Lauren Frayer

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced grant awards totaling more than $8.8 million to help an additional 119 local public radio stations, including 78 serving rural and minority audiences, purchase the equipment needed to transition to digital radio. This is the fourth round of grants to bring this exciting advancement in radio broadcast technology to public local stations. Digital technology will enhance significantly the quality and scope of program services, as well as provide richer quality sound than is currently available.

In a Hill forum sponsored by the Rural Broadband Coalition and Hughes Network Systems, Curtis Anderson, acting administrator of the Rural Utilities Service at the Department of Agriculture, said the Bush Administration has spent $3.3 billion on rural broadband deployment since 2001, and has $2 billion left. The funds are available as loans for small (<20,000) towns. the program has linked 1.3 million rural homes and businesses to broadband, Anderson said.

Just for fun, Qwest Communications International Inc. yesterday raised questions about the pending merger of two major rivals, accusing SBC Communications Inc. of anti-competitive practices as the government considers SBC's purchase of AT&T Corp. Denver-based Qwest said SBC was making it harder for competitors to serve lucrative medium to large companies and was limiting the ability of rivals to lease SBC lines at cheaper government-regulated rates. It also said SBC appeared to be pressuring smaller phone companies not to merge with unspecified "blacklisted" rivals.

As federal regulators weigh what, if any, conditions to impose on two mammoth phone company mergers, they face a vexing Rubik's cube of possibilities. Any requirements they attach to SBC Communications' acquisition of AT&T and Verizon's purchase of MCI could force some customers to do business with a telecom company they didn't choose. The Justice Department is largely focused on the effects of the megadeals on corporate customers, say people with direct knowledge of the situation.

[Commentary] As Congress gears up for a potentially significant revision of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, it's worth pausing to consider what is the same, and what is different, from a decade ago. The hype about the 1996 law was that it would usher in the age of the "information superhighway." It was sold on the premise that competition would replace regulation -- as cable, long-distance and local telephone companies each got into the others' businesses. Moreover, the 1996 Telecommunications Act essentially ignored the World Wide Web.

[Commentary] Hurricane Katrina left no doubt that our nation’s leaders have failed to prepare for the worst. There is nothing new about the need to establish communications systems that can still operate in the case of a flood, or high winds, or a terrorist attack. There is nothing new about the need to establish a reliable means of communication among local and federal emergency responders. After Katrina swept through, after the levees broke, millions were left without a communication system, without a lifeline they had come to take for granted.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have dramatically changed the telecom policy landscape in DC. Digital television transition legislation has been delayed (again) and even the indecency debate has also taken a back seat.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
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The wake of Katrina has convinced some regulators that the time has come to break, or at least bend, some rules to help speed assistance to the victims of the storm. For example, because so many stations were off the air, the Federal Communications Commission suspended rules prohibiting educational radio and television stations from airing commercial programming. The Bush administration did not give the agencies any formal marching orders on how to proceed, though it said it is working with agencies to expedite relief initiatives.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed using $132 million in E-rate funds to support schools and libraries impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The FCC's eRate program will open a new application window to allow schools and libraries in the affected areas to resubmit their requests for eRate funds for the 2005 program year. Schools and libraries affected by Hurricane Katrina will receive the eRate's highest priority level to ensure they are eligible for the steepest discounts available.

[Commentary] If you're going to shake up the FCC's open meeting by focusing on Katrina and moving to Bell South's emergency HQ, why couldn't Martin have focused a little bit on the future?