For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
TELEVISION
Enemies Sharpen Their Knives
Hammer In The House
Life Goes On, Sans Multicast
Running Out of Air
Network News Slowing HDTV Conversion
New Hope on TV's 'Bubble'
Bertelsmann Unit Plans Pay-TV Move
Regulation Machinations
100 Top Local Cable Systems
MEDIA & SOCIETY
Time for Bush to Define 'Independent Press'
An Incomplete Grade
Test of Decency Rules Likely
Who Framed Buster Rabbit? The Fallout Continues
News Media Grope for the Right Formula
TELECOM
Telecom Shootout
The Telephonosaurus
In Tiny Towns, New Call Options Shake Up an Old Phone System
Chokepoint: You Pay for Deregulation
Telecom Suppliers, Pick a Partner
INTERNET
UN Panel Aims to End Internet Tug of War by July
High-Tech Tension Over Illegal Uses
More Americans have Home Computer Networks
FROM THE BLOG-O-SPHERE
QUICKLY
TELEVISION
ENEMIES SHARPEN THEIR KNIVES
The National Association of Broadcasters has built a record of near
invincibility on Capitol Hill under the leadership of President Eddie
Fritts. But lawmakers on Capitol Hill and public advocates vowed to make
Fritts' last year on the job a painful one by crushing NAB's top
legislative goal: guaranteeing TV stations cable carriage for each of the
multiple channels that going digital allows them to offer. NAB's
predicament is partly a result of intensified public scrutiny following
uproars over media consolidation and indecency. Also, broadcasters are
sitting on a valuable slice of communications spectrum that Congress
desperately wants to reclaim for new technologies. As the digital cable
carriage debate moves to Congress, the NAB is hopeful of a victory. Fritts
predicts Congress and the NAB will work out a package deal giving
broadcasters multicasting-carriage rights in return for a firm deadline for
going all-digital and returning their old analog channels to the
government. Fritts counters barbs about broadcasters' lack of political
coverage and dismissed the Lear study as unfair. "The question isn't
whether we serve the public interest but whether we do it the way these
groups want it done."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505337?display=News&referral=...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
HAMMER IN THE HOUSE
The House could vote before summer on legislation designed to complete --
by the end of 2006 -- television broadcasters' digital transition, a
proposal endorsed by the cable industry, opposed by TV broadcasters and
feared by plenty of lawmakers who envision brigades of angry consumers
charging up Capitol Hill. The bill will likely include hard date for the
termination of analog broadcasting, coupled with a program that would
subsidize set-top boxes for homes that rely solely on free, over-the-air
broadcasting. The Government Accountability Office estimated in a report
Thursday that converter-box subsidies alone would cost between $460 million
and $10.6 billion, depending on set-top prices, whether Congress limits the
subsidy to low-income households and whether Congress allowed cable and
satellite homes to participate. The GAO also found that 48% of homes that
are broadcast-only have annual incomes below $30,000, while 29% of cable
and satellite homes had incomes below that level. It also found that
minorities rely solely on broadcast more that whites do.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA505415.html&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
LIFE GOES ON, SANS MULTICAST
Having lost the digital must carry vote at the FCC, what's next for
broadcasters? 1) On Capitol Hill, broadcasters are lobbying Congress to
overturn the FCC decision, but it's unclear whether stations will need to
surrendered their analog spectrum on a specific date in order obtain
expanded cable carriage rights. 2) USDTV Inc. repeated last week it is
about 30 days away from announcing that major TV station groups plan to
take control of the company, which pools DTV spectrum in a market to
provide a low-cost, bare-bones wireless cable service for $19.95 a
month. 3) Paxson Communications is considering asking the FCC to permit TV
stations to use another modulation besides 8 VSB (vestigial sideband) in
order to use excess capacity for new, non-video services.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA505420.html?display=Top+Stories&re...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
RUNNING OUT OF AIR
As the TV business converts to digital technology, stations can broadcast a
primary video feed and have spare capacity for another three to five
channels. TV stations could then pool their spare capacity to create a mini
wireless cable system. Subscribers with a special set-top box could see a
dozen or so cable channels -- plus all the local digital-broadcast
services, even if they don't have a high-priced digital TV. Sounds like a
great way to compete with cable and satellite, right? But a year after two
industry executives announced plans to help broadcasters make this use of
digital technology, their proposals are floundering. Networks aren't
convinced that this broadcast wireless cable is the answer. Network
executives say NBC is willing to toss in a couple of stations but no money.
