Benton's Communications-related Headlines for 7/8/04

There's an open meeting of the FCC this morning. See the agenda and find
link to Web cast at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-249217A1.doc. For
additional upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm

TELECOM
Dissents Possible as Powell Changes Stance on Nextel Plan
FCC May Charge Nextel More
Congress Runs Into VoIP Divide
Concerns Arise As Internet Callers Pick Own Area Codes
AT&T Fights for Local Service

SATELLITE
House Judiciary Advances SHVIA Renewal

INDECENCY/CONTENT
F-Word Not Banned, Says FCC
FCC Proposes Mandatory Program Logging
Powell Interview Demonstrates Confusion over First Amendment

QUICKLY
Fewer Noses Stuck in Books in America, Survey Finds
Universal Service Proceeding

TELECOM

DISSENTS POSSIBLE AS POWELL CHANGES STANCE ON NEXTEL PLAN
The Nextel rebanding saga continues as now FCC Chairman Michael Powell is
considering a plan that would *not* require Nextel to pay for the 1.9 GHz
spectrum per se, just setting aside $2 billion-$3 billion to pay for public
safety retuning (although some of that money could be returned to the
carrier), and contributing more spectrum for a public safety buffer. That
move could potentially inoculate the FCC against some claims it violated
the Anti-Deficiency Act and the Miscellaneous Receipts Act by illegally
selling off spectrum.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Howard Buskirk]
(Not available online)

FCC MAY CHARGE NEXTEL MORE
The Post is reporting an update to the Nextel story above. It appears some
commissioners feared granting Nextel the airwaves without additional
payment would appear to Congress and Nextel's rivals like a giveaway of
public resources. So FCC Chairman Michael Powell, hoping to win unanimous
support for a solution, yesterday reverted to a previously discarded plan
that would ask Nextel to give up existing spectrum and make payments
totaling $5 billion -- or roughly $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion more than
what the company proposed to pay. Most of the additional payment would go
to the U.S. Treasury. But the FCC ruling seems to be headed to court no
matter what it is. Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellular
provider, has vowed to sue if Nextel gets the new airwaves it wants, and
some members of Congress have warned the FCC that it could be violating
federal law by granting airwaves outside an auction process.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35659-2004Jul8.html
(requires registration)

CONGRESS RUNS INTO VOIP DIVIDE
At a House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing
Wednesday the debate over how to regulate Internet phone calls started
showing early signs of dividing along traditional partisan lines. "We will
never know VoIP's tremendous potential if we saddle it with unwarranted
government regulation," Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said in his
opening remarks at one of the first hearings to address VoIP regulation. He
also warned that "VoIP providers should not be regulated like common
carriers." The panel's ranking member, Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) said the need
for "consumer privacy rules, billing protections, fraud protections" and
affordable residential service "does not disappear simply because a voice
call travels in packets rather than dedicated circuits." "I think there's a
more traditional wing of the (Democratic) party that thinks VoIP is very
similar to regular phone service and should be treated in similar ways,"
said Robert Atkinson, vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute.
"Then there are folks who look at VoIP as more of an Internet application
and think it should be treated as we treat the Internet," Atkinson said.
"As a general rule, you could say that New Democrats are in the latter
camp. Republicans who are more deregulatory in nature are also in that
camp." The Cato Institute's Adam Thierer cautions that many "splits are not
party-based but geography-based when it comes to telecommunications. It's
often a rural-versus-urban or suburban issue. Often it comes down to
parochial interests."
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
http://news.com.com/Congress+runs+into+VoIP+divide/2100-7352_3-5260162.h...

CONCERNS ARISE AS INTERNET CALLERS PICK OWN AREA CODES
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is raising worrisome questions for
law-enforcement officials, regulators and emergency agencies in part
because it may accelerate the end of location-based phone numbers as we
know them. The process of freeing phone numbers from fixed locations
started with the spread of cellphones over the past decade. With Internet
phone service, callers from anywhere in the U.S. or around the world can
adopt nearly any U.S. area code they like, a prospect that has already
created a run on desirable area codes such as Manhattan's 212 and Beverly
Hills's 310. Even international callers could obtain US exchanges for
savings in long distance bills and allowing offshore companies to fake
offices and legitimacy with a U.S. area code. But law enforcement officials
can't tap into VoIP calls due to both technological limitations and
regulatory uncertainty and VoIP systems are not connected to 911 emergency
services.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads at
christopher.rhoads( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108923965170657887,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)

AT&T FIGHTS FOR LOCAL SERVICE
The FCC is expected to publish temporary rules on competition in local
markets very soon, but facing the prospect of competitors setting the rates
for leasing parts of their networks, AT&T has reached an agreement with
McLeodUSA to provide local service to some of AT&T's existing customers.
AT&T currently has 6 million customers, 4 million of which use the Baby
Bells' lines.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Ben Charny]
http://news.com.com/AT%26%2338%3BT+fights+for+local+service/2100-1037_3-...

