DIGITAL DIVIDE
Today's the Big Day for BET.com (WP)
Fledgling PeoplePC Lands Deal with Ford and Delta (WSJ)
Brazil Is Test Case for Free Web Access (WSJ)
PRIVACY
Report Rings Alarm Bells About Privacy On The Internet (NYT)
Critics Press Legal Assault On Tracking Of Web Users (NYT)
BROADBAND
Battle Lines Drawn Over Cable (WP)
BROADCASTING
Do Viewers Even Want To Interact With TV? (NYT)
FCC Denies Sinclair's Request to Modify Digital TV Standard (NYT)
INTERNATIONAL
In Finland, a Glimpse of a Futuristic Web on Wireless Phones (WSJ)
Videotron Holds Tie-Up Talks, Boosting Expectations of Canadian
Consolidation (WSJ)
International Development Plan/African Initiative (FCC)
PUBLISHING
Virtual Publishing: From Arthur Clarke To Psoriasis Tales (NYT)
THIS WEEK IN DC
Briefing on NTIA Budget Set for Feb. 7 (NTIA)
The Forum Connection (CRF)
House Committee on Commerce Hearing Schedule (House)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
TODAY'S THE BIG DAY FOR BET.COM
Issue: Digital Divide
Long-awaited and much-delayed, BET.com launches today. The free Web site
will feature nine "channels" on such topics as health, money and news
headlines. BET and investors Microsoft, USA Networks, Liberty Media, and
News Corp. are spending $35 million to launch the site. BET Holdings owns
51% of the venture. BET Chairman Robert L. Johnson says he intends to spin
off the site in an initial public offering within the year. A study by
Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. reports that about 3.9 million
African Americans are online. Johnson hopes to encourage more African
Americans to come online by offering relevant content. "We want to become
the one-stop source for African Americans," Johnson said. Aside from having
to compete with established sites such as NetNoir.com and BlackVoices.com,
some question whether African Americans will search out "Afrocentric"
information on the Internet. The site launches without E-commerce
capability. Focus groups steered the site content away from shopping to the
current themes of urban life, professionals, women and family. After
establishing an audience, Johnson said that people have approached him about
doing a national black newspaper. "Now one exists," he said. "It's going to
revolutionize the way African Americans think about politics or mutual
funds."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (B10), AUTHOR: Shannon Henry]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/a19193-2000feb7.htm)
FLEDGLING PEOPLEPC LANDS DEAL
Issue: Access
PeoplePC, a tiny San Francisco startup that opened in September and has
fewer than 50 employees, signed major deals to supply home PCs and Internet
access to employees of Ford Motor and Delta Air Lines - a group of as many
as 420,000 potential customers. Until last week, PeoplePC had focused solely
on serving the consumer market. Delta and Ford chose PeoplePC to help them
give employees access to corporate Internet "portals" that promote direct
communication with the company. Ford and Delta will subsidize the PeoplePC
service, which normally goes for $25 a month, for their employees. The
challenge for the company now is to deliver on the huge supply of orders and
the associated services. Historically, free or subsidized computers
companies have encountered difficulties. Free-PC Inc., which promised to
give away machines to customers willing to live with permanent ad banners on
their screens -- agreed in November to be acquired by PC maker eMachines
Inc., of Irvine, Calif. EMachines quickly terminated its free-PC program,
but allowed the 25,000 existing FreePC customers to keep their machines; and
Seattle-based Microworkz.com Computer Corp., which once offered low-priced
PCs coupled with free Internet service, apparently closed its doors late
last year amid a rash of customer complaints and several lawsuits.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: D. Hamilton and M.
Brannigan]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB949875839274989346.htm)
BRAZIL IS TEST CASE FOR FREE WEB ACCESS
Issue: Internet Access
Brazil, Latin America's biggest Internet market, is becoming an important
testing ground for the commercial viability of offering free access to the
Web. Companies that offer no-cost connections figure they will compensate
for a lack of subscriber fees with ad revenues and/or transaction fees from
online sales. While less than 3% of Brazilians currently have Internet
access, new users are going online more quickly than in almost any other
country. Ever since a handful of Brazilian banks and Internet service
providers started offering no-cost Web connections to their customers,
Brazil's Internet-subscriber base has jumped by 50%. AOL, who began its
Brazilian service in November, is very interested in the outcome of the free
Web access question. "If the economics of free services become compelling
in any of the markets we are in, we could launch a free service using one of
our other brands at a fraction of the cost of everyone else," said Mike
Kelly, AOL's chief financial officer. AOL currently has no plans for
offering free Web access in Brazil.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A28), AUTHOR: Pamela Druckerman]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB949868620300987360.htm)
PRIVACY
REPORT RINGS ALARM BELLS ABOUT PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET
Issue: Privacy
A report last week that most health-related Web sites were not honoring
their promises to keep personal information about visitors private caught
government officials and privacy enforcement groups off guard.
