June 24, 2014 (Media mega-mergers under the microscope)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014
Broadband and Ownership on today’s agenda (see preview below) http://benton.org/calendar/2014-06-24/
OWNERSHIP
Media mega-mergers under the microscope
AT&T claims merger is about ‘consumer demand’
DirecTV's White: Bigger Means Better Competitor
ACA: AT&T/DirecTV Needs Fair Pricing Conditions [links to web]
Writers Guild: AT&T/DirecTV Must Be Blocked [links to web]
Public Knowledge to Testify in House AT&T DirecTV Merger Hearing - press release [links to web]
MMTC Backs Prometheus Challenge To Media Ownership Decision
Should net neutrality rules stop T-Mobile's music streaming offer? - analysis
Amazon, Warner Bros. Near Resolution on Pricing Dispute [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
GAO Wants RUS to Report More Details on Broadband Stimulus ResultsMichael Copps: “We Should Be Ashamed Of Ourselves” For State of Broadband In The US
A Bill to Ban Internet 'Fast Lanes' Won't Pass. But Here's Why It Still Matters. - National Journal analysis
What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality - analysis
Working with Our Global Partners to Advance an Open Internet - press release
Antitrust vs. net neutrality: Consumer welfare in focus - AEI op-ed
Should net neutrality rules stop T-Mobile's music streaming offer? - analysis
Thoughts on Internet congestion and the FCC’s broadband report - Verizon analysis [links to web]
Remarks by Assistant Secretary Strickling at ICANN High Level Governmental Meeting - speech [links to web]
Internet Governance: Regulators Regulate, Innovators Innovate - Internet Infrastructure Coalition analysis [links to web]
Ex-NSA Chief Pitches Banks Costly Advice on Cyber-Attacks [links to web]
ICANN Pushes Ahead on Governance Transition [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Unlicensed Spectrum: The Challenge and the Opportunity - op-ed
Should net neutrality rules stop T-Mobile's music streaming offer? - analysis
Compromise struck on cellphone unlocking bill
FCC Gets Outside Help To Sell Auction
A Verizon/ Dish Spectrum Deal Would Be Good for Verizon, But What About Dish? [links to web]
Is the Firefox Mobile Operating System a Droid Killer? [links to web]
Sprint Offers Unlimited Voice or Texting for $20/Month at Wal-Mart [links to web]
FCC Requests Comment on the Public Trial of Comsearch’s TV Bands Database System - public notice [links to web]
Broken promises: Verizon, Google, and the Chromebook data debacle [links to web]
Sprint offers free 30-day trial of its overhauled network [links to web]
TELEVISION
Viacom, 60 Cable Firms Part Ways in Rural US
EDUCATION
Can your school get decent Wi-Fi speed?
FCC'S E-Rate Proposal Gets Some Supports [links to web]
Common Core Raises Questions on Future of Ed-Tech Spending [links to web]
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
#CommActUpdate: Competition should not be defined and regulated within a “siloed” approach Verizon press release [links to web]
Interconnection: Towards a New Regime - ITIF analysis
HEALTH
The Race to Dominate Digital Health Heats Up [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
DISA Seeks Deal on Mobile Apps [links to web]
CONTENT
Media Portrayals of Hispanics Skewed
World Cup Draws Huge US TV Viewership [links to web]
Univision's World Cup Spanish commentary has surprised some Latinos
COMPANY NEWS
Google is quietly testing a service for registering website domains [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Russia calls for Twitter censorship [links to web]
Twitter Denies Blocking Extremist Accounts in Russia [links to web]
Apple suppliers Pegatron and Foxconn ramp up hiring [links to web]
Coulson guilty of phone hacking
Ten Days in Kenya With No Cash, Only a Phone [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Come on, Silicon Valley, you can do better than this - analysis [links to web]
Tech moguls raise cash to fight Washington's 'big money problem' [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
MEDIA MEGA-MERGERS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Megamergers are heading back to Congress with lawmakers set to probe AT&T’s $49 billion bid to buy DirecTV, the second mammoth media deal to come under scrutiny in 2014. The hearing comes with many lawmakers expressing growing skepticism about the trend toward consolidation following earlier hearings on the proposed Comcast and Time Warner Cable deal. That sentiment could boil over when the AT&T and DirecTV executives come to Washington for a set of double-header hearings in the House and Senate. “On the one hand you’ve got to look at each of these mergers on their own individual merit but you can’t ignore the broader landscape,” said John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney at the consumer interest group Public Knowledge. “Yes, you have to just look at the facts of this one but you also have to bear in mind an ever more concentrated communications market,” added Bergmayer, who has been critical of the deal and is slated to testify in the House. Both AT&T and DirecTV say they are missing a crucial component in the suite of services that their subscribers are looking for.
