** Hope you enjoy the holiday weekend; we'll be back Tuesday May 31 (Geez,
what happened to May?) **
DIGITAL TELEVISION
Barton: 2009 Analog-Cutoff Date 'Frozen'
Barton To Attach DTV Bill To Budget Package
NCTA Chief Fears Dual Carriage
OPINIONS
The Press of Business
Assault On the Media
The Assault on NPR
Radicals for 'Media Reform'
Broadcast Flag -- Pro and Con
Blogs: The next big thing for advertisers?
QUICKLY -- FCC Chief: Broadband Is Top Priority; Consumer Panel Gets More
Members; Captioning Violations by DC Broadcasters; DC B'casters Uneasy
Despite Nielsen Meeting; Here Comes High-definition Radio; Liberal Talkers
Call Conservative Media Bias A "Matter of Life & Death"; Experts Caution
about Citywide Wi-Fi; Wireless Innovation: Driving U.S. Economic Growth;
"The Hulk" is a Internet Super Hero
DIGITAL TELEVISION
BARTON: 2009 ANALOG-CUTOFF DATE 'FROZEN'
At a hearing on draft digital-TV legislation Thursday, House Commerce
Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) said the "discussion draft" had
room for negotiation on numerous points, but the Dec. 31, 2008, cutoff date
is "pretty much frozen." Rep Barton also said he would support a limited,
means-tested subsidy for digital converter boxes to low-income analog
viewers, although no subsidy was in the draft. Committee members have
agreed that there needs to be a hard date set to end the transition to
digital television, but have not been able to agree on digital broadcasters
public interest obligations, multicast must-carry , cable's downconversion
of DTV for analog subscribers, and how to treat consumers fairly when the
government renders their analog TV's "inoperable." The key consumer
fairness issue and a point of wide divergence among the members is a
government subsidy for converter boxes to allow disenfranchised analog-only
sets to operate in the digital age. Some legislators want a subsidy for all
73 million analog sets, including second or third analog-only sets in cable
and satellite homes, regardless of income. Several legislators backing the
subsidy warned that telcom policy was in danger of being trumped by budget
concerns, and argued that the first dollars should go to covering subsidy
before any other budgetary claims were put on it. Ranking committee
Democrat John Dingell (MI) said the bill must address two questions
answered: 1) "Why should ordinary citizens pay more because of a
governmental decision that makes their television sets obsolete?" and 2)
"Why can't the proceeds from the sale of spectrum, which is a public good,
be used to reimburse citizens for their transition costs and for other
important telecommunications and public safety needs?"
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA604007.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Lawmakers divided on offering subsidy for digital TV converter boxes
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050527/2b_digital27.art.htm
* Barton to Get Earful on DTV
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA603931.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* DTV Transition Debate Focuses On Implementation Details
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-BSQG1117138792204.html
* Looming Issues on DTV
[SOURCE: HearUsNow.org]
http://www.hearusnow.org/tvradiocable/7/
BARTON TO ATTACH DTV BILL TO BUDGET PACKAGE
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Thursday that
he plans in September to attach legislation providing a fixed date for the
end of analog television broadcasting to the budget reconciliation package
due to, well, budget considerations. "I have a little thing called
reconciliation staring me in the face, which is not something the minority
needs to be concerned about," Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) said of the
Democrats. The House Budget Committee has instructed him to raise $14.7
billion through legislative changes, including $4.7 billion through the
auction of radio-frequency spectrum. But the committee's leading Democrats
criticized Rep Barton's decision to link digital television legislation to
the budget. "We should not rush a bill through Congress because of budget
or artificial pressures," said Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the
committee's top Democrat. He said it was because of budget pressures in
1997, when Congress embarked on the 10-year transition to digital
television, that "we have wasted a lot of money and seen resources poorly
applied." Rep Dingell, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), and Rep. Edward Markey
(D-MA), said the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the
radio-frequencies set to be vacated by broadcasters could fetch more than
$10 billion.
