BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2010
THE STIMULUS
Biden touts stimulus law's IT benefits
Estimated Impact of the Stimulus Package on Employment and Economic Output
Stimulus Fuels Innovative Digital Divide Initiative in Washington, DC
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Chairman: More People Need to Make Broadband National Priority
Powell: Network Neutrality compromise possible
SPECTRUM
$33 Billion Wireless Auction Upheld by Appeals Court
TELEVISION
Comcast Outlines Program Access Philosophy To Regulators
Americans Are Dumping Cable TV, but Execs Say Economics to Blame
WIRELESS
Minorities most active on mobile phones
Why We Never Talk Anymore
California to Deploy Nation's First Mass Mobile Alert System
JOURNALISM
Philadelphia Bloggers Who Make Money Ordered to Pay City Business License Fee
THE STIMULUS
ADMINISTRATION'S ARRA REPORT
[SOURCE: ModernHealthcare.com, AUTHOR: Jennifer Lubell]
Recovery Act investments in health information technology are making headway in improving patient care and reducing medical errors, according to a new White House report. The report, unveiled by Vice President Joe Biden in Washington Tuesday, details the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which funneled more than $100 billion to various programs, including $20 billion in healthcare information technology. "Approximately $2 billion is being spent largely to support ready hospitals, providers, states and other parties to adopt health IT," the report states. "The remaining funds will be used to incentivize physicians and providers to adopt health IT in 2011 and beyond." Expanding adoption of broadband, which received a $6.9 billion boost under the stimulus law, will enable the adoption of electronic health-record systems, e-prescribing, and e-care, the report stated. The Obama administration projects that e-prescribing technology alone will help prevent 10 million outpatient medication errors by 2013. Broadband also allows for round-the-clock remote monitoring via wireless aids such as digital cameras and text messaging and telemonitoring services. The Veterans Affairs Department, for example, "has dramatically decreased unnecessary hospitalizations through a wide-ranging effort to help veterans manage chronic conditions at home" by using remote monitoring tools.
benton.org/node/41301 | ModernHealthcare.com | White House
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CBO ARRA IMPACT REPORT
[SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, AUTHOR: ]
When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, was being considered, CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it would increase budget deficits by $787 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2019. CBO now estimates that the total impact over the 2009-2019 period will amount to $814 billion. Close to half of that impact is estimated to occur in fiscal year 2010, and about 70 percent of ARRA's budgetary impact will have been realized by the close of that fiscal year. CBO estimates that ARRA's policies:
Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent,
Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points,
Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million, and
Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 2.0 million to 4.8 million compared with what those amounts would have been otherwise.
benton.org/node/41300 | Congressional Budget Office
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DIGITAL DIVIDE PROJECT IN DC
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Matt Williams]
Broadband adoption in Washington, DC toes the line -- not party lines, but rather the lines of the district's eight wards. In well-to-do neighborhoods located in the northwest, more than 90 percent of residents are connected to high-speed Internet access, according to a 2009 study by the district's technology office. But to the southeast, in poorer communities, only 36 to 40 percent of people can access broadband. There's literally a digital divide that splits Washington, DC's geography. Bryan Sivak, who has been Washington, DC's chief technology officer since last October, leads a coordinated effort to close that disparity -- an effort that will be one of his office's main missions, he said. "Some might say I'm evangelical about addressing the digital divide," he added. In a program Sivak believes is unique in scope, the district has assembled a three-pronged strategy that addresses the major challenges of providing and sustaining universal broadband to citizens: cost, public education and access to technology. All three obstacles are being addressed with separate stimulus grants awarded by the federal government.
