May 21, 2009 (Strickling and Chopra Unanimously Approved by Senate Commerce)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY MAY 21, 2009
Two events today: Fiber to the Library: Next-Generation Broadband for Next-Generation Libraries and the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. See http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-05-21
POLICYMAKERS
Strickling and Chopra Unanimously Approved by Senate Commerce Committee
Tom Vilsack: Leading 'an Everyday, Every-Way' USDA
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Obama's Team Sticks to Its To-Do List
OSTP Seeks Input on Transparency and Open Government
Tracking Stimulus Spending May Not Be as Easy as Promised
BROADBAND
FCC Moving 'Full Speed Ahead' on Broadband Plan
The Role of Communication Infrastructure Investment in Economic Recovery
Internet Heroes and Villains
Cable: let us experiment with metered Internet
Broadband Deployment's "Best-in-Breed"
Bringing Broadband to Gulf Countries
HEALTH & MEDIA
Group Seeks Sway Over E-Records System
CCHIT to adapt programs to federal health IT agenda
Wedding Health Information Technology to Care Delivery Innovation and Provider Payment Reform
Study reveals patients' attitudes toward EMR conversion
JOURNALISM
Death Row Foes See Newsroom Cuts as Blow
Can News Media Survive the Internet Age?
Many Consumers Willing To Pay For Online News
Google drops idea to buy newspaper
Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued
Chicago 'Hoy' Ends Home Delivery
DIGITAL CONTENT
Google Book-Scanning Pact to Give Libraries Input on Price
Google tries to avoid the regulatory noose
Craigslist Sues Critic of Its Adult Ads
Web Revenue Decelerating
Google 'falling behind Twitter'
Social Media More Hype Than Reality
Opening A Pandora's Boxee
TELEVISION/RADIO
Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters
Americans Watching More TV Than Ever
Economic tailspin batters local TV
Series Swap Highlights TV's Financial Issues
Discovery/Hasbro Deal Passes Antitrust Muster
The World According to Dick Wiley
Ion Files For Bankruptcy Protection
WIRELESS
Cellphone industry seen facing more trouble
The High Wireless Act at Verizon
AT&T and Verizon Wireless Bet on Netbooks
Sprint Nextel an example for AT&T, Verizon?
MORE ON THE WEB
26 percent admit to texting while driving
ACLU sues over blocked web sites
"Chain of Trust" to Combat Malware
Guidelines proposed for Child Online Protection initiative
Kindle accounts for 10% of book sales
Studies show the genders really are different online
Are Baby Boomers Killing Facebook and Twitter?
June 4 Meeting of Online Child Safety Working Group
California appeals video game law to Supreme Court
USPS Asks for 5-Day Delivery Week
Recent Comments on:
Newspapers face pressure in selling online advertising
POLICYMAKERS
STRICKLING AND CHOPRA UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED BY SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the nominations of Larry Strickling to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Aneesh Chopra to be the government's first chief technology officer. Their nominations move to the full Senate now. In a written response to questions raised by Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Strickling said the NTIA should develop metrics "to accurately and demonstrably" show whether the $7.2 billion in broadband funds contained in the economic stimulus package are being used appropriately and whether the program is achieving the goals established under the statute. "There are a number of outcomes that could be used to show that unserved communities benefit from this program, including households passed with broadband service, speed of Internet service, jobs created, affordability of broadband offerings, and adoption of broadband service," Strickling wrote, noting NTIA will require grant recipients to regularly report their progress. In addition to transferring $10 million to the inspector general for oversight, NTIA has pursued transparency through public meetings and by soliciting public comment, he said. If confirmed, Strickling said he would ensure a "robust program of inspection and audits" is implemented and as the program expands, will provide information about applicants and recipients as well as quarterly reports.
