July 2015

Research: Minority numbers slide, women make gains

This is the ninth in a series of reports developed from Radio Television Digital News Association's annual survey of newsrooms across the United States. Women and minorities research highlights:

Mixed minority numbers in TV
Mostly down minority numbers in radio
Record numbers of women in TV and women in TV news leadership

The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey finds the minority workforce in TV news slid 0.2 to 22.2 percent... still the third highest level ever. And the minority workforce at non-Hispanic TV stations rose in 2015 to the third highest level ever as well. The minority workforce in radio fell back from 2014's high. In TV, women news directors and women in the workforce both rose to the highest levels ever. The picture for women in radio news was more mixed. Still, as far as minorities are concerned, the bigger picture remains unchanged. In the last 25 years, the minority population in the US has risen 11.5 points; but the minority workforce in TV news is up less than half that (4.4), and the minority workforce in radio is actually down by a full point.

Men who harass women online are quite literally losers, new study finds

The men most likely to harass women online are the men most likely to have their own problems. That information comes courtesy Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, researchers at the University of New South Wales and Miami University, respectively.

For their latest study, published in the journal PLOS One, the duo watched how men treated women during 163 plays of the video game Halo 3. As they watched the games play out and tracked the comments that players made to each other, the researchers observed that -- no matter their skill level, or how the game went -- men tended to be pretty cordial to each other. Male players who were good at the game also tended to pay compliments to other male and female players. Some male players, however -- the ones who were less-skilled at the game, and performing worse relative their peers -- made frequent, nasty comments to the female gamers. In other words, sexist dudes are literally losers.

FCC tentatively sets March 29, 2016, as start date for 600 MHz incentive auction

The Federal Communications Commission currently plans to start 2016's incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum on March 29, 2016. That would keep the agency just on target to meet FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's goal of starting the complex auction in the first quarter of 2016, which ends March 31. During the week of July 13, the FCC postponed its vote on rules for the incentive auction until Aug. 6 after pressure from Congress to push back the vote that had been planned for the agency's July 16 meeting.

The FCC is going to allow more time for stakeholders, including broadcasters and carriers, to review information to the FCC and submit filings on the rules. Accordingly, the FCC moved that agenda item onto its list of items that are currently "on circulation," meaning that they are being reviewed by the FCC's five commissioners before being voted on before the full commission. The item is titled: "Broadcast Incentive Auction to Begin March 29, 2016; Procedures for Competitive Bidding in Auction 1000, Including Initial Clearing Target Determination, Qualifying to Bid, and Bidding in Auctions 1001 (Reverse) and 1002 (Forward)." Chairman Wheeler reiterated his first-quarter start date goal despite the delay in the vote.

From Proposal to Deployment: The History of Spectrum Allocation Timelines

This report highlights the urgency necessary in the effort to identify and reallocate licensed spectrum. There is no more traditional licensed spectrum in the pipeline after the incentive auction, and on average it takes 13 years to reallocate or auction and clear spectrum. The protracted process of freeing up spectrum places the US at risk of losing its wireless broadband leadership.

It is critical to move now to identify new bands to enable the continued growth of wireless -for 4G LTE, LTE Advanced, the Internet of Things, and next generation technologies like 5G. Failure to move quickly will not be felt only by wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The continued success of the mobile apps industry, for example -- a source of employment for over 750,000 people -- depends on more spectrum. With serious commitment, the time it takes to reallocate spectrum can be fast-tracked. Let's get to work.

Alabama Gov creates broadband office to spread high-speed Internet in Alabama

Gov Robert Bentley (R-AL) has created a new Office of Broadband Development to push the spread of high-speed Internet across Alabama. The governor created the office by executive order on July 16. "Broadband development is critical in Alabama's continued economic growth," Gov Bentley said, "and I am confident that this newly created office will help us in reaching statewide goals in the areas of public safety, healthcare, education, e-Government, agriculture, tourism, economic development and more."

Gov Bentley will appoint 19 members to a board to advise broadband Director Kathy Johnson. Other non-voting members may be added as needed. Broadband has gone from luxury to "critical to everything from economic development to public safety," Johnson said. Broadband is available in most of the state, Gov Bentley's order said, but there are still areas without it. There were no details regarding funding for the office, but the governor's office said it will seek grants to develop broadband in areas where it isn't available and share information about it.

