February 2009

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2009

See Headlines online at http://www.benton.org/headlines

THE ECONOMY
   Obama Team Has Billions to Spend, but Few Ready to Do It
   Connected Nation Takes Aim At Stimulus Broadband Mapping; Rural Areas Could Be Hurt
   How Should We Spend $350 Million On Broadband Mapping/Tracking?
   Will You Feel the Benefit of the Stimulus Package? Find Out Here
   IBM eyes stimulus funds for broadband over power lines
   Stimulus crucial for "smart grid"
   Education snags $105.9B in stimulus package
   Forget universal broadband
   Recession could lengthen the twilight of dial-up
   White House Unveils Recovery.gov

DIGITAL TELEVISION
   25% of analog TV signals cut off
   DTV coupon backlog seen gone within weeks
   What's Wrong With HDTV?
   EU Notes Progress In Digital Transition

JOURNALISM
   Shapiro Blasts Media for Bailout Coverage
   Stimulus Success Shifts the Storyline
   Science Journalism Growing Overseas

TELECOM/INTERNET
   Telecoms bosses urge less regulation
   The Internet of things
   Regulation, Public Policy and Investment in Communications Infrastructure

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   Liberty Investment Saves Sirius
   Deal Reached On Web Streaming Rates
   Sourcetool says Google violated antitrust laws

QUICKLY -- Obama Revokes Bush Executive Orders Concerning Regulatory Planning And Review; Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics; Where the Kids Are; AT&T unit settles E-Rate case for $8.3 million

