POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Delegates Heading Into Cyberspace (NYT)
Surfing Online and on the Air, and Getting an Invigorating Buzz
(NYT)
Lieberman Grilled As L.A. Greets Delegates (WP)
Media: Network Convention Coverage in 2004 (NYT)
TELEVISION
Murdoch Deal Could Revamp New York TV (NYT)
INTERNET
Directv Stays Step Ahead Of Cable (USA)
The Medium Gets The Message (NYT)
A Space Detour for Streaming Internet Traffic (NYT)
New Economy: Internet in Japan is Riding a Wireless Wave (NYT)
Alliance to Send Video-on-Demand on Web (NYT)
Put down your pencils Fla. high school students become USA's
first online class (USA)
PRIVACY
Sound Waves Could Help Ease Consumer Fraud Over the Web (WSJ)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
U.N. Court Rules In Favor Of Telia On Domain Names (WSJ)
JOBS
Some Progress in Phone Strike, But Agreement Proves Elusive (NYT)
TELEPHONE
FCC Releases: Statistics of Communications Common Carriers (FCC)
INTERNATIONAL
Speech: The Africa Development Initiative: One Year
and Counting (FCC)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
DELEGATES HEADING INTO CYBERSPACE
Issue: Political Discourse
The Democratic Party is making a big show of having the most plugged-in
national convention in history. "We've basically wired the entire city of
Los Angeles," said Naz Nageer, director of technology for the Democratic
National Convention Committee. "It's our 'e-mersion' coverage. We're on the
frontier of something big; we are in the space of the future. We've got
technological diversity here." Delegates will be using computers, Palm
Pilots, digital cameras, wireless beepers and all kinds of other high-tech
gadgets to stay in touch. "It's mainly a demonstration," said Adam Clayton
Powell III, vice president of technology for the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit
foundation. "It becomes a showcase of technology and a way to make the party
look very 21st century. It means we won't have pictures of delegates sitting
in their seats reading the newspapers. The party would rather have them
looking at their Palm Pilots." And the technology will help connect the
party to the delegates: "All this technology is not so much to solicit
opinions of delegates as it is to tell them what to do and what to say,"
said Marion Just, research director at the Joan Shorenstein Center at
Harvard University. "This certainly will help delegates get the message of
the day -- or of the hour -- and provides an opportunity for the convention
to speak with one voice to the media."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A15), AUTHOR: Leslie Wayne]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/081400wh-dem-wired.html)
SURFING ONLINE AND ON THE AIR, AND GETTING AN INVIGORATING BUZZ
Issue: Political Discourse
A quick look at political coverage going into the Democratic convention.
Lyman writes: "the truffle hounds of the networks, cable channels and World
Wide Web sites appeared more invigorated today than they did two weeks ago
on the eve of the Republican gathering in Philadelphia." See what they are
digging up at the URL below.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A15), AUTHOR: Rick Lyman]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/081400wh-dem-surf.html)
LIEBERMAN GRILLED AS L.A. GREETS DELEGATES
Issue: Political Discourse/Media & Society
As President Clinton raised $10 million at a fundraising brunch on Barbra
Streisand's Malibu estate and delegates attended welcoming parties on the
back lots of studios, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman tried to reach out
to Hollywood by assuring the industry that he would not seek laws enforcing
his views about sex and violence in the media. "I continue to believe,
though I love the movies and the entertainment media, that too much of what
comes out is too full of violence and sex and incivility and it is bad for
our children," Lieberman said on CBS's "Face the Nation." He added, however,
that he has "never really talked about censorship," and has always urged the
entertainment industry to police itself to avoid regulation.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Mike Allen]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20807-2000Aug13.html)
MEDIA: NETWORK CONVENTION COVERAGE IN 2004
Issue: Political Discourse
"Prime time is a different landscape than it was a decade ago," said Al
Ortiz, executive producer of the "CBS Evening News." "I can't imagine that
four years from now that the networks are going to want to spend millions of
dollars to come to these places and do the same thing. They said this four
years ago, and yet it's a big story that we did cut back on a little bit,
and I think that in four years, there will be a further reduction."
