You can watch the FCC's open meeting today at
http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/ For other upcoming media policy events, see
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
ON THE FCC'S AGENDA
TiVo Is at Focus of TV Showdown
FCC May Tighten Joint Sales Rules
Rule that Lowered Broadband Prices may be Revived
FCC may put Cable, Net Phones under Wiretap Rule
IS TV FAILING DEMOCRACY?
The Conventional News Wisdom of Network Television
Reading the Script
FOX Aired Significantly Less of Dem Convention Speeches than other Cables
Politicians Find Cable TV Efficient Way to Target Voters
CABLE
Cable Trouble: Subscriber Growth Stalls As Satellite TV Soars
Study: Cable Giants to Flex VoIP Muscle
QUICKLY
Consumer is King of US Media
Minority Journalists Join Voices at Unity Convention
Web Addiction Gets Finnish Conscripts Out of Army
ON THE FCC'S AGENDA
TIVO IS AT FOCUS OF TV SHOWDOWN
The FCC is expected to issue a potentially far-reaching ruling today
affecting what television viewers can do with the programs they record.
TiVo has developed a way for customers to pipe recorded programs over the
Internet, but Hollywood doesn't like it. The studios and their allies
maintain that allowing remote access to programs would undermine free local
television broadcasts, the market for syndicated shows and other important
elements of their business models. Hollywood also fears that viewers with
high-capacity, Internet-connected recorders will have less appetite for DVD
box sets of popular TV series. The tussle began after the FCC required that
digital television equipment guard against the "indiscriminate
redistribution" of free TV shows via the Internet. Under this so-called
broadcast flag rule, issued last November, manufacturers of digital TVs and
recorders must install FCC-approved anti-piracy technologies on models sold
after July 1, 2005. Today's FCC decision will determine which of 13
approaches proposed by consumer-electronics and computer companies meet the
new mandate. "This is the test case," said Alan Davidson of the Center for
Democracy and Technology. "We're concerned about a precedent being set that
stops people from being able to do the new, cool things with television
that they're likely to do in an always-connected world."
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:Jon Healey]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tivo4aug04,1,5406499....
(requires registration)
FCC MAY TIGHTEN JOINT SALES RULES
The FCC said it has "tentatively concluded" that TV joint sales contracts
allow one station to have outsized influence over a small market's ad
prices, sale forces, and stations' right to reject advertising. Two
stations in the same market would be considered commonly owned when they
enter a joint sales agreement under a rule-tightening being considered by
the Commission and that means in markets with fewer than eight separately
owned stations, joint sales agreements could effectively be banned because
co-owned stations, or "duopolies," are forbidden in markets that small.
Under the typical joint sales agreement, a station owner authorizes a
broker to sell some or all of its ad time in return for a fee or cut of the
revenue. Last summer the FCC voted that radio joint sales agreements
between same market stations would be considered duopolies. The tighter
rule could be implemented within six months, after the a round of public
comment.
For more on MB Docket No. 04-256, see
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-173A1.doc
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR:Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA442306?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
RULE THAT LOWERED BROADBAND PRICES MAY BE REVIVED
Under an arrangement known as line-sharing, small broadband companies such
as Covad Communications have attracted about 300,000 residential customers
by leasing part of the regional Bells' voice lines for broadband at deep
discounts. The competition forced the Bells to cut their broadband prices
from about $50 a month to $40 a month a couple of years ago, but the FCC
last year voted to phase out line-sharing as part of a sweeping overhaul of
phone competition rules. Now FCC Chairman Michael Powell has sent a letter
to fellow Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein saying he
wants to resurrect line-sharing rules. Chairman Powell made the offer in an
effort to persuade the FCC's Democrats to sign on to his broader plan to
phase out other rules that promote local phone competition. But some FCC
officials question Powell's offer, saying the interim rules cannot be
changed to revive line-sharing since all five commissioners have voted.
Instead, they say, the FCC would have to launch a separate proceeding.
While Powell does not want to force the Bells to share their networks at
sharp discounts, he backs line-sharing, partly because it requires the
rivals to provide their own equipment as well.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040804/6423000s.htm
FCC MAY PUT CABLE, NET PHONES UNDER WIRETAP RULE
The FCC plans to propose a ruling today that would require Internet-based
phone and broadband services to design their networks so they can be easily
wiretapped. The move is designed to resolve the Justice Department's fear
that FCC plans to deregulate broadband could keep the FBI from monitoring
the communications of criminals and terrorists. The Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) requires "telecommunications"
carriers to make their networks wiretap-friendly. But the law exempts
"information services.'' And in 2002 the FCC ruled that cable's broadband
offerings are information services. It also plans to put phone-company DSL
services in that category. The FCC is also expected to rule that
walkie-talkie services, must comply with CALEA wiretap rules.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040804/6423001s.htm
IS TV FAILING DEMOCRACY?
THE CONVENTIONAL NEWS WISDOM OF NETWORK TELEVISION
The same broadcast networks that eagerly devote endless prime-time hours to
vacuous sitcoms and unreal "reality shows" couldn't spare a total of more
than a few hours last week for live coverage of the Democratic National
Convention. With three months to go till Election Day, the limitations of
media coverage are painfully apparent. From now until the final frenzied
days of coast-to-coast campaigning, Americans will be getting their most
vivid impressions of the presidential race via commercial TV networks that
operate to maximize profits for investors -- and minimize public-interest
broadcasting in the process.
