December 2005

Nothing says "Holiday Spirit" like Congress sticking around for a weekend
session!

CHILDREN & MEDIA
Activists, Industry Deal on Kids Rules
Selling Food to Children
Time Warner Launches Family Tier
Cable Caves, and We Pay
The FCC, A New Starr Chamber?
It's Wait and See for NRB on Tiering

PUBLIC BROADCASTING
Final Report of the Digital Future Initiative Panel Released
No Rove Influence Seen in US Public TV Boss Hiring
'Liberal' NPR Relies Predominantly on Conservative Think Tanks

INTERNET
At Stake: The Net As We Know It
Widening the Internet Highway to Rural America
Senate Panel approves more Net-policing Powers
As Google Pushes Into China, It Faces Clashes With Censors

QUICKLY -- The Future of PEG; Watching Color TV; 11 Million Adults
Illiterate; Driver cell phone use still increasing

CHILDREN & MEDIA

ACTIVISTS, INDUSTRY DEAL ON KIDS RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The WSJ broke this story yesterday, but details continue to seep out...
children television advocates and representatives and media companies,
including the Big Four broadcast TV networks, have agreed on changes to the
FCC's digital kids TV rules that would allow more promos in kids shows,
host selling, and preemptions for sports and other programming. They also
agreed to voluntarily adopt the changes if the FCC has not acted on the
proposals by March 1, 2006. Given meetings at the FCC this week,
participants said they are confident that the FCC will rule favorably on
the compromise before the January 1 effective date for the new rules. The
deal would leave in place the requirement that broadcasters air three hours
of children's TV per channel in both analog and digital. That was the key
issue of the coalition, says Jeff McIntyre, co-chairman of the The
Children's Media Policy Coalition. In addition, the media companies agreed
not to challenge limits on the display of commercial Web sites during
children's programming. Under the rules, those displays would count toward
the ad limits in kids programming. The groups agreed to a modified form of
host selling in which the use of TV characters to sell products to kids
would be confined to specific areas of a Web site if that Web address was
displayed in shows that featured those characters. The key, says McIntyre,
is that there will have to be a buffer between the character and a sales
pitch. Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), one of the greatest proponents of the 1990
Children's TV Act, was pleased by the deal. "This is a triumph of
conversation over litigation," he said. "I am very pleased that both sides
have abandoned litigation in favor of the productive conversation that has
led to this proposal. This will considerably strengthen the protection of
children from commercial excesses while allowing for industry practices
which have matured under the current Children's TV rules."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6291870?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Kids' Advocates, Nets Strike Deal
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10016...
* Child Advocates, TV Come to Terms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR200512...
(requires registration)
* Digital TV, Kids Groups in Deal
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-digital16dec16,1,7543...
(requires registration)

SELLING FOOD TO CHILDREN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Melanie Warner]
As major food producers face scrutiny over their role in contributing to
increasing childhood obesity rates, they are under pressure to make
fundamental shifts in the way they sell their products to American
children. Entertainment companies are also feeling pressure. Walt Disney
said that beginning in the next few months, it would remove characters like
Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Chicken Little from candy and food
products it determined to be unhealthy for children. And in partnership
with a major supermarket chain, which Disney would not identify, the
company will put Mickey Mouse thumbs-up seals on items like bananas and on
store-brand products like pasta and juices. None of these changes go as far
as the Institute of Medicine, a leading scientific advisory group, urges.
In a report last week, an institute committee of 16 nutrition and marketing
experts called for sweeping changes in the way the food industry markets
its products to children. It added that 80 percent to 97 percent of the
food products now aimed at children and teenagers are of "poor nutritional
quality."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/business/16food.html
(requires registration)

