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September 2008

NBC Universal in pact for Google to sell its TV ads

NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, is teaming up with Google Inc on a multi-year partnership in which Google will act as a broker to sell TV advertising on some NBC cable channels. In a joint statement, the two companies said NBC Universal will offer advertising time from several of its cable networks for Google to sell advertising through its Google TV Ads service. The deal, set to go into effect in coming months, covers advertising inventory on Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller, with more NBC Universal channels possible in the future.

The US Closes the Mobile Innovation Gap

The competitive balance is shifting. As the focus of the wireless world moves toward Internet communications, the U.S. strength in software, most notably at Google and Apple, is pushing the U.S. ahead as a laboratory for wireless development. American users are catching up, too. In the past year, the U.S. surpassed Western Europe in the number of subscribers to the high-speed networks known as 3G, according to consultancy comScore M:Metrics. "The industry needs to stop talking about the gap between the U.S. and Europe," says Kanishka Agarwal, vice-president of mobile media at Nielsen. "We have caught up, and we have already passed." The change has been dramatic. While a year ago 6% of Americans who bought phones purchased smartphones, capable of Web access and application downloads, their ranks rose to 16% in early 2008, according to consultancy Nielsen Mobile's survey of 70,000 U.S. wireless subscribers. Over the same time, in Western Europe, the jump in recent smartphone buyers was smaller, from 11% to 17%, according to Nielsen.

Start-Up Seeks to Link 3 Billion to Net

An entrepreneur's quest to use satellites to bring high-speed Internet service to poor, remote countries is nearing liftoff with a major investment from some big names, including Google. On Tuesday, O3b Networks Ltd., founded and run by 38-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur Greg Wyler, is expected to announce plans to launch as many as 16 satellites that could provide service to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Latin America by the end of 2010. While most of the world's estimated 1.5 billion Internet users reside in developed countries, telecom companies are looking at fast growth in areas like Africa and the Middle East, where the number is jumping by 50% or more each year. "This is about opening the Internet up to the other three billion people" on the planet, says Wyler. The idea of delivering Internet via satellite isn't new, but early projects were bedeviled by high costs and other problems. In the U.S., some companies offer services starting at about $60 a month. But customers have to be willing to spend a few hundred dollars on a satellite dish, and rainstorms can cut off connections. Despite such problems "there's a lot of demand for broadband in remote areas, and [satellites are] the best and fastest way to get there," says Claude Rousseau, an analyst with Northern Sky Research.

Justice's Monopoly Guidelines Assailed

The Justice Department issued a report yesterday establishing how and when it will crack down on misbehaving monopolies, but its approach was immediately assailed as too lax and the work of an administration willing to allow big business to run roughshod over consumers. A bipartisan majority of the Federal Trade Commission characterized the report as "a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement" against monopolies that engage in predatory pricing and other illegal tactics. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, called the report an assault on the Sherman Act, the basis for much U.S. law on monopolies. The report comes as the Justice Department has faced criticism for failing to take a more aggressive stance to foster competition and protect consumers in antitrust matters. Notably, the Justice Department has allowed the mergers of the Whirlpool and Maytag appliance companies and of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius. The department is investigating a partnership of Google, the dominant provider of search advertising, and Yahoo, its nearest competitor in the field. Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the department's antitrust division, defended the legal outlook outlined in the report as being "pro-consumer" and a synthesis of commonly accepted legal standards.

Court to Rule on Thai Leader's TV Role

A court is scheduled to decide Tuesday whether Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej violated the Constitution when he appeared several times on a television cooking show, "Tasting and Complaining." Cabinet ministers are forbidden from working for private companies, and opponents brought the case against him in the hope that a conviction could force him to step down. "I have done nothing wrong," the prime minister told the Constitutional Court on Monday. "I was hired to appear on the program and got paid from time to time. I was not an employee of the company." A conviction for cooking could bring a quick and farcical end to Mr. Samak's confrontation with protesters who have blockaded his office for nearly two weeks, demanding his resignation. But it is unclear whether it would bring an end to the protests. Protest leaders say they are aiming for an overhaul of Thailand's political system.