SATELLITE

HOUSE JUDICIARY ADVANCES SHVIA RENEWAL
The House Judiciary Committee passed by voice vote a bill, H.R.
4518, extending the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 for
another five years. The bill has been approved by the House Energy and
Commerce Committee and could reach the House floor within two weeks. The
Senate Judiciary Committee has also passed a SHVIA-renewal, but approval by
the Senate Commerce Committee is pending. The bill would allow satellite
carriers to provide distant network stations and superstations under
compulsory copyright licenses until Dec. 31, 2009. Hundreds of thousands of
DBS subscribers would lose access to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox programming
after Dec. 31, 2004, without enactment of an extension. And, hey, we don't
want to deny anyone their network TV.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA434527?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)

INDECENCY/CONTENT

F-WORD NOT BANNED, SAYS FCC
FCC's Enforcement Bureau Chief David Solomon spoke at a Media Institute
gathering Wednesday about broadcast indecency enforcement. He said that the
Bono decision did not mean the f-word was, per se, off limits noting the
exception for NPR's airing the word recorded in John Gotti tapes. But news
is not a complete shield for indecency as highlighted by the KRON-TV
puppetry of the penis case, in which a morning news show was fined for an
errant puppet. Solomon said that fine was because the on-air newspeople
appeared to be encouraging the "flash." Mr. Solomon said that broadcasters
must do more to self-regulate instead of hiding behind "the mantra of the
First Amendment."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA434719?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)

FCC PROPOSES MANDATORY PROGRAM LOGGING
Traditionally, the FCC has required listeners to provide the Commission
with evidence of indecent broadcast content when considering fines for
broadcasters. But since it can be hard to record or transcribe content
while driving or otherwise engaged, the FCC is now considering requiring
broadcasters to keep recordings of all of their broadcasts for up to 90
days. The FCC wants input on the likely cost to stations, whether the plan
raises any First Amendment issues and whether recordings should be required
only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when indecent broadcasts are prohibited,
or for all 24-hours of the day. The FCC suggested that the recordings could
also be used to monitor compliance with the limits on advertising during
children's TV programs and sponsorship identification requirements. The
FCC, said Commissioner Michael Copps, "has for too long placed inordinate
responsibility upon the complaining citizen" by requiring at least a
detailed description of the broadcast.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA434710?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)

POWELL INTERVIEW DEMONSTRATES CONFUSION OVER FIRST AMENDMENT
In a recent interview (see 7/7 Headlines), FCC Chairman Michael Powell
mischaracterized the position of the Center for Creative Voices in Media
and others arguing for more independent voices in TV, saying:
And what is juxtaposed against the media ownership debate? Indecency,
which maybe is what you mean by content. Hollywood was happy to beat
up on ownership liberalization because they want the government to
intervene
so we can promote more independent programming -- which is content. But the
same Hollywood says the government can't say that Howard Stern can't say
the
F word, because that's censorship and inappropriate.
Regrettably, Chairman Powell is misstating our position, which is coherent
and consistent in its dedication to First Amendment principles. For the
government to mandate independent programming is not regulating program
content -- it's regulating the structure of the marketplace. No one is
asking the government to dictate who or what the programs produced by
independents should be. Perhaps they'll all be produced by rabid
conservatives! We don't know and we don't care. The point is that some
programs must be produced by an entity not owned or financially tied to the
network broadcasting the program over the public airwaves. That structure
is critical for a wide diversity of viewpoints to be available to the
public. Government should not intervene in the content of programming,
that's infringement of free expression and violates the First Amendment.
That's why we are opposed to the FCC's regulation of so-called "indecency."
However, the government should -- and often does -- promote a more vibrant
"marketplace of ideas" through rules that structure the media marketplace
to allow the widest diversity of viewpoints and voices as possible.
Examples are rules that say one company can't own too many TV stations, or
a newspaper and a TV station in the same market. These rules are PRO-First
Amendment, expanding the number of voices in the marketplace. The
distinction between regulation of content and structure is crucial. As
Chairman of the FCC, Powell should be aware of it. His comments equating
federal regulation of program content with structural rules promoting MORE,
not less, viewpoint diversity in media, demonstrate unfortunate confusion.
[SOURCE: Center for Creative Voices in Media]
http://creativevoices.typepad.com/blog/

QUICKLY
Fewer Noses Stuck in Books in America, Survey Finds
FEWER NOSES STUCK IN BOOKS IN AMERICA, SURVEY FINDS
The National Endowment for the Arts will release 2002 Census Bureau data
today which describes a precipitous downward trend in book consumption by
Americans. The survey, called "Reading at Risk," finds that fewer than half
of Americans over 18 now read novels, short stories, plays or poetry; that
the consumer pool for books of all kinds has diminished; and that the pace
at which the nation is losing readers, especially young readers, is
quickening. In addition it finds that the downward trend holds in virtually
all demographic areas. The study, with its stark depiction of how Americans
now entertain, inform and educate themselves, does seem likely to fuel
debate over issues like the teaching and encouragement of reading in
schools, the financing of literacy programs and the prevalence in American
life of television and the other electronic media that have been
increasingly stealing time from readers for a couple of generations at
least. It also raises questions about the role of literature in the
contemporary world.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bruce Weber]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/books/08READ.html
(requires registration)

Comments are due August 6 at the FCC on the recommendation by the
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service that would limit universal
service support to one line per customer. Replies are due Sept. 7.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily]
(Not available online)
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