Benton RSS Feed

Telephone
TelecomAM: McCain Says Universal Service Contributions Will Raise Bills
NYT: Ameritech and Microsoft to Offer High-Speed Internet Access
NTIA: Wireless Local Loop Forum

Digital TV
WP: A PhD for the Idiot Box
FCC: Digital TV Allotments

InfoTech
NYT: Research Center is Laboratory for 'Intelligent Workplaces'

** Telephone **

Title: McCain Says Universal Service Contributions Will Raise Bills
Source: Telecom AM (12/9/97)
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said last
week that long distance bills may rise significantly as a result of
carriers' contributions to the universal service fund. How the rate
increases will be passed on to consumers is becoming a contentious question
as AT&T and MCI work behind the scenes in order to add a separate line on
consumers' bills that lists the USF charges. American Enterprise Fellow
James Glassman said that his recent Washington Post editorial (see 12/2/97
Headlines) has sparked "an enormous response" from Republicans. Under that
pressure the Federal Communications Commission "is thinking of scaling back"
the contribution factors. [See The Boy Who Cried "Tax" by Andrew Blau]

Title: Ameritech and Microsoft to Offer High-Speed Internet Access
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/121097microsoft.html
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Internet/Telephone
Description: The Ameritech Corp. is teaming up with Microsoft to offer small
businesses and consumers Internet access that is up to 50 percent times
faster than the standard 28.8 kilobit per second. The move to offer this
technology is part of the Baby Bells strategy to bundle services in an
effort to fend off competitors. Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Pacific Bell,
Southwestern Bell and U.S. West, have all been testing the technology and
plan to begin rolling out this service within a year.

Title: Wireless Local Loop Forum
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html
Issue: Telephone
Description: A draft agenda for the December 17th Wireless Local Loop forum
has been released. This forum is the second is a series of advanced
technology forums. Panel sessions include: Technology and Applications,
Competition and Universal Service, Policy and Regulatory Perspectives, and
Roundtable Discussion.

** Digital TV **

Title: A PhD for the Idiot Box
Source: Washington Post (C13,C15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/10/129l-121097-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Personal computers and television are becoming "genetically"
related as chips and software find their way into the TV set. These digital
changes will allow the viewer to receive and display a wide amount of
information besides the more traditional picture. At the annual Western
Cable Show, being held in Anaheim, CA this week, one of the main discussions
is centering around just what these digital boxes will look like and who
will make them. [For more on digital TV see
http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/piac.html]

Title: Digital TV Allotments
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Public_Notices/1997/pnet7
027.wp
Issue: Digital TV
Description: FCC Seeks Comment on Filings Addressing Digital TV Allotments
(MM Docket No. 87-268). Responses Due December 17, 1997. On November 20,
1997, the Association for Maximum Service Broadcasters, Inc. and other
broadcasters (MSTV) submitted an ex parte filing that presents suggestions
for addressing two issues relating to the Table of Allotments for digital
television (DTV) that was adopted in the Sixth Report and Order in this
proceeding. The first of these issues concerns DTV-to-DTV adjacent channel
assignments. The second concerns assignments in the most congested areas of
the country -- the Northeast, Great Lakes region, and California coastal
area. MSTV's filing suggests making 357 changes to the DTV Table in the
continental United States.

** InfoTech **

Title: Research Center is Laboratory for 'Intelligent Workplaces'
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/121097workplace.html
Author: Lisa Napoli
Issue: Information Technology
Description: On Tuesday, a "living laboratory," designed help researchers
further understand how to create an efficient office building, opened at the
Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, on the campus of Carnegie
Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh. "We spend $500 billion a year on construction
in the United States, but less than 1 percent goes into research," said
Stephen Lee, associate director of the center. "We're failing to deliver
buildings that perform, that allow people to be healthy and productive in
their workplace." The team will be headed by Volker Hartkopf, professor of
architecture. They will focus on the best ways to make the work environment
a comfortable and productive one, while also working towards a building that
is environmentally and economically wise.

*********

Television
Benton Foundation: President's Advisory Committee Meeting
WSJ: Public TV Toy Stores Target the Cerebral

Digital TV
B&C: Intel plans DTV experiments
B&C: Set-top scramble in Silicon Valley
B&C: Putting a price on digits

Cable
B&C: Cable Ramps Up Rates
B&C: Program access tops Washington agenda

F.C.C. Regulation
B&C: The ban plays on
NYT: Low-Watt 'Pirate' Fights F.C.C. Rules

Internet
NYT: Old Man Bandwidth
NYT: News-Ad Issues Arise in New Media
NYT: 'Browser War' Limits Access To Web Sites
WSJ: What's.Nu: Web Address Shortage Sparks Idea
WSJ: Getting Personal

Telephone
NYT: Coming to Pay Phones: '800' Calls Won't Be Toll-Free
WSJ: Digital Warriors Want Baby Bells' Blood
WSJ: Phone Users Criticize Rise in Local Rates

Corporate
B&C: Sinclair dips into $1 billion purse for Max Media
WSJ: Microsoft, Justice Department Square Off in Court

Free Speech
WP: On the Front Line of Free Speech

Infotech
WSJ: Modem Markers Reach Accord On Standards

Media and Politics
B&C: Nixon vs. the nets

Public Interest
B&C: The Bizarro Universe Gore commission

Arts
NYT: In Los Angeles, a New Generation Discovers Philanthropy
NYT: A Wind of Gratitude Blows Through the Performing Arts
WP: Last Picture Show

** Television **

Title: President's Advisory Committee Meeting
Source: Benton Foundation
http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/meeting2.html
Issue: Digital Television
Description: A summary of Friday's meeting of the Presidential Advisory
Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters.

