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  2. August 2009

August 2009

McDowell Welcomes New Openness at FCC, Calls for Audit and Reform

In addition to the forthcoming National Broadband Strategy, The Federal Communications Commission must reorganize fundamentally to tackle a laundry list of 21st-century issues, Commissioner Robert McDowell said in an interview with C-SPAN's "The Communicators" series. Issues that the FCC will likely tackle include network management, wireless handset exclusivity, and possibly forays into cybersecurity, he said. But the broadband plan reigns supreme on the agenda, he said. "This is the biggest plan the FCC has worked on since the 1996 Communications Act," he said. And the commission should take care to recognize that technology should be regulated in a way that adapts to innovation that occurs in "Internet time," he said. And any national strategy should foster "an environment that's attractive to private capital investment," McDowell said, reiterating his well-known pro-competitive position. He expressed optimism that the broadband plan could boost the country out of its' economic funk. Commissioner McDowell says the debate over network neutrality should be reframed as one about "anticompetitive" conduct rather than "discrimination." He points out that there are already laws against the former.

FCC Commissioner Baker Announces Staff

FCC Commissioner Baker announced William D. Freedman, Erin A. McGrath, and Christi Shewman as her Acting Legal Advisors.

1) William D. Freedman will serve as Acting Senior Legal Advisor and Acting Legal Advisor for media and enforcement issues. Most recently, he has served as Associate Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau. A former broadcaster, Mr. Freedman began his legal career at the FCC as an attorney with the Broadcast Bureau's Facilities Division, then as a trial attorney in its Hearing Division and, subsequently, with the Office of General Counsel. After over 20 years in private practice representing communications clients, he returned to the Commission in 2003, as Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division. He became an Associate Chief of the Media Bureau in 2006. Mr. Freedman received his B.S. from the Boston University College of Business Administration and his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

2) Erin A. McGrath will serve as Acting Legal Advisor for wireless, international, and public safety issues. Ms. McGrath most recently served as an Assistant Division Chief in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Mobility Division, where she managed and was the lead attorney for transactions and post-auction licensing matters. Prior to her position in the Mobility Division, she was an attorney in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Spectrum and Competition Policy Division and Commercial Wireless Division. Ms. McGrath received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

3) Christi Shewman will serve as Acting Legal Advisor for wireline, universal service, and consumer issues. Ms. Shewman has served in a number of roles in the Wireline Competition Bureau, including Chief of the Competition Policy Division. During her years in the Division, she managed and was the lead attorney on the IP-Enabled Services proceeding and various broadband matters. Ms. Shewman received her B.A. from Central Methodist College and her J.D. from George Mason University School of Law.

FCC Commissioner Clyburn Announces Staff

Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn announced that Michele Ellison will lead the Commissioner's transition efforts and that Renée Roland Crittendon has been named Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor. Commissioner Clyburn also announced the appointment of Rick Kaplan as acting Legal Advisor and Chief of External Affairs, Carol Simpson as acting Legal Advisor and Almira Kennedy as interim Confidential Assistant. Crystal Rice will join the office as interim Staff Assistant.
1) Michele Ellison will lead the transition effort for Commissioner Clyburn. Ms. Ellison joined the Commission in 1995 and has served as Deputy General Counsel for twelve years and more recently as Acting General Counsel. In addition to her duties in the General Counsel's office, Ms. Ellison has provided leadership in many areas, including co-chairing the Commission's Localism Task Force and serving as senior advisor to former Chairman Kennard on a variety of substantive and agency-wide operational matters. Before joining the Commission, she was a partner with the law firm of Williams and Connolly.

2) Renée Roland Crittendon will serve as Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor. In addition to her duties as chief of staff and senior legal advisor, Ms. Crittendon will focus on spectrum, international and public safety matters. Ms. Crittendon has been at the FCC for eight years. She was recently named by Chairman Genachowski as a Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Prior to that appointment, she served as Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor in the Office of Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein where she was responsible for spectrum, broadband, international and public safety issues.

3) Rick Kaplan will serve as acting Legal Advisor and Chief of External Affairs. As part of his role as legal advisor, Mr. Kaplan will be responsible for media and consumer issues. Mr. Kaplan most recently served as the deputy coordinator of the DTV task force at the FCC. Previously, Mr. Kaplan worked in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. House of Representatives, where he counseled Members of Congress on a broad range of legal issues and litigated on behalf of the House. Before working on Capitol Hill, Mr. Kaplan was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP with a focus on appellate litigation and regulatory affairs.

