FCC
NYT: All Too Soon, New F.C.C. Chief Finds Warm Welcome Is Cooling
Free Time/Campaign Finance Reform
B&C: Republicans punt on free-airtime block
B&C: Senators give Kennard grief over plans for free airtime
WP: In Calif. Primary, It's TV Time
NYT: Campaign Finance Charades
Television
B&C: FCC to spot-check kids TV commercials
B&C: "Seinfeld" raises bar for syndicators
Ownership
B&C: Kennard looks to restart minority push
Radio
WP: Ready to Launch a Global Radio Network
Long Distance
TelecomAM: Kennard To Send Hill A Roadmap On 14-point Checklist
TelecomAM: Local, Long Distance Carriers Split On MCI
Access Charge Petition
WSJ: SBC's Plan to Expand Long-Distance Service
Stumbles in Oklahoma
Internet
TelecomAM: Ebbers Says Worldcom Doesn't Expect to Give
Up Internet Backbone
TelecomAM: Rep. Cox and Local Officials Agree On Revised
Internet Tax Freedom Act
NYT: A Benign Declaration Treated as Revolutionary
NYT: Concerns Raised by Unregulated Drug Sales on Web
NYT: Business Ethics on the Web
WP: Checking Out the Internet on the Road
Privacy/Security
TelecomAM: Industry Says It Would 'Understand' Letting
FCC Arbitrate CALEA
** FCC **
Title: All Too Soon, New F.C.C. Chief Finds Warm Welcome Is Cooling
Source: New York Times (D1,D4)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/fcc-problems.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: FCC
Description: When William Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, was appointed to his position last fall, there was great optimism
that he would enable the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to be carried out in
an efficient and effective manner. But starting this week, a Senate
sub-committee is opening hearings on the FCC's handling of some of the Act's
key provisions. Chairmen Kennard admitted in an interview on Friday, "There
is an
increasing anxiety about the telecom act and what results it's producing."
But he also stated, "I think the anxiety in the marketplace means things are
happening." Scot Cleland, a communications-policy analyst in Washington for
Legg Mason Precursor Group, said, "The telecom act sets up the FCC as the
fall guy." Cleland added, "Now they are besieged...They are in a no-win
situation."
** Free Time/Campaign Finance Reform **
Title: Republicans punt on free-airtime block
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.21)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Free Time for Candidates
Description: The Clinton Administration won the latest round in the battle
over free air time for candidates. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman
Ted Stevens (R-AK) did not include a measure that would have prevented the
FCC from spending money to create or enforce a rule requiring free airtime
for politicians. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)
"remain vehemently opposed to an unelected agency mandating free TV time"
and plan on adding the restriction on the FCC to other legislation. Sen
Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) said, "The Senate has failed to adopt campaign
finance reform. Will we now try to stop other agencies of the government
from doing so?"
Title: Senators give Kennard grief over plans for free airtime
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.20)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Free Time for Candidates
Description: "You have a big enough headache with the transition to digital
television, and a big enough headache implementing the Telecommunications
Act, without wandering afar into freetime...You need to restrict yourself to
doing the job we give you," said Sen Ernest Hollings (D-SC) to FCC Chairman
William Kennard during a Senate committee hearing last week. Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) added, "I think that if
the FCC can't learn the power of the law and the construction of the law,
then we ought to get a new mechanism." A spokeswoman for Chairman Kennard
said, "We still plan to go ahead [with the inquiry] sometime this spring."
The FCC make take up the issue at its April 2 meeting.
Title: In Calif. Primary, It's TV Time
Source: Washington Post (A11)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/23/056l-032398-idx.html
Author: Ceci Connolly
Issue: Campaigns
Description: In California, two Democratic candidates, Rep. Jane Harman and
businessman Al Checchi, have promised to spend whatever it takes for a
"blockbuster" gubernatorial campaign. After about seven weeks in the race,
Rep. Harman is in the lead after buying $3 million of television commercials.
