February 2009

[Commentary] Google's search engine is so dominant that it's hard to imagine how anyone could knock the Mountain View company from its pedestal. And yet if history is any guide, such reigns never last. IBM gave way to Microsoft, which now has been usurped by Google. It could be a shift in technology. It could be a more nimble, innovative rival. But something always comes along and turns things upside-down, often emerging from a direction so surprising that the incumbent never sees it coming until it's too late. In this case, it's hard to imagine a company that might post a more surprising threat to Google than Twitter. But just this scenario is suddenly generating some heated discussions around the Web.

David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, is cautiously optimistic the Obama administration will ease some of the pressure and uncertainty that have hovered over TV and radio in recent years concerning appropriate content. Television and radio have been nervous about running afoul of the FCC since the Janet Jackson moment at the 2004 Super Bowl triggered a wave of high-profile outrage over broadcast content. Congress increased indecency fines tenfold, to $325,000, and the FCC handed down several fines. Rehr says he sees indications that the FCC will shift its focus, letting broadcasters spend less time looking over their shoulders. Rehr stresses he isn't advocating an anything-goes policy. He just thinks the marketplace and broadcasters usually can sort out appropriate content themselves.

For years the all-consuming emphasis on reaching adults under 50 has imposed dictatorial constraints on TV casting, prompting a "Logan's Run"-like effect that expunged older performers. Look closely, though, and you'll notice a new wave of dramas is producing what amounts to a mini grey revolution, virtually waged on the sly. The boldest practitioner of grey power might be the second season of FX's "Damages," which with the stellar additions of William Hurt and "The Wire" alums John Doman and Clarke Peters -- joining Glenn Close and Ted Danson in pivotal roles -- features what amounts to an all-star cast of people close to qualifying for Social Security, or at least already receiving AARP magazine. And damned if those new arrivals -- as well as Marcia Gay Harden, a relative child, albeit on the perilous edge of the 18-49 demographic -- haven't made the show considerably richer and more absorbing.

[Commentary] Here's a basic principle any broadband stimulus dollars should adhere to when deciding what deployments to subsidize: don't stick rural areas with yesterday's broadband. Using stimulus dollars to deploy DSL and broadband over power lines is "the absolute worst use of money." If all we want to get rural America is a few Mbps then we should focus our attention on wireless, which can not only deliver those speeds but do so ubiquitously, providing access anywhere whether you're in a building or out and about. But we also need to be doing whatever we can to get next-generation wireline access built out to all of rural America. While wireless serves as an essential extension cord, we need a robust wireline infrastructure on which to build the next generation of our economy. We need networks capable of at least 100Mbps and preferably we want competition, either between services on the same open fiber network or between fiber and DOCSIS 3.0 cable, which are the only two technologies that can deliver those speeds. DSL may some day be able to support what's needed, but for now it doesn't so we should be focusing our attention on what can work today.