September 2012

Is cybersecurity legislation still alive?

According to one congressman, hope is still alive that Congress will be able to pass a cybersecurity law – and that it would be more effective than a White House order.

“It may be coughing, it may be sputtering, but it’s not dead,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House intelligence committee. “After the election we’re going to have a prime opportunity to come back and…take care of the things that are difficult to get done legislatively. We’re not giving up. I think there’s a good chance that we’re going to turn this around.” Rep Rogers, speaking Sept. 26 at the INSA Cyber Innovation Symposium in Washington, said he was concerned about the prospects of new regulation he thinks may come in the executive order, but also noted that he doesn’t know what specifically the order may entail.

Google trying to land local sports from Time Warner Cable

Google and Time Warner Cable appear at odds over whether the new player in Kansas City television service will be able to include some regional college basketball games in its subscription package.

Time Warner says it has negotiated in good faith to sell local and regional live sports programming to Google Fiber TV, the TV-and-Internet service set to begin home installations in a few Kansas City, Kan., neighborhoods this fall. Google, in turn, expressed frustration to federal regulators about its ability to gain access to the regional sporting events from Time Warner’s MetroSports channel. In a Sept. 21 letter, Google recounted discussions it had with Federal Communications Commission officials and “the continuing ability of competitors and new entrants to access essential regional sports programming.” At the center of what could represent the budding competition for Kansas City TV subscriptions is Time Warner’s MetroSports channel.

Forecast: U.S. Communications Industry to Accelerate Growth, Hit $1.46 Trillion in 2016

Investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson expects the U.S. communications industry to see a compound annual growth rate of 5.2 percent over the next few years to reach $1.455 trillion in revenue by 2016, almost twice the 2.7 percent growth rate over the past five years.

Entertainment media spending, a segment that includes box office and recorded music, will accelerate its growth, while subscription TV will expand more, but see its growth rate slow. In unveiling its latest annual forecast, Veronis spoke of a "return to spending levels not seen since before [the] global economic downturn." And the firm said: "While digital has been a growth driver in select pockets of the Industry in the past, the new data show that digital communications and services - encompassing content, technology and user access - has firmly established itself as the driving force of the industry." Spending on entertainment and leisure media will increase 4.9 percent to $293.49 billion this year, with strong gains in subscription TV spending expected to offset weaker growth in the entertainment media segment.

Conservative leaders claim unprecedented media bias this election cycle

Two-dozen conservative activists and media personalities urged members of their respective groups to switch off the "biased news media," claiming in an open letter that establishment media are "out of control with a deliberate and unmistakable leftist agenda."

Though these groups frequently complain about a left-leaning media bias, they claimed in the letter that the political slant this cycle is unprecedented. "In the quarter century since the Media Research Center was established to document liberal media bias, there has never been a more brazen and complete attempt by the liberal so-called 'news' media to decide the outcome of an election," wrote Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, and other conservative leaders. They ticked off a litany of grievances against the news media, saying they've been "shamefully smearing" Mitt Romney over the course of the election. Among their charges were that the media have painted conservative ideas as "extreme;" downplayed the "horrendous economic conditions" in the country; focused more on shortcomings in Romney's business background than in Obama's record as president; been "pouncing" on missteps by conservatives while "suppressing" gaffes by Vice President Biden; and been "deliberately covering up embarrassing government failures and scandals, including the Solyndra debacle, Fast & Furious, and national security leaks."

Will the media start rooting for a Mitt Romney comeback?

[Commentary] "If there's one thing the media won't tolerate for long, it's an unchanging media narrative," says Robert Wright at The Atlantic. So the current story of the race between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney — "Obama sits on a lead that is modest but increasingly comfortable, thanks to a hapless Romney and a hapless Romney campaign" — will almost certainly take a pro-Romney tilt soon. Romney's three weeks of media hell are likely over. Despite conservatives' complaints about leftist media bias, will the mainstream press really start cheering for a Romney resurgence?

The Ad Wars: Super PACs not super? Not so fast

[Commentary] The Wall Street Journal reached a bold conclusion on one of the central debates of the 2012 elections: “Super PAC Influence Falls Short of Aims,” declared its front page, above-the-fold headline. “The flood of spending doesn’t appear to have significantly influenced voter opinion in key states in the presidential contest,” the story asserted. But what the story didn’t provide was evidence to support its central claim: that super PACs were not having a substantial influence on voter opinion. Instead, it relied almost entirely upon a circular premise: Conservative super PACs have spent heavily on the presidential race in certain states, and Mitt Romney has performed poorly in polls in these states, so therefore the super PACs have failed to influence voters. It ain’t necessarily so. “You can’t say his failure to close the gap shows the ads aren’t effective,” said Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute and a political science professor at SUNY Albany. “They’re running ads at a time when the candidate is off in London putting his foot in his mouth.”

Political Ad Tracker: Hispanic Media Reinforces Election Spend is Bigger, Not Smarter

Perhaps a review of the 2012 election's Hispanic media investment strategy will hold some lessons for marketers. While both candidates have shown urgency in reaching the increasingly important Latino voter, there just has not been a Battle Royale on the Spanish-language networks. Instead of focusing on Hispanic media outlets, the candidates are sticking to saturating general-market stations in most battleground markets. This general market approach makes little sense considering a Pew Hispanic Center survey notes that 20 percent of Hispanic voters said Spanish is their primary/preferred language. Another 45 percent say they are bilingual. It only stands to reason that the best way to win the hearts and minds of these voters is through Spanish-language media.

FCC Termination of Certain Proceedings as Dormant

The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) terminates, as dormant, a number of proceedings. Termination of these proceedings furthers the Commission’s organizational goals of increasing the efficiency of its decision-making, modernizing the agency’s processes in the digital age, and enhancing the openness and transparency of FCC proceedings for practitioners and the public.

[Link below includes list of proceedings.]

82% of U.K. 5-Year-Olds Use an Internet Device, While 70% of Pensioners Don’t

[Commentary] We’ve got two interesting snippets of data about technology adoption by age. The most stunning — and one that shows the profound impact that the Internet is having — is that 82% of 5-year-olds in the U.K. already own or use an Internet-enabled device. At the other end of the age spectrum, research by U.K. think-tank Policy Exchange shows that seven out of 10 U.K. citizens over the age of 65 do not have an online device at home; 5.4 million have never used the Internet; and only one in 20 owns a smartphone. Such a vast disparity in technology adoption raises some questions about societal consequences. If 4 out of 5 children are using the Internet before they go to school, then why is their curriculum based on paper? And if only 30% of pensioners have access to a computer at home, e-government ambitions face serious challenges.

Google executive detained, released by Brazilian police (updated)

Brazilian Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was released after being detained by police in Sao Paolo, a BBC report said. The Federal Police in Brazil released a statement saying Coelho would be detained and questioned. The Associated Press reported that a translation of the press release indicated Coelho would be released if he agreed to sign a document promising to appear in court — which he apparently signed.

Update:
YouTube said that it will block a video about a Brazilian mayoral candidate after being denied the chance to appeal to keep the clip online.

Benton

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