Benton RSS Feed

LICY@periplum.cdinet.com

AT&T Seeks Global Reach and Partners

New Guidelines on Net Ads for Children

Who uses the Internet and how?

Software Lets Marketers Target Web Ads

BT, MCI Detail Pact with Telefonica

Two German Cases Show How Europe Still is Struggling to Regulate Internet

Libraries Urged to Nip Internet in the Buff

ANSER to the Call for Help

Got a Minute?

Scrap Program Ratings, Diller Says

Commerce Committee to look at 'safe harbor'

McCain wants to lock-in channel to give-back in 2006

Hard-Liquor ads: A mere drop in the keg

Sky's Modest Proposal

TV debate moving beyond ratings

We've heard this song before

*********************************************

Title: AT&T Seeks Global Reach and Partners
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: International
Description: AT&T's plans to control the global telecommunications market
received a set back last week when Telefonica de Espansa chose to split
from AT&T's international affiliation and make a deal with British Telecom
and MCI.

Title: New Guidelines on Net Ads for Children
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Internet Regulation/Children
Description: Last year the FTC challenged advertisers to come up with a set
of voluntary guidelines for Internet ads aimed at children. The Children's
Advertising Review Unit, an Industry group, has expanded the guidelines for
TV ads for kids to include Internet ads. The Consumer Federation of
America and the Center for Media Education have also developed an
alternative set of guidelines for the FTC. The industry guidelines urge
advertisers to make a reasonable effort to see that children get their
parents' permission before ordering products or supplying advertisers with
personal information. CME's guidelines believe that no information should
be solicited from children.

Title: Who uses the Internet and how? We'll get back to you on that if
someone figures it out
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Laurence Zuckerman
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: Advertisers may be staying away from the web until there is a
more effective way to study who is on the Internet and when. As a result,
"dozens of companies are now competing to become to the web what A.C.
Nielson and its ratings are to television (Nielson itself, of course, is
one of them)." In the industry, gathering information about web visitors
and web visitors' habits is called "usage analysis."

Title: BT, MCI Detail Pact with Telefonica
Source: Wall Street Journal (A19)
Author: Gautam Naik, Carlta Vitzhum
Issue: International
Description: Friday's deal between Spain's Telefonica SA and British
Telecommunications-MCI will "give the trio an enviable position in three of
the world's richest markets -- North America, Europe, and Latin America."
Right now the Latin American market is worth about $35 billion. In the
next three years, it is expected to be worth $60 billion.

Title: France Telecom's Privatization Spurs Service Makeover
Source: Wall Street Journal (A19)
Author: Douglas Lavin
Issue: International
Description: France Telecom SA is suddenly teaching its customer-service
agents to be nice and making other public-relations investments because, as
France's phone market becomes privatized, France Telecom is going to have
to compete for customers.

Title: Software Lets Marketers Target Web Ads
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: New software is available to tap into consumer databases and
gather information so that web advertisers can target their ads as
specifically as junk mail is targeted. A user would come to a site, enter a
small amount of personal info to enter the site, the little rabbit inside
the site would run over and use this personal info to pull up a full
profile from a consumer database, then the little site-master cyberrabbit
would run back and display an ad on the site for the peanut butter-olive
cookies that the user has an insatiable addiction to as known from past
credit records.

Title: Two German Cases Show How Europe Still is Struggling to Regulate
Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9B)
Author: Silvia Ascarelli and Kimberley A. Strassel
Issue: Internet Regulation/International
Description: After a couple of not very successful attempts to penalize
Internet service providers for the content of some of the sites they
support, European governments are beginning to view Internet service
providers like phone companies in that they shouldn't be held liable for
"criminal conversations conducted over telephone lines."