Mr. Checchi is 2 points behind after purchasing $14 million of commercials with
his own money. Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, will save most of his estimated $5
million budget for the few weeks before the June 2 primary. "I think it's
great [that] people can become wealthy in this country," Lt. Gov. Davis told
Democrats at a state convention. "But I know two things: First, your vote is
not for sale. And second, I offer the voters a wealth of public service
experience that no amount of money can buy."
Title: Campaign Finance Charades
Source: New York Times (A20)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/23mon1.html
Author: NYTimes Editorial Staff
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has scheduled a vote on
"sham legislation set up to look like reform," with no opportunity for
members to vote on the real reform. It appears clear that the Republican
leadership is dedicated to "thwarting" the majority that sees the "hypocrisy
of doing nothing after a year of denouncing the campaign excesses of 1996."
In an effort to repel Democrats, the Speaker has attached a "watered-down"
soft-money ban to an anti-labor provision. Newt Gingrich knows if he allowed
a clean vote on reform -- pushed into the House by Representatives
Christopher Shays (CT) and Marty Meehan (MA) -- it would win. So instead he
is making it impossible to "strip away' the anti-labor measure. "The union
provision, which would require members to approve the spending of their dues
for political purposes, commands support among Republicans eager to punish
labor for targeting their party in the last campaign. There is no comparable
proposal to allow shareholders to give approval of corporate spending on
politicians, most of whom happen to be Republicans." In a vote this week,
supporters of reform hope to have the Shays-Meehan bill separated from the
anti-labor provision. If the Democrats stand firm and around 15 Republicans
join them in voting against Mr. Gingrich's "anti-reform scheme," they should
be able to defeat the Speaker's "trick." "At least 40 Republicans have
endorsed reform in the past, and they should do so now."
** Television **
Title: FCC to spot-check kids TV commercials
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Children's Television
Description: In the wake of a report released earlier this month that found
that 28% of 265 television stations fail to comply with Federal
Communications Commission rules concerning the amount of advertising during
children's programming, the FCC plans random audits of stations around the
country. The rules limit commercial time to 10.5 minutes per hour on
weekdays and 12 minutes per hour on the weekends during children's shows.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), the author of the Children's Television Act of
1990, said last week, "The FCC's prompt response to my inquiry and Chairman
Kennard's interest in pursuing this problem vigorously with the broadcast
community are most welcome. Children are a uniquely vulnerable target
audience for advertisers."
Title: "Seinfeld" raises bar for syndicators
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.8)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Joe Schlosser
Issue: Television Economics
Description: Last week, Columbia TriStar Television Distribution sold
off-network rights to the second cycle of "Seinfeld" for a record $300,000
per week. "Let the floodgates open," said one media executive. "Now that the
Seinfeld deal has happened, there is a pent-up [group] of shows that now
rush out into the marketplace searching for those top dollars too." [See
also B&C p.10 "WNYW pays $300,000 for 'nothing'" by Joe Schlosser]
** Ownership **
Title: Kennard looks to restart minority push
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Minorities/Ownership
Description: Speaking at a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition meeting last week, FCC
Chairman Bill Kennard promised "to complete a proceeding to explore new
incentives to promote minority media ownership." Chairman Kennard is
interested in restoring the tax certificate program and tailoring it so that
it benefits only bona fide minority ventures. He is also interested in
establishing a low-power radio service "so that small businesses and
churches and community groups can use the airwaves to broadcast to their
communities." Broadcast industry leaders have already announced that they
oppose such a system.