benton.org/node/188857 | Hill, The | The Hill
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AT&T CLAIMS MERGER IS ABOUT ‘CONSUMER DEMAND’
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem, Kate Tummarello]
AT&T and DirecTV executives will make the case to lawmakers that the proposed $49 billion deal to merge the two companies is necessary to stay competitive. “This transaction is about meeting consumer demand,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told members of the House Judiciary’s Antitrust subcommittee in his prepared testimony. “It’s about providing consumers with the integrated video and broadband Internet services they want, delivered over any type of device, to nearly anywhere in the country.” AT&T offers phone and Internet service, but its television offerings do not turn a profit and “cannot meet the needs of enough consumers,” Stephenson claimed, noting that the company’s U-verse service operates in less than one-quarter of the country. And even in those markets, AT&T doesn’t have the “scale” to “to forge strong relationships with programmers and compete effectively against the dominant cable companies,” he said. DirecTV, which has about 20 million TV subscribers in the US but no Internet service, needs the deal in order to keep up with the changing market, the satellite company’s chief executive Michael White added. “If we want to compete effectively in today’s Internet-driven marketplace, we must adapt,” he claimed in prepared testimony. That means “integrated bundles” of TV and Internet service, like the deals offered by competitors at Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as well as the ability to offer subscribers chances to watch television online with companies like Netflix.
benton.org/node/189006 | Hill, The
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DIRECTV'S WHITE: BIGGER MEANS BETTER COMPETITOR
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Mike White, president of DirecTV, says its merger with AT&T is all about competitive bundles, faster broadband, and being more competitive with cable. That is according to his testimony for hearings in the House and Senate Antitrust subcommittees June 24. White and AT&T Chairman Randall Stevenson were preparing to take turns pitching the deal as witnesses for both hearings. White points out that cable ads point to his company's lack of an Internet offering and cable's speed advantages. And while DirecTV plays up other advantages of satellite in its now-famous marionette ads about the lack of wires, White was conceding the disadvantages and saying DirecTV must adapt--or in this case be adopted by a broadband player like AT&T. He said consumers are increasingly demanding bundles (although at least one media research analyst--Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson, suggested what consumers really want are discounts). "We must offer our own integrated bundles if we hope to meet this new consumer demand," he said. He also said it was "enormously" important to be able to prove over-the-top video, as well as improve its linear video given all the services and extras cable operators can offer.
benton.org/node/189000 | Multichannel News
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MMTC BACKS PROMETHEUS CHALLENGE TO MEDIA OWNERSHIP DECISION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council supports Prometheus's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's media ownership decision and has asked the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to allow it to intervene in support of Prometheus. Prometheus, among other things, takes issue with the fact that the FCC has yet to comply with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' order to justify or modify the FCC's method of boosting minority ownership, or propose new measures to do so. In deciding to combine the 2010 and 2014 congressionally mandated media ownership, the FCC deferred a decision on the minority issues. "Taken together, we believe that Commission’s failure to address minority and women ownership as being “outside the scope of this proceeding” is clear error, and its continued “kicking the can down the road” on issues of media ownership by minorities and women is indefensible.”
benton.org/node/188998 | Multichannel News
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
GAO WANTS RUS TO REPORT MORE DETAILS ON BROADBAND STIMULUS RESULTS
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The US Government Accountability Office has asked the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Rural Utilities Service, to provide more detailed information about the impact of the broadband stimulus program in annual reports. “RUS has not shown how the approximately $3 billion in funds awarded [for broadband infrastructure] BIP projects [has] affected broadband availability,” wrote the GAO in a 25-plus page report sent to members of Congress. The authors also note that “without this information future efforts to expand broadband may lack important information on the types of projects that were most effective at meeting subscribership goals, thereby limiting the ability to apply federal resources to programs with the best likelihood of success.” According to the report authors, the USDA has said it will institute procedures to comply with the GAO’s reporting recommendations.