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THE ECONOMY

OBAMA TEAM HAS BILLIONS TO SPEND, BUT FEW READY TO DO IT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Peter Baker]
President Obama blasted through all sorts of speed records pushing a $787 billion economic plan through Congress, arguing it was too urgent to wait. But even after signing it into law Tuesday, he faces another problem: virtually no one is in place at his cabinet departments to actually spend a lot of the money. Three cabinet jobs remain unfilled, only 2 of the 15 cabinet departments have deputy secretaries confirmed, and the vast majority of lower-level political jobs remain vacant. The slowdown seems to stem both from the administration's sharpening its vetting process after losing several nominees and from Senate committees' taking more time to consider names that have been sent to Capitol Hill. As a result, the very departments charged with executing one of the largest spending projects in American history are operating largely with career stand-ins without the authority of political appointees. Peter R. Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, plans to send all agencies a 50-page memorandum on Wednesday detailing how the money should be used, another official said. The memorandum will spell out daily, weekly and monthly reporting requirements on stimulus spending and require complete spending plans by May 1, the official said. It will also give specific requirements for contracts, grants and loans and will direct agencies to track stimulus spending separately. The administration has identified an official in each agency responsible for making sure the stimulus money gets out the door quickly and efficiently.
http://benton.org/node/22255
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CONNECTED NATION TAKES AIM TAKES AIM AT STIMULUS BROADBAND MAPPING; RURAL AREAS COULD BE HURT
[SOURCE: PublicKnowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
The new stimulus package just signed by President Obama has $350 million in it for broadband mapping, yet even before the bill was signed, the danger warnings for this program are glaringly obvious: Who will control the information on broadband deployment? If the program is done correctly, then the program may bring some benefits to the effort to include all Americans in the digital economy. If not, much of the money will be wasted. Increasingly, it is beginning to look as if the program will be done at the mercy of the big telecommunications companies, who will seek to submit the information they want to submit, on the terms and conditions on which they want to submit it. State governments, working months before the stimulus package was conceived, are ramping up their own programs to map deployment of broadband, and are finding they are already increasingly running into conflicts over the type of data they will receive. Some states want comprehensive, granular data. However, they are finding that the telecommunications industry, often represented by Connected Nation, doesn't want to give it to them. The result is a clash of policy objectives and politics that's taking place across the country, in states ranging from North Carolina to Alabama, Colorado and Minnesota.
http://benton.org/node/22227
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HOW SHOULD WE SPEND $250 MILLION ON BROADBAND MAPPING?
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Included in the stimulus bill is $350 million for mapping the availability and tracking the adoption of broadband. That's a huge sum of money with which we can do great things, so how should we spend all those dollars so as to maximize their impact on the state of broadband in the US? First we should gather as much data as possible. Next that data should be as granular as possible. Finally everything should be as transparent as possible. But we also need to track demand for broadband. In particular we need a baseline for how people, businesses, and institutions are using broadband today so we can track how their usage is growing tomorrow. Also valuable would be a sense for how much market demand any given community has for broadband as this is data that can be used to justify the buildout of new networks to supply bandwidth to that demand.
http://benton.org/node/22226
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WILL YOU FEEL THE BENEFIT OF THE STIMULUS PACKAGE? FIND OUT HERE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Bradley Johnson, Ira Teinowitz]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will try to rescue the economy with an unprecedented $787 billion package of government spending and tax cuts. The bill includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband, with an emphasis on "unserved" and "underserved" communities such as rural areas. Within a year, the Federal Communications Commission must produce a "national broadband plan" including "a plan for use of broadband infrastructure and services in advancing consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community development, health-care delivery, energy independence and efficiency, education, worker training, private-sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and economic growth, and other national purposes." Winners: Telecom companies, media companies, others developing broadband-based content and services. The score: A boost to anyone wanting to deliver high-bandwidth content, such as video, to households far and wide. Workers in rural areas will find it easier to get on the net. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/22225
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IBM EYES STIMULUS FUNDS FOR BROADBAND OVER POWER LINES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ritsuko Ando]
IBM plans to take advantage of the economic stimulus package by offering Internet services over power lines to more rural consumers. The economic stimulus law signed by President Barack Obama included $2.5 billion for the Agricultural Department to expand broadband service in rural America. IBM said its venture with International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC), a company that provides broadband over power line (BPL) services, had begun to sign up Internet customers in rural parts of Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and Virginia and that it hoped to access more government funds. IBEC venture's service is aimed at remote and sparsely populated areas where advanced Internet services are not available, meaning the only competition would be traditional dial-up services which are even slower. IBM said it did not know how much government funds it could receive but that the venture would proceed regardless, and that it expects broader Internet use to stimulate the economy and help create more business opportunities in the long run.
http://benton.org/node/22224
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STIMULUS CRUCIAL FOR "SMART GRID"
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: David Lawsky]
The electric power industry and manufacturers say $4.5 billion in the $787-billion U.S. economic stimulus package will give a crucial boost to "smart grids" that will help the nation save money and electricity. The stimulus measure, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday, provides matching funds over two years to encourage utilities to start work on smart grids. Smart grids combine special meters, wireless technology, sensors and software so customers can closely monitor energy use cut and back when the grid is stretched to its limit. Otherwise, utilities must build expensive, wasteful plants that are turned on when needed to prevent blackouts. Two-way meters also let utilities pinpoint power outages and respond far more quickly. Eventually a smart grid will also help prevent blackouts by better balancing electric resources.
http://benton.org/node/22223
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EDUCATION SNAGS $105.9B IN STIMULUS PACKAGE
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Laura Devaney]
The final $787 billion stimulus bill contains $105.9 billion for education, including $650 million for the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program. Although encouraged by an increase of more than double its current funding level, ed-tech advocates said they were disappointed EETT did not receive the $1 billion it was slated to receive in earlier drafts of the package. In past years, EETT has been repeatedly targeted for cuts. "The funding provides a much-needed down payment toward meeting President Obama's vision that all students receive the benefits of 21st-century learning environments, but the final level of investment falls short of funding in the House and Senate bills, and far short of what is needed by our students to compete in today's digital age," read a statement from the International Society for Technology in Education and the Consortium for School Networking. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/22222
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FORGET UNIVERSAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
[Commentary] Are companies really shunning the U.S. market because there's not enough broadband here? After all, the gap between our penetration numbers and Japan's is in rural America. Is that really the segment of the market that stands between us and the forefront of global technology innovation? Of the roughly 12% of American homes without broadband today, a third say they wouldn't buy broadband if they could. And of the 25% of Americans who don't use the Internet at all, at any speed, only 12% say it's due to lack of access. If weak demand is the problem, maybe we should be pushing broadband's benefits to rural Americans harder than we push the actual networks — maybe then rural America would do more of the pulling itself. We need to get them hooked on applications. Despite the historic importance of trains, there was never a call to bring railroad tracks to every American's doorstep. Railways were built in accordance with commercial demand, creating more demand along the way. If you didn't live near the tracks, it was up to you to bring yourself the rest of the way.
http://benton.org/node/22221
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RECESSION COULD LENGTHEN THE TWILIGHT OF DIAL-UP
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Vanacore]
Lightning speed Internet is the wave of the future. But in a recession, good old dial-up service might get a longer look. Now Internet providers that have seen their dial-up customer base whittled over the past decade see an opportunity to stay in the game by offering the budget-conscious a cheaper option. Dial-up is declining overall, but that doesn't mean it's not still a viable business," said Kevin Brand, senior vice president of product management at EarthLink Inc. "There's still a big market out there and during these tough times, even customers who have bundles including broadband may be looking at their bill and thinking, 'Do I really need all this?'" With that in mind, EarthLink recently rolled out a dial-up offer of $7.95 per month, lowering its cheapest service — and undercutting competitors — by $2. The move to more aggressively court new dial-up users is striking, since it's a market many consumers have fled.
http://benton.org/node/22254
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WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS RECOVERY.GOV
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
White House on Tuesday launched Recovery.gov -- a Web site that features information on how the $787 billion economic stimulus package is being spent along with tools to help citizens hold the government accountable. Issues surrounding the site's implementation and measures for success will likely arise as part of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing planned for March 5. OMB Director Peter Orszag is expected to testify along with GAO Acting Comptroller General Eugene Dodaro and Phyllis Fong, chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The issue is expected to gain traction in the House as well.
http://benton.org/node/22219
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DIGITAL TELEVISION

