March 2011

Former Sen Chris Dodd to head Motion Picture Association of America

Former Connecticut Sen Chris Dodd, a veteran Washington insider, is Hollywood's new chief lobbyist. The Motion Picture Association of America said that Dodd will become the new chief executive of the MPAA, the lobbying arm for the main studios that also oversees the film ratings system.

Dodd succeeds Dan Glickman, a former Kansas congressman and Secretary of Agriculture, who stepped down a year ago after five years on the job. Dodd will pull down more than $1.5 million in salary, 25% greater than the $1.2 million Glickman received. In selecting Dodd, the MPAA's board is counting on the one-time U.S. presidential hopeful to restore some of the clout that the organization had during the four decades it was run by the legendary Jack Valenti, the former aide to President Lyndon Johnson who turned the lobbyist's role into a starring turn. Dodd’s appointment caps a year-long search for a successor that showed how much the MPAA job, once a coveted position, has diminished in recent years.

Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said, “We welcome Senator Dodd to the MPAA and wish him good luck in his new role. We hope that he and his members will come to realize that technology is not your enemy — that instead technology can be the greatest means of distributing content the industry has ever seen. The industry should look on new developments as opportunities, not as barriers, to building the industry.”

Our national broadband strategy: Wireless déjà vu?

[Commentary] The national broadband strategy articulated by the President is a good news/bad news sort of déjà vu for those of us who were on the front lines of municipal WiFi’s surge and eventual flame out. At least the bad news part is correctable if both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue learn one valuable lesson from 2006. The good news is that the President clearly understands the vital impact broadband can have on economic development. When integrated with appropriate existing programs such as urban enterprise zones, SCORE and local economic gardening, broadband indeed helps make businesses more competitive, enables telemedicine advances and transforms education and worker training. The problematic aspect of the strategy is that word “wireless.” Official D.C. is doing the same thing hundreds of elected officials did in 2006 – advocating a great set of significant, attainable economic goals, but betting on the weaker technology horse to carry us across this finish line.

Sen Udall: Broadcasting Still Matters

The continuing value of free, over-the-air broadcasting, the first wireless technology, can get lost amid the broadband bells and whistles and the clamor for more spectrum. That was the gist of the message to broadcasters from Senate Commerce Committee member Tom Udall (D-NM) at the National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference in Washington. The conference is an opportunity for broadcasters from around the country to strategize and then fan out to Capitol Hill and the FCC to make the case for things like broadcast spectrum and a light touch on retrans reform. Sen Udall, who is the cousin of NAB President Gordon Smith (himself a former Republican Senator and member of the Commerce Committee), also made a plea for an interoperable broadband communications network and for the continued funding of public broadcasting, which is targeted by Republican House leaders for big cuts.

McDowell: FCC Quietly Dismissing Indecency Complaints

The Federal Communications Commission has quietly dismissed indecency complaints against television stations and more than 6,000 programs, which should clear the way for some of the 315 pending TV license renewals, most of which are being held up by the complaints, to be processed, said FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell.

Commissioner McDowell told an audience of broadcasters at the NAB State Leadership Conference that after his staff had been in touch with the Enforcement Bureau about how some of those license issues could be resolved "we discovered that the bureau has actually been quietly dismissing complaints that fall outside the scope of our authority." That includes complaints against programming that had aired between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., when the FCC's indecency rules do not apply, and ones dealing with violent content, over which the FCC has no authority. FCC sources in the past have also pointed to the dropping of some complaints due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. There were over a million complaints in the pipeline, Commissioner McDowell has said previously. Monday he did not talk in terms of complaints, but programs, saying that about 15,000 broadcasts were the subjects of those complaints as of last year, and that those had now been whittled down to 8,700 by last month. Commissioner McDowell, who has said the FCC needed to work through that backlog, gave FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski props for progress, and said he hoped it would continue.

Verizon Wireless Will End Unlimited Data Plans for IPhone

Verizon Communications Inc. will stop offering unlimited data plans for Apple Inc.’s iPhone as soon as this summer and switch to a tiered pricing offering that can generate more revenue and hold the heaviest users in check. The carrier, which began selling the iPhone last month, now offers $30 unlimited data service on the device. Such plans on the handset are “not a long-term solution,” Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said at a Morgan Stanley conference.

