July 2008

Hollywood actors and studios face disconnect

Three weeks after the expiration of their contract, the Screen Actors Guild and the studios appear to be living on different planets. SAG says it's still negotiating; the studios say their final offer is languishing on the table. A weekend get-together of the actors union gave little indication that those worlds are getting any closer. Leaders of SAG spent the weekend trying to convince members that they are still negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), the studios' bargaining arm. The AMPTP, however, has rejected this interpretation, saying negotiations ended when the contract expired June 30 and the studios made their final offer. It has said it will not entertain any more bargaining sessions or counterproposals. A LATimes editorial says it's past time for the two sides to be hunkering down for some serious give-and-take.

Musicians' unions stay out of digital debate

Will the music industry ever get organized? With digital distribution of entertainment as the focal point, the TV/film and music industries are embroiled in several disputes between those who create the content and those who distribute it. But while those disputes in Hollywood are well-documented -- with powerful unions like the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild staging high-profile negotiations and, in some cases, strikes -- the perception in the music industry is that artists are largely left to themselves to fight for whatever they can get on their own. Musicians' unions use collective bargaining to negotiate contracts between recording artists and their labels, which apply to every major-label deal. However, union contracts are largely limited to basic provisions covering minimal payments, health insurance and other benefits. Big-ticket items like royalty rates, advances and digital rights are left to separate contracts negotiated individually between artist and label.

The spread of bans on driving while texting

The California legislator who championed the state's ban on using hand-held cellphones while driving has a new target: text messaging at the wheel. In addition to California, legislatures in at least 13 other states are considering some kind of ban on drivers tapping out text messages. Four states have already made it illegal for motorists to send text messages. Another set of four states bans cellphones altogether for drivers under the age of 18. While several studies link the use of hand-held phones to traffic accidents and fatalities, texting is too new to have received the same kind of scrutiny. But accidents around the country blamed on texting have drawn the public's attention.

Nation's Largest ISPs Crafting Fake National Broadband Policy

[Commentary] Last week AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and a handful of other companies sent a letter to Congress asking it to embrace a "national broadband policy." In it, the traditionally regulation-petrified ISPs suddenly embrace two broadband mapping laws. But these companies have fought accurate broadband penetration mapping tooth and nail in court, sued cities and towns for wiring themselves with broadband, and shown no interest in deploying broadband into rural America. What gives? "in order to pre-empt any real national broadband policy from taking shape, the nation's largest broadband companies are collectively crafting their own anti-consumer 'national broadband policy' and pushing it through Congress as a cure-all while consumers and the media nap." Why? "Were a real, substantive national broadband plan crafted, it would include input from consumer advocates, respected Internet visionaries and involve objective ... science. It would involve high standards, high-quality mapping and significant subsidized deployment, but it would also hold these companies accountable for how subsidies are spent. If done right ... , it would be everything the [current Universal Service Fund] isn't. That's a nightmare for any investor-driven incumbent operator, who like their taxpayer handouts with no accountability." Whether they succeed will depend on whether the media (oh look, an iPhone!), consumers and lawmakers let them.

NATOA Adopts Broadband Principles, Calls for National broadband Strategy

The National Association of Telecommunications Officer and Advisors, representing local communications and cable regulators, is calling for the immediate development of a National Broadband Strategy. NATOA has developed 10 broadband principles that outline the critical need for widespread deployment of next-generation broadband networks and necessary steps to achieve this goal. 1) Nationwide deployment of advanced broadband networks. 2) High capacity bandwidth in both directions. 3) Fiber to the premises is the preferred broadband option. 4) High capacity broadband connectivity must be affordable and widely accessible. 5) High capacity broadband requires open access networks. 6) Network neutrality is vital to the future of the Internet. 7) All networks and users have the right and obligation to non-discriminatory interconnection. 8) Local governments must be involved to ensure that local needs and interests are met. 9) Local governments must be allowed to build and operate broadband networks. 10) A variety of options must be considered to cover deployment costs.