Title: Public TV Toy Stores Target the Cerebral
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Paulette Thomas
Issue: Public Television
Description: The Store of Knowledge Inc is a for-profit chain that adopts
the identity of the local nonprofit TV station in each market where it
operates. The chain capitalizes on three trends: the goodwill parents feel
toward public TV, parents desire to buy "good-for-you" toys, and public
television's need for new sources of revenue. Local stations promote the
store in return for 1% of the revenue and a piece of equity. Revenues for
the 50 store chain are expected to reach $90 million.

** Digital TV **

Title: Intel plans DTV experiments
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.11)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Richard Tedesco
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Intel plans to use an experimental FCC license to send PBS
signals to personal computers. They hope to learn how various data
broadcasting techniques work with actual broadcast signals, according to
Serge Ruthman, Intel senior staff architect. In its application to use
channels 6, 12, 28 and 62 in Santa Clara, CA, the company cites the
possibility of 3-D broadcasts and interactive education. Intel plans to pull
the PBS signals of KQED(TV) and WETA-TV from a satellite and rebroadcast the
signals to computers on the experimental channels. They also plan to explore
new uses for its Infinite CD platform, which permits users to link Website
content through a CD-ROM.

Title: Set-top scramble in Silicon Valley
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.14)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Price Colman
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Computer companies are scrambling in the final weeks of the
year to lock up their place in cable operators' digital set-top-box plans.
Computer industry rivals Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have been courting
cable industry big guns John Malone and Gerald Levin, but, so far it isn't
clear how their two companies have fared with either operator. Cable execs
say that the key "wrestling match" is over the cost of advanced digital
converters, which PC hardware, software and cable converter manufacturers
are struggling to get down below $300 on average. This hasn't stopped
speculation that there 'll be a Microsoft/Comcast-type deal in which the
computer player somehow finances its cable partner's purchase of set-tops.

Title: Putting a price on digits
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.18)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Issue: Digital TV Rates
Description: FCC officials are hoping to launch a proposal to collect
fees for subscription services that stations offer over their digital TV
channels. The proposal carries three suggestions: base the fees on revenue
that would've been generated in a spectrum auction. Another would base them
on profits that broadcasters reap from subscription services, and the third
would base the fees on gross revenue. The collection of fees is required by
the Telecom Act of 1996.

** Cable **

Title: Cable Ramps Up Rates
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.6)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: John M. Higgins
Issue: Cable Rates
Description: Systems and gov't regulators report that basic rate
increases of 10% or more are common around the country, with US West Media
Inc.'s MediaOne and Time Warner Cable Inc. posting some of the highest
increases. The new rates continue cable's trend of increasing prices far in
excess of the rate of overall inflation. But, big hikes are far from
universal. Comcast Corp.'s Sterling Heights, Mich., operation recently
raised rates just 2.2%. Deborah Reynolds, a Time Warner Cable customer,
plans to drop the service when a 9% increase drives her family's basic rate
up to $29.83. "The service is not worth it as it is," she says, adding
that her system frequently zaps out when it rains. "It's just progressively
gotten higher and higher, and the service has gotten worse and worse."

Title: Program access tops Washington agenda
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.54)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell and Paige Albiniak
Issue: Cable
Description: Cable rates and cable's control of programming came under
attack in 1997. And while neither Congress or the FCC has shown signs of
revisiting rate regulation, the industry may get a proposed set of tougher
program-access rules for Christmas. The FCC had planned to issue a proposal
to revise program-access rules, but tabled it to give the new commissioners
time to study the issues. Competitors want the access rules changed so that
programmers cannot cut exclusive deals or sell programming to larger
distributors at lower prices.

** FCC Regulation **

Title: The ban plays on
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.22)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Radio
Description: The FCC's lawyers told a court that the commission has no
immediate plans to repeal its restriction against common ownership of a
newspaper and TV station in the same market. The FCC the rule will stay as
is until March 22, the date by which Tribune Broadcasting is required to
sell either WDZL(TV) Miami or the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. The Telecom
Act requires the FCC to review all its broadcast and telephone rules every
two years, and they did so last month.

Title: Low-Watt 'Pirate' Fights F.C.C. Rules
Source: New York Times (D12)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/radio-pirate-media.html
Author: Julie Lew
Issue: F.C.C. Regulation
Description: Stephen Dunifer is battling to open the nation's airwaves to
small, low-power stations like his Free Radio Berkeley. His fight, which
has been going on for the past four years, just moved into Federal court
where Mr. Dunifer is challenging regulations established by the Federal
Communications Commission that set a minimum transmission power standard of
100 watts for any radio station with a broadcast license. In a 1993
rebuttal to the FCC's attempt to fine Mr. Dunifer $20,000 for making
unlicensed broadcasts, his lawyers wrote, "the fundamental problem is that
the FCC has not provided procedures by which micro radio broadcasters can
become licensed or authorized." The FCC sees him as a radio "pirate" who is
not abiding by rules that other broadcasters must live with.

