MEDIA & SOCIETY
Hollywood To Limit R-Movie Ads (WP)
Marketing Violence to Children (Senate)
MERGERS
The Threat to the Net (The Nation)
Missouri Firm Asks Regulators to Ban Time Warner Pacts
Instant Messaging Services at AOL Quietly Linked (WSJ)
NTT DoCoMo Confirms AOL Talks (NYT)
Vivendi, Seagram Address Concerns About Merging (WSJ)
INTERNET
FCC Report Opposes Moves To Regulate Internet Traffic (SJM)
Governor Vetoes Bill On State Internet Taxes (SJM)
TELEVISION
TV Stations Offer A Clear Picture Of Indifference (WP)
Kids' TV Goes Digital
Buying Time (Brennan)
WIRELESS
Verizon Breaks Ranks, Backs Ban Of Cell-Phone Use While Driving (WSJ)
The Dish is That DirecTV's Owner May Fetch Plenty (WSJ)
For Asian Satellite Network, Simplicity Is Simply Better (NYT)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
HOLLYWOOD TO LIMIT R-RATED ADS
Issue: Media & Society
As Hollywood gears up for a Congressional hearing tomorrow, word-about-town
has the movie industry agreeing to restrict marketing of adult-themed movies
to children (while watching TV or attending G-rated films) and would offer
more specific information about R-rated films in advertisements. The studios
will also add specific language to advertisements for R films, such as an
"L" for graphic language, "V" for violence and "S" for sexual content. A
similar rating system for television has drawn mixed reviews. "We're going
to govern more closely, more effectively. This will force us to be more
self-governing than we would've been," said one studio chairman on condition
of anonymity. But he added, "If we only made good wholesome movies we'd be
out of business."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR: Sharon Waxman]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16537-2000Sep25.html)
See Also:
FILM INDUSTRY TO UNVEIL SELF-POLICING MECHANISMS
[SOURCE: WSJ (B10), AUTHOR: Bruce Orwall]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969929290495447608.htm)
(requires subscription)
MARKETING VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN
Issue: Media & Society
The full committee hearing on Marketing Violence to Children II will be
broadcast Live on the Internet. To access the hearing go to the Commerce
Committee website at (http://commerce.senate.gov), or if computer is already
equipped with RealPlayer, go to (pnm://vrn1.webcasting.evoke.com
/basic/providers/senate/commerce.rm)
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, September 27, at 9:30 a.m. in room
253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. Senator John McCain (R-AZ),
Chairman of the committee, will preside.
Following is the tentative witness list (not necessarily in order of
appearance):
Mr. Rob Friedman, Vice Chairman, Motion Picture Group, Paramount; Mr. Jim
Gianopulos, President, Twentieth Century Fox; Mr. Mel Harris, President and
COO, Sony; Mr. Alan Horn, President and COO, Warner Brothers; Mr. Robert
Iger, President and COO, Disney, Miramax; Mr. Chris McGurk, Vice Chairman
and COO, MGM; Mr. Walter Parkes, Co-Head, Dreamworks; Ms. Stacy Snider,
Chairman, Universal.
[SOURCE: US Senate]
(http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/press/106-223.htm)
MERGERS
THE THREAT TO THE NET
Issue: Mergers/Open Access
[Op-Ed] Could the merger of America Online and Time Warner transform into a
collection of commercially driven "walled garden" and/or into "the biggest
shopping mall in the world." Chester warns it could as we move into the
broadband era and cables fat bandwidth pipes gain the largest market share
of Internet subscribers. Modeled on cable's closed video platforms, Internet
users may soon be trading their freedom of choice for ease of use and
"Internet Lite." In the coming weeks, the Federal Trade Commission and the
Federal Communications Commission will decide if the merger should go
through and with what conditions if it does. Chester offers two proposals:
"One would require AOL-TW to agree to a policy of open access and
nondiscriminatory transport, insuring that competitive ISPs and websites
would have a legal right to use the company's broadband pipes--including the
set-top boxes that will become the crucial link between cable's past and
interactive television's future. The other would cut the ownership ties
between AOL-TW and AT&T. Without new cross-ownership restrictions, these two
affiliated companies would have a
chokehold on high-speed Internet content and distribution." Chester
concludes: "Open access to the broadband Internet is essential if we are to
insure that a diverse range of voices has a chance of reaching out to
citizens in the new era of high-speed communications. And once such access
is secured, public-interest, nonprofit and other alternative voices must be
prepared to
offer interactive programming that will make a difference."
