BROADCASTING
Markup Session: LPFM/Rural Television (House)
Coalition Calls for FCC Rules on Educational Obligations,
Advertising Safeguards, in Digital Television (CME)
NONPROFITS/PHILANTROPY
A Political Voice, Without the Strings (NYT)
Foundation Giving Is At $23 Billion High (NYT)
EDUCATION
Is Anybody Not Out for E-Billions? Josie True, for One (NYT)
Citing a Crisis, Bush Proposes Literacy Effort (NYT)
BROADBAND
Georgia City Putting Entire Community Online (NYT)
Cox Will Consider Open Cable Lines For Different ISP's (WSJ)
Lawmakers Mull Rural Web Service (SJM)
Video Network Coming To Net (SJM)
INTERNET
Japan is Bringing Miniaturization to the Internet (WSJ)
U.S. Will Give Web Patents More Scrutiny (WSJ)
An Internet Race Nets Landlords Some Rich Perks (WSJ)
Indian Couples Discover Love at First Site (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
SBC's Long-Distance Bid in Doubt (WP)
Qualcomm, Motorola End Cell-Phone Patent Suits (WSJ)
E-COMMERCE
E-Commerce: A Special Section (NYT)
ANTITRUST
Judge in Microsoft Case Delays a Verdict as Mediation Intensifies
(NYT)
BROADCASTING
MARKUP SESSION: LPFM/RURAL TELEVISION
Issue: Legislation
The House Commerce Committee will meet in open markup session at 2:30 p.m.
today Wednesday, March 29, 2000, and subsequent days if necessary, in 2123
Rayburn House Office Building, to consider the following measures:
1. H.R. 3615, Rural Local Broadcast Signal Act, as amended;
2. H.R. 3439, Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 1999
Additional legislation may be noticed for this markup in conformity with
House Rules.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
See Also:
SUPPORT OF LOW POWER RADIO
Issue: Radio
The National Association of Broadcasters has been making misguided and
misleading claims about interference that low power radio will cause.
Congress is currently considering legislation that would end the FCC's new
low power radio service. This bill, entitled the "Radio Preservation Act of
1999," would reverse the FCC's decision to establish a low power radio
service and prevent the FCC from considering the issue again in the future.
A mark-up of this legislation is scheduled in the House Commerce Committee
on Tuesday, March 28. Find out more at the URL below.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/lpfm/urgactn.html)
LOW POWER FM APPLICANT'S GUIDE
Direct link to new 7 page applicant's guide for low power radio station.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/prd/lpfm/lpfmguide.pdf)
COALITION CALLS FOR FCC RULES ON EDUCATIONAL OBLIGATIONS, ADVERTISING
SAFEGUARDS, IN DIGITAL TELEVISION
Issue: Digital Television
A coalition of child advocacy, health, and education groups called on the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today to develop rules designed to
ensure that digital broadcasters serve the needs of children. The Center for
Media Education (CME), the National PTA, the National Education Association
(NEA), Peggy Charren (founder of Action for Children's Television), and six
other organizations, filed formal comments with the FCC calling for a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on public interest obligations for digital
broadcasters. The groups asked the Commission to develop clear, quantifiable
guidelines on how digital TV (DTV) broadcasters can meet the educational and
informational needs of children, as well as new rules on digital
advertising, marketing, and data collection directed at children.
Specifically, CME's comments proposed that digital broadcasters use their
digital capacity to serve children's educational and informational needs in
a variety of ways, including: 1) Airing additional "core" educational and
informational (E/I) programming. 2) Providing broadband or datacasting
services to local schools, libraries or community centers that serve
children. 3) Supporting the production of children's educational programming
by local public stations or other noncommercial program producers. 4)
Develop children's advertising safeguards for digital television.
