TOP STORY
House Commerce Chair Tauzin Resigns
BROADCASTING
New DTV Transition Plan From Pubcasters
Challenge to Broadcast Flag
INTERNET FILE SHARING
U.S. Appeals Court Hears Key File-Sharing Case
QUICK HITS
TODAY: The Current State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace
Another Forum on Spectrum Management Reform
Call for Papers: The Impact of Regulatory Changes on Media Market
Competition and
Media Management
TOP STORY
HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHAIR TAUZIN RESIGNS
Rep Billy Tauzin (R-LA) has delivered a letter of resignation to House
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) effective Sunday, February 15. The
Congressman has been rumored for openings as head of the Motion Picture
Association of America and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA), but there has been no announcement of yet of future plans.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://wsj.com/)
(requires subscription)
See also:
Tauzin Quits Chairmanship, Will Retire From House
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10138-2004Feb3.html)
This Washington Post article adds that Rep Tauzin is likely to take the
PhRMA job soon and that Rep Joe Barton (R-TX) is likely to take over Rep
Tauzin's chairmanship.
Find out more about Rep Barton from Project Vote Smart
(http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H3831103&PHPSESSID=f5f783fd0830...)
BROADCASTING
NEW DTV TRANSITION PLAN FROM PUBCASTERS
Here's an interesting trade. Public broadcasters are working on a plan for
a hard date for returning analog TV spectrum to FCC in exchange for a long
sought after [think Lyndon Johnson administration] trust fund for public
television. The fund would support public television content as well as
subsidies for set-top convertor boxes for those who "simply can't afford
even cheap set-top boxes but also depend on over-the-air TV.". In addition,
pubcasters would also need carriage of all their digital signals on cable
and satellite TV systems. Public television stations control 21% of the
analog spectrum and the is interest in Congress in freeing that spectrum up
for wireless providers as well as for use by public safety community.
Public TV stations would save $36 million per year in electricity costs by
operating in digital only vs digital and analog.
The proposal is coming from the Association of Public Television Stations
(http://www.apts.org/) and a formal plan is expected by the end of the month.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Dinesh Kumar]
(Not available online)
CHALLENGE TO BROADCAST FLAG
Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Consumers Union (CU), Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF), Public Knowledge (PK), the American Library
Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the American
Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association and the
Special Libraries Association have joined together in a court challenge to
the FCC decision to institute a broadcast flag content protection regime.
CU and PK have also asked the FCC to reconsider the decision and will ask
for a court review if unsuccessful at the Commission. The groups fear the
broadcast flag, which prevents distribution of content over the Internet,
could impede on consumers' fair use of content.
For more on the issue, see The Broadcast Flag and the DTV Transition
(http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/policy-papers/pp-broadcast-flag-d...).
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Brigitte Greenberg]
(Not available online)
INTERNET FILE SHARING
U.S. APPEALS COURT HEARS KEY FILE-SHARING CASE
Lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America, National Music
Publishers' Association, and Motion Picture Association of America squared
off with representatives for file-sharing services Grokster and Morpheus
before a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Pasadena (CA) Tuesday. The entertainment industry wants the Internet
file-sharing sites shut down when they enable users to illegally exchange
copyrighted music or movies. Grokster and Morpheus counter by arguing that
their services should enjoy the same legal protection as the makers of
videocassette and DVD recorders which have substantial uses besides the
taping of copyrighted material and, the Supreme Court has ruled, those uses
outweigh the copying function.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Bob Tourtellotte]
(http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4276293)
See also File-sharing issue lands in court again
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/7870984.htm)
QUICK HITS
* The Current State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace
Today, Wednesday at 1:15 (eastern), a hearing of the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and the Internet.
Listen live at the URL below.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/02042004hearing1164/hearing...)
* The National Academy of Sciences will hold a forum on spectrum management
reform, sponsored by NTIA, on February 12-13 in the NAS Lecture Room,
Washington, D.C. For more information and how to register, please see the
agenda on the NAS website
(http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cstb/project_wireless_workshopagenda.pdf).
This forum is the third in a series of discussions to implement the
President's Spectrum Policy Initiative, which will result in
recommendations to the President for improving spectrum management policies
and procedures.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html)
* Call for Papers International Journal on Media Management
Special Issue on The Impact of Regulatory Changes on Media Market
Competition and Media Management
Guest Editor: Philip Napoli, Director, Donald McGannon Communication
Research Center, Fordham University, Assistant Professor of Communications
and Media Management, Graduate School of Business
The International Journal on Media Management is seeking manuscripts for a
special issue on the impact of regulatory changes on media market
competition and media management. Papers may address a wide range of
topics, including:
--Merger and acquisition activities and strategies resulting from
regulatory changes
--Public service obligations and their place in the contemporary regulatory
environment
--Shifts in the balance between government regulation and industry
self-regulation
--Regulatory responses to new media
--Competitive analyses of media markets
Deadline for submissions is May 15, 2004. For the full call for papers,
see (http://www.mediajournal.org/modules/issue/view.php?id=20)
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