25% OF ANALOG TV SIGNALS CUT OFF
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
About a quarter of the nation's TV stations cut off their analog signals Tuesday, causing sets to go dark in households that were not prepared for digital television despite two years of warnings about the transition. Though most viewers were ready — and people with cable or satellite service were unaffected — some stations and call centers reported a steady stream of questions from frustrated callers. Many wondered how to get coupons for converter boxes that translate digital signals for older TVs — or how to get the devices working. The most populous places where many or all major-network stations are cutting analog this week include San Diego and Santa Barbara, Calif.; La Crosse and Madison, Wis.; Rockford and Peoria, Ill.; Sioux City, Iowa; Waco, Texas; Macon, Ga.; Scranton, Pa.; Rhode Island and Vermont. In most cases, one station in each of those markets will continue sending analog signals until June or will offer a so-called "analog nightlight" for a few months, with limited local news and emergency broadcasts, as well as information about the digital TV transition.
http://benton.org/node/22250
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DTV COUPONS BACKLOG SEEN GONE WITHIN WEEKS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
The National Telecommunications Information Administration says consumers should be able to receive new coupons within weeks to help defray the cost of converter boxes for the nationwide switch to digital television signals. With President Barack Obama's signature on the economic stimulus bill, the government can clear its coupon waiting list of some 4 million households within 2 to 3 weeks. The stimulus bill contains tens of millions of dollars needed to restart the coupon program which was a major reason cited by lawmakers and Obama in backing the digital transition delay, which has been years in planning. At $40 apiece for those coupons, NTIA would need $168 million and several weeks to get all those folks off the list. But NTIA will not get access to the money immediately. It will have to wait as much as a week to start clearing the backlog, according to an NTIA spokesperson, because the money has to go through the appropriations process before NTIA can get access to it. "We still need to go through the regular process of going to OMB and getting an account number," said the spokesperson. "I believe it will take a week, or less, after the bill is signed if it goes through the regular process." That would make it mid-March before the list is tidied up, or just about the same time (March 14) that stations that did not pull the plug on or before Feb. 17--there are 641 of those--can start doing so if they have let the FCC and viewers know first.
http://benton.org/node/22220
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WHAT'S WRONG WITH HDTV?
[SOURCE: TVPredictions.com, AUTHOR: Phillip Swann]
[Commentary] More than a decade after its launch, HDTV has yet to become a household staple in the U.S., on par with such products as the microwave, cordless phone, mobile phone or even the DVD player. So, what's wrong with HDTV? 1) Too expensive. 2) People use old TV sets as long as they can. 3) Pay TV operators don't tell consumers they need HDTV tuners. 4) Not Enough HD Programming. 5) The Blu-ray/HD DVD Debacle. High-Definition TV has come a long way in the last 10 years. But the high-def industry -- from retailers to TV makers to TV providers to the Hollywood studios -- need to congratulate each other less and start selling more. They need to stop saying that high-def is a success and start admitting that more needs to be done. If they don't, with the current economic conditions, HDTV may have hit a wall.
http://benton.org/node/22208
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EU NOTES PROGRESS IN DIGITAL TRANSITION
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
While the United States struggles with efforts to switch the country over to digital television signals, the European Union said Tuesday that it "is leading the world in switching from analog to digital television." The EU government said the transition has been completed in five member states thus far: Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and the Netherlands. By 2010 "the process should be well advanced in the whole EU," officials said. Specifically, the terrestrial TV switch-off is supposed to take place by the end of 2010 or earlier in Austria, Estonia, Denmark, Spain, Malta and Slovenia. The change is set to occur between the end of 2010 and the end of 2012 in Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels capital region), Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. In Poland the final switch-off date is 2015 at the latest, according to the EU.
http://benton.org/node/22210
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JOURNALISM