http://benton.org/node/25456
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TOM VILSACK: LEADING 'AN EVERYDAY, EVERY-WAY' USDA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Lois Romano]
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to make one thing clear, and it's that his agency is not all about farming all the time. Rather, the USDA touches on just about every critical issue affecting the United States and the globe -- including broadband deployment: "As we go out to rural communities, we are talking to them about the stimulus program, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act and what it is basically helping to do in rural America. We talk about the fact that there are resources for broadband, expansion of broadband. There are resources for new housing opportunities, resources to deal with wastewater and water treatment issues, which are important in rural communities, as well as resources to help build everything from libraries and day care centers and fire stations to helping to equip the local police department with new squad cars--basically everything that can help build a strong, vibrant rural community. And the reason that's important to America's farmers and ranchers is that we now see a substantial percentage of those farmers and ranchers needing off-farm income in order to be able to maintain the farm. And so when you build strong rural communities, you create job opportunities for the operators, the farmers and ranchers themselves or their spouses."
http://benton.org/node/25463
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
OBAMA'S TEAM STICKS TO ITS TO-DO LIST
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: ]
The relentless cycle of leak, announcement, and update is fast becoming a hallmark of the Obama Administration, and the pace seems to be accelerating as officials at the Treasury, the White House, and regulatory agencies expand existing programs and add new ones to the list. But look past the breathless headlines, and another pattern emerges: For the most part, Administration officials are doing what they said they would. That parallels the Administration's record so far in other areas as well — Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning St. Petersburg Times Web site that tracks how well Obama keeps his campaign promises, figures he has already kept about a quarter of them, while a little over half of the rest are "in the works," where some factors are in the hands of Congress or otherwise out of the Administration's control. The strategy could provide the kind of reassuring, stabilizing message the economy has been craving: The government has a plan and is sticking to it.
http://benton.org/node/25450
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TRANSPARENCY AND OPEN GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: Office of Science and Technology Policy, AUTHOR: ]
The President's January 21, 2009, memorandum entitled, Transparency and Open Government, directed the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA), to develop a set of recommendations that will inform an Open Government Directive. This directive will be issued by OMB and will instruct executive departments and agencies on specific actions to implement the principles set forth in the President's memorandum. Members of the public are invited to participate in the process of developing recommendations via email or the White House Web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/open offering comments, ideas, and proposals about possible initiatives and about how to increase openness and transparency in government. Comments must be received by June 19, 2009.
http://benton.org/node/25472
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TRACKING STIMULUS SPENDING MAY NOT BE AS EASY AS PROMISED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alec MacGillis]
To build support for the stimulus package, President Obama vowed unprecedented transparency, a big part of which, he said, would be allowing taxpayers to track money to the street level on Recovery.gov. Together with a spruced-up WhiteHouse.gov, the site would inject the stodgy federal bureaucracy with the same Webby accessibility and Facebook-generation flair that defined the Obama campaign. But three months after the bill was signed, Recovery.gov offers little beyond news releases, general breakdowns of spending, and acronym-laden spreadsheets and timelines. And congressional Democrats, state officials and advocates of open government worry that the White House cannot come close to clearing the high bar it set.
http://benton.org/node/25464
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BROADBAND
FCC MOVING 'FULL SPEED AHEAD' ON BROADBAND
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps will appear on C-SPAN's "The Communicators" on Saturday. "I'm enthused as I can be that this country is finally, finally going to develop a national broadband plan," he said in the interview while lamenting the number of years that had passed while the previous administration assumed a laissez-faire, or free-market-based, strategy would solve the nation's broadband problems. "That didn't happen," Chairman Copps bluntly declared. To craft a plan, Copps said the FCC must first lay groundwork by doing research to "develop the record... do the mapping... and find the reality of the situation right now." Chairman Copps said he is not underestimating the importance of the FCC's task: "It's the biggest thing that's come to the FCC since I've been there," he said. Building a national broadband network is akin to previous efforts at rural electrification, universal phone service, and interstate highways, Copps said. Building projects of that scale requires cooperation between government and industry, he said.
