A legislative hearing on a staff discussion draft of the DTV Transition Act
of 2005 -- today at 11:30am. For this and other upcoming media policy
events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
TELEVISION
Adelstein Pushes "Prominent' Disclosures
Interactive Ads Start to Click On Cable and Satellite TV
TV Changes are Signal for Debate
CEA to 'Unequivocally Endorse' 2008 DTV Hard Date at Hill Hearing Today
D.C. TVs Protest Nielsen
NEW RESEARCH
FCC Releases New Telephone Subscribership Report
US Drops To 12th Place In Latest Int'l Broadband Ranking
QUICKLY -- Charging for News; IPV6 Summit; Agents Shut Down File-Sharing
Site; Electronic Government; Amber Alert Gets Web Extension
TELEVISION
ADELSTEIN PUSHES 'PROMINENT' DISCLOSURES
Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein wants the FCC to require
"clear and prominent" disclosure of paid content on TV, including product
placements, paid endorsements, and video news releases. He said he had
nothing against plugs or endorsements, per se, so long as they were clearly
labeled as such. He called for the tighter rules in a speech to The Media
Institute in Washington Wednesday, saying: "A disclosure that appears on
screen for a split second during the credits in small type that no one
could possibly read without pausing their DVR-- and pulling out a
magnifying glass-could not possibly qualify." He pointed out that though
the FCC has rules requiring disclosure of paid content, the rules "do not
clearly spell out the prominence of the disclosure required."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA603908?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* FCC's Adelstein Promises Crackdown on 'Covert Commercial Pitches'
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=7895
* FCC Panelist Wants Probe Of Product 'Payola'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR200505...
* FCC Official Calls for Inquiry Into Televised Product Promotions
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111705468940043343,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
* Probe of Stealth TV Ads Sought
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-payola26may26,1,92708...
Text of speech: "Fresh is Not as Fresh as Frozen:" A Response to the
Commercialization of American Media
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258962A1.doc
INTERACTIVE ADS START TO CLICK ON CABLE AND SATELLITE TV
A growing number of companies are experimenting with interactive television
commercials, a potentially powerful form of advertising that lets viewers
opt to get more information about products -- and lets advertisers find out
about viewers and their habits. For years, advertising and television
industry executives have been predicting that new interactive technologies
would transform TV commercials. No longer would businesses use commercials
primarily to reach mass audiences with broad branding messages, promoters
of interactive ads said. New technology would let viewers use TV ads to
seek out information and even order specific products, much as consumers
today use Web sites, they predicted. Some believe that the stars now are
aligning in the $60 billion-a-year TV-commercial business to make that
change occur. The standard of the business, the 30-second spot, is becoming
increasingly threatened by the growing popularity of video on demand and
digital video recorders, like TiVo, that allow viewers to skip through
traditional commercials when watching recorded shows. Industry experts
predict that in five years half of TV will be watched this way, and that as
many as 80% of the viewers who do so will fast-forward through most ads.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant( at )wsj.com ]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111707331062643771,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
TV CHANGES ARE SIGNAL FOR DEBATE
Come Jan. 1, 2009, tens of millions of Americans could have to buy or lease
new equipment to continue watching all the channels they receive now. Those
most affected: households with no cable or satellite service that get only
broadcast channels via antenna. But many pay-TV homes could feel the
impact, too. A House hearing today in Washington will kick off a
contentious debate about how to steer the nation's bumpy transition to
digital TV. A central question: Should the government subsidize converter
boxes so analog TV owners won't be left in the dark?
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050526/3b_digital_26.art.htm
CEA TO 'UNEQUIVOCALLY ENDORSE' 2008 DTV HARD DATE AT HEARING TODAY
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will discuss
the DTV Transition Act of 2005 today, but lucky for us outside the Beltway,
CommDaily has seen into and reports back on the future. Testifying for TV
manufacturers, Randy Newman will sing "We love it," referring to the draft
legislation's proposal for Dec. 31, 2008 as the cut off for analog TV
broadcasts. But since this is Washington, the endorsement will be nuanced
with a caution NOT to accelerate the mandate to have a digital television
tuner in TV sets sold in the US. Meanwhile, the cable lobby will let
Congress know it has concerns with the bill's effective dual must-carry
provision. Under the bill, cable operators may convert a digital must-carry
signal to analog anywhere between the head-end and the subscriber's
premises so the signal can be viewed on analog TVs. But if cable operators
elect to do a conversion for one mustcarry broadcaster within a market,
they must do the conversion for all other must-carry broadcasters within
that market, according to the bill. The problem with this provision, cable
will say, is that some must-carry stations don't have compelling
programming (as if Seinfeld episodes are not as compelling today as they
were ten years ago!) and they use space that cable operators could fill
with more quality shows (like more recent repeats of The Sporanos). Out of
a nationwide body of 1,200 commercial broadcasters, about 100 elect for
retransmission consent, rather than must-carry, because the content is so
desirable that cable operators are willing to cut deals with the
broadcasters -- either to carry other programming streams or get favorable
channel placement. Finally, representing consumers (yes, the vision is
getting clearer), a tan and rested Gene Kimmelman will testify on behalf of
consumers and say something like: "We are not opposed to a hard deadline
for the transition, but if we have a deadline, it should come with tangible
benefits for consumers" -- read this to mean subsidies for DTV convertor
boxes and freeing up spectrum for unlicensed use.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Paul Gluckman, Anne Veigle]
(Not available online)
Watch the hearing live at 11:30 (eastern)
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/05262005hearing1533/hearing...
