BROADCASTING
Anti-LPFM Legislation Final (MAP)
Low Power FM Filing Window (FCC)
Mixed Signals (WP)
COMPETITION
Rules for AOL-Time Warner May Have Only a Narrow Impact (NYT)
Despite Competition, Regional Bells Still Rule Local Lines (USA)
INTERNET
Labor Unions Discover Web As Tool to Press for Change (WSJ)
BROADCASTING
ANTI-LPFM LEGISLATION FINAL
Issue: Low Power Radio
As of Friday evening December 15, it appears all but final that the
anti-LPFM language contained in a Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations
bill will pass both the House and Senate as part of the omnibus budget
bills. Under the legislation, the previously enforced interference rules
will go into effect, potentially limiting the number of low power stations
by 80%. Up-to-date information of the effects of this legislation and
pro-low power radio plans will be posted shortly on the Media Access
Project's Web site (http://www.mediaaccess.org/).
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/lpfm/index.html#antiLPFM)
LOW POWER FM FILING WINDOW
Issue: Low Power Radio
The Federal Communications Commission has announced an application filing
window for construction permits for Low Power FM (LPFM) stations in 2001
American Samoa, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Missouri, New York, Ohio,
South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The window will be open on
January 16, 2001 and close on January 22. This is the third of five
successive filing windows the Commission plans to hold for each group of
states and territories.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Public_Notices/FM_Windows/da002831.ht
ml)
MIXED SIGNALS
Issue: DTV
Two years after the first digital stations went on the air, only one
commercial network--CBS--regularly airs high-definition (HDTV) programming
during prime time. TV manufacturers say they have little incentive to the
expensive digital receivers because there isn't enough programming
available. Several years ago, the government gave the broadcasters valuable
rights to the airwaves they needed to speed the transition to digital. But
now, the slow adoption by broadcasters is now some prominent lawmakers now
say the government should never have given away the rights to the airwaves.
"It is one of the great rip-offs in American history. They used to rob
trains in the Old West, now we rob spectrum," said Senate Commerce Committee
Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.). "I think there is a general feeling that
this is not going well," said House Telecommunications Committee Chairman
W.J. "Billy"
Tauzin (R-La.), whose subcommittee oversees the Federal Communications
Commission, which is charged with supervising the digital transition. Both
McCain and Tauzin are planning hearings on digital television next year.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, 12/17(H01), AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13103-2000Dec15.html)
COMPETITION
RULES FOR AOL-TIME WARNER MAY HAVE ONLY A NARROW IMPACT
Issue: Merger
Despite the sweeping predictions of consumer benefits from the Federal Trade
Commission's ruling that will require a combined AOL/Time Warner to provide
rivals access to its cable systems, many things about the future of the
high-speed Internet business remain uncertain. While cable companies are not
generally required to sell competitors access to their systems, federal
regulators can extract "open access" as a concession in the context of a
merger-approval process. But last week's concessions by AOL and Time Warner
do not have some magical precedent-setting value that will somehow
automatically bring the rules to bear on the other big cable companies. The
AOL-Time Warner concessions are "clearly a step in the right direction, and
it is more than any other cable company has agreed to to date," said R.
Steven Davis, senior vice president for law and policy at Qwest
Communications International. "It takes away that argument that it is not
technically feasible for them to do this."
[SOURCE: New York Times (B1), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/18/technology/18AOLL.html
(requires registration)
DESPITE COMPETITION, REGIONAL BELLS STILL RULE LOCAL LINES
Issue: Telephony
Nearly five years after Congress ordered local phone monopolies to open
their markets to competition, fewer than 7% of customers nationwide receive
service from rival local carriers. "Competition is taking longer than
expected, but it is moving forward," says Ron Binz of the Competition Policy
Institute. So far, only two states -- New York and Texas -- have met the
1996 law's standard for deeming that a market is open to competition. The
long-distance phone companies say that the main hurdle to expanding consumer
choice is that the regional Bell companies, which own the lines into
people's homes, charge competitors too much for access to those lines. But
long distance companies are also finding that the local phone market is not
as lucrative as they hoped. Some say that true competition won't come until
competitors can leapfrog local phone networks with cable TV, satellite and
wireless connections.
[SOURCE: USAToday (13B), AUTHOR: Andrew Backover]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001218/2924558s.htm)
INTERNET
LABOR UNIONS DISCOVER WEB AS TOOL TO PRESS FOR CHANGE
Issue: Internet
Members of the Communications Workers of America have created a Web site
(www.attinsider.com) to voice their opposition to the company's plans to
break itself up into four parts. Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the
communications workers, says the union hopes the Web site will grab the
attention of people who are dissatisfied with AT&T's performance. "We'll
shortly be notifying our members about the site, and also informing
institutional shareholders and analysts in the hopes they'll take a look,"
he says. Web sites have become crucial in many union initiatives to
influence shareholders. Corporate executives say dealing with a Web site is
now a regular part of dealing with unions. "Time was, if you fought a union,
it meant contending with an old man carrying a sign in a pick-up truck,"
says Robert Boykin, chairman and chief executive of Boykin Lodging Co. "That
time is gone."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Aaron Elstein]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976811584750296941.htm)
(requires subscription)
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