California HealthCare Foundation, determined that all but three of 19 sites
surveyed were violating their own stated practices. The foundation concluded
that most of the problems stemmed from new technology that enables some
banner advertisers to pick up any personal information a customer enters on
the page where an ad is displayed. Privacy advocates are pointing to the
results as proof of their longtime assertions that self-regulation of online
privacy promoted by the Clinton administration is ineffective. "At the
moment, with the Clinton administration saying self-regulation is the way we
are going to go, that basically says, 'Do whatever you want or do as little
as you want,"' said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, a privacy
consulting group. "That's exactly the wrong message to send to companies
that have strong economic incentives to collect and use personal
information."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C10), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/07priv.htm)
CRITICS PRESS LEGAL ASSAULT ON TRACKING OF WEB USERS
Issue: Ecommerce/Privacy
The Electronic Privacy Information Center said last week that it was
preparing to file a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission about
DoubleClick, a company that tracks people's movements on the Internet. The
information it gathers enables the company to personalize the ads people see
when they visit a Web site of 1,500 companies that are part of DoubleClick's
advertiser network. Privacy concerns are increasing because DoubleClick's
new Abacus Alliance service has begun combining its online data with
information gleaned from consumers' offline purchases. "The question is, how
far can you take this?" Daniel MacKeigan, an analyst with the investment
firm Friedman Billings Ramsay. "Is this a new medium that has less of a
tolerance for tracking? A privacy cloud looms on the horizon, and
DoubleClick has to heed the warnings."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/07book.htm)
BROADBAND
BATTLE LINES DRAWN OVER CABLE
Issue: Broadband
Should cable television companies be forced to open up their high-speed
lines to all Internet service providers or should they be able to retain
exclusive control themselves? Many state legislatures are beginning to
grapple with this question. While cable companies say that opening their
lines to competition will hurt their ability to raise the money to lay the
cable to reach homes and businesses, open access advocates argue that it
will offer consumers more choices.
"Consumers benefit from an open marketplace and competition," said Maryland
delegate Cheryl C. Kaga, who is sponsoring legislation requiring that cable
systems provide access to all Internet providers. "Where we have a variety
of choices, there tends to be lower prices and better service." Laurence
Levitan, a representative of the Cable Telecommunications Association,
argued against the bill: "If open access is forced on [cable operators], it
basically slows down everything," said
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Daniel LeDuc and Craig Timberg]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/A18477-2000Feb6.html)
BROADCASTING
DO VIEWERS EVEN WANT TO INTERACT WITH TV?
Issue: Television
At a large conference at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York last week,
where several hundred industry executives shared their optimism for the
future of interactive television, there were many questions about what the
public really wants. "I do not think people will want to stop and buy
something in the middle of that entertainment programming," said James M.
Moroney, an executive with Belo Corp., owner of 16 television stations
nationwide. Since the early 1950s, companies have experimented and failed.
John Carey, a consultant, argued that the past failures of interactive T.V.
have been failures of marketing and not technology. "When you read that
consumers have rejected interactive television, it's simply not true," he
told the audience.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/07act.html)
FCC DENIES SINCLAIR'S REQUEST TO MODIFY DIGITAL TV STANDARD
Issue: DTV
By a 5-0 vote, the Federal Communications Commission decided on Friday to
deny a petition from the Sinclair Broadcast Group asking the commission to
modify the nation's digital television standard. Sinclair, which owns or
operates more television stations than any other company, began complaining
last summer that the digital standard, which was adopted by the government
in 1997,included transmission technology that left digital television
receivers incapable of receiving a transmission unless the receiving antenna
was in the direct line of sight of the transmitting antenna. Sinclair,
joined by 250 other television stations, filed a petition in October asking
the FCC to revise the standard so that stations could choose to use a
transmission technology that had shown in tests by Sinclair that it worked
better in many circumstances. The commission denied Sinclair's request on
Friday. In a letter to Sinclair, the commission said numerous studies had
shown that the current transmission standard was adequate. The commission
also said that shortcomings found in the first-generation digital receivers
now being sold would probably be remedied in future products.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/07dtv.html)
See Also
FCC Denies Sinclair Petition for Rulemaking on COFDM Standard
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2000/nret00
02.html)
INTERNATIONAL
IN FINLAND, A GLIMPSE OF A FUTURISTIC WEB ON WIRELESS PHONES
Issue: Wireless/International
With nearly three out of four people in Finland carrying a cellular phone,
Finland has gained the reputation of being the "Silicon Valley of the
wireless Web". Nokia, the cellular phone maker located in Finland, has come
out with a cellular phone model which uses WAP (Wireless Application
Protocol). WAP allows web content to beamed onto cellular phones. Finnish
startup companies are moving quickly to provide consumers with the ability
to participate in online auctions, bet on hockey games, or even buy sodas -
all through their cellular phone. And while the Finnish are excited about
being the having "first mover advantage" when it comes to wireless web
applications, they know that this will soon change. US based companies are
expected to swoop in and use their high-priced shares to buy up key Finnish
startups. "Phones are toys here in Finland. We are trying to make them
toys everywhere else, too."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Thomas Weber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB949874929989753644.htm)
VIDEOTRON HOLDS TIE-UP TALKS, BOOSTING EXPECTATIONS OF CANADIAN
CONSOLIDATION
Issue: Cable/International
Groupe Videotron, Quebec's dominant cable operator, announced their plan to
merge with a yet unnamed competitor thereby fueling expectations of
consolidation in Canada's cable industry. Canadian cable companies have a
substantial lead over US cable companies in providing high-speed cable
Internet services to their customers. About 462,000 Canadian homes have a
cable-Internet connection compared to the 1.35 million such homes in the US.
