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December 2009

FTC Chair Urges Food Marketplace 'Reinvention'

In kicking off the Federal Trade Commission's Dec. 15 public hearing on food marketing and childhood obesity, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz called on the food industry to "supersize" its efforts and "boldly reinvent the food marketplace." Chairman Leibowitz acknowledged "heartening" progress made by the food industry since a 2005 FTC/Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) workshop on food marketing to children, including healthier food offerings and changes in marketing practices implemented by the now-14 food companies and two restaurant chains (McDonald's, Burger King) participating in the Council of Better Business Bureaus' self-regulatory Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. He also acknowledged that marketing is "only one factor" contributing to childhood obesity. However, Leibowitz noted the non-participation of some key food and beverage companies, such as Yum Brands, as well as other restaurant chains, and maintained that change has been coming in "small increments." He said that the FTC and other government agencies comprising the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketing to Children "continue to believe that the food industry and children's media are trying to effect positive change," but added that companies "cannot simply congratulate themselves" on meeting self-regulatory pledges. "We need to be sure that the pledges are adequate," he said.

Will Real-Time Tweets Become Fair Game For Behavioral Targeting?

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.

The White House Open Government Dashboard: Seeking Your Input

The Open Government Directive calls for the creation of an Open Government Dashboard under the leadership of the CTO and CIO. As agencies implement their open government plans per the Directive, we will use this Dashboard to measure progress and impact, including agencies' success at developing open government plans across the Executive branch. The Dashboard will combine quantitative and qualitative measures of progress and the White House is looking to you for your input about what metrics the Dashboard should measure.

Comment Sought on Royalty Rates and Terms for Satellite Radio

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations governing the rates for the satellite digital audio radio services' use of the ephemeral recordings statutory license under the Copyright Act for the period 2007 through 2012. Comments and objections, if any, are due no later than January 15, 2010.

Verizon Launches Free Wi-Fi Service for Customers

Some Verizon subscribers can now access Wi-Fi hot spots in the United States, Canada and Mexico, using Verizon's Wi-Fi service. Verizon's Wi-Fi service is similar to what AT&T offers its customers. These services also allow carriers to offload PC traffic from their networks to free up space for smartphones.

Cybersafety Booklet for Parents and Kids Now Available

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.

Verizon-AT&T ad war: Adding insult to injury

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.

Dec 16, 2009 (Network Neutrality; Spectrum; Texting)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

Health information technology, the National broadband Plan, and broadband data are all on the agenda today. http://bit.ly/4GY4dP


NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Academics, Activists Talk Network Neutrality At FCC Workshop
   See also: Openness, Dynamism, and Availability to All
   See also: McDowell: Network Neutrality Turns First Amendment on its Head
   Net Neutrality Debate Burns On
   AT&T: Anti-Discrimination Rule Could Hinder Innovation

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Greater Broadband Transparency and Measurement

DIGITAL DIVIDE
   Hispanics, African Americans and Broadband Adoption
   Comcast To Fund African-American Broadband Initiative
   Percent of Blogging Seniors Only 1/10 of a Point Behind Teens

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Broadcast, Wireless Industries Keep Powder Dry at House Spectrum Hearing
   Ronald Coase and the radio spectrum
   Insider Pushes Ma Bell Beyond Just Phones
   What Google Wants With Its Own Phone: Control

TEXTING
   Americans have gone text-crazy
   Court Rules Evidence Against Telecoms Insufficient To Show Collusion
   Teens and Sexting

TELECOM
   FCC Asks for Additional Comment on High-Cost Universal Service Support
   New FCC Telephone Subscribership Report

CONTENT
   Intellectual Property Meeting Leaves Some Unhappy
   FCC Wants To Close Program Loopholes
   Comcast Unveils Online Viewing
   Music Business Heads Into Virtual World

POLICYMAKERS
   Senate bill would add high-tech brain power at FCC
   Senate Commerce Considers FTC Nominees

ADVERTISING
   Government Group Proposes New Kids Nutrition Regulations
   US agencies want to ban some kid food ads
   The Comcast/ NBC Universal Merger: Addressing The Addressable
   Google Lays Out Display Ad Democratization Strategy

TELEVISION/RADIO
   House Passes CALM Act, Considers Local Community Radio Act
   Never Listen to Céline? Radio Meter Begs to Differ
   PTC Files Indecency Complaint About 'Family Guy'
   Satellite Bill Extension Said To Be On Table In House
   As Anchors Change at ABC and MSNBC, Will Executives Ignore Diversity Again?
   What In The World Are Local TV Stations Thinking?

