MEDIA & POLITICS
Local Politics Garners Less TV Coverage
NAB Asks FEC to Give Broadcasters LUR Flexibility
MEDIA POLICY
Hot Properties
Smulyan Would Consider TV-Business Exit
At PBS, a Fragile State of Balance
Buffcasters Claim Brownback Rebuff
Imminent Replacements at FCC Could Impact Television Content,
Pro-Family Leaders Say
TELECOM
Regulators Now Must Weigh Two Tangled Telecom Deals
Telecom Is Getting Another Behemoth
NCTA Seeking Phone Subsidies for Cable
Vonage Complains to FCC of Calls Being Blocked
Battling the 'Sock Puppets'
NEW RESOURCES
Mobilizing Our Resources
A Compendium of Public Communications Initiatives
QUICKLY -- Rulemaking On DTV Tuner Phase-In; Reality Show Suicide;
Protecting DVDs from Piracy; Julie Andersen New APTS Board Chair
MEDIA & POLITICS
LOCAL POLITICS GARNERS LESS TV COVERAGE
More coverage of a new study from Annenberg's Lear Center and the NewsLab
at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In the four-week run-up to the
November elections, almost two-thirds (64%) of all TV stations surveyed
carried at least one campaign news story. That was up significantly from a
2002 study that pegged that number at 44%, but much of that increase was
attributed to the presidential race in 2004. More than half of local TV
newscasts surveyed contained stories on the presidential race, while only
8% covered a local race, the study said. The average length of a campaign
story was 86 seconds, but that was more than three times as much time as
was devoted to the war in Iraq -- 25 seconds. The study found that there
was 12 times more coverage of sports and weather than local races. Looking
at Seattle, where the Governor's race turned on a few handfuls of votes out
of millions, the study found that only 5% of the broadcasts had a story on
the governor's race. For comparison purposes, the study said there were 14
times as much time devoted to teasers and bumper music for the local news
as there was to stories on the governor's race. See
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm for info on a press event around this
research today.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA503886?display=Breaking+News&...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA503968.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* USAToday: Local politics garners less TV coverage
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050215/a_localpolitics15.art...
If you'd rather read the study that read about it, see:
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_doc...
In a related item, the E. W. Scripps Company's broadcast television station
group says it made 1,682 minutes of free airtime available to 198
candidates for local, state and federal offices during the 2004 election
campaigns. "We believe that making airtime available to responsible
candidates is a fundamental responsibility that we have as trusted stewards
of the public airwaves," a company executive said.
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1112624&resource...
NAB ASKS FEC TO GIVE BROADCASTERS LUR FLEXIBILITY
Last week, NAB filed comments with the Federal Election Commission in
response to a draft opinion by FEC staff regarding political broadcasting.
The FEC is considering the question whether a broadcaster can charge a
political candidate the lowest unit rate (LUR), even after the candidate
has aired a political ad that violates the "stand-by-your-ad" disclosure
requirements of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), and
therefore is no longer "entitled" to the LUR under BCRA. In our comments,
NAB sought to educate the FEC on how broadcasters determine both commercial
and political ad rates, and explained that requiring broadcasters to
pre-screen political ads to make sure they comply with BCRA would be
inappropriate and impractical.
[SOURCE: National Association of Broadcasters]
http://www.nab.org/xert/corpcomm/newsletters/tvtoday/2005/021405/LURflex...
MEDIA POLICY
HOT PROPERTIES
The Tribune Company and Media General are expected to petition the FCC to
waive the broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership ban for markets where the
companies own newspapers and TV stations. In July 2001, the FCC ordered
News Corp. to divest a Secaucus, N.J. TV station within two years in
exchange for the agency's approval to buy 10 TV stations from Chris-Craft
Industries Inc. for $5.4 billion. News Corp., which owns the New York Post
in the New York City market, never carried through with the divestiture,
anticipating that the agency would eliminate its cross-ownership
prohibition. When it became clear that relief was not imminent, News Corp.
opted to file a petition to permanently extend its waiver with the FCC. A
source close to News Corp. says the company expects the commission to allow
it to continue owning the TV station, WWOR-TV, until the agency determines
whether the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership prohibition will continue.
The measure will be considered as part of the FCC media ownership rewrite,
which could take as little as six months or as long as four years. But Mark
Cooper, research director at Washington-based advocate group Consumer
Federation of America, says the court argued that the FCC did not properly
justify removal of the provision. He argues that the agency should not
provide News Corp. with a permanent waiver and instead work on crafting a
new set of media rules.
[SOURCE: The Deal, AUTHOR: Ron Orol]
http://www.thedeal.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=TheDeal/TDDArtic...