The full comments submitted to the FCC are available in PDF format at
(http://www.cme.org/press/000327_comments.pdf)
[SOURCE: Center For Media Education]
(http://www.cme.org/press/000327pr.html)
NONPROFITS/PHILANTHROPY
A POLITICAL VOICE, WITHOUT THE STRINGS
Issue: Nonprofits
A loophole in IRS code allows some groups to spend unlimited amounts on
political activities -- including advertising -- without any disclosure, as
long as they do not expressly advocate voting for a candidate. The provision
was written over 25 years ago to protect the income of political parties
from taxation. Recent IRS interpretation and court rulings have widened the
scope of the provision, however, allowing nonprofit political organizations
to avoid donor disclosure rules and contribution limits of federal election
law. "The new Section 527 organizations are a campaign vehicle now ready for
mass production," Frances R. Hill, a professor of law at the University of
Miami, wrote in a recent issue of Tax Notes, a publication for taxation
specialists. The 1996 election was marked by concerns and scandals over the
unregulated contributions known as soft money, she noted. "The 2000 federal
election may be equally important in campaign finance history for the
flowering of the new Section 527 organizations," she said. Representative
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) is preparing legislation to regulate Section 527
groups, requiring, at a minimum, disclosure of contributors and
expenditures. "The problem is, our political system is being polluted with
substantial amounts of secret contributions and secret expenditures used to
attack candidates," Rep Doggett said.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Broder & Bonner]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/032900irs-527-donate.html)
FOUNDATION GIVING IS AT $23 BILLION HIGH
Issue: Philanthropy
With growing endowments and new money from wealthy individuals and
corporations, the nation's foundations set a record by giving away an
estimated $22.8 billion in grants in 1999, according to a study to be
released today by the Foundation Center of New York. Giving by every type of
foundation has increased. There has been a noticeable increase in large
scale and long-term giving. The number of grants of $5 million or more has
been climbing sharply. The tendency to give larger grants, often to large
charities with national agendas, gives some cause for concern. "It can be
counter to what people see as strategic grant making," said Sara Engelhardt
of the Foundation Center. Foundations may "look for more of the sure bets,"
established charities, rather than fostering experiments or creativity by
financing small nonprofit organizations.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A16), AUTHOR: Reed Abelson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/philantropist-boom.html)
EDUCATION
IS ANYBODY NOT OUT FOR E-BILLIONS? JOSIE TRUE, FOR ONE
Issue: Digital Divide
Meet Josie True, the cartoon Chinese-American girl who is the heroine of an
online game.(www.buffalo.edu/scripts/newnews/index.cgi?article=theadventu)
Josie time-travels, hunting for her missing teacher, encountering along the
way little-known historical heroines like Bessie Coleman, the first
African-American to earn an international pilot's license. Market
potential? Huge. Profit margin? Irrelevant. Mary Flanagan, an assistant
professor of media studies at the University of Buffalo, who is developing
the game is concerned about the lack of educational software aimed at girls,
particularly minority girls. Ms. Flanagan is worried about the digital
gender gap: girls still take fewer advanced computer-science classes than
boys and are less like to entertain career paths in engineering, according
to a 1998 report by the American Association of University Women. Part of
the reason, the report says, is that boys' familiarity with computer games
translates into a level of comfort with computers. The game should be
finished by the end of this year. For schools and girls without Web access,
Ms. Flanagan intends to produce CD-ROM's. The Josie True initiative is one
among several efforts to produce credible, noncommercial content for the
Internet. In public libraries in Newark, Harlem and Melbourne, Australia,
children are using www.kahootz.com.au to create and publish animated stories
and inventions online. "It's all about bringing underrepresented groups
online," said Justine Cassell, a Media Lab professor who was one of the
program's organizers and is a co-editor of the book "From Barbie to Mortal
Kombat: Gender and Computer Games."