OWNERSHIP
   European Commission accepts Microsoft browser offer

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Charting a course from virtual reality to the White House
   Panel: Government should educate workforce on benefits of social media
   House takes steps to boost cybersecurity

HEALTH
   Drug data mining ban unlikely in Senate bill
   Nurses Claim Their Seat at the Health IT Decision-Making Table
   Most lab results still on paper, impeding push for e-health records
   'Beacon' communities must show HIT bona fides
   Community health system readies docs for EHR incentives
   Stimulus funds to pay for EHRs at federal centers

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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

ACADEMICS, ACTIVISTS TALK NETWORK NEUTRALITY AT FCC WORKSHOP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission held a workshop on codification and expansion of open Internet (Network Neutrality) guidelines. Academics, activists and independent content creators targeting minority audiences talked about the need for the regulations to keep deep-pocketed industry gatekeepers from blocking speech or pricing it out of the reach of the next big innovation. Yale Law School Professor Jack Balkin said that the First Amendment is all about participation, which is the Internet's "gift to mankind." But he said that participation means little if you have to get permission. He said the Internet is a way to "route around network gatekeepers." Network neutrality regulations, he argued, are necessary to preserve that gift of participation from private entities whose natural tendency is to favor their own business interests and shareholders. He was seconded by Andrew Schwartzman of Media Access Project, who suggested the harms were neither perceived or future. He cited several examples, including Verizon blocking an anti-abortion message and Comcast impeding BitTorrent traffic among those examples. As to their only being a few examples, he said what is known is only the tip of the iceberg, that it will become increasingly difficult to uncover those instances, and that the "greatest danger" is from what blockages we have not known about and do not now know about. Joining in support of net neutrality regulations were Michele Combs of the Christian Coalition; Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit blog; Jonathan Moore, of minority-targeted online site Rowdy Orbit; Ruth Livier, writer and online content producer' and Garlin Gilchrist of the Center for Community Change.
benton.org/node/30624 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY DEBATE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Two key stakeholders who have taken opposite stands in the net neutrality debate found some area of agreement Tuesday: Wireless providers should be given more leeway in how they manage their broadband networks given the constraints imposed by their use of spectrum to deliver high-speed Internet services. But when it comes to the overall issue of whether the Federal Communications Commission should impose rules that would ensure that broadband providers cannot prioritize content, Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn and Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president of the wireless industry group CTIA, parted company. During a debate on the FCC's proposed principles, Sohn argued that the issue "comes down to what kind of Internet do we want? Do we want an Internet where control" is with the users or the network operators. "The large carriers want to prioritize content. They want to pick winners and losers," Sohn said. She argued that the FCC's proposed network neutrality principles are "spare, narrow and straight forward" and will ensure that control stays with users. Sohn added that while operators, particularly wireless carriers, should have some flexibility to manage their networks, she said it should be defined. Sohn said she has concerns that the FCC's proposed language providing for "reasonable" network management is to "loosey goosey." She said she would prefer the agency consider language adopted by Canadian authorities.
benton.org/node/30597 | CongressDaily
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AT&T: ANTI-DISCRIMINATION RULE COULD HINDER INNOVATION
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
A hard and fast rule that prohibits Internet service providers from discriminating between content providers could "inadvertently limit the availability of creative and innovative services that consumers may want to purchase," AT&T argues in its latest statement about proposed neutrality regulations. In a letter submitted today to the Federal Communications Commission, the telecom argues that ISPs and Web companies should be free to enter into "voluntary" agreements "for the paid provision of certain value-added broadband services." AT&T adds that rather than a "strict nondiscrimination" rule, the FCC should instead focus on "unreasonable and anticompetitive" forms of discrimination. Broadband advocates were unimpressed with the telecom's stance.
benton.org/node/30621 | MediaPost | B&C | Free Press | Public Knowledge
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

GREATER BROADBAND TRANSPARENCY AND MEASUREMENT
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: Benjamin Lennett, James Losey, Dan Meredith, Robb Topolski, Sascha Meinrath]
New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative (OTI) submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on two areas vital to the future of the Internet: Broadband Consumer Information and Measurement. As OTI's comments make clear, providing consumers and policy-makers with the information they need to make informed decisions is a matter of political will, not technical feasibility." Currently, consumers have little information to make an informed decision among competing providers. Advertisements have neither the actual speed nor cost and important considerations; such as limitations, termination conditions, or early termination fees. Also troubling is the complete lack of access for researchers and policymakers to fundamental information on the inner workings of the Internet. To address these concerns OTI provided the Commission with several policy recommendations including. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30620 | New America Foundation
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DIGITAL DIVIDE

