December 2009

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY DECEMBER 17, 2009

Sure, you're thinkin' you'll kick out early to buy holiday gifts, but there's people workin' today: 1) Senate Commerce Committee Vote on FTC Nominations and 2) VRS Reform Workshop. See http://bit.ly/52Ue3p ... AND, apparently, Vice president Biden will announce broadband stimulus grants today (see below)

BROADBAND STIMULUS
   Broadband Stimulus Funding Begins Thursday with $182 Million Dispensed in Dawsonville, GA

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   Policy Options for a National Broadband Plan
   FCC Takes on Cable But Not Carriers With National Broadband Plan
   FCC wants more competition with set-top boxes
   NCTA To Levin: Retransmission Raises Prices, Hurts Consumers
   Public Knowledge, Free Press Underwhelmed By FCC Broadband Policy Outline
   Making the National Broadband Plan Work for America
   FCC Chairman Puts Focus On Spectrum
    See also:Mobile data set to explode | Morgan Stanley spectrum report
   FCC Chairman Urges Industry To Volunteer Low-Cost Broadband
   Educators Weigh In Again on Improving E-rate to meet Broadband Goals
   Broadband mapping grant can help communities refine their strategy
   France: 70% to get 100Mbps Internet within 10 years

NEWS FROM THE HILL
   Local Community Radio Act Clears House of Representatives
   Satellite TV Bill Punted To 2010
   House Passes Daniel Pearl Press Bill

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Net Neutrality: The Internet's Achilles' Heel

JOURNALISM
   Newspapers: Bottom in 2010, Jobs Continue to Disappear
   Warning: Graphic Images

CONTENT
   FCC Brushing up on Comcast's Xfinity
   Cybersafety Booklet for Parents and Kids Now Available

POLICYMAKERS
   Net Neutrality Stances Tracked
   Benjamin Gets Bipartisan Shout-Out At FCC meeting
ADVERTISING
   Will Real-Time Tweets Become Fair Game For Behavioral Targeting?
   Nielsen Bows To Ad Agency Pressure, Will Continue 'Live' Local Data
   Verizon-AT&T ad war: Adding insult to injury

OWNERSHIP
   FTC Challenges Intel's Dominance of Worldwide Microprocessor Markets
   Challenging Intel

MORE ONLINE ...
   The White House Open Government Dashboard: Seeking Your Input
   Callers of all incomes ditching landlines for cell phones
   Comment Sought on Royalty Rates and Terms for Satellite Radio
   Big Screen, Smart Screen, Small Screen
   Slicing the meaningful use pie
   Spectrum Auction Company, Vendor To Join Forces
   Verizon Launches Free Wi-Fi Service for Customers

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BROADBAND STIMULUS

BROADBAND STIMULUS BEGINS TO FLOW
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: ]
The White House announced that $182 million in federal funding for broadband stimulus will be dispensed Thursday by Vice President Joe Biden at Impulse Manufacturing in the rural town of Dawsonville (GA). The initial grants are the first of a $2 billion disbursement in broadband funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act over the next 75 days, the White House said. The funding, said the White House, is "to bring broadband to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology." The $182 million in funding on these 18 projects announced Thursday will be matched by $46 million in private investment. Of Thursday's total, $129 million comes from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and $54 million comes from the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service. On the eve of the first broadband grants by the NTIA, a number of groups representing minority interests are advocating that special rules be created by the government for Native Americans applying for broadband stimulus grants.
benton.org/node/30668 | BroadbandBreakfast.com | BroadbandBreakfast.com - List of projects | BroadbandBreakfast.com - news of event | BroadbandBreakfast.com - Minorities
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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

