June 2012

List political ads' sponsors on Web

[Commentary] A House appropriations subcommittee voted last week to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from doing its job. The FCC, by law, has long required broadcasters to maintain at the station public files about all political ads sold — including information about the names of sponsors or names of executives or board of directors of sponsoring entities, the amount paid and the time slot. The FCC, finally recognizing the 21st century, ordered in late April that major TV stations in large markets had to make this information available on the Internet — so the public has ready access.

Perhaps the House subcommittee members have not read the Supreme Court’s opinion in Citizens United. “With the advent of the Internet,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide stockholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters. … Citizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called money interests … and disclosure permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way. This transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.”

Justice Kennedy was right about the Internet — and the House subcommittee is wrong.

[Newton N. Minow is a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Henry Geller is a former general counsel of the FCC]

The threat of the Internet has forced magazines to get smarter

“PRINT is dead” was a common refrain a couple of years ago. The costly print advertisements that kept magazines and newspapers alive were migrating to the web, where they earned only pennies on the dollar. To publishers, it felt as if a hurricane was flattening their business. But as the storm has cleared, a new publishing landscape has emerged.

What was once a fairly uniform business -- identify a group of people united by some shared identity or passion, write stories for them to read and sell advertising next to the stories -- has split into several different kinds. Hard news is perhaps the hardest to make profitable. It is increasingly instant, constant and commoditized (as with oil or rice, consumers do not care where it came from). With rare exceptions, making money in news means publishing either the cheap kind that attracts a very large audience, and making money from ads, or the expensive kind that is critical to a small audience, and making money from subscriptions. Both are cut-throat businesses; in rich countries, many papers are closing. But among magazines there is a new sense of optimism. In North America, where the recession bit deepest (see chart), more new magazines were launched than closed in 2011 for the second year in a row. The Association of Magazine Media (MPA) reports that magazine audiences are growing faster than those for TV or newspapers, especially among the young.

Google and Netflix Make Land Grab On Edge Of Internet

Behind the scenes, there’s a big change happening on internet. It’s something that’s mostly hidden from web surfers, but it’s becoming critical to big internet companies such as Google and Netflix. They’re moving servers — usually free of charge — next to the service providers’ networking gear so that people trying to watch a popular YouTube video don’t have to send traffic across the network to servers back to the website’s data center.

It can save companies like Google and Comcast lots of money, and it speeds things up for consumers. According to Craig Labovitz, founder of network analysis company Deepfield Networks, it’s also changing the way that internet companies work. “The business they’re in isn’t delivering bits anymore. It’s delivering content,” he says. And while not everyone agrees, Labovitz says there’s a bit of a land rush going on as more companies move to get their content closer to consumers. The prime real estate here is in nondescript box-like structures all over the world, which serve as a link between internet service providers, websites, and consumers connecting to the web.

Only 20% of Wi-Fi Bandwidth Available in Busy Areas

Research underway in the Netherlands could put somewhat of a wet blanket on carriers’ increasingly ambitious plans for offloading mobile data traffic onto Wi-Fi in congested areas.

In areas that have numerous wireless networks, the bandwidth available on an individual Wi-Fi connection for actual data traffic may be as low as 20% of total bandwidth, reports website Phys.org, citing research conducted by the University of Twente’s CTIT research institute. “The more devices that are simultaneously using a network, and the more active networks there are, the greater the amount of bandwidth consumed by various control mechanisms, rather than by actual data traffic,” explained Phys.org — a science, research and technology news service — in the post. As a result, it is becoming less of an exception and more of a rule for Wi-Fi connections to receive only half of their advertised speed, the researchers said. The results of the University of Twente research are expected to be published soon in the Journal of Green Engineering Special Issue on Cognitive Radio.

Verizon's Ritter: Our 300 Mbps FiOS tier is about building a foundation for new services

Verizon got the broadband market's attention recently with its plan to offer a 300 Mbps tier for its FiOS Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) service, a move the company says will create a foundation to support multiple devices and higher bandwidth applications in the home.