HISPANICS, AFRICAN AMERICANS AND BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Internet Innovation Alliance, AUTHOR: Press release]
Only 42 percent of African Americans and Hispanics regularly use the Internet, yet they overwhelmingly agree that Internet access is critical to achieving success, according to new findings from a national survey of 900 minority adults conducted by Brilliant Corners Research, led by Pollster Cornell Belcher. Poll respondents strongly agree on several Internet-enabled, life-changing benefits that make access so valuable:
More than 60 percent (64%) of those polled strongly believe the Internet is important, because students with access can receive tutoring and help with their homework.
Forty-three percent of respondents strongly agree that students with Internet access achieve higher grades.
More than three in five (61%) strongly feel households with Internet access have greater access to commerce, education, health care, entertainment and communication.
Approximately half (48%) strongly agree that Internet is valuable, because tech-connected families receive more health information.
More than 60 percent (62%) strongly believe individuals with Internet access have more opportunities to work from home.
Nearly seven in ten (68%) respondents strongly agree that small business owners with Internet access are better able to reach and expand their customer base.
One in two (51%) strongly feel Internet access increases awareness and access to government services.
Most of the respondents said they accessed the Internet from home ­ 78 percent ­ and slightly more than two-thirds (68%) said they access the Internet from a private portal, as opposed to a public portal, such as at anchor institutions like the library.
benton.org/node/30602 | Internet Innovation Alliance
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COMCAST FUNDS DIGITAL DIVIDE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: R. Thomas Umstead]
The Comcast Foundation said it will make a $50,000 grant to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) in an effort to foster greater adoption of broadband Internet services within African American homes. The NBCSL/Comcast Broadband Legislative Fellowship will help spearhead efforts to develop recommendations to Congress and the Federal Communications Commission as they develop national and local solutions to alleviate disparities in broadband access, adoption, and use.
benton.org/node/30601 | Multichannel News
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SENIORS ARE BLOGGING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Jack Loechner]
According to the NielsenWire Online, while people 65 and older still make up less than 10% of the active Internet universe, in the last five years their number has increased by more than 55 percent, from 11.3 million active users in November 2004 to 17.5 million in November 2009. Among people 65+, the increase of women online in the last five years has outpaced the growth of men by 6 percentage points. Not only are more people 65 and older heading online, but they are also spending more time on the Web. Time spent on the Internet by seniors increased 11% in the last five years, from approximately 52 hours per month in November 2004 to just over 58 hours in 2009. Chuck Schilling, research director, agency & media, Nielsen's online division, notes that "The over 65 crowd represents about 13% of the total population and... they're engaged in many of the same activities that dominate other age segments - e-mail, sharing photos, social networking, checking out the latest news and weather... (in addition) a good percentage of them are spending time with age-appropriate pursuits such as leisure travel, personal health care and financial concerns." 88.6% of seniors, check personal e-mail as the No. 1 online activity performed in the last 30 days. Viewing or printing online maps and checking the weather online were the second and third most popular online activities.
benton.org/node/30588 | MediaPost
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