Justice Department Issues Report on Antitrust Monopoly Law

Not that the subject of monopoly would ever come up in a telecommunications policy discussion, but if it did, the Department of Justice issued a report informing consumers, businesses and policy makers about issues relating to monopolization offenses under the antitrust laws. The report, "Competition and Monopoly: Single-Firm Conduct Under Section 2 of the Sherman Act," examines whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may or may not violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act by harming competition and consumer welfare. Section 2 of the Sherman Act prohibits a firm from illegally acquiring or maintaining a monopoly, meaning the ability to exclude competitors and profitably raise price significantly above competitive levels for a sustained period of time. Unlike antitrust laws that prohibit anticompetitive mergers or other agreements among firms, Section 2 particularly targets single-firm conduct, such as decisions regarding whether and on what terms to sell to or buy from others. Although possessing monopoly power is not unlawful, using an improper means to seek or maintain monopoly power is unlawful where it can harm competition and consumers.
Among the observations in the report:

1) Enforcement of Section 2 has been and should continue to be a key component of antitrust enforcement;

2) While market share does not itself prove the existence of monopoly power, it is an important factor. When a firm has maintained a market share in excess of two-thirds for a significant period and its market position would not likely be eroded in the near future, the Department normally will presume that the firm possesses monopoly power, absent convincing evidence to the contrary;

3) No single test for determining whether conduct is anticompetitive-such as the effects-balancing, profit-sacrifice, no-economic-sense, equally efficient competitor, or disproportionality tests-works well in all cases. The Department encourages the continuing development of conduct-specific tests and safe harbors;

4) Vague or overly inclusive prohibitions against single-firm conduct are particularly likely to undermine economic growth and to harm consumers.

5) In contrast, Section 2 prohibitions that are based on clear and objective criteria, and that are carefully tailored to conduct likely to harm the competitive process, are likely to increase economic growth and to benefit consumers. Businesses are better able to comply with the law and avoid violations; antitrust enforcers can more easily identify and prove violations; effective and administrable remedies are more likely to be available; and aggressive but beneficial competition is less likely to be deterred;

6) The appropriate measure of cost in relation to predatory-pricing claims should identify loss-creating sales that could force an equally efficient rival out of the market, and such a measure should be administrable by businesses and the courts. In most cases, the best cost measure likely will be average avoidable cost;

7) The historical hostility of the law to the practice of tying is unjustified, and the qualified rule of per se illegality applicable to tying is inconsistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's modern antitrust decisions and should be abandoned;

8) Bundled discounting, although a common practice that frequently benefits consumers, can potentially harm competition in two different ways. Accordingly, depending on particular facts, either an analysis similar to predatory pricing is appropriate or an analysis similar to tying is appropriate;

9) Antitrust liability for mere unilateral, unconditional refusals to deal with rivals should not play a meaningful role in Section 2 enforcement because compelling access is likely to harm long-term competition and courts are ill suited to be market regulators;

10) Exclusive-dealing arrangements foreclosing less than 30 percent of existing customers or effective distribution should not be illegal;

11) Remedies for conduct that is found to violate Section 2 should re-establish the opportunity for competition without unnecessarily chilling competitive practices or undermining incentives to invest and innovate;

12) Further consideration of monetary damages and penalties for Section 2 violations may be useful; and 1

3) The Department will continue to explore ways of strengthening cooperation with counterparts in foreign jurisdictions and to encourage further convergence on sound enforcement policies in this important area.

Members of the Federal Trade Commission were quick to say they do not endorse the report.

Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz, and Rosch believe that the Department's report, if adopted by the courts, "would be a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement of Section 2 of the Sherman Act." Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz, and Rosch identified two "overarching concerns" with the DOJ report.

First, while the Supreme Court has declared the welfare of consumers the primary goal of antitrust laws, the Department's report "is chiefly concerned with firms that enjoy monopoly or near-monopoly power, and prescribes a legal regime that places these firms' interests ahead of those of consumers."