4) Carol Simpson will serve as acting Legal Advisor for wireline and broadband matters. Ms. Simpson has been at the Commission since 2004. She spent two years in the Wireline Competition Bureau before moving to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, where she most recently served as Acting Associate Bureau Chief. Prior to joining the Commission, Ms. Simpson practiced telecommunications law at Hogan & Hartson. Ms. Simpson received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her J.D. from the University of Texas, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review.

5) Almira Kennedy will act as interim Confidential Assistant to Commissioner Clyburn. Ms. Kennedy will be responsible for managing the office as well as the Commissioner's personal schedule and travel arrangements.

New Endowment Chairman Sees Arts as Economic Engine

Confirmed on August 7, Broadway producer Rocco Landesman is officially chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts bringing with him his straight-talking style, Missouri roots and affinity for baseball and country music. He he has little patience for the disdain with which some politicians still seem to view the endowment, more than a decade after the culture wars that nearly destroyed it. He was particularly angered, he said, by parts of the debate over whether to include $50 million for the agency in the federal stimulus bill, citing the comment by Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, on CNBC's "Squawk Box" in February, that arts money did not belong in the bill. That kind of thinking suggests that "artists don't have kids to send to college," Mr. Landesman said, "or food to put on the table, or medical bills to pay." In American politics generally, he added: "The arts are a little bit of a target. The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay." And while he praised the way recent endowment chairmen have carefully rebuilt the agency's political standing, Mr. Landesman — who is known more as an independent entrepreneur than as a diplomatic company man — said he was not planning to follow too closely in their footsteps. While Dana Gioia, his immediate predecessor, made a point of spreading endowment funds to every Congressional district, for example, Mr. Landesman said he expected to focus on financing the best art, regardless of location.

Chairman Rockefeller Applauds the Senate's Confirmation of Nominees

On Friday the Senate confirmed 1) Patricia D. Cahill to be a Member of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and 2) Dennis F. Hightower to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said he is "very pleased to see these nominees confirmed by the United States Senate. Each and every one of these dedicated public servants will bring the experience and knowledge needed for progress in their respective fields. I am confident they will do so and look forward to hearing about their accomplishments."

TV dealmaking season wraps up; prices, volume down

Advertisers bought about 15 percent less commercial time from networks ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox for the upcoming TV season and -- for the first time in years -- paid less for the airtime they did purchase. Advertising and broadcast television executives said nearly all of the dealmaking for the 2009-2010 TV season had wrapped up by late Thursday, following months of what they described as protracted and frustrating negotiations. Even after the completion of the upfront season, when TV networks often sell about 75 percent of their commercial time, the two sides disagreed about who was to blame for the delay. The upfront market is often finished in June.

Broadcast TV: A Ship In Need Of A Captain

[Commentary] Right now, television broadcasting has no one on the national stage talking up the business as a vital source of local news and information, as a catalyst for getting moribund local economies moving again and as a good business that just happens to be going through tough times. And it has no one out there setting the course for the business and unifying the station groups behind common causes. Perhaps it's because the business is long past the time when it attracted strong, entrepreneurial types. Or, perhaps, today's top broadcasters feel it would be presumptuous to appoint themselves as the industry spokesman and savior. But that's what leaders often do. Or maybe it's because broadcasters are simply too competitive. Broadcasters have such a tradition of knocking heads in the local markets that the idea of sharing strategies and ideas doesn't come easy. Of course, donning the leadership mantle carries the risk of not being followed. Broadcasting's leadership vacuum is exacerbated by the fact that two of its big trade associations are currently looking for new bosses. The NAB has been without a president since the board eased David Rehr out in May and the top job at the Television Bureau of Advertising fell into lame duck status after Chris Rohrs announced in May that he wanted to move on to other things at the end of this year.

Parents TV Council Zeroes In on Joan Rivers Roast, Call For Cable Choice

Cable a la carte fan Parents Television Council is hitching its latest call for "cable choice" to the Comedy Central roast of Joan Rivers. In an advisory to its members, it warns that the show will likely contain explicit dialog and innuendo, though it does point out as part of the warning that a preview of the show on the Comedy Central Web site contains the parental warning: "Explicit Language, Viewer Discretion Advised." "This type of show is one of the main reasons why consumers want the ability to choose and pay for only the cable networks they want through some form of cable choice," said PTC President Tim Winter.