CBS is riveted on offering more HD, not me-too cable. ABC is hesitant but
more receptive since its Moviebeam movies-on-demand venture has stalled out.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John M. Higgins]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505351.html?display=News&refe...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
NETWORK NEWS SLOWING HDTV CONVERSION
Veteran telecom lawyer Thomas Gibbon told the Society of Satellite
Professionals International last week that one major hurdle to the
transition to digital TV is the networks' reluctance to do news programing
in high definition (HDTV). "There will be some important worldwide news
event that somebody is going to broadcast in HD and that HD news coverage
is going to galvanize the world's attention to such an extent that
broadcast executives, commercial advertisers and viewers are going to
demand that the news goes HD," Gibbon forecasted. "At that point, the
conversion to HD will be fully completed." Although he's unsure of when the
transition will occur, he said "it's going to be a lot faster than anyone
is predicting right now." ABC does special event coverage in HDTV, but CBS
and NBC do not use the technology yet.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes, Tania Panczyk-Collins]
(Not available online)
NEW HOPE ON TV's 'BUBBLE'
Audience size still matters a lot in prime-time network television. But now
other factors are influencing the cancellation decision. DVDs have become
such a gold mine -- profit margins reach 50% -- that broadcasters are
increasingly open to the idea of keeping a ratings-challenged show on the
air, especially one with a fanatical core of fans, in order to generate
more episodes to sell later on DVD. Other nascent income streams --
on-demand services, and downloadable episodes sold on the Internet like
songs -- also are giving consumers more direct power in programming
decisions. So forget writing letters, says James Webster, senior associate
dean at Northwestern University's School of Communication. "Show networks
how wide your wallet opens," he advises. The DVD option wouldn't have been
possible without a 1993 Federal Communications Commission ruling relaxing
ownership rules for TV shows. For the first time in decades, big
broadcasters were allowed to have a financial stake in prime-time shows on
their schedules. The ruling led to a flurry of mergers, with each of the
Big Four networks now linked with a studio. Before the ruling, back when
networks could air only shows produced by outsiders, they cared only about
selling ads. The show's value in the aftermarket, such as profits from
syndicated reruns, didn't matter to them. But now that networks own a
portion or all of the shows they air, outside producers frequently grumble
that network-owned shows have a different barometer of success. Network
chiefs insist they don't get paid to program with the financial interests
of their sister studios in mind. But a network executive who can figure out
how to keep a struggling show on the air to help the company's studio make
more money can win gold stars with the corporate bosses.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110903087731660353,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
BERTELSMANN UNIT PLANS PAY-TV MOVE
Using a mix of subsidies and political pressure, a number of European
countries including Germany, Italy, the U.K. and France, have been prodding
broadcasters and viewers to switch from analog systems to digital
television, which offers a crisper picture and more channels. The result,
analysts say, will be a fragmented television market similar to what has
evolved in the U.S., where the growth of cable and satellite forced the
once-dominant broadcast networks to compete with scores of niche channels.
To avoid losing viewers in a more splintered market, RTL Group, which
operates a network of 31 television channels spanning 10 European
countries, wants to supplement its free-TV offerings with pay channels. The
success of the plan, which could cement RTL Group's position as Europe's
top broadcaster, is crucial to the future Bertelsmann. RTL Group generates
more than 40% of Bertelsmann's profit and is its biggest division. In
Germany, public broadcaster ARD overtook RTL as the country's most-viewed
channel last year. The recent resurgence of the public broadcasters has
raised the hackles of RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, Germany's
other major commercial broadcaster. Both companies complain that public
channels have an unfair advantage because they are allowed to supplement
the mandatory monthly subscription fees from viewers with advertising.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Matthew Karnitschnig
matthew.karnitschnig( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110894972423659875,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
REGULATION MACHINATIONS
Phone giants SBC and Verizon have announced plans to invest billions to
upgrade their networks so they can offer video services to compete with
cable operators. But before the video war can actually begin, a bigger and
potentially more important battle is being fought over the very rules of
engagement. The telecos want to avoid working out franchise agreements with
local municipalities, arguing that their video offerings are just add-ons
to existing services. Local franchise fees will also cut into the "already
marginal returns" projected for video. But the worst impact would be the
"more democratic build-out" that cities would demand, rather than those
proposed by telcos, which want the ability to decide when and where to
build. Specifically, they'd like to limit their build to their current
telephone-service boundaries. City officials support greater competition
but want to retain local-enforcement authority. They fear cable and
telephone companies will reach an accord and share their political clout in
Congress to end all franchising.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA505310.html?display=Special+Report...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
100 TOP LOCAL CABLE SYSTEMS
Broadcasting&Cable and Multichannel News have published their annual list
of the top cable systems in the US.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: George Winslow]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505352?display=Supplement&ref...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505353?display=Supplement&ref...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
TIME FOR BUSH TO DEFINE 'INDEPENDENT PRESS'
[Commentary] At the same press conference at which Jeff Gannon/Guckert
lobbed his now famous softball to President Bush, the President also
answered questions about the Administration's paying reporters for positive
coverage, as the Education Department did with Armstrong Williams. "There
needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the
press," President Bush said. The question is where Guckert fits into all
this. True, the White House didn't pay him for coverage, we assume. But how
exactly does he, and pseudo-reporters like him, qualify as journalists and
help create the "nice independent relationship" the President says he
seeks? Guckert's Talon News is essentially a "news" mouthpiece for a
conservative advocacy website called GOPUSA - that's GOP, as in Grand Old
Party. The editor in chief of Talon is president of GOPUSA. On the
conservative website Free Republic, Guckert called on others who use the
site to demonstrate at Kerry headquarters during the presidential campaign.