Second, the report "seriously overstates the level of legal, economic, and academic consensus regarding Section 2 " and "the testimony gathered during the hearings was not representative of the views of all Section 2 stakeholders." In particular, Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz, and Rosch wrote, ". . . we are concerned that voices representing the interests of consumers were not adequately heard," and that the report relied too heavily on economic theory in the consideration of applying antitrust law.

Chairman Kovacic did not join the statement issued by Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz, and Rosch. The Chairman's statement explained how a report on the proceedings would have benefitted from a fuller examination of the history of modern doctrine and policy. This approach would having added additional context, including identifying the formative influences in the evolution of the United States' system and assessing how those influences bear upon the future development of law and policy towards dominant firms. The Chairman noted that a proper regard for the trends in modern Supreme Court jurisprudence necessarily must inspire caution before embracing the proposition that U.S. antitrust doctrine and policy today expose dominant firms to significant, systematic risks attributable to over-inclusive liability rules.

Wilmington Crosses the Digital Divide

On Monday, Sept 8 at 12 noon, Wilmington North Carolina's commercial broadcasters turned off their analog transmissions and broadcast digital signals only. The Wilmington analog cut-off is an experimental first step toward the national transition to digital that it set for Feb. 17, 2009, just 162 days from today. The Federal Communications Commission and broadcasters are eager to learn what impact the DTV will have on the public. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was on hand in Wilmington along with Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo to flip the ceremonial switch on analog TV - -actually a prop eight-foot-high light switch. "Wilmington ... has transitioned to DTV," said Hank Price, president, North Carolina Association of Broadcasters, after the switch was moved to the on position. "North Carolina ... First in flight; now first in digital." "You are actually writing the playbook for the rest of America," said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, speaking during the pre-switch proceedings.

Sept 8, 2008 (DTV Day in Wilmington)


BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

Looking for a classic story? Try searching Headlines archive at http://benton.org/headlines/search

DTV'S BIG DAY
   Wilmington North Carolina DTV Transition Set for 12 Noon Monday September 8

MEDIA & ELECTIONS
   McCain: Media-Lite
   McCain was knee-deep in UNE-P
   Palin to Give Interview to ABC This Week
   McCain Adviser Has Russian Telecom Ties
   Almost 39M Tune In for McCain Speech
   Obama bytes into new-media effort

AGENDA
   Congress set to weigh in on tech, telecom issues
   Martin's Fall Offensive

FCC NEWS
   FCC Loosens Reporting and Accounting Requirements, Seeks Additional Comment
   FCC Is Weighing Sale Of Emergency Airwaves
   Company to Create Airwaves Exchange

DIGITAL CONTENT
   Florida Agreement Sheds New Light On Comcast Cut Off Policies
   Ad body opposes Google-Yahoo alliance
   Negative Momentum: Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Speed (Even Online Is Declining)
   File Sharing Lawsuits at a Crossroads, After 5 Years of RIAA Litigation

TELEVISION
   A New View on TV
   Connecticut PUC: AT&T Needs City OKs For Boxes
   PTC Calls for Advertisers to Pull Out of CW's 90210

TEN YEARS AGO
   Regional Bells Lose an Appeal Over Service
   Faced with 'Convergence', FCC Takes Closer Look at Internet Access Via cable

QUICKLY -- Afghanistan's Communications Revolution; The 'Online Campaign' -- Election 2.008 -- Rolls On; Google's future and how it shapes ours

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DTV'S BIG DAY

WILMINGTON NORTH CAROLINA DTV TRANSITION SET FOR 12 NOON MONDAY SEPTEMBER 8
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Following a Sunday morning telephone conference call with Wilmington North Carolina broadcasters the Federal Communications Commission has confirmed that the digital television transition in that TV market will take place as scheduled on Monday September 8 at 12 noon. A link to the webcast (http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#sep8) of a Monday morning event in downtown Wilmington that will mark the transition starting at 10:30 am local time is available. (http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#sep8)
http://benton.org/node/16619
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MEDIA & ELECTIONS

