Oct 22, 2008 (Debate Commission v Open Debate Coalition)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 23, 2008
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Debate Commission Counters 'Open Debate' Crusade
A Plumber Named Joe Drives Campaign Coverage
The Internet and the Death of Rovian Politics
Obama to media: pony up for election night access
Celebrities can coax youth to vote, study shows
TELECOM/BROADBAND
FCC's Draft ICC/USF Reform Panics Competitors
Vint Cerf: Big changes ahead for the Internet
President's Identity Theft Task Force Issues Report
BROADCASTING/CABLE
Congress Sends Questions to NTIA
20% Of Over-The-Air TV Viewers To 'Go Dark': Survey
ION, NBC Stations To Spearhead Analog Shut-Off Tests
Hispanic Stations React to FCC Cancellation on LPTV Plan
ABC, CBS, NBC Stations Weigh In On White Spaces
Motorola to "aggressively" develop white space devices
Sen Leahy Lays Into FCC Over Indecency Enforcement
News Corp: FCC Needs To Stop Regulating Speech
Network Audience Keeps Eroding
WIRELESS
"Free spectrum" could shape future of wireless
Sprint to join rivals in cutting termination fees
AT&T reports rise in revenue, wireless subscribers
ECONOMY
Media Companies Brace for Slowdown
Media Giants Threatened By Giant Loan Payments
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Google keeps talking on Yahoo deal
Yahoo!-Google ad deal falling apart
QUICKLY -- 'Digital Disconnect' divides kids, educators; SF nonprofit feeds hunger for computer basics; FCC Issues Order Implementing NET 911 Act
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
DEBATE COMMISSION COUNTERS 'OPEN DEBATE' CRUSADE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Commission on Presidential Debates Co-Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf on Tuesday downplayed a crusade by a group of Internet activists and political strategists who have called for sweeping changes made to the way the 20-year-old entity operates or its abolishment altogether. Fahrenkopf, a former Republican National Committee chairman, said that the Open Debate Coalition's complaints are the latest in a legacy of grievances that confront the commission every presidential election cycle. Fahrenkopf cited the Commission's efforts to keep pace with American citizens' appetite for technology such as partnering with social networking community MySpace.com in September to launch MyDebates.org. On that interactive Web site, individuals could submit potential questions for the "town hall" style debate between McCain and Obama.
http://benton.org/node/18071
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A PLUMBER NAMED JOE DRIVES CAMPAIGN COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
According to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, an Ohio plumber, cited by Sen John McCain (R-AZ) and mentioned some two dozen times during the Oct 15 presidential debate, was the No. 3 campaign storyline of the week (filling 8% of the election newshole) from Oct. 13-19. The final and perhaps most combative presidential debate of the campaign was the No. 1 campaign storyline (at 18% of the news hole). And even though both candidates produced new economic proposals costing an estimated $100 billion or so, coverage of their response to the financial meltdown barely edged out the plumber (at 9% of the coverage). Campaign coverage is also taking on an increasingly tactical lens in the final days. Last week, attention to tactics and strategy -- including McCain's invocation of the plumber to represent the working man -- accounted for 26% of the newshole, making that general theme the biggest component of the week's election coverage. Coverage of these strategic aspects of the race included the fight over key battleground states (7%) and the parade of polls, including numerous daily tracking surveys, at 5%.
http://benton.org/node/18051
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THE INTERNET AND THE DEATH OF ROVIAN POLITICS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Arianna Huffington]
[Commentary] Sen John McCain (R-AZ) is running a textbook Rovian race: fear-based, smear-based, anything goes. But it isn't working. The glitch in the well-oiled machine? The Internet. Thanks to YouTube -- and blogging and instant fact-checking and viral emails -- it is getting harder and harder to get away with repeating brazen lies without paying a price, or to run under-the-radar smear campaigns without being exposed. But the McCain campaign hasn't gotten the message, hence the blizzard of racist, alarmist, xenophobic, innuendo-laden accusations being splattered at Sen Barack Obama (D-IL). It's as if Rove and his political arsonists keep lighting fires, only to see them doused by the powerful information spray the Internet has made possible.