The tipping point

It's rare when a nuanced and complicated story gets distilled into a single sentence. But 67 minutes into a July 14 conference call, one arranged by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to address its exposure to a possible default by Cunningham Broadcasting Corp., call participant Peter Reuss nailed it. "Just so I understand this correctly," the financial adviser for Scott & Stringfellow LLC said by way of clearing his throat. "We have a privately held company, Cunningham, with a majority shareholder being the Sinclair family, whose potential pending bankruptcy could send a publicly held company, Sinclair, majority-owned by the Sinclair family, into bankruptcy as well." David Amy, the CFO speaking for Sinclair during the call despite being flanked by chairman, chief executive officer and president David Smith, waited a beat or two before grasping the entirety of Reuss' premise. He then signed off with a well-considered, "Yeah." But his response overlooks that the premise may also have a punch line -- that Sinclair may not be as vulnerable to bankruptcy as it and its reigning Smith family want people to think. As Wells Fargo Securities LLC analyst Marci Ryvicker puts it in her post-call update: "To be blunt, we think management is 'posturing.' We believe that management is painting the most dire scenario in a public forum as part of its negotiations with convert holders."

Aug 7, 2009 (Broadband and Civic Engagement)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2009

The President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meets next week and there's 3 more FCC Broadband Workshops, too. See http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-08-09--P1W/


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC Looks at Broadband and Civic Engagement
   FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's Remarks at eGovernment and Civic Engagement Workshop
   Internet Protection Fight Starts in Washington -- Don't Just Sit There
   When Is A Community Fully Served By Broadband?
   The Smart Path to Broadband Mapping
   Columbia to Conduct Independent Review of Telecom Capital Expenditures to Assist FCC
   Twitter, a Service of Few Words And Many Followers, Goes Silent

WIRELESS
   Should the FCC force Apple to sell Google's apps?
   Behind Eric Schmidt's Apple Resignation
   The Big Phone Companies' Hypocrisy
   Carriers embrace WiFi
   AT&T pays Sprint $59M in spectrum swap

HEALTH & MEDIA
   Many Fault Media Coverage of Health Care Debate
   Health Care Providers Slow To Invest in Health IT Systems, Experts Say
   Preparing to Implement HITECH: A State Guide for Electronic Health Information Exchange
   Watching TV: Even Worse for Kids Than You Think

POLICYMAKERS
   Senate confirms Sotomayor, first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice
   Obama Taps Kennard for EU Ambassador

MORE ONLINE...
   Iraq mulls website ban, fuels censorship fears
   Is The Future of TV Viewing Through the Internet and Then Onto a TV, Computer or Mobile Device?
   Blogs Chew Over Food and Health while Iran Surges on Twitter
   Things Are Not Going to Get Worse in the Internet Ad Industry
   News Corp. looks to pay strategy for salvation
   GAO: Postal Service in financial disarray

