Benton's Communications-related Headlines for 2/10/04

CABLE
Satellite, Cable Operators Get Ready to Raise Rates
Cable Prices Rising, Anti-Consumer Practices Continue
Hearing: Cable Competition =AD Increasing Price; Increasing Value?
Powell to Cable: Protect Internet Freedom

MEDIA AND POLITICS
Campaign Legal Center Asks FCC for Election Coverage Challenge
Campaign Ads Enrich Advisers, Raise Questions
Michigan Net Ballots Get Vote of Approval

CABLE

SATELLITE, CABLE OPERATORS GET READY TO RAISE RATES
DirecTV plans to boost average rates by more than 3% starting March 1.=20
Prices will range from $36.99 a month for basic service with 125 channels=20
to $90.99 for the ''premier'' package with 210 channels and free TiVo=20
service. The increase is the fourth in 10 years, but the last, 3.3%, came=20
in March. EchoStar is raising rates an average of 1.7% on its most popular=
=20
packages. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator with 21 million=20
subscribers, will boost average cable rates by 5.4%. Time Warner Cable will=
=20
raise average rates by 4.9%. Cox Communications' rates are going up by an=20
average 3% to 4%. Cablevision is upping rates by an average of 3.2%.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:Michael McCarthy]
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040210/5911853s.htm

CABLE PRICES RISING, ANTI-CONSUMER PRACTICES CONTINUE
Cable rates continue to rise at three times the rate of inflation, cable=20
companies are using "bundling" of products and services to further gouge=20
consumers and lack of real competition is costing the public at least $4.5=
=20
billion/yr, according to a consumer group analysis of the cable industry.=20
Co-sponsored by Consumers Union and released in response to the FCC=92s=
Tenth=20
Annual Report on Competition in Video Market, the analysis shows that=20
climbing cable rates have far outpaced all cost increases and that most=20
consumers don't want the extra channels/services they are forced to pay for=
=20
in the "bundles" of channels cable companies compel them to buy. As a=20
result, the excess profits on basic and expanded basic service have mounted=
=20
sharply since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. "The time=
=20
has come for Congress to give consumers the right to choose and pay for the=
=20
cable channels they want," said Gene Kimmelman, Consumers Union public=20
policy director. "It is ridiculous that the FCC gives a nod and wink to=20
cable companies' practice of bundling channel packages at exorbitant rates=
=20
when it knows the typical household watches only 17 channels."
Read The Continuing Abuse Of Market Power By The Cable Industry: Rising=20
Prices, Denial Of Consumer Choice, And Discriminatory Access To Content at=
=20
http://www.consumerfed.org/mpcableindustry.pdf
[SOURCE: Consumers Union Press Release]
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/000853.html

HEARING: CABLE COMPETITION -- INCREASING PRICE; INCREASING VALUE?
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust,=20
Competition Policy and Consumer Rights has scheduled a hearing on =93Cable=
=20
Competition =AD Increasing Price; Increasing Value?=94 for Wednesday,=
February=20
11, 2004, at 10:00 a.m., in Dirksen Senate Office Room 226. Senator Mike=20
DeWine (R-OH) will preside. The hearing is to include testimony from=20
Insight Communications CEO Michael Willner, National Cable and=20
Telecommunications Association President Robert Sachs, Consumer Federation=
=20
of America's Mark Cooper, The Precursor Group CEO Scott Cleland and Knology=
=20
CEO Rodger Johnson.
[SOURCE: US Senate]
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3D1041

POWELL TO CABLE: PROTECT INTERNET FREEDOM
At the Silicon Flatirons Symposium, FCC Chairman Michael Powell called on=20
broadband-network providers (and especially cable system operators that=20
offer high-speed Internet access) to guarantee that consumers enjoy "Four=20
Freedoms": Freedom to access legal content; Freedom to run any application=
=20
that won't harm the network; Freedom to attach any device that does not=20
abet crime; and Freedom to obtain meaningful information about service=20
plans. Chairman Powell said, "It is time to give the private sector a clear=
=20
road map by which it can avoid future regulation on this issue by embracing=
=20
unparalleled openness and consumer choice."
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA380530?display=3DBreaking+News
Read Chairman Powell's full remarks "Preserving Internet Freedom: Guiding=20
Principles For The Industry" at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-243556A1.pdf

MEDIA AND POLITICS

CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER ASKS FCC FOR ELECTION COVERAGE CHALLENGE
The Campaign Legal Center has asked the FCC to issue a challenge to=20
broadcast and cable channels to voluntarily increase their political=20
coverage this year. Coverage dropped 33% in 2000 compared to 1996 and is=20
now considered minimal and declining. =93As we approach the Presidential=20
elections we hope the Commissioners will vigorously push to impose=20
political discourse,=94 said Norman Ornstein, CLC advisory board member. CLC=
=20
is also calling on the FCC to complete a rulemaking on public interest=20
obligations for digital broadcasters to determine whether additional=20
regulation is necessary.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Tania Panczyk-Collins]
(Not available online)

CAMPAIGN ADS ENRICH ADVISERS, RAISE QUESTIONS
How exactly do you burn through $41 million running for president? Ads, ads=
=20
and more TV ads. For candidate Howard Dean, those ads have not helped him=20
win a primary yet. But did they help campaign manager Joe Trippi? He was=20
both the head of Dean's campaign and a partner in Trippi, McMahon & Squier=
=20
(TMS), the Alexandria firm that still handles Dean's media buying and has=20
been associated with his political career since 1992. Commissions for the=20
advertising purchased for the Dean campaign are estimated at $700,000. The=
=20
case highlights a serious conflict of interest: paid on commission, media=20
advisors are rewarded for increasing the cost of elections, which in turn=20
fuels the candidates' constant hunt for donations
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26975-2004Feb9.html
See also:
HOW WEB SUPPORT FAILED DEAN IN CRUNCH: EX-MANAGER
Joe Trippi also said Monday that the Internet's transparency hindered the=20
Dean campaign in the weeks before the primaries. "We were having a real=20
problem with how to say, 'We could be in real trouble here,"' Trippi told=20
the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference of the tactical trouble the=20
Dean campaign had in balancing the need to keep supporters informed. "We=20
couldn't figure out how to tell people we had a problem without raising the=
=20
wrong impression. Part of the problem is that the press are reading our=20
blogs (Internet journals)," he said. With the media watching, it was hard=20
for the campaign to come up with a unified message as the candidate made=20
policy misstatements leading up to the barbaric yelp in Iowa. Internet=20
supporters were no match to the relentless replay of that moment, Trippi=
said.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Eric Auchard ]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=3DinternetNews&storyID=3D4...
12

MICHIGAN NET BALLOTS GET VOTE OF APPROVAL
46,000 of the nearly 163,000 cast in the Michigan Democratic Caucus=20
Saturday were cast via the Internet. "I think it was a success," said Jason=
=20
Moon, a Michigan Democratic Party spokesman. "We, the Democratic Party here=
=20
in Michigan, look for any way to bring voters to the polls." Because the=20
party held a caucus, the Michigan secretary of state was not involved. The=
=20
Michigan Democratic Party hired a private contractor, Election Services=20
Corporation (ESC), which owns portions of Election.com, the company which=20
conducted the March 2000 Arizona primary.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh ]
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5156089.html?tag=3Dcd_top
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