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  2. August 2008

August 2008

100 Days of Negative Ads, Costing $350 Million

[Commentary] Lately, the race for the White House has been an eruption of hard-hitting negative ads. If the current rate of attack ads continues, this election will have more than 100 uninterrupted days of negative ads with a potential cost of more than $350 million (and that is just from the candidates). By running these attack ads Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) could be treading on thin ice. His brand has been built on the idea of being a different kind of politician. Yet, time and time again we are reminded of the lessons learned in the 2004 "swift boat" debacle. The Obama campaign is in a tough spot. It must evaluate the potential cost to its brand of participating in a negative ad war vs. the damage of unanswered attacks. At this point, Sen John McCain has nothing to lose by going negative. However, he will likely need to come up with a second act.

Nationwide FCC DTV Outreach Tour

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin announced a nationwide initiative to increase awareness about the upcoming transition to digital television. The FCC identified target television markets for specific DTV outreach, including all those markets in which more than 100,000 households or at least 15% of the households rely solely on over-the-air signals for television. Chairman Martin announced that the five FCC Commissioners and other Commission staff will fan out to these and other markets to raise awareness and educate consumers in the days leading up to the digital television transition on February 17, 2009. At each stop, there will be a public event, such as a town hall meeting, workshop, or roundtable with an FCC Commissioner to highlight the digital transition, and be available to local press. In coordination with these visits, the FCC will work with local broadcasters and radio stations to increase the broadcasts of Radio and TV DTV PSAs. All combined, this outreach is designed to educate consumers in these DMAs and especially those groups that are most vulnerable in the transition: Seniors, People Living Tribal and Rural Areas, People with Disabilities, Individuals with Low-Incomes, Minorities and Non-English Speakers. The FCC also launched a Speakers Bureau for groups throughout the country to request speakers to discuss the upcoming transition to Digital Television (DTV) at their meetings. To request a speaker, go to the FCC's DTV website, www.dtv.gov, and click on "Request a Speaker," or contact Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0511, or rosemary.kimball@fcc.gov

Wilmington TV Broadcasters to Continue Analog Broadcasts after Sept 8

Beginning at 12 noon on September 8, 2008, WWAY (ABC), WSFX-TV (FOX), WECT (NBC), WILM-LP (CBS) and W51CW (Trinity Broadcasting) will transmit their commercial programming only on digital channels. Viewers tuning to the stations' traditional analog channels following September 8th will see graphics informing them of options for receiving digital broadcast signals through the month of September. In the event of an emergency, such as a hurricane, the stations may elect to provide emergency information and announcements on their old analog channel.

NTIA: "Over-the-Air" Participation in DTV Coupon Program On Track

The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today that nearly 6.4 million "over-the-air" TV households, those that rely on an antenna for broadcast TV, have requested about 12 million coupons from the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. The program helps households switch to digital television when full-power TV broadcasters switch from analog to 100 percent digital broadcasts in six months. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 60 percent of "over-the-air" TV households are potential purchasers of converter boxes. Nielsen estimated that there were 14 million over-the-air TV households, at the beginning of the year. Nearly 75 percent of these potential purchasers of converter boxes have requested coupons. Household participation is 50 percent or higher in 187 of the country's 210 television markets for their participation in the Coupon Program. (See listing of all markets and the participation rates of over-the-air households.) NTIA is sharing this data with its partners and creating special outreach where participation rates are lower than expected.

War in Georgia, Not Campaign, is big News of the Week

According to PEJ's weekly News Coverage Index for the week of Aug. 11-17, the fighting between Russia and Georgia was the biggest story last week, marking the first week in nine months when the presidential race did not generate the most coverage. The crisis in Georgia also quickly became a major campaign issue. Stories about the conflict primarily involving the candidates' views were the No. 1 election storyline, accounting for 14% of the campaign coverage studied.

Tracking Coverage of the Economic Slowdown

The media's coverage of the troubled economy has shifted repeatedly in the last year from a narrative about mortgages to one about recession, a banking crisis and now largely gas prices -- a changing storyline and one that differs from medium to medium. Moreover, the connection between media coverage and economic events has often been uneven. Sometimes, coverage has lagged months behind economic activity, when the storyline was dependent on government data. Other times, coverage has tracked events erratically, as with housing and inflation. But when the story is easier to tell, as in the case of gas prices, coverage has been closely tied to what is actually occurring in the marketplace. These are some of the findings of a new detailed examination of how the American news media have covered the economic slowdown over the last two years, produced by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Android phone could come in November

The Federal Communications Commission released documents on Monday that may indicate that the first Android phone will hit the US market in November. The documents show that the FCC has approved the sale of HTC's Dream phone, a device widely rumored to become the first to run Google's Linux-based Android software. HTC asked the FCC to keep some of the details of its filings, including photographs and the user manual, confidential until Nov.10. That may mean that the phone will come out around that date.

Google launches white spaces campaign

Google hopes a new Web site will help convince the Federal Communications Commission to allow a new generation of wireless broadband devices to connect via unused television spectrum. Google on Monday launched the Free the Airwaves campaign, in an effort to drum up public support for new wireless devices to use the so-called white spaces, empty wireless spectrum in bands controlled by US television stations.

Tate and Adelstein could be out in the cold

Democratic leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee have not acted on the nominations of Federal Communications Commission members Jonathan Adelstein and Deborah Taylor Tate and are unlikely to do so before the election. Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) could become the next chairman of the Commerce Committee and would probably want his own commissioner, or even a chairman, in place, in an effort to have some influence on the commission's agenda. At a December 2007 oversight hearing of the FCC, Sen Rockefeller vowed to block the nominations, as he objected to the FCC's management of late. Sen Rockefeller specifically called for legislation to overhaul the commission's structure, the terms of the commissioners and the agency's mission.

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