** Radio **
Title: Ready to Launch a Global Radio Network
Source: Washington Post (Bus.Section-pgs5,6)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/23/014l-032398-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: International/Radio
Description: In September of this year, Noah Samara, founder of WorldSpace
Inc., plans to launch AfriStar, the first of three WorldSpace satellites to
go into orbit 22,300 miles above central Africa. The next two, AsiaStar and
AmeriStar, will go into orbit over Asia and the Americas next year. These
satellites will provide people living mostly in underdeveloped areas that
cannot currently pick up a radio station, access to 75 channels of
digital-quality music, news and other information from around the globe
through a $200 radio. Samara estimates that 300 million of these people can
and will pay the price of the radio, and he predicts the price will fall as
the service takes off. "My concern is not whether I can make this a
business," said Samara. "It's how to make it a phenomenon." Thomas Watts, a
satellite industry analyst for Merrill Lynch in New York, said "WorldSpace
serves a very large potential market for consumer products that cannot be
reached by any other advertising medium." And Leslie Taylor, a Washington
DC-based satellite industry consultant, said "I think that once he gets any
kind of significant penetration, even as low as 20,000 or 30,000 users, he's
going to start attracting a lot more interest among program suppliers."
Samara, who grew up in Ethiopia and Tanzania, has long been interested in
what it would take to help Africa raise out of what he called its state of
"dormancy." His conclusion, he said, was that "access to information is the
necessary condition for development." Samara's concerns go "beyond the
bottom line, he hopes that WorldSpace will help to plant the seeds of a
pan-African consciousness."
** Long Distance **
Title: Kennard To Send Hill A Roadmap On 14-point Checklist
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance/Competition
Description: After two weeks of frantic work, the FCC is ready to send
Congress 30 to 40 pages of documents that detail what Bell companies must do
to satisfy the Commission's 14-point competitive checklist for long distance
approval. Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Brownback
(R-KS) asked FCC Chairman Kennard earlier this month to provide Congress
with a more detailed explanation of what Bell companies must do to win FCC
approval to enter the market.
Title: Local, Long Distance Carriers Split On MCI Access Charge Petition
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: The giants of the local and long distance markets are at it
again, this time over an MCI petition to change the way the FCC reduces
access charges. GTE and the Bell companies attacked the filing as "moot,
premature, repetitive [and] frivolous." Meanwhile, long distance companies
said the FCC should prescribe access charge reductions because the local
competition that was supposed to drive those rates down "has not developed."
MCI's "emergency" petition filed last month asked the FCC to mandate the
amount of money that long distance carriers must pay local companies for
access to their networks, rather than allow markets to reduce them.
Title: SBC's Plan to Expand Long-Distance Service Stumbles in Oklahoma
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: A federal appeals court upheld the government's rejection of a
plan by SBC to offer long-distance telephone service in Oklahoma. The ruling
by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit deals a setback to several
regional Bell companies trying to expand into long distance markets. The FCC
last year rejected SBC's Oklahoma application, finding that the company
hadn't met its obligation under the 1996 Telecom Act to open its local
network to competitors. Since the rejections, SBC has continued applying for
permission to offer long distance in Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas while
renewing its Oklahoma application.
** Internet **
Title: Ebbers Says Worldcom Doesn't Expect to Give Up Internet Backbone
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Infrastructure/Mergers
Description: Worldcom doesn't expect to give up its Internet backbone
network or any other Internet services as a condition for winning Justice
Dept. approval for its merger with MCI, CEO Bernard Ebbers told Wall Street
analysts. He said he expects to hear from the DOJ "in a couple of weeks to
help the company understand "what the barometer is saying." Ebbers said
government concerns about local and long distance market issues appear to
have been eased by DOJ lawyers' meetings with Worldcom.
Title: Rep. Cox and Local Officials Agree On Revised Internet Tax Freedom Act
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Electronic Commerce/Internet Regulation
Description: Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) and state and local officials
including the National Governors Assoc. (NGA) have agreed on a revised
version of the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Rep Cox said the changes, which include
reducing a moratorium on new taxes on Internet access and "discriminatory"
taxation of online transactions to three years from six and grandfathering
some existing Internet taxes, will allow the bill to pass the House "with
overwhelming support" before Easter. Other changes include the creation of a
"Commission on Internet Commerce," composed of 29 representatives of state,
local and federal governments and business and consumer interests.
Title: A Benign Declaration Treated as Revolutionary
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/technology/23techcol.html
Author: Edward Rothstein
Issue: Internet
Description: A group of high-profile, youngish Internet advocates decided
that views of technology and the Internet had been skewed toward extremes.