benton.org/node/188996 | telecompetitor | read report
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FORMER FCC COMMISSIONER: “WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF OURSELVES” FOR STATE OF BROADBAND IN THE US
[SOURCE: Consumerist, AUTHOR: Kate Cox]
A group of Internet industry executives and politicians came together to look back on the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and to do a little crystal-ball gazing about the future of broadband regulation in the United States. Former Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Michael Copps was among the presenters, and he had sharp words for the audience about the “insanity” of the current wave of merger mania in the telecom field and the looming threats of losing net neutrality regulation. Unlike many of the other presenters at the conference, Copps, was anything but retrospective when he stood to speak. “I’m not here to celebrate,” he began, “I’m here to advocate.” And the landscape he laid out is indeed not one to cheer for. He led off by agreeing with the several executive speakers that true competition is the way of the future, and the best way to serve consumers. “But we haven’t given competition the chance it needs,” he continued, before referring to how poorly US broadband compares on the global stage. “We have fallen so far short that we should be ashamed of ourselves. We should be leading, and we’re not. We need to get serious about broadband, we need to get serious about competition, we need to get serious about our country.” Broadband competition is indeed scarce in the United States, and the looming wave of “merger mania” is unlikely at best to improve the situation for anyone.
benton.org/node/188869 | Consumerist
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A BILL TO BAN INTERNET 'FAST LANES' WON'T PASS. BUT HERE'S WHY IT STILL MATTERS.
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
[Commentary] A Democratic bill to ban "fast lanes" on the Internet isn't going to become law. Republicans have long opposed network neutrality regulations, and as long as they control the House, they'll block legislation that would restrict the business choices of Internet service providers. But the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, introduced by Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), isn't really about changing the law. It's about sending a message to the Federal Communications Commission. "We put forth the bill to put increased pressure on the FCC to ban paid-prioritization agreements," an aide to a bill supporter explained. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expected to take criticism from Republicans, who are skeptical of the government telling broadband providers how to manage their networks. But the growing opposition to his proposal from Democrats could leave the FCC chief in a tenuous political position. Even the White House has offered little support, noting that the FCC is an "independent agency." Chairman Wheeler needs the votes of both Democrats on the five-member commission to enact his proposed regulations. But those commissioners, Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn, might not be eager to help the chairman if he's all alone on the issue. The Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, which also has the support of Sen Al Franken and Reps Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), would instruct the FCC to enact rules banning paid prioritization within 90 days of the bill becoming law. The bill would also call for rules banning Internet providers from favoring content they own or are affiliated with.
benton.org/node/188871 | National Journal
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WHAT EVERYONE GETS WRONG IN THE DEBATE OVER NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Robert McMillan]
[Commentary] Privileged companies -- including Google, Facebook, and Netflix -- already benefit from what are essentially internet fast lanes, and this has been the case for years. Such web giants -- and others -- now have direct connections to big ISPs like Comcast and Verizon, and they run dedicated computer servers deep inside these ISPs. In technical lingo, these are known as “peering connections” and “content delivery servers,” and they’re a vital part of the way the internet works. The concepts driving today’s net neutrality debate caught on because the internet used to operate differently -- and because they were easy for consumers to understand. In many respects, these concepts were vitally important to the evolution of the internet over the past decades. But in today’s world, they don’t address the real issue with the country’s ISPs, and if we spend too much time worried about fast lanes, we could hurt the net’s progress rather than help it.