http://benton.org/node/25457
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THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC RECOVERY
[SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, AUTHOR: Taylor Reynolds]
The recent economic downturn has led policy makers in OECD countries to consider fiscal policies to help return their economies to growth. Most of these plans involve large government expenditures to support demand for goods and services while simultaneously increasing the longer-term productive capacity of the economy. Investments in network infrastructures such as electricity, gas, water, transportation and communications are key elements of most packages due to their immediate impacts on demand and employment as well as their strong potential to expand future supply. Broadband infrastructure, in particular, can be a good target for economic stimulus spending because many projects can be initiated relatively quickly, are labor-intensive, can minimize economic leakages, and may promise stronger marginal impacts on supply and productivity than investing in established networks such as electricity, gas, water and transportation. The strongly pro-cyclical nature of communication network investment also means that skilled labor and equipment may be left idle and planned projects shelved until the economy improves. This labor and equipment could be quickly shifted to government-sponsored projects. At the same time, governments must ensure that interventions do not interfere with properly functioning markets or displace private investment. This paper argues that policy makers need to evaluate the costs and benefits of any public investment in telecommunication infrastructure and select projects which can deliver both strong immediate aggregate demand effects, such as through the employment created by rolling out the networks, and strong longerterm aggregate supply-side effects, which can improve the productive capacity of the entire economy as an improved foundation for commerce and communication.
http://benton.org/node/25443
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INTERNET HEROES AND VILLAINS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Kerr]
[Commentary] If the history of Internet policy were a movie, it would feature the public tied to the tracks before an onrushing train of corporate lobbyists. The villain, however, is not just the powerful phone and cable companies these lobbyists represent, but the politicians who tightened the knots and then stood smugly by as our interests were crushed. So how do we change this unhappy ending to one where the power of the Internet remains in the hands of the people who use it? One politician at a time. Our policymakers have a civic duty to keep the Internet free and open. Internet freedom is essential to our economic recovery, national competitiveness, public health and civic engagement. Special interests should not be allowed to set Internet policy. Congress and the FCC must protect the Internet's democratic nature. And people who care about their online freedom must let their elected officials know about it.
http://benton.org/node/25442
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CABLE: LET US EXPERIMENT WITH METERED INTERNET
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Given cable's long history of exorbitant rate increases and atrocious customer service (it's routinely ranked one of the very worst industries in the US), it's hard to blame people for being skeptical about cable's moves to start capping broadband access—especially when costs are dropping and revenues are rising. But National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Kyle McSlarrow says cable isn't out to price-gouge its way to massive profit margins. Instead, the industry seeks to provide Internet access in a way "that's best for the consumer." And everyone who has already decided that it's "flat rate pricing or bust!" needs to pipe down, adopt the scientific method, and wait until all the data is in.
http://benton.org/node/25441
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BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT'S "BEST-IN-BREED"
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Jeremy Isett]
With the potential to jumpstart the massive investment needed to build America's information infrastructure for the next century, the $7.2 billion for broadband contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act merits great attention. On Thursday, May 7th, the Benton Foundation highlighted innovative deployment and sustainable use projects already at work to bridge the broadband divides between rich and poor, urban and rural. The event featured presentations from experts in the field of broadband, and included question and answer sessions.
http://www.benton.org/node/25299
HEALTH & MEDIA
GROUP SEEKS SWAY OVER E-RECORDS SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Robert O'Harrow Jr]
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which represents 350 technology vendors and 20,000 members, has asked the Obama administration to require that any electronic health-record equipment receiving stimulus funding be certified by a group the association helped to start and run. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which represents 350 technology vendors and 20,000 members, was a key force behind the decision to include $36.5 billion in the stimulus package to create a nationwide network for medical records. A Washington Post review last week showed that the group, known as HIMSS, worked closely with vendors, health-care researchers and others to create nonprofit advocacy groups and generate research data to convince policymakers that such a system could save tens of billions of dollars, and that the government needed to subsidize Medicare and Medicaid providers to buy the equipment. The government estimates that adoption of electronic health records will yield perhaps $17 billion in savings over the next decade. Now the health information group is urging officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to give an organization called the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, or CCHIT, responsibility for deciding what health records systems are eligible to receive stimulus spending.
