People meters get their day in Congress today (see story below). For this
and other 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.
BROADCASTING/TELEVISION
A Vote for Local TV
Viacom Renews Election-Coverage Pledge
Noncoms Want More Money
Minorities Make News Comeback
House Debates a la Carte on Cable
Nielsen Critics Seize on New Ratings Data
FCC LEADERSHIP
The Games Bush Plays With Good Nominees Are Counterproductive
QUICKLY
Searching for Ways to Fight Junk E-Mail
CDT Releases Report on ICANN and Internet Governance
Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Napster Case
Living the Broadband Life
New Publication: Broadband Facts
BROADCASTING/TELEVISION
A VOTE FOR LOCAL TV
$1.5 billion is likely to be spent in advertising during the 2004
elections. Ads will be targeted in "toss up" states like Florida, Ohio,
Missouri, Nevada and New Mexico. Television station owners in local markets
are likely to reap the lion's share of that money. A scant 0.1% of
television ad spending in 2000 was on the major networks, with the
remainder going to local spot advertising. For perspective, 25% of national
political ad spending went to networks in presidential campaigns between
1972 and 1992. Companies such as Hearst-Argyle, Sinclair Broadcasting,
Emmis, and Journal Communication are likely to be the big financial winners
this election season.
[SOURCE: CNN|Money, AUTHOR: Krysten Crawford]
http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/13/news/midcaps/politicalads/index.htm
VIACOM RENEWS ELECTION-COVERAGE PLEDGE
Responding to a June 15 call from Sen John McCain (R-AZ) and FCC Chairman
Michael Powell to detail plans for political coverage during this election
year, Viacom renewed its pledge to air five minutes of political coverage
every night on its stations' evening-news programs. "You will remember we
made the same commitment during the 2000 election season, and we fulfilled
that promise with numerous hours of substantive political coverage," wrote
Viacom co-president Les Moonves. "Many of our stations also sponsored and
aired live debates between candidates." Mr. Moonves urged Sen McCain to
drop his push to make stations offer free advertising time to federal
candidates. "We do not and have not needed any laws or regulations to
determine the amount of time or resources our stations should devote to
this vital subject," he wrote. "That is simply part of our responsibility
as a broadcaster, and we take that responsibility seriously."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA436226?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
NONCOMS WANT MORE MONEY
CPB President Kathleen A. Cox; Kevin Klose, President and CEO, National
Public Radio; John Lawson, President and CEO, Association of Public
Television Stations; and PBS President/CEO Pat Mitchell are asking Congress
for more money. Corporation For Public Broadcasting Reauthorization Bill
introduced by Sen. John McCain and expected to be marked up next week,
would fund CPB through 2011 at $416 million for FY 07; $432 million for FY
08; $450 million for FY 09; $468 million for FY 10 and $487 for FY 11. It
would also allocate $140 million over four years for programming and
equipment related to the digital transition (through 2009, the FCC's
proposed giveback date if all goes well), as well as $50 million for
satellite interconnection systems in 2005, with the same amount annually,
plus a 4% annual raise, through 2011. Although they are grateful for the
funds and the efforts of Sen McCain, the executives fear that these funding
levels could "jeopardize" their service's effectiveness.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA436248?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
MINORITIES MAKE NEWS COMEBACK
An annual Ball State survey for the Radio-Television News Directors
Association finds that minorities make up 21.8% of local TV news staffs, up
from 18.1% in 2002. The news management gains were even more impressive,
with minorities accounting for 12.5% of TV news directors, compared with
6.6% in 2002. Some of those gains, however, are either just recouping
earlier losses or may be attributable to improved response rates. Still,
both radio and TV percentages are well below the 32.8% minority population.
Ball State changed the methodology to boost the response rate, says survey
author Bob Papper, plus the margin of error is probably in the 3%-4% range,
which means that, statistically, the numbers have changed little in the
last decade, which is cause for concern, says Papper. Women in the news
workforce remained virtually the same at 39.1% vs. 39.3%, with women TV
news directors at 25.2%, down slightly from 2003.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA436158?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
HOUSE DEBATES A LA CARTE ON CABLE
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet jumped into
the a la carte debate Wednesday with a hearing on the subject that has
gained some traction on two fronts: empowering consumers to control their
cable costs and to block indecent content. Many executives in the cable
industry are against a la carte pricing saying it would actually raise
cable costs for consumers and doom channels targeted at minority audiences.
They point out that the cable industry already offers consumers free
channel-blocking technology. Janet LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women
for America, said cable's mandatory purchase of large tiers effectively
required consumers to pay for offensive programming in order to obtain the
channels they wanted -- something rarely seen in other markets. "We don't
have to pay for food we don't intend to eat," she added, demanding new
legislation in the absence of industry action.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA436234?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
Someday, the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will make
the hearing's testimony available online at:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/07142004hearing1336/hearing...