Title: Libraries Urged to Nip Internet in the Buff
Source: Washington Post (B1)
Author: Amy Argetsinger
Issue: Libraries/Internet Regulation
Description: Anne Arundel County Library is debating whether to "restrict
patron's access to the more lurid offerings of the unregulated Internet."
The president of the libraries board of trustees stated that, "We can't
really pull the plug on something because we don't appreciate the subject
matter. We have to respect people's rights to access what they want to
access." But he went on to say that, "when you have people going into the
library and seeing objectionable pictures on the screen, I can understand
why they're upset." Greater than half of the nations libraries expect to
offer Internet service by the end of this year.

Title: ANSER to the Call for Help
Source: Washington Post (p.17 in Wash Etch)
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Info-Etch
Description: ANSER, a nonprofit Arlington-based research organization, has
developed a computer software called HART (humanitarian assistance
requirement tool) which helps relief workers assess the damage of natural
disasters or civil disruption and keep track of who needs aid and what
supplies have gone where. The program can categorize data on demographics
like pre-war population or prison population and estimate supply needs like
how much maize, salts, fat/oil is available. Relief workers say that this
type of program that can keep tracks of lots of fragments of information is
much needed.

Title: Got a Minute?
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Digital TV/Public Service Announcements
Description: In a speech to the National Association of Advertisers, FCC
Chairman Reed Hundt stated that TV networks should dedicate 60 seconds of
prime time per night for public service announcements in exchange for their
spectrum to transition to digital TV.

Title: Scrap Program Ratings, Diller Says
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: V Chip
Description: Barry Diller, the chief of Silver King station group,
commented in a speech that content-based ratings for TV shows would be
"loony" because they would be plagued with inconsistencies and the amount of
TV programming would make them impossible to implement. Diller also asked
broadcasters to support free-time for candidates.

Title: Commerce Committee to look at 'safe harbor'
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.7)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: V Chip
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) has
agreed to let the committee evaluate the 'safe harbor' bill which would let
broadcasters choose between content-rating shows with sex, violence, and
objectionable language or moving shows with high scores in these categories
to times when kids are less likely to watch them.

Title: McCain wants to lock-in channel to give-back in 2006
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.6)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) is
contemplating legislation which would require that broadcasters give back
their old spectrum after the transition to digital television by 2006.

Title: Hard-Liquor ads: A mere drop in the keg
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.14)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Advertising
Description: In 1996 hard liquor television ads, which the liquor industry
started producing after a very long voluntary ban, only equalled about .1%
of what's spent on beer and wine advertising. The alcoholic beverage
industry spent $664,745,000 on TV ads last year. Distilled spirits spent
$678,000. House Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La) would like beer,
wine and spirits industries to organize a voluntary code of conduct for TV
alcohol advertising. The article has chart with a break down of
different companies' advertising expenditures.

Title: Sky's Modest Proposal
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Satellite
Description: Executives of Sky, Rupert Murdoch's satellite TV project, are
circulating draft legislation on Capitol Hill which proposes that satellite
carriers transmit local broadcasting signals in designated markets, but does
not require carriers to retransmit all local broadcasters.

Title: TV debate moving beyond ratings
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: V-Chip
Description: For the past three months lawmakers have argued and listened
to arguments about the television ratings system. In a debate last week,
several lawmakers wanted to refocus the debate away from the type of
ratings system to the content of the programming. Senator Mike
DeWine (R-Ohio) stated that "TV holds up certain things as the norm in
society. The reality or norm that TV portrays is a different America than I
accept, I see . . and I know." Former Senator Paul Simon created
legislation which gave broadcasters an anti-trust exemption from 1990-1993
to evaluate TV content. According to the President of the PTA, the
broadcasters never produced a national code for content.

Title: We've heard this song before
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.90)
Author: Editorial Staff of Broadcasting and Cable
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Broadcasting and Cable comes out against Hundt's suggestion
of 60 public service announcements in prime time. The article warns that
"there's no end to this list" of requirements.

At the FCC

REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN REED HUNDT BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL
ADVERTISERS, WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 17, 1997.