HOUSE SPECTRUM HEARING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The heads of the broadcast and wireless industries left the tough rhetoric at home Tuesday as they each made their cases for the future of spectrum in an increasingly broadband-centric world. National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith and CTIA President Steve Largent avoided turning the proceedings in a referendum on the relative value of broadcasting versus broadband. Smith said that either/or was a false choice, and that would need to be part of the communications future. Largent's focus was on getting more spectrum, "wherever it comes from." All the witnesses were in agreement on the two baseline bills that were the subject of the hearing in the House Energy & Commerce Committee Communications Subcommittee. Those bills would require the FCC and National Telecommunications & Information Administration to inventory spectrum use with an eye toward freeing up more for wireless broadband and then to find a more efficient way to re-auction and reallocate that spectrum. The hearing touched on a number of points, including alternatives to reclaiming spectrum from broadcasters that included dynamic spectrum sharing, compression and modulation improvements that would make more efficient use of the current spectrum holdings. But Dale Hatfield, co-chair of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, said that while such spectrum efficiency measures like compression and modulation would help, they would likely not be enough, and that the most promising avenues were reclaiming spectrum and sharing. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30600 | Broadcasting&Cable | TVNewsCheck | B&C - Buyer | House Commerce Committee | Television Broadcast
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THE BIRTH OF SPECTRUM AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Hazlett]
[Commentary] Back in the 1950s economist Ronald Coase first proposed spectrum auctions. Wireless licenses were auctioned in 1989 in New Zealand, 1991 in India, and 1994 in the US. Competitive bidding is now a standard policy tool in more than 30 countries. Over $52bn has been raised in America, more than twice that elsewhere. But that is barely the tip of the Coasian iceberg. The far more important reforms extend from a sharp liberalization of the rights granted wireless licensees. Traditional broadcasting licenses specify exactly what firms may do, fixing services, applications, technologies, and business models. Mobile phone and other modern licenses, however, convey airwave rights tantamount to spectrum ownership. They define band contours and then delegate choices about usage to market players. The result has been spectacularly successful. Some are asking policymakers to abandon Coase's spectrum property vision and move to shared spectrum space. The question is not whether "multiple parties occupy the same spectral space," but how we organize the sharing arrangements. Government does set aside unlicensed bands, but they have proven ineffective for the most valued wireless applications. In local uses where they attach to phone or cable networks built using privately owned "spectrum in a tube," wi-fi radios and cordless phones work. But the complexity of these plug-ins pales in comparison to the wide-area networks customers deem most productive. To provide those services, mobile carriers stack millions of "multiple parties" into the same spaces - 4.6bn subscribers at last global count. The most intensively shared wireless bandwidth is found exactly here, in spaces allocated to what regulators call "exclusive use" spectrum. That, too, is a most interesting error. But one, unlike Coase's, we should aspire to correct.
benton.org/node/30630 | Financial Times
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AT&T AND WIRELESS DEVICES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Niraj Sheth]
Glenn Lurie spends most days thinking up ways to put cellphone chips everywhere but phones. Picture frames, computers, even children's toys. He dreams up new, untested calling-rate plans and develops strategies to put stodgy AT&T atop new and unproven markets. Lurie is in charge of a bet AT&T is making that wireless services for new gadgets could substantially increase its $124 billion-a-year business. The secretive group -- AT&T won't disclose the group's budget or staff size -- is on a mission to entrench the nation's largest phone company in services for new wireless devices. A number of these devices, such as e-readers and netbooks, are already on store shelves. AT&T has jumped into the nascent market and taken an early lead by supporting more devices than competitors. Last week, it disclosed a deal to carry on its network an electronic-book reader from British start-up Interead Ltd., adding a fifth e-reader to a lineup that already includes Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's upcoming Nook. Lurie and AT&T are thinking more broadly than e-readers and netbooks. Next year, they plan to announce wireless-network services for advanced car-entertainment systems, home appliances, such as smart refrigerators, and handheld game consoles. Revenue projections vary, but Lurie agrees with an estimate from industry research group Rethink Wireless that cellular operators will collect $90 billion a year by 2013 from servicing these devices.
benton.org/node/30629 | Wall Street Journal
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WHY A GOOGLE PHONE? CONTROL
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Rita Chang]
With all the attention Google's plan to launch its own phone is receiving, a sensible question remains: Why, when it makes billions off the high-margin business of search and online advertising, would it get its hands dirty launching a mobile handset? Google's fortunes come from advertising, making money off eyeballs and user experience. As the online world matures and growth from advertising revenue slows, Google is looking to reap ad dollars from mobile. EMarketer has online advertising revenue growing 6% next year, compared to 40% for mobile. Consider that the search juggernaut last week showed off its vision of mobile search -- from the promises of visual search to using voice commands to find stuff -- it makes sense that Google wants to have a direct hand in accelerating the promise of these applications and control the user's experience with them. "Mobile is the next frontier for everyone," said Bill Ho, analyst at Current Analysis. By directly controlling the handset experience and its specs, "they can control their own mobile destiny. At the end of the day, it's adding more subscribers, adding more eyeballs," Ho said.
benton.org/node/30595 | AdAge
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TEXTING