Although, CNN, the Fox News Channel and C-Span might be there for
gavel-to-gavel coverage, Marks suggests people watch the broadcast network
coverage of the Democratic convention -- it may be the last we see of it. In
2004, Ortiz predicts, coverage will be reduced to the acceptance speeches of
the candidates. The parties have considered scaling back the conventions to
a day or two -- the networks may make that decision for them. Andrew Lack,
the president of NBC News, said the networks have merely been responding to
changes in the nature of the conventions and the political process. "The
broadcasting platform serves more as a public service, when the nominee,
say, makes that acceptance speech," he said. "But we don't have much of an
obligation to go through the party's celebration. On the cable platform, you
have a different situation: the 24-hour format is geared toward covering the
news of the day. And they cover the story, no matter what."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C9), AUTHOR: Peter Marks]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/081400cnn-media.html)
TELEVISION
MURDOCH DEAL COULD REVAMP NEW YORK TV
Issue: Television/Ownership
Media analysts and network executives are watching what develops after
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp purchased 10 TV stations from Cris-Craft
Industries for $3.5 billion. News Corp will now have two stations in the two
largest TV markets -- New York and Los Angeles. The UPN (soon to be
Paramount network, owned by Viacom) stations in the two largest markets will
now be owned by a company that owns a rival network. Will Viacom drop
Paramount? Will News Corp receive another newspaper/TV station
cross-ownership waiver in New York? How could Viacom and/or News Corp
program two TV stations in the same market? Michael J. Wolf, who heads the
media department at Booz Allen & Hamilton, said: "There are cross-promotions
that can take place, similar to the way that companies are able to drive
viewers from one cable network to another. The same thing can work in local
television markets." Two stations in the same city can also achieve great
economies of scale, Mr. Wolf said, by combining news operations and
advertising sales staffs. "This would let News Corp. get a bigger piece of
an advertiser's budget," Mr. Wolf said. And it could open up possibilities
in sports, he added, by allowing the News Corporation to place a team's
games on two channels. But News Corp is also now over the national reach
limit for one company and we may see some station swapping: exchanging
stations to set up dualopolies in the largest cities. Stay tuned.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Carter & Fabrikant]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/081400murdoch-media.html)
INTERNET
DIRECTV STAYS STEP AHEAD OF CABLE
Issue: Satellite
Over the next few months, satellites will take the lead in offering
interactive digital TV services and two-way high-speed Internet connections
across the nation. While cable operators work out the kinks in their digital
and two-way services, DirecTV, one of nation's two satellite providers, is
hopping to take advantage of the opportunity to be first in offering
consumers interactive TV and high-speed Internet connections coast to coast.
Many cable companies have begun to transmit digitally, a process that
requires a system upgrade and a new decoder box, and soon plan to offer
two-way services -- including interactive TV, high-speed Internet and phone
connections. But the satellite industry hopes to beat them to the punch.
"Their pipe, where they have it, is a little more robust," say Michael
Smith, CEO of Hughes Electronics, DirecTV's parent company. "But our
advantage is economic. They have to spend billions to catch up to where we
are. We only have to spend a few hundred million to upgrade features"
nationwide. Starting this fall, DirecTV -- in concert with sister company
DirecPC -- will transmit Juno Online's Internet service at 400
kilobits-per-second to subscribers who buy a special 30-inch elliptical
dish. While the service will be much faster than today's conventional 56
kbps and will allow users to wirelessly transmit data so they don't have to
tie up a telephone line, it's still far slower than cable modems or phone
digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
[SOURCE: USAToday (1B), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000814/2546262s.htm)
THE MEDIUM GETS THE MESSAGE
Issue:Old vs New Media
America Online, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN, large Internet portal sites,
dominate Web traffic. But why don't the Internet offerings of the major TV
networks? They have the most experience in drawing large audiences, they
account for two-thirds of the seven hours each day that an average
households spends watching TV and they have an arsenal of other advantages:
lots of money, libraries of programming and the ability to promote their Web
sites with unlimited amounts of advertising on television, which is still
the most persuasive medium. What went wrong? The networks were not good at
keeping visitors after convincing them to visit their Web sites -- the sites
lacked depth and sophistication of features. "The mistake made over and over
again by traditional media companies is that they dabble in new media rather
than doing something strategic to integrate with their core assets," said
Tom Rogers, chief executive of Primedia and former head of NBC's cable
operation and much of its Internet activities. "The game is over, and the
major media companies didn't win it," said Peter Chernin, News Corp.'s
president. "We didn't win. Disney didn't win. AOL and Yahoo did. So we're
going to the next game, which is broadband, and that's wide open."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Saul Hansel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/14net.html)
A SPACE DETOUR FOR STREAMING INTERNET TRAFFIC
Issue: Infrastructure
Delivering streaming audio over satellites is one promising technique to
avoid the terrestrial degradation that can ruin a Net Radio stream. The
satellite method involves sending the stream up to a satellite, hopping over
