December 2009

FCC Chairman Puts Focus On Spectrum

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.

Mobile data set to explode

Mobile Internet usage is quickly growing to be at least twice as large as the desktop Internet in terms of subscriber numbers, according to Morgan Stanley. The financial services firm is forecasting such huge mobile Internet growth that it today released a 422-page report, 692-page presentation and a 92-page 'summary' of the market dynamics. Among the highlights: Mobile IP traffic will grow 66 times by 2013, a 130% compound annual growth rate. The report also found that smartphones will out-ship the global netbook and notebook market by 2010 and the overall global PC market by 2013. Morgan Stanley said it expects Apple to continue to change how consumers use their devices, driving them toward data and away from voice. The iPhone and iPod Touch still only represent a small chunk of global smartphone use — about 17%, but they are already responsible for 65% of all mobile Internet use.

FCC Brushing up on Comcast's Xfinity

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."

Benjamin Gets Bipartisan Shout-Out At FCC meeting

Federal Communications Commission Scholar in Residence Stuart Benjamin, a Duke Law Professor, was welcomed to the FCC Wednesday by Chairman Julius Genachowski. Duke graduate Commissioner Robert McDowell singled out Benjamin for praise following Genachowski's introduction of several new staffers. He said one of the "early hallmarks" of the Genachowski commission was his ability to attract "some highly credentialed and qualified people to come here who have a great fervor for public service and a terrific attitude." He said Benjamin was no exception, and went beyond to say that he was no expressing extra enthusiasm for his arrival just because he was from Duke, but because "he is a terrific pick for the very first scholar in residence at the FCC." He said he could not think of a better person.

Net Neutrality Stances Tracked

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.

Satellite TV Bill Punted To 2010

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.

Newspapers: Bottom in 2010, Jobs Continue to Disappear

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.

Nielsen Bows To Agency Pressure, Will Continue 'Live' Local Data

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.

Big Screen, Smart Screen, Small Screen

This is truly a golden age of anytime, anywhere media. And rather than Americans replacing TV with the Internet or a mobile device, they are just consuming more—often simultaneously. Despite the availability of video content on the Internet, TV viewing is up by about 20% over the last decade, and the average American watches 141 hours of programming each month. Online video consumption stands at more than three hours a month—up from virtually nothing ten years ago. Mobile viewing is growing, too, as devices and connectivity become more widespread. Smartphone usage is climbing and text messaging is through the roof. On average, teens use more than 3,500 text messages a month and adults about 500.

Slicing the meaningful use pie

One of the tenets of meaningful use (MU), as defined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is that providers must use health IT to exchange clinical health information. While a final version of MU will not be adopted until next year, the clinical data exchange requirement will stand as it is part of the ARRA mandate. Healthcare organizations consequently must figure out how to meet an undefined component of meaningful use while at the same time addressing their current connectivity and data exchange needs.One way to approach this complex state of affairs to consider four slices - labeled local, regional, state and national - of a greater health information exchange pie.

Benton

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