November 2009

Sinclair Counters Cash-For-Spectrum Plan

The Federal Communications Commission's "cash-for-spectrum" trial balloon has stirred up broadcasters as little else has over the past several years. It has also brought them together in opposition to the proposal, despite its promise that stations would share in the proceeds from the auctioning of the spectrum to wireless operators. Among those rising in protest is Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Baltimore-based group with 58 TV stations in 35 markets. Sinclair was part of a coalition of station groups along with LIN, Nexstar and others that dutifully expressed its objections in formal comments on the FCC's proposal. A Q&A with Mark Aitken, Sinclair's director of advanced technology, hits on why Sinclair isn't interested in giving up any of its spectrum: mobile DTV.

Media Agencies to Nielsen: Do Not Make Your Scheduled Change in Local TV Measurement

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) has written a blistering letter to Nielsen, the media measurement firm, over a decision to change the metric upon which ad deals for local TV ads are transacted. Since late June, Nielsen has been exploring ways to improve the rating of local-TV broadcasts to take into account viewers who watch shows minutes or days later with a digital video recorder. Unlike national TV networks, which make use of commercial ratings, known as C3, that measure what portion of viewers do not skip past advertising, local TV outlets are not judged in a similar way due to several technical glitches that make doing so difficult. So local TV is still judged on program ratings, not how many people watch the advertising. Earlier this month, Nielsen disclosed that it would soon substitute a "live-plus-same-day" measurement for local viewership, replacing the traditional "live" metric, to take into account viewers who watch specific programs either live or within 24 hours of their airing. The decision has raised vehement objections from several top media-buying executives. "Nielsen can publish whatever new forms of data it desires. However, you must restore the 'live' stream which you have elected to eliminate as a buying option for the media community," wrote Marc Goldstein, chairman of the Media Policy Committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, in a letter to Nielsen Media Research Chairman Susan Whiting. "We ask that you get out of the way of the negotiating process and let buyers and sellers operate on a free market basis."

Research Recommendations for the Broadband Task Force

The current state of broadband research and how research can help bolster U.S. competitiveness and technology innovation will be the subject of a staff workshop Monday. Open to the public, the workshop is intended to gather data and information for the development of a National Broadband Plan, including a set of research recommendations that Congress could consider to enable the U.S. to be a global leader in broadband networking in the years 2020 and beyond and to further broadband deployment in the US over the next decade. FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker will participate with comments on the second panel.

Second Round Of Broadband Stimulus Already Headed For Disaster

[Commentary] The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service are asking for suggestions on how they can improve the process for the second round of broadband stimulus funding. So far, the vast majority of the discussion around what needs to be improved in this process relates to one of three things: 1. Eligibility criteria that were too narrow. 2. Applications that were too complicated. 3. Not enough time for applications to be completed. What no one seems to be acknowledging is that if the only tweaks that are made to this process are incremental steps to allow more people more time to more easily apply, then there's going to be a lot more applications to review in round two. It wouldn't surprise me if the total topped 5,000; I don't think 10,000 is even out of the realm of possibility.

Report: Internet Broadband Use Grows In European Union

Access to high speed Internet in the European Union is growing with 80 percent of broadband lines now having download speeds of 2 megabits per second or greater, according to a report published Wednesday by the European Commission. In July 2009, 24 percent of the EU population had a broadband access line subscription marking a 21.6 percent increase from July 2008, the report found. The research also found a 54 percent increased of mobile broadband penetration since January, which means the EU currently has a penetration rate of 4.2 percent per 100 citizens. The report found 40 percent of the population in Denmark and the Netherlands have a broadband connection "but growth rates are slowing as they approach saturation."

Senate Judiciary Punts Again On Shield Law

The Senate Judiciary Committee once again failed to bring a federal shield law bill to a vote, in its 16th attempt over the past seven months to do so. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) recessed the markup hearing Thursday after Republicans had numerous amendments lined up that would have to be introduced and debated and voted on, but he warned that unless a manageable list of amendments could be produced, the bill might be sent directly to the floor, bypassing the committee approval process. While the current version is a compromise, Republican Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who opposes the bill as currently constituted, said it was only a compromise between parties that already supported the bill -- the Administration, committee Democrats, and journalists -- not with Republicans like him with continuing issues about the balance of protections for journalists vs. law enforcement. He said that the administration had not worked with him on his issues, and that he still had problems with the bill. Leahy urged Republicans to address those concerns and come to him with a limited number of amendments.

AT&T loses first legal battle against Verizon ads

AT&T has lost the first battle in a legal war against Verizon Wireless to force the company to stop showing advertisements that compare its 3G wireless network coverage with Verizon's coverage. A federal judge in Atlanta on Wednesday declined to grant AT&T a temporary restraining order that would force Verizon to stop showing the ads. AT&T filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Atlanta earlier this month asserting that Verizon Wireless' advertisements mislead customers by suggesting that AT&T subscribers cannot access wireless Internet services throughout its network. AT&T has called the ads blatantly false and has said that the commercials have caused irreparable harm to the company. AT&T had asked the court to keep Verizon from running the advertisements until the matter is settled in court. But the judge on Wednesday declined this request.

The Trouble With iPhones

The iPhone has not only changed the way people consume data on their mobile phones — thanks to its touchscreen, and the myriad of apps that make grabbing such info from the web on a small device easy — it's changed assumptions as to which devices consume the most data on mobile networks. Bytemobile, a company that provides equipment for carriers to help deliver video and data to mobile devices using less bandwidth, issued a report today that shows the difference in data consumption by device among carriers that have the iPhone and carriers that don't. It's pretty significant.

Knight Center of Digital Excellence Closed

OneCommunity, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that facilitates the use of broadband to drive economic development and civic progress, announced today that effective immediately, the Akron-based Knight Center of Digital Excellence will be closed. OneCommunity created the center two years ago with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The purpose of the center was to consult with community organizations across the nation with the goal of creating affordable broadband access for all.

China Defense Ministry Site Fends off Hackers

The Web site of China's defense ministry was attacked 2.3 million times in its first month online, Chinese state media said Wednesday. The report is a reminder that Chinese government and military bodies, often accused of cyberespionage against the U.S. and other countries, are also frequently attacked online. The Chinese defense ministry Web site has been under "non-stop" attack since it launched in August as a gesture of transparency, said the People's Daily, the official paper of China's ruling Communist party, citing the Web site's head editor. Both invasive and "jamming" attacks have targeted the site and come in higher volume at times of major military events, the report said. None of the attacks have succeeded against the Web site, which uses protection measures including intrusion monitoring and data backup, the report said.

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