benton.org/node/188867 | Wired
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WORKING WITH OUR GLOBAL PARTNERS TO ADVANCE AN OPEN INTERNET
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Lawrence Strickling]
In June 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) endorsed a set of principles that encouraged its members to implement policies that call for a common approach to Internet policymaking that center on ensuring the openness of the Internet. The Internet Policymaking Principles (IPPs) include many of the same principles the United States has long advocated in its approach to Internet policymaking, standards and governance including calls to ensure the openness of the Internet, protect and promote the free flow of information on the Internet, and use of the multistakeholder approach to tackle Internet policy challenges.These principles, which were inspired by Internet principles adopted by Brazil, were developed in 2011 as OECD members sought ways to spur economic growth as well as respond to threats to online freedom worldwide and advance a more inclusive approach to Internet policy development. The United States has long believed that this multistakeholder approach to Internet policymaking is the best way to preserve the openness of the Internet and free flow of information. The OECD principles recognize this and endorse this approach. The United States is taking steps to further strengthen the global multistakeholder model for Internet governance. We hope to do just that in London at a meeting hosted by Britain’s Communications Minister Edward Vaizey where we will confer with high-level government representatives from around the world to discuss Internet governance issues more broadly. This high-level gathering will take place as part of the 50th meeting in London of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which has been tasked with convening stakeholders to help develop a successful transition plan of the US stewardship of the DNS.
benton.org/node/188893 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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ANTITRUST VS. NET NEUTRALITY: CONSUMER WELFARE IN FOCUS
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Babette Boliek]
[Commentary] The House Judiciary Committee has heard testimonies on “Net Neutrality: Is Antitrust More Effective than Regulation in Protecting Consumers and Innovation?” I, however, would characterize the question a la a Seinfeld episode (paraphrasing): “Are you just saying you want to have Internet freedom for the little guy or do you really want to have Internet freedom for the little guy?” If you want to protect the little guy, then this committee hearing was for you. The answer to the question posed -- given the empirical evidence -- is yes, antitrust is more effective than regulation at protecting consumers and innovation -- at least when the proposed regulation is “net neutrality.” Why is antitrust so much better than regulation at ensuring innovation in the Internet ecosystem? The reason is simple: unlike regulation, which specializes in control by the few -- a few commissioners, the few well-connected lobbyists, a few politically favored corporations -- antitrust is the law of the people. For all their talk about wanting to preserve the Wild West of the Internet, net neutrality proponents seem to think consumers don’t know what they want until they’re told -- and free music is not what they really want. This convoluted and patronizing consumer welfare analysis is antithetical to antitrust. Antitrust does not judge the legitimacy of consumer desires; it merely ensures that corporations do not censor your demands through anticompetitive practices. [Boliek is an associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law]
benton.org/node/188859 | American Enterprise Institute
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
UNLICENSED SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Andrew Jay Schwartzman]
[Commentary] This is a story about a uniquely successful government initiative. Over the last three decades, the Federal Communications Commission has created and expanded bands of spectrum which are made available for unlicensed use. Unlicensed use, particularly for Wi-Fi, has enabled a proliferation of consumer devices such as garage door openers, remote controls, baby monitors and wireless speakers. There are also innumerable vital industrial and scientific applications using unlicensed spectrum. A new analysis from the Consumer Electronics Association estimates that unlicensed spectrum uses already generate $62 billion annually for the U.S. economy. Even though this may be somewhat overstated, there is no doubt that freeing up spectrum for unlicensed use has been a roaring success. While many in the tech community, including public interest groups, want even more spectrum to be set aside for unlicensed use, incumbent industries, such as wireless phone companies, prefer the widest possible use of the current system of exclusive licenses.
http://benton.org/node/188842
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T-MOBILE STREAMING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jon Healey]
[Commentary] When T-Mobile announced that it would exempt streaming music services from its wireless data caps, I thought it was the best reason yet for Washington to stop the company from being swallowed up by Sprint. But some consumer advocates thought it was a good reason for Washington to spank T-Mobile. With Sprint and T-Mobile trailing Verizon and AT&T, we've had two companies trotting out innovative offers in a bid to attract customers. The two companies' track record of experimentation argues against the merger, particularly in respect to the Federal Communications Commission's public interest test. After all, two innovative underdogs are invariably better than one if both can survive in a market. That's a big if, however, and it's likely to be the key question reverberating around any Sprint attempt to buy its smaller rival.