** Internet **

Title: Old Man Bandwidth
Source: New York Times (D1,D13)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120897fiber.html
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Internet Technology
Description: Brian Reid, a computer scientist, who heads a team of network
engineers at the Digital Equipment Corporation, believes that instead of the
rivers, railroad tracks and roads that brought about commerce in earlier
times, today's cities will spring up around pipelines that carry large
amounts of computer data. "Bandwidth in the late 1990's is important for
commerce in the same way that railroads were important in the 1890's and
seaports were in the 1790's. It's the way you sell your product," said Mr.
Reid. "Bandwidth is the delivery vehicle by which these companies sell their
goods in the information age." Today his vision is being realized in Palo
Alto, CA, where a combination of public and private investment allowed the
city to complete construction of a $2 million, 15 mile fiber optic ring.
This high-capacity switching point on the Internet is bringing many
companies to the area as they rush to grab a chunk of bandwidth. "Silicon
Valley's initial regional advantage is being reinforced through early and
massive leading edge investments in technological infrastructure," said
Annalee Saxenian, a Univ. of CA at Berkeley professor in the department of
city and regional planning. "Through this process, Silicon Valley will
compound its advantage relative to competing regions, just as the
manufacturing belt did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Title: News-Ad Issues Arise in New Media
Source: New York Times (D12)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120897blurring.html
Author: Saul Hansell
Issue: Internet Use
Description: In an effort to make their huge investments in the Internet pay
off, some of the largest news organizations are beginning to link
advertisements to news on their Web sites. "The pressure for ad dollars is
so great that some Web sites would do anything to bring in the money," said
David J. Moore, chairman of Petry Interactive, a company that sells Internet
advertising. "I'm a guy who likes to make money, but to the extent that
publishers start to mix advertising and editorial, they risk losing the
confidence of the consumer." The publishers and advertisers are saying that
they are trying to use the interactive nature of the medium to offer readers
a new angle in easy and relevant shopping. But others, even those in the
advertising business, worry that the interest of the publishers and
advertisers are becoming more intertwined and the independence of news
reporting could be compromised.

Title: 'Browser War' Limits Access To Web Sites
Source: New York Times (D1,D13)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120897browsers.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Internet Access
Description: A browsing program, sometimes called "the Internet software
equivalent of a dial tone," may be losing its edge as an intended
technological passport. Due to ongoing competition between Netscape and
Microsoft, a single browser will no longer offer access onto the entire Web.
In a few cases, sites are blacked out completely to one browser. Other
sites state that they can only be accessed if another type of browser is
downloaded. Yet, an even more common problem can be thought of as brownout
where anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of a site will not work properly with
certain browsers. "It will be an increasing problem for Internet users over
the next year or 18 months," said David M. Smith, and analyst for the
Gartner Group, a research firm. To see all of the Web, some experts advise
using both Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Explorer on your PC.
Internet analysts and experts predict that the problem will worsen over the
next year or so.

Title: What's.Nu: Web Address Shortage Sparks Idea
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B23E)
Author: Jason Fry
Issue: Internet
Description: In 1993 there were 7,000 domain names on the Internet. There
are now more than a million and the supply of names is running thin. Network
Solutions Inc's monopoly on domain names ends next year and seven new
designations -- .arts, .firm, .nom, .rec, .sho, & .web -- are expected to
added next year to help create new name possibilities. But rollout of new
names has been slowed by disagreement within the Internet community and by
the Government's continued examination of the issue. For now, some countries
-- like Tonga and Niue -- are selling off names with their country codes
(.to and .nu) which are scarcely used.

Title: Getting Personal
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (Section R)
Issue: Internet
Description: A joint report with the Wall Street Journal Interactive
Edition. "A look at the people of the Net -- those who use it, those who
make it happen, those who hope to profit from it." Includes stories on
Internet use by kids, online activists, advertising, investing, running
websites, and free speech. See it online with free two week subscription to
WSJ Interactive.

** Telephone **

Title: Digital Warriors Want Baby Bells' Blood
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A24)
Author: Rich Karlgaard, editor of Forbes ASAP
Issue: Infrastructure/Old vs New Media
Description: A look at the basic differences between the "digital crowd" and
the local phone monopolies, the "Baby Bells." The digital crowd -- like
Microsoft and Intel -- are in an industry that has seen a million-fold
technical improvement in the past 25 years. From Morse's telegraph to
today's phone line to the home (153 years), there has only been a 7,000-fold
increase. The digital crowd believes that the only thing that can stop their
rapid growth is lack of bandwidth to the home. They want to see an end to
the Bells and are attacking on two fronts: planning a class-action suit to
break up the Bells and financing the Bells competition. "Our industry is
driven by Moore's Law," says a Silicon Valley investor. "Theirs is driven by
Moron's Law -- the morons who run and regulate America's telecos."

