October 2008

Candidates 'Approve' Ads and Get a Bit Creative

A 2003 election reform law requires candidates to acknowledge in their own voices their responsibility for advertisements they run on public airwaves. But five years later, the "I approved" has become a pivotal device in commercials for Congress and the White House, a place for candidates to make a declaration of intent, summarize the message or take a parting shot. The intent of the law was twofold: to inform the public of who paid for the advertisement and to discourage candidates from slinging so much mud at one another. The first part has worked, said a Vanderbilt University political science professor, John Geer, but the level of political vitriol has not changed. "This reform was completely counterproductive," Geer said. "Everybody complains about the sound bite as it is and here we took the ad and made it shorter. And it didn't work. The 2004 campaign was more negative than 2000 by far."What's more, the phrase is now a political cliché, as evidenced recently when "Saturday Night Live" spoofed it by having a Senator McCain doppelganger approving increasingly ridiculous attacks on Senator Obama.

PAC funds anti-Obama TV ad in California

An independent political action committee is spending $2.2 million to air a television ad across California, starting today, that criticizes Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on national security issues. The group, Vets for Freedom, has been active in several battleground states. But this is its first ad buy in California, which is considered to be firmly in Obama's column. His Republican rival, John McCain, is making only token campaign efforts in the state. Former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who is backing McCain, said the commercial is not specifically aimed at turning Californians against Obama. But "if people are persuaded by the ads, it can only help -- not just Sen. McCain but anyone else who shares [the group's] view," he said. Issue advocacy commercials don't expressly support or oppose a particular candidate but can be used to sway an election's outcome. The Vets for Freedom spot will air in all California markets except the Bay Area over the next week.

Sprint's WiMax policy says it can enforce bandwidth limits

Sprint Nextel has promised an "open Internet business model" without restrictions on services and customer choice on its new WiMax service, but its acceptable use policy says the company may limit bandwidth for some applications and protocols, including file sharing. Sprint rolled out its Xohm WiMax service in Baltimore Monday, and the company plans to expand the service to Washington, D.C., and Chicago by the end of the year. In the Xohm news release, Sprint said its WiMax service's "open Internet business model transcends other carriers' wireless walled gardens that restrict services, choice and innovation." However, Xohm's acceptable use and network management policy says: "To ensure a high-quality experience for its entire subscriber base, Xohm may use various tools and techniques designed to limit the bandwidth available for certain bandwidth intensive applications or protocols, such as file sharing." Those terms of service suggest some restrictions on service and customer choice, said Free Press, an advocacy group that supports net neutrality rules for broadband providers.

Verizon: Hike Satellite TV Regulatory Fees

Congress requires the Federal Communications Commission to fund nearly 100% of its operations by assessing annual fees on cable TV providers, satellite TV providers, phone companies, broadcasters and other entities under its jurisdiction. Satellite TV providers DirecTV and Dish Network need to pay millions of dollars more each year to help finance the FCC's $313 million budget, according to Verizon Communications. For the current fiscal year, DirecTV is paying about 7 cents and Dish Network about 5 cents per subscriber in FCC regulatory fees. Cable operators, in a disparity that has existed for many years, are paying 80 cents per subscriber. In 2008, cable operators, with 64.8 million subscribers, need to pay $51.8 million. DirecTV and Dish Network, with about 30 million subscribers, are to pay about $2.3 million combined. Verizon also pointed out that the FCC hasn't been collecting regulatory fees from Internet Protocol TV providers, such as AT&T, because the agency hasn't classified IPTV providers as cable operators.

Benton

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