[Source: New York Times, H14 AUTHOR: Andrea Adelson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/technology/29adel.html)
CITING A CRISIS, BUSH PROPOSES LITERACY EFFORT
Issue: Education
Republican presidential candidate, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas today
proposed a five-year, $5 billion national literacy program. The program
would provide grants to states to test reading skill of kindergarten and
first grade students, make tutoring available to poor readers and to train
teachers. "There is nothing more fundamental than teaching our children how
to read," Mr. Bush said in a speech in Reston, Va. "Too many of our children
cannot read. In the highest-poverty schools -- I want you to hear this
statistic -- in the highest-poverty schools in America, 68 percent of fourth
graders could not read at a basic level in 1998." The Bush plan was quickly
dismissed by aides to Vice President Al Gore. While Mr. Bush has introduced
several education proposals that seem more Democratic than Republican in
nature, none of these reaches near the amount of the $5 billion he spoke of
today. That sum in turn is dwarfed by the $115 billion that Gore has
proposed in education initiatives over a ten year period. Bush has shaped
his education proposals around the states' abilities to bring out the most
effective, local programs. He has urged too that Head Start, the
early-childhood development program, be primarily a literacy program.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Clifford Levy]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/032900wh-gop-bush.html)
BROADBAND
GEORGIA CITY PUTTING ENTIRE COMMUNITY ONLINE
Issue: Broadband
Last week, La Grange, GA., a small city 60 miles southwest of Atlanta,
announced a plan to capitalize on fiber-optic cable the town laid a decade
ago by wiring every household, school, government office and retail store.
This would make La Grange the largest fully-wired city in the country. By
combining the old fiber-optic cable with coaxial cable from Charter
Communications, the city's network would provide Internet service at
broadband speeds. Households and businesses would receive free installation,
cable modems and free Internet service for at least the first year. Homes
without computers receive a set-top Internet access device for their
televisions. Besides providing the TV Internet-access devices for the
households without PCs, the city plans to send technicians into homes to
train people unfamiliar with the Internet. WorldGate Communications, which
specializes in interactive television, will provide the Internet access.
Jeff Lukken, the city's mayor says one motivation for the "La Grange
Internet TV Initiative" was maintaining the city's role as regional center
for several Fortune 500 companies. Lukken also said the network should
attract and keep big employers, let teachers communicate more easily with
parents, enable more students to use the Internet at home and help local
retailers compete on the Internet. The network and equipment will cost the
city roughly $300,000. Most of the cost are associated with wiring currently
unwired homes.
[SOURCE: The New York Times (3/27/00), AUTHOR: Laurie J. Flynn]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/articles/27town.html)
COX WILL CONSIDER OPEN CABLE LINES FOR DIFFERENT ISPS
Issue: Broadband
Following on the heels of Comcast's announcement, Cox Communications
announced that it will consider opening its cable lines to different ISP
providers after its exclusive contract with Excite( at )Home expires in 2002.
AT&T, America Online and Comcast have already signed agreements in principle
supporting open access. Open access proponents continue to press
Congress and regulators for a government-mandated policy, arguing that
government intervention is necessary to ensure that all ISPs get equal
access to cable's fast-speed pipes. As part of its announcement, Cox
acknowledged that one challenge to any open access deal is how to
accommodate ISPs or users seeking to stream video, a process that could clog
up the cable company's network.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A15), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen (kathy.chen( at )wsj.com)]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954288889217246796.htm)
LAWMAKERS MULL RURAL WEB SERVICE
Issue: Broadband
Unless advanced broadband services are provided to all American communities
"we will have a digital divide," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) at Tuesday's
Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on rural broadband deployment. Sen.
Dorgan then introduced a proposal to set aside low interest loans for rural
broadband construction that was modeled after 1930s laws used to facilitate
the deployment of electric services to rural communities. The Senate hearing
provided a stump for senators to introduce a wide variety of tax credits,
low-interest loans and regulatory relief.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/367422l.htm)
VIDEO NETWORK COMING TO NET
Issue: Broadband
A group of telecommunications and broadcasting companies are creating a
video network for the Internet, promising to deliver cinema-quality pictures
to office computers and, eventually, the home. The new venture, GeoVideo
Networks, will use fiber-optic lines to transmit video without the quality
problems that plague typical Internet broadcasts. Video images don't travel
well over the Internet because of the amount of data needed to produce
smooth, full-screen images. GeoVideo hopes to solve those problems by
providing fiber-optics connection from the source of the video all the way
to the recipient. Currently, fiber lines don't generally reach single-family
homes. Consumers' first taste of the network could come in a movie theaters.
