Next week includes the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board meeting
with an opportunity for the public to offer suggestions and comments, a
Future of Media town meeting in Miami and another hearing on problems with
the E-rate. For these and other upcoming media policy events, see
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
MEDIA ADVOCACY
MediaChannel.org Pushes Debate Petition
Benton Wants Better Broadcast Info
GLAAD Finds More Gays on Reality TV, Cable Than on Broadcast
MEDIA & POLITICS
FCC Powell: Broadcasters Could Do More On US Election News
Political Ads Lift Some Media Companies, Let Down Others
Small Ads Win Big Uproar In New Political Media Game
Buying Time 2004
Rockefeller, Byrd Rail against Bush's Telecom Policies
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Children, The Digital Divide, and Federal Policy
TOP Funding Update
Barbed Wireless
San Diego, Phoenix and Detroit Lead Broadband Wired Cities,
According to Nielsen//NetRatings
BROADBAND/TELECOM
Word Games at the FCC
FCC's Failures Covered in Mud
FCC Broadband Report Demonstrates that Competition Promotes Deployment
Groups Cite Concern over "Huge Hole" in Review of Cingular-AT&T
Wireless Merger
Phone System's Weak Link
QUICKLY
Reducing the Time Interval for Number Porting Between Wireline and
Wireless Carriers
Spammer 'Bounty Hunters' Will Need Cash, FTC Says
Clear Channel Is Expanding in Spanish Radio
Jim Harper Joins Cato
MEDIA ADVOCACY
MEDIACHANNEL.ORG PUSHES DEBATE PETITION
In 2000, Fox decided not to air the first presidential debate in order to
show the premiere of Dark Angel while NBC allowed local affiliates to air
the baseball playoffs instead. Media For Democracy (MediaChannel.org) has
drafted an online petition to be sent to top executives at ABC, CBS, Fox,
and NBC asking them to commit to "comprehensive coverage" of the
presidential debates. The e-mailed petition comes a week after the group,
joined by the Public Interest, Public Airwaves Coalition [which includes
the Benton Foundation] and others, asked the networks for such a
commitment. This year, they say, "a failure to broadcast the debates in
full would sound the final breach of establishment news media's contract
with Americans." The group wants the networks to roadblock the debates,
meaning all show them live.
There's much more information at:
http://www.ourairwaves.org/press/release.php?ReleaseID=60
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA453827?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
BENTON WANTS BETTER BROADCAST INFO
The Benton Foundation is recommending that individuals and communities
petition the FCC to require broadcast stations to provide more information
in their public files and to make that information more user-friendly and
available online. "Thanks to food labeling requirements, we can track the
nutritional value of the foods we eat and ensure that we can get
nutritional information presented in distinctive, easy-to-read formats
using uniform definitions. In an age in which we spend more time consuming
TV than almost anything else," says the foundation, "shouldn't viewers have
the right to similar information?"
See Benton's new policy brief at:
http://www.benton.org/issues/broadcasters.pdf
http://www.benton.org/issues/broadcasters2.doc
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA453826?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
GLAAD FINDS MORE GAYS ON REALITY TV, CABLE THAN ON BROADCAST
Cable networks and the reality genre are doing great by gays and lesbians,
reports Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, but the number of gay
and lesbian characters in scripted programming on broadcast networks is at
it's lowest since GLAAD started tracking in 1996. "When you turn to cable
and reality TV you see us -- our lives, our relationships, our diversity,"
said GLAAD Executive Director Joan Garry. "But when you turn to network
comedies and dramas you're seeing portraits of an America where gay people
and families are nearly invisible. That's not the America we live in."
There's much more information on this at
http://www.glaad.org/media/release_detail.php?id=3719%20&PHPSESSID=88c9f...
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Christopher Lisotta]
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=6317
MEDIA & POLITICS
FCC POWELL: BROADCASTERS COULD DO MORE ON US ELECTION NEWS
US broadcasters could do more in terms of election coverage as part of
their public interest responsibilities, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said
Wednesday. He's "not threatening regulation," [Heaven forbid! Not in an
election year.] but there's a "public- interest expectation" of political
content that goes along with the benefit broadcasters receive from having
free spectrum. Are broadcasters doing enough? "We believe they could do a
bit more," Chairman Powell said, noting that broadcasters are "potentially
taking a pretty woeful step." However, he did note that around 90% of
Americans have access to a lot of coverage on the political campaign.
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: Brian Blackstone brian.blackstone( at )dowjones.com ]
http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=dji-0008...