MCCAIN: MEDIA-LITE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Republican Party platform talks little about media issues, despite the oft-expressed media-policy concerns of its presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (AZ). That puts it in strong contrast to the Democratic platform, which bears the distinctive imprint of Sen. Barack Obama's (IL) relatively aggressive communications agenda. The Republican platform is silent on the issues of network neutrality, media ownership, broadband penetration, content control of the media and, surprisingly, cable a la carte. The only mention of television is a reference to the government-run broadcasting service to Cuba, TV Marti. "Cable" and "media" do not appear at all, and "broadband" comes up once in reference to providing long-distance education. The Internet is referred to numerous times, including the party's desire to "permanently" ban Internet-access taxes, block any new "cell-phone taxes," and block online child porn, predators and Internet gambling.
http://benton.org/node/16618
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MCCAIN WAS KNEE-DEEP IN UNE-P
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: Ron Orol]
[Commentary] Although it is true that Sen John McCain (R-AZ) probably has a limited grasp of Internet culture or content, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005, he developed a sophisticated knowledge about the plumbing of the Internet. Observers may debate whether Sen McCain was on the right or wrong side of the battle over access and pricing for broadband services over incumbent phone lines, but they should acknowledge he was a key player in the key policy decisions at an important time in the Internet's development. In his way, McCain understands the business battles over the Internet, despite being befuddled by the e-mails and websites it enables.
http://benton.org/node/16617
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PALIN TO GIVE INTERVIEW TO ABC THIS WEEK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Anne Kornblut]
Gov Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), the Republican vice presidential nominee, has agreed to her first interview since last month, with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson later this week. Palin's relations with the news media have gotten off to a rocky start. McCain campaign officials have complained about what they regard as the intrusively personal nature of some reporters' inquiries, and Palin mocked "all those reporters and commentators" Wednesday in her speech to the Republican National Convention. Since being named McCain's running mate, Palin has given only one interview, to People magazine, on the day she was introduced. She was the only member of the major parties' presidential tickets not to appear on a network talk show yesterday. Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said on "Fox News Sunday" that she would not put herself before a "cycle of piranhas called the news media" until reporters started to treat her "with some level of respect and deference."
http://benton.org/node/16628
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MCCAIN ADVISOR HAS RUSSIAN TELECOM TIES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Glenn Simpson]
A top adviser to John McCain's campaign, former lobbyist Charlie Black, previously represented a Moscow think tank run by former Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman. BKSH Associates Inc. received $50,000 in 2005 for lobbying the US National Security Council and other government agencies on behalf of the nonprofit think tank headed by Reiman, lobby filings show. The filings don't make clear what the lobbying effort sought. Reiman, who has long been a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is now an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev. In May, Sen McCain (R-AZ) banned campaign staffers and aides from working as registered lobbyists or working on behalf of foreign interests. But the policy doesn't address longtime foreign lobbyists such as Black who have recently left their firms.
http://benton.org/node/16626
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ALMOST 39M TUNE IN FOR MCCAIN SPEECH
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Marisa Guthrie]
Sen John McCain's (R-AZ) acceptance speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention Thursday was seen by 38.9 million viewers across the broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's a few hundred-thousand more than the 38.3 million who watched Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) deliver his acceptance speech one week earlier at the Democratic National Convention.
http://benton.org/node/16616
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OBAMA BYTES INTO NEW-MEDIA EFFORT
[SOURCE: Crain's Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Gary Salazar]
Sen Barack Obama's new-media platform to reach potential voters is lining the pockets of wireless companies. According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, the Democratic presidential candidate has easily outspent his Republican opponent, Sen John McCain (R-AZ), on wireless services. Sen Obama paid a total of $2.1 million to Verizon Communications Inc. between January 2007 and July, according to the reports, the latest of which were filed in August. During the same period, Sen McCain paid about $410,000 to units of AT&T Inc., Verizon and U.S. Cellular Corp. The disparity highlights the willingness of Obama's campaign to embrace mobile technology.
http://benton.org/node/16625
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AGENDA

