With Congress away and a "quiet" FCC, all eyes turn to the Supreme Court
next week when it holds hearings on the Brand X and Grokster cases. For
these and other upcoming media policy events, see
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
COMMENTARY
Meet the New Boss
AT&T Chief: Repeal Telecom Act
Moscow-style News Video from the White House
OWNERSHIP
Problems Are Scooping Tribune
TELECOM
Texas House Passes Telecom Bill, Bans New Municipal Wi-Fi
QUICKLY -- Questioning Comcast's Rates; In the Know
COMMENTARY
MEET THE NEW BOSS
[Commentary] Mediaweek observed that incoming FCC Chairman Kevin Martin
"arrives on the job with a reputation as a brilliant regulator, an
attentive listener and an advocate of even tougher stands against broadcast
indecency than his predecessor Michael Powell." A TV Week report added that
Chairman Martin "has strong conservative credentials and can be expected to
advance the Bush administration's objective to deregulate the market as
much as is practicable." His concern for local control over media behemoths
remains a potentially encouraging sign. As a commissioner, Martin
repeatedly defended local broadcasters' demands for more say over their
contracts with the major networks and therefore directly contradicted the
big-media friendly stance of Powell. According to Broadcasting & Cable, "It
appears that Martin favors letting owners control two or three stations in
more markets, eliminating the ban on crossownership of stations and
newspapers in the same town. That deregulation is most sought by network
affiliates and independent station owners." Chairman Martin promises to be
even tougher than Powell on indecency. "Powell, Martin, and the
corporate-friendly GOP have green-lighted big media companies to capture
near-total market control over cable and broadcast television. Now, the
same bunch is upset over the low-cost, high-ratings schlock that media
conglomerates pump into the marketplace," said Ben Scott, policy director
at Free Press. "Martin must soon decide if he's a free market Republican or
a local-values Republican. When it comes to regulating the media, you can't
have it both ways."
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman]
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=480225
See also --
* Martin Putting FCC Back on Track
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA512705?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
AT&T CHIEF: REPEAL TELECOM ACT
AT&T Chairman and CEO David Dorman said Thursday that Congress should
repeal the Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- a law that he said inspired
endless rounds of litigation and cemented regulatory disparities favorable
to wireless-phone and cable-television companies. In drafting new
legislation, Congress should copy the light regulatory treatment accorded
the wireless-phone industry, which has seen usage and revenue soar while
offering consumers better bundles of minutes at declining prices, he said.
Dorman also indicated that the cable industry has flourished because it did
not have to cope with regulations that apply to local phone companies,
particularly with regard to broadband deployment.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA512796.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
MOSCOW-STYLE NEWS VIDEO FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
[Commentary] Video "news" reports showing Iraqi-Americans jubilant over the
fall of Baghdad, praising airport security as "remarkable," and showing the
Bush Administration as determined to maintain open markets for American
farmers were all commissioned by government departments, a fact that was
not communicated to the viewing public. President Bush was asked at a
recent news conference about the video news release practice and replied
that the packages are "within the law." He tossed the ball right back to
the media, saying it would be helpful if local stations would disclose to
viewers that they chose to use these reports. And he added, "Evidently, in
some cases, that is not the case." Between the White House and the stations
that act like Moscow television, there should be enough shame to go around.
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR:Daniel Schorr, NPR]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0325/p09s02-cods.html
See also --
* Columnist's HHS Contract To Be Probed
The Government Accountability Office announced Thursday that it will
investigate whether the Department of Health and Human Services violated
the law by awarding a $21,500 contract to commentator and marriage advocate
Maggie Gallagher. She apologized to readers of her syndicated column for
not disclosing the payments to work on President Bush's marriage initiative
while she was also praising the program. She has maintained there was no
connection between the contract and her political views. The investigation
comes at the request of Sens Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Frank Lautenberg
(D-NJ).
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64271-2005Mar24.html
(requires registration)
OWNERSHIP
PROBLEMS ARE SCOOPING TRIBUNE
Five years ago, Tribune Company said it would acquire rival Times Mirror
for $8.3 billion. Tribune figured the two media giants could offer
advertisers a coast-to-coast marketplace of television stations, newspapers
and Internet sites reaching eight of every 10 Americans. But that purchase
was made just before the Internet bubble burst and now the company suffers
from maladies afflicting the entire media business, including young adults
who don't read newspapers as much as their parents and ad-sale competition
from new-media rivals. The Los Angeles Times has not delivered on expected
profits, Newsday has been mired in a scandal over allegedly doctored
circulation figures and, just this week, a federal judge's ruling threw a
legal wrench into the engine that Tribune had counted on to drive growth --
cross-ownership of both newspapers and TV stations in each of several big
markets so it could sell lucrative ad packages to major advertisers. What's
a giant media conglomerate to do?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joseph T. Hallinan
joe.hallinan( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111169664621289017,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
See also --
NAACP and Free Press have told the FCC that the Commission should reject
Media General's application to renew WMBB-TV (ABC) Panama City (FL) because
that would let the firm operate a TV station and newspaper in the same
market. The groups say that ownership of WMBB-TV and the Jackson County
Floridan "significantly" harms diversity of viewpoint in coverage of local
issues.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily]
(Not available online)
TELECOM
TEXAS HOUSE PASSES TELECOM BILL, BANS NEW MUNICIPAL WI-FI
The Texas state House approved an amended version of a pending telecom bill
(HB789) Wednesday that bans most new municipal wireless services. The vote
followed a bitter struggle between incumbent telephone companies opposing
government networks and consumer groups and economists favoring the
investments. The bill, now headed for the state Senate, grandfathers
existing and planned projects. It tells the state telecom regulators to
"conduct further study" and make recommendations for the next legislative
session. The bill would deregulate rates for retail telecom service bundles
this year and all retail rates by 2008. Rates for basic telephone service
sold on a stand-alone basis would be frozen until 2008. After that,
stand-alone basic service rates would be deregulated for any incumbent
telco reducing intrastate access charges to interstate levels by that time.
Another floor amendment would repeal the Telecom Infrastructure Fund fee on
phone bills that generates some $250 million annually for telecom and
technology projects. Supporters of repeal said most projects bankrolled by
this fund have been completed. Maintaining the fee would amount to imposing
a new telecom tax, they noted. Another amendment would restore consumer
protections excised from earlier editions of the bill, including PUC
authority to enforce rules and laws against slamming and cramming.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Ian Martinez, Herb Kirchhoff]
(Not available online)
QUICKLY
LFAs QUESTION COMCAST'S RATES
Comcast may have to appeal rate-rollback orders from local franchising
authorities representing more than 1 million of its customers.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA512694.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
IN THE KNOW
The latest bimonthly update from Public Knowledge is now available. Learn
more about Grokster's day in court; Orphan Works; legislation introduced by
Reps Boucher and Doolittle Bill Reintroduced and the Broadcast Flag. Fun
for the entire family and you can't be the low, low price.
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge]
http://www.publicknowledge.org/news/intheknow/newsletter.2005-03-24.4934...
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...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend; see you next week.
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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. 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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