DC TV's PROTEST NIELSEN
Washington affiliates/owned stations of all the networks except NBC are
banding together to push for the delay of Nielsen Media Research's
new electronic Local People Meter (LPM) ratings system, slated to roll out
in the market June 2.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Allison Romano and John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA603659?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* TV Stations Worry 'People Meters' Miss Minorities
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR200505...
NEW RESEARCH
FCC RELEASES NEW TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERSHIP REPORT
The sexy and talented Alex Belinfante has done it again... On Wednesday,
the FCC released its latest report on telephone subscribership levels in
the United States. The report presents subscribership statistics based on
the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau in March
2005. The report also shows subscribership levels by state, income level,
race, age, household size, and employment status. ere's some key stats: 1)
telephone subscribership penetration rate in the U.S. was 92.4%; 2)
telephone penetration rate was 80.4% for households with annual incomes
below $5,000, while the rate for households with incomes over $75,000 was
96.9%; 3) households headed by whites had a penetration rate of 93.2%,
while those headed by blacks had a rate of 87.7% and those headed by
Hispanics had a rate of 88.2%.
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Press Release:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258942A2.doc
Find the full report at: http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/recent.html
UNITED STATES DROPS TO 12TH PLACE IN LATEST INT'L BROADBAND RANKING
The United States dropped from 10th place to 12th place last year in a per
capita ranking of developed nations with high-speed Internet access,
according to statistics released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development. High-speed Internet services in the United
States are growing steadily -- at almost exactly the average of the 30
countries within the OECD. According to the latest statistics, 12.8 percent
of Americans had broadband in December 2004 -- compared with 24.9 percent
in world-leader South Korea and 19 percent in the Netherlands, which is was
in second place.
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-EGOF1117055685117.html
QUICKLY
NEWS GROUPS WRESTLE WITH ONLINE FEES
For news outlets, the free-vs.-pay debate is assuming heightened urgency --
and generating a fair amount of flip-flopping these days -- because
Internet readership and advertising are booming at a time when newspaper
circulation is declining at accelerated rates. Newspapers are struggling to
figure out how to make money from their growing Internet audience without
cannibalizing their print editions.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR200505...
(requires registration)
TECHIES RAMP UP FOR INTERNET'S NEXT INCARNATION
A look at the discussions at the IPV6 Summit.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen McCarthy]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR200505...
(requires registration)
FEDERAL AGENTS SHUT DOWN FILE-SHARING WEB SITE
Darth Vader -- no, scratch that -- federal agents Wednesday used the force
of law to shut down a Web site that they said was letting people download
movies and other copyrighted material free. Users of the Elite Torrents
site were able to download copies of the new "Star Wars" movie before it
was shown in theaters, authorities said. The action was the first criminal
enforcement against individuals who are using BitTorrent technology,
Justice and Homeland Security Department officials said. Elite Torrents had
more than 133,000 members and 17,800 movies and software programs in the
past four months.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mark Sherman]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR200505...
(requires registration)
ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT: FUNDING OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET'S
INITIATIVES
In accordance with the President's Management Agenda, the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) has sponsored initiatives to promote electronic
government -- the use of information technology, such as Web-based Internet
applications, to enhance government services. Generally, these "e-gov"
initiatives do not have direct appropriations but depend on a variety of
funding sources, including monetary contributions from participating
agencies. GAO was asked to review the funding of e-gov initiatives that
relied on such contributions: specifically, to determine, for fiscal years
2003 and 2004, whether agencies made contributions in the amounts planned
and to determine the timing of these contributions.
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office]
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-420
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05420high.pdf
AMBER ALERT GETS WEB EXTENSION
Broadcasters' Amber alert system is being extended to the Web. The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children NCMEC has teamed with online
marketers ADVO and Prospectiv to deliver geographically targeted Amber
alerts via e-mails to subscribers to ADVO's Shopwise.com Web site and to
Prospectiv's EverSave.com,, The KnowledgeStop.com, and Healthy-Individual.com.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA603622?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
--------------------------------------------------------------
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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