Broadband becomes necessity for economic development in rural areas

Pocahontas County (WV) does not lack for natural beauty, clean air and water or a thriving tourism industry. Its challenging ingresses and egresses are major attractions for bikers, but cause major difficulties for exporting and importing goods. The equalizer for economic development in rural areas is a high-speed fiber-optic broadband, according to Mike Holstine, business manager at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

Holstine and NRAO hosted the second Broadband Summit, which drew Internet providers and users to what is arguably the most high-tech place in the state. During the day-long event, Holstine listed the number of ways people now rely on the Internet for entertainment, as well, including super resolution high-definition television, high-quality, two-way video calls, advanced online shopping (auctions), advanced work from home, advanced online college courses, online medical and even home and pet monitoring. Fast Internet, he said, ranks sixth on the list of a potential homeowner’s needs, above parking, television, outdoor recreation and workout facilities, and adds $5,000-$6,000 in value to homes.

AT&T enters Durham (NC) market with high-speed Internet

AT&T’s high-speed fiber Internet service launches in new, uncharted -- at least for AT&T -- territory July 20: Durham (NC). Few details on price and availability were immediately available, but AT&T does not currently operate wired services in Durham, meaning a lot of behind-the-scenes effort was required to deploy entirely new infrastructure. “This was a little bit out of the norm for us,” admits Venessa Harrison, AT&T North Carolina president. “We don’t traditionally serve Durham.” That means designing and building the fiber network “literally from scratch” to make it happen.

The wireless industry has changed -- partly due to innovation and partly due to policy, she explains. “It used to be that everything was territory-based, based on geography,” she says. But, no longer. Now, AT&T has the resources to spread its technology more broadly. And it’s soliciting partnerships to make it happen, reaching out to developers to try to get more communities on board with the service, dubbed GigaPower.

Multistakeholder Internet governance: A pathway completed, the road ahead

In a new paper, Stuart N. Brotman reviews the potential barriers facing the US and others in pursuit of multistakeholder governance of the Internet -- an authority shift that the US and its allies argue is necessary to preserve the Internet's openness, flexibility, and global scalability. This approach, articulated over the course of several multilateral Internet governance meetings in the last several years, is opposed by some particularly authoritarian countries that would prefer greater government control over how the Internet functions within their borders. Despite this opposition, the US and its allies are moving forward with this historic transition in Internet governance.

Multistakeholder governance can work in practice, but akin to so many start-up companies, the chances for failure are high and the prospects for success low. Measuring success, calibrating failure and making the necessary course corrections are activities that the multistakeholder Internet governance model inevitably will require over time.

The military is wasting tens of millions of dollars on satellite communications

America's military depends on satellites. Without them, commanders would have trouble coordinating troops or piloting unmanned drones halfway around the world. But now a federal report finds that the government is likely overpaying the commercial partners who supply some of these satellite capabilities. A substantial chunk of the Pentagon's satellite communications contracts are probably priced too high, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The military's own policy requires satellite communications contracting to be done through the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA, according to the GAO. But, fed up with the office's lengthy process and inflexible contracts, other parts of the military have basically gone rogue, whipping up their own contracts with outside providers. As a result, some 32 percent of the Pentagon's commercial satellite budget is negotiated outside regular channels, the GAO found. While that tactic might be more convenient, the normal DISA contracts are on average 16 percent cheaper, the GAO said in a report. The most recent data available show that the military paid more than $1 billion for satellite capacity in 2011, according to GAO. That year, about $280 million worth of satellite capability was bought outside the DISA process. If the GAO is correct, then the military could have gotten that same service for about $45 million less.

Web 2.0 (and Beyond): Developing the Next Generation of Connectivity

The Internet is the foundation of 21st-century technology, but the Catch-22 of developing new Internet technologies is that scientists are often constrained by the very environment they are attempting to innovate. A test bed for researching new networking ideas was needed, and that’s why the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) was created by the National Science Foundation in 2007 and has since received $80 million in federal investment. GENI is a network of more than 50 sites in more than 30 countries that allows its 3,700 member researchers to test their ideas in a low-latency, high-bandwidth digital environment unconstrained by the foibles of the regular Internet.

Before cutting-edge networking technology can enter the real world, it needs to be tested on a broad scale, and GENI is where that testing happens. Today’s Internet is constrained mainly by three things. The first is bandwidth. There’s not enough uniform connectivity across the Internet to ensure that content can be delivered at the quality and speed necessary for sophisticated new applications to perform effectively. The second is latency. Even relatively low latencies like 100 milliseconds are far too slow for real-time applications that require high precision. The third is security. Security issues will never be thwarted completely, but today’s Internet can’t be used for certain applications in good conscience -- remote surgery, for instance. But GENI technologies, said Glenn Ricart, CTO of US Ignite, allow people to do things that are usually impossible on today’s Internet.

Benton

Search