OWNERSHIP
Report Finds Some Gains In Minority Broadcast Ownership (NTIA)
CONVERGENCE
CNN Plans to Lay Off 400 as Part of Revamping (NYT)
Channel and Web Surfing, With AOLTV (WSJ)
PRIVACY
Electronics Trade Group Backs Privacy Measures for the U.S. (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
REPORT FINDS SOME GAINS IN MINORITY BROADCAST OWNERSHIP
Issue: Broadcasting/Ownership
This week, the Department of Commerce released a report, entitled Changes,
Challenges, and Charting New Courses: Minority Commercial Broadcast
Ownership in the United States, that provides the latest data on minority
ownership, assesses the impact on minority ownership of the recent trends
in industry consolidation, and highlights the challenges facing minority
owners as they seek to maintain or expand their broadcast properties. The
report, produced by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA), found that 3.8% of full power
commercial radio and television stations are licensed to minorities, a 0.9%
increase over 1998. The report also found that while minority broadcasters
owned about 4 percent of commercial AM and FM stations, about 426 stations,
minorities owned less than 2 percent of commercial television stations
in the U.S. Gregory L. Rohde, assistant secretary of commerce and NTIA
administrator, said: "While minority broadcasters have made gains in
ownership of radio stations, the number of full power television stations
owned by minorities is at the lowest level since NTIA began issuing reports
in 1990. We must maintain our nation's traditional commitment to diversity
in broadcasting."
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2001/minreport11601.htm)
CONVERGENCE
CNN PLANS TO LAY OFF 400 AS PART OF REVAMPING
Issue: Jobs/Journalism
Yesterday, CNN announced that it would lay off about 400 people -
approximately 10 percent of its work force - as part of a reorganization
effort that increases focus on the news organization's Internet operations.
Journalist will now be required to produce reports that will be delivered
across platform: on television, the Internet and radio. The changes come
as no surprise following the merger of CNN's parent company Time/Warner with
Internet giant AOL. Also for the first time, all news-gathering operations
will be orchestrated by a central news desk. The network's top executives
were heralding the changes as a new beginning for CNN, which has lost market
share to new competitors like Fox News Channel and MSNBC. "In many ways, it
will be a new CNN for a new era," Tom Johnson, the CNN Group chairman, said
in an interview. "It will be a CNN which will have convergence of its
television assets and its Internet assets."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/technology/18CNN.html)
(requires registration)
CHANNEL AND WEB SURFING, WITH AOLTV
Issue: Convergence
America Online has recently given in to the desire to combine everyday
machines
into a single all-purpose gadget by creating an appliance that combines
television with the Internet, called AOTV. Like Microsoft's WebTV, it
delivers
a compromised but inexpensive version of the Internet to ordinary television
sets.
WebTV sales have been consistently lousy, and AOL's massive media marketing
muscle may give WebTV a run for its money. AOLTV has a feature that allows
customers to chat with fellow viewers, thus endowing the solitary act of
watching
television with the communal joy of watching movies in a theater. You and
your
cyberpals could play along with quiz shows, critique the stars' outfits on
awards
shows and triple the fun of shows like "Survivor," especially during
commercials.
If you already have an AOL account, adding AOLTV service lets your computer
and
television get online simultaneously.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Pogue]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/technology/18STAT.html)
(requires registration)
PRIVACY
ELECTRONICS TRADE GROUP BACKS PRIVACY MEASURES FOR THE U.S.
Issue: Privacy
The American Electronics Association, in a policy reversal that shows a
widening
rift in the technology industry, Thursday will release "principles" for
Congress
to follow in writing new Internet privacy rules. Worried by efforts in state
legislatures to write new privacy rules, the group will say for the first
time
that it supports federal privacy legislation so long as it supersedes state
laws
on Internet privacy. The AEA has long opposed federal privacy legislation,
instead
urging a voluntary industry self-regulation framework. But the group's state
lobbyists have come under increasing pressure in recent months from state
officials
who say their constituents are demanding action. "I don't think there's a
company
in this country that can tolerate 10 different state bills, much less 50
different
state bills," said John Palafoutas, AEA senior vice president for domestic
policy.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mitchel Benson and Glenn R. Simpson]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB979780462212710450.htm)
(requires subscription)
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