Jan 28, 2009 (DTV Bill in House Today)
Today's Headlines dedicated to John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, who died Tuesday at age 76. His art lives.
http://benton.org/node/21292
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY JANUARY 28, 2009
The New America hosts a discussion on Broadband Transparency: Network Research, Empowered Users, and Sound Policy (see http://benton.org/node/20935)
DIGITAL TELEVISION
DTV Delay Bill in House Today
DTV: A Mess That Could Have Been Avoided
Digital Delay a Relief to TV Networks
For Nielsen, Digital TV Transition No Worse Than Christmas
THE ECONOMY
Why the Stimulus Bill Discounts Broadband
Congressional Internet Protection Starts Now
Obama's Broadband Plan Disappoints Telecommunications Companies
Congress mulls Internet, wireless tax credits
Inside the Stimulus: Broadband's Triple Play
Wireless Growth Helps Boost Verizon
Watchdog Bashes Google, Health IT Stimulus
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Cox To Test Bandwidth-Throttling System
Comcast's Congestion Catch-22
TIA Urges FCC to Release USF Funds for Rural Health Care Broadband Networks
MySpace Extends Conversations 365 Days Per Year
WIRELESS
The Curious Case Of Cellular Txt Msging
JOURNALISM
News You Can Endow
Is There Life After Newspapers?
Nielsen: Newspapers getting more Web visits
ADVERTISING
Maverick CMOs Try Going Without TV
Can't Trust "Trust Me"
PETA's Super Bowl Ad Is Too Much for NBC to Stomach
CABLE/BROADCASTING
FCC refers Comcast-NFL dispute to judge
Hope Springs Anew For Leased-Access Advocate
Rep Gingrey: Back off, Rush
THE TRANSITION
Thompson for Commerce?
Tech wonks embrace government activism in telecom policy [Video]
Sidman Named President of the Association of Public Television Stations
McDowell On Board with FCC Reforms, Increased Transparency
QUICKLY -- United States, Nordics top tech usage ranking; EU scientific body raises health alarm on MP3s
DIGITAL TELEVISION
DTV DELAY BILL IN HOUSE TODAY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) cancelled a markup on his version of a digital television transition delay bill, saying he would defer to the Senate version and work for its passage in the House, which is expected on Wednesday. House Republicans are not on board, however. Rep Joe Barton (R-TX), who set the Feb 17 hard date while serving as then-chairman of the House Commerce Committee, took aim at the proposed move in a report on the broadband stimulus portion of the Obama administrations' economy recovery bill, which includes $650 million in funds for DTV-to-analog converter box coupons. The report, issued by Barton's office, labeled the funding as an effort to pay for "the disaster that delaying the digital transition will cause." The Republicans said moving the date from Feb. 17 to June 12 was unnecessary and will "cause more harm than good by confusing consumers and jeopardizing spectrum earmarked for public safety." Rep Barton was joined by Rep Cliff Stearns in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to delay the vote: they invoked 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden in their plea. The National Association of Broadcasters, however, backed the plan to delay. The Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, and the American Advertising Federation also expressed support.
http://benton.org/node/21291
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DTV: A MESS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Cliff Edwards]
[Commentary] Rather than face criticism from some 5 million US households (and presumed voters) said to be not ready for the Feb. 17 digital TV transition, Congress appears to be prepping broadcasters for any blame game that may come. Here's why: Broadcasters now can make the switchover anytime over a four-month period. After Feb. 17, you the consumer were expected to program your TV or set-top box to rescan all the digital channels. Some of them actually will be moving from their current place on your remote. Now, unless broadcasters in a given area coordinate their switchover, you could conceivably be futzing with 10-20 minute channel scanning numerous times through June. Frustrating? Yes. Confusing? Most definitely. And who are you going to complain to? Your local station might be first on the list. Or maybe you'll call up Best Buy or the TV/set-top box maker to complain things suddenly aren't working. I'd bet few of us would think to call our elected official, though. To make matters worse, the whole reason for the delay—because there's a long waiting list for DTV converter box coupons—isn't cleared up in the slightest. A lot of people (who could request two each) have at least one unused coupon sitting in a drawer somewhere. They expire 90 days after they were issued, and new coupons are then issued to people on a waiting list. Now, anyone who previously requested a coupon can request new ones. Huh? Wasn't the goal to reduce the list of people looking for coupons, not extend it?