POLICY OPTIONS FOR A NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission's task force developing a National Broadband Plan presented the FCC's five commissioners with a range of policy options at the agencies monthly meeting Wednesday. A interim report delivered by the broadband team said the plan should build on the attributes of the American broadband ecosystem, with high aspirations but in a practical and sustainable way. Encouragement of competition will be a guiding principle of the plan, since competition drives innovation and provides consumer choice. Finding ways to better use existing assets, including Universal Service, rights-of-way, spectrum and others, will be essential to the success of the plan. The limited government funding that is available for broadband would be best used when leveraged with private sector investment. The plan may recommend changes in the law in some cases, but those changes should be limited in number, the task force said. The interim report focused on policy recommendations in ten key areas: Universal Service, infrastructure access, spectrum, Tribal lands, set-top boxes, consumer information, media, adoption of broadband, accessibility for people with disabilities, and public safety. Other areas that are to be addressed by the plan, including education, energy, health care, civic participation and others, will be addressed further in January. The plan is due to Congress by February 17, 2009.
benton.org/node/30648 | Federal Communications Commission | Policy framework | WashPost
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FCC TAKES ON CABLE BUT NOT CARRIERS WITH NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
The Federal Communications Commission's interim report on the National Broadband Plan glossed over the fact that service providers in US spend roughly $50 billion a year in capital investment to bring broadband services to their customers, but that investment doesn't get spent evenly across the population. Plus, despite that investment, most Americans don't have a lot of choice about their broadband provider. The regulators formulating the plan have to keep that investment flowing while also figuring out how to deliver broadband in places where the private companies have no wish to go, as well as push providers to behave competitively and transparently. That will require not just an initial investment, but money to maintain that infrastructure and attempt to measure the value it brings back to the taxpayers and consumers paying into Universal Service Fund, which will likely underwrite some of this.
benton.org/node/30662 | GigaOm
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FCC WANTS MORE COMPETITION WITH SET-TOP BOXES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Poirier]
The Federal Communications Commission is considering ways to enable access to the Internet through set-top boxes for television sets. Media Bureau Chief William Lake said, "It's time ... to consider if there are better ways to open the set-top box market to greater competition and innovation." One of the options the FCC is considering is to require cable and broadband providers such as Comcast Corp, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc to supply a small, low-cost, network-interface device that would act as a bridge for an Internet modem and cable boxes. When asked by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps how much new technology would be involved in manufacturing new bridge boxes, Lake said that manufacturers would likely add little new technology. "Many of the standards in place already exist, it would take commission action to drive the effort," he said. Cable subscribers normally lease set-top boxes to access videos, but FCC officials believe it is basically a "one-way" street that does not allow customers to do more such as accessing the Internet.
benton.org/node/30661 | Reuters | B&C
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RETRANS RAISES PRICES, HURTS CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association told the Federal Communications Commission Dec. 16 that both common sense and a study it recently commissioned conclude that if broadcasters boost retransmission fees, they will "inevitably" raise consumer costs and lead to consumer harm. The letter was in response to the FCC's public request to the National Association of Broadcasters for information backing up its assertion that over-the-air broadcast signals were a governor on cable and satellite prices, and for NAB's reaction to the "alternate view" that retransmission fees boost cable and satellite costs to consumers. The study, by Jonathan Orzag, Michael Katz, and Theresa Sullivan, argues that in addition to higher sub fees, the current retrans system leads to "lower consumer welfare" because distributors will have less to spend on other services. Other problems it says, are loss of TV station signals when negotiations break down, and potential problems when stations negotiate for stations with which they have leveraged marketing agreements (LMAs) in the same market.
benton.org/node/30667 | Broadcasting&Cable
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PK, FREE PRESS UNDERWHELMED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Public Knowledge took aim at the Federal Communications Commission's broadband update Wednesday, suggesting the commission's briefing on the policy side of the FCC's plan had misplaced priorities and did not sufficiently address competition. Although Public Knowledge supports Universal Service Fund reform and municipal networks, the organization was looking for bold steps -- like opening telecommunication networks to competitors or separation of carriers into wholesale and retail components, not the "incremental steps" the FCC was proposing. FCC broadband plan team leader Blair Levin said that there are a lot of things in the plan designed to address competition. Getting more spectrum, he said, is all about having a more competitive broadband marketplace. The FCC is also looking to spur a market in "gateway" TV set-tops that would combine Internet and TV functions. That is on the device side, but Levin said, "[it] is certainly about competition." Another facet of the plan would be transparency in the kinds of broadband service and speeds being delivered to consumers. "How can you have a competitive market if people don't know the actual performance of the things they are getting and could be getting if they chose." The FCC is also contemplating ways to lower pole attachment fees, smooth rights of way, and otherwise make it easier to lay fiber. That, he said, is all about competition. The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology said it is pleased the FCC included accessibility in its report.
href="http://benton.org/node/30660">benton.org/node/30660 | Broadcasting&Cable | Free Press | Public Knowledge | COAT
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MAKING THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN WORK FOR AMERICA
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: ]
In advance of the Federal Communications Commission discussion of its policy framework for a National Broadband Plan, Free Press released a public interest guide that lays out the central questions that must be answered by the Commission. Free Press points to the creation of better broadband competition as the driving issue behind the plan's success. The issue brief is a tool for measuring the broadband plan's ability to meet tough challenges. It lays out the core issues the plan must answer to serve the public interest and includes policy recommendations for spurring competition, expanding broadband to rural America, and guaranteeing openness and accountability. In recent years, the United States has been rapidly slipping down the ranks of the world's leading broadband nations. After the FCC discussion, however, Free Press said, "The overview of the plan failed to present policy ideas for spurring competition. In a 17 point framework for the plan, competition policy appeared only in the context of opening up the marketplace for cable set-top box policies." Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott said, "America's most basic broadband problem is that we are stuck with a duopoly of local cable and telephone companies that controls virtually every broadband market in America. The trend in both wireless and wireline broadband markets lead to more consolidation, not less. Where are the clear goals and benchmarks for bringing American consumers a world class network? The current marketplace will not magically leap forward to world class levels. There must be major policy intervention to get the country on track."
benton.org/node/30647 | Free Press | Free Press -- reaction | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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FCC CHAIRMAN PUTS FOCUS ON SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski again stressed the need for more spectrum during the FCC's meeting on the National Broadband Plan. Among the things he wanted to highlight was the vital importance of mobile and mobile broadband, calling it a "critical piece of broadband strategy." That comes as Congress this week heard from broadcasters defending their spectrum turf and a wireless industry that says, wherever it comes from, it has to have more spectrum. Chairman Genachowski agreed. "There may be no greater spur to America's global competitiveness than getting this right," he "The record contains powerful evidence that the demand on our commercial mobile spectrum is on a course to outstrip the supply." He said he had written down the phrase: "More Bandwidth for Broadband," sounding a little like the National Cable & Telecommunications Association arguing against must-carry. He called mobile the single most important element of the nation's broadband future, and said he is convinced there is a looming spectrum shortage.
benton.org/node/30659 | Broadcasting&Cable | Chairman Genachowski
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EDUCATORS WEIGH IN AGAIN ON IMPROVING E-RATE TO MEET BROADBAND GOALS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
The Federal Communications Commission has received a new round of comment on the impact of the E-rate program on reaching the national goal of universal, affordable broadband use. The State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance says that changes to the E-rate program should "do no harm" to existing school and library broadband adoption and services. SECA believes changes should make the application process easier and calls for an increase in annual E-rate spending to $4.5-$5 billion. The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition believes that high-bandwidth facilities to schools and libraries, as anchor institutions, should be capable of being used as "jumping off" points from which broadband providers can serve the surrounding residential and business community. In other words, the high-capacity fiber cables or wireless networks deployed to serve the needs of schools and libraries should be publicly available to serve others as well. The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors urges five steps to broaden the scope of the E-Rate program in a way that would promote the efficient use of resources to expand broadband deployment throughout local communities. Although NATOA's proposal goes further than the recommendations of other parties, NATOA notes support in the record for key components of the proposal. The American Association of Community Colleges and EDUCAUSE support expansion of the E-rate program to include community colleges without diminished support for existing beneficiaries. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30645 | Benton Foundation | Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition | NATOA | AACC and EDUCAUSE
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BROADBAND MAPPING GRANTS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] What's wrong with stimulus-funded broadband mapping? No, not the money -- the mission. People in DC and across the nation assume the mission is to create state maps showing who has or doesn't have broadband, and roll these into one national Web-based map. It's not. The mission is -- or should be -- to execute an effective broadband needs analysis so the Federal Communications Commission can create an effective national broadband strategy plan. We need to get states to
focus on doing comprehensive needs analysis. The map is simply medium through which you represent the market intelligence the needs analysis collects.
benton.org/node/30643 | Fierce
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FRANCE SETS BROADBAND GOAL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a government investment initiative designed to bring 100Mbps Internet to most French citizens in the next decade. President Sarkozy wants to pump nearly US$7 billion into development of national broadband networks, with the money to be raised from a bond issue called the grand emprunt ("big loan"). The emprunt is a stimulus plan designed to boost the French economy as it pulls out of the worldwide economic crisis. Most of the money will be raised through a bond issue, but the rest will come from large institutions (think: banks) that were bailed out by the French government over the last year and are now repaying their debts. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30641 | Ars Technica
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NEWS FROM THE HILL