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-XNZB1117138470914.html
NCTA CHIEF FEARS DUAL CARRIAGE
Testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time since becoming NCTA president
March 1, National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Kyle
McSlarrow said proposed digital-television legislation would effectively
require the dual carriage of some TV stations on channel-constrained
systems. Cable operators want the authority to carry must-carry stations in
analog or digital, but not both. "What we have urged is: Give us the
flexibility," McSlarrow said. In his comments, McSlarrow did not mention
that Comcast and Time Warner Cable are planning a digital simulcast of all
analog services over the next year or two, probably making the NCTA's
problems with Barton moot for those two MSOs. After buying Adelphia
Communications, the two MSOs would serve roughly 60% of all cable
subscribers. Nor did McSlarrow mention that cable operators could skirt the
"downconvert one, downconvert all" restriction by convincing would-be
must-carry stations that operators were actually interested in carrying
twice to enter into retransmission-consent deals.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA604211.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
OPINIONS (everybody's got 'em)
THE PRESS OF BUSINESS
[Commentary] Rupert Murdoch pretty much owns this country's eyeballs. The
question is, does he have designs on any other parts of our anatomy? The
conquest of the United States by this aging, Australian-born, workaholic
billionaire fascinates me. Murdoch's reach has become so broad and
all-encompassing that it's tempting to break out the "Citizen Kane"
analogies, especially in light of his well-known conservative political
views. Murdoch practices capitalism in its most naked, elemental form.
Instead of following an agenda, he's guided by greed, cunning and a
razor-sharp instinct for what people want to watch, hear and read. In the
same vein, Fox News is engineered to fill a market niche, not to spur the
conquest of Middle Eastern oil fields. The growth of conservative talk
radio suggested there might be a similar opportunity in television -- and
it turned out there was. Maybe Murdoch would have had qualms if the opening
had been on the left, but somehow I doubt it.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Eugene Robinson eugenerobinson( at )washpost.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/26/AR200505...
(requires registration)
ASSAULT ON THE MEDIA
[Commentary] The war on Newsweek shifted attention away from how the
Guantanamo prisoners have been treated, how that treatment has affected the
battle against terrorism and what American policies should be.
Newsweek-bashing also furthered a long-term and so far successful campaign
by the administration and the conservative movement to dismiss all negative
reports about their side as the product of some entity they call "the
liberal media." It is about Power 101. It is a sophisticated effort to
demolish the idea of a press independent of political parties by way of
discouraging scrutiny of conservative politicians in power.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: E. J. Dionne Jr.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/26/AR200505...
(requires registration)
THE ASSAULT ON NPR
[Commentary] News has made National Public Radio America's great radio
success story of the last 20 years. While commercial radio has cut news,
gone Top 40, and stumbled, NPR's listenership has soared. It now tops 23
million a week, its largest audience in history. Now, the chairman of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, is ushering in an
era when NPR member stations may, reportedly, soon be encouraged by the
corporation to shift their programming from news to music. It is time to
step off this path.
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Tom Ashbrook]
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05...
* Hands Off Public Broadcasting
http://mediamatters.org/handsoff/
RADICALS FOR 'MEDIA REFORM'
[Commentary] Earth to PBS: when you are under attack for being a nest of
left-wingers, it might not be the best strategy to let your most
identifiable left-wing stars go to radical-left conferences and attack
conservatives as evil. That tends to exacerbate your image problem, see.
[SOURCE: Media Research Center, AUTHOR: Brent Bozell]
http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2005/col20050525.asp
BROADCAST FLAG -- PRO AND CON
[Commentary] Dan Glickman of the MPAA argues why the broadcast flag should
go forward; DC lawyer Jim Burger argues why the broadcast flag won't work.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com]
http://news.com.com/Why+the+broadcast+flag+should+go+forward/2010-1071_3...
http://news.com.com/Why+the+broadcast+flag+wont+work/2010-1071_3-5720006...
BLOGS: THE NEXT BIG THING FOR ADVERTISERS?
[Commentary] Do blogging and advertising work together?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Juan Cole, University of Michigan]
http://news.com.com/Blogs+The+next+big+thing+for+advertisers/2010-1071_3...
QUICKLY
FCC CHIEF: BROADBAND IS TOP PRIORITY
The continued development and rollout of high-speed Internet access will be
the "No. 1 priority" for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, he said Tuesday.
