Lauren Frayer

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved a measure that would authorize the Homeland Security Department to dole out $3.3 billion over the next five years to enable first responders to communicate better during an emergency. The bill, S. 1725, would authorize $400 million in state grants to strengthen emergency communications systems next year and increase the amount annually to $1 billion by 2010. It also would establish an office of emergency communications, interoperability and compatibility within the Homeland Security Department.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told Senate commerce Committee members Thursday that first responders need to be assured sufficient spectrum for a mobile, interoperable, communications system. He proposed a new integrated emergency alert system that includes national, state, and local participation and incorporates various media, including the Internet and satellite. Chairman Martin also pushed for so-called "smart radios" that actively seek out available spectrum.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
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Earlier this month, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduction The Communications Security Act of 2005 (S. 1703) which would require the Department of Homeland Security and the FCC to work together to develop back-up communications systems that would employ satellites, wireless and terrestrial services.

[Commentary] Culture that lasts, culture that lives, is culture that is close to a spirit of enterprise. In broadcasting, free enterprise has led to more choice and given people access to cultural experiences of every sort. Regulators, like television industry incumbents [in Britan], must learn to accept the new world of choice. At the Edinburgh TV festival Robert Pepper, formerly of the FCC, outlined the regulatory challenges in a world where traditional boundaries between television and the Internet have gone and where data storage and high-speed transmission eliminate ­scarcity.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein believes courts likely would strike down efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to regulate indecency on cable TV, but Congress might succeed. Speaking to a gathering of radio broadcasters, Commissioner Adelstein said that regulators must "get out of the way" when there are easier ways for parents to protect children. Cable companies seeking to head off content regulation have publicized ways for customers to block channels they find offensive.

Could it be? A hard date for a mark-up for legislation aimed at setting a hard date for ending the transition to digital television? During the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Communications during Disasters, Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said that a DTV transition bill will be ready for mark-up by the budget committee Oct. 25. The Commerce Committee will mark-up the bill Oct 19. Actually, there will be two bills, one dealing strictly with spectrum-reclamation -- per rules governing money bills -- and another with other DTV-related issues. Sen Stevens also assured his committee that 24 mHz of that reclaimed analog spectrum will go to first responders.
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Speaking to a Media Institute audience in Washington, CPB Board Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson said he had "no regrets" about trying to balance public broadcasting by adding conservative viewpoints. Tomlinson said he would not comment until after the report was released -- now scheduled for sometime in late October. However, he vowed that the series of circumstances that turned him into a lightning rod "will one day be understood." Tomlinson said he did not want to be remembered as someone who had damaged public broadcasting.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and iBiquity Digital Corporation, announced an agreement that will accelerate the conversion of over 800 AM and FM CPB-funded stations to iBiquity's digital HD Radio broadcasting. Under the agreement, CPB will purchase a group license that will allow more than 400 CPB-funded public radio stations to acquire iBiquity's digital HD Radio technology. This group license will also cover costs associated with the technology's advanced services such as multicasting and datacasting.

A controversial plan by the Federal Election Commission to regulate political blogging may be short-lived after all. Members of Congress said Thursday that the freewheeling world of Internet politicking should continue to be immune from campaign finance laws, and indicated they may rewrite the law to halt the FEC's proposal. The handful of politicians present at a hearing convened by the U.S. House of Representatives Administration Committee hailed the Internet's power in democratizing politics and breeding grassroots action.

[Comentary] Dan Rather caused some ripples the other day when he lamented the state of U.S. news media. The former CBS anchor said "there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career," according to the Hollywood Reporter. Speaking at a law school in New York on Sept. 19, he warned that politicians have been putting effective pressure on the corporate owners of major broadcast outlets.