February 2009

Video cord-cutting? Not so much

Predictions that economic hard times and the widespread availability of video content on the Internet would lead to a decline in pay TV service sales did not pan out in the fourth quarter - quite the opposite is true, in fact. With Echostar's Dish Networks and a smattering of cable companies yet to report results, Sanford Bernstein Analyst Craig Moffett said the numbers show subscriber additions actually grew by 441,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008, fueled by the success of AT&T, Verizon and DirecTV, which sells directly and in partnership with telcos.

FCC Unveils Plans For Second Wave Of DTV Transitions

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission released its second order implementing the digital television transition delay bill, including changing all the relevant Feb. 17, 2009 dates to June 12, but it also contained various modifications and additions to handle the second wave of analog shut-offs. In a separate notice of proposed rulemaking the Commission proposes that no TV stations should cease analog broadcasts earlier than April 16. By March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), all TV broadcasters must inform the FCC of when they plan to cease analog broadcasts if it is before June 12 -- any stations that do not will be assumed to be going June 12 and won't be able to pull the plug earlier (absent a disaster or unforeseeable emergency). The Commission said that date certain was only fair given that cable operators, satellite carriers, broadcasters and tower crews will need that certainty. April 16 is the deadline for filing updated DTV Transition Status Reports that outline those transition plans.

Top DTV Call Category Is Reception Issues

Over 25 percent of the digital television-related calls handled by the Federal Communications Commission on Feb 17 were from viewers who were having reception or technical problems (problems receiving any channels, antenna problems, or weak or intermittent signals). Calls were down slightly Wednesday to 25,320, but reception and/or technical issues accounted for almost a third of the calls (32.5%). Coming in second were calls about problems with converter boxes (coupon had not arrived, had not been requested or the store was out of converter boxes), representing 21.8% of all calls on Tuesday, 20.1% of the Wednesday calls. Only 4.5% of the calls on Tuesday, the day when 421 stations pulled the plug on analog, were from people who were not aware of the transition. That number was down to 2.2% on Wednesday.

NTIA Will Prioritize Analog-Only Coupon Requests

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will put analog-only households at the head of the line for DTV-to-analog converter box coupons if a crush for coupons creates a bottleneck similar to the one experienced since early January. As written, the law moving the DTV hard date from Feb. 17 to June 12 allows anyone whose coupons has expired to re-apply. Currently, there are more than 4 million applications on NTIA's waiting list, which it will take two or three weeks to clear up once the $650 million in funding from the economic stimulus package becomes available, which was estimated at about a week from the President's Feb. 17 signing of the bill.

White House Office of Urban Affairs

President Barack Obama has established the in order to take a coordinated and comprehensive approach to developing and implementing an effective strategy concerning urban America. The principal functions of the Office are: 1) to provide leadership for and coordinate the development of the policy agenda for urban America across executive departments and agencies; 2) to coordinate all aspects of urban policy; 3) to work with executive departments and agencies to ensure that appropriate consideration is given by such departments and agencies to the potential impact of their actions on urban areas; 4) to work with executive departments and agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget, to ensure that Federal Government dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs; and 5) to engage in outreach and work closely with State and local officials, with nonprofit organizations, and with the private sector, both in seeking input regarding the development of a comprehensive urban policy and in ensuring that the implementation of Federal programs advances the objectives of that policy. President Obama named Adolfo Carrion, White House Director of Urban Affairs and Derek Douglas, Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs.

Fearing 'Cyber Katrina,' Cyber Czar Candidate Urges a ''FEMA for the Internet"

Former White House cybersecurity official Paul Kurtz, in his first public remarks since becoming an advisor to President Obama's transition team following the election, describes his biggest worry: A "cyber Katrina" in which fragmented bureaucracies and companies fail to share critical information and coordinate responses to cyber intruders attempting to disrupt power grids, financial markets, or any number of now-plausible scenarios involving a Web shutdown. One recent fear is the cascading effects of even a partial Internet blackout that could add to economic anxieties. There's such electronic insecurity afoot, some are even beginning to suggest building an entirely new global computer infrastructure. "The bottom line is, is there a FEMA for the Internet? I don't think there is," Kurtz told an audience of security professionals at a Feb. 18 Black Hat security conference in Virginia. Kurtz' solution: A trio of key agencies - the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Communications Commission - but overseen by a new national cybersecurity center. Balkanized bureaucracies with incomplete awareness, conflicts, and unclear responsibilities - no single entity aggregates, analyzes and rapidly prescribes action for ongoing threats - "reminds me of the days before 9/11 when I'd be in meetings in the situation room, with NSA and CIA and FBI guys on different screens, and the FBI guys would say, 'oh, I can't share this because it's law enforcement information," says Kurtz, an infrastructure guardian who has served on White House homeland and national security councils. Kurtz also urges dealing openly with long-taboo subjects such as deploying cyber weapons that can disrupt cyber operations by hackers working for terrorists or other countries - and can be used to minimize the casualties in "kinetic" physical attacks.

Adelstein Takes Aim at Martin Over Time Warner Cable Spin-Off Hold Up

Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein took aim at former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over what Commissioner Adelstein called the "no brainer" approval of the spin-off of Time Warner's cable assets. He pointed out that it had taken the FCC over 220 days to hold up what he said should have essentially been a "rubber stamp" approval of a routine spin-off, calling its hold-up an abuse of power. "That was being held up over an unrelated issue," he said. "The previous chairman felt he was going to take unrelated issues like a la carte and try to force them into what would otherwise be a rubber stamp. Now, I'm not one to rubber stamp media transactions, but this was de-consolidation. This was a cable company dealing with a lot of the problems Congress was concerned about with integrated cable companies that had programming and distribution." He also pointed out that it had been difficult for "marketplace participants to do their business with that kind of abuse of power."

Free Press Resumes Network Neutrality Push

Free Press is renewing its push for Network Neutrality legislation. Executive Director Josh Silver, in an e-mail to supporters, said that the group is "re-engaging its Savetheinternet.com coalition," comprising 850 organizations, 6,000 bloggers and 1.6 million people. Silver says coalition members will press the flesh and organize a "letter to the editor" campaign to "flood local newspapers" with stories about "why an open, accessible Internet matters." The effort comes in the wake of the passage of the economic stimulus bill with $7.2 billion earmarked for broadband infrastructure that include openness conditions, interconnection and build-out conditions, though the former has yet to be defined.

Lawmakers Unveil ISP Data Retention Bill and Get Chilly Reception

Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation that directs Internet service providers to retain subscriber information for up to two years. Rep Smith says, the bill helps law enforcement officials identify users who upload and view explicit child pornography and would impose record-keeping requirements similar to those already in place for telephone companies. Internet Service Providers routinely work with authorities and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on this front and have made strides to bolster industry efforts in recent years. In addition to record retention, the measure also makes it a crime to financially facilitate the sale, distribution and purchase of child pornography. The bill would provide additional funds to the FBI's Innocent Images program, which is the backbone of federal law enforcement's fight to eradicate child porn. High-tech and child safety advocates give the legislation a chilly reception.

Beyond Stimulus, Bloggers Focus on Pupils, Penance and Puppets

For the second straight week, the ongoing economic crisis dominated the social media, just as it did the more traditional press. The stimulus package that made it through Congress on Feb. 13 was the subject of half of all the links (50%) last week found in the New Media Index of Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which analyzes millions of blogs and other social media sites each week. Many of posts either evaluated specifics in the bill or debated the Republicans' strategy in opposing President Obama-discussions that mirrored some traditional media commentary, but spent less time anointing political winners and losers.

Benton

Search