Philanthropy
NYT: New Grants to Finance Sites That Embrace Points of View
Spectrum Auction Decision
WSJ: FCC Plan to Aid Wireless Carriers Is
Tougher Than Firms Hoped For
WP: FCC Votes Breaks For Auction Bidders
TelecomAM: FCC Resolves Thorny Payment Issue for C-Block Auctions
NYT: F.C.C. Offers New Options On Wireless
FCC
TelecomAM: McCain Predicts Easy Confirmation, But Group Poses
Questions To Ask
Encryption
WSJ: Washington May Crash the Internet Economy
TelecomAM: House Rebuffs FBI On Encryption
Competition
TelecomAM: Customers' Time Crucial Commodity in CLECs Move Forward
TelecomAM: Super CLEC: McLeodUSA Completes Takeover of Consolidated
FCC: FCC Seeks Comments On CMRS "Calling Party Pays" Service
Option
TelecomAM: McCain Outlines Needed Changes for Competition
V-Chip:
FCC: FCC Proposes Technical Requirements to Enable
Blocking of Video Programming Based On Program Ratings
Religion
NYT: 2 Advertisers End Sponsorship of an ABC Show
Online Services
NYT: Prodigy Splitting Itself Into 3 Business Units
Arts
NYT: Clinton Awards Medals In Arts and Humanities
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* Philanthropy *
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Title: New Grants to Finance Sites That Embrace Points of View
Source: CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/092697fund.html
Author: Lisa Napoli
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: The creator of the POV documentary series and PBS have formed a
new agency called the Web Development Fund that will make grants to fund Web
sites that mix innovation with social conscience. Grants will be up to
$50,000/each. The Fund is already soliciting online proposals from groups
and individuals. All projects financed by the grants will be housed on the
PBS Web site and will be given promotional assistance. [See PBS
http://www.pbs.org/, Web Development Fund http://www.pbs.org/weblab, and
POV http://www.pov.org/]
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* Spectrum Auction Decision *
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Title: FCC Plan to Aid Wireless Carriers Is
Tougher Than Firms Hoped For
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B5)
Author: Stephanie Mehta & John Wilke
Issue: Spectrum
Description: The Federal Communications Commission adopted a four-choice
plan to help beleaguered winners of a spectrum auction. Under the plan, none
of the winners would have to restart paying the FCC for licenses until March
31 when foreign backers will be allowed to invest. The four options include:
1) sticking with the original payment plan; 2) amnesty with a return of
licenses and a forfeiture of downpayments; 3) return of half of the licenses
for a forgiveness of half the debt; or 4) a "full-buyout" offer which would
allow a licensee to pay for anything they can afford immediately. In any
case, any returned spectrum will be reauctioned.
Title: FCC Votes Breaks For Auction Bidders
Source: Washington Post (G1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/26/068l-092697-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Spectrum
Description: No sooner than the FCC acted to help spectrum auction winners
critics piped in that the Commissioners had not done enough. "This is like
throwing someone a lifeline that's too short for them to reach," said an
attorney for several of the licensees. There was also dissent from Congress:
"The commission mangled a fair and sensible plan supported by its chairman
and several members of Congress that would have avoided defaults and
bankruptcy litigation," said Rep John Dingell (D-MI). Chairman Hundt clashed
with the other commissioners on option 4 (see WSJ story) that was devised by
one of the licensees and suggested by Rep Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Rep Ed
Markey (D-MA). In the adopted plan, bidders who choose to pay for some
licenses now in a lump sum will only be able to apply 70% of the downpayment
they have already paid -- Chairman Hundt had wanted to credit the full 100%.
The commissioners claimed to be preserving the integrity of future options,
but "This was ll about sticking it to Reed," said a staffer to the outgoing
Chairman.
Title: FCC Resolves Thorny Payment Issue for C-Block Auctions
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Commissioners Rachelle Chong, Susan Ness, and James Quello
wanted the FCC to simply revoke the licenses of companies who defaulted on
payments, but Chairman Red Hundt suggested a more lenient approach. The
compromise was the four options outlined above (see WSJ article).