Speaking in the closing keynote at Parks Associates' CONNECTIONS at TIA 2012, Verizon CMO for Consumer & Mass Business Markets, Mike Ritter, outlined the vision of what its higher FiOS speed tiers will enable. With the new speeds, the focus is on targeting users who are more interested in downloading using bandwidth-hungry applications such as online video and gaming via multiple devices in the home. "We're making, I think, a bold new move to respond to this trend of the consumption of devices with a whole new portfolio of broadband speeds," he said. "We're going to double the speeds of all of our top tiers within our bundles, and for the first time we're offering 300 Mbps to the consumer at a very reasonable price that will more than double anything that's in the marketplace today." Set to be launched later this month, the one remaining mystery about the new speed tiers, of course, is the pricing.

Senate Committee calls for DoD to develop network flow data analysis capability

The Defense Department should improve its ability to collect and analyze network flow data records, says the Senate Armed Services Committee. As part of its fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254) sent to the Senate floor June 4, the committee calls on the DoD office of chief information officer to improve the department's capabilities to handle flow data records, and "to potentially make this technology available for the defense of the country voluntarily through the Tier 1 Internet Service Providers." The DoD, the report says, would not monitor Internet communications through network flow analysis, but it should develop an "early warning and attack assessment function" that is able to detect developing cyber attacks. That ability would also give further visibility into where Internet traffic originates, the report adds, and so diminish the uncertainty of attributing a cyber attack.

Results of the Facebook Site Governance Vote

On June 8, Facebook concluded our second global site governance vote on the proposed updates to our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR) and Data Use Policy.

An outside auditor has now reviewed and confirmed the final results which show that approximately 297,883 people recommended we keep our existing SRR and Data Use Policy. Despite our significant efforts to encourage users to vote, only 342,632 people participated, which amounts to a tiny fraction of our user base of more than 900 million. As stated in both governing documents and throughout this process, when less than 30% of all active registered users vote, the results are advisory. Today Facebook will adopt the proposed updates to our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use Policy, which you can view by using the following links: SRR and Data Use Policy. We considered a number of factors in making this decision.

TiVo to Integrate PayPal Enabling Simple Shopping on TV and Strengthening Its Interactive Advertising Solution

TiVo and PayPal announced they have teamed up to provide TiVo users with the ability to purchase products featured in interactive advertisements on the TiVo user interface through PayPal, the faster, safer way to pay.

This integration creates a new opportunity for advertisers and brands to connect with TiVo users and to turn their 30-second spots and interactive TiVo ad placements into actionable purchasing opportunities through a one-time account link. TiVo will be working with its advertisers and agency partners to develop PayPal-enabled TiVo ads and Showcase campaigns beginning with the fall 2012 television season. This solution will also be available to TiVo's MSO customers such as RCN, Suddenlink and more. Products purchased through PayPal will be charged to the TiVo user's PayPal account through a secure transaction and shipped to the address the user has registered with PayPal for deliveries. Orders will be fulfilled either by the advertiser or a trusted merchant that accepts PayPal for payment.

Colorado wildfire: Denver TV stations clash with Larimer officials on fire coverage

Denver television stations delivered extended coverage of the ongoing, fast-moving High Park Fire through the weekend as flames raged over nearly 37,000 acres and damaged or destroyed an estimated 100 structures. Reports of evacuations and the weather dominated the coverage, with stunning aerial and ground footage of the flames. At times the journalistic imperative to deliver news clashed with authorities' efforts to control the flow of information. On June 11, the Larimer County Sherriff's Office issued a request to the media not to show photos of destroyed homes out of respect to homeowners. Station managers acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue, but turned aside the plea on journalistic grounds.

Sen Durbin Still Hopeful for Action on Net Sales Tax Bill

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is still hopeful for action this year on his measure to require online retailers to collect sales taxes from their out-of-state customers.

He has authored legislation with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would close a loophole left by a 1992 Supreme Court decision. Sen Durbin noted that former Gov Haley Barbour (R-MS) is lobbying on the issue for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents big box stores with brick-and-click operations such as Target and Wal-Mart. RILA along with other retail groups such as the National Retail Federation, Consumer Electronics Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers are backing the Enzi-Durbin bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated that the bill needs more Republican support before he'll bring it to the Senate floor, Sen Durbin said. He cited some progress in attracting GOP support, which will be key to overcoming a likely Republican filibuster. Durbin said he would still like to have the backing of at least a dozen Republicans. So far, only four Republicans in addition to Enzi have signed on as co-sponsors of the Enzi-Durbin bill. The bill, however, does have the backing of many GOP governors, who have voiced concern about losses in sales tax revenues given the growth in e-commerce.

Benton

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