POLITICAL ADS LIFT SOME MEDIA COMPANIES, LET DOWN OTHERS
Elections are expected to add as much as $1.5 billion to U.S. advertising
spending in 2004, but that does not mean an economic win to all media
outlets. The boon has been selective as campaigns pick and choose their
targets. President Bush and Sen. John Kerry both focused television
spending in at least 19 swing states early in the campaign, but that number
has narrowed in recent weeks. Hearst-Argyle Television, Belo and Gannett
have been best placed to benefit from the leadership battle for the White
House and Congress.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Michele Gershberg]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=6248074
SMALL ADS WIN BIG UPROAR IN NEW POLITICAL MEDIA GAME
Political-advocacy groups with shallow pockets are discovering what
commercial marketers have known for a long time: you don't need to spend
millions of dollars to reach millions of people. Thanks to the explosion of
cable news shows and their insatiable appetite for hot stories, political
ads that might have received scant attention years ago are mushrooming into
national stories. As a result, the groups are getting the kind of media
exposure most marketers only dream about. And contributions to the groups
have swelled as thousands of supporters got wind of its message.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR:Jeanne Cummings
jeanne.cummings( at )wsj.com and Joe Flint joe.flint( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109537429966820285,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
BUYING TIME 2004
During the 2004 election season the Brennan Center will release weekly,
real-time reports about television advertising in state Supreme court
elections. The reports to be released every Wednesday, from September 15
through November 10, will analyze campaign advertising by candidates,
political parties, and interest groups.
[SOURCE: Brennan Center for Justice]
http://www.brennancenter.org/presscenter/releases_2004/pressrelease_2004...
ROCKEFELLER, BYRD RAIL AGAINST BUSH'S TELECOM POLICIES
Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Robert Byrd (D-WV), both of whom helped
craft the 1996 Telecom Act, this week harshly criticized the Administration
for refusing to defend pro-competition regulations that, had they remained
in place, could have saved jobs at an AT&T service center in Charleston,
WV. The senators' rebuke of the Administration's actions on telecom may be
the opening salvo in what could become a heavy barrage against the
President's position on this and other telecom-related issues.
[SOURCE: TelecomWeb]
http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1095281722.htm
DIGITAL DIVIDE
CHILDREN, THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, AND FEDERAL POLICY
Important disparities in the quality of access to the Internet continue,
even though 96% of 8-18 year-old-students report ever having gone
online. The federal government's most recent large study in 2001 found
half (51.7%) of all children ages 3-17 with family incomes of $75,000 or
more had Internet access at home, while just 15% of those with incomes of
$20,000-$25,000 did. Likewise, new data released by Kaiser indicates that
school-aged children ages 8-18 with less-educated parents or who attend
school in lower-income communities were significantly less likely than
other children to use the Internet in a typical day or to have Internet
access from their homes. Among the key findings identified in Kaiser's new
report include: 1) In 2004, 80% of White children 8 and older have Internet
access at home, compared to 61% of African American children in this age
group. Similarly, 8 in 10 (82%) children whose parents have a college
education have home Net access, compared to 68% of those whose parents have
a high school education or less. 2) Four in 10 (39%) children 6 months to 6
years old from families with incomes of $75,000 a year or more have never
gone online, while 69% of children from families with incomes of less than
$20,000 a year have never gone online. 3) Among children 6 months to 6
years old, only 8% of children from homes with incomes of $75,000 a year or
more did not have a computer at home, compared to 40% of children from
homes with annual incomes between $20-29,000, and more than half (55%) of
those from families with incomes under $20,000 a year.
[SOURCE: Kaiser Family Foundation]
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia091604pkg.cfm
TOP FUNDING UPDATE
On September 15, 2004, shortly after its summer recess, the Senate
Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2005 Commerce, Justice,
State, the Judiciary (CJS) Appropriations bill. The bill currently includes
continued support for the TOP in fiscal year 2005, at the current 2004
level of $14.8 million. However, on June 23, 2004 the House Appropriations
Committee voted to eliminate TOP as requested by the Bush Administration.
The Senate Appropriations committee language states, "[f]or the last 2
fiscal years, the Administration has slated the Technology Opportunities
Program [TOP] for elimination. The reason for the elimination, according to
the Department, is that the program has fulfilled its mission. However,
there are great numbers of Americans that could benefit from the TOP
program. The Committee therefore recommends continued funding for this
program." This language represents a more vigorous level of support for TOP
than in years past, and a better level of understanding around the impact
of TOP's investments in underserved communities.
Since this past spring, CTCNet has been hard at work educating each member
of the full Senate Appropriations committee around the value and importance
of TOP, as well as the federal CTC program under the U.S. Department of
Education, and the Neighborhood Networks initiative under the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development. A copy of CTCNet's July 16,
2004 letter to the committee is available online at the URL below.