And many of his stories contained verbatim repeats of White House press
releases. Guckert crossed the line from having a bias to being a
propagandist and party activist. Online he was a White House ditto-machine
masquerading as reporter, and in the pressroom he was a safe place for
Scott McClellan to go when the White House press secretary needed a
lifeline during televised briefings. It may be time for the White House to
define some terms for all of us. What does a "nice independent
relationship" with the press really mean? It's easy to see how people like
Guckert fit with the "nice" part (at least from the White House
perspective); it's the "independent" part that's not clear.
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Dante Chinni, Pew Project for
Excellence in Journalism]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0222/p11s01-codc.html
AN INCOMPLETE GRADE
[Editorial] Broadcasting&Cable responds to the Lear Center study released
last week that finds that only 8% of more than 4,333 station newscasts
surveyed contained even one story about a local political race. B&C
contends that the study did not look at enough stations or enough of their
newscasts. The publication acknowledges that "some stations don't do enough
campaign coverage while making a boatload of money on campaign
commercials." But, it contends, the entire industry is being tarred by just
the few stations and times studied.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505408?display=Opinion&referr...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
Lear researcher Martin Kaplan responds: "The time period for the month of
stories captured was 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm. This period was not chosen by
the researchers; it was picked by the industry itself. In the 1998 report
of the Gore Commission, a body co-chaired by CBS head Leslie Moonves,
broadcasters themselves chose the 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm time period, in the
month before an election, as the daypart for demonstrating their voluntary
commitment to meet the public interest obligation to cover
campaigns. Eleven markets of varying sizes were included in the 2004
study; they account for 23 percent of the nation's television viewers. The
2004 findings were consistent with the 2002 study of 122 stations in the
top 50 markets and the 2000 study of 74 stations in 58 markets. If the
industry or its apologists wants all stations, all markets and all dayparts
studied, it should make itself accountable to the public by disclosing its
news programming content online, and it should call on regulators to
conduct such studies. Maybe it should even fund them."
TEST OF INDECENCY RULES LIKELY
As Congress seeks to boost broadcast indecency penalties at least tenfold
to as much as $500,000 an incident, the industry is planning a legal
challenge in hopes of getting the Federal Communications Commission to more
clearly define what indecency is. Broadcasters haven't brought a major
indecency or obscenity case since 1978, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld
the FCC's authority to issue indecency fines. That case involved a Pacifica
radio station's airing in 1973 of comedian George Carlin's "Seven Words You
Can Never Say on Television" routine. FCC officials currently define
broadcast indecency as "patently offensive" material that depicts "sexual
or excretory organs or activities." Shows that are aired between 6 a.m. and
10 p.m., when children are likely to be in the broadcast audience, are
subject to enforcement. The legal challenge will focus on NBC's airing of
Bono's sexual expletive during an acceptance speech at the 2003 Golden
Globe awards show and the $1.18 million in fines levied in October against
Fox affiliates for airing a racy program called "Married by America." Fox
appears to want to challenge the idea that broadcasters can be treated
differently from other media.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jube Shiver Jr]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-indecency22feb22,1,74...
