June 2009

AT&T Backs 100 Percent Broadband by 2014

In comments filed at the federal Communications Commission, AT&T set an ambitious target and timeline of 100 percent broadband by 2014. AT&T's 7-point plan:

1) Embrace the Diversity of Broadband. The National Broadband Plan should recognize and embrace all of these platforms, users, and services as part of the broadband ecosystem that will help ensure 100 percent broadband access and deliver the many societal benefits envisioned by Congress in the Recovery Act that will, in turn, promote 100 percent broadband adoption.

2) Engage All Broadband Stakeholders. The Broadband Plan is a plan for the entire nation, not just those entities traditionally regulated by this Commission. It must therefore engage a diverse collection of parties that have roles to play in achieving the 100 percent broadband goals discussed above: the private sector; consumers; public institutions; public-interest advocates; and the government.

3) Promote Broadband Innovation, Investment, and Deployment and Jobs. The private sector has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in broadband-enabled facilities, services, applications, and content over the last decade. This investment has been, and should continue to be, the primary engine of broadband growth in the United States.

4) Provide Targeted Government Support for Broadband Deployment Where Needed. There will be some remote areas of the nation where the private sector alone will not be able to shoulder the financial burdens of deploying broadband facilities required to achieve 100 percent broadband access. In those circumstances, the government should provide targeted assistance, including acting on pending proposals to reform the universal service program (and the related intercarrier compensation regime) to provide support for broadband deployment.

5) Remove Impediments to Broadband Adoption. The National Broadband Plan must address the impediments that have kept some populations offline. The Plan must engage many stakeholders --both inside and outside the government--to provide training and public access to broadband services; economic assistance for the acquisition of broadband services and equipment; and incentives for the development of technology and content aimed at specific users' needs.

6) Encourage Maximum Utilization. The National Broadband Plan must encourage the deployment of more efficient and cost-effective--smarter--broadband networks, services, applications, and content as efficiently as possible. As broadband becomes more ingrained in our everyday lives--from web surfing to video conferencing to smart grids to e-commerce and e-government to telemedicine and beyond--networks will need to dynamically provide the performance capabilities required by the increasingly diverse array of services, applications, and content traveling over them.

7) Enhance Cybersecurity and Online Safety. Ensuring 100 percent broadband access and enabling 100 percent adoption will be an utterly wasted effort if the National Broadband Plan does not also include a robust strategy for ensuring cybersecurity and online safety. As broadband services play an increasingly instrumental role in virtually all facets of our cultural, economic, social, and governmental institutions, a secure and safe online environment is an imperative.

Viewer anger likely with Friday TV signal switch

The government is bracing for "significant problems" when the US switches to digital TV on Friday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps says. Consumers fiddling with antennas and converter boxes, which must be rescanned post-switch, will account for most problems. "There're going to be some angry consumers," Chairman Copps says. The switch to digital TV, or DTV, will start at 12:01 a.m. ET Friday. At that time, 974 full-power stations that cover major markets such as New York and Los Angeles will start shutting down analog signals. The transition is expected to be done by midnight. More than 780 stations in smaller markets have already made the switch. Antennas and scanning have been consistent trouble spots. About 3 million over-the-air homes won't be ready, Nielsen predicts. Digital, satellite and cable TV customers won't be affected. About 20 million households receive TV signals exclusively over the air, the National Association of Broadcasters says. The number of affected homes would have been much higher — at least 6 million, Chairman Copps guesses — if Congress hadn't pushed back the switch by four months. "The delay gave us the opportunity to roll up our sleeves" and tackle a host of issues, he says.

At the Apple iPhone 3G S unveiling, AT&T gets lousy reception

In the secrecy that often surrounds Apple Inc.'s every move, industry cryptologists had plenty to study in Monday's otherwise widely hailed unveiling of the company's newest iPhone, the 3G S. The focus was on AT&T Inc., the only U.S. provider of the iPhone. That's because Apple left its partner in an uncomfortable position. Some of the new features that iPhone users have clamored for, including the ability to use photos and video in text messages and to tether the phone's Internet connection to a laptop, won't be immediately available on AT&T's network. But they will be available in many countries around the world. Apple is pressuring AT&T to end its exclusive agreement now or face the possibility that Apple won't extend its ties to the carrier beyond the contract's expiration in 2010.