[SOURCE: CTCNet]
http://www.ctcnet.org/policy/ctc-top-nn_ctcnet-704.PDF
BARBED WIRELESS
[Commentary] WiMAX won't be free for the same reason cell phone service
isn't free. The high-powered, long-range WiMAX signal is reserved for big
wireless carriers like Nextel, Sprint, and BellSouth that have bought
exclusive FCC licenses. These mega-corporations paid hundreds of millions
of dollars for the rights to certain radio frequencies. They'll be looking
to make that money back and then some. Although philanthropists and others
may wish to offer free versions of WiMAX, their capabilities using
unlicensed spectrum will not be very good. The truth is that there will
soon be two options for wireless -- spotty coverage that's free or a strong
signal that could cost as much as your cell phone plan. You can argue that
the future of wireless is as much an ideological battle as a technological
one. But if corporations have better technology, any debate over whether
wireless should be a private profit center or a public resource will be
moot. But to serve large areas well, corporations will probably need to set
up local routers. That is, to stash low-powered WiMAX or Wi-Fi repeaters in
buildings and parks. Local governments, Boutin concludes, should focus
attention on wresting deals from the big telecom companies that allow local
volunteers to bring WiMAX to underserved areas.
[SOURCE: Slate.com, AUTHOR: Paul Boutin]
http://slate.msn.com/id/2106657/
SAN DIEGO, PHOENIX AND DETROIT LEAD BROADBAND WIRED CITIES, ACCORDING TO
NIELSEN//NETRATINGS
In August Nielsen//NetRatings found that 51% of the American online
population, or 64.1 million Web users, connect to the Internet via
broadband as compared to 60.6 million accessing the Internet through
narrowband. Tracking 35 local markets in the US, Nielsen//NetRatings found
that the cities of San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, New York and Sacramento
represented the top five wired local markets connected via broadband access
with penetration rates of 65% or higher. In comparison, Milwaukee, Salt
Lake City, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and
Columbus ranked as the local markets the least connected via broadband
with penetration rates under 40%.
[SOURCE: PRNewsWire]
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/0...
BROADBAND/TELECOM
WORD GAMES AT THE FCC
[Commentary] Is high-speed Internet "broadband" service, delivered via
cable, an information service (like CNN) or a telecommunications service
(like Verizon)? Or is it a combination of the two? And why does it matter?
FCC Chairman Michael Powell and the other majority commissioners apparently
believe that by relieving cable broadband service providers from the
burdens faced by telecommunications providers, they will be inspired to
make broadband telecommunications more available at lower costs to the
consumer. This is a laudable goal, but there is little evidence, historical
or empirical, to support this belief, particularly where cable is
concerned. Historically, cable deregulation has only brought us higher
cable prices, with prices rising far above the rate of inflation. If the
Supreme Court steps in to decide the information vs. telecommunications
service debate, it should be alert to the broader implications: If all
Internet service is classified as an information service, Universal Service
funds that support access for schools, libraries, health care centers, poor
people and rural areas will dry up. Such a result will not help us achieve
the goal Congress set out in the 1996 Telecommunications Act of timely and
reasonable access to advanced telecommunications services for all Americans.
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Mark Lloyd]
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=187130
FCC'S FAILURES COVERED IN MUD
[Commentary] Venditto is none too happy with the FCC's recent report on
broadband deployment in the US. In a pattern of decision-making that
deserves to be covered like the scandal it is, he writes, the FCC continues
to put the interests of lobbyists over consumers in setting regulations for
the nation's voice and data networks. FCC regulations are blocking
competition at the place where it's needed most: Local ISPs wanting to
offer DSL are at the mercy of the local phone companies who set
anti-competitive rates and delay access simply to eliminate small
competitors. The monopoly power that was supposed to have broken by both
federal court orders and federal law is still in force. It's far from a
free market. More troubling is that even in markets where broadband is
available, different anti-competitive forces loom. Many consumers receive
broadband from the local cable company. And though rates are reasonable in
this early adoption period, if history is any guide, we can expect the
cable companies to jack them up, just as they have done with cable
television. Without the competitive alternative of DSL, the United States
could end up losing momentum before it comes close to "universal adoption."
The FCC will change its policy only when consumers and voters recognize how
they're being shortchanged. No elected official would be able to defend the
current FCC direction if they were ever forced to answer for their policies.
[SOURCE: Internetnews.com, AUTHOR: Gus Venditto]
http://www.internetnews.com/commentary/article.php/3406731
FCC BROADBAND REPORT DEMONSTRATES THAT COMPETITION PROMOTES DEPLOYMENT
The FCC's recent Report to Congress shows that nationwide broadband
deployment has tripled since the FCC's last report in 2001. Jason Oxman,
General Counsel for the Association for Local Telecommunications Services
(ALTS) responded with the following:
"The FCC's latest broadband report shows that broadband deployment tripled
to more than 20 million lines in December 2003, fueled by competitive
deployment of
broadband services. In October 2003, two months before data collection in
this report ended, the FCC abruptly reversed the pro-competitive unbundling
policies that led to this explosion in broadband deployment over the last
two years. Thus, the data released today cover a period of time during
which the FCC mandated ubiquitous loop unbundling and line sharing, and
does not measure the devastating consequences of its reversal of those
policies. It is ironic that the FCC now touts the positive results of the
policies it chose to eliminate, given that ALTS member companies are the
reason that broadband deployment has exploded in the last several years.