benton.org/node/41297 | Government Technology
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND NEEDS TO BE A NATIONAL PRIORITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On August 24, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said that some people still aren't treating broadband as a national priority, and pointed to the recent decision on the FCC's annual broadband access report as an example. He conceded that participants at a broadband summit would be expected to agree that broadband is a priority, but said: "I do want you to know that is not the uniform opinion in Washington or in our state governments." Chairman Genachowski said that in contrast to past broadband reports, in which the FCC looked at broadband and said, "yes, everything's fine," he came to a far different conclusion after looking at the most recent report with his staff. "I said 'this is crazy.' We see how other countries are moving, we see the challenges, the answer is 'No,'" Chairman Genachowski said, adding that one would have thought that conclusion would have been "unanimous and without criticism....That was a 3-2 vote." The conclusion was criticized by many in industry as well as the dissenting commissioners, who said they were troubled by the failing grade. "[P]people in this room understand about the importance of broadband to small businesses, to our economy, to healthcare and public safety...[but] we're in the early innings in terms of having it really become a national priority," the chairman said, adding that more people have to understand that standing still is moving backwards.
benton.org/node/41299 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NET NEUTRALITY COMPROMISE POSSIBLE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said that there is room for a compromise on the divisive issue of network neutrality if the FCC steps up. "I do think at the end of the day there is a compromise to be had, and if the FCC would take control of the issue and the sides, they can resolve this issue in an appropriate way," he said. According to Powell, the "politicized" nature of network neutrality has made it a tough issue to tackle, in part because the left has taken such an interest in the topic. "I think this issue became highly politicized and almost religious during the campaign," Powell said who was an advisor to Sen John McCain's campaign for president. "The Silicon Valley Netroots community, a very powerful community and a very important constituency to this Administration is strongly, almost religiously, committed to this issue in a very forward-leaning way," he said. That force has managed to sway communications policy, according to Powell. "I think that provides a lot of power and impetus to keep this issue moving and to push a more extreme version of net neutrality," he said. "I think there are reasons to be concerned that the fundamentals of the Internet — that is, its open, end-to-end nature — will be preserved," he said in support of a limited government role. There is a consensus among carriers and Web companies that some government role would help, according to Powell.
benton.org/node/41298 | Hill, The
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SPECTRUM
FCC WIRELESS AUCTION RULES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
The US Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld federal government auctions of about $33 billion of wireless spectrum, saying it would be "imprudent and unfair" to undo them even though some rules governing them were invalid. The ruling allows Verizon, T-Mobile and others to keep billions of dollars of licenses they had won in the auctions, which took place between 2006 and 2008. The auction process had been challenged by Council Tree Communications, Bethel Native Corp and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which contended that Federal Communications Commission rules for the auctions were unfair to smaller service providers. The FCC had offered credits to smaller providers of as much as 35 percent to help them to compete for licenses. However, it also adopted rules to limit the ability of these providers to team up with larger rivals, or sell their credits to those rivals for quick profits. According to the appeals court, companies that qualified for credits comprised 113 of the 205 winning bidders, but won only about 3.2 percent of the licenses' total value. In contrast, in auctions that preceded adoption of the rules, qualifying bidders had won about 70 percent of the licenses by dollar value, the court said. In its 53-page ruling, the Third Circuit struck down two rules designed to limit or dissuade small carriers from selling their spectrum capacity, and upheld a third.
benton.org/node/41295 | Reuters
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TELEVISION
COMCAST PROGRAM ACCESS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Comcast programming executives met with representatives of the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department in Washington to talk about how Comcast makes its programming available on the air and online, including assuring regulators that it does not require carriage of any of its owned networks as a condition of access to any other. The company reiterated that it has no plans to migrate online delivery of NBC programming to the TV Everywhere subscription model. Jeff Shell, president of the Comcast Programming Group, told the staffers, in answer to a question, that Comcast may discount the price of one network to expand distribution of another, but it does not condition carriage of one channel on carriage of another, saying that the cost-benefit analysis of that strategy does not add up. On the issue of access to online programming, which FCC and Justice both appear to be interested in, Shell said Comcast "envisioned" making online video available to competing cable, satellite and telco distributors.
benton.org/node/41296 | Broadcasting&Cable
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LESS PAY TV SUBSCRIBERS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Andrew Hampp]
Last quarter pay TV executives saw the day they hoped would never come: the first total decline in subscriptions since, well, the advent of cable. But experts cautioned this isn't about "cord-cutting," or consumers opting out of cable TV for Hulu, Netflix and other online services. Rather, economic forces hit cable hard, including low housing formation, high unemployment rates and the lack of renewals for cheap contracts new customers signed last year during the digital-TV transition. The multichannel TV industry -- including cable, satellite and the telcos -- collectively lost 216,000 subscribers in the second quarter to the same period last year, declining to 100.1 million overall. That was driven by a steep 711,000 decline in cable TV alone, which more than offset subscriber gains for telcos such as Verizon Fios and satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish Network.
