The kids.us Internet domain and a la carte cable pricing are the topics of
the day. For these and other upcoming media policy events, see
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
TELEVISION
Noncoms Make Case for Cash
ACA: Big Programmers Deny Consumers Choice
Sat Bill Is Blow To Broadcasters
RETHINKING REGULATION
Powell Calls for Legislative Rethink
MCI's Layers Approach Said to Discourage Industry Investment
CONTENT
Studios Set Deals In Bid to Get PCs To Show Movies
File-Sharing Thrives as Net Users Find New Outlets
Study Finds Film Ratings Are Growing More Lenient
QUICKLY
DoJ Asks Carriers for Massive Amounts of Data in Merger Review
VOA Staff Members Say Government Losing Voice
TELEVISION
NONCOMS MAKE CASE FOR CASE
At the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on reauthorizing the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, documentary film producer Ken Burns took center
stage. In an eloquent pitch for continued funding that was being lauded
even before it was through, Burns argued that none of his films could have
been made for commercial television, and even if they had been they would
have lost an essential quality by being interrupted every eight minutes
so viewers could be pitched a half-dozen products. Public broadcasting, he
said, "gives us attention and memory amid the cacophony of the marketplace.
Without that "duration," he said, "we do not learn, remember or care." Some
senators raised concerned about the perceived "left" bias of public
broadcasting. Burns argued that far from being a "hotbed" of thinking
outside the mainstream," local noncommercial stations are "essentially
conservative institutions, sometimes criticized as too conservative, too
middle of the road." No senator challenged him on the point. Peter Frid,
CEO of New Hampshire Public TV, also testified asking for 1) more CPB board
seat assignments for local stations (there are currently two of nine) and
2) support for a proposal being floated to trade an early return of
noncommercial station's analog spectrum for a cut of the proceeds from that
spectrum's auction.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA435719?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said he hoped to schedule on
July 20 a mark-up of his bill to reauthorize CPB. His bill is basically a
straightforward reauthorization, but with the addition for more
representation for station managers on the CPB board. Sen McCain said his
bill would also give CPB "explicit" authority to award grants for
production and acquisition of local programming, including local digital
programming. Quoting from a recent GAO report, he said 79% of public TV
stations had reported producing too little local programming, and 85% of
radio stations complained they don't have enough money for local
programming. Sen McCain expressed hope the bill could be passed this year.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Dinesh Kumar]
(Not available online)
See links to testimony at:
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1265
ACA: BIG PROGRAMMERS DENY CONSUMERS CHOICE
Walt Disney, Viacom, News Corp., NBC and Time Warner are to blame for a
dysfunctional programming market, the American Cable Association told the
FCC this week. Powerful cable programmers are using their muscle to block
small cable operators from removing expensive sports channels and racy
content from expanded basic in an effort to force consumers to buy as many
cable networks as possible. "These restrictions and obligations eliminate
the flexibility to offer more customized packages in local markets," the
trade group said. "For this to occur, certain media conglomerates would
need to temper economic self-interest with a heightened concern for the
public interest in localism, consumer choice and reasonable cable rates."
ACA said programmers should be forced, through new laws or regulations, to
allow distributors greater freedom in the retail packaging of cable networks.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA435723?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
SAT BILL IS BLOW TO BROADCASTERS
Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and John McCain (R-AZ) have introduced a new
version of a bill to reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act.
The bill would allow satellite companies to import distant analog network
signals to unserved subscribers. The National Association of Broadcasters
does not like the bill. "NAB strongly opposes the Ensign/McCain
legislation," the association said in a statement. "The paramount goal of
SHVIA reauthorization should be to ensure consumer access to local
television stations that provide news and lifeline information to local
audiences, not distant out-of-market stations. Congress should promote
carriage of analog or digital signals in all 210 markets, a goal that this
legislation fails to accomplish. "Moreover, the Enign/McCain proposed
changes to EchoStar's 'two-dish scheme' relegates Hispanic and religious
television viewers to second-class citizenship for over three more years.
Three Congressional committees have passed reasonable, compromise
legislation that extends SHVIA, and we're hopeful that their proposals
prevail."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA436008?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
RETHINKING REGULATION
POWELL CALLS FOR LEGISLATIVE RETHINK
At the Innovation summit in California, FCC Chairman Michael Powell spoke
about the impossibility of enforcing ancient media rules in a drastically
changed communications environment. "I think this country has a bigger
question it doesn't want to deal with," Chairman Powell said. "The notion
that the First Amendment changes when you change channels is odd. It's more
than odd--it's dangerous." Evening out of the treatment broadcast and cable
channels receive would require significant changes in the law, however, and
that's unlikely to happen anytime soon, Chairman Powell said. "There really
has been a dramatic rise in the American public complaining about"
indecency, he said. "If Congress is sensitive to anything, it's to that
kind ...of heightened concern." He said a company's regulatory treatment is
more a matter of "from whence they came rather than what they're really
doing now."
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: David Becker]
http://news.com.com/Powell+calls+for+legislative+rethink/2100-1033_3-526...