SHAPIRO BLASTS MEDIA FOR BAILOUT COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro says the media were complicit in "our national conspiracy to ignore financial reality," and said that "while the First Amendment is alive legally, it is an unnoticed, underused and often forgotten tool whose spirit has shifted from traditional media to YouTube and blogs." According to a copy of a speech to be given at The Media Institute in Washington Tuesday Shapiro said the press has "failed" the country by underreporting, and perhaps more importantly, insufficiently analyzing some big stories. "It has been mostly reactive, favoring the politics and the battles between the political parties rather than independently reviewing the big issues," he said, most recently the bailout packages for Wall Street, and more recently Main Street. "Has the media been so decimated by the economy and new media that thoughtful analysis of these immense proposals is off the table?" he asked.
http://benton.org/node/22212
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STIMULUS SUCCESS SHIFTS STORYLINE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
Whatever difficulties Barack Obama has faced in controlling the tone of his coverage as President, he has surely dictated the subject matter. Obama made the economic crisis his top priority, and in his first weeks in office, coverage of the meltdown has overwhelmed the news agenda. The President may not control the message, but he still controls the agenda. The week of Feb 9-15, the financial crisis filled 47% of the newshole as measured by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That is the highest level of attention to any story since the final week of the presidential campaign consumed 54% of the time on TV and radio and space in print and online from Oct. 27-Nov. 2. To put that into further perspective, in the first two months of 2008—which included key contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as well as Super Tuesday—the campaign accounted for 44% of all coverage studied. In the three full weeks since Obama's inauguration, the economic crisis has accounted for 46%.
http://benton.org/node/22251
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SCIENCE JOURNALISM GROWING OVERSEAS
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Cristine Russell]
The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has long been a mecca for journalists searching for stories of all shapes and sizes—from basic brain research to broad environmental policy issues involving land, oceans, and the atmosphere. Particularly remarkable was the increasingly international focus of the 175th meeting, which attracted about 6,800 participants, including roughly 800 members of the science media. The number of science reporters and journalists-in-training from far-flung parts of the world—the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, as well as Canada, the U.K., Germany, Sweden and other parts of Europe—has expanded at AAAS. At the same time, the presence of working American science reporters from major newspapers and magazines has declined over time, their ranks often replaced by a diverse group of freelancers and digital journalists who write, blog, and Twitter for a variety of startup and established news and information Web sites.
http://benton.org/node/22211
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TELECOM/INTERNET