benton.org/node/189034 | Los Angeles Times
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COMPROMISE STRUCK ON CELLPHONE UNLOCKING BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have reached a bipartisan deal on legislation that would allow people to “unlock” their cellphones when changing providers. The bill, which is scheduled for consideration, would allow users to take their mobile device from one wireless network to another, and is backed by Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking member Sen Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “Consumers should be able to use their existing cell phones when they move their service to a new wireless provider,” Sen Leahy said. “Our laws should not prohibit consumers from carrying their cell phones to a new network, and we should promote and protect competition in the wireless marketplace,” he added. Sen Grassley called the bipartisan compromise “an important step forward in ensuring that there is competition in the industry and in safeguarding options for consumers as they look at new cell phone contracts.” “Empowering people with the freedom to use the carrier of their choice after complying with their original terms of service is the right thing to do,” he said.
benton.org/node/188883 | Hill, The | Public Knowledge
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FCC GETS OUTSIDE HELP TO SELL AUCTION
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Doug Halonen]
The Federal Communications Commission has hired an investment banking firm to help develop educational material to use to persuade broadcasters to participate in the agency’s incentive auction in 2015, clearing the way for the agency to beef up its station outreach efforts later this summer, according to an agency official. The banking firm tapped, according to the FCC official, is New York-based Greenhill & Co. Greenhill’s key assignment will be to put together a “book” that explains why participating in the auction might be in a broadcaster’s interest, the FCC official says. The book will be a “central part” of the outreach, which will have both “one-to-one and one-to-many” components, the official adds. The FCC decided to seek outside help for the outreach because the financial analysis that broadcasters will need to use to decide whether to cash out of the TV business during the auction is complicated, the official says. “There’s a lot of money involved,” the FCC official adds. “We are hopeful broadcasters are taking a closer look at the opportunities.”
benton.org/node/188885 | TVNewsCheck
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TELEVISION
VIACOM, 60 CABLE FIRMS PART WAYS IN RURAL US
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shalini Ramachandran]
For roughly two months, about 900,000 households in small towns across the US haven't been able to watch Nickelodeon, MTV or Comedy Central, as a result of a blackout of the Viacom-owned channels by some 60 small cable operators. So far, there is little evidence any more than a handful of the households care. After bracing to lose as many as a 10th of their customers, the operators have lost less than 2% of their collective subscribers, according to an industry group that represents the operators. Viacom isn't worried either, saying it expects "no financial impact" from losing what is only about 1% of total pay-TV households. As a result, with the cable operators unhappy about the price Viacom wants for the right to carry the channels, executives say the blackout is likely to be permanent. Several have replaced the Viacom channels with others. The situation signals a shift in the often-tense relations between pay-TV operators and entertainment companies. With video choices increasing, operators are starting to push back at program cost increases by dropping channels altogether. The markets in the current dispute are mostly rural and suburban, in states including Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa and Idaho, where Viacom's portfolio of young-skewing channels with edgy programming popular in urban centers may not carry as much sway.
benton.org/node/188851 | Wall Street Journal
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EDUCATION
CAN YOUR SCHOOL GET DECENT WI-FI SPEED?
[SOURCE: American Public Media, AUTHOR: Dan Abendschein]
Technology is pouring into schools faster than their Wi-Fi can keep up with it. Virtually all school officials in a recent survey of 447 school districts said they will need to upgrade their Internet speeds within three years. The survey was done by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a professional association for district technology leaders. Education Super-Highway, which promotes high-speed Internet in schools, recommends a download speed of 100 mbps (megabytes-per-second), for a school with 1,000 students and staff. But, the organization says "the typical public school has the same Internet access as the typical home -- but with 100x more users." The solution? Mostly more money. Nearly three-quarters of districts in the CoSN survey said the cost of the monthly Internet charges are a barrier to getting the speed they need. That wasn’t the only problem. Just over 10 percent said their Internet provider was not able to give them the higher speed they required. The map shows Department of Education data on the maximum possible download speeds available at more than 70,000 schools in the country. It does not show whether the school has the top speed. You can see schools in your town, or nearby, by entering your zip code into the box above the map. By clicking on the markers you can see more specific information on download speed.
benton.org/node/188873 | American Public Media
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
TOWARDS A NEW REGIME
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Doug Brake]
[Commentary] Internet interconnection usually doesn’t make for big news. At an event hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, David Clark, noted Internet engineer and MIT researcher, presented preliminary results from a joint MIT -- University of California at San Diego study on the causes and locations of congestion within the core of the Internet. The researchers were cautious and reiterated that their results are preliminary, but the conclusions of their abstract read as follows:
Our data does not reveal a widespread congestion problem among the US providers.