Company officials are talking to movie studios about using the network to
transmit high-definition films directly to screens.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jon Healey]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/geovid032900.htm)
INTERNET
JAPAN IS BRINGING MINIATURIZATION TO THE INTERNET
Issue: Internet/InfoTech
Japan's booming cell-phone market is enticing Japanese content providers to
tweak their Web sites so they can be beamed directly to cell phones. Nippon
Telegraph & Telephone said it has five million i-mode users (i-mode is
the service that connects a handset to the Internet), which makes it
the world's largest mobile-Internet service. Users of the service access
minisites that focus on sports scores, weather forecasts, banking, concert
tickets, train timetables, recipes and horoscopes. "They're making the
Internet accessible to people who don't have an interest in PCs, or the
budget or space in their homes," says Tim Clark, president of the
Tokyo-based consultancy TKAI Inc. Here in the U.S., Sprint Corp. is
expanding its Wireless Web Service to offer subscribers access to Yahoo,
Amazon and CNN over their cell phones.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A17), AUTHOR: Robert Guth]
(http://interactive.wsj.com)
U.S. WILL GIVE WEB PATENTS MORE SCRUTINY
Issue: Intellectual Property
The U.S. Patent and Trademark office is expected today to unveil an overhaul
of the way it examines applications and awards patents for many online
practices. The patent office has come under criticism for granting broad
patents on basic Web techniques, such as Amazon.com's patent on the
"one-click" ordering process and Priceline.com's patent on its practice of
having shoppers propose the price at which they are willing to purchase
merchandise. Q. Todd Dickinson, commissioner of the patent office, said he
plans to add several steps to improve the review process for applications
for computerized "business method" patents. One new step would be that
patent officers will have to search online databases to check that an idea
is truly innovative. Mr. Dickinson is trying to create a comprehensive
database of innovations. He is also planning to invite technology leaders to
a round-table discussion this summer and to set up regular meetings between
the patent office and industry. Currently though, the patent office is
having to address more immediate issues, such as the concern that the
government has accepted patents that were too general, and given protection
to technology ideas that weren't new or exclusive.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Anna Wilde Mathews]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954286078412266261.htm)
AN INTERNET RACE NETS LANDLORDS SOME RICH PERKS
Issue: Infrastructure
The race to wire office buildings with fiber-optic cable to provide
high-speed access to tenants is moving quickly, and the winners seem to be
the landlords. Companies such as eLink Communications Inc. are willing to
wire buildings for free, share revenues from selling internet access to the
tenants, and even offer stock warrants which allow real estate companies to
buy stock in the ISP who wired their building at a low rate. Since most real
estate holding companies are privately held, the warrants generally go
straight to the landlord. This can mean huge profits to the owners. One
company involved in wiring buildings, Allied Riser of Dallas, has a stock
market value of $2.3 billion. Building owners say that tenants are under no
obligation to go with the company who wired the building, even though the
landlords stand to make money from tenants using that company. "There is
total choice," Adam Hochfelder whose Max Capital Management Corp. is the
third-largest owner of office buildings in New York.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Barbara Martinez]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954285585571975889.htm)
SEE ALSO: FCC INDICATES IT HAS CONCERNS ON SBC FILING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B7), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954298962577208771.htm)
INDIAN COUPLES DISCOVER LOVE AT FIRST SITE
Issue: Lifestyles!
Four months ago, Sourabh Singha's father posted an ad on Indian Web sites
that reads: "Parents, belonging to affluent business family based in New
Delhi, seek alliance for their son, BS Computer Science from U.S. and
working in San Francisco." Twenty-eight years ago, says the elder Mr.