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center
for Media Education, which filed a formal petition in opposition to the
AOL-Time Warner merger]
(http://www.thenation.com/issue/001009/1009chester.shtml)
See Also:
THE FUTURE OF THE INTERACTIVE TELEVISION SERVICES MARKETPLACE
Wednesday, September 27, 2000 9:00 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building
The Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection has
scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. in 2322
Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will be entitled: "The Future of
the Interactive Television Services Marketplace: What Should Consumers
Expect?" Witnesses will be by invitation only.
[SOURCE: House of Representatives]
(http://com-notes.house.gov/schedule.htm)
MISSOURI FIRM ASKS REGULATORS TO BAN TIME WARNER PACTS
Issue: Mergers
According to Everest Connections Corp of Kansas City, Mo., Time Warner Inc.
struck agreements with cable television-equipment makers intended to stifle
competition. Everest has asked the Federal Communications Commission to ban
such behavior as a condition of approving the $120 billion merger between
Time Warner and America Online Inc. Everest won a bid to build a fiber optic
network Missouri, and eventually hoped to compete with Time Warner. But
when Everest tried to buy equipment from Scientific Atlanta, the
Atlanta-based company said it had an exclusive agreement with Time Warner.
Under that agreement, Scientific Atlanta agreed not to sell to any company
that competes with Time Warner equipment used to funnel programming into the
cable network, or the set-top boxes used in the home to access programming.
[SOURCE: WSJ (B10), AUTHOR: Staff Reporter]
(http://wsj.com/)
(requires subscription)
INSTANT MESSAGING SERVICES AT AOL QUIETLY LINKED
Issue: Open Access
Though AOL hasn't yet publicized the capability, it now is possible for many
users of ICQ, which AOL purchased two years ago, to sign on to AOL Instant
Messenger and communicate with other ICQ users. The compatibility suggests
that AOL may be on its way toward creating a world-wide instant messaging
system with 138 million potential users. AOL's dominance of
instant-messaging technology, the kind of real-time e-mail that also lets
users know when others are online, has emerged as a major concern of
regulators scrutinizing the company's planned merger with Time Warner.
Competitors to Instant Messenger, such as Microsoft and Yahoo!, have been
pressing the Federal Communications Commission to force AOL to make its
services compatible with competitors'. The FCC is considering forcing AOL to
open up once it combines its system with ICQ, or within six months of the
merger, whichever comes first. When asked, AOL acknowledged that an ICQ user
can now log on to AOL Instant Messenger, which is known by the acronym AIM.
The spokeswoman said the capability is a byproduct of a test being conducted
by engineers as it explores how to make its systems interoperate with
others. The feature doesn't work in the other direction, allowing an AOL
user to log on to ICQ. AOL created Instant Messenger 11 years ago with its
well known "buddy list," the feature that lets users know when somebody on
their list is online. Today, AIM has 65.5 million registered users. ICQ,
created by an Israeli company, is targeted at a more technically oriented
audience, including people who build more sophisticated online chat areas.
With 73 million registered users, it is the largest instant messaging
service in the world. Each on its own is more than three times the size of
the closest competitor.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Julia Angwin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969922998866053561.htm)
(Requires Subscription)
NTT DOCOMO CONFIRMS AOL TALKS
Issue: Alliances/Wireless
NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile communications company in Japan, is in talks
with America Online to form an alliance. NTT DoCoMo's imode service allows
12 million subscribers to gain access to the Internet from their mobile
phones. AOL introduced its service in Japan three years ago, but still has
attracted only 400,000 to 500,000 users. "Hooking up with DoCoMo allows them
to quickly gain a lot of users in this market," said Kevin Williams, a
senior analyst with IDC Japan, "since DoCoMo is the dominant player and the
effects are immediate." A DoCoMo linkup with AOL could prove enormously
useful to the Japanese company in its effort to expand internationally. The
alliance would "bring DoCoMo a lot of exposure to AOL customers in the
U.S.," Mr. Williams said. "A lot of consumers in the U.S. don't know much
about DoCoMo," he went on. "With this deal, it brings i-mode services and
other DoCoMo services out in the open and could potentially accelerate the
introduction of i-mode-type services in the U.S."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C16), AUTHOR: Miki Tanikawa]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/technology/26DOCO.html)
(requires registration)
VIVENDI, SEAGRAM ADDRESS CONCERNS ABOUT MERGING
Issue: Mergers
In hopes of appeasing concerns of EU antitrust regulators, Vivendi, Seagram
and Canal Plus SA told European regulators that they wouldn't discriminate
against competing music companies and cellular network operators.
