HAPPENING TODAY
Groups Take a Stand Against More Media Consolidation
Hearing: The Rise of Obesity in Children
Hearing: Proposed Budget for the Department of Commerce
OWNERSHIP & FCC
Sinclair Purchase Plan Denied
Three Years Later, Still No Cable Rules
NextWave Agreement Expected Soon
TELEPHONY
Number Portability Improving
Universal Service Update
MUST-CARRY
Cable Coup: TV Group Against Forced Multicast
BROADBAND
A New Outlet for Broadband
UNWANTED CONTENT
U.S. Is Top Spam Mailer, Study Says
New Decency Enforcement Proposal
HAPPENING TODAY
GROUPS TAKE A STAND AGAINST MORE MEDIA CONSOLIDATION
Individuals and groups representing consumers, workers, youth, and other
grassroots communities will speak out against media consolidation and the
specter of the proposed Comcast/Disney merger. Today, there will be a press
conference prior to the "Save Disney"shareholder briefing organized by Roy
Disney. Tomorrow there will be a public rally at noon in front of the
official Disney shareholder meeting. A brief program of speakers
representing different perspectives for media diversity will be followed by
a march to Comcast's corporate headquarters at 1500 Market Street, just a
few blocks away.
[SOURCE: Media Tank]
HEARING: THE RISE OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN
Today, March 2, 2:30 PM (eastern). The Competition, Foreign Commerce, and
Infrastructure Subcommittee (Commerce) will hear testimony on advertising
to kids and its links to child obesity. The obesity issue has been in the
news lately because of the Kaiser study and a call by the American
Psychological Association for restrictions on food ads. Because of those
and other studies, the Center for Science in the Public Interest teamed
with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on a bill requiring labeling on restaurant
menus and vending machines. Scheduled to testify are Dr. Richard Carmona,
United States Surgeon General; Dr. William Dietz, National Center for
Chronic Disease Prevention; Victoria Rideout, Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation; Lee Culpepper, National Restaurant Association; Margo Wootan,
Center for Science in the Public Interest; Manly Molpus, Grocery
Manufacturers of America; and Robert Liodice, Association of National
Advertisers.
The hearing will be webcasted, see the Senate URL below.
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee & Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill
McConnell]
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1079
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA387328?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
HEARING: PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the
Judiciary will discuss the proposed budget for the Department of Commerce,
10am (eastern)
http://appropriations.senate.gov/subcommittees/commjust/topics.cfm?code=...
OWNERSHIP & FCC
SINCLAIR PURCHASE PLAN DENIED
For several years, Sinclair Broadcasting has attempted to purchase stations
in Baltimore, Columbus, Charleston (SC), Charleston-Huntington (WV), and
Dayton which it already controls the programming for through local
marketing agreements. Sinclair also already owns other stations in those
markets and the FCC's ownership rules adopted last summer would permit this
purchase. But the FCC has again denied Sinclair's deal with current owner
Cunningham Broadcasting as the Commission awaits the decision of the 3rd
U.S. Appeals Court in Philadelphia. "Sinclair has once again prematurely
sought to acquire stations that it may not own under the rules currently in
place," the Commission said.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Tania Panczyk-Collins]
(Not available online)
THREE YEARS LATER, NO CABLE RULES
Three years ago today the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit threw
out FCC rules limiting a cable company to no more than 30% of pay TV
subscribers and requiring a cable company to reserve 40% of its first 75
channels for unaffiliated programmers. The FCC has still not produced new
rules and a spokesperson has said there's no date certain for new rules.
But the Commission's new chief economist, Martin Perry, is now working with
other commission staff in studying the effects of vertical integration
(such as MSO ownership of programming networks) on the pay TV market.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA387343?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
NEXTWAVE AGREEMENT EXPECTED SOON
Thems who know say NextWave could reach an agreement soon with the FCC
which could allow the company to sell it's spectrum licenses that are worth
an estimated $5.5 billion and $7.5 billion. NextWave owes the FCC more than
$4 billion for the licenses the company purchased in an auction in 1996 but
never fully paid for. Verizon Wireless is a likely bidder; it's subscriber
growth will strain the spectrum assets it already has and the company is
upgrading to offer wireless data services that require even more spectrum.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gregory Zuckerman
gregory.zuckerman( at )wsj.com and Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107817918944643329,00.html?mod=teleco...
