August 2009

Connected Nation Gets Lift in Minnesota

[Commentary] The Minnesota Departments of Employment and Economic Development, and Commerce have written Gov Tim Pawlenty recommending that Connected Nation be the entity to develop a state broadband map under the federal State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program. Apparently, Gov Pawlenty has approved the choice. Unfortunately, the state's Broadband task Force did not get to weigh in -- nor did the public. "Looks like there was lots of opportunity for providers to provide input about their confidentiality needs, not too much input about what consumers need. Look forward to more sub-par optimistic maps, and impossible to use/verify data."

We can't be neutral on network neutrality

[Commentary] Network Neutrality is "what every Internet user takes for granted when they go online," said Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, a nonprofit advocacy group that focuses on communications issues. "It simply means there are no gatekeepers. Any consumer can access any content without discrimination by the network owner." What he's referring to is a pay-for-play system that would allow network operators -- phone companies, cable companies -- to decide for themselves which online content gets preferential treatment. That's not how things are now. But if the telecom heavyweights have their way, it could be. In effect, the debate over net neutrality -- short for "network neutrality" -- is a debate over whether the companies that own the pipes through which data flow can dictate terms to the websites that originate the data. (Aug 30)

FCC: Content-Management Survey Fails To Answer Some Key Questions

The Federal Communications Commission's report to Congress on video content-management technologies identifies a number of questions the Commission believes need more study:

To what extent are parents aware of the control technologies that exist today?

Does parental awareness differ among media?

Are there reasons besides lack of awareness that keep parents from using these technologies? If so, what are they, and do they differ among media?

It appears that adoption of control technologies may be greater for the Internet than for broadcasting and other traditional media sources: Why is this so? A

re there data to determine the pace of innovation in parental control technologies, whether innovation is proceeding at a pace consistent with other consumer technologies, and whether evolving needs of parents, caregivers, and children are being satisfied in a timely manner?

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller welcomed the report, but added, "I believe more must be done - by the industry, by the FCC, and by the Congress - to provide simple ways for families to control and monitor their children's screen time. We must offer the tools and policies that make it easy for people to be good parents and oversee the viewing that goes on in their homes. We must do more than simply gather information and hope this alone protects our children. For this reason, I look forward to the FCC's next action in this area."

Apparently, the FCC is planning an event in September to help parents and kids navigate the state of the art in content-management technologies and help parents better understand where there kids are going online.

FCC Requests Additional Nominations for Technological Advisory Council

On April 8, 2009, the Commission issued a public notice soliciting nominations for the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) and nominations were received in response to this notice. Concurrent with the establishment of the TAC, the Commission was charged by Congress to develop a National Broadband Plan. In support of this and related efforts, the Commission is now seeking additional nominations to the TAC to ensure that its membership best serves the needs of the Commission. The Commission will accept nominations for the Council through September 30, 2009. Nominations previously submitted remain in consideration. The Commission, at its discretion, may consider nominations received after this date, but consideration of late submissions is not guaranteed. Individuals may apply for, or nominate another individual for, membership on the Council.

More Bad News For TV Stations: Low NFL Attendance

NFL teams in Minnesota, San Diego, Jacksonville, Oakland, San Francisco, Detroit, St. Louis and Cincinnati may not sell out their home stadium tickets, all due to the suffering economy. That could mean blackouts of local TV coverage and the loss of advertising during those games. The double whammy for TV stations comes from massive hits to their automotive and financial advertising, which also happen to be two of the biggest sports and NFL TV advertising categories. While automotive has been cutting back, many domestic and import brands continue to buy TV sports, still hoping to target their core male consumers. Now a bunch of TV stations won't even get a handful of valuable NFL home games to sell to those advertisers -- usually at very high advertising rates.

Canadian TV rebuked again for Obama assassination joke

On Monday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled that Canada's public broadcaster broke television regulations when it aired a New Year's Eve skit that joked about the possible assassination of President Barack Obama. "We expect the CBC to apologize to its viewers and implement mechanisms to prevent such an unfortunate situation from occurring again in the future," CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said. The show generated more than 200 complaints. The producers of the show denied the skits had been racist, saying they had meant to mock the characters making the offensive remarks.

Telecom giants focus on health care business opportunity

Recognizing that the health care industry is a major opportunity for new service revenue, telecom service providers are tailoring their sales approach and, in many cases, creating new sales and customer service organizations designed specifically to create solutions for health care operations.

TV show hires ex-president Bush's daughter

Former President George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, is set to become a correspondent for NBC's "Today" starting September 14. "In previous appearances, she displayed a natural ability to communicate and connect," Jim Bell, the show's executive producer, said in a statement. "She has great passion about important subjects, especially education and literacy." Hager started teaching schoolchildren in Washington in 2005 and has served as an intern for UNICEF, touring Latin America and the Caribbean to document the plight of impoverished children. She currently is the Young Leadership Ambassador & Chair for UNICEF's Next Generation committee.

Broadband May Help Cities Compete in Economic Recovery

President Barack Obama has repeatedly spoken about the need to fix education and deploy world-class broadband more widely to make America more globally competitive. That's the bottom line that ultimately will determine the fiscal and social health of the nation's communities as they move forward -- effectively competing on the world stage to the extent that most Americans can share in an abundance of generated wealth. So while most cities vie for a share of stimulus package money and in the meantime hope that recovery won't be too prolonged, even economists are uncertain -- if not skeptical -- about how effective the stimulus will prove to be.

Big telcos may still influence broadband stimulus bonanza

While a number of major telecom operators supposedly sat out this round of broadband stimulus funding, presumably upset over the Network Neutrality strings attached, they still may have a hand in the outcome. They have negotiated an agreement with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture that will allow them to challenge projects by declaring they already serve those areas under consideration. Of course, they have to prove their claims, but without accurate mapping, their assertions might be difficult to disprove.

Benton

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