http://benton.org/node/25462
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CCHIT TO ADAPT PROGRAMS TO FEDERAL HEALTH IT AGENDA
[SOURCE: GovernmentHealthIT, AUTHOR: John Moore]
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology will put its 2009-2010 programs on hold and update its certification policies in light of guidance contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. CCHIT said today it will defer the launch of its latest certification programs until it has reviewed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's forthcoming standards and certification criteria. ONC will deliver a draft rule containing those items to the Health and Human Services Department by Aug. 26, according to ONC's plan for complying with ARRA. CCHIT's certification cycle was set to begin July 1. Organization officials said their review of the draft rule will ensure that the certification programs conform to ARRA incentive requirements. The Certification Commission is a private nonprofit organization with the sole public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology by creating a credible, efficient certification process.
http://benton.org/node/25433
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WEDDING HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO CARE DELIVERY INNOVATION AND PROVIDER PAYMENT REFORM
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Todd Park, Peter Basch]
Health IT-enabled care models have very practical, doable, near-term applications, can generate significant benefits in terms of the quality and value of health care delivery, and are already being executed successfully today by some leading health care providers. A major barrier to widespread implementation of these models, however, is our provider payment system. As has been well documented, the current U.S. health care payment system pays predominantly for the volume of services rendered, such as office visits and procedures, and not for the quality of health care outcomes. And it's a payment system that effectively punishes providers for achieving efficiencies such as the elimination of avoidable hospital readmissions and unnecessary in-person office visits. If the average medical practice today were to reduce its volume of reimbursed office visits in order to spend more time on unreimbursed care coordination, chronic care management, non-visit-based care, and medication management in order to improve patient health, care quality, and care efficiency, then the sad truth is that the practice would not survive.
http://benton.org/node/25448
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STUDY REVEALS PATIENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD EMR CONVERSION
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Molly Merrill]
A new study suggests that patients are open to having electronic medical records play a more central role in their care. A research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston led the study to determine how patients feel about converting to EMRs. Key findings suggest patients want full access to all of their medical records, are willing to make some privacy concessions in the interest of making them transparent and fully expect that computers will play a major role in their medical care, even substituting for face-to-face care.
http://benton.org/node/25447
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JOURNALISM
DEATH ROW FOES SEE NEWSROOM CUTS AS BLOW
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tim Arango]
Opponents of the death penalty looking to exonerate wrongly accused prisoners say their efforts have been hobbled by the dwindling size of America's newsrooms, and particularly the disappearance of investigative reporting at many regional papers. In the past, lawyers opposed to the death penalty often provided the broad outlines of cases to reporters, who then pursued witnesses and unearthed evidence. Now, the lawyers complain, they have to do more of the work themselves and that means it often doesn't get done. They say many fewer cases are being pursued by journalists, after a spate of exonerations several years ago based on the work of reporters. The decline in newsroom resources has also hampered efforts by death-penalty opponents to search for irrefutable DNA evidence that an innocent person has been executed in America.
http://benton.org/node/25470
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CAN NEWS MEDIA SURVIVE THE INTERNET AGE?
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission today announced it will hold a series of workshops titled "Can News Media Survive the Internet Age? Competition, Consumer Protection, and First Amendment Perspectives." The first workshop will be held on September 15, 2009. The workshops will consider a wide range of issues, including possible business and non-profit models for news organizations, the role of targeted behavioral and other online advertising, whether additional, limited antitrust exemptions may be necessary under these unique circumstances, and the implications of online news for both copyright protection and the availability of broadband access. Witnesses will include journalists and other representatives of news organizations, privacy experts, direct marketers, online advertisers, academics, new media representatives (such as bloggers and local news Web sites), and consumer advocates. An agenda for the September 15, 2009 workshop will be circulated at a later time.
http://benton.org/node/25424
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MANY CONSUMERS WILLING TO PAY FOR ONLINE NEWS
[SOURCE: WebProNews, AUTHOR: Mike Sachoff]
Even with a global recession, newspapers have a long-term future, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Association of Newspapers. Despite the potential for growth online, print remains the largest source of revenue for newspaper companies and will continue to be so for some time. Consumers are willing to pay for online content, with two-thirds indicating they would pay for general news content online. General consumer spending on the Internet will increase in the next few years, and this will change the mindset of consumers who are now expecting to get everything for free.