AMERICANS TEXT
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Nicole Santa Cruz]
According to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, Americans fired off 110 billion text messages in December 2008. In the same month in 2007, they sent 48 billion. Not surprisingly, the trend is especially prevalent among teenagers, said Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist for the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "Teens are still developing their communication habits. Adults have preset ones already," she said. So why is texting a teen trend? It's efficient, and it's private. Teens can text silently in a car's back seat or in the family room without potential for embarrassment, Lenhart said.
benton.org/node/30628 | Los Angeles Times
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NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE OF TEXT PRICING COLLUSION
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Wendy Davis]
The major U.S. wireless companies may have raised text messaging fees at around the same time, but that doesn't mean they conspired to fix prices, a judge has ruled. Allegations of price increases "do not give rise to more than the 'mere possibility' of an agreement, which is insufficient to state a claim for conspiracy," U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly in Illinois ruled last week as he dismissed an antitrust class-action lawsuit against the carriers. The case encompassed several consumer class-action lawsuits filed against Sprint/Nextel, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile last year, shortly after prices climbed to 20 cents per message. The consumers alleged that the companies began aligning their texting fees in 2005, when Sprint/Nextel, AT&T and Verizon started charging 10 cents per message; T-Mobile started charging 10 cents in 2006. The companies subsequently raised prices to 15 cents in the first half of 2007. Sprint/Nextel boosted the price again to 20 cents towards the end of that year, and the other three followed throughout 2008, according to the lawsuit.
benton.org/node/30608 | MediaPost
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TEENS AND SEXTING
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Amanda Lenhart]
As texting has become a centerpiece in teen social life, parents, educators and advocates have grown increasingly concerned about the role of cell phones in the sexual lives of teens and young adults. A new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 4% of cell-owning teens ages 12-17 say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to someone else via text messaging, a practice also known as "sexting"; 15% say they have received such images of someone they know via text message. Focus group findings show that sexting occurs most often in one of three scenarios: 1. Exchanges of images solely between two romantic partners 2. Exchanges between partners that are then shared outside the relationship 3. Exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where often one person hopes to be.
benton.org/node/30589 | Pew Internet & American Life Project | Read the report
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TELECOM

REFORMING HIGH-COST UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
In this further notice of proposed rulemaking, the Federal Communications Commission responds to the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (Tenth Circuit) in Qwest Communications International, Inc. v. FCC, in which the court remanded the FCC's rules for providing high-cost universal service support to non-rural carriers. While the FCC has long recognized the need for comprehensive reform, the agency is also cognizant that, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act), the FCC must send a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010. The FCC anticipates that changes to universal service policies are likely to be recommended as part of that plan, and that the FCC will undertake comprehensive universal service reform when it implements those recommendations. It will not be feasible for the FCC to consider, evaluate, and implement these universal service recommendations between February 17, 2010, and April 16, 2010, the date by which the FCC committed to respond to the Tenth Circuit's remand. The Commission tentatively concludes, therefore, that the FCC should not attempt wholesale reform of the non-rural high-cost mechanism at this time, but seeks comment on certain interim changes to address the court's concerns and changes in the marketplace. FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell expressed the concern that the notice does not far enough to address the court's concerns saying "I do not think that the Commission's work on the National Broadband Plan should foreclose the Commission from exploring a variety of reform ideas in this matter."
benton.org/node/30619 | Federal Communications Commission | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Baker
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FCC RELEASES NEW TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERSHIP REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Alexander Belinfante]
The Federal Communications Commission released its latest report on telephone subscribership levels in the United States. The report presents subscribership statistics based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau in July 2009. The report also shows subscribership levels by state, income level, race, age, household size, and employment status. In July 2009: The telephone subscribership penetration rate in the U.S. was 95.7%, an increase of 0.3% over the rate from July 2008. This is the highest reported rate since the CPS began collecting this data in November 1983. The telephone penetration rate for households in income categories below $15,000 was at or below 93.3%, while the rate for households in income categories over $50,000 was at least 98.5%. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30596 | Federal Communications Commission | Read the report
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CONTENT

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEETING LEAVES SOME UNHAPPY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Public interest and tech industry advocates voiced disappointment about being left out of a round table discussion Tuesday afternoon being hosted by Vice President Biden and several cabinet officials to discuss enforcing laws against the piracy of intellectual property. In addition to the vice president, the event will feature a who's who of Obama administration officials who have a role to play in enforcing IP laws. They include Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos and the White House's new IP enforcement coordinator, Victoria Espinel. The industry participants include executives from the movie studios, record companies, book publishers, television networks and the heads of the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America, as well as unions representing actors and directors. Both Public Knowledge and TechAmerica released statements arguing that they have important roles to play in the debate.
benton.org/node/30598 | CongressDaily | PK statement | PK - Art Brodsky
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FCC WANTS TO CLOSE PROGRAM LOOPHOLES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Joelle Tessler]
The Federal Communications Commission is considering closing a loophole that allows cable television operators to withhold sporting events and other popular programming that they own from rival providers such as satellite TV. FCC staff has prepared an order to eliminate the loophole and plans to send it to the agency's five commissioners on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear when the commissioners will vote on the order. The order comes as the commission begins its regulatory review of Comcast's proposal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. Although the two matters are separate, some analysts expect the FCC to close the terrestrial loophole for Comcast as a condition of regulatory approval for that deal. Cable TV operators including Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc. have relied on the loophole to deny programming to competitors such as DirecTV Inc., Echostar Corp.'s Dish Network and AT&T Inc. U-Verse video service.
benton.org/node/30615 | Associated Press | WashPost
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COMCAST UNVEILS ONLINE VIEWING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Comcast subscribers can now watch several cable TV shows and movies on the Internet. Viewing is only available to subscribers, and what each customer can watch depends on the cable TV package subscribed. All told, Comcast is making programs available from 27 cable channels including HBO and Cinemax. "The launch of the TV Everywhere model indicates that Comcast wants competition nowhere," said Marvin Ammori, a professor of law at University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a senior advisor to Free Press. "These are transparent efforts to preserve the cable cartel that gouges consumers. Comcast wants to be the gatekeeper to the video programming world. This service is a threat to innovative online video and an attempt by the industry to impose the cable-TV model onto the Internet."
benton.org/node/30616 | Associated Press | WashPost | MediaPost | ars technica | Free Press
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STREAMING MUSIC
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone, Claire Cain Miller]
With its deal this month to buy the Web music service Lala, Apple may be pointing the way to the future of music. In this future, the digital music files on people's computers could join vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs in the dusty vault of fading music formats. Instead, music fans will use their always-online computers and smartphones to visit a vast Internet jukebox, where Gregorian chants, Lady Gaga tracks and the several centuries of music in between are instantly available. For a small but growing cadre of music lovers, the vision is not that outlandish.
benton.org/node/30626 | New York Times
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POLICYMAKERS

