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.
SPECTRUM
FCC Plans Star-Spangled Announcement Supporting Nextel Plan
Radio Daze: Technology and the Airwaves
TELECOM
AT&T Stops Competing in Residential Markets in 7 States
In 1 Year, Do-Not-Call List Passes 62 Million
INTERNET
Senate Bill Targets Internet Song-Swapping
Decision Bolsters Online-Publisher Immunity
Lawmakers Move Toward Placing Restrictions on Spyware Programs
TELEVISION
Kerry Backs Smut-Fine Boost
High-Maintenance TV
LABOR
Comcast Bashed as Union-Buster
SPECTRUM
FCC PLANS STAR-SPANGLED ANNOUNCEMENT SUPPORTING NEXTEL PLAN
Expect an announcement before July 4 that the FCC has decided to approve
the Nextel consensus plan to clear up interference with public safety
communications.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Howard Buskirk]
(Not available online)
There's also coverage in:
WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108804383187646261,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
WP http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A823-2004Jun23.html
(requires registration)
RADIO DAZE: TECHNOLOGY AND THE AIRWAVES
Since 1927, the federal government has allocated spectrum among competing
interests -- between those who hold spectrum rights and don't want to share
them and those with new technologies that need spectrum to prosper. The FCC
has made sure spectrum users don't interfere with eachother and allocated
bands of spectrum use for broadcasting or cell phone service, etc.
Technology is challenging that approach. Parts of the spectrum long have
been designated for "unlicensed" use, such as microwave ovens and cordless
phones; geeks called this "junk band." The junk has turned to gold. All
sorts of new wireless devices, from poker chips equipped with radio
transmitters so casinos can keep tabs on gamblers to wireless Internet
zones that can serve a whole neighborhood, are exploiting unlicensed slices
of spectrum. The folks on the right, Wessel writes, think the economy would
be better served if the government let license-holders essentially own
their pieces of the spectrum, arguing that the profit motive would
encourage them to welcome new technologies. Folks on the left think the
economy would be better served if more of the spectrum were treated like a
public park for all to use, encouraging a proliferation of wireless
devices. Regulators need to find the right balance between these two views.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Wessel capital( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108803001141445880,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
TELECOM
AT&T STOPS COMPETING IN RESIDENTIAL MARKETS IN 7 STATES
AT&T has announced that it will stop competing for customers for local
telephone service in seven states (and perhaps more) because the Bush
Administration and the FCC failed to support an appeal of the U.S. Appeals
Court (DC) ruling overturning the FCC's UNE rules. Consumer Union (CU) said
the AT&T's decision "indicates how damaging the [Bush] Administration's
decision is to local phone competition -- and lower phone bills for
consumers." CU Senior Public Policy Director Gene Kimmelman said the AT&T
move was "just the beginning of the end of local phone competition. By
failing to stand up for a policy that supports competition, the Bush
Administration effectively sentenced consumers to a fate of higher prices
and poorer service when it comes to their local and long-distance service."
Consumer Federation of America Research Director Mark Cooper said the AT&T
announcement was "the expected and unfortunate result" of the
Administration's and the FCC's decision not to appeal. "Anyone who said
that the decision would not be a problem for the competing telephone
companies was simply trying to fool American consumers," he said. Mr.
Cooper said preserving competition would "require the Commission's close
attention and careful regulation as it prepares interim rules during the
next two weeks." He said the Commission "must not simply phase out UNE-P.
Instead, under the law, it needs to evaluate local markets and find in
which areas competition is too nascent to flourish on its own."
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Susan Polyakova]
(Not available online)
See the CU Press Release
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/001206.html
Coverage in:
WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108799741619545268,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
WP http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1083-2004Jun23.html
(requires registration)
LATimes
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-att24jun24,1,6997714....
(requires registration)
USAToday http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040624/6314255s.htm
NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/24/business/24phone.html
(requires registration)
IN 1 YEAR, DO-NOT-CALL LIST PASSES 62 MILLION
One year after the Federal Trade Commission began the do-not-call list, 62
million phone numbers have been listed in the registry. The average
household received ~30 sales calls a month before the list was put into
effect; now they are receiving six. The FTC reports that 428,000 complaints
had been filed against more than 130,000 companies said to have made
telemarketing calls to numbers on the do-not-call list. About 200 companies
are repeat offenders with 100 or more complaints each.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caroline E. Mayer]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A767-2004Jun23.html
(requires registration)
The LATimes has an article on a company that will pay $100,000 to settle
do-not-call list violations
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-donot24jun24,1,701846...