Title: Phone Users Criticize Rise in Local Rates
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A19)
Author: Gautam Naik
Issue: International/Telephone Rates
Description: Barriers to phone competition will fall on January 1, but many
consumers -- especially low-income consumers -- are concerned these days
with the rising prices of local phone service. Many national telephone
monopolies have lowered long distance rates -- which is good for business
and "well-heeled users," but offers little to no savings for local dialers.
From "Bangor, Maine to Budapest to the most remote town in the Philippines"
emotions are rising with increases in local phone rates.

Title: Coming to Pay Phones: '800' Calls Won't Be Toll-Free
Source: New York Times (A1, A17)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/phones-deregulation.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: As a result of the deregulation of the telecommunications
industry, consumers may find that they will be unable to make toll-free
calls from some of the nation's approximately two million public pay phones.
The FCC ruled in October of this year that owners of toll-free numbers must
pay a 28.4 cent per-call fee to owners of pay phones whenever customers dial
their 1-800 line from a public phone. What is more, the move adds that same
charge to each calling-card or collect call made from a public phone. The
ruling could cost American businesses and consumers almost $1 billion a year.
These and other results of this ruling highlight the difficulty of
deregulating the United State's $200 billion telecommunications industry.
The intent of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was to open all areas of
the communications industry to new competition. But this breaking of
monopolies also includes shifting the complex structure of costs that have
allowed for services like toll-free calls to remain free to consumers.

** Corporate **

Title: Sinclair dips into $1 billion purse for Max Media
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.16)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Steve McClellan
Issue: Merger
Description: Sinclair Broadcast Group's agreement to buy Max Media may be
the start of another buying spree. Sinclair's president, Barry Baker, says
he intends to be a long-term player in the radio business. The properties
added via the Max Media deal will give Sinclair 43 TV stations covering
19.4% of the U.S., and 75 radio outlets. This deal will make Sinclair the
eighth-largest TV station operator, and the eighth-largest radio group.

Title: Microsoft, Justice Department Square Off in Court
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: John Wilke
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Federal Judge Thomas Penfield heard arguments from the Justice
Department and Microsoft on how the software giant may have used Windows 95
to muscle its way into the Internet browser market. Microsoft contents that
the browser software is part of the operating system.

** Free Speech **

Title: On the Front Line of Free Speech
Source: Washington Post (Op-eds, A19)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/08/032l-120897-idx.html
Author: Fred Hiatt
Issue: International/Free Speech
Description: Belarus is a small country, known to most Americans as the
chief victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster back when it was still part
of the Soviet Union. The country's dictator, President Lukashenko, has
recently shut down one of his country's most popular newspapers, the Svaboda
(translated: Freedom) because it was "impugning the morality, honor and
dignity of its citizens." Ihar Hermianchuk, the paper's owner and editor,
said, "We knew sooner or later that they'd close us down, they hope to teach
us a lesson. But we're already planning our next newspaper." The Svaboda was
one the most popular and delightfully irreverent of the independent
newspapers in the country. Hermianchuk and 10 journalists managed to produce
an eight-page newspaper three times a week---these 10 are on the front lines
of a struggle that matters very much to the U.S. and its future in the
world. It's a struggle against totalitarianism that many Americans assumed
was over. The Svaboda reported on corruption in the president's inner
circle, and even broke a story on Lukashenko's plans for a union with Russia
to expand his ambitions to Boris Yeltsin's chair in Moscow. Hermianchuk and
his colleagues aren't giving up, though, he's already registered a new name,
"News", and plans to start printing in Lithuania.

** InfoTech **

Title: Modem Markers Reach Accord On Standards
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: Frederick Rose
Issue: InfoTech
Description: The dispute over a standard for 56k modems was tentatively
resolved by the International Telecommunications Union, an arm of the United
Nations, at an Orlando, Florida hotel near Disney World. The new standard
will be a compromise between 3Com's "X2" technology and Rockwell's "K56flex"
with some improvements from Lucent and Motorola.

** Media and Politics **

Title: Nixon vs. the nets
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.64)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Media & Politics
Description: Newly released tapes and other Nixon administration records
report initiatives to use pending antitrust litigation as a weapon against
the networks and a plan to elicit favorable coverage from CBS in exchange
for help with the network's troubles with Congress. Nixon aide Charles
Colson wrote a memo in 1971 to White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldemen
saying: "[Former CBS President Frank] Stanton is willing to personally
involve himself in news matters...I think there is a possible gain to us of
some magnitude." Colson wrote this as CBS was facing a House vote to cite
CBS and Stanton for contempt after the network refused to supply lawmakers
with subpoenaed outtakes from its documentary "The Selling of the Pentagon."
Administration memos on the vote suggest that officials hoped to gain more
favorable coverage in exchange for helping CBS avoid the citation.

** Public Interest **

Title: The Bizarro Universe Gore commission
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (pg.26)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Issue: Public Interest
Description: The Media Institute said it is forming its own group to
study the question of broadcast public interest duties in the digital age.
The lineup: First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere, Thomas Jefferson
Center for the Protection of Free Expression Director Robert O'Neil, and
former RTNDA gen. counsel J. Laurent Scharff to name a few. The Media
Institute said the group will submit comments to the Gore commission and
will also consider the public interest issue on its own.