[See the FCC press release
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/News_Releases/1997/nrwl7041.html,
Chairman Hundt's remarks http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Hundt/rh-cblck.html,
and Commissioner Ness' remarks
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/States/sn-cblck.html]
Title: F.C.C. Offers New Options On Wireless
Source: New York Times (C1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/fcc-wireless.html
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Spectrum
Description: The Federal Communications Commission is offering a break for
those bidders who claim they cannot pay for their wireless-communications
licenses. The F.C.C. approved a plan yesterday which offers these companies
the option of either returning their licenses, returning a portion of their
licenses, or using a percentage of their initial payments to purchase as
many licenses as they can afford at this time. The companies being offered
the menu of options are those who purchased licenses during the FCC
C-block auctions. These auctions offered a new type of
wireless-communication service, called Personal Communications Service.
Many of the companies needing a break placed bids that were too high for
them to handle throwing them into financial trouble soon after the auctions
ended.
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* FCC *
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Title: McCain Predicts Easy Confirmation, But Group Poses Questions To Ask
Source: Telecom A.M.
Issue: Communications (Federal Communications Commission)
Description: As Sen. John McCain, R.-AZ and chairman of the Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee, prepares to question the nominees for
the F.C.C. during their confirmation hearings next week, he has been sent a
letter from six telecom policy experts containing four areas that they think
should be addressed. These experts outline questions on competition,
deregulation, free speech, and the size of the F.C.C. At a luncheon
yesterday, McCain stated that "he does not plan to grill the nominees on
issues pending in front of the commission, but instead will stick to more
general telecom issues". He is satisfied with the nominees and doesn't
think they will have any difficulties getting through the confirmation process.
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* Encryption *
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Title: Washington May Crash the Internet Economy
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A22)
Author: Jim Barksdale, CEO Netscape
Issue: Encryption/Electronic Commerce
Description: The Internet needs more security, but legislation currently
under consideration in Congress may actually result in less secure
communication. The FBI wants to limit the use of "strong" encryption in the
United States by requiring software makers "to provide the government with
immediate access to the information in a computer or a network without the
knowledge of the owner or user of the computer." Programmers may not be able
to do this unless they offer no security at all. The US dominates 75% of the
global software market and roughly the same percentage of the global
Internet economy. The proposed legislation could end this economic
phenomenon overnight.
Title: House Rebuffs FBI On Encryption
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Encryption
Description: The House Commerce Committee rejected the FBI's plan to require
that software in the US be "decryptable" when required by court order. There
will be another showdown on the controversial legislation as House Rules
Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon (R-NY) has pledged not to allow an
encryption bill on the House floor without the unscrambling provisions. The
Commerce Committee adopted an alternative plan, supported by the electronics
industry, that would set up a new, high-tech research center at the
Department of Justice. The center would help law enforcement officials break
complicated computer codes.
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* Competition *
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Title: Customers' Time Crucial Commodity in CLECs Move Forward
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: At a conference discussing competitive local exchange carriers
(CLECs), three themes surfaced: Customers' time is now the crucial commodity
to be considered when formulating products, services and strategies;
'me-too' players will perish in a competitive marketplace; and, even as
technology explodes, the old-fashioned tenets of salesmanship and customer
service never wane in importance. In a keynote address, George Gilder said,
"Every era is defined by a key scarcity and a key abundance. This is the
information age. In contrast to the past, there's no scarcity of information
-- there's a glut of it; there's too much of it. What is scarce is time --
customers' time. The end result is that, as technology expands, it
conflicts, naturally, with the physical limitations of time and the speed
with which information can be delivered. Bridging that gap will be our most
important challenge....Bandwidth is going to grow explosively over the next
10 years. This is largely an assertion of faith, but I believe it will grow
at twice the rate of Moor's Law [the principle that the capacity of
microchips doubles every 18 months]."
Title: Super CLEC: McLeodUSA Completes Takeover of Consolidated
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition/Mergers
Description: McLeodUSA has completed its merger with Consolidated
Communications Inc. The new McLeodUSA is a 14-state facilities-oriented
telecommunications provider with more than 207,000 local lines, 4,500
employees, and 12 million competitive phone directories/yr. The company
serves business and residential customers in the upper Midwest.