CONGRESS SET TO WEIGH IN ON TECH, TELECOM ISSUES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Joelle Tessler]
Technology and telecommunications issues will be on Capitol Hill's radar in the months ahead as lawmakers attempt to influence regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and frame the debate for next year's Congress. Among the issues at the top of the agenda: subsidies for telephone service in underserved areas and online privacy. It is unlikely lawmakers will produce much legislation upon returning from summer recess. But Congress doesn't need to pass bills to influence tech and telecom policy. Several other areas that Congress is expected to explore include: 1) The possible approval of additional funding to educate consumers about the fast-approaching transition to digital broadcasting, which will take place in February and could leave consumers who still rely on free, over-the-air broadcasting with dark television screens. 2) Wireless consumer protection measures to address growing complaints about early termination fees and other plan restrictions, as well as possible hearings on Verizon Wireless's planned $5.9 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. 3) Potential antitrust concerns raised by an advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo that will allow Google to sell some of the ads displayed alongside search results on Yahoo's Web site.
http://benton.org/node/16629
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MARTIN'S FALL OFFENSIVE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Many in the cable-TV industry expect Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to make a final run at passing rules he has been passionate about, including an overhaul of the wholesale cable programming market. Observers say Chairman Martin has the agency poised to jump back into the a la carte imbroglio, make major changes to cable's program-access and program-carriage rules and could also require cable operators to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more each year to attach their wires to telephone poles. Martin's biggest enemy is the clock. If Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) is elected president, Martin would likely surrender his gavel to FCC Democrats Jonathan Adelstein or Michael Copps in January. If Sen John McCain (R-AZ) is the next president, Martin could be around late into next year, especially if McCain is preoccupied with more pressing political issues. Historically, it takes three or four months — and in the case of the Clinton administration, 11 months before Reed Hundt was on board — to get an FCC chairman appointed and confirmed," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of public-interest law firm the Media Access Project. With McCain in the White House, however, Martin might not have the political support to enact new cable regulations that he did under Bush. That's one big reason cable executives are worried about Martin's agenda — especially in terms of a la carte issues — between now and Inauguration Day.
http://benton.org/node/16615
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FCC NEWS

FCC GRANTS FORBEARANCE FROM LEGACY REPORTING AND ACCOUNTING REQUIREMENTS, SEEKS COMMENT ON INDUSTRY-WIDE REPORTING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Acting on petitions from AT&T, Qwest, Embarq, Frontier, Citizens and Verizon, the Federal Communications Commission granted significant forbearance from carriers' obligation to file service quality and infrastructure reports. To ensure that the FCC has at least some ability to access needed data going forward, the Order includes a condition that the carriers continue to collect, and in certain cases report, the data provided today for another two years.The FCC also recognized that collection of certain of that information might be warranted, if tailored in scope to be consistent with FCC objectives, and if obtained from the entire relevant industry of providers of broadband and telecommunications. Therefore, the FCC is seeking comment on whether and how the Commission should collect such data on an industry-wide basis including what information should be collected. Commissioner Michael Copps said he'd have preferred to deny the carriers' petitions and have handled the matter in an rulemaking procedure. He warned that the "collection and analysis of solid communications-related data is a linchpin in the Commission's ability to make sound decisions and provide useful guidance and assistance to consumers, states, industry-participants and other stakeholders. That is why it has been so troubling to see in to many instances the Commission headed down the road of collecting less data."
http://benton.org/node/16614
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FCC IS WEIGHING SALE OF EMERGENCY AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Fawn Johnson]
The Federal Communications Commission is considering carving up a valuable block of airwaves designated for firefighters and police officers and selling the spectrum to commercial partners by state or region, despite objections from some big-city officials. The cities want the broadcasting real estate for free. The proposal circulating within the FCC is the latest round in a fight that goes back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when police, firefighters and other emergency crews struggled with communications systems that didn't talk to each other. The FCC's effort earlier this year to sell the block of channels to one national licensee failed because no commercial phone companies were interested in buying the spectrum under the FCC's terms. Critics said that the sale didn't work because the reliability standards demanded by public safety were too onerous and that the FCC didn't spell out the companies' obligations to public safety. The FCC now is expected to vote on a rule this month to set the terms for a new sale that would offer phone companies and other entities the chance to bid for chunks of spectrum on a regional basis, with the understanding that public-safety agencies would get rights to use some of the broadcast capability for emergency communications. The proposal is circulating among the five-member body now and is on the agenda for a Sept. 25 meeting. But some public-safety entities disagree about whether the sale should take place at all. New York City has been the most vocal of several large cities, arguing the spectrum should be handed over to states and cities to build their own communications networks as they choose.
http://benton.org/node/16613
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COMPANY TO CREATE AIRWAVES EXCHANGE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma]
Vibrant financial markets exist for trading everything from bushels of corn to barrels of oil. Now a new company is hoping to do the same for the nation's airwaves, with an online trading exchange for radio spectrum. The company, Spectrum Bridge Inc., will match buyers and sellers of spectrum licenses used for wireless communications. Its Web site, SpecEx.com, will go live on Friday with an initial inventory of about $250 million of spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission during periodic auctions doles out licenses to use particular radio frequencies. While most of the prime spectrum used by cellphones, two-way radios used by first responders and other communications gear has already been allocated by the agency, much of it isn't actually in use at any given moment. Spectrum Bridge hopes to create an organized secondary market to help recycle those "fallow" frequencies.
http://benton.org/node/16612
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DIGITAL CONTENT