TIME WARNER LAUNCHES FAMILY TIER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John M. Higgins & John Eggerton]
Time Warner announced a new "Family Choice" tier of programming on
Thursday. While the 15-channel tier will include one top network --The
Disney Channel -- it is composed largely of spinoffs of cable's most
popular networks. The new Family Choice tier will include: Boomerang,
C-SPAN 2, C-SPAN 3, CNN Headline News, The Science Channel, Discovery Kids,
Disney Channel, Toon Disney, DIY Network, FIT-TV, Food Network, HGTV, La
Familia, Nick Games & Sports, and The Weather Channel. The tier will be
rolled out during the first quarter of 2006 and cost $12.99 monthly. The
tier is a digital cable package requiring many subscribers to pay more for
a new converter for many customers. Subscribers will still have to buy the
broadcast basic tier for around $12 monthly. That tier of 15-20 channels
includes the broadcast stations, public, educational and government access
channels, C-SPAN and some additional channels varying by market--New York 1
in New York, for example. But they will not have to buy enhanced basic or
any other digital tier. Parents Television Council President Brent Bozell
called the Time Warner tier a ""a very bad joke. It is perfectly obvious
Time Warner is deliberately offering a product designed to fail," he said,
going through a laundry list of what he said were family-appropriate
channels that weren't in the tier, including ESPN, Turner Classic Movies,
Fox News Channel, and a couple dozen more. "I bet you couldn't find five
employees of Time Warner who would subscribe to this foolishness for their
own families," he said.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6291767?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Time Warner Spells Out Family Tier
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6291783.html?display=Breaking+News...
(requires subscription)
* PTC Calls Time Warner's 'Family Tier' a "Very Bad Joke"
http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/release/2005/1215.asp
* Cost of Time Warner's new family tier raises eyebrows
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051216/1b_familycable16.art...

CABLE CAVES, AND WE PAY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] The move cut the legs out from under the drive to impose
decency standards on pay TV, and that's a good thing. Putting government
censors onto networks such as FX and Comedy Central, which people can't
watch unless they pay for cable service, flies in the face of the 1st
Amendment. But cable operators aren't really empowering customers to
control what comes into their homes. If they want to do that, they would
offer individual networks on an a la carte basis, not just inflexible
bundles of channels. Unfortunately for viewers, cable and satellite
operators have little incentive to go the a la carte route. The
entertainment conglomerates supplying most of the programming insist that
their less-popular networks be bundled with more popular ones. The major
cable operators own cable networks, too, which they want to beam into as
many homes as possible for the sake of advertising revenue. These groups
argue that paying for, say, eight channels on an a la carte basis would
cost subscribers more than getting a package of 60 channels. Of course,
most subscribers never watch most of them. Even if they wanted to offer
channels a la carte, cable industry officials say their long-term contracts
with networks bar such an approach, at least in the near term. Those
contracts also make it difficult to assemble an attractive family tier.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-cable16dec16,1,33...
(requires registration)

THE FCC, A NEW STARR CHAMBER?
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman]
[Commentary] What's wrong with family tiers and a la carte cable pricing?
If small, experimental channels and programs are not picked up by enough
consumers, media diversity in general suffers. Smaller channels, like
Current TV or FX, which try to do something different, would suffer cuts.
Then there's the danger of a trickle down effect. It's a likely scenario
that the family plan could very well lead to some cable channels censoring
some of their shows, in order to make them more palatable to the family
bundles -- and thus reducing the already slim pickings offered for those of
us mature enough to handle television that is aimed at an audience older
than 14. What's more, just what does "family-friendly" mean and who gets to
decide? If it's going to be FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the former Kenneth
Starr staffer and Bush supporter from Texas, I'd say be afraid.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1302921

IT'S WAIT AND SEE FOR NRB ON TIERING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) which
represents 1,400 religious broadcasters (1,400?), says he still has
reservations about cable's proposed "family tier." "The [National Cable &
Telecommunications Association] proposal is a positive gesture," he said,
"but it remains only a gesture until more details are forthcoming. For
example, who will determine the composition of the family tier, how much
will it cost, can families add other options like sports? If the family
tier is not a product people actually want to buy," said Wright, "then this
proposal amounts to nothing more than a diversionary tactic by the cable
industry to avoid dealing with their growing indecency problem."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6291893?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