http://benton.org/node/18050
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OBAMA TO MEDIA: PONY UP FOR ELECTION NIGHT ACCESS
[SOURCE: Crain's Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Greg Hinz]
On Tuesday, Sen Barack Obama's campaign said news organizations will have to pay if they want to cover Barack Obama's election-night celebration in Chicago. Credentials will cost $715 to $1,815, depending on whether electrical and phone lines are needed and whether an indoor or outdoor seat is requested for the event, which is expected to be held outside the evening of Nov. 4 in Grant Park. The only free admissions are for a "general media" area.
http://benton.org/node/18070
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CELEBRITIES CAN COAX YOUTH TO VOTE, STUDY SAYS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Michelle Nichols]
Initiatives by celebrities to persuade young people to vote have been successful, new research shows. The study, led by Erica Austin, researched the influence of "get out the vote" campaigns in 2004. It quoted a Pace University poll in 2004 which showed 44 percent of newly registered voters were ages 18 to 25. The study found that "the cause of this dramatic increase in voter participation of young people in 2004 can largely be attributed to celebrity get-out-the-vote promotions." The study contrasted with a number of other polls which indicated celebrity endorsements of presidential candidates were unlikely to sway votes. It said: "Celebrity endorsed campaigns successfully lowered complacency and helped young people believe in their own impact on the political system. Young people got involved at higher levels and became increasingly aware of societal issues."
http://benton.org/node/18069
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TELECOM/BROADBAND
FCC'S DRAFT ICC/USF REFORM PANICS COMPETITORS
[SOURCE: xchange, AUTHOR: Kelly Teal]
The telecom industry's next iteration — one to rival changes forged by the 1984 Ma Bell breakup and the 1996 Telecom Act — could come on Tuesday, Nov. 4. That's the day FCC Chairman Kevin Martin hopes to pass sweeping intercarrier compensation (ICC) and Universal Service Fund (USF) reform — reform that competitive and rural providers fear will trammel their businesses, and favor RBOCs, if commissioners don't heed their concerns. The prospect of ICC and USF reform has been brewing since 2001. And throughout his tenure, Martin has indicated his position on issues such as USF contribution methods. Problem is, when he circulated a proposed order to fellow commissioners the week of Oct. 13, 2008, he did so without putting the entirety of it out for public comment; only the five FCC members know the details. And if those details include a shift in interconnection pricing regulation, as most insiders suspect they do, the repercussions — if the order passes as-is — will be monumental. "This does threaten regulatory stability," said John Heitmann, a partner in and founding member of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP's telecom practice. Sources say the FCC has not broken any laws by not calling for comment on the entire proposal. But CLEC and RLEC representatives are furious they won't get to see the minutiae before the Nov. 4 meeting. The question of transparency, in light of the breadth of ICC/USF reform, loomed large.
http://benton.org/node/18049
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VINT CERF: BIG CHANGES AHEAD FOR THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Vint Cerf]
"This year and the next year are probably the most significant years for Internet's evolution that I can remember," said Vint Cerf recently. The biggest change is the move to IPv6, which will give the Internet a much larger address space and ensure future growth. The current estimate is that the number of IPv4 addresses that can be allocated will be exhausted around the middle of 2010. He says the current lack of addresses, and the IPv4 32-bit address space, is his fault.
http://benton.org/node/18039
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PRESIDENT'S IDENTIFY THEFT TASK FORCE ISSUES REPORT
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission]
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic announced the release of a report from the President's Identity Theft Task Force on progress the federal government has made in addressing identity theft since the Task Force's Strategic Plan was released last year. Highlights include expansion of the Task Force's data security and identity theft business and consumer education campaigns; exploring means of improving consumer authentication processes to prevent the use of stolen information to commit identity theft; launching new initiatives to help identity theft victims recover; and improving law enforcement tools to investigate and prosecute identity thieves. The Strategic Plan, issued in April 2007, outlined 31 recommendations the federal government should undertake to help prevent the theft and misuse of consumers' personal information, help consumers detect and recover from identity theft, and increase the prosecution and punishment of identity thieves.
