Oct 9, 2008 (Election news)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY OCTOBER 9, 2008 (Have an easy fast)
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
Obama, McCain spent $28 million on television advertising last week
Tennessee man indicted for hacking Palin e-mail
McCain-Obama debate drew 63.2 million viewers
FCC's McDowell Sees More Media Rules Under Dems
To register youth, they're depending on technology's speed
Need a tech-savvy president?
News Flash: The Media Back Obama
'SNL' wants laughs, not votes
MoveOn Grows Up
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Microsoft's Mundie: US Broadband Efforts 'A Total Policy Failure'
EU proposes new rules to protect online shoppers
Web technology cuts mobile calling fees
Business, labor urge Bush to sign RIAA-backed copyright bill
BROADCASTING/CABLE
Comcast offers deals to new switch-over customers
Comcast Fighting Must-Carry For Class A
Most portable TVs will be left behind in signal switch
NAB, NCTA Clash Over DTV Transition
CEA Reassures FCC Over Battery Powered DTV Boxes
THE ECONOMY
The tech downturn: How long and how bad?
AGENDA
FCC Open Meeting Agenda for Oct 15
Public Meetings on Low-power Television and Translator Upgrade Program
QUICKLY -- TV newsrooms lose 360 positions; China orders phone companies to share networks
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
OBAMA, MCCAIN SPENT $28 MILLION ON TELEVISION ADVERTISING LAS WEEK
[SOURCE: Wisconsin Advertising Project, AUTHOR: ]
Over the past week, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama and their campaigns have spent over $28 million on television advertising. From September 28 through October 4, the Obama campaign spent just under $17.5 million while the McCain campaign and the RNC spent just under $11 million combined. Compared to the first week of September (September 6-13) the amount of campaign advertising has nearly doubled, going from a total of $15.5 million to $28.3 million. Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin received over half the money spent by the two campaigns on television advertising. During the week, nearly 100 percent of the McCain campaign's advertisements were negative. During the same period, 34 percent of the Obama campaign's ads were negative. The McCain campaign cut back on its television advertising in the days following McCain's announcement that he was suspending his campaign to focus on the economy. On September 24, his campaign aired 2,447 ads and on Sept. 25, it aired 1,304 ads. From September 26-28, McCain aired 302, 670, and 852 ads respectively. On September 29, the campaign returned to previous advertising levels, airing 2,687 ads.
http://benton.org/node/17719
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TENNESSEE MAN INDICTED FOR HACKING PALIN E-MAIL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
David Kernell, the son of Tennessee state legislator Mike Kernell (D), has been indicted for hacking into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. He faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted. According to the indictment, Kernell accessed Palin's account, gov.palin@yahoo.com, on Sept. 16 after correctly answering a series of personal questions. Yahoo allows users to change their passwords if they confirm personal information such as their birth date and ZIP code and correctly answer a personal question such as the name of their first pet. Kernell then posted some of the account's contents, along with the password, to the online message board 4chan.org, the indictment says. Palin occasionally used the account to conduct state business, according to media reports. Critics have charged that she uses the account to get around public-records laws.
http://benton.org/node/17718
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MCCAIN-OBAMA DEBATE DREW 63.2 MILLION VIEWERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Dan Whitcomb]
The second nationally televised presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama drew 63.2 million viewers, over 10 million more than watched their first, Nielsen Media Research said on Wednesday. That's still less than the nearly 70 million who watched the vice presidential debate last week.
http://benton.org/node/17710
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TO REGISTER YOUTH, THEY'RE DEPENDING ON TECHNOLOGY'S SPEED
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Kate Linthicum]
With less than a week to sign up voters in many states, registration groups have revved up their efforts to target young people where they live: on their cellphones, computers and video games. It's the future of voter registration -- and it's working. Registration among voters younger than 30 has soared. Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, said her organization has registered 2.3 million voters in the last 15 months and expects to reach 2.5 million. That's more than twice as many people as the organization registered in 2004. The number of young people going to the polls has also increased in recent years. Turnout among people younger than 30 rose by 9% from 2000 to 2004, according to US Census data, more than double the increase of any other age group.
http://benton.org/node/17728
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NEED A TECH-SAVVY PRESIDENT?