Yet, the US's population is about nine times that of Canada. "Canada is
further ahead primarily because the largest cable operators had much more
aggressively upgraded their cable networks", said Michael Harris of Kinetic
Strategies. Videotron is seeking to become a national
business-telecommunications operator. Any mergers between major Canadian
cable companies would have to be friendly since all are family controlled.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B20), AUTHOR: Mark Heinzl]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB949875972589081433.htm)
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN/AFRICAN INITIATIVE
Issue: International
Last summer Chairman Kennard traveled to Africa and he has signed one-year
work plans with South Africa, Ghana and Uganda. A report released last week
details the history of the initiative, the actual work plans signed with
those three countries and the three major components of the Development
Initiative for Africa:
1) Regional outreach to the telecommunications regulators of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) and the Telecommunications Regulators
Association of Southern Africa (TRASA), as well as to regulatory officials
from countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa(COMESA);
2) Bilateral work plans with Ghana, South Africa and Uganda, which provide
for technical assistance from the FCC as well as exchanges of information;
and 3) Future opportunities for cooperation and assistance to countries
seeking to establish independent regulatory bodies and open and competitive
markets. "Connecting the Globe: The Africa Initiative," as well
as other documents relating to the International Development Initiative, are
available online at the FCC's website, www.fcc.gov.
International Bureau contact: Patrick Boateng at (202) 418-2370
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/International/News_Releases/2000/nrin0004.html)
PUBLISHING/INTERNET
VIRTUAL PUBLISHING: FROM ARTHUR CLARKE TO PSORIASIS TALES
Issue: Publishing
An online computer bookstore turned digital publisher is at the vanguard of
a new electronic book market that entices writers with the editorial
equivalent of: Who Wants to Be an Author? The retailer, Fatbrain.com, has
sold 10,000 short (ideally less than 100 pages) electronic titles on its
Website since November including an essay by the noted science fiction
author, Arthur C. Clarke that sold for $2. Customers, though, are still
drawn to books about computers and business, with more than 50 percent of
sales in the professional category. The average price of the e-books sold is
about $3.47. Early on, the notion of virtual titles by virtually anybody
captured the imagination of venture capitalists even though some top
publishers scoffed. But lately there are signs emerging that the traditional
literary community is warming to the form; Time Warner Trade Publishing
wants to post chapters or excerpts from coming books on the Fatbrain site.
Some prominent authors, such as Clarke, are beginning to place short works
or out-of-print books on the site, which is already a literary refuge for
amateur writers yearning to share their oeuvres -- "Psoriasis: My
35-Year-Itch That Vanished" or "Did Russia Send Us AIDS?"
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Doreen Carvajal]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/07book.html
THIS WEEK IN DC
BRIEFING ON NTIA BUDGET SET FOR FEB. 7
Issue: NTIA
Gregory L. Rohde, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and
information and head of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) will hold a briefing Mon., Feb. 7, on the agency's
budget request for FY 2001. The briefing will take place in Room 4896 in the
Commerce Dept. immediately following the news conference by Secretary
William Daley of the Commerce Dept. budget. Rohde will discuss the budget
requests that include NTIA's "Closing the Digital Divide" initiatives, funds
for public broadcasting equipment, critical infrastructure protection and
spectrum management.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/budgetma20400.htm)
THE FORUM CONNECTION
A publication that covers democratic participation and equity issues in
telecommunications, broadcast, and information policy. Most recent issue
published 2/1/2000. Stories include: Privacy and DTV; FCC Votes to Legalize
Low-Power Radio; Groups to Help Communities Establish Micro-Radio Stations;
FCC Announces New EEO Rules; Federal Agencies not Adhering to FOIA Laws,
Report Says
[SOURCE: Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy]
(http://www.civilrightsforum.org/connection000201.html)
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE HEARING SCHEDULE
Issue: Legislation
The Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection has
scheduled the following hearings. This schedule is subject to change
without notice.
Wednesday, February 9, 2000 at 2:00 pm in 2322 Rayburn House Office
Building. The title of the hearing will be "The White House, the Networks,
and TV Censorship." Witnesses will be by invitation only.
Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 10:00 am in 2123 Rayburn House Office
Building. The title of the hearing will be "Video on the Internet:
iCraveTV.com and Other Recent Developments in Webcasting." Witnesses will
be by invitation only.
Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 10:00 am in 2322 Rayburn House Office
Building. The hearing will focus on the FCC's Low-power FM: A Review of
the FCC's Spectrum Management Responsibilities in addition to H.R. 3439, the
Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act." Witnesses will be by invitation only.
The audio of all Committee hearings are broadcast live via the Internet. You
will need the free Real Audio Player (real.com) in order to listen.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
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