http://benton.org/node/18040
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
CONGRESS SENDS QUESTIONS TO NTIA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) have written National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Meredith Atwell Baker about the supply of DTV-to-analog converter box coupons and how they would be handed out, including whether she was okay with public broadcast stations or community groups applying for coupons they don't need and giving them to people whose coupons were lost in the mail or expired before they could redeem them. They also asked whether, if there was money left over at the end of the program, it could be used for coupons for homes that have cable or satellite but still want a box. Currently, there is $990 million for coupons for anyone who requests them, with the rest reserved for houses with only analog, over-the-air reception, but NTIA's Baker has said there could be over $300 million to return to the treasury after the program concludes in March 2009.
http://benton.org/node/18068
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20% OF OVER-THE-AIR TV VIEWERS TO 'GO DARK': SURVEY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
After analog broadcasts end on Feb 17, 2009, about one-fifth of existing over-the-air TV viewers will simply let their sets "go dark," according to a survey by ABI Research. About 10% will switch to cable or satellite services, while 70% plan to attached a digital-to-analog converter box to their TVs, the ABI survey found. The firm conducted the Web-based survey of 1,002 U.S. consumers in April 2008.
http://benton.org/node/18048
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ION, NBC STATIONS TO SPEARHEAD ANALOG SHUT-OFF TESTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
In response to a request made by Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, ION Media Networks, NBC Universal, Telemundo, and members of the Association of Public Television Stations, will spearhead analog shut-off tests in markets across the country, ION said Tuesday. The so-called ASO tests — planned as temporary interruptions of the over the air signals — will take place in multiple major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Hartford, Conn. The tests are in preparation for the Feb. 17 government mandated analog shut-off and transition to digital television. The ASO tests, which are designed to ensure consumer DTV preparedness and a smooth transition to DTV, will begin in New York City, with a two-minute shutdown between 5:59 p.m. and 6:01 p.m. Oct. 28.
http://benton.org/node/18047
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HISPANIC STATIONS REACT TO FCC CANCELATION ON LPTV PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Laura Martínez]
A group of community broadcasters and the recently formed Coalition for Local Television (CLT) were left in the lurch this month when the Federal Communications Commission unexpectedly cancelled its Oct. 15 meeting in Nashville, Tenn., which was to include a proposal that would allow Class A TV stations an opportunity to apply to earn full-power TV status, giving them full spectrum rights and access to cable distribution. Many of these stations serve minority and rural communities and include a range of Azteca América and Telemundo affiliates nationwide.
http://benton.org/node/18046
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ABC, CBS, NBC STATIONS WEIGH IN ON WHITE SPACES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
TV stations affiliated with ABC, CBS and NBC have joined with their networks in asking the Federal Communications Commission to seek public comment before taking a vote on new rules that would pave the way for unlicensed wireless devices to share the band occupied by DTV signals and wireless microphones. In a filing with the commission, affiliate associations of the three networks said that the decision would have a "profound impact" on their continued viability. "Before hastily adopting rules that could irreversibly damage this important public service, the Commission first should issue a public notice seeking comment from members of the public on the 400-page OET report that was released just five days ago." The networks, joined by the National Association of Broadcasters and noncommercial broadcasters filed an emergency petition last week asking the FCC for the public comment period before voting.
http://benton.org/node/18067
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MOTOROLA TO "AGGRESSIVELY" DEVELOP WHITE SPACE DEVICES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The comments have been steadily streaming in since the Federal Communications Commission issued a report last Wednesday favorable to the authorization of unlicensed white space devices, and there's a distinct "have versus have not" flavor to the remarks. Includes Q&A with Steve Sharkey, director of Spectrum and Standards Strategy at Motorola.
http://benton.org/node/18084
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SEN LEAHY LAYS INTO FCC OVER INDECENCY ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
"The media should be...bringing vibrant and interesting voices and views into our homes,' not worrying that "an inadvertent slip is going to land them in trouble with regulators," Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told a Washington media crowd at The Media Institute's awards dinner Tuesday night. Sen Leahy said that while he does not want 'TV screens and radio shows filled with offensive and inappropriate words and images," he also said he had discovered that "there is an on/off switch," and suggested that was an important content control technology. He also put in a plug for the V-chip/ratings system. The senator said he believed "Strongly" that it was the role of parents, not government regulators, "to determine what is appropriate for children to see and hear."