PUBLIC BROADCASTING

FINAL REPORT OF THE DIGITAL FUTURE INITIATIVE PANEL RELEASED
[SOURCE: New America Foundation]
Business, philanthropic, education and public broadcasting leaders from
across the country met in Washington Thursday for the Digital Future
Initiative (DFI) Summit, an invitation-only event where participants
explored the future of America's public service media. The event included
the release of DFI Panel's report, Digital Future Initiative: Challenges
and Opportunities for Public Service Media in the Digital Age. It calls for
major new initiatives in several areas where the public broadcasting
system's strengths coincide with pressing national needs. The panel has
identified education, civic engagement, health care and emergency
preparedness as areas that are critically important to the future of our
nation and where public broadcasting can make a unique impact by leveraging
a combination of multimedia, on-demand content with new broad-based
partnerships. The report argues that public broadcasters should harness the
on-demand and interactive digital platforms of the 21st century as they did
analog TV and radio in the 20th century, using these new and powerful
communications technologies to advance the public good in innovative ways.
* Digital Futures panel zooms in on specific services pubcasting should offer
http://www.current.org/dtv/dtv0523dfi.shtml
* Digital Future Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities for Public
Service Media in the Digital Age
http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2766_1.pdf
* $3 Million Grant for PBS "Citizen's Channel
http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20051214_knightfoundation.html

NO ROVE INFLUENCE SEEN IN US PUBLIC TV BOSS HIRING
[SOURCE: Reuters 12/13]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's inspector general found no
evidence in correspondence that White House adviser Karl Rove or other
White House officials tried to influence the hiring of CPB's new president
and CEO Patricia Harrison. But CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz did tell
the Washington Post last month in an interview that former CPB Chairman
Kenneth Tomlinson exchanged e-mails with Rove and he "did ask for feedback
on some of the candidates." Konz denied a request by Common Cause, Center
for Digital Democracy, and Free Press to release documents and e-mails
related to a report that found former CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson was
motivated by politics when he hired Harrison. Konz declined to release the
information because of concerns about violating individual privacy rights
and compromising CPB business interests.
http://www.freepress.net/news/12843
* Inspector General's Response Deeply Disappointing, Say Reform Groups
1) "The public deserves something better than filtered information," said
Common Cause President Chellie Pingree. "Surely the American people have
the good sense to be able to read these e-mails and come to their own
conclusions about whether Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson behaved ethically and
appropriately." 2) "The Inspector General should stop stonewalling and let
the public judge for itself the importance of the correspondence between
Kenneth Tomlinson and the White House," said Timothy Karr, Free Press
campaign director. "The CPB needs to be an honest broker, both to the
public broadcasting community and to the public it serves." 3) "The
Inspector-General's duties are to the public -- not to the CPB board, said
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "He
must make the secret report to the CPB board available to the public. If
he doesn't understand his role, he should resign."
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=810...{4D737A50-4160-41D9-BC66-7D0A1615270C}&notoc=1
* In the Kingdom of the Half-Blind
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Bill Moyers]
[Commentary] Moyers addresses the Bush administration's obsession with
secrecy and its bullying and manipulation of PBS.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/29656/

'LIBERAL' NPR RELIES PREDOMINANTLY ON CONSERVATIVE THINK TANKS
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress]
National Public Radio ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin yesterday offered a "tally
sheet for the number of times think tank experts were interviewed to date
on NPR in 2005." The results were striking:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5053335right-leaning
think tanks have been turned to 239, compared to just 141 segments
featuring left-leaning think tanks. Even those numbers are somewhat
misleading: Dvorkin counted the center-left Brookings Institution and the
centrist Center for Strategic and International Studies among the
left-leaning organizations.

INTERNET

AT STAKE: THE NET AS WE KNOW IT
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Catherine Yang]
[Commentary] The Internet has always been a model of freedom. Today the Web
is flourishing because anyone can click to any site or download any service
they want on an open network. But now the phone and cable companies that
operate broadband networks have a different vision. If they get their way,
today's Information Highway could be laden with tollgates, express lanes,
and traffic tie-ups -- all designed to make money for the network companies.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051215_141991...