Title: FCC Seeks Comments On CMRS "Calling Party Pays" Service Option
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/News_Releases/1997/nrwl7040.html
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: The FCC has issued a Notice of Inquiry regarding Calling Party
Pays (CPP), a service option provided by selected Commercial Mobile Radio
Service (CMRS) carriers to their customers, but not widely available in the
United States. The FCC said the purpose of this inquiry is to explore
whether Calling Party Pays could serve as one means of promoting and
expanding competition in the local exchange telephone market. The Commission
is committed to taking the necessary actions to increase consumer options
for local telephone service. CPP is a service billing option, currently
provided by some cellular, paging, and Personal Communications Service (PCS)
carriers, in which the party placing the call or page pays the airtime
charge and any other applicable charges. In order for a CMRS provider to
offer CPP to its customers, the local exchange carrier (LEC) on whose
facilities the call generally originates must agree to bill the calling
party on behalf of the CMRS carrier or must furnish the CMRS carrier with
sufficient billing information to enable the CMRS carrier to bill the
calling party directly.
Title: USTA Luncheon: Sen. McCain Outlines Needed Changes for Competition
Source: Telecom A.M.
Issue: Communications
Description: At a luncheon sponsored by the United States Telephone
Association (USTA) yesterday, keynote speaker Sen. John McCain (R-AZ),
chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, spoke
about the Telecommunications Act. "In my judgement, there's a lot that needs
changing. I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix the problems that
currently exist. The
fundamental problem with Telecom Act implementation to date is that
regulation just isn't in sync with reality. As a result, the industries
chafe and sue, the growth of competition is slow, and consumers are losing
out on the lower rates and better services they were promised when the Act
was passed." McCain stressed that no company to date has met the
requirements of section
271 of the Telecom Act and this should be addressed and changed so that
companies can have a more reasonable "market to open competition".
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* V-Chip *
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Title: FCC Proposes Technical Requirements to Enable Blocking
of Video Programming Based On Program Ratings
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/1997/nret70
13.html
Issue: V-Chip
Description: The FCC today began the process that would require that most
television receivers be equipped with features that enable viewers to block
the display of video programming based on program ratings. The Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking adopted by the Commission today responds to the Parental
Choice in Television Programming requirements contained in Sections
551(c),(d), and (e) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In the
Telecommunications Act, Congress determined that parents should be provided
with timely information about the nature of upcoming video programming, and
with the technological tools that would allow them to block violent, sexual,
or other programming that they do not want their children to watch.
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* Religion *
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Title: 2 Advertisers End Sponsorship of an ABC Show
Source: New York Times (C4)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/tv-sacred-sponsors.html
Author: Bernard Weinraub
Issue: Religion
Description: Following a campaign led by the Catholic League, two
advertising sponsors have withdrawn from the ABC television series "Nothing
Sacred". The show, which has received positive reviews, is about a hip and
handsome young Roman-Catholic priest who is rather ambivalent about church
doctrine on issues such as celibacy and abortion. The two companies,
American Isuzu Motors and the Weight Watchers International unit of the H.J.
Heinz Company, said they chose to pull away based on responses they received
from the public.
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* Online Services *
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Title: Prodigy Splitting Itself Into 3 Business Units
Source: New York Times (C17)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Bloomburg news,
Issue: Online Services
Description: Prodigy has split! Into three separate units that is. These
units will allow Prodigy to give individual focus to its online service,
software development and services, and international market.
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* Arts *
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Title: Clinton Awards Medals In Arts and Humanities
Source: New York Times (B27)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Dinitia Smith,
Issue: Arts
Description: The White House announced yesterday this year's winners of the
National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal. The winners are
chosen by the president and given to those people who have made significant
contributions in their field. This years honorees are:
In the arts: Louise Bourgeois, Betty Carter, Agnes Gund, James Levine, Tito
Puente, Daniel Urban Kiley, Jason Robards, Edward Villella, Doc Watson,
Angela Lansbury, and the MacDowell Colony
In the Humanities: Paul Mellon, Studs Terkel, Don Henley, Maxine Hong
Kingston, Luis Leal, Martin E. Marty, Richard J. Franke, William Friday,
David A, Berry, and Nina M. Archabal
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