http://benton.org/node/18081
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NEWS CORP: FCC NEEDS TO STOP REGULATING SPEECH
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
News Corp. President and COO Peter Chernin preached to fellow media executives, saying the Federal Communications Commission should get out of the business of regulating 'indecent' speech." Chernin argues that it is not too many steps from censoring unpopular entertainment to doing the same for unpopular political content. Chernin was teeing up Fox's arguments before the Supreme Court, which is hearing the FCC's challenge to a lower-court smackdown of the FCC's fleeting profanity ruling against Fox's Billboard awards broadcast. That hearing will be Nov. 4, election day.
http://benton.org/node/18064
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NETWORK AUDIENCE KEEPS ERODING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner]
This fall, broadcast-TV shows such as NBC's "The Office" and Fox's "Fringe" are seeing their audiences jump by more than a third when counting people who record the shows and watch them later on digital-video recorders. But the rise in delayed viewing isn't enough to offset a broader trend: Fewer people are watching the big broadcast networks. During the first two weeks of the TV season, an average of nine million people watched prime-time programming on the top five English-language broadcast networks, according to Nielsen Media Research, including an average of 1.5 million who watched recorded shows within seven days on DVRs. The total was down 6.6% from a year earlier. "It's not pretty," says Jason Kanefsky, a media buyer at Havas's MPG. "No matter what the broadcast networks do, they need to find a hit."
http://benton.org/node/18085
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WIRELESS
"FREE SPECTRUM" COULD SHAPE FUTURE OF WIRELESS
[SOURCE: InfoWorld Ephraim Schwartz]
Advanced Wireless Service-3 (AWS-3), which operates in the 2155-2180MHz band, sat around in the FCC closet collecting dust for more than a decade. No one seemed to want it until John Muleta and Milo Medin, co-founders of M2Z Net-works and, respectively, CEO and chairman of the board said something like, "if you're not using it, anyway, we'll take it off your hands." Perhaps these two gentlemen saw something others didn't. Major wireless broadband providers are fighting hard to keep AWS-3 off the market. Having paid a lot of money for AWS-1 bandwidth at auction, current wireless providers T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T don't seem too keen on the idea of someone else giving away similar bandwidth for free. Their first tactic was to say that AWS-3 interferes with AWS-1, which operates in the 2,110-2,155MHz range. Last week, the FCC announced test results that found no interference between the bands. There are still many hurdles to overcome before AWS-3 sees the light of day. Everything from producing chips in volume to laying out the network infrastructure. What's worth noting is that half of the cell towers available in the United States aren't actually owned by today's carriers. Instead they owned by third parties that lease room on the towers, "like hotels."
http://benton.org/node/18043
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SPRINT TO JOIN RIVALS IN CUTTING TERMINATION FEES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Twiddy]
Following its rivals, Sprint Nextel will soon begin trimming the fees customers face for canceling their cell phone service early. Chief Executive Dan Hesse said Tuesday that Sprint could start lowering the early termination fees as soon as December, once the company updates its billing software. The fee of $200 or more is charged to wireless subscribers who end their service before their two-year contract ends. The new policy would reduce the fee slightly for each month a subscriber stays with the plan. Competitors AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA already prorate their fees. A California judge this summer said such fees likely violate state law and ordered Sprint to reimburse customers more than $73 million. Days before that ruling, Verizon Wireless agreed to settle an identical lawsuit for $21 million.
http://benton.org/node/18066
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AT&T REPORTS RISE IN REVENUE, WIRELESS SUBSCRIBERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ritsuko Ando]
Top US phone company AT&T reported a rise in third-quarter revenue and mobile phone subscribers despite a weaker U.S. economy, helped by the popularity of Apple's new iPhone. Revenue rose 4 percent to $31.3 billion. Net profit rose to $3.23 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $3.06 billion, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.
