1. Monthly archive
  2. September 2008

September 2008

Martin: Give Class-A LPTVs Shot at Full-Power Status; Cable Lobby Not Happy

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that he wants to give class-A low-power-TV stations a chance to gain full-power status and all of the rights and responsibilities that entails. Among the responsibilities would be complying with minimum children's-programming requirements and other public-interest obligations. One of the key rights would be that cable operators would be required to carry them under the must-carry rules. The FCC would judge station requests for full-power status on a case-by-case basis, and only if FCC engineers determined that they could serve their communities of license without interfering with others. Chairman Martin said the proposal was an effort to boost diversity of voices, noting that almost one-third of the 500-plus class-A LPTVs are Spanish-language and saying, "I think this is something that will be very critical to some of those Spanish-language broadcasters throughout the country." The FCC estimated that 236 are low-power Spanish-language stations. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association called the plan unnecessary and illegal. The NCTA said Congress granted must-carry rights to LPTVs only in limited circumstances, adding, "Requiring cable operators to carry hundreds of class-A low-power stations would violate the Constitution and Congress' intent while jeopardizing the wide diversity of programming that is already available on cable systems nationwide."

FCC to review Sprint plan for vacating airwaves

The Federal Communications Commission has indicated it will review the latest plan by Sprint Nextel to vacate a key section of the airwaves for public safety use. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Sprint's proposal resembles one the company advocated in July, but the agency is adding a firm deadline of March 2010 for Sprint to vacate. Sprint had not included a deadline in its proposal. The goal of reallocating the use of the 800-megahertz airwaves is to prevent interference between public safety and other wireless users.

ACA Claims FCC Filings Point to Broadcaster Abuse

The American Cable Association charged Thursday that a pattern of retransmission-consent abuse by broadcasters is emerging, reflected by three recent filings -- complaints and requests for stays -- made by small cable operators with the Federal Communications Commission. Those three filings, lodged last week and this Monday, were made by independent cable companies that allege abuse of federal regulations regarding "good faith" retransmission consent negotiations.

Calls For 10/100Mbps Nation = Achieving a Full Fiber America

On September 24 in a letter sent to key Congressional leaders, five organizations (CWA, FTTH Council, TechNet, Information Technology Industry Council, and the Voice on the Net Coalition) joined forces to call for action on S. Res 191 and H.Res. 1292, companion resolutions introduced in Congress by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Representative Anne Eshoo (D-CA) that set two goals for America: 1) Universal 10Mbps by 2010 2) Universal 100Mbps by 2015. These are laudable goals that if achieved will position America to maintain its leadership role in the digital economy. But they're also ambitious enough goals that if embraced will demand the government start taking a much more proactive role in spurring the deployment of next-generation broadband networks. Simply put: the free market left to its own devices will not be able to meet these goals.

The Civil Rights Imperative

Submitted by benton on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 19:58

September 25, 2008 On September 18, Charles Benton was invited to speak at the annual conference of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. Benton was asked to appear on a panel titled "The Future of Communications: What is Coming in a New Administration and Beyond?" In these uncertain times, however, maybe it is too much for anyone or any one panel, to predict what our telecommunications future will look like. We can - and we should - however, take this moment to define our communications goals.

The Civil Rights Imperative

[Commentary] On September 18, Charles Benton was invited to speak at the annual conference of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. Benton was asked to appear on a panel titled "The Future of Communications: What is Coming in a New Administration and Beyond?" In these uncertain times, however, maybe it is too much for anyone or any one panel, to predict what our telecommunications future will look like. We can - and we should - however, take this moment to define our communications goals. Benton writes, "Our number one national communications policy priority must be the eradication of racial and gender discrimination in media and telecommunications."

Change Swing Voters' Minds Online

According to a recent study "2008 Search Engines and Politics: A Study of Attitudes and Influence," by Didit and summarized by Marketing Charts, 7% of online voters say they are likely to change their vote before the election, and the types of sites they select for political information after Internet searches determine the likelihood of an opinion change. The survey found that online sources are among the top three media choices for election information for 80% of online voters. Among the online voters, 44% use search engines to find election-related information, and more than a quarter also say they use sponsored links that appear in search-engine results pages.

Google to supply Bloomberg TV with ads

Google has found another partner to use its system for supplying television advertising: Bloomberg TV. The two companies announced the partnership Thursday, touting the ad success measurement abilities that Google has benefited from with its core search-ad business and is emphasizing as a way to get ahead over other ad mechanisms for TV. "We're pleased to be partnering with Bloomberg Television to continue to make TV advertising more relevant and measurable," said Mike Steib, director of Google TV ads. Google TV ad technology can tell advertisers which ads the audience is watching second by second. The technology uses data from millions of anonymized set-top boxes, Google said. And as with Google's search ads, for which advertisers pay only when users click, TV ads incur costs based on impressions actually delivered.

A Call For 'Innovation Economics'

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation released a pair of reports that explain how a new economics doctrine - innovation economics - should drive economic policymaking in the next White House. One study describes how three traditional economics doctrines - conservative neo-classical (supply-side), liberal neo-classical (Rubinomics), and neo-Keynesianism - have dominated thinking in Washington. It explains how innovation economics, which is based on an explicit effort to understand and model how technological advances occur, should be the path of the future. A companion report argues that putting innovation at the center of U.S. economic policies can spur economic growth and raise standards of living. ITIF offers eight policy ideas to drive innovation-led economic growth: 1) Significantly expand the federal research and development tax credit; 2) Create a national innovation foundation; 3) Allow foreign students receiving graduate degrees to get a green card; 4) Reform the patent system to drive innovation; 5) Let companies expense new investments in IT in the first year; 6) Establish a federal chief information officer; 7) Implement a national broadband strategy; and 8) Implement an innovation-based national trade policy.

Study: US Tops Cyber Attack List

The United States experienced the most cyber attacks in 2008 with more than 20 million attempted attacks originating from computers within the country, according to a client study by security firm SecureWorks. China was second with 7.7 million attempted attacks emanating from computers within its borders and Brazil took third place with over 166,987 attempted attacks. South Korea, Poland, Japan, and Russia were also high on the list.

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.