** Arts **

Title: In Los Angeles, a New Generation Discovers Philanthropy
Source: New York Times (A14)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/hollywood-giving.html
Author: Judith Miller
Issue: Philanthropy/Arts
Description: In Hollywood it appears that a new generation of
philanthropists is being born. In the past, members of the entertainment
industry have been pretty stingy when it comes to supporting charities. Los
Angeles, the nation's second largest city, ranked 48th in a survey of giving
by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 1994 - the most recent available data.
(The survey ranked New York City at 27th and Minneapolis as No. 1.)
"Hollywood has not really been involved in the city until now," said Harold
M. Williams, president of the Paul Getty Trust. "While there are incidents
of huge generosity, there is, unlike New York, no sense of civic pride that
obliges one to give in a sustained or systematic way. There is no Brooke
Astor." Philanthropy experts are hoping that Disney's "challenge" gift to
the Disney Concert Hall, which depends on other corporate sponsors to donate
$25 million more, will be the start of a trend in the LA area. "Once the
city has a few high-profile projects around which all citizens can rally,"
said Mr. Broad, the SunAmerica executive, "people who have never given will
do so and a tradition of giving will finally take hold here."

Title: A Wind of Gratitude Blows Through the Performing Arts
Source: New York Times (A20)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/kennedy-center-honors.html
Author: Rick Lyman
Issue: Arts
Description: The Kennedy Center Honors was held this past weekend in
Washington DC. The premier event, celebrating its 20th anniversary this
year, turns attention toward celebrating lifetimes of achievement in the
performing arts. This year's honorees were Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan,
Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman and Edward Villella. "The arts are now, to
borrow a phrase from one of our honorees, perhaps the strongest current
blowing in the wind," said President Bill Clinton. Referring to Bob Dillan,
the President added, "He probably had more impact on people of my generation
than any other artist." When George Stevens Jr., who developed the event
and has been co-producer since its inception, was asked about Dylan's
participation, he said, "I guess I'd say it's not so much that we're turning
a corner as that it's part of a long continuum."
[Oh, the times they are a-changin'...(sorry - I had to say it, just call it
our Monday morning 'cheese' bite)]

Title: Last Picture Show
Source: Washington Post (Media Notes, B1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/08/138l-120897-idx.html
Author: Desson Howe
Issue: Arts
Description: There was little to mark the closing of the Key Theatre,
which has been a part of Georgetown life for almost 30 years. Eddie
Cockrell, a film festival organizer, said, "There's gotta be 100 films
you're guaranteed not to get now." The Key's demise means "the presentation
of cinema in Washington is going to me much more corporate," said Peggy
Parsons, curator of film at the Nat'l Gallery. She was referring to the
acquisition of independent film companies, like Miramax and Sony Classics,
by Hollywood studios. This may mean more independent movies for audiences,
but it spells strangulation for places like the Key and the Biograph
Theatre. David Levy, the Key's owner, will continue to host the Key Sunday
Cinema Club, which will relocate to the United Artist's theatre in Bethesda
in February.
*********

Internet
NYT: Reno to Convene Meeting On High-Tech Crime
WSJ: U.S. Campaign to Focus on Internet's Criminals
WP: Maryland Goes Boldly on the Internet

Arts
WP: Smoker's Withdrawal in Hollywood
NYT: 2 CDs Retell Canadian Fiction

Radio
WP: Radio Days in Maryland: Time to Squelch the Static

InfoTech
WP: Is Intel's Ties To Microsoft Loosening?
NYT: Smithsonian Honors the Original Bug in the System

Corporate News
WP: Eisner Gets A Payday of $565 Million
WSJ: Eisner Exercises 7.3 Million Disney Stock Option

** Internet **

Title: Reno to Convene Meeting On High-Tech Crime
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120497crime.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Attorney General Janet Reno announced a two-day conference of
international authorities "to devise interagency measures to locate
criminals that use the Internet and other new technologies." Their aim is
to ensure that cybercriminals will not be able to locate any safe havens.
"One of the greatest challenges we face in this area of law enforcement is
to identify online predators...in child pornography," Reno said yesterday at
the Internet/Online Summit: Focus on Children conference. "Current
technology often allows these criminals to mask their location and their
identity. The rapid and global growth of the Internet raises a host of
complex issues involving criminal law enforcement that expand beyond
national boundaries." The meeting will be held next week.

Title: U.S. Campaign to Focus on Internet's Criminals
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A24)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The White House and the Department of Justice will host a
meeting of foreign law-enforcement officials next week to coordinate a
global campaign to crack down on the use of the Internet by criminals. The
meeting will include interior ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the UK (and they're dancing in the streets, yeah).
Attorney General Janet Reno said, "When we meet, we will be talking about
methods to locate and identify computer criminals so we can bring them to
justice."

Title: Maryland Goes Boldly on the Internet
Source: Washington Post (B4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/209l-120497-idx.html
Author: Amy Argetsinger
Issue: Access to Gov Info/Internet Content
Description: In the next few months, Maryland residents will be able to look
up the value of their neighbor's houses and update their state licenses
through the Internet. These, and other, new services are part of an
ambitious effort by the Maryland state government to utilize information
technology to open up more services to the public and help government run
more efficiently. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a think tank in DC
that follows digital technology issues, recently ranked Maryland as fifth
among all states for technological savvy.