(requires registration)
WHO FRAMED BUSTER RABBIT? THE FALLOUT CONTINUES
Barney Frank has fired off a scathing letter to Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings addressing a letter she sent to the head of PBS last
month in which she condemned a "Buster" episode because it showed actual
children who live with their lesbian moms. The letter let Secretary
Spellings know "how deeply I resent your profoundly degrading comments
about me and millions of other Americans." It continues: "You have said
that families should not have to deal with the reality of the existence of
same-sex couples, and the strong implication is that this is something from
which young children should be shielded. I am a gay man who has had strong
emotional relationships with men, and in each instance part of the joy of
that relationship has been sharing it with members of my extended family."
This includes 10 nieces, nephews and great-nephews, which, Frank said,
gives him firsthand experience of the effect learning of same-sex
relationships has on small children. "What I have experienced, directly
contrary to the basis on which you have condemned us as being unfit for
young eyes, bears out the song from 'South Pacific,' 'You've Got to Be
Taught to Hate,." Frank noted that no one, not even Spellings, has
suggested that anything particularly intimate was shown in the episode, "so
it is apparently simply the fact that two women love each other and live
together that you find so shocking that it is not fit to be broadcast."
Meanwhile, CPB and PBS are covering their tracks over the events that led
up to the censorship of Buster. CPB has no funds in the "Buster" series,
noted CPB President and CEO Kathleen Cox, and "I did not have any
conversation with [PBS President Pat Mitchell] where I was weighing in one
way or the other. She in passing mentioned the Buster situation some weeks
ago.... We have weekly calls where we talk about a lot of things, and I at
that point in time understood she and [WGBH President] Henry Becton were
going back and forth as to what appropriate edits there might be."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33612-2005Feb17.html
(requires registration)
NEWS MEDIA GROPE FOR THE RIGHT FORMULA
[Commentary] For better or worse, the one-size-fits-all media era is now
history. In the future, readers and viewers will be able to get only the
news and features they really want at a price they are willing to pay for
them. For those who are satisfied with a quick overview of the news, and
easily accessible data on everything from bowling scores to stock prices,
they'll find it free in newspapers and Web sites and TV channels supported
by advertisers seeking large audiences and low costs per reader for
reaching them. And those who need or want the most comprehensive and
sophisticated kind of news products, in print or video, will have to spend
a dollar a day or more to get a customized package delivered to their homes
or made available through their computers or cable modems. The advertising
supporting such higher-end products will be more expensive, and there's
likely to be less of it. It will take years of experimentation, involving
companies of all sizes and vintages, for the news media to refine the new
models and settle into a sustainable new structure. No doubt great fortunes
will be made or lost in the process. But in the end, I suspect, our
industry, like most others, will come to be dominated by a handful of
national and super-regional news organizations that can offer readers and
advertisers a full range of differently priced news products through a
variety of media.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Pearlstein]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33670-2005Feb17.html
(requires registration)
TELECOM
TELECOM SHOOTOUT
[Editorial] Telecom mergers are coming fast and furious these days, marking
the "end of the Al Gore-Reed Hundt 'managed competition' model for
telecommunications. And that's good news for consumers." The marketplace
would have long ago done away with long distance companies if regulators
had just stayed out of the way. Antitrust paranoids will fret that large
business customers could be hurt by the consolidation. But the national
networks of MCI and AT&T aren't duplicated by Verizon and SBC, making these
combinations more vertical than horizontal. The number of business-grade
networks isn't reduced, and business customers would still have an array of
choices. And anyway -- as any pundit will tell you today -- "the real
competition today is between cable and phone companies." The only potential
barrier to this flurry of pro-consumer competition is the talk in Congress
of reopening the nightmare of the 1996 Telecom Act. With so much ferment in
the industry, tinkering with the law now might freeze everyone in place as
companies wait for the politicians to act. Nevertheless, new Senate
Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens is calling for a major rewrite of
the act to consider whether, among other things, Internet telephony should
be regulated, contribute to the universal service fund that subsidizes
rural customers, and be taxed by states. Those are three excellent ways to
quell innovation and scare off investment capital. On the regulatory front,
meanwhile, President Bush's pick to replace FCC Chairman Michael Powell has
become even more important. Mr. Powell's deregulatory initiatives --
especially his efforts to roll back the network sharing rules -- have
helped lay the groundwork for the current spurt of creative consolidation.
Mr. Hundt taught us how much havoc the wrong bureaucrat can wreak. Choose
wisely, Mr. President.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110903441749860453,00.html?mod=todays...
