October 2009

Rep Baldwin Advocates for Community Access TV

Rep Tammy Baldwin has introduced the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act of 2009 (H.R. 3745) to address the challenges faced by public, educational, and governmental (PEG) TV channels and community access television stations. Historically, the funding for and broadcast of PEG channels have been negotiated as part of local franchise agreements between cable companies and local franchise authorities. However, twenty-three states have enacted new telecommunication laws that establish state-level franchise authorities. As a result of these recent state-wide agreements and a lack of adequate federal protection, some PEG channels now face significant broadcast and funding obstacles. PEG channels connect residents with their local government in much the same way C-SPAN connects people to activities in Congress. Local school districts operate channels to feature school board meetings and forums, interviews, lectures, and sporting events not otherwise broadcast on television. Additionally, communities adopt various genres of PEG programming to reflect local interests. According to a survey conducted by National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, religious shows represent 20-40% of local access programming.

By 2019, Telecoms Get More Viewers, Cable Less

Digital, online, and other alternative video distribution will slowly eat into market share of traditional cable TV retailers over the next decade, according to a new SNL Kagan study. SNL Kagan forecasts TV household penetration of services that provides traditional multichannel video will decline -- albeit slowly -- to 83.3% in 10 years. It was 84.4% as of 2008. Cable TV operators will see the brunt of this, handed the biggest losses by dropping to 60.7 million subscribers in 2019 from 63.2 million subscribers in 2009. On the opposite end, the telecom industry, in providing multichannel service, is expected to triple in size -- rising to 16.7 million in 1o years from 5.7 million currently. Satellite TV distribution will land the middle -- at first growing to 33.6 million in four years time from 32.2 million now -- but then falling back to 33.0 million 2019. What Kagan says is "over-the-top substitution" of traditional cable/satellite TV video, from new digital and online video services, will account for 7.1 million homes by 2013 and more than twice that number in 10 years.

US Must Focus on Protecting Critical Computer Networks from Cyber-Attack

Because it will be difficult to prevent cyber-attacks on critical civilian and military computer networks by threatening to punish attackers, the United States must focus its efforts on defending these networks from cyber-attack, according to a new RAND Corp. study. The study finds that the United States and other nations that rely on externally accessible computer networks -- such as ones used for electric power, telephone service, banking, and military command and control -- as a foundation for their military and economic power are subject to cyber-attack. "Adversaries in future wars are likely to go after each other's information systems using computer hacking," said Martin C. Libicki, the report's lead author and senior management scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "The lessons from traditional warfare cannot be adapted to apply to attacks on computer networks. Cyber-space must be addressed in its own terms."

Consumers feel good about mobile healthcare

A Harris Interactive poll finds that among 3,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, 40 percent said they would embrace mobile healthcare products and services to complement their visits to health providers, and 23 percent said they would turn to mobile if the platform reduced or eliminated visits with their doctors. According to CTIA and Harris Interactive, the demographics that responded most positively to the promise of mobile health included caregivers, consumers ages 30 to 44, Hispanics and African-Americans. The appeal of mobile healthcare lies most strongly in its ability to enable more home-based treatment, according to 68 percent of respondents. Fifty-seven percent cited patient monitoring, another 57 percent pointed to improved patient safety and 51 percent said they feel mobile health applications will simplify medical care. Rural consumers stand to benefit most from mobile healthcare, according to 51 percent of respondents -- 48 percent pointed to chronic disease sufferers. Nineteen percent of consumers told Harris they would upgrade their current mobile data plan in order to seize on mobile health innovations. Fourteen percent said they would upgrade their device for mobile healthcare access.

Health 2.0 Attendees Predict Slow Adoption of EHRs

Despite rabid zeal and rapid growth in their industry, even true believers predict we're still several years away from bringing electronic health records (EHRs) into the majority of the nation's doctors' offices. In a poll during the closing panel of the Health 2.0 Conference Wednesday, three out of four attendees predicted it would take at least six years to get more than half the country's physicians in small practices to start using EHRs. Asked to put a timeline on when Health 2.0 is likely to drive small physician-practice adoption above 50%, 41% predicted it would happen by 2015 and 31% predicted it would take "much, much longer." On the shorter end of the timeline, 24% predicted it would happen by 2013, and only a few saw it happening by 2011. David Kibbe, senior adviser to the American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of the final panel, said most EHRs are too expensive and too difficult to implement.

Health IT effort to create thousands of new jobs, says Blumenthal

At least 50,000 new health information management jobs will be needed as the nation moves from a paper to a digital healthcare system, the nation's healthcare IT chief said Tuesday. David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, spoke about the government's plans for transforming healthcare into an industry of "meaningful users" of healthcare IT at the 81st annual American Health Information Management Association convention. "I know it's not going to be easy," he said. "We're going to need your help to bring this vision to reality."

FCC Will Provide More Notice Of Future Broadband Hearings

The Federal Communications Commission will provide "greater advance notice" of upcoming broadband field hearings. That came in response to complaints by media watchdog group Free Press that its field hearing on mobile broadband in San Diego Thursday was held with only 48 hours notice and, like others, during the day when most folks are at work, and with audience comment coming only from note cards.

Wellings, Cano Joining Google DC

Frannie Wellings, a top aide to Sen Byron Dorgan (D-ND), has announced she will join Google in three to six weeks as a federal policy outreach manager. It's a new role for Google that will utilize Wellings's background in consumer protection and technology issues. She will lead the company's work with trade groups, think tanks, and advocacy groups, serving as a liaison to the community and soliciting input and advice on Google's public policy positions. Before joining Dorgan's office in 2007, Wellings was associate policy director for media watchdog Free Press. And Mistique Cano is joining Google as manager of global communications and public affairs. Cano previously served as vice president of communications for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

How the Media Have Depicted the Economic Crisis During Obama's Presidency

The gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression has been covered in the media largely from the top down, told primarily from the perspective of the Obama Administration and big business, and reflected the voices and ideas of people in institutions more than those of everyday Americans, according to a new study by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Citizens may be the primary victims of the downturn, but they have not been not the primary actors in the media depiction of it. A PEJ content analysis of media coverage of the economy during the first half of 2009 also found that the mainstream press focused on a relatively small number of major story lines, mostly generating from two cities, the country's political and financial capitals.

Polanski Outrage in the Blogosphere

The September 27 arrest of director Roman Polanski in Switzerland -- more than 30 years after he pled guilty to having sex with a minor and then fled the US -- energized the blogosphere last week. An overwhelming majority of commentators wanted to see Polanski punished for his crime and harshly criticized his supporters in the entertainment industry. For the week of September 28-October 2, more than a third (34%) of the links to news-related stories from blogs were focused on the Polanski saga, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That was more than three times the attention that the second-largest story, health care, received from bloggers last week.

Benton

Search