On the one hand, the Internet is treated as the electronic frontier, the
hope of humankind, the harbinger of a coming utopia. On the other hand, this
high-technology nexus has seemed to be a home for pornography and perversion
populated by sexual predators, a fitting example of the evils of unfettered
technology. In response to these views, the dissidents wrote a manifesto
calling for "technorealism" and calling themselves technorealists. This
manifesto, at http://www.technorealism.org, rejects the "louder voices at the
extremes" in favor of a more balanced consensus, a "fertile middle ground
between technoutopianism and neo-Luddism."
Title: Concerns Raised by Unregulated Drug Sales on Web
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/articles/23pharmacy.html
Author: Stacy Lu
Issue: Internet Commerce/Health
Description: The unregulated atmosphere of the World Wide Web may be a boon
to the First Amendment, but the international medical community might argue
that freedom has its limits. The online promotion and sale of medicines and
dietary supplements have health and consumer groups scrambling for
regulation. International drug sales have never been simple, and the Web
further complicates the situation. A prescription drug in one country may be
a nutritional supplement in another, for example. Disclaimers and disclosure
info vary from country to country, as does sales licensing. Meanwhile, the
Web has increased the potential for medical fraud. Although difficult to
quantify -- no agency or organization tracks online drug sales -- much of
the trade is in experimental and unproven substances.
Title: Business Ethics on the Web
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/sites/23sites.html
Author: Sreenath Sreenivasan
Issue: Internet/Ethics
Description: The World Wide Web isn't exactly a haven for good business
ethics. Naturally, those who study business ethics worry about the Web.
"Every possible abuse of integrity and decency takes place on the Web," said
Laura Pincus Hartman, director of the Institute for Business and
Professional Ethics at DePaul Univ. in Chicago. Randy Pennington, an ethics
consultant based in Dallas, said there was "a sense that moral and ethical
values are not important" on the Web. But that does not surprise him. "There
is no standardization in technology on the Web, so why do we expect
standardization in behavior?" he said. The Netcheck Commerce Bureau is one
attempt at self-regulation. The agency maintains a list of companies
involved in electronic commerce. Visitors to Netcheck's site can register
consumer complaints about anything from unsolicited e-mail to copyright
disputes. The site's philosophy is that "public pressure is the only real
deterrent in this new frontier."
Title: Checking Out the Internet on the Road
Source: Washington Post (Bus.Section-pgs16,18)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/23/024l-032398-idx.html
Author: William Casey
Issue: Libraries/Access
Description: Many of the nation's 10,000 libraries have added the Internet
to their information offerings. After the author conducted an unscientific
sample by visiting more
than three dozen libraries in 14 states, he found that no two libraries
provide the same access or have the same policies when it comes to patrons
seeking "cyberspace access." He found that 80 percent of the libraries he
visited offered some kind of Internet access. But many have just recently
hooked up to the Internet and about a third only offered access on a single
computer terminal. Casey found that many libraries have a time limit of 30
minutes and require the user to first sign some type of document. Most of
these forms seek to "limit liability on the part of the library for your
use, restrict your online exploration to non- 'obscene' sites, or both."
Overall he found librarians to provided him with the "kind of treatment that
follows in the best tradition of a public library" and this area to be a
growth sector that is improving its resources weekly.
** Privacy/Security **
Title: Industry Says It Would 'Understand' Letting FCC Arbitrate CALEA
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Privacy/Security
Description: Because of "unreasonable" demands by the FBI, the telecom
industry "would understand" if Attorney General Janet Reno decides to let
the FCC arbitrate the dispute over what constitutes compliance with the
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The heads of the
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assoc., Personal Communications
Industry Assoc., Telecommunications Industry Assoc. and U.S. Telephone
Assoc. said they still are willing to participate in a 60-day pricing
exercise and "gladly accept" Reno's offer to further clarify the FBI's
position.
*********