http://benton.org/node/21328
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DIGITAL DELAY A RELIEF TO TV NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
The big broadcast television networks, already suffering from terrible ratings, will catch a break if the planned transition to digital signals is put off until June when the TV season has basically ended. With warmer weather and more reruns, fewer people are watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in June than in February. There's also the expectation that more homes will be ready to receive the digital signals by then. The digital transition would have been another blow for networks still trying to recover from the effects of last year's writers strike. Viewership is down at disturbing rates: 11 percent for ABC, 12 percent for NBC and 14 percent for Fox. Only CBS, with its strong dramas and new hit "The Mentalist," is up over last year (1 percent). A Feb. 17 switch would have only worsened those numbers. An estimated 13 percent of viewers for the English-language broadcast networks get analog signals, Nielsen said. Many who are making the digital switch are doing it by ordering cable and satellite - giving them many more networks to watch as an alternative to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
http://benton.org/node/21327
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NIELSEN TAKES A HOLIDAY: DIGITAL TV TRANSITION NO WORSE THAN CHRISTMAS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Joe Mandese]
Nielsen executives maintain that the TV ratings firm is more than prepared even if that transition were to occur today. "Given where we are on the digital transition today, the effect would be less than what we have over a normal Christmas season," said Nielsen's Pat McDonough. By the Christmas season, McDonough was referring to the amount of technological change that occurs in television households during a typical holiday season, when consumers purchase new televisions or other electronic equipment that change how they receive and watch TV, causing Nielsen engineers and field workers to troubleshoot how those households are metered for ratings. McDonough said during the average Christmas holiday season, 10% of the Nielsen ratings sample is impacted by changes in TV viewing technology, including new TV sets, DVRs, DVDs, and other equipment. She said it normally takes Nielsen a couple of weeks to adjust to those changes, but estimated that if the digital TV transition were to happen now it would impact only about 6% of the households in Nielsen's sample.
http://benton.org/node/21290
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THE ECONOMY
WHY THE STIMULUS BILL DISCOUNTS BROADBAND
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Spencer Ante]
Why did broadband get slighted in the economic stimulus bill? Will the technology get more government funding in the future? And does the debate over broadband foreshadow how the technology community will be treated in the future by the Obama Administration? Blair Levin, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission, was a top technology policy adviser on the Obama transition team said, "Did we leave the door open to additional money? I think the answer is the door is open and should be open." Levin and other technology leaders say there are several reasons that broadband got less money than expected in the stimulus bill. For starters, there is no track record of the federal government funding broadband networks. That made it harder to garner support for a larger subsidy in a Congress trying to accommodate numerous claims from more established constituencies. "When it comes to building roads, that is a clear government project," says Levin. "Building rural broadband is clear, too. But with other parts of broadband there is not a consensus." There's also an information gap. There are no clear, comprehensive data on which regions need broadband investment, which fueled concerns that it would be difficult to spend money quickly and wisely. "We were concerned that the money would be used effectively and appropriately," says Levin. "You have to have the strategy before you determine where the money is sent." Then there were economic questions. While most economists acknowledge that communications boosts the productivity of the economy over time, there are concerns about the job-creation potential of broadband investment in the near term—the primary objective of the stimulus package.
http://benton.org/node/21314
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CONGRESSIONAL INTERNET PROTECTION STARTS NOW
[SOURCE: PublicKnowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] The protection of the Internet is expected on Jan. 28 to be back on the House floor for the first time in three years. Granted, an observer would need the equivalent of a legislative microscope to find it, because the concept of an open, non-discriminatory network is buried deep in an $825 billion stimulus package. In the grand scheme of things, the telecom portions of the stimulus bill don't amount to "a hill of beans in this crazy world." Except that it's our hill and our beans. For those of us who waited for a new day to advance the cause of preserving a free, open and non-discriminatory Internet, the language in the House stimulus package is a great first step toward reclaiming the Internet and establishing once and for all the concept that carriers can't discriminate.