SMULYAN WOULD CONSIDER TV-BUSINESS EXIT
Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan would consider
selling his TV-station properties, worth $1 billion, if the industry's
competitive position against cable does not improve, according to A.G.
Edwards & Sons analyst Michael Kupinski. Smulyan is urging broadcasters to
pool their digital spectrum and offer consumers a blend of HDTV programming
from TV stations and 30-50 cable networks for $25 per month. Consumers
would need to purchase $99 set-top boxes. Smulyan told Kupinski that if
TV-station owners don't rally around his wireless-cable plan and fail to
get cash from cable, he would exit the TV business at some point.
Broadcasters' failure to get multicast must-carry from the FCC might induce
TV stations to give pay TV services a closer look.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA504086.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
AT PBS, A FRAGILE STATE OF BALANCE
After deciding not to distribute a children's television show featuring a
family with two mothers, PBS is facing tough criticism from natural allies
on the left. "I'd expect them to be more understanding," says PBS President
Pat Mitchell. "The sad thing is, the people who want to see public
television get better resources are hardly helping by participating in this
kind of debate." Mitchell emphasizes that PBS has and will continue to
cover gay issues, including gay parenting, in prime-time programming,
saying that "children's programming has its own set of principles and
standards." An internal review for children's programming is already
underway. The goal now is to turn what happened with the "Buster" episode
"into a positive," Mitchell said. Critics on the left want to see more
backbone. According to Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for
Digital Democracy, PBS has been "so finely attuned now to the whims of the
administration they didn't need to be told" to pull the "Buster" episode.
"It's a scary way to control content in a democracy," said children's
programming advocate Peggy Charren, referring to the Department of
Education's letter. Charren serves on the board of WGBH-TV, the PBS station
that produced "Buster." "What's been lost is the idea that public
broadcasting should operate independent of political pressure," said Peter
D. Hart, a public opinion analyst and FAIR's activism director.
See http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20050210_editorialstandardsreview.html
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Lynn Smith]
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-pbs14feb14,0,252973...
Communications Daily reports that Mitchell will leave next year at the end
of her current contract.
BUFFCASTERS CLAIM BROWNBACK REBUFF
Oh, to be able to write Headlines as fun as B&C's, alas...
Lobbyists for the adult entertainment industry voiced their anger
explicitly after learning that a Senate committee had no plans to invite
them to a hearing examining legal options for combating obscenity. "Once
again, the adult entertainment industry -- the clear target of the hearing
-- was neither invited nor notified of the hearing, and attempts to provide
witnesses friendly to the adult industry were rebuffed by subcommittee
officials, complained the Free Speech Coalition in a press release Monday.
The coalition asked members to submit comments to the committee so that
"objective and professional written testimony" will be inserted into the
public record and to ensure that lawmakers are "aware of all sides of this
very important issue." The coalition, the porn industry lobby, was left off
the witness list for the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing Wednesday, in
which legal scholars will give their take on a recent court decision
exonerating producers of a pornographic movie in which there are
simulations of women raped and killed.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA504092?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
See information about the hearing at:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1387
IMMINENT REPLACEMENTS AT FCC COULD IMPACT TELEVISION CONTENT, PRO-FAMILY
LEADERS SAY
Saying outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell has not done enough to fight
broadcast indecency, conservatives are promoting current Commissioner Kevin
Martin as chairman. Writes Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research
Council, "This is an historic opportunity and one that the FRC team won't
let slip away. I have been working on this for some time, making calls and
sending letters to key U.S. Senators and Congressmen urging them to let
President Bush know we want appointments to the FCC who will enforce
indecency law. I have weighed in at the White House also." Brent Bozell,
president of the Parents Television Council, would also like to see
Commissioner Martin replace Chairman Powell. "American families deserve
more from the FCC in protecting our children from overtly indecent
content," Bozell said in a statement. "Chairman Powell's departure gives
President Bush an opportunity to appoint a Chairman who actually believes
in and who will enforce the federal laws regarding broadcast indecency."