[SOURCE: Media Monitors Network, AUTHOR: Norman Solomon]
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/8668/
READING THE SCRIPT
Commercial broadcast TV covered only one hour a night of the Democratic
national Convention, but many people watched the convention on cable news
channels - and what they saw was shaped by a script portraying Democrats as
angry Bush-haters who disdain the military. Commentators worked hard to
spin scenes that didn't fit the script. Some simply saw what they wanted to
see. But the real power of a script is the way it can retroactively change
the story about what happened. Even though there was general agreement that
Sen Kerry delivered a very good speech last week, don't be surprised if
some... commentators begin describing the ineffective speech they expected
(and hoped) to see, not the one they actually saw. Krugman concludes,
"Luckily, in this age of the Internet it's possible to bypass the filter.
At c-span.org, you can find transcripts and videos of all the speeches. I'd
urge everyone to watch Mr. Kerry and others for yourself, and make your own
judgment."
[SOURCE: New York Times 8/3, AUTHOR: Paul Krugman]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/opinion/03krug.html
(requires registration)
FOX AIRED SIGNIFICANTLY LESS OF DEM CONVENTION SPEECHES THAN OTHER CABLES
How much coverage of the convention speakers did cable networks actually
provide? See the URL below.
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America]
http://mediamatters.org/items/200408020002
POLITICIANS FIND CABLE EFFECTIVE WAY TO TARGET VOTERS
Politicians, like many advertisers, long have been frustrated with the
scattershot nature of television advertising, in which a message might
reach hundreds of people who care about it and thousands of people who
don't. But cable's ability to reach niche markets allows candidates to go
after soccer moms watching Lifetime or Nascar dads watching TNT. And mew
technology is making it increasingly easy for advertisers to buy targeted
ads. Satellite TV, by contrast, doesn't offer such buys.
And don't expect a break in political advertising this month. Yesterday, as
President Bush rolled out a second set of image-enhancing commercials, two
Democratic groups countered, saying they planned to flood airwaves with ads
touting Democrat John Kerry and criticizing the White House for its
handling of Iraq and the economy. The ads reflect both the ferocity of the
presidential contest and the unexpected financial strength of the Democrats.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Cynthia H. Cho cynthia.cho( at )wsj.com
and Julia Angwin julia.angwin( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109157243309382102,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
See also:
Hoping for Break In Political Ads? Don't Bet on It
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jeanne Cummings
jeanne.cummings( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109157341735382127,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
CABLE
CABLE TROUBLE: SUBSCRIBER GROWTH STALLS AS SATELLITE TV SOARS
The cable industry has reached a turning point: For the first time since it
was born in the 1950s, the number of households subscribing to cable is
declining. Satellite TV now has about 25% of the pay TV market and
subscribership continues to grow. Satellite's success partly reflects the
appeal of its offerings, especially to price-conscious households, and the
better quality signal delivered to the home. Satellite also has overcome
what used to be its greatest drawback: a lack of local channels, including
such desirable programs as the local news.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109157158395582087,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
STUDY: CABLE GIANTS TO FLEX VOIP MUSCLE
Today, 66% of the Internet telephone service subscribers are with
specialist companies such Vonage, 8x8 and Galaxy Internet. But these hosted
providers don't have any control over that VoIP traffic, as they don't own
the networks that carry it. To remedy this, they have started working
directly with cable companies. For example, Vonage is collaborating with
six small cable providers, and Net2Phone only sets up VoIP services through
partnerships with broadband providers. These alternative voice providers
will see strong growth rates in the next few years, the study said.
However, this boom will eventually decline as people are given the choice
of signing up for VoIP service from a cable company or other primary-line
operator.
(Also: According to the Yankee Group, subscriptions to broadband services
are poised to overtake narrowband sign-ups by 2006.)
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Dinesh Sharma]
http://news.com.com/Study%3A+Cable+giants+to+flex+VoIP+muscle/2100-7352_...
QUICKLY
CONSUMER IS KING OF US MEDIA
Consumer spending last year overtook advertising as the primary source of
revenue for the US media industry, reflecting the growing popularity of
pay-television, DVDs and the Internet. Veronis Suhler Stevenson published a
report that consumer spending on media last year rose 6.5% to $178.4
billion, surpassing advertising, which grew by 3.2% to $175.8 billion. VSS
says the figures signal a willingness by US consumers to pay for
information and entertainment that matches their interests rather than
relying on advertising-supported media designed to appeal to a broader
audience. James Rutherfurd, executive vice-president and managing director
of VSS, said: "Consumers are voting with their pocketbooks. One of the
things they seem to want to do is avoid or minimize advertising."
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Peter Thal Larsen]
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b3ab2da6-e3fa-11d8-9f08-00000e2511c8.html
MINORITY JOURNALISTS JOIN VOICES AT UNITY CONVENTION
Seven thousand people have preregistered for the five-day Unity conference
in Washington, DC "to advocate for newsroom diversity and better news
coverage of our communities with one persuasive voice." Unity is made up of
members of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists
Association and the Native American Journalists Association. Minority
journalists say they lack representation in newsrooms. Although minorities
represented more than 30 percent of the U.S. population in the 2000 census,
they made up 12.5 percent of the workforce in the nation's newsrooms in
2003, according to a report. The percentage was 9.9 among supervisors.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Darryl Fears]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37759-2004Aug3.html
(requires registration)
WEB ADDICTION GETS FINISH CONSCRIPTS OUT OF ARMY
There's a new way to avoid military service in Finland: claim you are
addicted to the Internet. "For people who play (Internet) games all night
and don't have any friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army
is a very big shock," said Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military
conscription unit.
[SOURCE: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=Y3NI32O2VDF0ACRBAELC...
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Thanks for all the help we received today from MEDIACHANNEL.ORG - NEWS FOR
THE MEDIA SAVVY
http://www.mediachannel.org
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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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