"COMMUNICATIONS AND THE HEALTH CARE OF TOMORROW" - REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN REED
HUNDT BEFORE THE FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE/PARTNERSHIPS
FOR NETWORKED CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION 1997 JOINT SESSION, WASHINGTON,
DC, APRIL 15, 1997.

*********

LICY@periplum.cdinet.com

Web Site Offers Details On Taxes' Destination

New Jersey Telephone Plan Neglects the Poor, Critics Say

Bell Atlantic Says Approval Near for Merger With Nynex

For WNET, A New Fund And New Security

Major Newspapers Try to Adapt Personas To New Web Format

Bell Atlantic, Nynex Brace for Rejection

Seeking Online Privacy For a Nine-Digit Number

D.C. Library's Miscues Have a Net Effect

*********************************************

Title: Web Site Offers Details On Taxes' Destination
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (A30)
Author: David W. Chen
Issue: Access to Government Information
Description: The New York City Independent Budget Office has opened a new
website called Tax Receipt which lets users input their tax information and
see "how much they contribute to city, state, and federal programs." The
site uses the motto "No taxation without explanation." People who don't
live in NYC can use the program to calculate their state and federal
contributions. The site is at www.ibo.nyc.ny.us

Title: New Jersey Telephone Plan Neglects the Poor, Critics Say
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (A31)
Author: Melody Petersen
Issue: Universal Service/Low-Income
Description: New Jersey's ratepayer advocate filed a complaint with the
state utility board that Bell Atlantic, which promised to wire every home
and business with fiber optic cable, has so far only done the suburban
areas and has bypassed the poorer urban enterprise zones. Bell Atlantic
says it is wiring the areas with the most demand first and that the whole
state will be done by 2010. "While the poor are assured access to low
rates for basic phone service through a Federal policy known as universal
access, so far there is not a clear policy to help low-income people into
the Information Age."

Title: Bell Atlantic Says Approval Near for Merger With Nynex
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (D1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Phone Regulation/Media Mergers
Description: The federal Justice Department yesterday told Bell Atlantic
that it is unlikely to block Bell Atlantic's $22 billion merger with Nynex.
The government could always decide to sue later if it felt that the merger
stifled competition.

Title: For WNET, A New Fund And New Security
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (B1)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Public Television
Description: New York's WNET's capital campaign has raised more than $70
million, "far more than has ever been raised by a public television station
before, with nearly two-thirds of it going into the station's first
endowment." The money will primarily be spent on development for Internet
educational services and programming and research.

Title: Major Newspapers Try to Adapt Personas To New Web Format
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (B1)
Author: Walter S. Mossberg
Issue: Journalism/Old vs New Media
Description: How are three of the biggest papers doing on the web? The
Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times are
performing an online balancing act: "They must offer all of their
high-impact print content in a design that somehow conveys the authority of
their famous personas, while still finding a way to offer extra features
and benefits on the Web, with some of the design flair possible on a
computer." The article has a nice compare and contrast of the three
papers' sites.

Title: Bell Atlantic, Nynex Brace for Rejection
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (B8)
Author: Leslie Cauley
Issue: Phone Regulation/Media Mergers
Description: Bell Atlantic and Nynex are gearing up to have their merger
rejected by the Justice Department's anti-trust division. "Some observers
believe, in fact, there is a better than 50% chance that anti-trust
enforcers will sue to block the transaction." A decision is expected within
a week. To stop the merger, the Justice Dept. must have proof that the
merger stifles competition. Proof, in other words, that Bell Atlantic was
planning to compete with Nynex in New York, but now will not because of the
merger.

Title: Seeking Online Privacy For a Nine-Digit Number
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (A21)
Author: Barbara J. Saffir
Issue: Privacy/Access to Government Information
Description: Senators Feinstein (D-Calif) and Grassley (R-Iowa) have
introduced legislation which would make it illegal "for credit bureaus to
disseminate Social Security numbers, unlisted telephone numbers, birth
dates, mothers' maiden names," and game fowl in fruit trees. The proposal
would also make it illegal to use social security numbers commercially.
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski has proposed legislation to "ban Social Security or
Internal Revenue Service records from being posted on the Internet without
an individual's written permission."