See also --
Qwest Sets Its Sights Anew on MCI
Expect a new bid for MCI from Qwest this week.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110903203891660396,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/business/22phone.html
THE TELEPHONOSAURUS
[Commentary] Does the telecommunication industry have a future? There is
some money to be made in owning and managing the national data pipes. Phone
companies could be the leaders in exploiting the new wireless technologies
such as WiMax, except for the reluctance to cannibalize their existing
business, which is always a problem for incumbents. One advantage they
have, because of size and geographic reach, is that they can provide
seamless connection to the Internet whatever device the consumer has,
wherever he goes. Customers don't care how the bits get to them -- all they
care about is cost and functionality. If these carriers focused on
providing Web-tone with the same reliability that we expect from a
traditional telco (99.999% availability) they would be offering a service
that no one else can replicate. Telco's biggest competitors in the
enterprise market will likely be IBM, Accenture and increasingly Asian
service providers offering high quality, reliable service and tools, and
ongoing assistance to extract maximum value from information and
communications tools. On the consumer end, the future is in managements of
home networks.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Don Tapscott]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110902664738560248,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
IN TINY TOWNS, NEW CALL OPTIONS SHAKE UP AN OLD PHONE SYSTEM
The notion of universal phone service dates back to the early 1900s.
Theodore Vail, then president of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.,
convinced President Woodrow Wilson the newly invented telephone would catch
on quicker if the country adopted a nationwide system similar to the one
used for mail. At the time, a number of companies were building phone
networks around the country, but the systems weren't connected. Allowing
one company to consolidate these networks as part of a
government-sanctioned monopoly would create uniformity, Mr. Vail argued. He
declared his vision "one system, one policy, universal service." But the
introduction of wireless and Internet-based telephone services are testing
the web of subsidies that have helped keep telephone service affordable in
isolated towns around the country. In the coming year, the Universal
Service Fund (USF) will spend some $3.6 billion subsidizing the price of
phone service to rural areas where the cost is high. That amount is
increasing in part because wireless companies are seeking more
disbursements from the fund as they push into rural areas. While wireless
companies paid about $1.8 billion into the USF in 2003, the industry
received only about $175 million out of it. But that number jumped to $323
million in 2004 as some 144 wireless companies became eligible for
government subsidies for service offered to rural customers. That number is
expected to exceed $440 million in 2005, FCC officials say. Congress will
begin a reform of universal service this year.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anne Marie Squeo
annemarie.squeo( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110902655249160243,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
CHOKEPOINT: YOU PAY FOR DEREGULATION
[Editorial] The dual waves of mergers and deregulation that are reshaping
the telecommunications industry add up to bad news for consumers' wallets.
Increasingly, consumers are faced with just two choices for their
high-speed Internet, telephone and television needs: the cable company and
the phone company. Most economists understand that two is not enough
competition to keep prices down and service quality up.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/10932329.htm
TELECOM SUPPLIERS, PICK A PARTNER
[Commentary] The massive wave of consolidation ripping through the
telecommunications industry presents a huge problem for the outfits that
design and build its equipment. After recent mergers are completed analysts
and industry observers expect to see the combined companies spending less
on networks and other core technologies. That means suppliers, too, face a
major consolidation -- and a struggle to survive. "Companies will perish on
their own or they will consolidate," says Wojtek Uzdelewicz, a telecom-gear
analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co. "They have no choice." A handful of winners
already has emerged in the four key telecom equipment markets: wireless
equipment, wireless handsets, wireline equipment, and equipment based on
Internet Protocol, known as IP. The remaining players are on shaky ground,
and will need to consider finding partners that can help to expand the
product portfolios and revenue bases they will need to survive.
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Roger O. Crockett and Steve Rosenbush]
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2005/tc20050217_2974_t...
INTERNET
UN PANEL AIMS TO END INTERNET TUG OF WAR BY JULY
A U.N.-sponsored panel aims to settle a long-running tug of war for control
of the Internet by July and propose solutions to problems such as cyber
crime and email spam. The panel, set up in December 2003, will lay
groundwork for a final decision to be taken in Tunis in November at a
U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society, where global
control of the world wide web may be decided. Right now, the most
recognizable Internet governance body is a California-based non-profit
company, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN). But developing countries want an international body, such as the
U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to have control over
governance -- from distributing Web site domains to fighting spam.
[SOURCE: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=7690529
HIGH-TECH TENSION OVER ILLEGAL USES
How should courts view technologies that have beneficial uses but also are
heavily used for illegal acts? Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court is
scheduled to hear arguments on whether a file-sharing service named
Grokster should be held liable for the millions of people around the world
who use it to illegally trade music, movies and software. The entertainment
industry is asking the court to rule that even though Grokster itself does
not engage in stealing files, the service is responsible because it is
predominantly used for theft and has done nothing to try to stop that use.