http://benton.org/node/21313
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OBAMA'S BROADBAND PLAN DISAPPOINTS TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
Qwest says it can start immediately on the kind of "shovel ready" projects to expand Internet service President Barack Obama wants to stimulate the economy. The company and the industry may be disappointed. The current House version of the $825 billion stimulus package sets aside just $6 billion for broadband deployment, about a third of the amount that some Democratic lawmakers had wanted. In addition, the money comes with conditions that some companies said discourage them from participating in the program. "It's not a lot of money and then you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it," said Paul Glenchur, a Washington- based telecommunications policy analyst with Stanford Group. While Obama made a campaign promise to extend the reach of high-speed Internet networks, the economic crisis forced the incoming administration to redirect resources to other programs such as repairing roads and bridges. In a bill before the House, Qwest would end up competing for about half the $6 billion for broadband, as $2.8 billion of the amount is set aside for smaller telecommunications companies that already serve remote rural areas.
http://benton.org/node/21288
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CONGRESS MULLS INTERNET, WIRELESS TAX CREDITS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
Sen John Rockefeller (D-WV), a senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will offer the amendment to the $825 billion economic package Tuesday, offering a plan to give tax credits to Internet and wireless companies as part of a broad stimulus package to boost the ailing economy. The proposal would provide a 10 percent tax credit to companies that build out high-speed Internet in rural and underserved areas, and 20 percent for those willing to exceed current speeds. Telecommunications companies have been pushing for tax credits, rather than grant money, the route the House of Representatives has taken thus far. "Our concern about tax credits is that they may fund projects that would have been built anyway," said Derek Turner, research director at the public interest group Free Press.
http://benton.org/node/21287
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INSIDE THE STIMULUS: BROADBAND'S TRIPLE PLAY
[SOURCE: techPresident, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
Sure, stacked up against prescriptions for staving off complete collapse of the global credit market, what's in Obama's stimulus package having to do with broadband might seem minor in comparison. But the bill's provisions are indeed important, perhaps even hugely so. Three in particular are worth talking about. The first aims to fund the build out of high-speed Internet in unreached parts of the U.S. to the tune of about $6 billion. The second maps where in the U.S. broadband is available. And the third is Network Neutrality.
http://benton.org/node/21286
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WIRELESS GROWTH HELPS BOOST VERIZON
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma]
Verizon posted a 15% increase in fourth-quarter profit due to strong wireless growth. The telecom provider posted net income of $1.24 billion. Revenue rose 3.4% to $24.65 billion. Verizon Wireless reported a revenue increase of 12.3% year-over-year to $12.8 billion, partly because of growth in data services like text messaging, email and Internet access. Verizon added 1.2 million net new wireless customers in the quarter, bringing its total to 72.1 million, not including those it added through the acquisition of Alltel. The tough economic environment impacted the unit that markets phone and broadband services to businesses, which saw sales slide 2.2% from last year to $3.6 billion. A longstanding trend of customers dropping landline phone service to replace it with cable or wireless service continued. Verizon lost 911,000 landline customers in the fourth quarter and 3.7 million lines for the year, a 9.3% decline. Verizon's digital subscriber line, or DSL, broadband service continued to struggle, with a net loss of 68,000 customers in the quarter. Still, that was more than offset by growth in the company's faster FiOS fiber-optic broadband network, which added 282,000 high-speed Internet customers in the quarter.
http://benton.org/node/21285
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WATCHDOG BASHES GOOGLE, HEALTH IT STIMULUS
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Consumer Watchdog, a newcomer in Washington privacy circles that has been pressuring Google to enhance the privacy and security of its various Web applications, slammed the Internet giant Tuesday for allegedly lobbying to allow the sale of electronic medical records in the latest version of the House economic stimulus legislation. In a letter to Congress that was also sent to President Barack Obama, Consumer Watchdog asked for the removal of what it perceives as loopholes in the package's ban on the sale of patient data and to include other privacy protections currently absent from the legislation.