TELECOMS BOSSES URGE LESS REGULATION
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
Leading European telecoms companies on Tuesday urged governments to ease the regulations on them, so the industry can play a major role in lifting economies out of recession. Spain's Telefónica and Vodafone of the UK said telecoms companies could fuel economic recovery, but warned that their efforts were hampered by regulations, notably from Brussels. Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's chief executive, complained the industry was suffering from "regulatory activism". Telecoms companies are using the world's largest mobile phone conference in Barcelona to highlight how the industry makes a significant contribution to gross domestic product. At the Mobile World Congress on Tuesday, César Alierta, Telefónica's chairman, complained that stimulus packages devised by governments were not paying sufficient attention to the role the telecoms industry could have in fostering economic recovery. He highlighted how fixed line operators were contemplating multibillion-euro investments in superfast broadband networks that could improve productivity.
http://benton.org/node/22253
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Scott Duke Harris]
ZeroG Wireless is introducing a new chip that provides a tiny bit of Wi-Fi connectivity to literally billions of electronic devices that today are unconnected. Companies may use the chips to collect usage data on all kinds of electronic appliances. With three patents approved and several more in the works, ZeroG is rolling out a Wi-Fi chip and module that already has Federal Communications Commission approval and can be easily integrated into micro-controller units made by companies such as Microchip Technology, Freescale Semiconductor and Atmel. It announced a new "early access" partnership with Microchip on Monday that will enable electronics manufacturers to test the chips for commercial use.
http://benton.org/node/22252
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REGULATION, PUBLIC POLICY AND INVESTMENT IN COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law, AUTHOR: Johannes Bauer]
Regulation and other forms of public policy toward infrastructure industries were and are designed to support the necessary large-scale investment. Throughout history, with few exceptions, rather pragmatic approaches guided policies. A more rigorous lens was only applied more recently although it often focused on narrow aspects of regulation. In contrast, this paper attempts to develop a broader, integrated framework to analyze the effects of regulatory and other public policy choices on sector investment. During the past decades, regulation has gradually abandoned instruments that allowed regulators to influence investment decisions directly. Presently used forms of wholesale regulation such as unbundling and network neutrality requirements work indirectly, creating complex and sometimes contradictory incentives for the affected stakeholders. Regulation cannot anymore "control" investment. Rather it functions as a "tuning variable" that influences the level and the structure of investment activity in various direct and indirect, often non-linear ways. Fiscal and monetary policy instruments also can be used to influence investment choices but they have their own advantages and disadvantages and do not work under all conditions. Due to the multi-faceted effects of regulatory measures, fiscal and monetary policy is preferable to regulatory measures to create short term economic stimulus. Whereas the overall effects of a combination of regulatory and other public policy measures on communications sector investment levels and structure are difficult to predict, basic guidelines for the design of a coherent approach can be specified.
http://benton.org/node/22217
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   Liberty Investment Saves Sirius
   Deal Reached On Web Streaming Rates

LIBERTY SEES SIRIUS MARKETING, MOBILE VIDEO DEALS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
Liberty Media will invest $530 million in Sirius XM -- first as a $280 million loan (at 15% interest, due in 2012) to help Sirius XM pay off its notes due Feb. 17 (with the balance for working capital and other costs) and then as $171.6 million to the satellite radio company with and an offer to buy up $100 million in XM Sirius loans. Liberty sees potential co-marketing and mobile video partnerships with Sirius XM, but its $530 million investment is pitched more for financial than strategic reasons.
http://benton.org/node/22209
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DEAL REACHED ON WEB STREAMING RATES
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
AM and FM radio stations that simulcast programming over the Internet or that create new stand-alone Internet stations reached a deal with digital royalty collector SoundExchange on Monday to provide discounts on previously set rates for 2009 and 2010 and establish rates for 2011-2015. Under the agreement, rates for simulcasts or Web channels operated by local stations are reduced for the first two years by about 16 percent then gradually increase through 2015 -- from $0.0015 per streamed sound recording in 2009 to $0.0025 per stream by 2015. The National Association of Broadcasters has reached separate deals with individual record label groups that waive certain statutory format restrictions allowing, for example, certain artists to be played more often during a four hour period. The agreement was reached under the authority of the Webcaster Settlement Act, which passed Congress last September, and covers simulcasts over the Internet of all copyrighted commercially released musical performances. Meanwhile, the same parties involved in the agreement have just begun a battle on Capitol Hill over performance royalties that the music industry wants AM and FM radio stations to pay.
http://benton.org/node/22213
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SOURCETOOL SAYS GOOGLE VIOLATED ANTITRUST LAWS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Diane Bartz]
TradeComet.com, which owns the search engine SourceTool.com, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing it of engaging in illegal predatory conduct to drive them out of business. SourceTool.com had previously complained that Google had given the site, essentially a directory of products and the companies that provide them, a low rating and began raising pay-per-click advertising rates to direct people doing searches to SourceTool. SourceTool said that Google raised the rates -- 10,000 percent -- after deciding that SourceTool was a competitor.
http://benton.org/node/22207
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QUICKLY

