February 2012

Broadcasters Not Benefiting From Santorum's Rise

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum's rise in the polls against Mitt Romney has not translated into more political ad dollars for broadcasters from his suddenly resurgent campaign as of a week ago.

Santorum has been getting plenty of free (earned) media via news stories on his primary wins versus Mitt Romney, but his focus in the media spend department continues to be on the Internet, according to the most recent SEC figures (Feb. 21) aggregated by the Center For Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org. While the Romney campaign has spent a whopping $11,779,655 million on broadcast media in the primary contest, Santorum's campaign had spent only $9,969 on broadcast media, compared to $1,137,679 on Internet advertising. Romney was sharing the political advertising love with the Internet, too, with $2,287,374 in outlays.

Sports Fan Coalition: Ending FCC Black Out Rule Probably Won't End Blackouts

Armed with quotes from disabled and elderly fans, the Sports Fan Coalition told the Federal Communications Commission once again its sports blackout rule must go.

The coalition, which was filing reply comments to its own petition to scrap the rule, said that even if the government blackout were lifted, the National Football League and other sports circuits could maintain the blackouts contractually, although the coalition is hoping market forces would force them away from that policy. The FCC's sports blackout rule prevents a cable or satellite company from carrying a local market NFL game whose local broadcast has been blacked out per the NFL policy for broadcasts of games not sold out 72 hours in advance. The coalition was responding to NFL arguments that if the government policy were lifted, cable operators would be able to use their compulsory license to import a distant signal version of the game to cable subs in the market, thus circumventing the NFL blackout policy, Broadcasters have argued that the blackout and other exclusivity rules are crucial to preserving geographic exclusivity and the local ad revenues that ensue, and both National Association of Broadcasters and NFL have argued that eliminating the rule would speed the migration of sports from free TV. The coalition says the NFL and NAB are trying to have it both ways.

Report: NATO needs more cyber capabilities

Government officials have warned that cyberattacks are rapidly becoming one of the greatest threats to the United States and its allies, but a new report says the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is still playing catch up.

"NATO's central missions of collective defense and cooperative security must be as effective in cyberspace as they are in the other domains of air, land, sea, and space," concluded a report released by the Atlantic Council. While NATO enacted a new cyberdefense policy in June, the alliance now needs to focus on a core set of priorities to make cybersecurity efforts more effective, the report said. NATO further expanded its cyber programs after cyberattacks against Estonia in 2007. It must continue that effort to repeatedly update and reinvent its cyber policies and capabilities, Jason Healey, director of the Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative, said at a panel discussion on Monday. But "NATO must be responsible for its own networks before looking to protect member states," said Healey, who helped author the report. The report's other recommendations include developing standards and minimum levels of cybersecurity for member states; collaboration with the private sector; and treating cybersecurity as a national-security policy problem, not just a technical issue.

Why Time Warner Cable’s broadband deal isn’t one

[Commentary] Time Warner Cable is implementing a new pricing plan in certain areas of Texas that gives customers a break on their broadband bill if they agree to a limited plan. While in theory this is nice, because it lowers the cost of broadband for people who may not be able to pay $60 a month (that’s what TWC charges me), it’s also a pretty lousy deal.

It’s not a deal I would sign up for, knowing how much of my work, entertainment and even my climate control comes over the web, but for the dwindling bit of the population that can’t consume 5 GB a month, this is a way to cut costs. Just make sure when relatives or friends come over they know about your limited broadband — and don’t sign up for that Netflix or Hulu account. I find the plan somewhat disturbing, given Time Warner Cable’s history attempting to implement tiered pricing back in 2009, but also because Time Warner is creating artificial constraints on people who may then be reluctant to pay more for Internet access.

But Why Time Warner Cable’s Bandwidth Cap May Be A Good Thing. See How Complicated This Is?

[Commentary] So no sooner do I cast a very suspicious eye over AT&T Wireless’ new scheme to allow ap developers to pay the overage charges for users who exceed their 2 GB monthly cap when I see that Time Warner Cable (TWC) is now offering an “Internet Essentials” plan in some test markets in Texas. Customers who opt into the new 5GB/month metered plan will receive a discount. TWC also includes a meter so customers can monitor their use. Finally, customers in the metered plan can easily pay more to get more access. While this is just a first reaction based on the TWC description, I have to say this is the kind of “metered usage” program I really like. In fact, this looks like an excellent product offering (albeit not for an ‘power user’ like myself.). I salute TWC for listening to its customers and offering something different and innovative.

So what’s so good about this metered program but I remain suspicious of other “usage based billing plans?

Clear value to the customer
Tools to monitor usage
User Internet experience remains the same

Say what? Google’s gigabit network won’t deliver a gig?

When is a gigabit not a gigabit? Perhaps when it’s Google’s gigabit network. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt said the company’s planned fiber-to-the-home network in Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas) will deliver sustained speeds of between 300 to 500 Mbps. This is still fast, but it’s not the gigabit that Google originally touted.

YouTube Begins To Form Developer Channel Program

Google has been quietly developing a YouTube Developer Program with platform companies to bridge the gap between brand channels and viewers, according to companies participating in the program.

It will give brands more template-style options. The tools, developed by digital agencies, will support YouTube's move to build out its channel strategy -- another step closer to turning the video site into an online broadcast network. The BUDeSYSTEM from The Buddy Group, which developed a CMS powering the MyBusinessStory channel from Google and American Express, is one of three platforms with features YouTube recently approved to support channel partners. AARP signed on to use the CMS platform in preparation for YouTube's next upgrade, expected March 7.

Public Knowledge Unveils Internet Blueprint Project

Public Knowledge launched the Internet Blueprint, an ambitious project to develop bills that will help make the internet a better place for everyone. The site consists of six new bills Congress could pass today, as well as a way for the public to submit and vote on their own ideas.

Five of the proposed bills deal with copyright. This set of proposed bills was inspired by the controversy surrounding the consideration by Congress of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). The Internet Blueprint bills address issues such as protections against online copyright abuse, eliminating barriers to lawful use, strengthening fair use, and shortening copyright terms. The sixth proposed bill would ensure more openness, accountability, and transparency in international trade agreements that regard intellectual property (IP). This reflects Public Knowledge's active effort to open secretive international negotiations like the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that privilege industry.

Executive Order -- Establishment of the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center

President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating an interagency trade enforcement center within the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Robust monitoring and enforcement of U.S. rights under international trade agreements, and enforcement of domestic trade laws, are crucial to expanding exports and ensuring U.S. workers, businesses, ranchers, and farmers are able to compete on a level playing field with foreign trade partners. To strengthen our capacity to monitor and enforce U.S. trade rights and domestic trade laws, and thereby enhance market access for U.S. exporters, executive departments and agencies (agencies) must coordinate and augment their efforts to identify and reduce or eliminate foreign trade barriers and unfair foreign trade practices to ensure that U.S. workers, businesses, ranchers, and farmers receive the maximum benefit from our international trade agreements and under domestic trade laws.

Obama Administration and Text4Baby join forces to connect pregnant women and children to health coverage and information

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services (CMS) will partner with Text4Baby, a free national health texting service, to promote enrollment in both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and provide pregnant women and new mothers free text messages on important health care issues.

The announcement is part of activities marking the anniversaries of both the signing of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) and the launch of Text4Baby, whose partners include Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, Voxiva, which provides the mobile health platforms, and a host of wireless carriers.

Benton

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