http://benton.org/node/21307
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
COX TO TEST BANDWIDTH-THROTTLING SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Cox Communications next month will begin testing a bandwidth-management system that the cable operator said may "momentarily" delay non-time-sensitive Internet applications, such as peer-to-peer file swapping, and the plan has already drawn fire from Free Press. The proposed Cox system explicitly discriminates based on type of application. For example, the cable operator said, streaming video downloads -- which are sensitive to network delays -- would take priority over a P2P download during times of congestion. In a statement issued Tuesday night, Ben Scott, policy director of consumer-rights lobbying group Free Press, said the group was "concerned about any cable or phone company picking winners and losers online." "The lesson we learned from the Comcast case is that we must be skeptical of any practice that comes between users and the Internet," Scott said. "These kinds of practices cut against the fundamental neutrality of the open Internet. We urge the FCC to subject this practice to close scrutiny and call on Cox to provide its customers with more technical details about exactly what it's doing." Free Press also noted that a study by German researchers last May indicated that Cox was engaging in peer-to-peer throttling similar to Comcast.
http://benton.org/node/21329
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COMCAST'S CONGESTION CATCH-22
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Rich Karpinski]
When Comcast earlier this week received yet another admonition from the FCC about how it was managing traffic on its network, the groans were heard far and wide. Here we go again the draconian Comcast taking a heavy hand with its users. The FCC's charge, delivered in a letter to Comcast was this: that Comcast was using the latest version of its congestion management system the one it had just recently altered in response to an earlier FCC inquiry and demand to improperly (and perhaps illegally) favor its own voice-over-IP (VoIP) service over competitors. Even at first glance, the charges seemed slightly off. Wasn't it common knowledge in the industry that all facilities-based providers did their best to keep their VoIP traffic on their own pipes and away from the public Internet? If Comcast was forced to take a protocol-agnostic route with its management scheme, why would it suddenly be limiting relatively low-bandwidth VoIP packets? At a time when service providers are experimenting heavily with deep packet inspection (DPI)-driven congestion management approaches, could anyone get it right? Deeper examination leads to more questions: Is the use case that the FCC is questioning really as small as it appears? Did they intend their decision to tweak Comcast on what appears to be a technicality to open up a larger Pandora's box of questions? And is there any level of network management that a service provider can enable that won't draw howls of protest not only from the FCC but from users as well?
http://benton.org/node/21282
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TIA URGES FCC TO RELEASE USF FUNDS FOR RURAL HEALTH CARE BROADBAND NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Telecommunications Industry Association, AUTHOR: Press release]
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) President Grant Seiffert wrote to Acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Copps and his fellow Commissioners asking the FCC to expand and make permanent the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP), currently set to expire in mid-2010. Seiffert urged "swift action by the FCC to inject much-needed capital into the flagging economy, promote the deployment of critical communications infrastructure, and facilitate more efficient and effective delivery of health-care services to Americans living in rural areas." The action sought by TIA would expand investment in rural broadband and health-care infrastructure by hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and would require no new Congressional authorization.
http://benton.org/node/21312
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MYSPACE EXTENDS CONVERSATIONS 365 DAYS PER YEAR
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Laurie Sullivan]
The days of sending holiday letters to update receivers about the year's events has transformed into portals in social media platforms. Social media also gives brands the opportunity to continue the conversation with consumers every day during the year, according to MySpace executive Angela Courtin. Keeping the conversation active is one of several discoveries that MySpace has perfected during the past five years since the company was founded. Consumers want self-expression, positive change and fun, said Courtin, MySpace SVP of marketing, entertainment and content. As use shifts to social media, it's no longer a race to build a destination--but rather constellations that connect, she said.
http://benton.org/node/21281
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WIRELESS
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CELLULAR TXT MSGING
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] It has long been an article of faith among the worshipers of the Gods of the Marketplace that once you achieve "competition" (generally described as at least one more possible new entrant, but certainly where multiple providers exist) you eliminate regulation, because a competitive marketplace gives consumers what they want — like high fuel efficiency standards and a secure financial system. Thus, for the past 30 or so years, we have more and more framed the debate in telecom and media policy around whether or not we have "enough" competition rather than about the benefits or drawbacks of any actual policy. Unsurprisingly, you can always argue that we have "enough" competition (or that competition is about to emerge) and thus side step the whole question of the actual state of reality and what reality we might prefer. Enter the curious case of cellular telephony. As Randall Stross wrote in the NY Times at the end of December, the cost charged to consumers for txt messaging has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the actual cost of the service. Real world markets are often much, much more complicated than the followers of the Gods of the Marketplace like to believe.