most of the jam ups on the ground and landing the music stream at a network
hub closer to the listener. For example, a stream is sent from Tulsa,
Oklahoma to a satellite. The satellite then feeds the stream back to
terrestrial antennas which will convert the signal back into an Internet
protocol. The converted signal is then distributed through traditional ISP
over conventional cables and telephones to PCs. "We don't care if it's
delivered by satellite, fiber or carrier pigeon; we care about cost," said
Nicholas Butterworth, president and chief executive of the MTVi Group, MTV's
Internet unit. MTVi is also using ground-based distribution services from
companies like Akamai Technologies and Digital Island to improve the
reception of its Internet music and video programs. While satellites have
been used for years by overseas ISPs to connect to the US backbone, use by
domestic ISPs for domestic traffic is a new business model for the Internet
- a model to date that faces both economic and technical challenges. "The
Internet was not designed to do what we're asking it to do -- to distribute
something that looks like TV or sounds like a CD," said Peter B. Desnoes,
iBeam's chief executive. "The way to solve it is to go around the Internet
itself," Desnoes said. "We have built a very complex private network that
includes satellite elements that sends content out to the edge." Bear,
Stearns forecasts a $48 billion market for streaming media by 2010, up from
$1.3 billion today.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Theresa Foley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/14bird.html)
NEW ECONOMY: INTERNET IN JAPAN IS RIDING A WIRELESS WAVE
Issue: Wireless
An illustration of the difference between the Internet in Japan and in the
US. Hiroaki Kobayashi is the founder of founder of Tokyo Metallic which
provides high-speed, or broadband, Internet access lines. Tokyo Metallic is
trying to jumpstart DSL in Japan, but unlike the US, where DSL deployment
and subscribership is at nearly 1 million, there are only 1,000 DSL
customers in Japan. The high numbers in the US are motivated partially by
the competition of the regional bell with their local start-up competitors,
CLEC's and partially by business models that have preferenced physical
hookups over wireless options. In Japan, on the other hand, Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone, Tokyo Metallic's main competition, has a competing strategy
for wiring Japan with high-speed fiber optic cables -- but will not do so
until it recovers its earlier investment in ISDN technology. The final and
most formidable obstacle for Tokyo Metallic is the preference for wireless
over physical hookups in Japan. There are between 20-27 million Internet
users in Japan. Of that number, nearly half are connecting to the Internet
wirelessly. Of these wireless customers, 7.5 million are using a service
offered by NTT DoCoMo, NTT's wireless division. For nearly two of three
i-mode users, this wireless link is their only method of access to the
Internet. With a second generation wireless standard on the way, it may be
that a wired link to the Internet will become irrelevant in modern Japan.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/14neco.html)
ALLIANCE TO SEND VIDEO-ON-DEMAND ON WEB
Issue: Alliance/Internet
Intertainer and Akamai Technologies will announce today an alliance to
deliver video-on-demand to the computers of consumers with high-speed
Internet connections. The service is currently available in two markets and
will be broadly available by the end of the year, the companies said.
Intertainer's library includes the licensing rights to entertainment
programming from more than 60 media companies, including DreamWorks SKG,
Sony Music, Warner Bros. and Columbia TriStar Television. The material will
not be stored on the user's computer, but instead will be streamed through
the Web. Last month Enron, the Houston-based utility and energy giant,
announced that it too had entered an agreement with Blockbuster to deliver
movies on demand into homes as a digitized video stream. Analyst believe
that while Blockbuster holds brand advantage, Intertainer is the only player
to have introduced a working service. "Blockbuster has all the distribution,
sales and brand you could want, but no service," said Julani Zeribi, an
analyst with Current Analysis. "At the end of the day, their announcement
was, 'We intend to do this, provided everything comes together.' Intertainer
already has a service, and Akamai can do this, right here, right now."
Akamai's service speeds delivery of World Wide Web pages and streaming media
by moving digital content to servers spread around the globe, thus bypassing
bottlenecks in the broad Internet.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Lawrence Fisher]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/14akam.html)
PUT DOWN YOUR PENCILS; FLA. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BECOME USA'S FIRST ONLINE
CLASS
Issue: EdTech
Forty-five Florida high school students will be part of the fist American
class ever that will combine the worlds of online academics and the
real-world social setting of a traditional high school. When the Daniel
Jenkins Academy's online project opened Thursday morning, all the students
had
already met their teachers, either via e-mail or phone. The 3-year-old
Florida High School (FHS), a Web-based school that acts as a subcontractor,
providing virtual academics and online teachers, has focused on serving
individual students throughout Florida who want an online alternative to
traditional public high school academics. This year, more than 5,000
students will take some or all of their high school courses by logging on to
FHS. The Jenkins students will have the help of two facilitators, who will
be in the classroom to provide assistants with academics, time management
and technical issues. Florida public schools are among the nation's most
overcrowded, a major concern for Principal Sue Braiman. Her strategy is to
house only students here and give them access to classrooms, teachers and
curricular tools in a virtual environment.