The prospect that the court might adopt this legal reasoning is sending
shudders through the technology and consumer electronics communities.
Hundreds of existing products could be threatened, they say. And they fear
that new products, and early funding, will die in the crib if the gear
might be co-opted by people wishing to use it improperly.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42401-2005Feb21.html
(requires registration)
MORE AMERICANS HAVE HOME COMPUTER NETWORKS
Internet users in households with multiple computers are increasingly
turning to home networks to manage their computing and online surfing at
home. According to a Pew survey last month, 46% of homes with more than one
computer said they had a home network of some sort. Among those networked
at home, half (52%) have wireless networks with the rest using cables to
network their homes. Fueling the growth in home networks appears to be
broadband and the use of laptop computers. Americans are building more
sophisticated computer environments at home in the quest for more mobility
and flexibility in their household Internet experience.
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: John Horrigan]
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/p/1048/pipcomments.asp
FROM THE BLOG-O-SPHERE
New York Times Swings Late, and Misses
The freshest news on the digital frontier may be the advent of Community
Internet -- low-cost, high-speed broadband services provided by municipal
governments and community groups via local networks. But don't tell it to
The New York Times' James Dao, who allowed himself to be spun by the
coin-operated Cato Institute without revealing the money behind their message.
[SOURCE: MediaCitizen, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2005/02/new-york-times-swings-late-and-...
See also --
Rizzo Digs Big Into A Black Hole
http://www.riedelcommunications.blogspot.com/
The Hoisting of PBS' Head
Welcome to the Bush II era of media intimidation. This new political front
is turning "the chill that has already descended over our nation's media
into a deep freeze." But some media are suffering the cold worse than
others, which raises questions about selective targeting by
"conservo-drones" out to score political points against their nemeses in
the "liberal media," while awarding others with a pass.
[SOURCE: MediaCitizen, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2005/02/hoisting-of-pbs-head.html
Brent Gloats, Lawmakers Cower, Democracy Suffers
The passage last week of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 is
due in large to the Parents Television Council's uncanny ability to
leverage the latest prime time "wardrobe malfunction" to mobilize hundreds
of thousands of letter writers. The resulting onslaught of email has
Congresspeople and FCC bureaucrats running for cover, in an apparent
inability to recall that document upon which our nation was built.
Certainly none in the majority were willing to stick their neck out on
behalf of our First Amendment and risk the wrath of the PTC, the American
Family Association and other blinkered zealots who rein over the chill
political climate that now pervades the Beltway.
[SOURCE: MediaCitizen, AUTHOR: Tim Karr]
http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2005/02/brent-gloats-lawmakers-cower-de...
Center for Creative Voices in Media Blog
Recent posts on: 1) Comcast using its own content to compete with
independent and non-Comcast cable nets. 2) the president of Americans for
Tax Reform called out many of his fellow right-wingers who want government
to regulate personal behavior and the content of movies, television and
music. 3) Tape delaying the Oscars.
[SOURCE: Center for Creative Voices in Media]
http://creativevoices.typepad.com/blog/
QUICKLY
Spectrum Wars
Generations ago, broadcasters got the right to use the airwaves -- now
worth billions of dollars -- for free. Ever since, they have used heavy
lobbying and political friendships to stave off rivals. But as the digital
age unfolds, change is in the air. (A long article -- worth the read to put
into perspective the battle over US airwaves.)
[SOURCE: National Journal's Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Crew Clark]
http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2005/0218njsp.htm
A look at the 154 programs President Bush's FY06 budget would reduce or
eliminate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42369-2005Feb21.html
Most stations would see their regulatory fees climb between 7% and 14%,
according to rates proposed by the FCC. Under the FCC proposed rates, for
instance, the 61 VHF stations in markets sized 11-25 would pay $44,675 per
station, up 7.2% from 2004.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505273.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras has named Jeffrey
Schmidt deputy director of the bureau of competition, where his job will
include helping to oversee merger investigations and to prepare enforcement
recommendations.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA505389.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
Charles D. Gray, Executive Director of the National Association of
Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), confirmed press reports that
NARUC President Marilyn Showalter would be stepping down as President upon
leaving her position as of early March as Chairwoman of the Washington
State Utilities and Transportation Commission.
http://www.naruc.org/displayindustryarticle.cfm?articlenbr=24342
--------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------