** Arts **

Title: Smoker's Withdrawal in Hollywood
Source: Washington Post (D15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/177l-120497-idx.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Health
Description: A group of television producers and moviemakers agreed
yesterday that their industry needs to be more aware of how it portrays
cigarette smoking. Appearing at the White House with Vice President Al
Gore, representatives from the Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Writers
Guild, and a speaker for supermodels, pledged to use peer pressure to keep
their colleagues from portraying cigarette smoking as cool. A recent study
found 77 percent of all movies contained scenes that showed tobacco use and they
often glamorized smoking. "The cause and effect relationship is very, very
clear," Gore said. He added that impressionable moviegoers "don't see the
victim of lung cancer drowning in the fluid that builds up in their lungs."

Title: 2 CDs Retell Canadian Fiction
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/mirapaul/120497mirapaul.html
Author: Matthew Mirapaul
Issue: Arts
Description: Two new CD-ROM adaptations of books by Canadian authors
demonstrate the different ways in which multimedia developers can illuminate
literary text. In 'Anne of Green Gables,' by L.M. Montgomery, "each page
contains a hand-drawn depiction of a scene from the book, as well as
highlighted words that are linked to an illustrated glossary of people and
places. There is a musical accompaniments throughout, and non- or near-
readers can choose to have the story spoken aloud by a narrator." If you
click on one of the illustrations the scene springs to life moving around
within the space delivering lines from the text. In 'Le Desert Mauve,' by
Nicole Brossard, the video artist Adriene Jenik has translated the story
into an interactive medium. Her interpretation is presented through
scenarios where the reader drives through a desert landscape discovering
video clips, ominous animation, and intriguing bits of speech in three
languages, as well as a encountering a variety of secrets that begin to
reveal themselves throughout the journey. (Consumer information about these
two CD-ROMs can be accessed at the end of the above link.)

** Radio **

Title: Radio Days in Maryland: Time to Squelch the Static
Source: Washington Post (E3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/149l-120497-idx.html
Author: Rudolph A. Pyatt Jr.
Issue: Radio
Description: Ten years ago, Maryland set up a fund, generally referred to as
the Sunny Day Fund, designed to support "extraordinary" economic development
proposals in conjunction with the state's Economic Development Opportunities
Program. While loans from the Sunny Day fund are usually not disputed,
detractors of Md.'s Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) are attempting to make one
proposed loan from this fund a big issue in the next gubernatorial race. The
loan in mention is a $500,000 loan, supported by Gov. Glendening, to Radio
One Inc., a minority-owned media company based in Lanham. Critics say that
Glendening is expecting Radio One Inc. to endorse him in exchange for the
loan. While Radio One's application was initially withheld by the
Department of Fiscal Services pending the clarification of several technical
issues, there was never a concern within the Fiscal Services staff that
their application was part of a scheme cooked up by Cathy Hughes, Radio
One's chief executive and Glendening.

** InfoTech **

Title: Is Intel's Ties To Microsoft Loosening?
Source: Washington Post (E1, E2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/137l-120497-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Info Tech
Description: Intel, which creates about 85 percent of the computer chips
used inside personal computers, announced yesterday that it is creating a
new design that will be a low-cost alternative to the PC. The company won't
finish its blueprints until Feb. or Mar., but Intel has made it clear that
it will support a variety of software operating systems - not just those
offered by Microsoft. This announcement is the latest sign that the era of
a single, dominant device in the world of high-technology is fading.

Title: Smithsonian Honors the Original Bug in the System
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120497bug.html
Author: Peter Wayner
Issue: InfoTech
Description: The Smithsonian Institute is commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the discovery of one of the first "computer bugs" (actually, a moth that
shorted out the Mark II computer in 1947 at Harvard). The exhibit discusses
the use of the word and traces its history through modern times. The
exhibit, which also includes other error creating mechanisms in computer
history, runs through March at the National Museum of American History.

** Corporate News **

Title: Eisner Gets A Payday of $565 Million
Source: Washington Post (E1, E3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/04/130l-120497-idx.html
Author: James Bates
Issue: Winning the Lottery
Description: Yesterday, Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner
exercised stock options at a profit of about $565 million dollars. This
pretax payout is the second one Eisner has taken in five years. In 1992, he
reaped $202 million, an action that triggered an intense debate over
lucrative stock option packages designed for executives. Although Eisner's
pay package is huge, his net worth runs far behind that of other executives
who own large chunks of the companies they run. Some experts believe that
Eisner's move will bring about debates similar to those voiced in '92. [Also
see WSJ (A3) "Eisner Exercises 7.3 Million Disney Stock Option" by Bruce Orwall]
*********

Universal Service
WP: A New Tax for the New Year

Internet & Online Services
TelecomAM: 'Pro-Family' Groups Say Internet Summit Is P.R. Move By ISPs;
Free Speech Advocates Respond
TelecomAM: Free Speech Advocates Form Alliance To Fight
Internet Restriction
WSJ: AOL to Allow Use Of Microsoft Software For Sending E-Mail
WSJ: Korn/Ferry Moves On-Line For Recruiting
NYT: Basics on Finding Useful and Timely Information

Telephone
TelecomAM: Rowe Says Federal-State Tension Over Telecom Act is 'Healthy'
WP: "Call 54" Service Would Reveal Addresses in Md.