SENATE BILL WOULD ADD HIGH-TECH BRAIN POWER AT FCC
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Sens Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced a bill on Monday that would allow each of the five Federal Communications Commission commissioners to hire one additional staff member — an electrical engineer or computer scientist. Currently, commissioners are permitted to appoint only three professional assistants and a secretary. Historically, these professional assistants have been legal advisers covering the wireline, wireless, and cable/media sectors
benton.org/node/30618 | Washington Post
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SENATE COMMERCE CONSIDERS FTC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee]
On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee considered the nominations of Julie Simone Brill and Edith Ramirez to be commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) noted that Ms Brill has spent her career in state Attorneys General offices advocating on behalf of consumers and said he hoped she will help the FTC work more closely with state Attorney General divisions to leverage and increase enforcement against those who target consumers, especially the most vulnerable. Ms Brill said, "The FTC has been cracking down on those who hunt for easy prey. We can build on this work, and focus on the dramatic rise in scams designed to take advantage of consumers' economic insecurity. At the same time, we must continue our efforts to educate consumers so they can better protect themselves by making responsible choices." Ms Ramirez has extensive experience in complex business litigation. Chairman Rockefeller said, "I appreciate her critical eye for mergers and business combinations which may potentially harm consumers. Ms Ramirez said, "Now, in these difficult economic times, the need to be vigilant and aggressive in protecting American consumers is especially pressing. The Commission's duty to combat deceptive and unfair business practices and to foster competition has never been greater, particularly in the areas that have the greatest impact on the daily lives of ordinary Americans such as financial services, healthcare, energy, and technology."
benton.org/node/30617 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Committee Chairman Rockefeller
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ADVERTISING

GOVERNMENT GROUP PROPOSES NEW KIDS NUTRITION REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Karlene Lukovitz]
The Interagency Working Group (IWG), comprising representatives from four government agencies, has unveiled tentative, proposed standards for marketing food to children between the ages of 2 and 17. The proposal was outlined at the end of an all-day Federal Trade Commission public hearing on food marketing and childhood obesity. The IWG -- comprising the FTC, the Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, the Centers for Disease Control and the Federal Drug Administration -- has been charged with developing recommended nutritional standards for consumers under 17 by July. [much more at the URL below
benton.org/node/30613 | MediaPost
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COMCAST AND ADDRESSABLE ADVERTISING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Mitch Oscar]
[Commentary] Since the turn of the 21st Century, of all of the cable operators Comcast has been the most prolific in deploying video on demand platforms, whether they be cable network linear extensions, original branded propositions, automotive, real estate and retail classified-link-to-video destinations and the disable-ization of commercial fast forwarding functionality in broadcast network VOD offerings in a few markets. In the future, Oscar imagines the new entity will make even more top quality content available through on demand venues, both traditional and TV everywhere-like authentication peppered with technological extensions. Last week Comcast announced a shop-by-remote function, in partnership with HSN, that would be available in 10+ million homes early next year augmenting the 8 million Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) enabled homes currently in the field. Nary a Canoe Request for Interaction product mention. So unless Comcast mandates its networks (and NBCU siblings) to support Canoe product roll-outs, Oscar doesn't expect in the near future that one of the noticeable benefits of the Comcast-NBCU merger will be in the iTV/ addressable realm or not, at least, through Canoe Ventures white labels - if history be judge of repetition.
benton.org/node/30593 | MediaPost
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GOOGLE PLAN TO DEMOCRATIZE DISPLAY ADS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Laurie Sullivan]
Google wants to simplify the process of buying and selling display advertising across the Web in 2010, and has set up a strategy to achieve the goal. In a Webcast Tuesday, Googlers laid out the plan to simplicity the buying and selling process, increase performance, and maintain an open platform to serve ads across PCs and mobile phones. Simplifying the process will attract more marketers to online display advertising, a medium that has become easily measurable in clicks, impressions and conversions. Google believes running display ads on the Google content network of more than one million Web sites helps marketers optimize campaigns and measure results. J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan points in a research note to the fact the Google Content Network reaches 85% of global users and can host CPM or CPC ads. Opening the display marketplace to more companies means Google has the ability to support a variety of companies that want to advertise.
benton.org/node/30607 | MediaPost
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TELEVISION/RADIO


