DIGITAL DIVIDE
Funds For Bridging Divide Are Drying Up (SFC)
Women In Tech More Likely To See Gender As Obstacle (SJM)
TELEVISION
Local TV Fears the Networks' Power (NYT)
Digital Television Presentation from Open Meeting (FCC)
Sony Unit and Accenture Are Creating Consulting Venture for Media
Concerns (WSJ)
BROADBAND
The Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001(House)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
FUNDS FOR BRIDGING DIVIDE ARE DRYING UP
Issue: Digital Divide
Between the new Republican administration in Washington and the slumping
economy, digital divide programs are worried that their government and
corporate funding will dry up. Perhaps most worrisome is
the Commerce Department's proposal to cut the Technology Opportunities
Program, which has financed technology programs across the country, by 65
percent, from $42.5 million to $15 million. While most digital divide
initiatives say they haven't seen the big companies pulling back on giving
yet, Joint Venture Silicon Valley recently scraped its own digital divide
project because "corporate interest was not strong enough to fund the $30
million effort that was our goal over the next five years," said Josh
Holcomb, Joint Venture's communications director.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Carrie Kirby]
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/2
3/BU224027.DTL&type=tech_article)
WOMEN IN TECH MORE LIKELY TO SEE GENDER AS OBSTACLE
Issue: Digital Divide
Although a majority of the Silicon Valley women surveyed in a new study said
they don't see gender as a significant barrier to career advancement, women
who work in technology fields are more likely than others to cite gender as
a professional handicap, according to a study released today. The survey,
conducted by the Collaborative Economics in Palo Alto and the Community
Foundation Silicon Valley, found that 41 percent said they need to "fit into
a masculine workplace" to advance, compared with 23 percent of women in
other fields. Although women say they sometimes encounter people who assume
women aren't as good as men at technical jobs, many say one of the main
barriers can be isolation. "The reality is the majority of the people you
work with are going to be men, so you need to develop a level of trust
there,'' said Darlene J.S.-Solomon, director of the Life Science
Technologies Laboratory at Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Margaret Steen]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/depth/women042301a.htm)
TELEVISION
LOCAL TV FEARS THE NETWORKS' POWER
Issue: Television
Regulatory changes, increased competition, technological advances and
consolidation of power by the networks and big station owners, have
resulted in growing tension between the television networks and their
affiliates. The affiliates are increasingly concern about their future as
they see their profits being eroded by reductions in the commercial time the
networks leave available to them to sell local advertising and as the
networks eliminate compensation fees they have traditionally paid to the
stations that carry their programming. Just last week, the Republican-led
Federal Communications Commission gave the major networks a victory,
repealing a rule that had prevented ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC from owning
smaller networks. And the networks hope the FCC will also soon end federal
rules that prevent any network from owning stations whose total audience
exceeds 35 percent of the country's population.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
(requires registration)
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/23/business/23NETS.html)
DIGITAL TELEVISION PRESENTATION FROM OPEN MEETING
Issue: DTV
Federal Communication Commission Mass Media Bureau Chief gave a presentation
on the status of the transition from analog to digital television (DTV)
broadcasting, and the various actions and proceedings associated with the
transition at the FCC's Open Meeting on Thursday, April 19. The presentation
is available online in pdf format.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/dtv_presentation.pdf)
SONY UNIT AND ACCENTURE ARE CREATING CONSULTING VENTURE FOR MEDIA CONCERNS
Issue: DTV
Accenture and Sony Electronics have announced that they are forming a
management-consulting joint venture, Concadia, for the media industry.
Concadia will seek to help television broadcasters and movie makers convert
to digital technologies. Officials said they expect strong demand for
Concadia's services, in part because federal law requires television
broadcasters to begin using digital signals by 2006, though analysts say the
industry could miss that deadline
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Theo Francis]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB987973327591714155.htm)
(requires subscription)
BROADBAND
THE INTERNET FREEDOM AND BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ACT OF 2001
Issue: Broadband
The Committee on Energy and Commerce has scheduled a hearing on "The
Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001" for Wednesday, April
25, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://www.house.gov/commerce/schedule.htm)
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