Title: D.C. Library's Miscues Have a Net Effect
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (D1)
Author: Steve Twomey
Issue: Libraries
Description: In his column Twomey describes the saga on the DC public
library's financial crisis. Yesterday was National Library Log-On Day, but
visitors to the DC Public Library site were greeted with the message "This
Web Site has been taken off-line due to non-payment." Apparently, this
unpaid bill is just the tip of the iceberg, and the library is plagued with
missing accounts.

At the FCC

*********

Communications-related Headlines for 2/10/97 (too long for words)

Service note:
Over the past couple of weeks, many subscribers have contacted us with
problems receiving Headlines. Team CPP has recently hired a number of
underemployed elves -- looking for post holiday work -- who are busy fixing
these problems and punishing the guilty. We hope to have our act together
soon. Thanks for your patience. [from does not equal twenty]

The puzzle of making the Internet into a competitive broadcast medium

Internet Venture Breaks the TV Mold

Intelligent Software Finding Niche

Instead of Flood of Competition, the Communications Act Brought a Trickle

About 700 On-Line Newspapers, but Only One Charges for Everything

A Wider Public for Noncommercial Radio

In the FCC.-required children's education programs, everything
old is new again

IRS Planning More Audits of Nonprofits

Ameritech Is Dealt a Setback by FCC In Its Filing for Long-Distance Service

Time Warner-Turner Deal Gets Final FTC Approval

State of the Union? Simpson-Obsessed

White House calls for "expediting" digital licenses

Clinton's Budget: $47B from spectrum

Hundt differs with Quello, Chong on ratings hearing

Campaign reform needs constitutional fix, senators say

Battle looms over leased-access

New FCC Cable Leased-access rules

THE 1996 TELECOM ACT -- ONE YEAR LATER
*********************************************
From=20New York Times (D5) (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: The puzzle of making the Internet into a competitive broadcast medi=
um
Author: Denise Caruso
Issue: Internet sales/services
Description: Even though there is not much demand for it, it can't yet be
done very smoothly, and it demands all of a user's attention, companies are
still promoting and designing streaming video products. Several
broadcasting corporations are supporting video on the Web in hopes of
developing the Web's capacity as a mass medium.

From=20the New York Times (D5) (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Internet Venture Breaks the TV Mold
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: The Mining Company, a start up business in New York, is
breaking the trend of offering a few big "channels" of information, a style
promoted by many of the large online service providers. The Mining
Company wants to use the Web's wealth of special interest information to
get users. It plans to offer users 500 sites to choose from, from
basketball to soap opera details. The company is hiring part-time site
leaders who would act as a human databases and offer online tips for where
to get the most reliable, interesting information on their topic.

From=20the New York Times (D5)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Intelligent Software Finding Niche
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Info/tech
Description: Research in artificial intelligence and smart software is
being done more by commercial and entertainment enterprises than by
traditional research organizations.

