August 2008

Texting while driving? California Senate says 'GTG'

Trying to keep pace with advances in technology, a divided state Senate approved a measure Thursday that would outlaw text messaging by motorists in California. The bill was approved on a 25-14 vote, with heavy opposition from Republicans who see the legislation as unnecessary interference in personal behavior. Only two Republicans voted for the measure. Violators of the law would face a potential $20 fine for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. The bill prohibits driving any motor vehicle while "using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication," which includes e-mails. If signed into law, the measure would take effect Jan. 1.

McDowell to Alaska

Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell announced he will visit Anchorage and Fairbanks (Alaska) as part of the Commission's digital television awareness tour after the FCC's Office of General Counsel determined that Outer Mongolia is not, in fact, under FCC jurisdiction. Commissioner McDowell will be playing the Anchorage Senior Center Sullivan Room on Wednesday and the Fairbanks Public Library on Thursday. These visits are part of an extensive nationwide initiative the Commission has launched to increase awareness about the upcoming transition to digital television. (Mongolia's DTV transition has been delayed to 2050.)

FCC Open Meeting Today

The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to meet this morning AT 10 AM (eastern), but strike from the agenda consideration of 1) roaming fees and 2) new cable television must carry rules (which have already been adopted). The FCC will consider just one item -- on implementing the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008. Everyone is free to leave Washington directly after the meeting. (Or watch it online at http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/)

Campaign Advertising Scorecard

In advance of the national conventions, the Nielsen Company released an overview of the presidential campaign so far this summer, providing a closer look at the candidates' online presence and buzz, their advertising campaigns, as well as TV viewership for past political conventions. Among the key findings:

1) Online Audience and Videos Viewed: In July 2008 the number of video streams on JohnMcCain.com more than doubled, possibly due to press coverage around Sen John McCain's ad that compared Sen Barack Obama to Paris Hilton. Despite being behind in total video streams in July, BarackObama.com's unique audience was twice as large as JohnMcCain.com's in both June and July 2008.

2) Top Blogs: The Huffington Post blog includes the most mentions of both Barack Obama and John McCain (June thru Aug 17), while Sen Obama maintains the lead in overall buzz volume on blogs and message boards.

3) Advertising Online: In July, the "Obama for America" image-based online advertising campaign was five times bigger than the previous month -- 417 million impressions in July 2008 vs. 80 million online impressions in June 2008.

4) Top States for TV Advertising: During June and July 2008, both Sens Obama and McCain targeted their local TV spots at key battleground states including Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Media and Democracy in America Today: A Reform Plan for a New Administration

This new report lays out a plan of action for the next President and Congress to take to ensure the media performs its appropriate role in our democracy. Recommendations focus on protecting the democratic nature of the Internet, supporting community media, increasing diversity of media ownership and improving the digital TV transition process. Common Cause wants it to push for an overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1991 with an eye toward "a new focus on promoting diversity and true competition and preventing consolidation." The group also wants the government to mandate three hours per week of civic or electoral programming, as it does for educational children's programming, and to be more specific about what broadcasters' public-interest obligations are, particularly now that the digital-TV transition is opening up more spectrum for broadcaster use. The platform also includes free airtime for candidates; more specific policies for helping women and minorities to own more media outlets; network-neutrality legislation; a more securely funded and transparently nonpartisan public-broadcasting system; and a raft of DTV-transition-related proposals from more funding to more education. "The American public needs diverse sources of news if we are to be able to be educated participants in our democracy," Common Cause President Bob Edgar said.

Levin: ubiquitous, affordable broadband will be a priority for an Obama administration

Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus and former Federal Communications Commission staffer, is rumored to be a potential candidate for an FCC appointment should Barack Obama win the presidency. He said ubiquitous, affordable broadband will be a priority for an Obama administration and Obama's FCC would likely be charged to move very quickly on that agenda. Asked what exactly might constitute "broadband" in that context, Levin said defining the term will be an "interesting challenge" for policymakers because broadband is "constantly evolving." "I think there's a growing consensus that universal service, as it is today, ought to [allow one to] be capable of doing Web-surfing, VoIP, information gathering -- those kinds of things. And we want that to be available in roughly 100% of the country. And we'd like to achieve penetration rates similar to what we've achieved in voice. How do you do that? There are lots of uncertainties and lots of reasonable debate." "Here's the way I think service providers will think about it," he continued. "What is the level of support -- what is the speed which qualifies you that I can achieve but disqualifies some of my potential competitors? In other words, if you can achieve 3m, but your wireless guys are never going to get there, you want that to be, in order to qualify, you want that to be the level."

