Lauren Frayer

NCTA Claims Progress in Multicast Must-Carry Fight

Speaking to the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, National Cable and Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said the cable lobby is making progress in its fight to oppose broadcasters' push for "multicast must carry" (under which local cable operators would be forced to cover all of digital TV broadcasters signals, not just a primary one). But he wouldn't say whether cable operators will reach a compromise with broadcasters on congressional legislation that would give broadcasters carriage of a primary stream and two additional digital channels after the digital transition. "I have heard everything under the sun, but I haven't heard an official proposal," he said. He also appeared unsure when Congress will take up the issue. It could be next week or Oct. 19, when the Senate Commerce Committee is expected to mark up a DTV bill that includes a hard digital transition date, renewal of spectrum authority and a subsidy provision. The bill will be part of the budget reconciliation package that must be delivered to the Senate Budget Committee. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has said he plans a 2nd DTV bill that would deal with other provisions, including multicast mustcarry, but no timing is set for that bill. The House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) opposes including a multicast provision in a DTV bill. McSlarrow said cable operators are making an argument based on diversity: "If the broadcasters are going to get a claim on the cable pipe broader than we think they have a right to," it will hinder diversity of viewpoints. "The one place we know in the TV industry that has provided the source of diversity that we now take for granted is the cable industry. It hasn't been the broadcasters."
(Not available online)
See also:
* McSlarrow: Multicast an Uphill Fight
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6262208.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Grudge Match Reignites

Over the weekend, broadcasters were due to notify cable systems what they want in exchange for the right to carry the signals of local TV stations. It is part of battle that is known in TV circles as retransmission consent. Retransmission consent is a powerful tool for companies owning both broadcast stations and cable networks. Some broadcasters want to force cable systems to pay cash to retransmit their local stations' signals as they've won in agreements with satellite TV operators and telephone companies getting into the video delivery business.

Reps Back Broadcast Flag

Twenty representatives, including many members of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, have written Subcommittee Chairmen Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ed Markey (D-MA) backing reinstatement of the broadcast flag. They argue that the flag is necessary to spur the transition to digital and to preserve free TV by making it competitive with other media. "The timely preservation of free, over-the-air television is essential to a smooth and timely transition to digital television, and the implementation of the broadcast flag plays a vital role in this undertaking," the lawmakers wrote. Public Knowledge responded Friday: “We agree with the letter in its view of the importance of local broadcasting as a provider of local news, events and information to consumers. However, we see no link between the continued provision of that valuable service and the broadcast flag. There is no evidence even to suggest that any programming would be withheld without a broadcast flag regime."
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Making a Buck by Selling a 'Dollar'

In Portland, Maine, skydiving lessons and weekend getaways at the Embassy Suites are selling fast on UPN affiliate WPME and sister WB outlet WPXT. Both stations peddle goods and services from area merchants on a locally produced home-shopping program, The Dollar Saver Show. That “show” is actually a bunch of disguised TV commercials strung together into a half-hour. Here's how the Dollar idea works: Viewers snap up goods and services, from cleaning services and hotel stays to restaurant certificates, all discounted by 30%.

And That's the Way Cronkite Still Is

Walter Cronkite, who retired from the anchor chair in 1981, has had a quarter-century to watch broadcast news from the sidelines, and he doesn't think the current generation of TV journalists is doing a bad job. Corporate broadcast owners, though, are another story, says Cronkite. He believes they are paying more attention to Wall Street than to the health of the democracy at a time when the nation's dedication to education has wavered. "We [as a nation] are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders," Cronkite, 88, said during a day of speeches and interviews Tuesday at USC's Annenberg School for Communication, where he helped present the biannual Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism. Cronkite issued a call-to-arms for fellow journalists — primarily broadcast -- to pressure "our employers, those who are more concerned with profits than they are with performance," to replace the current roundups of celebrity profiles and personal health and finance pieces with "the news of the day." "If we fail at that," Cronkite said, "our democracy, our republic, I think, is in serious danger."
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Google Proposes free Wi-Fi for San Francisco

Marking its biggest step into the wireless communications market to date, Google Inc. said on Friday it has proposed to provide free wireless Internet services across the city of San Francisco. The Web search company said it has responded to a request for information by the City of San Francisco to test local Internet services via Wi-Fi, the short-range wireless technology built into most new laptop computers.

FCC Finds ‘Effective Competition’ in CMRS Marketplace

Be afraid of the big, bad wolf no more. The FCC has decided there's effective competition in the Commercial Mobile Radio Service market. In a report to Congress, the FCC said that 97% of the total U.S. population lives in counties with at least 3 mobile service operators, the same as a year earlier, and up from 88% in 2000, the first year for which statistics were kept. It said 93% lives in counties with at least 4 operators and 87% with 5 or more; both figures are roughly the same as in the previous year.

OH Consumer Advocate calls for Residential Customer Benefits in Verizon-MCI Merger

Two large telephone companies with many Ohio customers propose to merge without demonstrating any benefits for residential consumers as required by state law, the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC) said last week. The OCC, along with other consumer groups, filed a brief at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and recommend that the proposed Verizon-MCI merger be rejected unless customer benefits are included as conditions. The conditions cover pricing, consumer protections, access to broadband, community voicemail systems, and competitive local telephone service.

European Telecom Deals Heat Up

In what could lead to the biggest shake-up of the European telecommunications industry since local carriers fell into a slump five years ago, Telefonica SA of Spain has approached KPN NV about acquiring the Dutch telecommunications operator for about $24 billion. Europe is poised for a broad telecommunications consolidation. Big acquisitions would piece together various businesses across the region, joining companies that offer traditional landline and cellphone services as well as Internet and cable-TV access.

Misinformation Slowed Federal Response to Katrina

One of the mysteries of the fumbling federal response to Hurricane Katrina has been why the military, which was standing by, and federal disaster agencies, which had pre-positioned supplies in the area, didn't move in more quickly and with greater force. Senior government officials now say that one major reason for the delay was that they believed they had to plan for a far more complicated military operation, rather than a straight-ahead relief effort.