benton.org/node/41294 | AdAge
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WIRELESS
MINORITIES MOST ACTIVE ON CELL PHONES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
African-Americans and Hispanics talk and text on mobile phones significantly more than their white counterparts, according to the Nielsen Company. The results correlate with an earlier Pew survey that found minorities are more likely to use their smartphones to access the Web than whites. The latest data shows minorities are generally more likely to use mobile devices to communicate, meaning any proposals targeting wireless communications may disproportionately affect black and Hispanic Americans. When it comes to texting, race or ethnicity takes a back seat to age. Teenagers average a whopping 2,779 text messages a month, while 18- to 24-year-olds send or receive 1,299 on average. People between the ages of 25 and 35 average just under 600 text messages per month. The variance among age groups for voice minutes used was significantly less.
benton.org/node/41293 | Hill, The | Nielsen
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WHY WE NEVER TALK ANYMORE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
[Commentary] In the last few decades, our daily modes of communication have changed entirely -- from voice to increasingly text and hopefully soon video based methods. Today, I cringe at the idea of a phone call. Blame it on poor quality of the cell phone networks, but voice isn't much fun. Instead, I've replaced what was a standard mode of communication -- phones and faxes -- with newer, Internet-based communications. Despite their noisiness, email, instant messages, Twitter and Facebook are more appealing. As other people migrate to them as well, they are even more so. When I actually have to talk to someone, I can call, and for that I almost always use Skype, since it's on everyone's desk (so to speak), and is mostly free. All business-related calls are made from that account, making it easier to free myself from the office. So what do I do with my mobile phone? Well I use my BlackBerry Bold for sending e-mails and instant messages via Google Talk. For text messaging! Unlike my regular Rolodex, I have the 150 most important people in my life programmed into the device. According to the Nielsen Company, folks below the age of 24 text more often than using voice calls, with older people using more voice in correlation with their age. As more and more mobile natives grow older, we'll see text usage increase. Why not? It's immediate, simple and easy. More importantly, it has the intimacy of voice and efficiency of email. I bet in a few years, SMS will still be going strong, and voice will be replaced by something new entirely!
benton.org/node/41292 | GigaOm
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FIRST MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Russell Nichols]
California and Sprint have officially joined forces to spearhead the nation's first mass mobile alert system, which means warnings about terrorist attacks, wildfires, hurricanes, school shootings and other emergency situations could soon be at citizens' fingertips. The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) and Sprint announced Tuesday, Aug. 24, plans to deploy the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), a public safety tool that uses technology to deliver warnings and safety information via text alerts to wireless phones in specified areas. The first CMAS pilot program will begin in San Diego County this fall, in partnership with the county's Office of Emergency Services (OES). The CMAS technology works much like the emergency alerts broadcast on television or through land line phones. But the main difference is that emergency text messages will be sent to mobile phones in a defined geographic area, which could be as large as a county or city or as small as a few blocks.
benton.org/node/41291 | Government Technology
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JOURNALISM
PHILADELPHIA BLOGGER FEE
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Karen Wilkinson]
Philadelphia city officials are adamant that they're not singling out bloggers -- just those who reported business income to the IRS, but didn't follow proper procedure with the city. Through an "information sharing agreement" with the IRS, Philadelphia recently identified 32,000 people who earned (or lost) business income last year, but failed to inform the city of such dollars and obtain the required "business privilege license." It's unclear how many bloggers received letters from the city when they were sent out in May, as such specifics aren't required on tax forms, but city officials estimate it's a low number. Regardless, the cash-strapped city's stepped-up enforcement and its impact on bloggers came as a shock as Philadelphia is the first known city in the U.S. to do so. As well, most bloggers don't make a living from their online writings, which is more often a hobby than a source of revenue.
benton.org/node/41290 | Government Technology
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