August 2008

Classic shows could find new life in digital TV

Everyone knows that the national transition to digital broadcast television will promote sexy new technologies including high-definition TV (HDTV). But few could have imagined that it might also revive some of the creakiest movies and series ever committed to celluloid, including The Lone Ranger, McHale's Navy and The Addams Family. Vintage reruns and other inexpensive shows are in vogue, though, as stations and programmers rush into a potentially important new business: multicast networks. Multicast services piggyback on digital signals from local stations, including those offering HDTV versions of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS. Most stations also have room in the airwave spectrum the government has allocated to transmit two standard-definition channels. That could mean up to a dozen stations for a moderate-size market.

Dish Joins Cable in Opposing NAB Quiet Period Start Date

Dish Network Wednesday joined its rival, the cable industry, in opposing the start time that broadcaster's have proposed for a retransmission-consent "quiet period" next year. Dish Network wants the quiet period to start Dec. 15, while the NTCA and the ACA want it to begin or before Jan. 1. However, Dish Network said it supports the quiet period ending March 4, like the NAB, while the NCTA and ACA want it to end May 31.

Time Warner Fears Cable Indecency Rules

Time Warner is concerned that banning fleeting indecency on broadcast TV could be used to justify regulating cable television programming for indecency for the first time. The company, a major owner of cable TV systems and programming networks, stated in an Aug. 8 filing in the U.S. Supreme Court that government regulation of television content shouldn't be allowed to spread to the cable medium. "This court should never lose its vigilance to prevent restrictions on broadcast speech from spawning copycat restrictions on non-broadcast speech," the company said. Time Warner noted in the court brief that prominent individuals such as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin have called for greater content regulation of the pay TV industry.

Congress to Push Web Privacy

Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) says he and others plan to introduce comprehensive online privacy legislation in the coming congressional session. Dubbed the Online Privacy Bill of Rights, the law may require companies to get approval from consumers before collecting information about their Web-surfing habits, a process known as behavioral targeting that helps Web sites more strategically place ads. The legislation may also demand that companies disclose more information on how they collect and use people's Web-use data. "There is a reasonable chance that we will see something in the next Congress," says Michael Hintze, an associate general counsel at Microsoft.

Advertisers will see you read this

[Commentary] If you feel like a shock, try finding out how many online advertising companies are tracking you every time you use the Internet. One way to do so is to go to the Network Advertising Initiative site in the US (www.networkadvertising.org) and click on the opt-out button that allows you to evade their surveillance. It also tells you how many have been watching you already. Worries about online surveillance and privacy are growing. The US Congress is investigating Internet "behavioral targeting" of this kind and Yahoo last week tightened controls on personalized advertising. Meanwhile, Phorm's planned UK trial with 10,000 BT broadband customers has caused an outcry. There is plenty to be worried about. Most people know vaguely that companies use technology to track browsing habits but are unaware of the scale and penetration of these techniques. The advent of "deep packet inspection" (DPI), practised by technology companies such as Phorm, takes this a stage further. Most of the agencies involved have adopted stricter privacy standards than in the early days of the Internet, when the abuse of "spyware" and "adware" was rampant. But there is a long way to go before those browsing the Internet can rest easy.

Woman to Woman, Online

Sites aimed primarily at women, from "mommy blogs" to makeup and fashion sites, grew 35 percent last year — faster than every other category on the Web except politics, according to comScore, an Internet traffic measurement company. Women's sites had 84 million visitors in July, 27 percent more than the same month last year, comScore said. Advertisers are following the crowd, serving up 4.4 billion display ads on women's Web sites in May, comScore said. That is more than for sites aimed at children, teenagers or families. "Moms are the decision makers of the household as far as purchases are concerned," said Chris Actis, vice president and digital director at the ad agency MediaVest. The rapid growth in advertising and traffic to women's sites has attracted the attention of major media companies and venture capitalists.

UK online ad spend overtakes mainstream TV

Spending on online ads overtook advertising on mainstream TV in Britain last year, growing 40 percent to $5.3 billion and accounting for 19 percent of all advertising, UK regulator Ofcom said. Britons spent four times as much time on computers, or 24 minutes a day, and twice as much time on mobile phones in 2007 as in 2002. Average household spending on communications fell slightly, however, as bundled services and broadband bargains drove down prices, while more consumers shopped around and switched providers to get better deals.

Residents "own" last-mile in Canadian broadband trial

Canadians generated one of the most innovative ideas ever for last-mile connectivity. In an experiment led by Bill St.Arnaud, researcher at Canarie, a Canadian government-funded institution, 400 houses are being wired with optical fiber -- for which the homeowners will pay an estimated $2,700. The fiber connects up to the nearest network access point, and homeowners own it outright -- meaning they can resell it with their homes, or lease out capacity to their neighbors. Here's why this is a great idea. First, as I've mentioned more than once -- carriers don't actually make a profit on the last mile, which is why investment in last-mile infrastructure lags behind demand. That leaves precious few choices for building out the last mile, all of them (until now) bad ones. Asking homeowners to foot the bill directly ensures that bandwidth is paid for by the folks who truly value it -- the ones who plan on using it. Yet another advantage: It makes the "net neutrality" issue moot. Since the fiber is owned by the homeowner, there's no risk of censorship at the last mile. And since the connection is broadband, quality of service becomes less of an issue. Finally, this approach neatly segments Internet infrastructure and services. Users purchase a pipe into the cloud -- not a connection into any particular backbone network or set of services. Therefore, content providers can continue to innovate without fear that users and customers will be unable to access their content.

Ruling Is a Victory for Supporters of Free Software

A legal dispute involving model railroad hobbyists has resulted in a major courtroom victory for the free software movement also known as open-source software. In a ruling Wednesday, the federal appeals court in Washington said that just because a software programmer gave his work away did not mean it could not be protected. The decision legitimizes the use of commercial contracts for the distribution of computer software and digital artistic works for the public good. The court ruling also bolsters the open-source movement by easing the concerns of large organizations about relying on free software from hobbyists and hackers who have freely contributed time and energy without pay. It also has implications for the Creative Commons license, a framework for modifying and sharing creative works that was developed in 2002 by Larry Lessig, a law professor at Stanford.

Wanted: Writers for DC tech lobby group, secrecy mandatory

[Commentary] Op-eds of dubious provenance are nothing new in political circles, and fake grassroots "astroturf" campaigns enjoy a long, although hardly distinguished, history. One of the most influential practitioners of this art is the LawMedia Group, which has emerged as a behind-the-scenes Washington advocate for Comcast in its Net neutrality tussle with the FCC. In May, the LMG began representing Microsoft in its attempt to use the political process to sabotage a Google-Yahoo advertising deal. Even by Washington standards, the LawMedia Group is highly secretive. Until recently, nearly all pages on its Web site were password-protected. No clients are listed. Perhaps the oddest aspect is that not one employee's name--not even the identity of its founder or principals--is publicly disclosed.

Benton

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