FLORIDA AGREEMENT SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON COMCAST CUT OFF POLICIES
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Prior to setting a cap on the amount of bandwidth a high-volume customer could use before having service terminated, Comcast instead cut off a set number of users regardless of how much bandwidth they used, according to documents released by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Comcast announced at the end of August that it would impose the 250 GB usage cap on subscribers that had been hinted at for weeks. The cap takes effect October 1. What Comcast didn't mention, however, was that it had reached a settlement with McCollum's Economic Crimes Bureau to pay $150,000 to the state to resolve "concerns over disclosure issues related to bandwidth use policies," according to an Aug. 29 news release issued by the McCollum's office. The settlement was the result of a state investigation of Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) in which Comcast "allegedly did not inform consumers of a specific bandwidth limit" for customers to be notified of "excessive use, which could lead to a customer being kicked off the service.
http://benton.org/node/16611
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AD BODY OPPOSES GOOGLE-YAHOO ALLIANCE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
The Association of National Advertisers on Sunday came out against a controversial search advertising alliance between Yahoo and Google, complaining to the Department of Justice that the partnership will "control 90 per cent of search advertising inventory and states ANA's concerns that the partnership will likely diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices currently available and potentially raise prices to advertisers for high quality, affordable search advertising." The two companies said they would delay implementing the partnership for 100 days to allow the Department of Justice to study it.
http://benton.org/node/16624
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NEGATIVE MOMENTUM: NEWSPAPER AD REVENUES GAINING DOWNHILL SPEED
[SOURCE: TechCrunch, AUTHOR: Erick Schonfeld]
Can it get any worse for the newspaper industry? The steep decline in print advertising just keeps getting steeper and, for the first time, even online ad sales have gone down. Don't look to online ad sales to save the industry. Online ads came to only $777 million in the second quarter, which was down 2.4 percent from the year before. That's marks the first decline ever in digital revenues. The practice if bundling print and online ad sales isn't helping in this case, either. Advertisers trained to buy bundled ads are more likely to drop the entire bundle when making budget cuts.
http://benton.org/node/16610
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FILE SHARING LAWSUITS AT A CROSSROADS, AFTER 5 YEARS OF RIAA LITIGATION
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: David Kravets]
It was five years ago that the Recording Industry Association of America began its massive litigation campaign that now includes more than 30,000 lawsuits targeting alleged copyright scofflaws on peer-to-peer networks. The targets include the elderly, students, children and even the dead. No one in the US who uses Kazaa, Limewire or other file sharing networks is immune from the RIAA's investigators, and fines under the Copyright Act go up to $150,000 per purloined music track. But despite the crackdown, billions of copies of copyrighted songs are now changing hands each year on file sharing services. All the while, some of the most fundamental legal questions surrounding the legality of file sharing have gone unanswered. Even the future of the RIAA's only jury trial victory -- against Minnesota mother Jammie Thomas -- is in doubt. Some are wondering if the campaign has shaped up as an utter failure.
http://benton.org/node/16609
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TELEVISION