From=20the New York Times (D7)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Instead of Flood of Competition, the Communications Act Brought a
Trickle
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Telecommunications Act of 1996
Description: The Telecommunications Act promised competition, but
delivered only millions of articles about how there is no competition.
Industry experts have stated that the bill was based on a faulty idea: "It
assumed that the cable industry was ready and willing to become a
full-fledged competitor to the telephone industry nationwide. Cable was to
be the blunt instrument that broke open the 80-year-old telephone monopoly.=
"
But Cable decided not to do that, and long-distance companies are having
difficulty leasing local lines to provide local service.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: About 700 On-Line Newspapers, but Only One Charges for Everything
Author: Iver Peterson
Issue: Internet Sales/Servce/Journalism
Description: The Wall Street Journal is the only online paper that charges
subscription fees to access its site. So far, the online version has
70,000 subscribers, and other newspapers are watching carefully. Users
say that they are willing to pay for the specialized information found in
the Journal. Advertisers are trying to decide if they want to reach a
small group of paid subscribers or lots of freeloaders.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: A Wider Public for Noncommercial Radio
Author: Andrea Adelson
Issue: Radio
Description: In response to shrinking Federal funds and a not-so-friendly
Republican congress, the Public Broadcasting System has upped the
requirements radio stations must meet to receive funding. These criteria
include a minimum audience size and evidence of local financial support.
In Los Angeles, three of the public radio stations were told that they had
not so far met these requirements, and each station is using different
techniques to gain listeners. Some radio supporters feel that the new
requirements will force radio stations to abandon innovative programming.
Others feel that the requirements make radio stations get their acts
together.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: In the FCC.-required children's education programs, everything
old is new again
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Children's Television
Description: When the FCC decided to require broadcasters to show three
hours of educational kids' tv a week, Chairman Hundt was hoping for a world
where "the creative community can invent a whole new art form: the art of
teaching children with television." As broadcasters present their
children's lineup for 1997, however, the main art form on display is
reruns. Most broadcasters are sticking with old shows and reruns of old
shows. CBS, who has nothing to lose since their kids' shows aren't ranked
very high, is designing some new programs.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (A3) (http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: IRS Planning More Audits of Nonprofits
Author: Elizabeth MacDonald
Issue: Nonprofits
Description: The WSJ got ahold of an IRS plan which stated that the agency
will increase the number of audits on nonprofits, and that an audit could
be triggered by a group's high media profile. The IRS is interested in
those groups it suspects could be guilty of support or opposition to a
candidate running for office. The far right is unhappy because it feels
as though the IRS is investigating primarily conservative groups,
particularly conservative religious groups.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (B6) (http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: Ameritech Is Dealt a Setback by FCC In Its Filing for Long-Distance
Service
Author: Leslie Cauley and Bryan Gruley
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: The FCC has rejected a section of Ameritech's filing to provi=
de
in-region long-distance service -- almost guaranteeing that the company
will have to withdraw its application. The Justice Dept has asked the FCC
to reject the application, and the FCC must weigh carefully the Justice
Dept's advice.
In its application Ameritech stated that it had reached agreements allowing
AT&T access to Ameritech's local network. In reality, however, no such
state-approved pact had been reached.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (B8)(http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: Time Warner-Turner Deal Gets Final FTC Approval
Author: WSJ staff reporter
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: The FTC approved the $7.5 billion acquisition of Turner
Broadcasting System by Time-Warner. To avoid anti-trust violations, the
new megacompany will open many of its cable systems to a second news
channel to create competition for CNN.

From=20the Washington Post (D1)(http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: State of the Union? Simpson-Obsessed
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: State of the media: OJ vs Bill Clinton. A look at the media
frenzy around the recent court decision and the commitment to air the State
of the Union address. Kurtz writes that OJ is the real news since the
address was only "C-SPAN verbosity." "For much of the public there is a
growing disconnect between Beltway news ... and their own lives." A second
page headline reads, "What's the Real Public Interest?"