See testimony delivered by cable execs at:
http://www.ncta.com/press/press.cfm?PRid=517&showArticles=ok
NIELSEN CRITICS SEIZE ON NEW RATINGS DATA
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing today on Nielsen Media
Research's new method for measuring local television audiences. Critics
claim that black and Hispanic viewers have been undercounted under the new
system, which could discourage networks and marketers from developing and
advertising on programs aimed at these viewers. Nielsen executives have
said the new system provides a more accurate picture of what people are
watching. Senator Conrad Burns, the Montana Republican who is chairman of
the communication subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he
was concerned about the questions being raised about Nielsen, whose ratings
have been used for decades to help set TV advertising rates. "Lots of
dollars are involved here," he said. "It has an impact on the broadcast
industry that concerns me."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Raymond Hernandez]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/15/business/media/15nielsen.html
(requires registration)
FCC LEADERSHIP
THE GAMES BUSH PLAYS WITH GOOD NOMINEES ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE
Jonathan Adelstein has been a member of the FCC since December 2002 and his
term is to run out when the current Congress ends later this year. A year
ago February, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) submitted
Adelstein's name to President Bush for a full term on the FCC, set to
expire on June 30, 2008. But 17 months have passed. No nomination has
emerged from the White House. When George W. Bush became president, he
reached a handshake agreement early on with Sen Daschle to follow the
standards reached between President Clinton and then-Majority Leader Trent
Lott: To be spurned by the White House, nominees had to personally attack
the president or fail the FBI background check, or have expressed views
that were fundamentally inimical to the existence or basic function of the
agencies or commissions on which they were going to serve. Commissioner
Adelstein is just one of more than 20 Democrats recommended by Sen Daschle
have been shelved or ignored -- nominees for a variety of agencies, boards
and commissions. Commissioner Adelstein is seen as thoughtful,
hard-working, straightforward, knowledgeable, insightful, capable of
helping us navigate through the difficult issues of the communications age.
Ornstein concludes that the case highlights "a combination of the overall
White House contempt for Congress and its hostility to [Sen] Daschle and
Democrats more generally. It is foolish in the extreme."
[SOURCE: Roll Call, AUTHOR: Norman Ornstein]
http://www.rollcall.com/pub/50_6/ornstein/6210-1.html
QUICKLY
SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO FIGHT JUNK E-MAIL
Two systems -- Yahoo's DomainKeys standard and Sender ID, which is backed
by Microsoft and the Pobox.com e-mail service -- are being tested now to
best fix the authentication problem and, hopefully, curtail email spam.
Sender ID has attracted the most interest. It counts on the fact that
though e-mail headers are easy to forge, IP addresses -- the unique set of
numbers attached to every Internet domain -- are not. In this system, a
domain name owner publishes its IP address in a public database. When a
message arrives that claims to be from the domain name, the recipient's
e-mail program automatically checks the information in the header and
compares it with the information in the database. If it matches, the
message goes through. If it doesn't match, the message is quarantined or
blocked. DomainKeys takes an approach that is based on public-private key
cryptography. Sent messages include an encrypted digital signature created
by the e-mail provider's private key. When the message arrives at the
recipient's e-mail server, the server checks a database for the sender's
public key. If the public and private keys match up, the signature can be
decrypted and the sender's identity validated. If not, the message can be
blocked by spam filters.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:Chris Gaither]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-email15jul15,1,558584...
(requires registration)
CDT RELEASES REPORT ON ICANN AND INTERNET GOVERNANCE
In the context of ongoing global debates about Internet governance, CDT has
released a report calling for continued reform at the Internet Corporation
on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The report calls on ICANN to focus
on its limited mission and bottom-up, consensus-based approach, which
remains the best model for managing core Internet naming and numbering
functions. ICANN is meeting July 19-23 in Kuala Lumpur.
CDT Report, "ICANN and Internet Governance: Getting Back to Basics" [PDF]:
http://www.cdt.org/dns/icann/20040713_cdt.pdf
More on ICANN:
http://www.cdt.org/dns
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology]
(http://www.cdt.org)
JUDGE DENIES MOTION TO DISMISS NAPSTER CASE
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel ruled Wednesday that a suit may continue
against Napster investors like Bertelsmann and venture capital firm Hummer
Winblad. The suit alleges that their support for Napster promoted piracy
and cost the music industry $17 billion in lost sales. Judge Patel said the
plaintiffs, including music publishers, songwriters and record labels, had
the right to try to prove their allegations.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sue Zeidler]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NFNAFW5SDFFH0CRBAE0C...
LIVING THE BROADBAND LIFE
For readers with a dial-up connection, I'll type this slowly. W h a t d o
e s i t m e a n t o h a v e a b r o a d b a n d c o n n e c t i o n
? In San Diego, 55% of households have gone high-speed. See what it means
to people's daily lives.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katie Hafner]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/15/technology/circuits/15broa.html
(requires registration)
NEW PUBLICATION: BROADBAND FACTS
USTA is offering new publication on broadband penetration. Description from
USTA website: Broadband penetration has shown remarkable growth over the
past year. Service providers, stung by the downturn in traditional telecom
services revenue, have found broadband subscribers to be a welcome additive
to the bottom line. How long will this trend continue? What technology and
market dynamics are continuing to push the growth in DSL, cable modems, and
other high-speed access services? Where do things stand, and where are we
likely to be over the next few year? This publication includes a unique
compilation of research and analysis from the Federal Communications
Commission, Digital Tech Consulting, eMarketer, InStat/MDR, Leichtman
Research Group, Parks Associates and the Pew Internet & American Life
Project. Cost: $90
[SOURCE: United States Telecom Association]
http://www.telecom-bookstore.com/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UTB&...
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