A NEW VIEW ON TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Justin Lahart]
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business economists Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro aren't sure that TV has been all that bad for kids. In a paper published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics this year, they presented a series of analyses that showed that the advent of television might actually have had a positive effect on children's cognitive ability. The two are part of a tight-knit group of young economists using statistical techniques to examine how television affects society. The group's research suggests TV enabled an earlier generation of American children in non-English-speaking households to do better in school, helped rural Indian women to become more independent and contributed to lowering Brazil's fertility rate.
http://benton.org/node/16608
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CONNECTICUT PUC: AT&T NEEDS CITY OKs FOR BOXES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
AT&T will have to get permission from Connecticut municipalities before installing its refrigerator-size video equipment on utility poles and other properties, according to a draft decision from the state's Department of Public Utility Control. The DPUC said it expects to issue a final decision Sept. 29. The agency reviewed the issue after the cities of Bridgeport, Danbury and Stamford filed petitions to investigate the safety and placement of AT&T's 5-foot-high video-ready access devices (VRADs). The draft decision comes after the agency already ordered AT&T to retroactively obtain consent from property owners living near its U-verse equipment in Connecticut for the hardware placements. The boxes have caught fire in some locations because of defects in their backup batteries.
http://benton.org/node/16607
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PTC CALLS FOR ADVERTISERS TO PULL OUT OF CW's 90210
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: John Consoli]
Young viewers watched The CW's premiere episode of 90210 in record numbers for the network, but the Parents Television Council has condemned the Sept. 2 episode for "an implied scene of oral sex" among high school kids, as well as for "glamorizing underage drinking, pornography and profanity." The PTC is contacting each advertiser in the show to stress its displeasure with the show's content and to make sure advertisers "are aware of the specific content that they underwrote."
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/national-broadcast/e3i1...
After PTC Criticism, CW to Allow Some Screenings of '90210'
http://benton.org/node/16606
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TEN YEARS AGO
   Regional Bells Lose an Appeal Over Service
   Faced with 'Convergence', FCC Takes Closer Look at Internet Access Via cable
REGIONAL BELLS LOSE AN APPEAL OVER SERVICE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A14), AUTHOR: John Simons]
Ten years ago, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans voted 2-1 to reverse a ruling that would have allowed SBC, US West, and Bell Atlantic to enter the long distance market. The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs or Baby Bells) argued that provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 were a "bill of attainder" or a specific punishment for past behavior without a trial. "First and foremost, we think that the [provisions of the law] are not punitive because they do not impose a perpetual bar," the court wrote. At the time, the FCC had not approved any RBOC bids to enter the long distance market -- the Commission was trying to use approval as a way to open to competition the $110 billion local phone market.
http://benton.org/node/16621
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FACED WITH 'CONVERGENCE,' FCC TAKES CLOSER LOOK AT INTERNET ACCESS VIA CABLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: John Simons]
Ten years ago, the Federal Communications Commission was asking, "Is Internet over cable a 'cable service,' a 'telecommunications service' or
an 'information service'?" A working paper released by the FCC began to address this question and how the agency should approach regulation. The paper was meant to begin a discussion between branches of the government and industry. "The whole point," said the paper's author, "is to say, hey, we've got this problem, and it's a big problem. When you have the capability the Internet provides -- now you can do almost anything over one medium -- you have to start thinking which rules are applicable, or whether any of our rules are applicable at all."
http://benton.org/node/16620
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QUICKLY