Chairman Upton: Retrans Regime Should Not Favor Either Party

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said that neither Congress nor the Federal Communications Commission should be getting in the middle of retransmission consent negotiations.

"As we look at retransmission consent, I think we shouldn't have legislation mandating carriage arrangements...There are very few cases where we haven't seen an agreement between the parties." Until he saw otherwise, he said, the private sector should be allowed to work it out itself. That line drew strong applause from the broadcasters Upton was speaking to at the National Association of Broadcasters' State Leadership Conference. He suggested that part of that free market equation that drives the vast majority of deals without signal pulling is big ticket sporting events like March Madness or the World Series; those prompt viewers to put pressure on all parties to do a deal before the contracts expire.

House Panel To Begin Examination of Spectrum Issues

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said that the panel will begin its examination of spectrum issues next week with a hearing. During a speech at the National Association of Broadcasters state leadership conference, Chairman Upton said the committee wants to craft legislation that would ensure both broadcasters and wireless providers can continue to provide consumers with what they want: access to television and spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless broadband.

"We want to design a win, win, win strategy," Chairman Upton said. "We want to have broadcasters to win, wireless [operators] to win and the public to win in terms of deficit reduction." Among the issues policymakers must tackle include how to free up more spectrum for wireless broadband and whether to re-allocate a controversial chunk of spectrum known a the D-block to public safety officials for a national broadband interoperable network. Chairman Upton did not give any signals as to what proposals the committee would take up, saying the hearings will help educate lawmakers on the issues.

Improving public health one app at a time

Got high blood pressure? There's an app for that. There's one for diabetes too. Another app that will watch your weight -- and report it to your doctor. Smart phones, cell phones and home computers are just waiting to launch the next big revolution in health care, said Robert Jarring, senior director for government affairs at the wireless communications innovator Qualcomm. Wireless mobile devices can become an ever-present link between patient and doctor.

Open Access Middle Mile Broadband Networks Gaining Momentum

Middle mile open access fiber networks are springing up all over. And although these networks share one key common principle—open access for other network operators—each implementation seems to have its own unique funding and operational model.

One of the more unique models is that of Massachusetts Broadband Institute, which announced that it has chosen Axia NetMedia Corporation, an international broadband network operator, to serve as the operator of the 1,338-mile network the institute is building in western and north central Massachusetts. MBI isn't the first middle mile project to use an independent company to manage the network. But it is the first U.S. organization to choose Axia NetMedia for that role. Axia NetMedia has broadband networks in Canada, France, Singapore and Spain, including a 9,320-mile open access network in Alberta, Canada. “This is a critical step toward extending broadband access and bridging the digital divide,” said MBI Director Judith Dumont in an announcement of the deal with Axia NetMedia. “Axia’s expertise in successfully developing broadband networks will help us deploy high-speed Internet services to residents and businesses that have been unconnected for too long.” Another unique aspect of the MBI network–dubbed MassBroadband 123– is its funding, which included $45.4 million from a broadband stimulus award and $26.2 million in matching funds from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. MBI was created as a result of a Broadband Act adopted by Massachusetts state legislators in 2008.

Consumer Groups: Hold Strong on Meaningful Use

A coalition of 25 consumer groups and unions is asking federal officials to hold firm on more stringent criteria for Stage 2 of electronic health records meaningful use, and expressing support for going further.

For instance, because patients still trust their providers more than other information sources, holding providers accountable for actual usage of a patient Web portal "is entirely appropriate and we strongly urge ONC to resist pressure from the provider community to absolve them from responsibility for making these services available and useful to their patients," according to a comment letter to the Office of the National Coordinator. "In other industries, performance is routinely based on how well customers needs are met, as indicated by sales or usage of a particular product," the groups contend. "Providers have a significant impact on whether or not consumers use the tools provided to them, as has been shown by leaders in consumer engagement efforts. The fact that they do not have 100 percent control over whether a patient uses a 'portal' is no justification for backing away from this critical step." The consumer organizations and unions express support for providers informing patients of the existence of advance directives, providing online access to patients' own data and secure messaging capabilities, requiring a longitudinal care plan for chronically ill patients, and substantially more robust use of health information exchange technologies.

Benton

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