April 2012

States Up the Online Ante on Online Lottery

When the U.S. Justice Department in December narrowed its interpretation of the 50-year-old Wire Act, saying it banned only sports betting and not other forms of online gambling, the decision sparked hope in state capitals that lotteries could start selling tickets online and lead a charge into online gambling.

But the convenience-store lobby in New York protested the state's plan, and now the plan is under review as the governor's office re-examines state gambling policy. Lottery directors in other states also are sparring with store owners fearful of losing customers who buy tickets. The battle is one front in a broader struggle among state lotteries, casino operators, Internet companies and convenience stores that could determine how an expected wave of legal online gambling takes shape in the US.

Music Film Is Delayed by Fees for Songs

In the 1960s many of the hits coming out of Los Angeles under the names of the Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, the Monkees and other top pop acts were actually recorded by an elite but largely anonymous corps of studio musicians nicknamed the Wrecking Crew. To gain them some belated public recognition Denny Tedesco, a son of one of the most prolific of those session players, spent more than 15 years making a documentary about the ensemble. But there’s just one problem, and it has held up commercial release of “The Wrecking Crew” since 2008, when the documentary made its debut at the South by Southwest film festival. The film includes dozens of snippets from songs the Wrecking Crew played on, but the record companies that own the recordings want so much money from Tedesco, whose total budget was less than $1 million, that he has turned to a fund-raising campaign, including an event scheduled for New York in mid-June, to meet their demands. “There are 132 music cues in this film, and you’ll know 99.9 percent of them,” Tedesco, 51, said. “But when I asked one record company for a quote, they said it was going to cost $2.5 million.” He has managed to bargain the labels down, but, he added, “I’ve still got about 25 songs left to pay off and need to raise $175,000 before I start to see the light.”

‘What Were You Thinking?’ For Couples, New Source of Online Friction

Relationships are hard enough. But the rise of social media — where sharing private moments is encouraged, and provocative and confessional postings can help build a following — has created a new source of friction for couples: what is fair game for sharing with the world?

If one half of a couple is not interested in broadcasting the details of a botched dinner or romantic weekend, Facebook postings or tweets can create irritation, embarrassment, miscommunication and bruised egos. After a few relationship-testing episodes, some spouses have started insisting that their partners ask for approval before posting comments and photographs that include them. Couples also are talking through rules as early as the first date (a kind of social media prenup) about what is O.K. to share. Even tweeting about something as seemingly innocent as a house repair can become a lesson in boundary-setting.

What politicians lost to Murdoch

[Commentary] It is now obvious, despite Rupert Murdoch’s modesty, that News Corp has exercised an unholy grip over British politicians, who helped it to avoid antitrust barriers as it bought The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981, and British Sky Broadcasting in 1990.

Those politicians were so in awe of Murdoch that they leapt to accommodate him without him needing to ask out loud. It is also clear that cabinet ministers can be trusted to adjudicate impartially on media mergers about as much as they could be trusted before 1997 to set interest rates for the good of the economy, as opposed to their parties. The long-term question is how to prevent another baron from pulling off the trick again.

Hunt insists he acted fairly over BSkyB

Jeremy Hunt, UK culture secretary, has defended his role overseeing News Corp’s bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, telling Members of Parliament he conducted himself with “scrupulous fairness.”

Hunt appeared before parliament shortly after Adam Smith, his special adviser, resigned. Smith admitted that his communication with News Corp during the bid process went “too far.” The minister listed four decisions that went against the wishes of News Corp: saying he was “minded” to refer the bid to the competition commission, asking Ofcom, the regulator to review the assurances undertaken by News Corp as part of the bid, extending the period of consultation and asking Ofcom to review whether the phone hacking affair had any impact on the bid.

FCC Launches Connect America Fund

The Federal Communications Commission officially launched the new ‘Connect America Fund’ (CAF), which was recently created as part of once-in-a-generation reform of the Universal Service Fund (USF).

This is the first phase of funding from the CAF (CAF Phase 1). Carriers have 90 days to accept the funding, as well as the aggressive buildout requirements that must begin in the coming months. The Commission expects that carriers will likely supplement the CAF funding with private investment. While carriers are not required to participate, hundreds of thousands of Americans will gain access to broadband even if carriers only accept a portion of the money. In addition, the FCC today implemented additional reforms that will make more effective use of existing funding to increase support for broadband for over 2 million rural lines across the country. As with CAF Phase 1 this funding was made available through reforms that improve fiscal responsibility and accountability, and target funding more accurately and effectively.

White House issues veto threat against CISPA

The White House issued a veto threat against the current version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) as House Republicans prepared to take it to the floor.

Just as the House Rules Committee convened to weigh amendments to the measure, spearheaded by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the administration released a formal policy statement that raised the stakes: It said President Barack Obama’s advisers would recommend that the President veto the bill unless there are significant changes to boost privacy protections, add new protections on users' personal information and alter its liability protection language. "The administration looks forward to continuing to engage with the Congress in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to enact cybersecurity legislation to address these critical issues," it continued. "However, for the reasons stated herein, if H.R. 3523 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill."

Public broadcasting cut from Virginia budget

Virginia’s current state budget includes about $3 million for public broadcasting statewide, with $2 million of that divided among public TV stations for classroom educational services. In the two-year, $85 billion budget that the General Assembly approved, all of that funding has gone but for $500,000, which is designated for digital educational content for classrooms. It is not clear if that $500,000 will be shared among public TV stations or if commercial providers could bid for it, said Lisa Tait, vice president for development at Community Idea Stations, which operates one radio and three TV stations in Richmond and Charlottesville.

FCC wants to put political ad data online; broadcasters balk

This month, just before the Pennsylvania primary, Mitt Romney's campaign bought a 30-second commercial on CBS-owned KYW-TV Philadelphia that ran during the station's late local news. The ad cost $1,800. That's hardly confidential information. The details of such political advertising purchases are available to anybody willing to schlep to their local television station and ask to see the public files. But now the Federal Communications Commission wants to take that same material, which is required by law to be made available to the public, out of a dusty filing cabinet and onto the Internet.

On April 27, the FCC will vote on whether to make that a new rule. Broadcasters are crying foul. Even though that information is already technically public, they fear putting that level of detail on the Web will undermine their own businesses. "One poker player would, in effect, have had at least a partial glance at the other's hand," broadcast networks CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and Univision wrote in comments. By law, in the weeks leading up to a primary or general election, broadcasters are required to sell candidates ad time at the lowest rate paid by a commercial business in that same show or time of day. (Commercial rates fluctuate on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.) The concern among TV station owners is that commercial advertisers will use the detailed information about rates as leverage in their own negotiations. There is also fear that one station could learn what another is charging and then undercut its rates with advertisers.

Sen Grassley hints FCC holds could be lifted

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested he could soon lift holds on two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission. Sen Grassley wants the FCC to provide documents related to its review of LightSquared’s proposal to build a 4G wireless network. The FCC dumped 13,000 documents earlier this week to Grassley, and the senator said he could release the holds if more documents were forthcoming. "[I]t looks a little bit different today," he said of the situation. "We'll get another [document dump] very shortly, and if it continues to be helpful, maybe by the following week we'll be able to move." But Sen Grassley stopped short of guaranteeing a release, adding "I can't make that judgment now."

Benton

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