AFGHANISTAN'S COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David Gross and Amir Zai Sangin]
[Commentary] Less than seven years ago, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan with a murderous fist, depriving Afghans of their most basic rights. A key component of the Taliban's suppression was preventing people from communicating with one another; the country had virtually no telephones and no access to the Internet. To call relatives and friends who lived abroad, Afghans literally had to leave their own country. The US and Afghan governments recognized the importance of dramatically increasing access to communications networks and establishing access to the Web. Experts from around the world helped Afghanistan establish a modern ministry of communications, capable of quickly licensing private mobile phone providers, effectively regulating a competitive communications environment and encouraging direct foreign investment into the extremely challenging post-conflict economy. Improved access to communications and the decreased cost of using these transformative technologies have allowed the Afghan people to explore new ideas and information that counter the monopoly of misinformation and lies used for centuries to oppress women and others. These tools help deliver essential government services, including education and health care, more efficiently and less expensively throughout the country.
http://benton.org/node/16622
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THE 'ONLINE CAMPAIGN' -- ELECTION 2.008 -- ROLLS ON
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Greg Mitchell]
2008 has seen the first campaign strongly shaped -- even, at times, dominated -- by the new media, from viral videos and blog reports that "go mainstream" to profoundly successful online fundraising.
http://benton.org/node/16605
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GOOGLE'S FUTURE AND HOW IT SHAPES OURS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jessica Guynn]
As Google celebrates its 10th birthday, the LA Times talked with Internet experts about what the company should do over the next decade. Interviewees include: Michael Arrington, TechCrunch; Kevin Bankston, Electronic Frontier Foundation; Max Levchin, Slide and Yelp; Marissa Mayer, Google; Mike Sheldon, Deutsch LA; Danny Sullivan, SearchEngineLand.com; Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia.
http://benton.org/node/16623
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Congress set to weigh in on tech, telecom issues

Technology and telecommunications issues will be on Capitol Hill's radar in the months ahead as lawmakers attempt to influence regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and frame the debate for next year's Congress. Among the issues at the top of the agenda: subsidies for telephone service in underserved areas and online privacy. It is unlikely lawmakers will produce much legislation upon returning from summer recess. But Congress doesn't need to pass bills to influence tech and telecom policy. Several other areas that Congress is expected to explore include: 1) The possible approval of additional funding to educate consumers about the fast-approaching transition to digital broadcasting, which will take place in February and could leave consumers who still rely on free, over-the-air broadcasting with dark television screens. 2) Wireless consumer protection measures to address growing complaints about early termination fees and other plan restrictions, as well as possible hearings on Verizon Wireless's planned $5.9 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. 3) Potential antitrust concerns raised by an advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo that will allow Google to sell some of the ads displayed alongside search results on Yahoo's Web site. In addition, the Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing next week on deceptive and fraudulent practices surrounding prepaid calling cards that are popular with immigrants, seniors, military families and students. Still, much of the real action in Congress on telecom and technology issues won't come until next year. "Like so much of what is happening in Washington in the fall of 2008, it's all about the spring of 2009," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin.

Palin to Give Interview to ABC This Week

Gov Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), the Republican vice presidential nominee, has agreed to her first interview since last month, with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson later this week. Palin's relations with the news media have gotten off to a rocky start. McCain campaign officials have complained about what they regard as the intrusively personal nature of some reporters' inquiries, and Palin mocked "all those reporters and commentators" Wednesday in her speech to the Republican National Convention. Since being named McCain's running mate, Palin has given only one interview, to People magazine, on the day she was introduced. She was the only member of the major parties' presidential tickets not to appear on a network talk show yesterday. Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said on "Fox News Sunday" that she would not put herself before a "cycle of piranhas called the news media" until reporters started to treat her "with some level of respect and deference." That drew mild criticism from Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, a veteran of the talk-show circuit. "Eventually, she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered," the senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The timing of Palin's interview will coincide with the deployment of her older son, Track, with his Army unit to Iraq. The unit will depart Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on Thursday, the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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