Regulators are wary of the combined entity's potential to dominate music
distribution via the wireless Internet. French mobile-telecom and Internet
giant Vivendi agreed earlier this year to buy out Canada's Seagram, which
owns Universal Music, one of the five firms that dominate the record
industry. As part of that transaction, the French company is also buying the
51% of French pay-TV company Canal Plus that it doesn't already own. Last
week the European Commission's antitrust department got a set of proposals
from the companies anxious to avoid the burden of an extended inquiry.
Independent record companies have complained that Vivendi Universal would
have a near-monopoly in Internet music distribution. The European
Commission's review of the merger between America Online Inc. and Time
Warner Inc. could also have an impact on the way the Vivendi-Seagram deal is
handled, potentially putting it into an extended review. AOL and Time Warner
are similar in many ways to Vivendi and Seagram, bringing together a major
online presence with a major content provider. Seagram's Universal Music
would also be close in size to a merged Warner-EMI
[SOURCE: WSJ (A23), AUTHOR: Shiskin and Peers]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969916795854953187.htm)
(Requires Registration)
INTERNET
FCC REPORT OPPOSES MOVES TO REGULATE INTERNET TRAFFIC
Issue: Internet
According to a research report the Federal Communications Commission's
Office of Plans and Policy will release today, the Internet backbone
industry is functioning well as a free market and doesn't currently need
telephone-style regulation. The report opposes forcing U.S. Internet
carriers to fund part of the costs of linking traffic between the United
States and foreign countries, as carriers do with voice phone calls. Foreign
companies generally have paid to carry Internet traffic to and from the
United States. But some carriers are starting to complain that they're
unfairly subsidizing their U.S. counterparts
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jennifer Files]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/teleco092600.htm)
GOVERNOR VETOES BILL ON STATE INTERNET TAXES
Issue: E-Commerce
Gov. Gray Davis rejected a bill Monday that would have required companies
with retail stores in California to collect state sales taxes on items
purchased from their Web sites. In a veto message released Monday, Davis
said: "Imposing sales taxes on Internet transactions at this point in its
young life would send the wrong signal about California's international role
as the incubator of the dot-com community." Supporters of the bill
introduced by Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) complained that
the governor miscast the bill as one imposing a new tax. In reality, they
said, all it did was to clarify that current sales tax laws apply to all
retailers with a physical presence in California. The bill, which was
closely followed in other parts of the country, was considered a potential
precedent for other states that are also wrestling with Internet taxation.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Hallye Jordan]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/nettax092600.htm)
TELEVISION
TV STATIONS OFFER A CLEAR PICTURE OF INDIFFERENCE
Issue: Political Discourse/Television
Columnist Marc Fisher was disappointed to discover that none of the
Washington, DC area television stations, which also serve a large area of
Northern Virginia, broadcasted either of two recent debates in the hotly
contested Virginia Senate race. "Shouldn't companies privileged to use the
public airwaves feel obliged to provide basic programming in support of
better democracy?" asks Fisher. He points out that in the past 20 years,
stations' income from political ads has increased by 500 percent, while the
time they dedicate to politics has plummeted to an average of 39 seconds a
night. According to a Web site GreedyTV.org, the major DC stations have
pulled in $4.7 million from political ads through July of this year.
"They're happy to cash the bloated checks candidates fork over for ad time,
yet sports, soaps and "L.A. Confidential" take precedence over public
interest," writes Fisher.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (B01), AUTHOR: Marc Fisher]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16502-2000Sep25.html)
KIDS' TV GOES DIGITAL
Issue: DTV/Children
Tuesday, October 24, 2000, 8:45 am - 12:30 pm at the Rainbow Room, Pegasus
Suite, 30 Rockefeller Center, New York.
Digital television has the potential to be an entirely new medium,
encompassing the best attributes of TV and the computer. High-definition
pictures, channel multiplexing, interactivity, data delivery and other
possibilities will likely define the next decade of mass media. Yet,
technological promise is meaningless without thoughtful, engaging, fun and
enriching content. DTV must be a medium of new ideas, using both emerging
options and past experiences while keeping
young people's interests, needs and abilities foremost. Kids' TV Goes
Digital will feature current projects or prototypes as the starting point
for discussion of the creative potential of digital television for children.
There will be ample time for the audience to ask questions or contribute
their own experiences.