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: James Rosen]
Do voters really expect the nation's chief executive to be computer-savvy? Does it matter if he is? As a practical matter, no. Symbolically, though, our egalitarian era might demand a president as adept online as he is on The Hotline. By mocking McCain's computer illiteracy, Obama risks cries of "ageism" on the bet that Americans want their leaders to be like themselves, steeped in similar experiences, tethered (wirelessly) to reality. Ultimately, the numbers could be on McCain's side, even if the zeroes and ones are not. Census figures show that 64% of American voters cast ballots but that 72% of senior citizens do — and only a quarter of them use the Internet. Just imagine McCain's next TV ad, keyed to elderly populations and attacking Obama's digital-age fluency: "He fools around with computers — and annoys people with e-mails!" Savor the scorn!
http://benton.org/node/17727
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NEWS FLASH: THE MEDIA BACK OBAMA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dorothy Rabinowitz]
[Commentary] The single constant in the eternal election remains the media, whose activist role no one will seriously dispute. To point out the prevailing (with honorable exceptions) double standard of reporting so favorable to Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) by now feels superfluous -- much like talking about the weather. The same holds true for all those reports pointing to Sen Obama's heroic status outside the United States -- not to mention the cascade of press analyses warning that if he fails to win election, the cause will surely be racism.
http://benton.org/node/17726
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'SNL' WANTS LAUGHS, NOT VOTES
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Matea Gold]
Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of "Saturday Night Live," has a message for those convinced that the program's presidential campaign sketches have a secret political agenda. "You know, they're jokes," he said. "And when people are confronted with jokes, quite often they will over-think it." But as Michaels and his cast prepare to pull off six live shows in the next four weeks -- including three prime-time specials, beginning tonight -- "SNL's" creator doesn't hold out much hope that the show's political parodies will be viewed with equanimity. "You see it on a partisan level now, where people have no sense of humor about the other side," he said.
http://benton.org/node/17725
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MOVEON GROWS UP
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jose Antonio Vargas]
MoveOn, the enfant terrible of online politicking, is growing up, turning 10 years old last month. And it has become far more than a purveyor of vituperative e-mail blasts. During the 2006 midterm elections, for instance, the online organization -- with a full-time staff of 23, most of whom work from home -- spent $28 million advocating for Democratic candidates through its political action committee, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In contrast, the National Rifle Association, with a staff of about 500 housed in its expansive headquarters in Fairfax, spent $11 million through its PAC. As the battle between Obama and McCain heated up this summer, MoveOn witnessed its largest increase in membership -- adding a million new members in three months, bringing its total to 4.2 million.
http://benton.org/node/17724
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FCC'S MCDOWELL SEES MORE MEDIA RULES UNDER DEMS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said he expects big changes for media if Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) is elected president. Commissioner McDowell said new regulations on media could include rules that local broadcasters staff their stations 24 hours a day, year round to make sure they cover disasters or other important breaking local news. The idea behind the proposal is to stress the role of local news in communities -- a principle championed by some Democrats at the agency and in Congress. "In my view, this is a more competitive media marketplace than ever before," he said. "As eyeballs and ears and ad dollars are going elsewhere, do we really need to be heaping more regulation on an industry that is seeing steadily declining top line revenue?"
http://benton.org/node/17713
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
MICROSOFT'S MUNDIE: US BROADBAND EFFORTS 'A TOTAL POLICY FAILURE'
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Peter Whoriskey]
Craig Mundie is Microsoft's new chief strategic thinker, replacing Bill Gates in that role. He spoke recently about a number of Washington and technology issues: the failure of the U.S. to keep up in the worldwide race to extend broadband Internet service to its citizens, how the Federal Communications Commission should handle the "white spaces" in the radio spectrum, and what he thinks of "the cloud," an automaton receptionist being planned at Microsoft's headquarters and other matters on the frontiers of computing. Some of his strongest words were reserved for the country's lagging position in rolling out broadband Internet service. My view is the country has had virtually a total policy failure for more than the last decade relative to this," he said, and the situation is "getting worse faster than most people perceive." Like Google's top officials, Mundie is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to allow the use of white spaces -- the portion of the radio wave spectrum in between the television stations -- for use of other devices.