http://benton.org/node/18083
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ECONOMY
MEDIA COMPANIES BRACE FOR SLOWDOWN
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Nat Ives, Brian Steinberg]
Media executives are all anticipating a brutal 2009 first quarter, and so are trying to be prudent in their planning by making whatever cuts they can now. It's reflective of how nervous executives are, and how little comfort they found in a poll at the recent gathering of the Association of National Advertisers that found that half of marketers don't plan major changes in their spending for next year (33% of the major marketers surveyed said they intend to maintain their level of marketing spending next year, and 27% said they would spend more). Another 33% said they would decrease spending, while the rest were unsure of their plans. That group that is unsure is no doubt influencing media sellers' decisions.
http://benton.org/node/18045
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MEDIA GIANTS THREATENED BY GIANT LOAN PAYMENTS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Diane Mermigas]
[Commentary] Clearly, the entire media landscape stands to be changed by the adverse impact of advertising revenues, economically demanded changes in operating structure, ownership change, falling stock prices and company values, loan covenants and other financial requirements. Corporate chiefs are being forced to sell their holdings to avoid breaching loan covenants or to meet margin calls in response to plummeting stock sales. Halting rigorous stock buyback programs--a good idea while prices were falling and cash was flowing--now seems the least of media company concerns. The places to go for money are narrowing as global financial institutions have racked up $585 billion in writedowns and losses since the start of 2007, and as private equity companies increasingly assume the corporate debt of the portfolio companies they purchased in leveraged buyouts. The lack of affordable liquidity and options (including IPOs) will result in increased corporate defaults and bankruptcies.
http://benton.org/node/18044
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
GOOGLE KEEPS TALKING ON YAHOO DEAL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Deborah Charles, Tim Dobbyn]
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday the company had agreed to keep talking with the Justice Department about its proposed online advertising deal with Yahoo. Under the deal announced in June, Yahoo would turn over some of its online advertising space for Google to sell. Schmidt had said in August the company would move forward with the Yahoo search partnership in October, with or without approval from antitrust reviewers at the Justice Department.
http://benton.org/node/18065
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YAHOO!-GOOGLE AD DEAL FAILING APART
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: ]
Rumors of the death of Yahoo's proposed search advertising partnership with Google were not exaggerated at all, according to lawyers familiar with the deal. The Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General Tom Barnett met on Oct. 17 with lawyers for the parties for the second time in two weeks. The outcome of the meeting, which took place just ahead of an expected DOJ challenge to the agreement, was grim, said a lawyer who asked not to be identified. "Nothing good came from it," he said.
http://benton.org/node/18042
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QUICKLY
'DIGITAL DISCONNECT' DIVIDES KIDS, EDUCATORS
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Maya Prabhu]
Students and educators disagree on whether their schools are preparing graduates adequately for the jobs of the 21st century. Two-thirds of principals in a recent survey said they believe their school is preparing students to be competitive in the global workforce. But most tech-savvy students didn't share that view, said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow (formerly known as NetDay). Project Tomorrow surveyed more than 370,000 students, teachers, parents, and administrators about their views on technology and education during its Speak Up 2007 research. Of the nearly 320,000 students surveyed, 24 percent considered themselves to be "advanced tech users."
http://benton.org/node/18041
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SF NONPROFIT FEEDS HUNGER FOR COMPUTER BASICS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Benny Evangelista]
San Francisco's St. Anthony Foundation, best known for serving meals to the needy for the past 58 years, has started feeding a new hunger among low-income Tenderloin area residents: for personal technology training. The new Employment Program and Tech Lab opened Oct. 3 as a one-stop center offering free training and Internet access for people with little or no access to a computer. The center, which has 37 computers, provides basic classes in Microsoft Word, Excel, e-mail and navigating the Web. It also offers training in how to create cover letters and resumes. Within a few days, the training classes were filled and the computer drop-in center, where clients can check e-mail and search sites like Craigslist or Monster.com for jobs, became constantly packed, said Karl Robillard, the center's program manager.
http://benton.org/node/18082
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FCC ISSUES ORDER IMPLEMENTING NET 911 ACT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission releases a Report and Order on implementing certain key provisions of the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (NET 911 Act), which was enacted on July 23, 2008. The FCC adopted rules that give interconnected VoIP providers rights of access to any and all capabilities necessary to provide 911 and E911 service from entities that own or control those capabilities. We also take steps to ensure that the nation's E911 network remains secure as an expanded number of entities are granted rights to access this system.
http://benton.org/node/18080
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