Confirmed Presenters
Ellen Sebring, Founder, Botticelli Interactive
Brian Smith, Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab
Tom Williams, Senior Producer, BBC Digital
Lee Hunt, Vice President, Media and Entertainment, Razorfish
Ellen Wartella, Dean/College of Communication, University of Texas
847-390-6499 or kidstv( at )iaginteractive.com. There is no charge for this
event, but advance registration is required.
[SOURCE: American Center for Children and Media and the Markle Foundation]
BUYING TIME
Issue: Political Discourse
For years, the debate over sham issue advocacy has been driven by anecdote
and conjecture. While everyone agreed this new type of campaigning was
changing the face of campaigns, hard, empirical evidence on the scope and
content of these ads was missing. Who is running these ads? What are they
saying? How much money are they spending? To answer these questions, the
Brennan Center has compiled the largest existing data set on televised
political advertising by candidates, parties, and interest groups. The
Center acquired broadcast data on over 300,000 airings of 2,100 ads run in
1998 from CMAG, a company that monitors political advertising in the top 75
media markets, which reach 80 percent of the U.S. population. The largest
existing database on televised campaign advertising is now available to the
public. With the Buying Time research tool, you can delve into our data set
on television advertising.
[SOURCE: Brennan Center for Justice]
(http://www.buyingtime.org/)
WIRELESS
VERIZON BREAKS RANKS, BACKS BAN OF CELL-PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING
Issue: Wireless/Safety
Bucking the "education not legislation" approach that seeks to teach drivers
how to use their cell phones safely while driving, Verizon, the nation's
largest wireless provider, will back legislation that would ban the use of
handheld cell phones while driving. A study published in the New England
Journal of Medicine in 1997 found that a driver talking on a cell phone is
about four times as likely to get into a crash as a driver who isn't.
Annette Jacobs, president of Verizon's Great Lakes Area, testifying before
the Traffic Control and Safety Committee of the Chicago City Council, said
Verizon would support the repeal of the Illinois headset law and support
passage of a statewide ban on using cell phones in cars with anything but a
hands-free device. The use of headsets would be phased in over a period of
three years, according to a Verizon official. Shortly after hearing Ms.
Jacobs's testimony, the committee postponed its vote on the proposal. If the
proposal is adopted as law, Chicago would become the biggest U.S.
municipality to ban the use of cell phones while driving.
[SOURCE: WSJ (B5), AUTHOR: Harris (nicole.harris( at )wsj.com) & Ball
(jeffrey.ball( at )wsj.com)]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969927845816746107.htm)
(Registration Required)
THE DISH IS THAT DIRECTV'S OWNER MAY FETCH PLENTY
Issue: Satellite
The rivals for Hughes Electronics -- and its 10 million US subscribers may
be willing to pay a fat premium. Suitors include News Corp, Walt Disney,
Vivendi SA, Sony and Viacom. Hughes commands over 65% of the
satellite-broadcast market in North America, but its rate of expansion is
expected to trail off in coming years as the direct-to-home broadcast
industry matures. A major goal of bidders, say industry executives, is to
"lock in" as many as possible of the relatively
affluent, suburban families that historically have fueled the service's
dramatic expansion. In the short run, they add, that is much more important
than the potential revenue gains down the road when DirecTV and other
competitors start offering more powerful broadband and other services.
"Tough times may be coming for the satellite industry, but they are still
years away," and Hughes is looking "to take advantage of selling at the top
of the market," says Jimmy Schaeffler, head of the Carmel Group, an
industry-consulting firm.
[SOURCE: WSJ (B4), AUTHOR: ANDY PASZTOR, JOHN LIPPMAN and GREGORY L. WHITE]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB969921678441689506.htm)
(Registration Required)
FOR ASIAN SATELLITE NETWORK, SIMPLICITY IS SIMPLY BETTER
Issue: Satellite
The Asia Cellular Satellite System (ACeS), an Indonesian satellite phone
venture focused strictly on Asia, debuts tomorrow with better prospects than
Iridium, the $5 billion global satellite system that went bankrupt last
year, or Globalstar, a $3 billion system struggling with patchy service and
too few customers. Using just one satellite in a fixed location more than 22
miles above earth instead of an expensive constellation buzzing around in
lower orbits, ACeS calls will cost only $0.35-$0.75/minute. "Everything from
one end to the other has been done right," said Roger Rusch, president of
Telastra, a satellite consulting company. The satellite is capable of
reaching from Korea to India, covering three billion people, but ACeS has
yet to reach an agreement for operations in China, the single biggest
potential customer.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C12), AUTHOR: Barnaby Feder]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/technology/26BIRD.html)
(requires registration)
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