(requires subscription)
TELEPHONY
NUMBER PORTABILITY IMPROVING
In the first couple of weeks after new FCC rules took effect, 43% of the
cell phone customers trying to switch to carriers while retaining their
phone numbers experienced problems. That number has dropped to 15% recently
according to surveys by The Management Network Group. Stephen G. Waldis of
Synchronoss Technologies, which helps several carriers with back-office
processes including executing portability requests, said he has seen
similar trends. Nearly half of number-transfer requests failed initially,
but more recently just one-fifth failed. Local number portability "now is a
way of life," he said. Experts expect 30 million to take advantage of
number portability, although in the first seven weeks it has been
available, just one million have done it.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Carl Bialik carl.bialik( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107792022399841436,00.html?mod=teleco...
(requires subscription)
UNIVERSAL SERVICE UPDATE
Yesterday we reported on the Federal-State Board on Universal Service's
recommendations to the FCC and highlighted the recommendation that USF
subsidize just one phone line for rural customers. Already, Legg Mason is
predicting that the FCC could "come under heavy pressure from lawmakers to
back away" from the proposal. Additionally, Inflexion Communications is now
asking the FCC to exempt its Internet telephone service from access fees
because the service targets underserved markets. Inflexion CEO Dwayne
Goldsmith told reporters Monday, "in the past 20 years, local phone
companies have collected about $300 billion to eradicate... the
communications gap between those who have the phone service and those who
don't. I'd like to know what happened to all that money. We still have in
some areas of our country [telephone] penetration rates that don't exceed
80%." He said of the digital divide, "before you can talk about connecting
people to the Internet, you have to find a way of connecting them to voice
services... We have to find ways to create a much stronger link between the
market needs of a particular segment and the functionality of the
technology that's offered to that segment." Inflexion says it can offer
phone service for as little as $7-10/month, if the service is exempt from
access fees.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Susan Polyakova]
(Not available online)
MUST-CARRY
CABLE COUP: TV GROUP AGAINST FORCED MULTICAST
Entravision Holdings owns 42 stations with programming provided by
Univision Communications which also owns a nearly one-third stake in
Entravision. The company is breaking ranks with other broadcasters and
telling the FCC to not push cable operators to carry all free programming
streams provided by digital-TV stations. Entravision has come to the
conclusion that no form of must-carry -- single or multiple -- is
consistent with the First Amendment today. Pushing multicasting must-carry,
Entravision fears, will result in a court challenge by cable and possible
disastrous affects for smaller stations that depend on must-carry to reach
their audience. "Multicasting is not the key to a successful DTV transition
and the preservation of free, over-the-air broadcast television,"
Entravision has told the FCC. Obviously, the future of free, over-the-air
broadcast television is pay, over-the-wire television.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA387424?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
BROADBAND
A NEW OUTLET FOR BROADBAND
Cincinnati-based utility Cinergy and Current Communications are teaming up
to offer broadband over power lines in the largest rollout of the
technology to date. The $70 million venture will bring cheaper high-speed
Internet services to consumers and allow them to plug into the Internet
anywhere there's an electrical outlet in the home. "Is the technology ready
for prime time? The answer is yes," says Ed Thomas, the FCC's chief
engineer. "The second part of the question is, is the business ready for
prime time? The answer is you have to wait and see." Consumers have not
been prone to changing broadband providers much and the growth of the
market is slowing.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ken Brown at ken.brown( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107818096041143377,00.html?mod=e%2Dco...
(requires subscription)
UNWANTED CONTENT
U.S. IS TOP SPAM MAILER, STUDY SAYS
The US has regained some of it's technology leadership swagger with news
that we are #1 when it comes to producing spam. Antispam and antivirus
company Sophos analyzed two days worth of spam and found that 57% came from
the US while #2 and #3 finishers Canada and China (including Hong Kong)
sent just 6.8% and 6.2%, respectively. "The U.S. and the commercial nature
of the American mind is behind the vast majority of the spam," said Chris
Kraft, senior messaging analyst at Sophos. "The Americans are the source of
their own problem." Within hours of the release of the report Members of
Congress rushed through legislation that will prevent offshoring of
spam-related jobs.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Riva Richmond at
riva.richmond( at )dowjones.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107818813340543652,00.html?mod=e%2Dco...
(requires subscription)
NEW DECENCY ENFORCEMENT PROPOSAL
Last Friday Sen Miller (D-GA) introduced S-2147, that would fine decency
violators 25 cents per viewer or listener when the offending content is
aired. Violators would include artists, producers and networks. To put that
into perspective, the Janet Jackson flash would have resulted in a $35
million fine. Monies generated by these fines would go towards funding
faith-based programs selected by White House's Office of Faith Based
Initiatives. The bill also has provisions directing the FCC to establish a
Council of Decency of 3 ministers, 3 teachers and 3 media representatives
to advise the Commission on standards of decency.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily]
(Not available online)
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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. Headlines are compiled by
Kevin Taglang (ktaglang( at )etpost.net) -- we welcome your comments.
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