InfoTech
NYT: In Berlin Center, Virtual City Takes Shape
NYT: Motorola Unveils 2-Way Pager

Cable
WP: Small Screen, Big Dream

Newspapers
WP: Chex and Balance

Media&Politics
WP: Roll With Punches, Judge Tells N.Y. Mayor

** Universal Service **

Title: A New Tax for the New Year
Source: Washington Post (A27)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/02/014l-120297-idx.html
Author: James Glassman, American Enterprise Institute www.aei.org
Issue: Universal Service
Description: In editorial, Glassman warns of stiff tax in your phone bill
next year -- a 4-5% in telephone bills to pay for universal service
programs. Glassman criticizes Congress, Vice President Gore, and the Federal
Communications Commission for raising the total bill for universal service
from $1.9 billion to $4.9 billion annually and from trying to hide the cost
in phone bills. "The idea here is an old one: People can't rebel if they're
kept in the dark. That's exactly where the FCC, Gore, [Sen] Stevens
[R-Alaska] and the rest are trying to keep them." [For a look at The New
Definition of Universal Service see
http://www.benton.org/Updates/summary.html]

** Internet & Online Services **

Title: 'Pro-Family' Groups Say Internet Summit Is P.R. Move By ISPs;
Free Speech Advocates Respond
Source: Telecom A.M.---Dec. 2, 1997
http://capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Internet Content
Description: Sen. Dan Coats (R-IA) has joined some "pro-family" groups in
expressing concern that an upcoming summit on children's use of the 'Net
will be used as a P.R. vehicle for ISPs rather than seriously attempting to
address dangers facing kids online. Coats said that he believed his
legislation has spurred the ISPs to developing and offering software that
would block kids' access to indecent material. Earlier this month he
introduced a bill that would penalize online predators, including ISPs that
sell "harmful" material to minors. Family Research Council President Gary
Bauer said the summit has been "hijacked" by ISPs and that, so far, ISPs
have hampered "even modest attempts" to put blocking technology on the 'Net
and warned "parents can't do it by themselves."

Title: Free Speech Advocates Form Alliance To Fight Internet Restriction
Source: Telecom A.M.---Dec. 2, 1997
http://capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: A coalition of free speech advocates have announced the
formation of the Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA) to fight
gov't.-coerced ratings, blocking and filtering and to ensure the continuation
of the Internet as an open forum. Members told reporters that they're
concerned industry and gov't. officials could jeopardize free speech on the
Internet by agreeing to adopt voluntary ratings systems or promote blocking
and filtering software. EPIC Legal Counsel David Sobel said a new report by
the Center finds that "so-called family-friendly" search engines "typically
block access to 99% of the material on the Internet that would be
appropriate for young people." While panelists at the "Internet/Online
Summit: Focus on Children" acknowledged there's objectionable material
online, they said it is up to the user -- not gov't. or industry -- to determine
what children and others should view. They also agreed that parents should
be educated about the tools available for filtering and blocking, but that
the industry's voluntary adoption of ratings or screening would send a
message to lawmakers that it's open to censorship.

Title: AOL to Allow Use Of Microsoft Software For Sending E-Mail
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Online Services
Description: AOL said it would give its members the option of sending and
receiving e-mail using software from Microsoft instead of AOL's own e-mail
package. They said that they'll rework its system to make it compatible with
Microsoft's Outlook Express. David Gang, senior VP of new products at AOL
said that they won't distribute Outlook Express to AOL customers. While this
move won't really abate AOL's own e-mail problems, it will at least allow
customers to use the more advanced features of the Microsoft program.

Title: Korn/Ferry Moves On-Line For Recruiting
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Joann S. Lublin
Issue: Internet
Description: Korn/Ferry Internat'l will unveil a service intended to fill
mid-level jobs quickly through a blend of Internet technology and
conventional search tactics. A new subsidiary dubbed "CareerLink" will
target U.S. managers and professionals earning $75,000 to $120,000 a year
for the first time. Michael Boxburger, Korn/Ferry president and executive
officer said the electronic job search service may expand to London "in the
next year" and operate U.S.-wide by June 2000. CareerLink is actually a
database that matches potential applicants with vacancies, then personally
screens the best prospects. Employers will get to download the service's
videotaped job interviews before deciding on candidates to meet. Bill Gross,
a 'Net entrepreneur who owns a stake in CareerLink, said, "This is executive
recruiting on steroids because we're speeding up the process."

Title: Basics on Finding Useful and Timely Information
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/travel-log/120297travel-log.html
Author: Stephen C. Miller
Issue: Internet Use
Description: Many of us have looked to the Web as a prime source of timely
data only to discover a search that proves to be frustrating and fruitless.
With this virtual library being still relatively new, a technologically
advanced Dewey Decimal System has yet to be developed. Instead we find
ourselves at the mercy of numerous search engines, all of which use
different systems. But wait, we now have two men in East Greenwich, RI --
Robert Balliot, a librarian, and David Habib, retired vice-president of
technical operations for Arkwright Mutual Insurance Co. with a doctorate in
chemistry -- that have developed a searching tutorial to help us learn how to
find the information that we want and need. Balliot maintains that the real
secret to effectively searching the Web is found in critical thinking. "Try
to consider the authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage of
a Web site before trusting it as an information source," he said, pointing
out that children as well as college professors can post information on the
Internet. Their guide was developed for beginners but can also provide
helpful reminders to those who are already familiar with the basics.
Balliot and Habib's online guide can be accessed at:
http://www.ultranet.com/~egrlib/tutor.htm.