http://benton.org/node/17717
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EU PROPOSES NEW RULES TO PROTECT ONLINE SHOPPERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Darren Ennis, Krisztina Than]
The European Commission adopted a proposal on Wednesday to strengthen consumer rights and make it easier and safer to shop online across borders. About one-third of the European Union's consumers, or some 150 million people, already shop on the Internet. But only 30 million of them do it cross-border, and the new rules are intended to encourage more of them to look for goods abroad. The EU's executive Commission wants to tear down barriers to competition in cross-border goods and services, offer businesses a bigger market and cut prices for consumers. Wednesday's proposal by the bloc's Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva will guarantee consumers, wherever they shop in the EU, clear information on price and additional charges and fees before they sign a contract.
http://benton.org/node/17708
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WEB TECHNOLOGY CUTS MOBILE CALLING FEES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jim Finkle]
The cost of talking on the go is coming down, thanks to an increasing number of options for using Internet calling services on mobile phones as an alternative to traditional cellular service plans. The combination of Wi-Fi chips and Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, allow some to use cut-rate phone services that work over the Web.
http://benton.org/node/17709
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BUSINESS, LABOR URGE BUSH TO SIGN RIAA-BACKED COPYRIGHT BILL
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stephanie Condon]
With only five days left for President Bush to decide whether to sign into law a controversial copyright bill, business lobbyists and even the AFL-CIO are pushing for it to become law. Most bills to expand copyright law are bipartisan -- one aimed at file-swappers and prerelease movies in 2005 comes to mind -- and the so-called Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act is no exception. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) are the sponsors, and it enjoys the support of the Recording Industry Association of America. But the Pro-IP Act is unusual because the Bush administration threatened a veto last month. It's been subsequently amended, and the changes are likely to assuage the administration's concerns, but the U.S. Commerce Department told CNET News that it is still reviewing the revised language.
http://benton.org/node/17720
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
COMCAST OFFERS DEALS TO NEW SWITCH-OVER CUSTOMERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
Comcast, the largest US cable operator, is offering special deals of free television for a year in a bid to win new subscribers ahead of a government-mandated digital TV switch-over on February 17. The free cable basic cable programing will only be free if the new customers sign up for another paid Comcast service, such as Internet or phone. Comcast said new customers who choose not to subscribe to additional Comcast services can get basic cable for just $10 a month for a full year.
http://benton.org/node/17716
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COMCAST FIGHTING MUST-CARRY FOR CLASS A
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Comcast, the country's largest cable operator, is challenging a plan by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin that could allow hundreds of TV stations to demand cable carriage for the first time. An attempt to force cable operators to distribute so-called low-power Class A stations would both violate the law and needlessly embroil cable operators, the stations and the FCC in a controversy unrelated to the most pressing policy matter -- completion of the digital TV transition next February, Comcast representatives said in a recent meeting with FCC officials.
http://benton.org/node/17715
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MOST PORTABLE TVs WILL BE LEFT BEHIND IN SIGNAL SWITCH
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
In an era of dazzling battery-powered portable devices including iPods, computers and cellphones, it's hard to imagine what it's like to be unable to catch the news and entertainment anytime and anywhere we want. But millions of people who own portable televisions, including those who depend on them when they flee their homes or lose power during hurricanes and other emergencies, may soon return to the dark ages. Virtually all of the nation's 7 million battery-powered TVs receive analog signals. They'll become useless after Feb. 17, when broadcasters must abandon analog and just transmit digital signals -- unless the sets are connected to digital-to-analog converter boxes. The problem is, the vast majority of converters must be plugged into the wall. That makes them unreliable in an emergency.
