For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
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.
MEDIA
Big Media More Willing To Cover Up Than Change
CEA To Back Ferree TV
Court Allows Public Knowledge Case Against Broadcast Flag To Move Forward
New Star on Chinese TV: Product Placements
TELECOM
Verizon Needs To Duke It Out In the Market
GAO Report on Spectrum Management
QUICKLY
Karmazin Ends a Turbulent Run at Viacom
Nielsen Offers a Compromise
McCaw Is Expected to Launch Wireless Broadband Service
MEDIA
BIG MEDIA MORE WILLING TO COVER UP THAN CHANGE
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the FCC's new media ownership
rules. Nearly three million Americans wrote letters to rule makers in
Washington protesting media consolidation, but their was little coverage of
the issue at the time nor are media outlets likely to be marking the
anniversary today. As far as Big Media is concerned, Schechter writes, the
less said about media ownership the better. In the year since the FCC's
June 2, 2003 decision, the media ownership issue is now languishing in the
federal courts in a little-covered case brought against the FCC by
low-power radio activists of the Prometheus Radio Project. The U.S. Court
of Appeals in Philadelphia is weighing arguments from the media companies
that largely supported the sweeping ownership rules changes passed in June
2003, and consumer advocacy groups that successfully sued to stop the rules
from being enacted. Media reformers are watching and waiting for a ruling -
expected sometime this summer -- with the hope that the right (or wrong)
decision will recharge their campaign against big media owners. In the
interim, Congress negotiated a compromise that will allow broadcasters to
own up 39% of media outlets in a local market, not the 45% they wanted, nor
the 35% cap that was previously in place. More attention must be paid to
the small aggregation of groups working behind the scenes and under the big
media radar to keep media reform on the political map. This coalition
includes groups such as Free Press, Common Cause, MediaChannel.org, the
Center for Digital Democracy, the Media Access Project, the Alliance for
Better Campaigns, the New America Foundation, and the Center for Creative
Voices in Media. These groups joined in April to combine policy work in
Washington with grassroots activism and outreach across the country to give
in 2004 shape to a movement that was sparked by citizens one year ago, today.
[SOURCE: MediaChannel, AUTHOR: Danny Schechter]
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert205.shtml
CEA TO BACK FERREE TV
At a House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing
scheduled for 10am this morning, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
is expected to support the plan being developed by the FCC Media Bureau
Chief Ken Ferree to accelerate the transition to digital-only TV
broadcasting in the US. The proposal would count all cable subscribers as
digitally served by local broadcasters, even if they don't have a digital
set and their only access to local station's digital broadcasts are cable
signals that have been "downconverted" to analog. The CEA will back the
plan, which broadcasters object to, if the FCC sets a deadline for making
cable stop downconverting and begin transmitting broadcast high-definition
pictures and other digital features. Also, cable would have to transmit all
V-Chip, Spanish language and other program-related side information that
accompanies the primary TV picture and audio.
The hearing will be Webcasted... point your browser to
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/06022004hearing1289/hearing...
Witness to include: Mr. Ferree, National Association of Broadcasters
President Edward Fritts, National Cable and Telecommunications Association
President Robert Sachs, Richard DalBello of the Satellite Broadcasting and
Communications Association (SBCA), CEA President Gary Shapiro, the United
Church of Christ's Gloria Tristani, and Thomas Lenard of the Progress &
Freedom Foundation.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA422624?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
COURT ALLOWS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE CASE AGAINST BROADCAST FLAG TO MOVE FORWARD
Public Knowledge and its allies fighting the FCC's broadcast flag won a key
procedural victory when the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit turned
down the FCC's request to prevent the case from moving forward pending
agency action. The lawsuit challenging the content control broadcast flag,
filed Jan. 30, argues that the FCC does not have jurisdiction to impose
design requirements on consumer electronics devices, and even if it did
have the authority, there is no problem with "indiscriminate distribution"
of digital TV signals. In response, the FCC asked the Court March 3 to hold
off any action on the case, saying the administrative process for
completing consideration of the broadcast flag was not yet complete because
petitions for reconsideration were still being considered at the agency.
Public Knowledge and others responded on March 15 that the Court should
turn down the FCC's request because the reconsideration phase of the FCC
proceeding is based on the assumption that the FCC has the power under the
Communications Act to proceed with the broadcast flag. The lawsuit brought
by the coalition of consumer groups and libraries disagreed with that
premise when it challenged the FCC's fundamental authority. "This decision
is important because requests like the one the FCC filed are rarely turned
down," Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said. "Had the court decision
gone the other way, the broadcast flag would have become the television
standard regardless of the ultimate outcome of the case."
Public Knowledge is a public-interest advocacy and education organization
that seeks to promote a balanced approach to intellectual property law and
technology policy that reflects the "cultural bargain" intended by the
framers of the constitution.