** Telephone **

Title: Rowe Says Federal-State Tension Over Telecom Act is 'Healthy'
Source: Telecom A.M.---Dec. 2, 1997
http://capitol( at )cappubs.com/
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: NARUC Communications Committee President Bob Rowe said that
the Telecom Act "is profoundly federalist in its structure" and was designed
to include "a healthy federal-state tension," in a speech at the American
Enterprise Inst. in Washington yesterday. He also said that state
commissions' legal battles with the FCC are not over "jurisdiction for
jurisdiction's sake," but to protect their ability to carry out "policies
appropriate for their markets." He called for better communication and more
joint actions between the federal and state agencies and advised the FCC to
use only "judicious and limited preemption" of state and local actions.

Title: "Call 54" Service Would Reveal Addresses in Md.
Source: Washington Post (D1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/02/047l-120297-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Privacy
Description: Bell Atlantic will ask Maryland phone regulators for permission
to offer a new service that will allow people to learn the name and address
of any owner of a listed phone number in the state. People could dial
555-5454, enter a phone number, and receive the name and address of the
person assigned to the number from an automated voice. Bell Atlantic plans
to charge $0.75 for the service and will expand the service to other states
if successful in Maryland. Customers may block their number toll free by
calling 1-888-579-0323. Bell Atlantic claims that the information the
service gives is already available in phone directories. Critics see is as
another erosion of privacy.

** InfoTech **

Title: In Berlin Center, Virtual City Takes Shape
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/euro/120297euro.html
Author: Bruno Giussani
Issue: Information Technology
Description: Virtual reality is moving from the realm of games to the arena
of economic development in an effort to help contractors and businesses
understand why they should build in a certain area. An example of this can
be seen with Artemedia, a German company specializing in virtual reality and
three-dimensional animation. Nearly three years ago, they started
developing the "Berlin 2010" model in an effort to assist the city as it
rebuilds. This model, which will encompass the entire city by the end of
1998, enables the visualization of objects for urban and transportation
planning, property marketing, and environmental management. "It is a
serious digital property development and city planning tool," said Nicholas
Denissen, business development manager at Artemedia. Artemedia's virtual
environment is different from computer games or existing military
simulations in that it allows the user to manage the entire model at once.
"If you can connect a virtual city rendering to actual data bases, for
example, the model becomes a browser -- an easy-to-understand and very
effective user's interface," Denissen explained. Other cities around the
world, like Rome, Vienna and San Paolo, are also looking to use Artemedia's
technology. The State of Georgia will most likely become their first United
States client.

Title: Motorola Unveils 2-Way Pager
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/120297pager.html
Author: Marty Katz
Issue: Information Technology
Description: For all your paging needs, Motorola released their 2-way pager,
dubbed the "Page Writer," for retail sale yesterday. Similar to Skytel's
"Skywriter," this new product enables the user to send and receive email,
and to acknowledge the receipt of a page for guaranteed messaging. Since
these products are basically mini-email terminals, Internet access from
these hand units is possible.

** Cable **

Title: Small Screen, Big Dream
Source: Washington Post (B1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/02/032l-120297-idx.html
Author: Chip Crews
Issue: Cable/Minorities
Description: Troubled by the image of African American men in the media,
Harry Evans started "That Show With Those Black Guys" three years ago. The
cable-access television series now aires in 90 markets including Los
Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington, DC. On each show,
Mr. Evans sits down with a successful or up-and-coming black man and gives
him some air time to tell his story. He estimates that he can produce a show
for "probably under a hundred bucks," but receives no funds from cable
operators for the right to air the shows.

** Newspapers **

Title: Chex and Balance
Source: Washington Post (B1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/02/039l-120297-idx.html
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Newspapers
Description: Mark Willes, former executive at cereal giant General Mills, is
now the chief executive of Times Mirror and running the Los Angeles Times.
Story looks at Mr. Willes and how an executive with mainly marketing
experience can run one of the nation's leading newspapers.

** Media&Politics **

Title: Roll With Punches, Judge Tells N.Y. Mayor
Source: Washington Post (A3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/02/070l-120297-idx.html
Author: Blaine Harden
Issue: Advertising/Media&Politics
Description: A bus ad campaign purchased by New York magazine satirizes NYC
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's penchant for claiming credit whenever something
good happens in New York. But the mayor had the city's transit authority
remove the ads claiming they violated his right to privacy and that they
amounted to unauthorized commercial use of his name. But a US District judge
has issued an injunction ordering a return of the ads on the busses: "One
who has chosen to be mayor, and therefore the subject of daily comment and
controversy, cannot avoid the limelight of publicity -- good and bad," Judge
Shira Scheindlin wrote.
*********