[SOURCE: Baptist Press]
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=20111
TELECOM
REGULATORS NOW MUST WEIGH TWO TANGLED TELECOM DEALS
The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission will have
to study the competitive impact of two big telecom acquisitions (SBC-AT&T &
Verizon-MCI) on eachother other. While regulators aren't likely to derail
either deal, they could require the companies to divest themselves of more
operations. The two transactions involve the top four players in the market
for business-phone customers. AT&T is the nation's leading provider of
these services, expected to have taken in about $24.5 billion in revenue
for 2004 from this operation, compared with $20.3 billion for SBC. MCI
comes in third with about $18.3 billion from this market and Verizon is
fourth with $15.2 billion. So a critical element in the regulators' reviews
will be what large business customers have to say about their phone rates
with the loss of AT&T and MCI. "Complaints from customers are infinitely
more persuasive with antitrust enforcers than complaints from competitors,"
said Donald Baker, a Washington antitrust attorney. If both deals are
approved, that essentially will create a situation in which there are just
two choices for many customers -- a shrinking of competition that antitrust
officials generally frown upon. Unlike the residential market, where
wireless and cable companies increasingly are being seen as reliable
alternatives to the regional Bell giants, business customers continue to
rely largely on wired phone services. The pair of deals appears to sound
the death knell for the long-distance industry, increasingly sidelined as
Washington legislators and regulators came to see phone competition coming
from cable television, mobile phones and even electric utilities. Recent
court and FCC decisions have been predicated on this argument, leaving
companies like AT&T and MCI at a disadvantage since they lack connections
to individual homes and small businesses.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anne Marie Squeo
annemarie.squeo( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110842821930154696,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
* With Huge Proposed Mergers, the Regulatory Maze Ahead for a Recast FCC
"This is definitely a case of Michael Powell getting what he asked for in
every conceivable way," said Reed E. Hundt, a former chairman of the agency
in the first years of President Bill Clinton's administration. "Ironically,
Michael has also made his successor the potentially most powerful FCC
chairman in history."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/business/15regs.html?hp&ex=1108530000&...
(requires registration)
TELECOM IS GETTING ANOTHER BEHEMOTH
A series of mergers has transformed the communications marketplace in the
space of five months, producing a handful of giants capable of delivering
an all-in-one package of phone and Internet services to businesses and
consumers alike. The flurry of activity comes as the telephone industry
faces new competition from cable television companies such as Comcast --
which recently announced plans to offer phone service -- and a
constellation of upstarts selling service over the Internet. Analysts said
the deals, which require regulatory approval, could slow the cutthroat
price wars that have eviscerated balance sheets but have been such a boon
to consumers. The biggest phone companies are now largely regional goliaths
that dwarf their competitors -- and that can provide an extensive array of
services.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22406-2005Feb14.html
(requires registration)
See also --
* MCI snubs Qwest, takes Verizon up on $6.7B offer (USAToday)
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050215/verizonmcicov15.art.htm
* MCI Takes Low Bid (LATimes)
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-verizon15feb15,1,2540...
* MCI Rewrote The Rulebook
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24573-2005Feb14.html
(requires registration)
* After a Year of Frenzied Deals, Two Telecom Giants Emerge
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110837919715653920,00.html?mod=todays...
* What About the Customers?
Consumer advocates say the merger trend will especially hurt low-income
consumers who can't afford the "bundles" of TV, phone and high-speed
Internet services that cable and phone companies are offering, which
typically cost more than $100 a month. And consumers aren't able to
subscribe to discounted phone-over-Internet services unless they already
have a broadband Internet connection, which can cost up to $50 a month from
a cable or phone provider. "The only place there's competition is at the
very high end of the market," said Janee Briesemeister, a senior analyst at
Consumers Union.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110842513064154601,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
* See similar take in USAToday:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050215/consumers15.art.htm
* Phone Mergers Seen as a Curb on Price Wars
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/business/15verizon.html
Reactions to the deal:
HearUsNow.org: http://www.hearusnow.org/index.php?id=444
Consumers Union:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/001850.html...
Communications Workers of America:
http://www.cwa-union.org/news/PressReleaseDisplay.asp?ID=480
NCTA SEEKING PHONE SUBSIDIES FOR CABLE
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association is calling on the
Federal Communications Commission to change rules that govern the universal
service program's "High Cost Fund" so that cable companies are not
automatically excluded from receiving subsidies designed to keep phone
service affordable in rural areas. In a letter to the Commission, the NCTA
explained that cable companies can't obtain eligible telecommunications
carrier (ETC) status and qualify for funding because many state regulators
reserve ETC status for companies that provide service throughout the state.
able operators only offer service within their franchise areas.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA503818.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
VONAGE COMPLAINS TO FCC OF CALLS BEING BLOCKED
Internet telephone service provider Vonage has told Federal Communications
Commission officials that it has evidence an Internet service provider
owned by a telephone company has been blocking its service, affecting a
couple of hundred customers. Internet service providers are able to block
Vonage calls by refusing data from certain ports, similar to the methods
used to control unwanted e-mail. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said Monday
that the Commission was "actively on this case and we are taking it pretty
seriously." The FCC could take enforcement action against carriers if they
are found to have engaged activities that violate anti-competition laws,
said Chairman Powell.
[SOURCE: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WFAKCZKRWRSZKCRBAEOC...