http://benton.org/node/21311
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JOURNALISM
NEWS YOU CAN ENDOW
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Swensen, Michael Schmidt]
[Commentary] We are dangerously close to having a government without newspapers. American newspapers shoulder the burden of considerable indebtedness with little cash on hand, as their profit margins have diminished or disappeared. Readers turn increasingly to the Internet for information — even though the Internet has the potential to be, in the words of the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, "a cesspool" of false information. If Jefferson was right that a well-informed citizenry is the foundation of our democracy, then newspapers must be saved. Although the problems that the newspaper industry faces are well known, no one has offered a satisfactory solution. But there is an option that might not only save newspapers but also make them stronger: Turn them into nonprofit, endowed institutions — like colleges and universities. Endowments would enhance newspapers' autonomy while shielding them from the economic forces that are now tearing them down.
http://benton.org/node/21326
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IS THERE LIFE AFTER NEWSPAPERS?
[SOURCE: American Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Robert Hodierne]
Thousands upon thousands of newspaper journalists have lost their jobs in recent years in endless rounds of layoffs and buyouts. Where do they end up? Just under 36 percent said they found a new job in less than three months. Add those who say they freelance full time, and the total jumps to 53 percent. Less than 10 percent say it took them longer than a year. Only a handful 6 percent found other newspaper jobs. The rest are doing everything from public relations to teaching to driving a bus and clerking in a liquor store.
http://benton.org/node/21280
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NIELSEN: NEWSPAPERS GETTING MORE WEB VISITS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
Leading US newspaper Web sites are getting more visitors, and those visitors are coming more often, in what might be a small bright spot for an industry struggling with declining revenue. However, those visitors aren't spending much time on the newspaper Web sites. They averaged slightly more than a half-hour at the top 10 sites during all of December. The latest figures from Nielsen Online underscore the struggles that newspapers still face with how to translate their audiences into revenue. So far, online ads aren't generating enough dollars to offset losses from print, where ad sales worsened last year because of the recession.
http://benton.org/node/21310
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ADVERTISING
MAVERICK CMOs TRY GOING WITHOUT TV
[SOURCE: BrandWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Wasserman]
As the upfronts loom, many big brands are slashing their spending on television advertising out of necessity. But another factor to consider is the maverick CMO who is willing to spend a lot less on TV advertising or cut it out entirely.
http://benton.org/node/21279
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CAN'T TRUST "TRUST ME"
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Linda Stasi]
In one of the sleazier ideas in the world of product placement, TNT has come up with a series about a fictional advertising agency in which actual sponsors of the series, like Dove, are clients. The series is called, ironically enough, "Trust Me." If that's the question, the answer is an unequivocal, "No." That trick is about as trustworthy as a reality show where the contestants are actually supposed to get married.
http://benton.org/node/21278
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PETA'S SUPER BOWL AD IS TOO MUCH FOR NBC TO STOMACH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes]
NBC has nixed a new Super Bowl ad from the animal rights activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals because the ad is too sexually explicit. It shows beautiful women, dressed in sexy undies, getting very intimate. With vegetables. The ad suggests that changing over to a healthier, vegetarian diet -- or, alternatively, dressing like a broccoli -- will help guys attract hot, horny models. "Apparently, NBC has something against girls who love their veggies," PETA said of the rejection. NBC's list of images it wanted cut before the network would reconsider the ad "even made us blush!" PETA said prettily.
http://benton.org/node/21325
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CABLE/BROADCASTING
FCC REFERS COMCAST-NFL DISPUTE TO JUDGE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday referred a dispute between Comcast and NFL Networks to an administrative law judge, reversing a move made in the final days of the Republican Bush administration. The decision was praised by Comcast, the biggest US cable company, which believed it would not get a fair hearing at the agency. NFL Networks had complained to the agency that Comcast is unfairly discriminating against it by not carrying its programs, or by charging steep prices, in exchange for including the sports network in its offerings. There are several other so-called cable carriage disputes included in the proceeding.
http://benton.org/node/21309
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HOPE SPRINGS ANEW FOR LEASED-ACCESS ADVOCATE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Leased-access programmer Charlie Stogner hopes the new regime at the Federal Communications Commission will finally yield a ruling on whether cable operators must provide leased-access programmers the same ability to deliver programming via the Internet to the cable headend, and on the same terms, as non-leased programmers. Stogner's been pushing the FCC for more than a year to release a decision on his petition, which was filed back in March of last year. Stogner says he is paying $100 a month in eight different places while other non-leased programmers, HBO for example, not only get free satellite reception but operators put up the dish and all the equipment.