"Making sure that all consumers have the opportunity and are connected to
those advanced telecommunications services increases productivity, allows
more overall economic growth, makes it easier for people to do work from
home, take medical information to and from home [and] communicate and
gather information in all kinds of ways," Martin said. "It affects the way
that we entertain ourselves, the way that we educate our children, the way
that we work," he said. "I think that the opportunity for the growth of
individuals and for our society by increasing that connectiveness through
broadband is critical, so I think that is our No. 1 priority."
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-RRIY1117138239767.html
ADDITIONAL MEMBERS NAMED TO CONSUMER ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The FCC's new Consumer Advisory Committee meets Friday June 10 and,
apparently, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thinks 35 makes for too small a party
-- he's added 20 additional members to the committee: five represent
consumer interests; nine represent disability interests; one represents the
interests of state regulators, and three represent industry interests. In
addition, two individuals have been selected to serve based upon their
expertise in areas including broadband deployment, telecommunications relay
services, and captioned-telephone services. See list of new members at the
URL below.
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-1323A1.doc
FCC CITES DC STATIONS FOR CAPTIONING VIOLATIONS
Three Washington (DC) stations face FCC fines for failing to provide closed
captioning or some other type of on-screen visual cue to accompany their
meteorologists' warnings that viewers in some areas should take cover as a
powerful thunderstorm/tornado watch hit the region May 25, 2004.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell & John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA604132?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
BROADCASTERS UNEASY DESPITE NIELSEN MEETING
Forging ahead with next week's deployment, Nielsen Media Research Thursday
met with its clients in Washington, D.C., to discuss the looming rollout of
"Local People Meters." After the two-and-a-half-hour session, local
broadcasters were still expressing concern about the accuracy of the new
LPM system and still asking Nielsen to push back the June 2 launch.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA604130.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
HIGH-DEFINITION RADIO GEARS UP FOR REALITY
The radio conglomerates, chipmakers and other companies behind HD radio--a
digital form of broadcasting that essentially fits into the same spectrum
as current analog channel--say their campaign to promote the technology is
about to begin. Boston Acoustics and other companies are expected to show
off HD radios next week at the Computex trade show in Taipei. While $400 HD
radios are now available in limited quantities, tabletop HD radios selling
for $150 to $250 will start to appear in stores later this year.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Michael Kanellos ]
http://news.com.com/High-definition+radio+gears+up+for+reality/2100-1041...
LIBERAL TALERS CALL CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BIAS A "MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH"
A panel including Air America radio talk hosts Al Franken and Randi Rhodes
told a group of Democrats this week that the Conservative bias in the
American news media is "not simply a matter of taste, but of life and death."
[SOURCE: RadioInk]
http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=128905&pt=todaysnews
THE CITYWIDE WI-FI REALITY CHECK
Large cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco see wireless broadband
technology as a low-cost solution to providing broadband access to
low-income residents. They also believe that these Wi-Fi networks can help
them save millions of dollars in operational costs by providing broadband
connectivity for public-safety and other agencies within city government.
Many believe the networks will help boost economic development by drawing
more people to the city. Experts warn that deploying Wi-Fi in dense urban
areas may not be as easy as it sounds.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
http://news.com.com/The+citywide+Wi-Fi+reality+check/2100-7351_3-5722150...
WIRELESS INNOVATION: DRIVING US ECONOMIC GROWTH
Assistant Secretary Michael D. Gallagher spoke at the National Spectrum
Managers Association: Spectrum Management 2005 meeting.
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2005/MGallagher_NSMA_AUDIENCE.htm
CHAIRMAN STEVENS RECEIVES INTERNET SUPER HERO AWARD
Just geeky-looking enough to qualify for consideration, Senate Commerce
Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), known on Capitol Hill as the
Hulk, received the Wired Kids' first annual Internet Super Hero Award at
the organization's fifth Wired Kids Summit. Sen Stevens was presented with
the honor for his commitment to educating and protecting children on the
World Wide Web.
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee Press Release]
http://commerce.senate.gov/newsroom/printable.cfm?id=238221
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...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend. Go Cubs!
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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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