BATTLING THE 'SOCK PUPPETS'
A growing number of American cities and towns are queuing up municipal
wireless networks to provide affordable and fast Internet access to
residents. But they're facing increasing opposition from telecom industry
players who seek to consolidate their control over the "last mile" of
broadband access to American homes.
[SOURCE:MediaCitizen]
http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2005/02/battling-sock-puppets.html
NEW RESOURCES
MOBILIZING OUR RESOURCES: HOW NATIONALLY-FOCUSED MEDIA POLICY GROUPS CAN
HELP ORGANIZERS BUILD THE BASE
Media policy lobbyists, lawyers, researchers and other public-interest
advocates who want to strengthen grassroots organizing efforts will find
specific bullet-point recommendations in this report, drawn from interviews
with leaders of eighteen local and national media-activist organizations.
CIMA has produced this report as part of ongoing efforts to support
strategic connections among groups working to change media policy and
practice. Many of the interviews were conducted within an investigation we
did for Consumers Union to help inform the development of their new website
www.HearUsNow.org.
CIMA: Center for International Media Action is a nonprofit organization
that seeks to help advocates, organizers, researchers and funders work
together for media systems that serve social justice and human rights.
For a pdf copy of the report (10 pages), please contact:
cima( at )mediaactioncenter.org
A COMPENDIUM OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS INITIATIVES
Washington, DC lawyer Jim Baller is compiling a compendium of public
communications initiatives to help educate federal, state and local
legislators and officials, businesses, institutions, the financial
community, the media, and the public about the relationship between public
broadband initiatives and the well-being of our localities and our country.
And he's asking for help. He's looking for 1) public communications
projects that played an important role in enabling a community to attract
new businesses or retain and expand existing ones; 2) detailed examples of
how the lack of advanced communications infrastructure hampered communities
in attracting new businesses or resulted in the loss existing ones; 3)
examples of how public communications systems have enabled local businesses
to operate in new ways or made them more productive or profitable; and 4)
comparisons of public and private systems in local communities. Contact Jim
at jim( at )baller.com
QUICKLY
FCC OPENS RULEMAKING ON CE REVISIONS TO DTV TUNER PHASE-IN
The FCC launched a formal rulemaking to consider the consumer electronics
industry's request that it move up the deadline by which all TV sets with
25-36" screens must have ATSC tuners. CEA and the Consumer Electronics
Retailers Coalition (CERC), in a joint petition, had asked that the July
2006 date by which all 25-36" receivers must have the DTV tuners be
moved to March 2006 and that the July 2005 date by which half the sets
must be ATSC-capable be eliminated. The groups say the 50% phase-in
schedule was "antithetical" to the purpose of the DTV tuner mandate, which
was to increase market demand for TV sets with built-in ATSC reception
capability.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Paul Gluckman]
(Not available online)
See the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Dkt No. 05-24) at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-17A1.doc
See also --
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA503970?display=Breaking+News&...
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA503972.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
CONTESTANT ON NBC REALITY SHOW COMMITS SUICIDE
A contestant in "The Contender" a new NBC reality series about boxing
scheduled to start next month, committed suicide yesterday in Philadelphia,
network executives said last night. NBC executives said that the show would
go on as planned, starting March 7. The suicide recalls an incident that
almost derailed "Survivor," producer Mark Burnett's first hit reality show
and the one that ignited the reality trend in American television. A
contestant in the first version of the show, which was made for Swedish
television and was not produced by Mr. Burnett, committed suicide after he
was the first person voted off the island. The incident stirred concerns
about the risks of reality television, and led Mr. Burnett to conduct
extensive psychological tests on his contestants.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/business/media/15reality.html
(requires registration)
NEW STEPS TO PROTECT DVDs IN PIRACY WAY
Macrovision Corp. today plans to unveil technology that it claims can block
97% of the DVD-copying software that pirates use without interfering with a
DVD's playability or picture quality. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company
is just the first of several firms expected to roll out new anti-copying
technology that has been years in the making. The main challenge has been
finding a way to alter discs without rendering them unplayable on the more
than 200 million DVD players already in homes around the world. For
Hollywood studios, the technology could help wring even more revenue from
DVDs, which have become a leading source of profit. According to
Macrovision, unauthorized DVD copying costs the studios about $1 billion
out of the $27.5 billion that analyst firm Screen Digest estimated they
collected from worldwide DVD sales and rentals last year.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:Jon Healey]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-dvd15feb15,1,1759392....
(requires registration)
The Board of Trustees of the Association of Public Television Stations
(APTS) recently elected Julie Andersen, Executive Director of South Dakota
Public Broadcasting, to serve as Chairman of the APTS Board.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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