WIDENING THE INTERNET HIGHWAY TO RURAL AMERICA
[SOURCE: All Things Considered, AUTHOR: Melissa Block]
More and more Americans take high-speed Internet service for granted. But
for rural America, getting broadband access can be a major challenge. Cable
and phone companies often won't provide it: it would be a huge investment
with minimal return. So some communities are figuring out solutions for
themselves. About two years ago, Mike Chapman decided to help bring
wireless Internet to the community where he grew up in Braxton County (WV).
Chapman, 24, is co-founder of West Virginia Broadband, a nonprofit
volunteer-run organization that provides Internet service to residents and
businesses who were trapped in the slow-moving world of dialup.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5053488

SENATE PANEL APPROVES MORE NET-POLICING POWERS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and
Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers Beyond Borders Act of 2005 Thursday, a
bill that would give the Federal Trade Commission expanded policing powers
and the power to share information about spammers and other miscreants with
foreign governments. The proposal is nearly identical to legislation pushed
by the FTC itself two years ago that drew concerns from civil liberties
groups and was never enacted.
http://news.com.com/Senate+panel+approves+more+Net-policing+powers/2100-...

AS GOOGLE PUSHES INTO CHINA, IT FACES CLASHES WITH CENSORS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jason Dean jason.dean( at )wsj.com and
Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney( at )wsj.com]
While other countries set some limits on what people can put on the
Internet, China's constraints are perhaps the world's most extensive. It
can be difficult to figure out just who enforces the rules and how.
Numerous agencies -- from the National Administration for the Protection of
State Secrets to the General Administration of Press and Publications --
have jurisdiction over the Internet. Foreign companies operating in China
are obliged to comply with rules that block access to online content deemed
politically unacceptable. Failure to heed the rules can cost a company its
business licenses or trigger other penalties. Companies can also be
required to turn over information on users suspected of having broken
China's wide-ranging, but often vague, laws. Proponents of doing business
in China point out that the Internet has already facilitated an
unprecedented flow of information in the country -- statements critical of
the government, for example, are easy to find online.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113468633674723824.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

QUICKLY

THE FUTURE OF PEG
Two links to disturbing news about the future of public, education and
government access cable channels. The first link takes us to San Antonio
where state law replaced local cable franchise agreements with state-issued
deals between cable and video providers and the Public Utility Commission.
This means the providers are no longer responsible for supplying production
services for public, education and government access channels and are now
responsible only for transmitting and distributing the signals for those
channels. The second link takes us to sunny Tampa and describes efforts
there by Bright House Networks to reduce the number of local PEG channels
to three from six.
* Channels' futures are fuzzy
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/tv/stories/MYSA1201.05B.NZ.Sta...
(additional story re: San Antonio PEG at
http://sacurrent.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15755598&BRD=2318&PAG=461&dept...)
* Not So Bright House
http://www.riedelcommunications.blogspot.com/

WATCHING COLOR TV
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Donnell Alexander, LA CityBeat]
[Commentary] A report on TV's minority representation that looks only at
primetime network presence is missing the bigger picture.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/29290/

11 MILLION ADULT ILLITERATE, STUDY SHOWS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
An estimated one in 20 U.S. adults is not literate in English, which means
11 million people lack the skills to perform everyday tasks, a federal
study shows.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* Literacy Falls for Graduates From College, Testing Finds
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/education/16literacy.html
* One in 20 U.S. adults lack basic English skills
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051216/1a_bottomstrip16.art.htm
* 1 in 20 Americans Is Not Literate, a National Survey Suggests
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-literacy16dec16,...

DRIVER CELL PHONE USE STILL INCREASING
[SOURCE: Reuters]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey found that
974,000 vehicles -- or 10 percent of those on the road during the day --
are driven by someone using either a handheld or hands-free phone. And,
hey, let's be careful out there; one of those drivers is next to you.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...
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Happy Friday! Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week.
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
headlines( at )benton.org -- we welcome your comments.
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