New Survey Shows Content Concerns Trump Broadband Accessibility

Despite the Internet's growing importance to the American economy, a new poll released Monday shows more Americans are concerned with content regulation than the ramifications of ignoring the digital divide. The poll was conducted by Zogby463, a new partnership between polling firm Zogby International and 463 Communications, a public relations company representing high-tech companies. Nearly six in 10 respondents believe Internet video sites like YouTube required some form of regulation, but the group split almost evenly on whether that system should be more like the Federal Communications Commission's regulation of broadcast television, or the self-imposed rating system devised by the Motion Picture Association of America. Just over 30 percent said they believed any regulation of Internet video would be unconstitutional.

GOP Blocks Census Nominee

Senate Republicans are blocking a vote on the nomination of Robert Groves to be the Census Bureau's director, leaving the agency without a leader less than a year before the 2010 nationwide head count. Dr. Groves, President Barack Obama's pick to lead the bureau, was approved easily by the Senate homeland-security committee in May, but Republicans blocked a confirmation vote last week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Republicans weren't yet in agreement on the nominee. It is unclear why Republicans are blocking the vote. A NY Times editorial concludes: "The Census Bureau needs a director and all the money that has been requested. There's no more time to waste."

Court Ties Campaign Largess to Judicial Bias

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled for the first time that excessive campaign contributions to a judge create an unconstitutional threat to a fair trial, a decision that could have a nationwide impact on whether judges must recuse themselves in cases involving their political benefactors. In a case that crystallized a growing national debate over how multimillion-dollar judicial campaigns are affecting the public's view of impartial justice, the court decided that in some "extreme" cases, the risk of bias violates the constitutional guarantee of due process.

Broadcasters compete to put TV on cellphones

The digital switch is the end of one TV era, but broadcasters and device companies hope it's opening up another. Their vision for the future: a world in which we access live television not just on big screens in our living rooms, but also on cellphones and computers and in cars. On Thursday, when stations will be required to broadcast through digital rather than analog signals, some companies will use the broadcast spectrum freed by the switch to transmit live television to cellphones and other portable devices. Shows and live video clips are already available on some phones, but this heats up competition as broadcasters and cellphone companies vie to turn the feature into a must-have.

Pay Cuts Loom For Boston Globe As Deal Rejected

A key Boston Globe union narrowly voted down a severe pay package yesterday that was designed to save the newspaper, and management immediately responded by vowing to impose cutbacks nearly three times as large. Anger at the New York owners has been building among the 660 newsroom, advertising and circulation employees represented by the guild, even as many warned that a "no" vote could jeopardize their jobs and perhaps the paper's future. In a statement last night, Guild President Daniel Totten said the union's message was "that the New York Times Co. must do better than the offer that was presented. Globe workers and the New England community understand that the quality of the Boston Globe -- an institution so vital to the life and culture of the region -- depends on the fair treatment of the men and women who work so hard to produce it." He said the guild is ready to resume negotiations.

Cairo Speech Drives News Narrative

Last week's busy and diverse news landscape included an historic bankruptcy filing, mixed economic signals, a deadly air disaster and a murder that inflamed one of the nation's most contentious social policy battles. But the week's top story once again demonstrated the star power and sweeping policy agenda of the new President. Barack Obama's overseas trip—punctuated by a June 4 address to the Muslim world from Cairo University—filled 20% of the newshole from June 1-7, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That was largely because it was the No. 1 story in the three so-called electronic media sectors of PEJ's weekly News Coverage Index—radio (28% of the newshole), cable (25%) and network news (24%). That level of coverage was very similar to the attention Obama generated (21% of the newshole) from March 30-April 5 during his first major appearance on the international stage as President at the G-20 Summit. In both cases, a key storyline was the same—that Obama was unveiling both a substantive and stylistic re-orientation of American foreign policy that at its core, appears to be more oriented to conciliation than confrontation.

Benton: Reforming Universal Service Critical to National Broadband Plan

The Benton Foundation, The Center for Rural Strategies, The Rural Policy Research Institute, and the Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin recommend modification of existing USF programs, guided by the principles set forth below, to provide funds for building and maintaining a national broadband system that provides meaningful access to all Americans, particularly rural populations where provision of broadband would otherwise prove too expensive and where residents otherwise have few opportunities to received the necessary equipment and training to provide meaningful broadband access.

Benton

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