http://benton.org/node/17723
CEA REASSURES FCC OVER BATTERY POWERED DTV BOXES
http://benton.org/node/17714
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NAB, NCTA CLASH OVER DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The major cable and broadcast associations were firing salvos at each other Wednesday over the digital television transition, but with a subtext of ongoing rancor over the issue of issue of retransmission consent. Prompted by a Consumer Reports story criticizing the cable industry for moving channels from analog to digital without lowering the price for the analog tier, the National Association of Broadcasters suggested the Federal Communications Commission might need to investigate the industry. The magazine accused the cable industry of trying to use confusion about the DTV transition to boost cable bills. "The cable industry has been assuring cable customers that they won't be affected by the transition. Apparently that's not the case" it wrote. "If true, the Consumer Reports allegations raise disturbing questions about the cable industry that might be worthy of an FCC review." said National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton.
http://benton.org/node/17722
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THE ECONOMY
THE TECH DOWNTURN: HOW LONG AND HOW BAD?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Jim Kerstetter]
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway sent a sobering e-mail Tuesday to the 130 start-up companies he's invested in: now is the time to hunker down. How bad those conditions will be and how long they'll last is anyone's guess. The CNET Technology Index, which tracks 66 publicly traded tech companies, dropped for the third straight day Wednesday to hit its lowest level in more than three years. Even the healthiest of companies are seeing their stocks being sold en masse. Google, for example, finished trading Wednesday down 2.28 percent to $338.11 per share; that's a new 52-week low and less than half the asking price for a Google share in November 2007. Bad news persists in the overall economy as well, despite continued attempts at government intervention.
http://benton.org/node/17721
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AGENDA
FCC OPEN MEETING AGENDA FOR OCT 15
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, which is scheduled to commence at 9:30 a.m. in Nashville, Tennessee. The Commission will consider: low power television, Sprint Nextel's rebanding plan, secondary spectrum markets, satellites, and more.
http://benton.org/node/17707
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PUBLIC MEETINGS ON LOW-POWER TELEVISION AND TRANSLATOR UPGRADE PROGRAM
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will hold public meetings regarding the implementation of this Low-power Television Upgrade Program in Washington (DC) on Oct 24 and Las Vegas (NV) on Oct 28. The program will help eligible low-power television broadcast stations, Class A television
stations, television translator stations, and television booster stations get reimbursed for equipment to upgrade from analog to digital in eligible rural communities.
http://benton.org/node/17706
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QUICKLY
TV NEWSROOMS LOSE 360 POSITIONS
[SOURCE: BroadcastEngineering, AUTHOR: ]
TV newsrooms across the country have experienced a net loss of 360 positions this year, according to Bob Papper, professor of journalism at Hofstra University. Prof Papper points out that there is a general misperception in the TV industry that the newsroom losses are larger than they actually are. "I have been intrigued by how many news directors have said, 'We've really been lucky. We are the exception to what's happening in the industry,'" Papper said. TV news reductions, which include both layoffs and vacated positions that have gone unfilled, are often reported by newspapers, which tend to see the losses through the prism of their own newsroom staff downsizing, Papper said. "The difference between newspaper and television is there are fundamental problems with newspapers in both circulation and business model. In TV, what we are seeing is a reflection of economic times," he said.
http://benton.org/node/17711
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CHINA ORDERS PHONE COMPANIES TO SHARE NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Regulators have ordered China's phone companies to share their networks amid an industry restructuring that is to clear the way for introduction of third-generation mobile phone service in the world's biggest mobile market. The measure is meant to hold down costs and avoid duplication as carriers roll out 3G service, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced late Monday. The rollout of 3G is expected to trigger billions of dollars in orders to foreign equipment suppliers as carriers upgrade networks. Regulators have delayed issuing 3G licenses while they restructure state-owned carriers into three groups, each with mobile and fixed-line service, in an effort to spur competition and innovation.
http://benton.org/node/17712
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