http://benton.org/node/25445
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DIGITAL CONTENT
GOOGLE BOOK-SCANNING PACT TO GIVE LIBRARIES INPUT ON PRICE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Miguel Helft]
In a move that could blunt some of the criticism of Google for its settlement of a lawsuit over its book-scanning project, the company signed an agreement with the University of Michigan that would give some libraries a degree of oversight over the prices Google could charge for its vast digital library. Google has faced an onslaught of opposition over the far-reaching settlement with authors and publishers. Complaints include the exclusive rights the agreement gives Google to publish online and to profit from millions of so-called orphan books, out-of-print books that are protected by copyright but whose rights holders cannot be found. The Justice Department has also begun an inquiry into whether the settlement, which is subject to approval by a court, would violate antitrust laws. Google used the opportunity of the University of Michigan agreement to rebut some criticism.
http://benton.org/node/25471
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GOOGLE TRIES TO AVOID THE REGULATORY NOOSE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer]
Google is on a charm offensive to convince governments and the general public that the Internet advertising company should not be subjected to new privacy or antitrust regulation. "When markets get regulated, creative innovation is slowed. We don't think that is a good outcome," said Eric Schmidt, chief executive. "A much better outcome is for us to use good judgement. We take what we see as the consumer interest as our guiding principle," he said. Schmidt argued that, far from abusing its huge market power, Google has benefited consumers by challenging incumbents in various markets. Google's digital copying of books, for example, came from this desire to put consumer interests first, he said. The comments appeared an oblique reference to recent news that US anti-trust authorities are making informal inquiries into some aspects of Google's settlement with publishers of the lawsuits over its BookSearch service, which makes digital copies of titles and serves selected excerpts to users in response to search queries.
http://benton.org/node/25460
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CRAIGSLIST SUES CRITIC OF ITS ADULT ADS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Geoffrey Fowler]
Craigslist went on the offensive and sued the attorney general of South Carolina, who had threatened to prosecute the classifieds site's executives over adult-oriented ads. The suit, filed in federal court in South Carolina, seeks a restraining order to prevent the attorney general, Henry McMaster, from filing criminal charges against Craigslist management. The San Francisco company claims McMaster's threats violate the its First Amendment and other rights. In a written response Wednesday, Attorney General McMaster both claimed victory and seemed to step away from the threat of immediate legal action. He called Craigslist's suit "good news" because "it shows that Craigslist is taking the matter seriously for the first time." He said his office would continue to monitor the site. The suit is the latest twist in a long-running controversy Craigslist has faced over adult-oriented ads. Craigslist has come under mounting pressure to remove adult ads amid complaints from law enforcement that it enables prostitution, and after the April murder of a masseuse in Boston who advertised on the site.
http://benton.org/node/25465
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TELEVISION/RADIO
DEMOCRATS SEEK FINANCIAL RESCUE OF MINORITY-OWNED BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Silla Brush]
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take "decisive action" by extending credit to minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump. Rep Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government's efforts to diversify the airwaves. The congressmen suggest the Treasury Department could provide access to capital to minority-owned broadcasters, which they say represent less than 7 percent of full-power radio stations and a "negligible" ownership of television stations. "They are looking for continued access to capital to continue their otherwise fundamentally sound operations," the members write. The letter suggests Treasury could set up a credit facility specific to the industry, similar to the government's efforts to support auto suppliers, or possibly set up a program for bridge financing and government-backed loans until the economy improves.
http://benton.org/node/25425
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ECONOMIC TAILSPIN BATTERS LOCAL TV
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, AUTHOR: Jonathan Storm]
The economic downturn has local TV broadcasters, both in Philadelphia and across the country, reeling and, in some cases, fighting for survival. They're struggling to cut costs in many ways: Ditching highly paid veterans, combining jobs, pooling resources, and expanding to the Internet are the common ploys. And, as traditional advertisers have deserted the ship, they're looking elsewhere. But advertisers want an audience. Ratings here slipped nearly 19 percent between November 2004 and November 2008, as Philadelphia's six major stations lost a combined average of 140,000 viewers at any given point during the day, according to the Nielsen Co. More than 440,000 viewers, on average, are missing in prime time, a drop of 25 percent. Despite the excitement of the presidential election - or maybe because it moved viewers to cable news - ratings for local evening news shows nationwide dropped 11.4 percent from November 2007 to November 2008. (Late news shows dropped 3.7 percent, according to Nielsen.) Advertisers, particularly in the auto industry, have headed for the exits. Nearly $200 million in revenue, 25 percent, vanished from the Philadelphia TV market between 2004, the previous Olympic and presidential election year, and 2008, according to BIA Advisory Services, the leading industry financial analysts. Not only is that revenue not coming back, the forecasters say, an additional $50 million will be missing by 2012.