http://benton.org/node/21308
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HOUSE GOP MEMBER TO RUSH: BACK OFF
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jonathan Martin]
Responding to President Obama's recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh's lead, the conservative talkmeister said on his show that Obama is "obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party." And Rep Phil Gingrey (R-GA) doesn't like it: "I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach. I mean, it's easy if you're Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don't have to try to do what's best for your people and your party. You know you're just on these talk shows and you're living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn't be or wouldn't be good leaders, they're not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."
http://benton.org/node/21306
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THE TRANSITION
THOMPSON FOR COMMERCE?
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Patrick Rucker, Caren Bohan]
Nothing official yet, but rumor mill has President Barack Obama tapping Symantec CEO John Thompson to be Secretary of Commerce. Thompson helped build the company, best known to consumers for its Norton product line, "from a small consumer software publisher to a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions." Thompson was a senior executive with IBM Corp before joining Symantec and has a master's degree in management science from MIT's Sloan School of Management. Former President George W. Bush appointed Thompson to the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee in September 2002 to make recommendations on the security of the critical infrastructure of the United States.
http://benton.org/node/21315
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TECH WONKS EMBRACE GOVERNMENT ACTIVISM IN TELECOM POLICY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Julian Sanchez]
At a New America Foundation-hosted event, Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein and a cohort of top tech wonks looked forward to a golden age of government activism in telecom policy. Setting the tone for the event, Commissioner Adelstein exulted that it was "refreshing to finally have a leader at the top who truly understands the importance of these digital connections, and has already established a legacy of using them to effect profound social change." It could mean more active government investment in expanding broadband access, which Commissioner Adelstein called the "skeleton key" to economic opportunity, and in particular wireless broadband, "the wave of the future."
http://benton.org/node/21289
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SIDMAN NAMED PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS
[SOURCE: Association of Public Television Stations, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) has chosen long-time media advocate Lawrence R. Sidman as president and CEO. Sidman served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee in the late 1980s.
http://benton.org/node/21284
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MCDOWELL ON BOARD WITH FCC REFORM, INCREASED TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell says he is on board with Chairman Michael Copps' plan to start reforming the agency to make it more open and transparent. In a letter to Copps Tuesday, McDowell offered up some of his own suggestions: 1) A thorough operational, financial and ethics audit of the Commission and related entities including USAC and the advisory committees. 2) An update of the FCC's strategic plan. 3) Using the results of items 1 and 2 for a potential restructuring of the Commission. 4) Publish Open Meeting dates for all of 2009. 5) Increase coordination among commissioner offices, commissioner and staff, and between staff. 6) Update FCC IT system and web site. 7) Build better rapport with other parts of the government including consumer protection, homeland security and technology areas.
http://benton.org/node/21283
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QUICKLY
UNITED STATES, NORDICS TOP TECH USAGE RANKING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Tarmo Virki]
The United States and Scandinavian countries top the annual rankings on the usage of telecommunications technologies such as networks, cellphones and computers. The Connectivity Scorecard, created by London Business School professor Leonard Waverman last year, measured 50 countries on dozens of indicators, including technological skills and usage of communications technology. Researchers said the new indicator -- already used by several countries in developing innovation strategies -- showed there was plenty of room for improvement in infrastructure and usage in all countries. Professor Ilkka Lakaniemi said investment in teaching is essential if countries wanted to boost competitiveness.
http://benton.org/node/21324
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EU SCIENTIFIC BODY RAISES HEALTH ALARM ON MP3S
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sarah Luehrs]
Up to 10 million young Europeans are in danger of damaging their hearing by playing their MP3 personal music players too loud, a European Union body on health risks told a conference on Tuesday. Listening to MP3 players and other personal music players at high volumes for long periods of time can cause loss of hearing and tinnitus, a ringing sensation in the ears, the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks said. It found that 5-10 percent of MP3 users risk permanent hearing loss if they listen to a personal music player for more than one hour per day, each week at high volume settings for a period of at least 5 years. No cure is currently known for hearing loss or tinnitus, the committee noted in its report.
http://benton.org/node/21323
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