(requires registration)
INTERNET
SENATE BILL TARGETS INTERNET SONG-SWAPPING
The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004, a bill that would
allow companies to be held liable if they "intentionally induce" copyright
infringement, was introduced into the Senate Tuesday with backing from
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle, and the ranking members of the Judiciary Committee -- Orrin Hatch
and Patrick Leahy. The nonprofit policy group Public Knowledge said the
bill is too broad, as it could discourage investment in new technology and
expose people to lawsuits who do not mean to encourage copyright
infringement. The odds of any new bill becoming law are slim, as Congress
has only 35 working days scheduled before the fall elections.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MN4Y32UWEXDXUCRBAEOC...
See also:
B&C http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA429064?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
Link to Senate Commerce Committee hearing on peer-to-peer networking
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1247
WP http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A801-2004Jun23.html
(requires registration)
FTC Press Release
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/06/p2p.htm
NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/24/technology/24copyright.html
(requires registration)
DECISION BOLSTERS ONLINE-PUBLISHER IMMUNITY
Last month, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that a Web site
publisher could not be sued because one if its advertisers used a photo of
a woman without her permission. "This case should help search engines and
Web sites avoid liability for the ads they run, even if the Web sites help
the advertiser develop the advertising content and decide where to place
it," said Eric Goldman, an assistant professor at Marquette University Law
School. "This is a good one for Google, Overture, eBay, Amazon and everyone
else who runs third-party ads." For more on the legal ramifications, see
the URL below.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Paul Festa]
http://news.com.com/Decision+bolsters+online-publisher+immunity/2100-102...
LAWMAKERS MOVE TOWARD PLACING RESTRICTIONS ON SPYWARE
Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to approve a
spyware regulation bill and send it to the full House. Although sweeping
regulation of the practice seems unlikely anytime soon, consumer groups,
privacy advocates and the technology industry are watching the debate
closely -- and what any changes would mean for them.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mary Kissel mary.kissel( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108803242725245991,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
TELEVISION
KERRY BACKS SMUT-FINE BOOST
By a vote of 99-1, the US Senate approved legislation that will increase
fines for indecent broadcast content to $275,000 per incident. The
increased fines also mean that artists would now be liable for much bigger
hits. The FCC has never fined a performer, but it is free to do so after a
single warning. The American Federation of Radio and TV Artists praised the
amendment because it did not include language specifically targeting
performers, but there is also nothing preventing the FCC from breaking with
precedent. The Senate also approved by voice vote amendments that would
make the indecency fines proportionate to market size or ability to pay
create a violence safe-harbor and throw out the FCC's June 2 ownership
deregulation ostensibly because they would lead to more indecency. The
safe-harbor provisions would ban indecent cable and satellite programs
during daytime hours unless they were rated and could work with a V-Chip.
It would also require the FCC to study whether the V-Chip worked. If it
didn't, violence on broadcast and cable would be banned during the same
daytime hours (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.) that indecency is now proscribed.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA429225?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
HIGH-MAINTENANCE TV
Since the transition to digital broadcasting began in 1998, 8.3 million
households have acquired digital TVs, according to Adams Media Research.
But only 1.7 million of those have the built-in hardware or set-top box
necessary to receive and decode HDTV broadcast signals. The owners of the
other 6.6 million sets are using them to watch standard-definition TV and
DVDs. Despite the policy implications, maybe it is a good thing many people
are not trying to get their HDTV via antenna because it is causing some to
pull their hair out. Learn more at the URL below.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Taub]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/24/technology/circuits/24hdtv.html
(requires registration)
LABOR
COMCAST BASHED AS UNION-BUSTER
American Rights at Work, a workers-advocacy group chaired by former Rep
David Bonior (D-MI), released a study Tuesday finding that Comcast has
routinely fired workers for trying to unionize, stalled contract
negotiations to freeze wages and benefits "for years," and moved union jobs
from acquired systems to non-union facilities. The group characterized
these moves as human-rights abuses. Mr. Bonior noted that labor laws
guarantee the right to organize. When a fired worker can't pay the mortgage
or college tuition because he has been denied that right, Mr. Bonior says,
it is absolutely a human rights violation. A Comcast spokesperson
countered, "We believe employees should have the freedom to chose whether
or not they work in a union environment and we invest in people with the
belief that our company can only be as strong as our work force. Comcast
has been a pro-employee, pro-worker company for 40 years."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA429285?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
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