REVOCATION OF CERTAIN EXECUTIVE ORDERS CONCERNING REGULATORY PLANNING AND REVIEW
[SOURCE: The White House]
On January 30, President Barack Obama revoked Executive Order 13258 of February 26, 2002, and Executive Order 13422 of January 18, 2007, concerning regulatory planning and review, which amended Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993. EO 13258 eliminated the vice president's formal role in reviewing agency regulations. EO 13422 amended the Clinton-era executive order (12866) on regulatory review that agencies relied on for the first six years of Bush's presidency. EO 13422 further politicized the regulatory process and threatened to prevent regulatory agencies from setting new standards that protect the public. EO 13422 has been criticized because it: 1) gave agency "regulatory policy officers" the ability to scuttle proposed regulations without the input of the public or agency experts and 2) granted the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) the power to review and edit agency guidance documents - a class which could include agency opinions, scientific documents, or memoranda and which, by definition, are nonbinding.
http://benton.org/node/22218
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PUBLIC MEDIA 2.0: DYNAMIC, ENGAGED PUBLICS
[SOURCE: Center for Social Media, AUTHOR: Press release]
The report, based on four years of research, argues that multi-platform, participatory media will be central to democratic life in the years ahead. It also suggests that public broadcasting could play a central role if the medium is properly restructured and supported. Some key concepts about public media 2.0 include: 1) It will be crucial to an open, democratic society; 2) The core function is to generate publics around social issues; 3) It needs widely-shared standards and practices; 4) Impact measurements are crucial; 5) Public broadcasting could act as a national network, but only with restructuring; and 6) Public media 2.0 will need broad public mobilization for federal support . "The people formerly known as the audience have reorganized themselves into networks," said Jessica Clark, director of the center's Future of Public Media Project. "That throws open the doors for what public media can be." Clark coauthored the report with Pat Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media and professor at AU's School of Communication, which houses the Center. The report offers a glimpse of tomorrow by showing how experiments in public media 2.0 are emerging across sites and sectors—from political debates on Wikipedia, to environmental discussions in Second Life, to community-based media shared via mobile phones. "Tomorrow's public media will be media made by, for, and with the public, but it won't happen by accident," said Aufderheide. "This report provides a map of opportunities and ways to make the most of them."
http://benton.org/node/22216
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WHERE THE KIDS ARE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
Beaming an ad for the latest toy, gadget or tasty treat at a young person between the ages of, oh, 6 and 14 was once an easy task: Put it up on any broadcast network during Saturday-morning cartoons. As cable outlets such as Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network gained traction, advertisers had even more opportunity, as those venues broadcast kid-focused programming during even more hours of the day and days of the week. Now that digital media has emerged from its infancy, reaching kids has gotten harder. About 48% of consumers between the ages of 8 and 12 spend two hours online every day, according to eMarketer, while 24% of teens between 13 and 17 spend more than 15 hours online each week. That doesn't mean they aren't watching TV, but it certainly signifies that there are ways to reach them that don't necessarily involve buying the same old pipelines.
http://benton.org/node/22215
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AT&T UNIT SETTLES GOVERNMENT CASE FOR $8.3 MILLION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
A unit of telecommunications company AT&T has agreed to pay nearly $8.3 million to settle federal allegations that it relied on non-competitive bidding practices for a program that provides funding for needy schools and libraries to use the Internet. The Justice Department said Friday that it also had accused AT&T Technical Services Corp. of receiving money from the E-Rate program for goods and services that were ineligible for discounts and overbilling the program.
http://benton.org/node/22214
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