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.7)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: White House calls for "expediting" digital licenses
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: ATV/Digital TV
Description: Vice President Al Gore has restated the Administration's view
that "broadcasters are trustees of the public airwaves. Digital technology
will greatly enhance the opportunity available to broadcasters to utilize
multiple channels. The public interest obligations should be commensurate
with these new opportunities. President Clinton plans to convene a special
advisory group to study and make recommendations on what broadcasters'
public interest responsibilities should be. The group would make its
recommendations within one year. In the meantime, the Administration is
asking the FCC to move ahead on issuing digital TV licenses. House Telcom
Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin agrees with moving forward, but predicts
he and the FCC will disagree on broadcasters' responsibilities. He favors
relieving broadcasters of all obligations and letting public broadcasters
pick them up.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.8)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Clinton's Budget: $47B from spectrum
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Spectrum
Description: In plans to balance the federal budget, the Clinton
administration will continue to auction spectrum and hopes to raise $47.2
billion by 2002. Some observers believe that those estimates are too high.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.8)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Hundt differs with Quello, Chong on ratings hearing
Author: CM
Issue: V-Chip
Description: FCC Commissioners James Quello and Rachelle Chong are
resisting Chairman Reed Hundt's call for a hearing on the new TV
content-ratings system. Their resistence is drawing fire from Rep. Ed
Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Campaign reform needs constitutional fix, senators say
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Freetime for candidates
Description: Senators Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) say
that the Constitution needs amending to allow limits on campaign spending.
A version of an amendment will be introduced in both the House and the
Senate soon.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.21)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Battle looms over leased-access
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Cable: Leased Access
Description: "They've done it wrong a second time," says Media Access
Project President Andrew Schwartzman of the FCC's new cable leased-access
formula [see below]. The public interest group expects to take the new
rules to court.

At the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov)
IMPLEMENTATION OF SECTIONS OF THE CABLE TELEVISION CONSUMER PROTECTION AND
COMPETITION ACT OF 1992: LEASED COMMERCIAL ACCESS. Amended the
Commission's rules pertaining to cable television commercial leased
access, including the calculation of maximum leased access rates.
Addressed comments and petitions for reconsideration filed in response to
the Order on Reconsideration of the First Report and Order and Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. (By Second Report and Order and Second
Order on Reconsideration of the First Report and Order). Dkt No.: CS-
96-60. Action by the Commission. Adopted: January 31, 1997. (FCC No.
97-27). CSB

COMMISSION REVISES CABLE TELEVISION LEASED COMMERCIAL ACCESS RULES; ADOPTS
AVERAGE IMPLICIT FEE FORMULA -- CS DOCKET NO. 96-60, (REPORT NO. CS 97-5,
ACTION IN DOCKET CASE). The Commission has adopted an order (FCC 97-27)
revising its cable commercial leased access rules. Action by the
Commission January 31, 1997, by Order (FCC 97-27)
. News Media Contact:
Morgan Broman (202) 418-2358. CSB Contact: Rick Chessen at (202) 418-7200=

AOL's Bottom Line

Caller ID Gains, Despite Limitation

U.S. Wants Public Interest Rules For New Digital TV Channels

Big Brother wants to manage the broadcast spectrum again

Clinton Panel to Explore Public Interest in Digital TV

One year after the Telecommunications Act became law --- (ad)

Ameritech Wins Clearance by Michigan to Sell Long-Distance Services
in State

Internet Domain: Cyberspace Expands With New Addresses

One year after the Telecommunications Act became law --- (ad)

New System for Net Addresses Proposed

*********************************************

Title: AOL's Bottom Line
Author: Robert Stein
Issue: AOL
Description: This oped by a former editor of McCalls and former chairman
of the American Society of Magazine Editors argues that AOL's plight of
lowering rates and then being unable to fully respond to the demand
parallels the challenges faced by magazines in the 1970s. Magazines like
Look and Life kept lowering subscriptions prices to compete with TV for
advertising. Many of magazines gained record numbers of readers then went
under. The question AOL faces is, are advertisers willing to invest and
how can advertisers identify an audience? Also, how will users be able to
evaluate which information is valuable in the all you can eat world of the
Internet. Users may be suffering from what Lew Mumford refers to as,
"deprivation by surfeit."

Title: Caller ID Gains, Despite Limitation
Author: Andree Brooks
Issue: phones
Description: The number of phone subscribers using caller ID is growing.
Over 1 million customers signed up for the service between mid-1995 to
mid-1996 partly because of aggressive advertising campaigns by the phone
companies. Many regional companies, however, don't have the equipment to
support the service. If you don't like caller ID, you can have your line
remain anonymous on the caller ID screens (aka line blocking). If you
don't like people who have anonymous lines, you can block their calls to
your number. Fun for the whole family.