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge Press Release]
(http://www.publicknowledge.org/)
NEW STAR ON CHINESE TV: PRODUCT PLACEMENTS
Although the government owns the airwaves in China, the biggest names in
television in the country are American advertisers who produce and brand
programming that often stars the products being sold. Much of this
programming is made available to the TV stations for free. Some of the
smaller players among China's 1,150 state-owned broadcasters are being
squeezed by their provincial-government owners to turn a profit. But they
lack the ratings to raise their ad rates. That's why free programming looks
attractive. Marketers and the media-buying companies that represent them
buy or produce shows containing product placements or ads, and swap it with
broadcasters in exchange for a block of program time and the ad space
around it. Sometimes, the stations keep a portion of the ad slots during
the shows, or share in the profit from the programs. And they hope that the
shows boost the stations' popularity.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Geoffrey A. Fowler
geoffrey.fowler( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108613261058126385,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
TELECOM
VERIZON NEEDS TO DUKE IT OUT IN THE MARKET
Pearlstein's column opens: "Everyone knows the Washington game involves
negotiating hard, stretching the truth a bit, buying access and making
selective use of litigation. But one company, Verizon Communications, has
decided to take this all to a disturbing extreme, engaging in a
scorched-earth strategy that runs roughshod over the unwritten rules of the
game." The article then points to Verizon's history of opening its network
to competitors, the company's performance during this past weekend's
negotiations at the FCC, how it walked away from talks aimed at breaking an
impasse over the fees phone companies pay each other for completing each
other's calls, its campaign against MCI/Worldcom, and how it apparently
scuttled the Nextel "consensus" plan. Pearlstein concludes: "Rather than
playing the role of the old regulated monopoly, scheming endlessly to
eliminate rivals and tilt the rules in its favor, maybe Verizon could
concentrate on trying to compete the way companies in most other industries
do -- by offering better products and services at more competitive prices."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Pearlstein pearlsteins( at )washpost.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8273-2004Jun1.html
(requires registration)
GAO REPORT ON SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Recent advances in technologies that rely on the use of the radio-frequency
spectrum have made cellular telephones, wireless computer networks, global
positioning system receivers, and other spectrum-dependent technologies a
part of everyday life. Further, these technologies have become critical to
a variety of government missions, including homeland security and strategic
warfare. But these new uses have also increased demand for spectrum raising
debates about how best to use this increasingly scarce resource. The GAO
was asked to investigate the investments in spectrum efficient technologies
by government agencies as well look at how the country's spectrum
management system affect the development and adoption of these
technologies. The GAO recommends that the NTIA and the FCC jointly: 1)
assess and determine the feasibility of redefining the spectrum allocation
system to build in greater flexibility where appropriate to facilitate
emerging technologies; 2) develop and implement plans to gain a more
thorough and on-going understanding of the current spectrum environment;
and 3) strengthen efforts to develop jointly accepted models and
methodologies to assess the impact of new technologies on overall spectrum
use and increase opportunities to permit testing of those technologies. In
addition the GAO recommends that the NTIA: 4) establish guidance for
agencies to determine and report their future spectrum requirements; 5)
strengthen NTIA's spectrum certification process to more directly address
spectrum efficiency; and 6) determine approaches, where appropriate, for
providing incentives to agencies to use spectrum more efficiently and then
pilot and measure the effectiveness of those approaches.
Prepare now for your next trip to the beach... visit the URL and print a
copy of this page-turner for your very own self.
Spectrum Management: Better Knowledge Needed to Take Advantage of
Technologies That May Improve Spectrum Efficiency
[SOURCE: General Accounting Office]
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-666
QUICKLY
KARMAZIN ENDS A TURBULENT RUN AT VIACOM
Mel Karmazin stepped down as president of Viacom, providing a coda to the
four-year, tension-filled partnership between him and Sumner Redstone.
[SOURCE: New York Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/business/media/02viacom.html
What Does it Mean for Howard Stern?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/business/media/02radio.html
Mel Karmazin was the main defender of Howard Stern... will his departure
quicken Mr. Stern's move to satelitte radio where he will be free of FCC
indecency enforcement?
(requires registration)
WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108609175830525666,00.html?mod=todays...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108613538882026449,00.html?mod=todays...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108614046712326577,00.html?mod=todays...
WP: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8039-2004Jun1.html
LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-karmazin2jun02,1,21...
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-stern2jun02,1,695992....
Also:
MEDIA FIRMS WILL NEED MOGULS WHO CAN SUCCEED
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James & Richard Verrier]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-replace2jun02,1,72795...
NIELSEN OFFERS A COMPROMISE
Nielsen announced that it would continue to operate the current system of
measuring ratings in New York for the next three months as it proceeds to
adopt electronic measurement devices known as local people meters, which
have been used nationally to measure ratings since 1987. During the three
months through Sept. 3, Nielsen said, stations and agencies may use the New
York ratings data - generated by either the local people meters or by the
current system, which combines people meters with paper diaries that
viewers fill out by hand. The data helps to set advertising rates and make
programming decisions.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/business/media/02adco.html
(requires registration)
MCCAW IS EXPECTED TO LAUNCH WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICE
Speaking at the Wireless Communications Association International
conference today, wireless entrepreneur Craig McCaw is expected to announce
today that he is launching a national wireless broadband service to compete
with the high-speed Internet access offered by cable operators and
telephone companies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108613344367926390,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
Also coverage in Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=KWMR0DGX2B410CRBAEOC...
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