This nation continues to lag in broadband deployment behind countries like
Japan, which have consistently maintained strong loop and line sharing
unbundling policies that promote deployment. Now that the Bell companies
are recapturing their monopolies, the next FCC report will almost certainly
reflect the deleterious results for this nation of the FCC's decision to
limit competition in the broadband marketplace."
[SOURCE: Association for Local Telecommunications Services]
http://206.161.82.210/altsbiz/webmodules/articles/ispviewer.asp?a=1194&z=41
GROUPS CITE CONCERN OVER "HUGE HOLE" IN REVIEW OF CINGULAR-AT&T WIRELESS MERGER
The Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union sent letters to the
FCC and Attorneys General in 10 states raising concerns about the proposed
merger of Cingular and AT&T Wireless. The groups have noticed that FCC
Chairman Michael Powell has cited competition from wireless as the main
source of consumer protection as wireline competition recedes, but the
Chief of the FCC's Wireless Bureau has said he does not know how relevant
it is. If these products are the good substitutes for local phone
connectivity that the Chairman's statement implies, the consumer groups
believe that a close look at local market data indicates that there are
many local markets in the Bell South and SBC service areas where this
merger would be unthinkable. In these markets, the merger represents a
union between the No. 1 and
No. 2 firms in a market that is already highly concentrated. In the
consumer groups' review of the top 50 markets, they find 32 that are in the
Bell South and SBC service territories. Although market shares may change
slightly over time, the groups find that in 18 of these the merger
represents a dramatic increase in concentration. The letter concludes:
"Approval of a merger between the number one and number two firms in a
market would be highly unusual, if not unprecedented. Approval of such a
merger where the resulting wireless carrier will be larger than all but one
of its remaining competitors combined, and will have the many advantages of
affiliation with the dominant incumbent wireline carrier seems unthinkable."
[SOURCE: Consumers Union]
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/001377.html...
PHONE SYSTEM'S WEAK LINK
Because of fiber optics and other new technologies BellSouth has added to
upgrade its networks over the past decade, the systems are, ironically,
more vulnerable to disasters. The key problem: Many phone networks that
used to rely on their own electricity now depend partly on commercial
power. That means that when the utility company's power lines go down, the
phones may go down, too.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109537424767920279,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
QUICKLY
REDUCING TIME INTERVAL FOR NUMBER PORTING BETWEEN WIRELINE AND WIRELESS
CARRIERS
The FCC released the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for this proceeding
adopted Sept 9.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-217A1.doc
SPAMMER 'BOUNTY HUNTERS' WILL NEED CASH, FTC SAYS
The U.S. government should be prepared to spend freely if it decides to
encourage "bounty hunters" to track down e-mail spammers, the Federal Trade
Commission announced on Thursday. Rewards of up to $250,000 will be needed
to encourage people to turn over friends or associates who send out
millions of deceptive e-mail pitches in violation of the law. And that cash
will have to come out of the federal budget, rather than settlements
collected from spammers. While millions of Internet users may be annoyed by
spam, only a handful of insiders are likely to have enough information to
form the basis of a case.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=6259142
Also see --
WP: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27220-2004Sep16.html
In a related story, see:
AOL Won't Use Microsoft Anti-Spam Standard
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=YRIVFP5BAZOXACRBAEKS...
CLEAR CHANNEL IS EXPANDING IN SPANISH RADIO
Clear Channel, which owns some 1,200 radio stations in the US, will convert
25 of them over the next 18 months into Spanish language formats. The
company wants a larger share of the advertising dollars aimed at Hispanic
listeners. While the company is expected to face stiff competition,
particularly in cities with established Spanish-language stations like New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago, it may be able to draw on its influence with
English-language advertisers to attract more marketing dollars.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeff Leeds]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/17/business/media/17radio.html
(requires registration)
See also
LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-clear17sep17,1,479941...
JIM HARPER JOINS CATO
Jim Harper as its new director of information policy studies at the Cato
Institute. Harper is the editor of the Web-based privacy policy think tank
Privacilla.org, and a former counsel to committees in both the U.S. House
and Senate. Harper will continue his research and writing on privacy and
promote free-market perspectives on similar information policy issues, such
as cyber-security, online consumer protection, commercial communications,
and credit reporting, as well as intellectual property, Internet
governance, new technologies, and many others. He will work closely with
Adam Thierer, Cato's director of telecommunications studies.
http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1095281452.htm
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Have a great weekend. We'll see you Monday.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------