Singhal, his sisters lined up prospects for him. As he sees it, this is "the
same system superimposed on the Web." The Web, long accused of destroying
traditional culture world-wide, is helping to maintain traditional Indian
marriages, it seems. Despite the fact that only around 2 million Indians
have Internet access, about 40 matrimonial sites have sprung up, and new
ones keep appearing. About half the ads on the Web are placed by members of
India's 20 million strong overseas community. Rather than supplant the
matchmakers necessary to arranged marriages, the Web has actually extended
their range. Matchmaker Falguni Mehta has been online since India got
Internet service in late 1995. The bureau places ads on the Web for its
clients, and serves as a facilitator once interest is expressed by a
particular party.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B13B), AUTHOR: Miriam Jordan]
(http://interactive.wsj.com)
TELEPHONY
SBC'S LONG-DISTANCE BID IN DOUBT
Issue: Long Distance
SBC Communications, the country's largest local telephone company, will
likely have its bid to enter the long distance market in Texas rejected by
the FCC. The bid, made possible by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which
gave regional Bell companies the opportunity to enter the lucrative market,
provided that they opened their own markets to competition. SBC had hoped to
follow Bell Atlantic in qualifying to offer long distance, but the
Department of Justice, argued that SBC does not reliably provide access to
its local loop, and thus should not be allowed to enter the long distance
market. The Justice Department's opinion seems to have rung true to the FCC,
in whom rests the final decision. The rejection, if it comes will hurt SBC's
plans to offer a full array of telecommunications services, including
wireless and high-speed Internet access along with local and long-distance
phone services.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post (E2), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34872-2000Mar28.html)
QUALCOMM, MOTOROLA END CELL-PHONE PATENT SUITS
Issue: Wireless
Qualcomm and Motorola have agreed to dismiss all claims against each other
in a series of patent-infringement lawsuits. The agreement will end a long
and complicated legal battle and open the door to a closer relationship
between the two companies. Three years ago, Motorola claimed that Qualcomm's
digital "Q" phone was strikingly similar to the design of a Motorola
cellular phone called the StarTac. Seeking to disprove that Qualcomm's
claims, Motorola filed the first lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 1997.
Since then, they leveled a total of seven claims and counterclaims against
each other. "The settlement will put the two companies in a much better
environment going forward," said Motorola spokesman Scott Wyman, adding that
they "hope to use the settlement as a springboard to broaden the
relationship."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Khanh Tran]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954261372404354857.htm)
E-COMMERCE
E-COMMERCE: A SPECIAL SECTION
Issue: E-Commerce
Forty pages of pure e-commerce stories -- don't call me 'til lunch time, you
know what I'm doing. You may want to check out: 1) You May Be Young, You May
Be Rich, But My Lobbyist Can Beat Up Yours by Jeri Clausing
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/technology/29clau.html)
and 2) Charities See Web's Potential, But Are Finding It Hard to Afford by
Reed Abelson
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/technology/29abel.html)
in which Benton's Tony Wilhelm shockingly says, "Most nonprofits are small,
and most small organizations are not networked." [OK, he probably said more
than that, but there wasn't enough ink/space left]
[SOURCE: New York Times (Section E)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/technology)
See Also:
More E-Commerce Courses
In the last 18 months or so, there has been an explosion of university-level
efforts to give students training in the ins and outs of electronic
commerce.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels (mendels( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/cyber/education/29education.html)
ANTITRUST
JUDGE IN MICROSOFT CASE DELAYS A VERDICT AS MEDIATION INTENSIFIES
Issue: Antitrust
As USA Today coverage predicted yesterday, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
delayed his decision in the Microsoft antitrust trial, due yesterday, as a
court-appointed mediator tries to settle the case by next Wednesday.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/articles/29soft.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c)Benton Foundation 2000. Redistribution of this email publication -- both
internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy and Practice (CPP)
(www.benton.org/cpphome.html) Communications-related Headline
Service is posted Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights
of news articles summarized by staff at the Benton Foundation. They
describe articles of interest to the work of the Foundation -- primarily
those covering long term trends and developments in communications,
technology, journalism, public service media, regulation and philanthropy.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone does
not represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by
Kevin Taglang (kevint( at )benton.org), Rachel Anderson (rachel( at )benton.org),
Jamal Le Blanc (jamal( at )benton.org), and Nancy Gillis (nancy( at )benton.org) -- we
welcome your comments.
The Benton Foundation works to realize the social benefits made possible
by the public interest use of communications. Bridging the worlds of
philanthropy, public policy, and community action, Benton seeks to shape
the emerging communications environment and to demonstrate the value of
communications for solving social problems. Through demonstration
projects, media production and publishing, research, conferences, and
grantmaking, Benton probes relationships between the public, corporate,
and nonprofit sectors to address the critical questions for democracy in
the information age. Other projects at Benton include:
Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org)
Open Studio: The Arts Online (www.openstudio.org/)
Destination Democracy (www.destinationdemocracy.org/)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org/)