LPFM BILL CLEARS HOUSE
[SOURCE: Prometheus Radio Project, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Local Community Radio Act passed the House of Representatives Wednesday evening with a resounding voice vote and now moves to the Senate. The bill will open the airwaves for hundreds of new non-commercial stations across the country, bringing low power radio to urban areas for the first time. Following the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission, the House of Representatives voted to remove technical restrictions Congress placed on low power radio in 2000 at the request of commercial broadcasters. These restrictions have kept low power radio out of the top 50 radio markets, which reach over 160 million Americans. Because of new requirements for LPFM stations in the 2009 bill, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) dropped its longstanding opposition to the Local Community Radio Act. These changes require LPFM stations to resolve interference to other stations, if it were to occur.
benton.org/node/30666 | Prometheus Radio Project
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SAT TV BILL PUNTED
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
A satellite television law set to expire at the end of the month would receive a two-month extension as part of the final fiscal year 2010 Defense appropriations bill passed by the House Wednesday, forcing Congress to go back to the drawing boards next year to craft a five-year reauthorization. After spending much of 2009 on the highly technical and controversial legislation, the effort collapsed at the last minute, forcing the temporary fix. The defense spending bill must still be passed by the Senate.
benton.org/node/30654 | CongressDaily
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HOUSE PASSES PEARL BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House of Representatives Wednesday (Dec. 16) passed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act. The bill which expands the State Department's examination of international press freedom in its annual human rights report, was named after the late Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. It is the second time the bill passed. The first time was as part of a State Department authorization bill that has since gotten bogged down in the Senate. The standalone bill passed 403 to 12, and sponsors say the prospects for a stand-alone version in the Senate are good. It has already passed the Foreign Relations Committee.
benton.org/node/30663 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