Title: U.S. Wants Public Interest Rules For New Digital TV Channels
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: ATV
Description: The vice president announced yesterday that the
administration wants to put new public interest obligations on broadcasters
in exchange for the extra channels they will receive for the transition to
digital television. Gore said that, "Digital technology will greatly
enhance the opportunities available to broadcasters. The public interest
obligations should be commensurate with these new opportunities." In the
administration's plan, broadcasters would receive the new licenses as
planned, "but in using these new licenses for one or more channels would be
held to a public interest standard at least as stringent as the one they
usually carry." FCC Chairman Hundt has spoken up for stronger public
interest requirements and would rather not give out the licenses until the
broadcasters make a clear commitment to public service programming. The
administration's plan does not go this far. Gore proposed that the
licenses be given out and then a panel of broadcasters, educators, and
others could recommend obligations.

Title: Big Brother wants to manage the broadcast spectrum again
Author: Peter Passell
Issue: FCC
Description: This article describes the tension between competing agendas
on how spectrum should be parceled out, auctions, who should manage the
spectrum, what competition can or can't accomplish, and how the FCC fits
into to it all.

Title: Clinton Panel to Explore Public Interest in Digital TV
Author: WSJ reporter
Issue: ATV
Description: The Clinton Administration will form a panel to recommend
what types of public interest obligations broadcasters should follow as
they move towards broad use of digital television. Though Vice President
Gore did not discuss what specific standards the panel will consider, it
will most likely evaluate free time for candidates, an idea popular with
FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.

Title: One year after the Telecommunications Act became law --- (ad)
Author: America's Local Phone Companies
Issue: Phone reg
Description: Full page ad arguing that local phone companies are doing
their part to serve the American public and to open to competition. Long
distance companies, on the other hand, only want to provide local service
to businesses and the wealthy and they want to do this without "paying
the real costs of using the local phone networks every one else depends
on." The ad encourages people to let the FCC know that the long distance
companies should not be let off the hook.

Title: Ameritech Wins Clearance by Michigan to Sell Long-Distance Services
in State
Author: Leslie Cauley
Issue: Phone reg
Description: A Michigan panel of regulators found that Ameritech met the
check list required by baby bells to enter the long distance market. While
this decision moves Ameritech one step closer to being the first baby bell
in the $80 billion long distance market, the FCC still needs to approve
Ameritech's entry application and decide that the company has fulfilled all
the items on the checklist before anything can happen.

Title: Internet Domain: Cyberspace Expands With New Addresses
Author: Rebecca Quick
Issue: WWW
Description: Overcrowding on the Internet has moved a group led by the
Internet Society, a self-appointed standard setting group for the Internet,
to create a set of new domain names so the Internet won't run out of
distinct address sites. Approximately 85,000 new site names are
registered each month. There are 900,000 names so far and about 90% end in
com. Along with com, edu, gov, org, and mil, we could have seven new names
including firm, store, info, web, arts, nom, rec. There may be great
confusion as organizations decide what names to use.

From the Washington Post (A20) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: One year after the Telecommunications Act became law --- (ad)
Author: America's Local Phone Companies
Issue: Phone reg
Description: Same ad as described in WSJ clip

From the Washington Post (C3) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: New System for Net Addresses Proposed
Author: David S. Hilzenrath
Issue: WWW
Description: In order to ease crowding and release the monopolistic hold
over domain names by Virginia-based Network Solutions, a group called the
International Ad Hoc Committee, spearheaded by the Internet Society, has
introduced seven new domain names and stated that 28 organizations
worldwide would be chosen by lottery to register the addresses with the new
suffixes. Since the Internet Society has no official power, whether this
plan works will
depend on whether the Internet community goes along with it.

*********