April 2011

After threats and legislative attempts by Republicans to zero out Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, the continuing resolution that passed the House and Senate April 14 keeps the dollars flowing to noncommercial radio and television stations.

The CR, which funds the government through September, forward funds CPB through 2013 at the annual 2012 figure of $445 million, preserving the two-year forward funding mechanism Republicans had targeted. Also preserved was a $27.2 million Ready To Learn program funded through the Department of Education, though the final decision on that funding remains at the discretion at DOE. But CPB did not emerge unscathed. The legislation cuts funding in other areas, including: $30 million of $36 million for expanding digital technologies; $20 million by zeroing out the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, a Commerce grant that funds noncommercial TV and radio equipment; and $50 million by zeroing out public radio interconnection and station fiscal stabilization funds.

Google is facing antitrust complaints in South Korea as mobile phones using its Android software gain dominance.

NHN Corp. and Daum Communications Corp., operators of South Korea’s two largest Internet search sites, filed complaints against Google with the country’s Fair Trade Commission for blocking local phone carriers and manufacturers from embedding their search applications in devices using the Android operating system.

Google has banned South Korean phone manufacturers from including Web search applications made by other companies under its marketing contracts, Seongnam-based NHN said. Google has delayed certifying the use of its software for handset makers that violated the condition, the South Korean company said. Daum learned about Google’s practices while trying to have its applications installed and has evidence to prove its claims, the Seoul-based company said. About 70 percent of the more than 10 million smartphones sold in South Korea were Android-based devices as of March 31, according to an estimate by Park Jong Soo, an analyst at Hanwha Securities Co. in Seoul. NHN and Daum together control about 90 percent of Web searches on personal computers in South Korea, according to Lee Chang Young, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities Inc. in Seoul. Google’s share is between 1 percent and 2 percent, Lee said.

Are casino-style video slot games gambling under state laws? Should states allow that kind of gambling? Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, says it is gambling. "What we've seen a lot with these Internet sweepstakes cafes is it's a way to get around gambling laws," Whyte said. "The only reason people are going to these facilities and spending so much time and money is because it's gambling. If it wasn't gambling, it wouldn't be popular." The assumption, he said, is people are going primarily to gamble and not to use the Internet, make copies or fax documents.

Rob Kenny, who has been acting press secretary for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, is leaving to become a senior VP in the Washington office of Mercury, a public affairs/lobbying firm whose clients include the National Association of Broadcasters and AT&T.

Starting in early May, Kenny will handle media relations and focus on healthcare and telecom, though not exclusively. Kenny worked with some of the Mercury executive when he was director of public affairs for the New York State Health Department in the 1990s and early 2000s. Kenny has been on loan to the chairman from the Homeland Security and Public Safety Bureau, where he has been director of media relations. That was a permanent job. He was also acting press secretary under FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. He has been in public service for 22 years; this will be his first foray into the private sector.