NET NEUTRALITY: ACHILLES HEEL OF INTERNET
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Network neutrality is the Internet's Achilles' heel. 1) If network operators were allowed to slow down or speed up traffic anticompetitively, it could destroy the very fabric of the Internet. 2) The open, unregulated nature of the Internet is also one of its greatest weaknesses. The fact that the Internet is totally neutral is a large part of what creates security vulnerabilities and leads to performance degradation as data goes skipping uncontrolled between networks. That's what so many net neutrality supporters either miss or refuse to acknowledge: the Internet as we know it today isn't all that great. Sure there's been a ton of innovation in this open marketplace, but there's also still a lot of issues with the Internet's performance. While many if not most of these issues stem from the inadequacies of last mile broadband infrastructure, even if we had infinite bandwidth in access networks that won't necessarily fix all of these problems.
benton.org/node/30642 | App-Rising.com
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JOURNALISM

NEWSPAPERS: BOTTOM IN 2010, JOB CONTINUE TO DISAPPEAR
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba, Joe Strupp]
What are publishers' expectations for 2010? Not as bad as one would think according to an outlook report from Kubas Consultants that polled 500 newspapers executives in November to get their thoughts on future advertising and strategic initiatives. Ed Strapagiel, executive vice president of Kubas and author of the report, ventures that 2010 might be the year of the bottom. Don't expect newspapers to be turning in major positive ad growth results, though. From quarter to quarter things are anticipated to improve or "decline less quickly." The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018. Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses. BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop.
New Report on Newspapers: Just Hang On For Another Year!
benton.org/node/30653 | Editor&Publisher | E&P
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CONTENT

FCC REVIEW OF XFINITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said FCC staffers are reviewing Comcast's announcement of its subscriber-only broadband video service, Xfinity, and similar authentication services, but only to get a better handle on them for now. "I'm sure the bureau is looking at that and proactively trying to understand it," he told a reporter after the FCC's public meeting. "But beyond that it is not something that has gotten a lot of discussion at this point."
benton.org/node/30657 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NET CETERA
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission have teamed up to parents and teachers steer kids safely through the online and mobile phone worlds. The booklet tells parents and teachers what they need to know to talk to kids about issues like cyberbullying, sexting, mobile phone safety, and protecting the family computer. Talking to kids about these topics can help them avoid behaving rudely online; steer clear of inappropriate content like pornography, violence, or hate speech; and protect themselves from contact with bullies, predators, hackers, and scammers.
benton.org/node/30634 | Federal Trade Commission | Read the aid
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POLICYMAKERS

