April 2013

If the Federal Communications Commission limits the participation of either Verizon or AT&T in the upcoming spectrum incentive auctions, it could reduce the proceeds by as much as $12 billion (or 40%), which could mean there would not be enough money to pay for all the spectrum broadcasters give up. That is according to research released by the Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

The research was conducted by Robert J. Shapiro, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Coleman Bazelon. According to a spokesperson for Georgetown, it was funded by the McDonough School and not any outside company. The authors warn that a $12 billion shortfall -- from a potential $31 billion in proceeds with the big carriers participating to $19 billion without -- could mean that there might not be enough to build out the national interoperable public safety broadband network and pay the $2 billion in broadcaster re-packing costs and be able to pay for "the full amount [of spectrum] made available by the broadcasters." The research also indicated that if the wireless carriers were discouraged or prevented from bidding, their plan B would be deploying less efficient technologies that would ultimately cost consumers. They estimated that strategy could increase monthly bills by 9%.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service and the Association of Public Television Stations are jointly opposing a proposal by the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) to use a new software program to analyze television coverage and interference data.

The proposal was floated by the FCC in February and intended to update the analytical tools the commission will use in preparing for the 2014 broadcast spectrum auctions. In a letter filed with the FCC early this month, the three pubcasting organizations said the proposal would adversely affect many public TV stations by reducing the size of their service areas. Pubcasters were responding to a request for comments on “OET-69,” an FCC bulletin that described the methodology used by TVStudy, the software that the commission proposes to use to analyze coverage and interference among full-service digital and Class A television stations. The current software was implemented in the 1990s for use as stations transitioned from analog to digital broadcasting. Pubcasters didn’t specify the number of stations that would lose coverage under the new system, but referred to an estimate provided by the National Association of Broadcasters, which said that more than 60 percent of stations could see a reduction in service areas.

The nation’s newspapers suffered a slight decline in total circulation over the last six months compared with the same period the year before, new data showed , but they benefited from an increase in digital subscriptions, which now make up nearly 20 percent of all daily circulation.

“Overall circulation industrywide is flat and digital is growing,” said Neal Lulofs, an executive vice president with the Alliance for Audited Media, which released the figures. “Newspapers are engaging with readers in a variety of media types wherever and whenever.” The 593 daily newspapers that were audited had a 0.7 percent daily circulation decline. The Wall Street Journal has the highest circulation at 2,378,827, a 12.3 percent jump from the same time the year before. The New York Times replaced USA Today in second place with a circulation of 1,865,318 a 17.6 percent rise from a year ago. USA Today circulation was down 7.9 percent, dropping to 1,674,306. The Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News followed in fourth and fifth places. The figures include both print and digital subscriptions. For the 519 Sunday newspapers audited, total circulation declined 1.4 percent. The New York Times ranked first with an average circulation of 2,322,429, a 15.9 percent increase from the same time the year before. The Houston Chronicle ranked second, despite a 5.8 percent decline to 1,042,389. The Los Angeles Times was third; its circulation remained flat at 954,010. The Washington Post had a 16.5 percent circulation jump to 838,014, putting it in fourth place ahead of The Chicago Tribune.

Governments and businesses now have an easy way to turn buildings and other sites into revenue-generating broadband resources. The Connected Nation Exchange (CNX) pairs property owners that have assets such as towers, utility poles, rooftops and Rights of Way with broadband providers that need additional locations to expand their networks.

Owners add their assets to a digital map, which allows telecom companies to see what resources exist in a given area. The parties then negotiate for the rights to use those properties. CNX aggregates assets, and then displays a GIS-based listing of each location or structure on an interactive map. The exchange is powered by Instalytics, CNX’s proprietary software. CNX is a spin-off venture of Connected Nation, a broadband mapping organization.