending federal shield law for journalists called the Free Flow of Information Act. The USAT actually has two dueling banjos -- one calls on Senate majority Leader Harry Rid (D-NV) to bring the measure up for a vote quickly. Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, counters that the bill would upset the balance established by current law, crippling the government's ability to investigate and prosecute those who harm national security. Scott Gant, a Washington attorney whose practice includes constitutional law, writes in the LATimes "a federal shield law that limits its safeguards in this way promotes a narrow view of the 1st Amendment. The freedom of the press is a right and a privilege that belongs to all of us. And if Congress enacts a shield law, it ought to be one that reflects the reality that we're all capable of being journalists now."

The Censors Lose in Court

[Commentary] The $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on CBS for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl was a serious setback to freedom of expression. A federal appeals court threw out the fine last week, ruling that the agency violated its own standards for what constitutes indecency. It is a well-reasoned decision, and we hope that the Supreme Court, which will soon be taking up a similar case, will take as strong a stand for free speech.

FCC August 1 Agenda

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in Room TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. Here's the agenda: 1) Comcast's network management practices (see story), 2) the regulatory fee assessment process, and 3) Verizon's purchase of Rural Cellular Corporation. Anyone exiting immediately after the meeting for an extended summer vacation must do so in an orderly fashion.

FCC to punish Comcast

Bad Comcast. Bad, bad, Comcast. A majority of the five Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast for blocking subscribers' Internet traffic. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company and one of the largest broadband service providers, was accused of violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. Three Commissioners have voted in favor of an order reaching agreement with the finding, but the decision will not be final until all five members have cast their votes. The FCC is scheduled to take up the issue at its August 1 meeting. The three votes in favor were Chairman Kevin Martin and fellow Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of "file sharing" software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data. Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, said, "If adopted, this order would send a strong signal to the marketplace that arbitrarily interfering with users' online choices is not acceptable. Internet service providers do not get to decide the winners and losers online."

FCC approves Sirius-XM Satellite radio Deal

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission approved -- with conditions -- the merger of the Sirius and XM satellite radio companies. The 3-2 vote will the deal to proceed as long as the companies met a series of consumer protection conditions, including a three-year cap on prices, setting aside 8 percent of their channel capacity for minority and non-commercial programming and payment of a $19.7 million penalty for past FCC rule violations. The companies also will have to make available to consumers radios that receive both Sirius and XM. As part of the order, the FCC also will conduct an inquiry into whether it should require that all satellite radios be built with technology that allows them to also receive high definition terrestrial radio signals. The approval came over the objections of two of the FCC's Commissioners. Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have warned against allowing further consolidation of ownership of the media, and have said the concessions sought by FCC Chairman Martin were not strong enough to protect consumers and preserve competition. The traditional, terrestrial radio industry opposed the deal and its lobbying arm, the National Association of Broadcasters, released the following statement: "Today's vote certainly comes as a disappointment to NAB. We continue to believe that consumers are best served by competition rather than monopolies."

FCC denies Qwest forbearance

The Federal Communications Commission Friday night denied Qwest Communications the ability to charge higher rates to companies that use its lines to provide their own service. Qwest's application was denied a day before a deadline was reached that automatically would have granted the forbearance, a move that would allow the telecommunications company to charge unregulated rates to competitors. Commissioners denied the petition because the company did not provide enough evidence to support its claims about competition in the marketplace. "Although significant competition exists in Denver-based Qwest's markets, particularly in Phoenix, the commission determined based on the specific market facts provided to us, that Qwest's petitions did not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that regulatory relieve like that afforded the company in Omaha was warranted," said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said, "I continue to believe that the Telecom Act envisioned more than just a cable-telephone duopoly as sufficient competition in the marketplace."

FCC Moves Media Ownership Meeting

The Federal Communications Commission changed the location of its meeting Tuesday in New York on "barriers to communications financing," which will focus largely on minority access, or lack of it, to capital. The FCC did not explain the change but said that instead of Barnard College, the en banc hearing will now be held in Harlem at the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Boulevard). It also lined up a full two-dozen speakers.

Big Cable: FCC Internet policy should apply to colleges too

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association has told the Federal Communications Commission: "If there is to be [Internet] regulation, ... it must apply equally to all providers." The point? Plenty of colleges and universities have "network management" strategies too. The trade group has sent a carefully crafted list of stated policies to the FCC -- "virtually all of the nation's top universities... restrict users' ability to engage in activities that cause excessive congestion." From the document it looks like NCTA staff grabbed U.S. News and World Report's ranking of top colleges, rummaged around the schools' IT Web sites, then selectively cut-and-pasted their stated computing policies in the FCC filing.

Brodsky's Sham

[Commentary] There's no love loss between Public Knowledge's Art Brodsky and anyone connected to Connected Nation, so after Brodsky published another story critical of CN last week, CN was quick to respond. Taylor, CN's Chief Analyst, accuses Brodsky of manufacturing "gotchya," conspiring, and "distorting the truth into complete fabrications." She writes that Connected nation's filing is clear on "specific processes that Connected Nation uses to 1) gather network data by working in the field with providers and local officials, 2) verify the data through systemized and continuous communication with thousands of local leaders and consumers, and 3) make the broadband data transparent to the public through an interactive, fully searchable and zoomable, web-based map that all consumers, policymakers, economic developers and anyone else can check and use. And thousands of individuals do this on a regular basis." [Follow the debate and add your comments at http://benton.org/node/15506#comment-28]

US Poised for Broadband Explosion, Says Gartner

Sure, the US has fallen behind on broadband penetration as you've read many times elsewhere -- but research firm Gartner predicts that will change in the next four years. In 2012, 77 percent of all American households will be accessing the Internet via broadband, compared to 54 percent last year, says a new Gartner report. Gartner's analysts have put together a list of 17 countries that all will have penetration levels that exceed 60 percent in 2012. Last year, 11 countries on that list where ahead of the U.S., but in four years, only South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Canada will lead it in household broadband penetration. The US will share fifth place with Japan, which will see equally impressive growth. Key to the large growth in the U.S. will be a combination of lower prices and increased interest as customers currently on dial-up move to broadband.

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