NET NEUTRALITY STANCES TRACKED
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Not sure where your House member stands on net neutrality? An online tool unveiled earlier this week by SavetheInternet.com aims to fix that by mapping lawmakers' views by state and providing a database searchable by zip code. The database lists members as "for," "against," "undecided," or "unknown" on the issue, and it's based on crowd-sourced data collected by the coalition, which favors net neutrality. The tool doubles as a lobbying device for the net neutrality advocates. Once users locate their lawmakers, the site prompts them to send a standardized letter in favor of net neutrality.
benton.org/node/30655 | CongressDaily
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ADVERTISING

SOCIAL MARKETING AND BEHAVIORAL TARGETING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Laurie Sullivan]
David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst, calls search a brief way station that users jump from, moving from a search engine to one Web site and, perhaps, to another. During each movement from page to page, users' actions are tracked and recorded through the browser. Google and Yahoo monitor that browser behavior. And although the two engines separately provide a way to opt out of ad targeting, a recent post by Zachary Rodgers at ClickZ suggests that not many people choose, or take the time, to do so. In fact, a rough calculation suggests about 6,600 of Google's users, at the most, opt out of ad targeting per week, Rodgers writes. It appears that behavioral targeting will become an accepted practice. People will want to see ads that can provide them with the knowledge to make informed decisions. They just will need to keep in mind that brands speak to them in marketing tongue, so they shouldn't take the message at face value. The question becomes whether the engines will consider using real-time tweets and status updates from MySpace and Facebook as a targeting method to reach people searching for information, products or services on the Web. And whether using that data to target behavior is, indeed, a breach of privacy.
benton.org/node/30638 | MediaPost
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NIELSEN WILL CONTINUE LIVE LOCAL DATA
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wayne Friedman, Joe Mandese]
Yielding to pressure from Madison Avenue, Nielsen announced a plan that would continue to make live-only local TV ratings data available for the foreseeable future. The move is an apparent attempt to ameliorate concerns from big spot TV buying agencies -- especially Publicis' SMGX and WPP's GroupM -- that expressed outrage over Nielsen's original plan to phase live-only ratings out of its local TV measurement service beginning Jan. 1. Nielsen described the modified plan as an "interim" solution, and said that live-only data would still be discontinued from its local overnight ratings service, but that the live-only data would continue to be available to agencies and others to analyze via its monthly Total Viewing Source reports. Nielsen said the modified plan would go into effect on Jan. 7, 2010, and will "continue on an interim basis." Originally, Nielsen said it was substituting live-only data with live-plus-same-day DVR playback data. The latter is a problem for media agencies and their clients. Now both will be included for TV sales and advertiser clients to consider.
benton.org/node/30652 | MediaPost
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VERIZON-AT&T AD WAR: COVE VS PEPSI
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: Chris Nolter]
For all of the disparaging remarks that Verizon Wireless and AT&T have made about each other in TV spots this holiday season, the advertising war has buoyed brand awareness for both carriers. The No. 1 and No. 2 carriers trade attacks, the implication is that there are only a couple of serious alternatives in the mobile market. Sprint and T-Mobile USA aren't even on the radar.
benton.org/node/30633 | TheDeal.com
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OWNERSHIP

FTC CHALLENGES INTEL'S DOMINANCE
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission sued Intel, the world's leading computer chip maker, charging that the company has illegally used its dominant market position for a decade to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly. In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Intel has waged a systematic campaign to shut out rivals' competing microchips by cutting off their access to the marketplace. In the process, Intel deprived consumers of choice and innovation in the microchips that comprise the computers' central processing unit, or CPU. These chips are critical components that often are referred to as the "brains" of a computer. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30644 | Federal Trade Commission | IDG News Service | GigaOm | Fast Company
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CHALLENGING INTEL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission has, at long last, brought an antitrust suit against Intel. The leviathan of the microchip industry has used its enormous market power — it controls 80 percent of the global microprocessor market and more than half the market for graphics chips — to shut rivals out, suppressing competition and reducing consumers' choices. If successful, the FTC's case could open the door to increased innovation from rival firms in one of the most vital sectors of the American economy. The New York Times believes it is long overdue. Monopolies have been given too easy a ride over the last decade — and American businesses and consumers have paid the price.
benton.org/node/30665 | New York Times
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