HOUSE PASSES CALM; TABLES LPFM
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1084, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act). The bill will require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a standard to preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany. The House also considered H.R.1147, Local Community Radio Act of 2009, which would implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service. A vote on the legislation was postponed.
benton.org/node/30612 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | CongressDaily
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THE IMPACT OF PORTABLE PEOPLE METERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Clifford]
As the radio industry converts from measuring ratings through surveys to monitoring listeners electronically using so-called Portable People Meters, it is finding that what people say they do and what they actually do is different. Apparently, more men mellow out to Air Supply than are willing to admit it. But the new system has serious repercussions, especially for classical radio. When 12 major areas, including New York and Los Angeles, switched to the system last year, classical radio's market share fell 10.7 percent in those areas, a significant drop, according to a study by Research Director, a ratings consultancy. Talk radio, a largely conservative format, turns out to have fewer fans than previously thought. Mainstream formats like oldies, news and country have fared better. Meanwhile, smooth jazz has hit a low note. The makeup and size of Arbitron's sample is an issue for some Hispanic and urban broadcasters, who say metered readings undercount minority audiences and hurt their stations disproportionately.
benton.org/node/30627 | New York Times
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PTC FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST 'FAMILY GUY'
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Parents Television Council has filed an indecency complaint against Family Guy, a show that is frequently in PTC's dog house over its edgy content. This time, PTC is complaining about the Dec. 13 episode featuring a scene with a stripper.
benton.org/node/30611 | Broadcasting&Cable | TVNewsCheck
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SATELLITE BILL EXTENSION TABLED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to several sources, Congress may punt on reauthorizing the satellite distant signal license before Dec 31, instead passing a 60-day (some say 90) stop-gap extension. The problem is in the Senate, where a provision allowing DISH network back into the distant signal business in exchange for delivering local signals to all 210 markets is said to have caused at least one senator to put a hold on the Senate version of the bill. Both a 60-day extension and the full bill including DISH provision are ready to be teed up for a House vote tomorrow, but legislators there are said not to want to pass the full version if it is going to be controversial, which it would be, given the hold on the Senate bill.
benton.org/node/30610 | Broadcasting&Cable | B&C
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DIVERSITY ON NETWORK NEWS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Eric Geggans]
[Commentary] When NBC needed a new anchor for Meet the Press, I hoped. After Lou Dobbs finally jumped off CNN, I wondered. And now, with major anchor changes underway at ABC News and MSNBC, I'm certain. The TV industry has a fresh chance to build anchor lineups which look more like America, allowing journalists of color a shot at the highest-profile jobs. But so far, executives don't seem particularly inclined to blaze any new trails.
benton.org/node/30609 | Huffington Post, The
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WHAT ARE TV STATIONS THINKING?
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Joe Mandese]
[Commentary] A look at Nielsen's decision to remove live-only ratings from the local television marketplace beginning January 1, 2010. Could this be the worst thing ever at the worst time ever for local TV? Why in the world would local TV stations push so hard to remove a metric that their clients believe represents a higher measure of accountability on the performance of their medium? And why would they seek to do it a time when other media - especially online, mobile, and soon, local cable TV systems - will be able to prove themselves even better via superior return path data? It just doesn't make any sense. At least not to me. So if you've got some thoughts on this one, please steer me in the right direction, and post them here. I'm trying to be open-minded about this one, but I think the local broadcast TV community is dead wrong on this one. I think Nielsen is wrong too, and is playing way too heavy a role in exercising its judgment on this call. And I think the real loser is going to be local broadcast TV advertising share. If advertisers and agencies lose more confidence in the medium, they're simply going to shift budgets to other, more accountable media.
benton.org/node/30594 | MediaPost
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OWNERSHIP

MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer]
The European Commission on Wednesday accepted Microsoft's offer to allow European computer users to choose rival Internet browsers, ending a decade-long battle with the US software company. The decision will mean that Microsoft, which has been fined a total of $2.45 billion to date by Brussels, will escape further financial penalties. The European Commission said Microsoft's legally binding pledge would satisfy concerns that the software company was breaking antitrust rules by bundling its Internet Explorer browser with its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft has promised to offer PC-users a "ballot screen" that will allow them to chose from a number of rival browsers. The commitment will be valid in the European Economic Area for five years. If Microsoft breaks the commitments it has given, the European Commission can fine the company up to 10 per cent of its annual turnover. Microsoft will report on implementation of the measures in six months' time, and could make adjustments to the choice screen if the Commission requests it. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is used for about 56 per cent of global Internet traffic, followed by Mozilla's Firefox at about 32 per cent and Opera's 2 per cent, just ahead of Google and Apple's Safari, according to StatCounter, the web analytics company.
benton.org/node/30631 | Financial Times | NYTimes | LATimes
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

CHARTING A COURSE FROM VIRTUAL REALITY TO WHITE HOUSE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Daniel Terdiman]
Beth Noveck is President Barack Obama's deputy chief technology officer for open government. Precisely what "open government" means probably depends on whom you ask. But in her official role in the current presidential administration, Noveck frames it as an attempt to make our federal institutions embrace technology in a bid to share information with the public. "Open government is the effort to create government institutions that are more transparent," Noveck explains, "that work more in the open and that provide information more readily online and in real time--and that are also more participatory." On January 21, as many in Washington (DC) were still shaking off hangovers from the inaugural parties the night before, Obama, in his first official action as president, signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open government, a short document that declared, "We shall work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in government." Noveck was a principal contributor to the memorandum, and the first member of the Obama-Biden transition's Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform team, which advised the president-elect on ways to incorporate technology into his larger reform goals. So one could say that the new president's adoption of these concepts was a very high-profile validation of years of Noveck's work on a wide range of issues revolving around technology policy and using technology to help craft policy.
benton.org/node/30599 | C-Net|News.com
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European Commission accepts Microsoft browser offer

The European Commission on Wednesday accepted Microsoft's offer to allow European computer users to choose rival Internet browsers, ending a decade-long battle with the US software company. The decision will mean that Microsoft, which has been fined a total of $2.45 billion to date by Brussels, will escape further financial penalties. The European Commission said Microsoft's legally binding pledge would satisfy concerns that the software company was breaking antitrust rules by bundling its Internet Explorer browser with its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft has promised to offer PC-users a "ballot screen" that will allow them to chose from a number of rival browsers. The commitment will be valid in the European Economic Area for five years. If Microsoft breaks the commitments it has given, the European Commission can fine the company up to 10 per cent of its annual turnover. Microsoft will report on implementation of the measures in six months' time, and could make adjustments to the choice screen if the Commission requests it. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is used for about 56 per cent of global Internet traffic, followed by Mozilla's Firefox at about 32 per cent and Opera's 2 per cent, just ahead of Google and Apple's Safari, according to StatCounter, the web analytics company.

Ronald Coase and the radio spectrum

[Commentary] Back in the 1950s economist Ronald Coase first proposed spectrum auctions. Wireless licenses were auctioned in 1989 in New Zealand, 1991 in India, and 1994 in the US. Competitive bidding is now a standard policy tool in more than 30 countries. Over $52bn has been raised in America, more than twice that elsewhere. But that is barely the tip of the Coasian iceberg. The far more important reforms extend from a sharp liberalization of the rights granted wireless licensees. Traditional broadcasting licenses specify exactly what firms may do, fixing services, applications, technologies, and business models. Mobile phone and other modern licenses, however, convey airwave rights tantamount to spectrum ownership. They define band contours and then delegate choices about usage to market players. The result has been spectacularly successful. Some are asking policymakers to abandon Coase's spectrum property vision and move to shared spectrum space. The question is not whether "multiple parties occupy the same spectral space," but how we organize the sharing arrangements. Government does set aside unlicensed bands, but they have proven ineffective for the most valued wireless applications. In local uses where they attach to phone or cable networks built using privately owned "spectrum in a tube," wi-fi radios and cordless phones work. But the complexity of these plug-ins pales in comparison to the wide-area networks customers deem most productive. To provide those services, mobile carriers stack millions of "multiple parties" into the same spaces - 4.6bn subscribers at last global count. The most intensively shared wireless bandwidth is found exactly here, in spaces allocated to what regulators call "exclusive use" spectrum. That, too, is a most interesting error. But one, unlike Coase's, we should aspire to correct.

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