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  2. August 2009

August 2009

Tribune Expects Changes

Tribune Co. said its ownership is likely to change as the newspaper-and-television company emerges from bankruptcy-court protection, a shift that people familiar with the matter say would likely put the company in the hands of its lenders and shrink primary debt by more than 90%. In a note Thursday to employees, Tribune Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels said "the ownership structure of the company is likely to change." He added that "current operating management is committed, and intends to remain in place during and after the restructuring." Tribune's senior lenders are likely to end up owning nearly all of the equity in a reorganized company, with a small amount reserved for Tribune management, employees and unsecured debtholders.

Web Site Collects Data on Stimulus

As Obama administration officials traveled the country this week announcing the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic stimulus grants, a government Web site, FederalReporting.gov, began accepting the spending and jobs data from grant recipients that will provide the first fact-based progress report about the economic recovery efforts. By mid-October, the government plans to post information from stimulus money recipients online, allowing the public to review the data. Government observers, many who applaud the transparency, said that the move may provoke as many questions as answers. Recipients of stimulus money have until Oct. 1 to register. Once registered, they have until mid-October to submit their first progress report, which must include detailed information about how and where the money is spent and the number of jobs created by the funding. Recipients could face legal action if they purposely report incorrect data.

James Marsters, Inventor of TTY

James C. Marsters' greatest feat was to conjure the text telephone, or TTY, which for the first time gave deaf people independent access to the telephone via teletype machines. It was the first in a string of technologies that help deaf people communicate. Marsters, who died July 28 at 85 years old, defied the isolation many deaf people of his generation experienced. He willed himself into the mainstream long before there were technologies and programs to help deaf people do so. In the days before TTYs, "deaf people were dying of heart attacks because they could not find help in time to make emergency calls," Harry G. Lang, author of "A Phone of Our Own: The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell," wrote in an email. Mr. Lang, who is also deaf, calls the TTY "a technological declaration of independence."

Analysis

Education and the National Broadband Plan

On August 20, the Federal Communications Commission hosted a discussion on identifying the potential impact of increased broadband access on education outcomes and how broadband policies can help improve those outcomes. The National Broadband Plan workshop included panels on: 1) Innovation, Research and Development, 2) Viewpoints from Media and Society, and 3) the Future of the E-rate. The FCC is seeking ways in which broadband can impact education at the early childhood, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels in a cost-effective manner.

FCC Seeks More Input on Defining Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission is asking for public input on the best way to define the term "broadband." An understanding of what constitutes "broadband" is essential to evaluating the extent to which "broadband capability" is available, and informs the evaluation of particular policy approaches intended to ensure access to broadband capability. The National Broadband Plan NOI observed that "broadband can be defined in myriad ways," and sought comment on possible approaches.

The FCC now seeks more targeted comment on three aspects of this issue:

  1. the general form, characteristics, and performance indicators that should be included in a definition of broadband;
  2. the thresholds that should be assigned to these performance indicators today; and
  3. how the definition should be reevaluated over time.

Comments are due Monday, August 31. Reply comments are due Tuesday, September 8.

Another Extension (of sorts) for Broadband Stimulus Fund Applicants

RUS and NTIA announce additional measures to ensure that all pending electronic applications can be submitted by the extended application deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 20, 2009. All applicants must complete and submit their core application by the extended deadline. To the extent that any applicant has been unable to upload any of the attachments to the application by the extended deadline, it may submit those attachments on an appropriate electronic medium by hand-delivery no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on August 24, 2009 or postmarked no later than August 24, 2009. For applicants that choose a delivery service requiring a contact name and telephone number, that name and number is LaShemma Simmons, (888) 861-5509 [option 5].

FCC Town Hall Addresses Broadband Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities

On August 20, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission held a town hall-style discussion on broadband and its accessibility for people with disabilities. Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC's National Broadband Plan efforts, led the event, directing questions to an audience of people with disabilities, advocates for people with disabilities, service providers, and other groups. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said, "I am here to listen and learn, but am delighted to see so many old friends who've worked so long and hard on disability access. Glad this meeting is happening and that Blair is moderating - shows the importance FCC is placing on disability rights. Everyone needs to be able to enjoy the benefits of broadband, especially people with disabilities."

MMTC Proposes FCC Workshop on Civil Rights and Diversity Issues in Broadband Policy

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council has suggested the Federal Communications Commission should conduct a National Broadband Plan workshop entitled "Civil Rights and Diversity Issues in Broadband Policy." The workshop, MMTC suggests, would enable the Commission to develop a full record on the civil rights aspects of each of the topics that was addressed more generally in the first 22 broadband workshops. The Civil Rights Workshop would focus on how broadband technology can be developed, deployed, and utilized in minority and multilingual communities that are afflicted by structural poverty and that experience low adoption rates. Panelists would include broadband experts from nonprofits, SDBs, MBEs, educational and community institutions and broadband service providers.

Rural + broadband = more jobs, better salaries

Is broadband access good for rural America? In case there were any doubts, the Department of Agriculture put them to rest in a new report. The study contends that rural counties in the United States that embraced broadband adoption at the start of this decade enjoy access to more jobs than those that did not. Their residents also make more money than their less-connected counterparts. "Wage and salary jobs, as well as number of proprietors, grew faster in counties with early broadband Internet access," the survey concludes. "Nonfarm earnings showed greater growth corresponding to broadband availability." But large chunks of rural America still have a ways to go. Only 41 percent of rural households had broadband access in 2008, the USDA says, as opposed to 55 percent nationally. And adoption rates still lag behind cities, with a "marked difference" between urban and rural use. Only 70 percent of rural households with access to broadband embraced it in 2007, the report says, as opposed to 84 percent of city dwellers. Still, USDA argues that the biggest problem facing the countryside is getting broadband services to sparsely populated regions with difficult terrains. "These characteristics can make the fixed cost of providing broadband access too high, or limit potential demand, thus depressing the profitability," the report says, a conclusion that will cheer advocates of ongoing government stimulus for high-speed Internet development. The survey is also skeptical of the notion that Internet use discourages civic or community involvement. Au contraire, the authors say. It gets people more involved.

Broadband Plays Catch-Up in Rural Areas, Outpaces Growth in Big Cities

A study on broadband growth in rural, metropolitan and metropolitan areas in the United States indicates that while broadband penetration is much higher in the metropolitan and micropolitan areas, broadband has experienced the most significant gains in rural areas during the past two years. Rural markets (defined as having a population less than 10,000) in the U.S. experienced a 16-percentage point increase in broadband penetration from Q2 2007 to Q2 2009, making it the fastest growing geographic market segment in the nation. Comparatively, micropolitan areas (population between 10,000-50,000) grew 14 percentage points during the same period, while metropolitan areas (population 50,000+) grew 11 percentage points. Even though rural markets have experienced significant growth, their broadband penetration of 75 percent remains well below the national average of 89 percent. Lower broadband penetration in rural areas is compounded by lower Internet usage overall. According to a 2007 analysis by U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 63 percent of all rural households had at least one member access the Internet, compared with 73 percent of urban households. While large broadband providers such as AT&T and Comcast have a presence in rural areas, smaller and more localized providers such as Cincinnati Bell, Insight, PenTeleData, Mediacom and Bresnan Communications are proving tough competition in the battle for market share. For example, in Billings, Montana, Bresnan is the leading broadband provider with 63 percent of the market. Broadband penetration is still relatively low in Billings at 77 percent, indicating that Bresnan is well positioned to grow as broadband adoption continues to increase.

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