[SOURCE: USAToday (1D), AUTHOR: Karen Thomas]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000814/2546238s.htm)
PRIVACY
SOUND WAVES COULD HELP EASE CONSUMER FRAUD OVER THE WEB
Issue: Privacy
An Israeli start-up has created a gadget that uses sound waves to address
some of the biggest issues of e-commerce: fraud, privacy and convenience.
When held and pointed at the computer, the credit-card look alike known as
"Com Dot" -- dot-com in reverse - emits a coded high-pitched sound whose
signal is then picked up by the computer's microphone, and the card emits an
audible chirp to let the user know the transmission is complete. According
to Alan Sege of ComSense Technologies Ltd, the computer uses the Com Dot's
ultrasonic signal to identify the user. "Good morning, Alan," the computer
says in response, and a Web page suddenly appears on the screen. Many
computers already have a built-in microphone and sound board, which are
needed to decipher the card's ultrasonic codes. ComSense hopes to have
credit-card companies install in their cards the computer chip, tiny battery
and speaker needed to make the technology work.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Jathon Sapsford]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB966206403344321614.htm)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
U.N. COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF TELIA ON DOMAIN NAMES
Issue: Intellectual property
Two Swedes who had registered Internet domain names containing the names of
a Swedish telecommunications company, Telia AB 243, and its branches have
been ordered to give it up by the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO), an agency of the United Nations. The registered names included
teliadata.com,
teliabusiness.com, and teliabroadband.com, each of which had been offered
for sale at US$14,500. Although domain-related quarrels have been around
for a decade now, only recently did the UN start arbitrating on the cases.
WIPO has received more than 1,000 domain-related cases since it started
arbitrating them last year. Domain names aren't only a problem for large
companies that have to deal with individuals who have registered names. The
UN frequently handles cases in which small companies or individuals complain
that their individuals are under threat from large companies that claim to
have the same right to the same names. "We hope the decision will send a
signal to other cybersquatters who think they can take advantage of
registering other companies' names," said a London-based Telia engineer
involved in the case.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Almar Latour]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB966196246182076316.htm)
JOBS
SOME PROGRESS IN PHONE STRIKE, BUT AGREEMENT PROVES ELUSIVE
Issue: Jobs
The Verizon strike drags on with no quick end in sight. Through the
strike organized labor is trying to get a foothold into fast-growing,
high-tech industries that are changing the economy. Instead of wages and
benefits, the main objectives of the strike involve an effort to secure
concessions for a work force weary of long hours and the concern that
mergers might translate into fewer jobs. The main difference now seems to be
over the movement of work. The unions are seeking to limit the movement of
jobs or tasks by agreeing on a flat percentage of Verizon's work force of
260,000 employees that would be subject to such movement, similar to the
half a percentage point agreed upon with Bell Atlantic after it bought Nynex
in 1997. Verizon wants a more flexible plan.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A19), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/081400verizon-talks.html)
See Also:
UNIONS REJECT NEW VERIZON CONTRACT OFFER
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A6), AUTHOR: Kalpana Srinivasan (Associated
Press)]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21004-2000Aug13.html)
VERIZON TOUTS NEW PROPOSAL; STRIKING UNIONS REBUFF OFFER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Newswires
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB966230164300125218.htm)
TELEPHONE
FCC RELEASES: STATISTICS OF COMMUNICATIONS COMMON CARRIERS
Issue: Telephone
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the Statistics of
Communications Common Carriers, marking the 60th anniversary of the
publication. When the first volume, for the year 1939, was published in
1941, it cost The 1939 volume, published in 1941, consisted of 267 pages and
sold for 25 cents. About 18 million telephones were in use at year-end 1939,
and only 36% of the households had telephone service. Now, more than 180
million telephone lines were in use at year-end 1999 and 94.6% of the U.S.
households had telephone service. The electronic version of the publication
is available to the public free of charge. A second notice will be issued
when printed versions can be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing
Office. The 260-page volume contains data on telecommunications costs,
revenues, prices, and usage, and is divided into five sections: general
information on industry structure; financial and operating data relating to
telephone carriers; data on international communications and COMSAT
Corporation; historical financial, economic, and rate tables; and data on
industry trends. The full report is now available for reference in the FCC's
Reference Information Center, Courtyard Level, 445 12th Street S.W. The
publication can be downloaded [file names: 99SOCC.zip, 99SOCC.pdf] from the
FCC-State Link internet site at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats. Copies of the
publication also may be purchased by calling International Transcription
Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857-3800.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/2000/nrcc0042.html)
INTERNATIONAL
SPEECH: THE AFRICA DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE: ONE YEAR AND COUNTING
Issue: Speech
Remarks of William E. Kennard Chairman, Federal Communications
Commission at the AFCOM 2000 Conference
Fair Lakes, Virginia August 1, 2000.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/2000/spwek018.html)
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