STATE REGULATION
California PUC Proposes Lifeline Program Changes (TelecomAM)
Number of State-Certified CLECs Triples in Year (TelecomAM)
BROADCAST
Salsa Radio Station Stirs Up New York (WSJ)
Finding The New Digital TV Shows (NYT)
HEALTH
Ads for Alcohol and Cigarettes are Restricted in California (NYT)
Places to Check Out the Pills for Your Ills (NYT)
SATELLITE
Iridium Delays Start of Global Network (WP)
INTERNATIONAL
African Telecommunications: A Partnership for Progress (FCC)
German Teleco Warns of Parasitic Competition (NYT)
================
STATE REGULATION
================
CALIFORNIA PUC PROPOSES LIFELINE PROGRAM CHANGES
Issue: Universal Service
"The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) wants to adapt the state
Lifeline program to a competitive local exchange market, conform it to the
federal universal service programs, and improve its ability to provide phone
service to low-income households and opened a year-long rule making to
determine
what changes the program needs," TelecomAM reports (hey, sometimes they
write it better than we can re-summarize it). Comments in the proceeding are
due October 9 and the PUC hopes to issue final rules by September 1999. The
California state Lifeline program currently disburses $254 million in annual
subsidies to support 3.1 million qualifying low-income subscribers. [For
more info, see the PUC's Telecom Division page
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/telecommunications/teledisc.htm and Guide for
Intervenors http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/interven98/index.htm]
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
NUMBER OF STATE-CERTIFIED CLECS TRIPLES IN YEAR
Issue: Competition
The State Telephone Regulation Report reports (oddly enough) that a total of
2,832 certificates authorizing competitive local exchanges carriers (CLECs)
to compete against Bell companies,
GTE and other incumbent telcos for switched local exchange service have been
issued by state regulators as of July 1998 -- 985 certificates had been
issued as of July 1997. Certification is only one of the steps a CLEC must
take to become operational: a CLEC also must obtain an
interconnection/resale agreement with the incumbent telco in its intended
service area and, in many states, must file tariffs.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
=========
BROADCAST
=========
SALSA RADIO STATION STIRS UP NEW YORK
Issue: Radio
WSKQ is one of the two most popular radio stations in the country's biggest
radio market -- New York City. But the ratings haven't translated into the
advertising rates that similar-sized English-language stations command. The
station -- known as Mega -- says there is a tendency on Madison Avenue to
steer blue-chip advertisers away from Spanish-language media. Statistics
back up Mega's claim. Although the station had the fourth largest audience
last year, it ranked 13th in advertising revenues. In Miami, advertisers pay
top dollar for air time on the largest Hispanic station. Hispanic families
in New York have a higher average household income than those in Miami.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Suein Hwang]
http://wsj.com/
FINDING THE NEW DIGITAL TV SHOWS
Issue: DTV
Imagine that you now have one of the first new digital TV sets and the Nov,
1st start date for digital programming roles around -- where are you going
to find the breath taking images of high definition television? The new
broadcasts won't be found on any of the channels you are use to watching.
The second channels given to stations for digital broadcasting are in no way
correspondent to their analog channel number. Another problem is that each
station will be able to broadcast up to four standard quality channels with
their one digital channel. To deal with the confusion of transition to
digital, the Advanced Television Systems Committee has suggested that the
digital channel assignments be invisible. This means that every time you hit
Channel 4 on your digital remote, you will see the old channel your old
familiar Channel 4 - even if the digital channel really has a different
number. The proposal also suggests that if a station spits their signal into
several different channels, each one will use the main station number and an
additional subnumber.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E11), AUTHOR: Eric A. Taub]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/circuits/howitworks/10how.html
=======
HEALTH
=======
ADS FOR ALCOHOL AND Cigarettes ARE RESTRICTED
Issue: Advertisements/Alcohol
Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council passed a law that will ban most
outdoor alcohol advertising in the city. Hundreds of minors attended the
City Council hearing to advocate the elimination of billboards that line
their communities. Also present was Rex Hienke, a billboard company lawyer,
who complained that the laws were discriminatory. "That is government
censorship pure and simple," he claimed. While a similar measure in Chicago
was ruled unconstitutional, laws in Baltimore and Oakland have been upheld.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A21), AUTHOR: New York Times Staff]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/calif-billboards.html
PLACES TO CHECK OUT THE PILLS FOR YOUR ILLS
Issue Health/Internet
Americans consume more prescription drugs than anyone else in the world. And
the amount of money we spend on prescriptions is rapidly increasing each
year. One reason for the increase is that pharmaceutical companies are
releasing more new products than ever before. How does the consumer keep up
with the rapid advances in pharmaceutical research? According to Dallas
physician Dr. Jeffery Adelglass, the Internet can be a useful tool in
sorting through the avalanche of drug information. "With some of the
pharmaceutical sites now available on the Web, I can get medical information
as fast or faster than anyone in else in the country," says Dr. Adelglass.
Some of the more helpful and reliable on-line drug resources include the
Food and Drug Administration, Centerwatch, National Library of Medicine, and
the RxList.Com Web sites.
[SOURCE: New York Times (E10), AUTHOR: David Morrow]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/circuits/library/10libe.html
=========
SATELLITE
=========
IRIDIUM DELAYS START OF GLOBAL NETWORK
Issue: Satellite
"We have come too far and have invested too much time, money and effort in
this business to go into commercial service with anything less than a
world-class product," said Edward Staiano, chief executive of District-based
Iridium as the company announced a delay in the launch of its global
telephone and data service satellite network. The delay announcement is no
big deal and not a big surprise," said Ann Henry, an analyst for BancBoston
Robertson Stephens Inc. in New York. Iridium had hinted at such a delay in
a July conference call to analysts, she said. The start was scheduled for
September 23 and has been pushed to November 1. In September, 2,000
individual, corporate, and government customers will receive phones for a
free trial.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C3), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1998-09/10/024r-091098-idx.html
=============
INTERNATIONAL
=============
AFRICAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS: A PARTNERSHIP FOR PROGRESS
Issue: International
Chairman Kennard's Keynote Address "African Telecommunications: A
Partnership for Progress" to AFCOM '98, Seventh All-Africa
Telecommunications, Information Technology, Trade & Investment Conference.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek825.html
GERMAN TELCO WARNS OF PARASITIC COMPLETION
Issue International/Telephony
Ron Sommer, CEO of Germany's former telecom monopoly Deutsche Telekom, said
that incumbent companies need regulatory protection from the "parasitic"
competition of new operators. Sommer complained that new entrants can
provide cheaper service without making any investments in infrastructure.
European regulators are new to dealing with telecom competition and, at the
same time, are attempting to integrate the diverse regulatory regimes of
different countries. "We all suffer if regulators misunderstand their role -
if they think it is to beat up upon the incumbents and play Robin Hood,"
said Sommer.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Cybertimes), AUTHOR: Andrew Craig]
http://www.nytimes.com/techweb/TW_German_Telco_Warns_Of_Parasitic_Competiti
on.html
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*