MCI'S LAYERS APPROACH SAID TO DISCOURAGE INDUSTRY INVESTMENT
Current US telecommunications is based on a silos approach: there are rules
for telephony, for cable, for broadcasting, etc. But with advances in
technology, the lines are blurring between these silos, making it harder to
effectively regulate the sector. In response, MCI has proposed that IP
services should be regulated based on horizontal layers rather than
"vertical silos." MCI suggests that the lower physical network facilities
layer should be regulated based on market power, rather than legacy service
or labels, while the higher applications and content layer should be
unregulated. For example, the company says under the model, VoIP would
reside on the unregulated applications layer, while universal service and
interconnection issues reside on the regulated network layer. The idea has
gained some traction in DC, so a bunch of people who don't like the
proposal got together on Tuesday to bash it. A new report from the New
Millennium Research Council fins the proposal would lock in the worst
elements of existing telecommunications rules and discourage new industry
investment. The report was written by a really diverse "let the market
rule" gang: Wayne T. Brough, Chief Economist at Citizens for a Sound
Economy; Braden Cox, Technology Counsel with the Competitive Enterprise
Institute's Project on Technology and Innovation; James L. Gattuso of the
Heritage Foundation; David P. McClure, CEO of the US Internet Industry
Association; Andrew Odlyzko, University of Minnesota; Stephen B.
Pociask, President of TeleNomic Research; Adam Thierer, Cato Institute;
Glenn A. Woroch, University of California at Berkeley.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Susan Polyakova]
(Not available online)
See NMRC Press Release:
http://www.newmillenniumresearch.org/news/event_071304.pdf
and Report: http://www.newmillenniumresearch.org/news/071304_report.pdf
CONTENT
STUDIOS SET DEALS IN BID TO GET PCs TO SHOW MOVIES
Walt Disney and Time Warner have entered partnerships with IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba to create a content-management
system that will allow consumers to play movies and other digital content
on a wider variety of equipment. The move will help make the PC the
entertainment hub of the home, allowing the machine to distribute content
to televisions and other players around the home. The partners also hope to
protect content from piracy while allowing consumers more viewing options.
Under the new system, a consumer buying a DVD would be able to show it on
several machines, such as a home computer, a home-entertainment system and
a portable movie player. Copies of the content could be made, but the
technology would set limits on its usage. Individual studios, for example,
would be able to specify limits based on time -- that a movie might expire
after say, 90 days -- or on the number of viewings, say, 20. Those limits
are being worked out by the studios, but the system also will be able to
accommodate different limits for different movies.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride at sarah.mcbride( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108975778647462848,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
See also:
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CQZHMBYB4UCMACRBAEOC...
News.com
http://news.com.com/Tech%2C+Hollywood+heavyweights+create+content+coalit...
FILE-SHARING THRIVES AS NET USERS FIND NEW OUTLETS
UK-based technology firm CacheLogic released a study Tuesday finding that
Internet users download twice as many films, games and music as they did a
year ago. "One of the biggest myths put forth by the music industry -- that
they are winning the war on file-sharing -- is simply wrong," said Andrew
Parker, co-founder of CacheLogic. "It's a case of displacement," he added.
"Users are just moving to new networks." The number one reason for the
increased traffic is broadband Internet connections. The popularity of
file-sharing is costing the largest Internet service providers $10 million
per year each in bandwidth and network maintenance costs, CacheLogic said.
It estimates Internet users around the globe freely exchange a staggering
10 petabytes -- or 10 million gigabytes -- of data, much of it in the form
of copyright-protected songs, movies, software and video games.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Bernhard Warner]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DH2RNW1UZ2ZBCCRBAELC...
STUDY FINDS FILM RATINGS ARE GROWING MORE LENIENT
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that the
movie ratings system run by the Motion Picture Association of America uses
confusing and murky descriptions of movie content and are calling for a
standardized universal rating system that would be used across all
entertainment media. Basically, the researchers have found that a movie
rated PG or PG-13 today has more sexual or violent content than a similarly
rated movie in the past. They found significantly more violence in G-rated
animated films compared with nonanimated films and concluded that
"physicians should discuss media consumption with parents of young children."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sharon Waxman]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/14/movies/14MOVI.html
(requires registration)
QUICKLY
DoJ ASKS CARRIERS FOR MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF DATA IN MERGER REVIEW
Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger may be under unprecedented scrutiny as the
Department of Justice has asked carriers not involved with the deal for
data on individual customers including how much each customer paid for
service and the number of minutes used. Although the merger has not faced
much opposition, the DoJ may order the carriers to sell off spectrum or
customers as conditions for approving the deal. Mark Cooper, research
director for the Consumer Federation of America, said Tuesday his group has
launched a campaign to get states to scrutinize the merger. "This is sort
of the central decision, like Nynex-Bell Atlantic was," said Cooper. "If
you approve this merger there are 2 or 3 others that are going to go and
there's nothing you can do. We've made our case about what's wrong with the
merger... This is a bad merger. We've got the facts. We're launching a
campaign around the country to get individual states to look at it."
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Howard Buskirk]
(Not available online)
VOA STAFF MEMBERS SAY GOVERNMENT LOSING VOICE
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is rejecting the complaints of Voice of
America staff and is defending a pair of newer, semi-private and separate
media operations that the staffers said do not live up to VOA standards.
The Board is accusing the VOA dissidents of being slow to adapt to
necessary change. Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the BBG, disputed the
VOA staffers' complaints. He said the board is not trying to marginalize
the agency, pointing to what he said are the VOA's recently expanded
services to Iran and Pakistan. He said the board created the newer
television and radio networks independently of the VOA, in part -- and with
congressional support -- to avoid red tape. The networks' use of music and
entertainment programming, Tomlinson said, has helped lure a much larger,
younger audience than did the VOA format. Cuts in Eastern and Central
European broadcasts were made to focus more resources on the Middle east.
"The war on terror is a prime requirement," he said. "If you have to choose
between getting information to the Middle East and serving great old
audiences in Poland and the Baltic states, you unfortunately have to go
with the countries in the Middle East."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Faler]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47811-2004Jul13.html
(requires registration)
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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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