http://benton.org/node/25428
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WIRELESS
CELLPHONE INDUSTRY SEEN FACING MORE TROUBLE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Tarmo Virki]
A recovery in cellphone demand will not happen until well into 2010, researcher Gartner said on Wednesday, while Reuters data showed the industry could suffer its worst quarter ever in April-June. The handset market fell 8.6 percent in the first quarter of 2009, Gartner said, adding it saw demand stabilizing but it would not be until next year before demand would grow again. "We do not expect demand to get better before second half of 2010," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. A Reuters poll of 34 analysts forecast handset vendor phone sales in the April-June quarter to slump 14.5 percent, with 2009 sales forecast to slide 10.3 percent. Several companies and analysts have said the worst could well be over for the industry after the first quarter drop, as the fall was partly caused by retailers selling stockpiles of older phones.
http://benton.org/node/25455
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THE HIGH WIRELESS ACT AT VERIZON
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
Phone-company dividends have long been like death and taxes: a sure thing. Is that still the case? That is a particularly acute question for Verizon Communications. It hasn't only suffered profit erosion in its traditional landline business, it is also spending heavily to build its new FiOS network. The result was no free cash flow from Verizon's wireline operations to pay the dividend last year. Of course, Verizon Wireless is generating cash at the rate of about a billion dollars a month, Moody's estimates. But Verizon owns only 55% of the wireless company. Vodafone Group owns the rest. That means Verizon can't automatically tap the wireless cash. The wireless company isn't paying dividends, only tax-related distributions, which last year totaled about $1.5 billion. So how did Verizon afford its $5 billion dividend in 2008? The tax distributions helped, as did $670 million in dividends from Verizon's interest in Vodafone Italy. But Verizon also had to borrow.
http://benton.org/node/25467
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AT&T AND VERIZON WIRELESS BET ON NETBOOKS
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Roger Crockett, Olga Kharif]
For the country's two dominant wireless phone carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the arithmetic is clear. Cell-phone penetration in the U.S. is approaching 90% of the population, and the recession is damping enthusiasm for pricey new phones and services. So to avoid a slowdown in sales growth, both cellular giants are getting into a new game: personal computers. Some analysts say the chances of driving iPhone-like revenues are slim unless the carriers pull in millions of new users with cheaper data plans. That's what's happening in Europe, where service plans cost less and come in a variety of forms, including prepaid monthly and daily plans. As is, the U.S. approach—counting on well-heeled customers with little sensitivity to price—has "limited viability," says CCS Insight analyst John Jackson.
http://benton.org/node/25466
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SPRINT NEXTEL AN EXAMPLE FOR AT&T, VERIZON?
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: Matthew Wurtzel]
Inexpensive, unlimited wireless phone service plans could drive further consolidation in the wireless phone business, as industry leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless watch customers hit hard by the recession defect to cheaper services from Leap Wireless, MetroPCS Communications and even Sprint Nextel Corp. This is the rationale behind the rumor that AT&T may lunge for Leap, a wireless carrier that has been taking customers from the big carriers via inexpensive, unlimited cellular plans. However, despite the relatively affordable price tag of $2.7 billion, which would be less than $1,000 per subscriber, the move isn't without pitfalls, most notably the expense of converting Leap's 3.8 million subscribers to AT&T's competing technology. Such pains are what has ailed Sprint Nextel since its creation in the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel, which used competing technologies. However, the company may have finally found a means of turning its lemon of a $35 billion deal into lemonade via inexpensive, unlimited wireless plans.
http://benton.org/node/25429
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