Most congestion we see can be attributed to recognized business issues, such as interconnection disputes involving Netflix. These issues are being resolved, if slowly.
Congestion does not always arise over time, but can come and go essentially overnight as a result of network reconfiguration and decisions by content providers as to how to route content.
There are some key take-aways from this new data. First, it is worth noting the point made in Dr Clark’s presentation that there are numerous reasons a broadband user could have a frustrating experience with their broadband, and interconnection congestion is only one of them. More importantly, congestion in the core of the network is rare and where it does occur it is because of real disparities between capacity and demand and not problems with the technology. One arrangement that likely makes the most economic sense for a service that uses extreme amounts of bandwidth like Netflix would be to directly interconnect with last-mile networks. Direct interconnection would likely lower their costs and certainly improve their customer’s experience. Note that this is exactly what Netflix did.
benton.org/node/188860 | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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CONTENT
PROTRAYALS OF HISPANICS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Erik Sass]
Hispanics are the largest, fastest-growing minority group in the US, with a current population of around 55 million, representing over 17% of the total. Yet portrayals of Hispanics in American mainstream media remain narrow, stereotyped and simplistic, and Hispanic participation in other aspects of the media business remains low, according to a new report on “The Latino Media Gap” commissioned by Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. The report noted that Latino characters in movies and TV shows still tend to be depicted as “criminals, law enforcers, cheap labor and hypersexualized beings.” For example, in 2012-2013, 24.2% of Hispanic TV characters were linked to crime, up from just 6% in 1994. By the same token, 36.6% of Hispanic TV characters have been involved in law enforcement over the same period -- and since 1996, a remarkable 69% of maids in TV and films have been played by Latinas. To the degree that Latinos hold leading or supporting roles in films and TV shows, there is a strong gender bias, as Latina women have largely eclipsed Latino men. Latinas accounted for 4.6% of all female lead actors in films from 2000-2013. During this time not a single Latino male held a lead role. Also, Latinas made up 9.6% of supporting actress roles, while Latino males made up less than 3%. Behind the scenes, Latinos made up just 1.1% of producers for the top 10 TV shows, 2% of writers and 4.1% of directors. The numbers for the top 10 movies were 2.2%, and 6%, and 2.3%, respectively. There are no Latino heads of studios, network presidents, CEOs, or owners.
benton.org/node/189042 | MediaPost
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UNIVISION'S WORLD CUP SPANISH COMMENTARY HAS SURPRISED SOME LATINOS
[SOURCE: Public Radio International, AUTHOR: Nina Porzucki]
Univision has picked up millions of viewers throughout the World Cup, edging out ESPN in the ratings. But when Felix Sanchez, co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, started viewing the games on Univision he was surprised at what he heard from the Spanish-speaking commenters. “Most recently was a characterization related to an Afro-Costa Rican player describing him not by his last name but by the color of skin, calling him ‘moreno,’” said Sanchez. Sanchez noticed other charged words like "greña" being used by broadcasters. “Greña really means messy hair but some individuals think of it as referring to African American hair and also describing it as ‘nappy’ hair,” said Sanchez. Sanchez posted his linguistic concerns on Facebook and received many, many replies from other American Latinos like himself who were offended by the language being used by sportscasters. “When English language leaning Latinos watch Spanish language programming there’s a culture clash that occurs because the kind of social progress that we live in, in our mainstream world doesn’t always seem to be reflected in programming that is not English language programming,” said Sanchez.
benton.org/node/188843 | Public Radio International
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
HACKING VERDICTS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Jane Croft]
Andrew Coulson, the former editor of News of the World, has been found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages after one of the longest and most expensive criminal trials in British legal history.
Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International has been acquitted of any criminal wrongdoing. The jury verdicts came after a mammoth seven month trial, rich in human drama, which has placed one of Rupert Murdoch’s most trusted former executives in the dock with one of Prime Minister David Cameron’s most senior ex-aides.
benton.org/node/189027 | Financial Times
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