Comcast: No new traffic management plan yet

Comcast has made no final decisions on how to manage network congestion, despite news reports Wednesday that it will slow traffic for heavy users for up to 20 minutes during times of peak network use. Asked why Comcast doesn't slow all users' traffic during times of congestion, Douglas said it's not fair to subscribers who aren't clogging up the pipes. "It's the heaviest of users that are directly contributing to the degradation of the service for the other people on the network," he said. Representatives of Free Press and Public Knowledge, two digital rights advocacy groups that filed a complaint against Comcast for slowing P-to-P traffic, expressed reservations about Comcast's apparent new direction. "It's an interesting reflection on the claim that there is a free market for broadband," said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge. "If there was competition, could you slow down your best customers?" Comcast was "dishonest" in the past about its network management practices, added Ben Scott, Free Press policy director. The broadband provider originally denied it was degrading BitTorrent streams. "We have to be skeptical and vigilant," Scott said. "The FCC has required them to disclose all the details -- so we look forward to seeing that before we can fully evaluate. Any move that doesn't involve blocking consumers' access to the Internet is a positive step -- but we won't know for sure about this particular practice until we see the details."

Broadband competition: Is this as good as it gets?

Competition in the broadband space is currently about as good as it's going to get for the foreseeable future, and could even backslide, according to Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. "Prospects for the long-heralded 'third pipe' appear dim and dimming," Levin said, referring to the notion of a hypothetical major competitor to both telco and cable companies. "In terms of wireless and broadband buildouts, there's unlikely to be another new national buildout, other than Clearwire, in the foreseeable future," Levin said. At times, municipalities and utility energy providers have been proposed as possible providers of a 'third pipe.' But energy firms retreated en masse from dalliances in telecom during the industry's bubble correction shortly after the turn of the century, and broadband-over-powerline technology has thus far failed to take off. Municipal broadband efforts, meanwhile, have met with mixed results. "There's not that much left to be disruptive," Levin continued. "White spaces could be in rural areas, and a little bit in broadband, but I don't think so. Other things that people are looking to be disruptive I don't think will happen." At the same time, Levin said 4G wireless rollouts in 2010 or 2012 could represent a significant change in the competitive landscape. "That is a far more significant competitive threat than I think people realize," he said, adding that, for wireline providers feeling the sting of wireless substitution, "The worst ... is yet to come."

Martin: High Cable Prices Consumers' Biggest Problem

The single biggest problem facing consumers in the world of technology is the high cost of cable television, according to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin. "The average family has very little choice as to what channels are included, yet they're having to pay more and more for those same channels," said Chairman Kevin Martin. Martin said subscribers should have more choice for the amount of money they spend. Currently, American cable customers pay an average of about $60 a month, but people watch only about 15 channels, according to Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst with Consumers Union.

FCC Proposes Limiting Wireless Microphones

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order released Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission proposed prohibiting low power auxiliary stations, including wireless microphones, to operate in the 700 MHz Band after the end of the digital television transition on February 17, 2009. The Notice also proposes that the FCC prohibit the manufacture, import, sale, or shipment of devices that operate as low power auxiliary stations in the 700 MHz Band after the end of the DTV transition. These actions would ensure that low power auxiliary operations do not cause harmful interference to new public safety and commercial wireless services in the band. Low power auxiliary stations are authorized for such uses as wireless microphones, cue and control communications, and synchronization of TV camera signals. Of the 943 active low power auxiliary station licenses, 156 are currently authorized to operate in the 700 MHz Band. Of those 156 licenses, most are authorized to operate in other spectrum bands as well, and only 30 are authorized to operate only in the 614-806 MHz band, of which the 700 MHz Band is a part. After the end of the DTV transition, low power auxiliary stations would be able to continue operating in additional spectrum bands that allow such operations on a secondary basis, including certain broadcast television channels below 700 MHz. The Order also imposed a freeze, effective upon release of the Order, on the filing of new applications for low power auxiliary station license that seek to operate on any 700 MHz Band frequencies after February 17, 2009. The Order imposed a freeze on granting any equipment authorization requests for low power auxiliary station devices that would operate in any of the 700 MHz Band frequencies. The FCC will hold in abeyance, until the conclusion of this proceeding, any pending license applications and equipment authorization requests that involve operation on frequencies in the 700 MHz Band after the end of the DTV transition.

Benton

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