Cuba and Venezuela to lay undersea Internet cable

Earlier this week, Wikileaks published documents that were signed in 2006 by officials in Cuba and Venezuela describing plans for a new undersea cable that will connect the two countries and provide high-speed Internet access to Cuban citizens by 2010. The proposed cable, which is being deployed by CVG Telecom (Corporacion Venezolana de Guyana) and ETC (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba), will also provide high-speed Internet access to Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad. The new undersea cable is being built as a strategic partnership between Cuba and Venezuela to encourage an interchange between the two governments; foster science, cultural and social development; and increase economic relationships among Cuba, its South American neighbors, and the rest of the world. The United States economic embargo against Cuba has forced the communist country to rely on slow and expensive satellite links for Internet connectivity. Even though it would cost less and be more efficient to lay a new cable between Cuba and the US, which are only 120 kilometers apart, Cuba is working with Venezuela to lay a 1,500-kilometer cable to get high-speed Internet connectivity.

House DTV Hearing in Brooklyn, NY

On Friday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Management held a field hearing in New York City seeking an update on the digital television transition. WABC-TV news anchor Bill Ritter told the Subcommittee about the efforts of his station and others in the New York City market to inform viewers of the upcoming transition. Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau chief Monica Desai testified that television broadcasters collectively aired more than 1 million digital-TV-transition announcements (632,677 public-service announcements and 520,652 crawls, snipes or tickers) in the most recent quarter. However, Mark Lloyd of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights testified that the nation is not ready for the DTV transition because there is too little funding for research, education and outreach. National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Meredith Attwell Baker also testified, saying that DTV-to-analog converter-box-coupon program subcontractor IBM "eliminated" a backlog of coupon requests. Some in Congress complained that the NTIA did not take into account the administrative costs of reissuing expired coupons, which so far total more than the 6 million that have been redeemed. Assist Sec Baker said the NTIA is working with IBM to make sure that "as many coupons as possible can be distributed." She that more than 6 million coupons have been redeemed. The redemption rate was 44%, she added, which means that 56%, or more than 6 million, have gone unredeemed for one reason or another. Those could include being lost, forgotten, or simply not used by those who applied for them but did not need them. The money for all of those coupons -- $40 apiece -- is now available for issuing new coupons, but there may not be sufficient administrative costs to cover mailing out and processing them. The NTIA has $160 million to spend on administrative costs.

A Dozen Items for TV Stations to Worry About

[Commentary] What 12 things should television broadcasters be thinking most about? 1) Digital television. 2) Using the Internet. 3) Retransmission consent. 4) Automation technology. 5) Erosion of national spot advertising revenue. 6) Government regulation. 7) Retransmission consent rights. 8) Local affiliate stations compensating networks for programming. 9) Lousy network programming. 10) The loss of network exclusivity as networks distribute programming over the Internet. 11) The end of the CW television network. 12) The lack of programming creativity at stations.

ACA Meets With Martin Aide On A La Carte

In a recent meeting with a senior aide to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, top officials from the American Cable Association backed rules to require cable programmers to charge the same monthly fee to all cable companies regardless of size. ACA president Matt Polka, joined by ACA outside attorneys and five other senior ACA officials, backed what ACA called "the national pricing plan" in a meeting held Wednesday with Martin's acting legal adviser for media issues, Elizabeth Andrion. ACA also tossed its support behind Martin's effort to impose wholesale a la carte mandates on cable programmers. Those rules would require a programmer to offer each programming service on a stand-alone basis rather than in a package on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

Intel Wants FCC To Require Cable HD Set-Tops To Speak IP

Computer chip manufacturer Intel wants the Federal Communications Commission to amend its rules to require cable operators to provide an Internet protocol networking interface, such as Ethernet, on their high-definition set-top boxes. The proposed change would mandate that cable's high-end set-top boxes include a way to transfer high definition cable programming to authorized IP-based video playback devices. Intel noted that in August 2007, CableLabs approved the use of the Digital Transmission Copy Protection (DTCP) over IP specification on cable boxes, using IP-based outputs under all license agreements. Asked about the rationale for the change in rules, Intel spokesman Bill Kircos said in an e-mail that the company was trying to update the requirements placed on cable set-tops to reflect the changes in the market.

Benton

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