December 2012

If Sprint really wants to buy Clearwire, why did it low-ball its offer, and why is Softbank reportedly choking off Sprint’s bargaining power? Spectrum policy analyst Tim Farrar believes Sprint isn’t interested in buying Clearwire – at least not yet.

Rather he believes Sprint’s bid is just one maneuver in a very complex chess game that pits carriers against one another over spectrum and in which Softbank, Clearwire, Dish Network and AT&T are all players. What it boils down to is this: Sprint wants to block any deal between Dish and Clearwire to operate a shared network using Dish’s newly minted 4G spectrum. By making an offer that Clearwire’s strategic investors – Intel, Comcast and Bright House – would likely consider, Sprint and Softbank could hold up any Dish-Clearwire pact in the works, at least until Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint closes. If Sprint successfully blocks a Dish-Clearwire deal, what happens then? Well, after the Softbank deal closes, the new company could decide whether to pursue Clearwire in earnest.

Internet users already rely more on the network than newspapers and magazines for their national news. Now the net is also on the verge of overtaking television, according to research.

In fact, more connected Italians already say they get their national news from online ahead of TV, says UK communications regulator Ofcom’s just-published International Communications Market Report. The internet also now leads for international news consumption in both Italy and Japan. But, for some, it is local news at which the internet seemingly excels — that is how most internet users in Germany, Italy and Spain get their local info. It is when you break down “news” in to sub-categories that you see how far the internet has come as a news medium, becoming the main source of sports news and celeb gossip in several countries.

The American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and Consumers Union are among a coalition of nearly 60 groups that are urging the Federal Trade Commission to issue new regulations banning marketers from sending behaviorally targeted ads to children.

"These rule changes are not only essential, but also urgent, addressing a variety of techniques that are swiftly becoming commonplace, including: 'cookies' and other 'persistent identifiers' for following a child online, mobile and geolocation tracking, facial recognition software, and behavioral advertising." the organizations say in a letter sent to the FTC. The groups contend that the FTC needs to update its rules implementing the children's Online Privacy Protection Act, in order to account for recent advances in technology.

Hospitals that received Medicaid incentive payments in 2011 for achieving meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) typically were nonprofit, independent acute-care facilities in Southern cities, according to a report released by the General Accounting Office.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires GAO to monitor the impact of its provisions, including whether certain types of providers are more likely to participate in the EHR incentive programs than others. One finding was that, at least in the early stages of the program, hospitals were more likely to participate in the Medicaid EHR incentive program than the Medicare incentive program. On the other hand, the median payment through Medicaid of $613,512 was less than half as much as the comparable Medicare payment. In total, 1,964 hospitals received $1.7 billion in Medicaid EHR incentive payments in 2011, ranging from $7,528 to $7.2 million, according to the report. About half of those hospitals received 80 percent of the distributed incentive payments. In addition, 45,962 providers – about one-third of those thought to be eligible -- received Medicaid incentive payments. Hospitals and other providers combined received $2.7 billion in payments for the year.