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INTERNET/BROADBAND


FCC LOOKS AT BROADBAND AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang, Cecilia Garcia]
On Thursday August 6, the Federal Communications Commission kicked-off a series of workshops on devising a National Broadband Plan will a meeting focused on broadband, electronic government and civic engagement. The aim of the workshops is to facilitate a frank, very public discussion about broadband policy. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski echoed the complaint that the first round of comments on the FCC's national broadband plan did not advance the ball far enough, and was looking for input that would "meet the moment" and that tackles "the hard questions." The goal of the first broadband workshop was to evaluate how broadband can improve the performance of government specifically in terms of transparency and citizen participation and more generally in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Universal broadband access is critical to civic participation as the public square is increasingly online, panelists told the Commission.
http://benton.org/node/26966
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FCC CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI'S REMARKS AT E-GOVERNMENT AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Here's the challenge: nearly 40% of all Americans do not have broadband in the home. And if you are earn less than $50,000 a year, or you are a minority or you live in a rural area, chances are better than 60 percent that you are on the wrong side of the digital divide. That is why President Obama and the Congress have taken two important actions to extend broadband's benefits to more Americans. First, they included $7.2 billion for broadband deployment in the Recovery Act. Second, they have charged the FCC with developing a National Broadband plan. We set out a series of goals for this project. We said that the process for developing the National Broadband Plan would be: 1) The most open ever at FCC, 2) The most participatory ever at FCC, 3) The most data driven ever at FCC, and 4) The most innovative ever at FCC, encouraging experimentation to find solutions and make sure the Commission meets this moment. To help advance each of these goals, we made the unprecedented decided to host a series of 22 workshops. This is the first one. Since we will be trying new things, we expect mistakes. This hearing is being streamed live online. It is a real-time experiment in American democracy. Something will surely go wrong. We will recognize our mistakes and learn from them. For our first workshop, I am pleased that we have chosen eGovernment and civic engagement as the topic.
http://benton.org/node/26965
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INTERNET PROTECTION FIGHT STARTS IN WASHINGTON -- DON'T JUST SIT THERE
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] The Obama Administration has been talking about an open Internet for months. Before that, the Obama campaign made it a centerpiece of a technology platform. Now, finally, the idea is getting some traction, and it's about time. Julius Genachowski, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has only been in office since June 29, and in that time he's mostly been busy choosing heads for the Commission bureaus and finding senior staff while sorting through the responsibilities Congress gave the Commission to come up with a broadband plan. So it's a great sign of things to come that one of the first actions of the Genachowski era that the Commission took of its own accord was to call some official attention to the fact that Apple was keeping Google's new Google Voice application off the shelves of the iPhone App Store. The fact that the Commission is making inquiries about the Apple exclusion should send the proper signal through the industry that a new day is starting to dawn, albeit slowly, at the FCC. Take advantage of the summer and spread the message. This is not simply about the Internet-activist Netroots. This is about students and businessmen and musicians and artists and writers and mechanics in small towns and urban centers, and everyone else who wants and need a free and open Internet. Now is the time to start speaking up.
http://benton.org/node/26964
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WHEN IS A COMMUNITY FULLY SERVED BY BROADBAND?
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
One of the hottest topics related to the broadband stimulus is how to define what it means for a community to be underserved. But there's been a huge piece missing from that conversation as we have yet to address the question of: when is a community fully served by broadband? When can we say that a community has enough and doesn't need government intervention to get more connected? Based on the government's definition of underserved, a community's served if half of it can get terrestrial facilities-based broadband at 768Kbps down and 200Kbps up or if any wireless provider advertises service at 3Mbps down. Apparently that's what it means to be fully served by broadband in today's America. But Daily argues a rural community is fully served once it has an open fiber network in place. If we are to craft an effective national broadband strategy, we have to have some sense for what we're shooting for, what our goals should be. We can't afford to muddle around only worrying about who's not served. We also need to be defining a clear sense for when a home is fully served, and then base our actions on plans that can help all homes get to that status. Because only then can we ensure that all American homes are fully served by broadband.
http://benton.org/node/26960
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THE SMART PATH TO BROADBAND MAPPING
[SOURCE: Fighting the Next Good Fight, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] A strategy for getting better maps faster, and for a much more reasonable cost than the alternative, Connected Nation. Drew Clark, president of Broadband Census believes any broadband map that's worth its pixels and the price tag has to sufficiently represent SPARC data ­ Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition. You want to start with a good map of census blocks for your area. Gather data from and about carriers in your proposed service area, keeping in mind you want as much SPARC information as you can pull. This is tedious since the largest carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner want to give you as little as possible, while the smaller ones are hard pressed to put enough people and time to the task.
http://benton.org/node/26959
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COLUMBIA TO CONDUCT INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF TELECOM CAPITAL EXPENDITURES TO ASSIST FCC
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) based at the Columbia Business School in New York will serve as an outside expert in reviewing projected deployment of new and upgraded networks to help inform the FCC's efforts in developing the National Broadband Plan. CITI will provide an analysis of the public statements of companies as to their future plans to deploy and upgrade broadband networks as well as an historical evaluation of the relationship between previous such announcements and actual deployment. "Broadband has the power to improve the lives of all Americans by creating jobs, spurring innovation and investment, and enhancing public safety," Chairman Julius Genachowski said. "As we begin the tremendous task of creating a National Broadband Plan, high-quality data on the state of broadband networks will help to inform and enlighten the activities of the agency. CITI's external review of network deployments will help provide the foundation for smart, data-driven decision-making. I appreciate CITI's assistance and look forward to seeing the results." Eli Noam, the Director of CITI and a Columbia Business School professor, said, "Too often, the debates over Internet policy have been driven by narrow agendas, with facts used selectively as ammunition rather than enlightenment. By focusing on data analysis -- of investment plans and deployment figures of upgraded broadband infrastructure, especially in this century -- CITI looks forward to helping the FCC to change the past culture and develop a National Broadband Plan grounded in facts."
http://benton.org/node/26958
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TWITTER, A SERVICE OF FEW WORDS AND MANY FOLLOWERS, GOES SILENT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro, Emily Steel]
Across the globe, millions of Twitter users found themselves suddenly robbed of the ability to broadcast their innermost thoughts. Twitter said a cyberattack took down the service for about two hours. Users couldn't even get the site's oft-seen "fail whale" -- a rendering of a cetacean lifted by tiny birds that indicates the site is overloaded. A year ago, few beyond Silicon Valley had heard about the site, which lets users send 140-character messages called tweets to followers who sign up for updates, from the quotidian (what they are wearing) to the momentous (a birth). Thanks in part to celebrity endorsers like Ashton Kutcher, Twitter's popularity has exploded. The service doesn't disclose how many users it has. But Twitter.com had more than 44.5 million world-wide visitors in June, according to comScore, compared with just 2.9 million in June 2008. Its skyrocketing user growth means that more people feel the pain of disruptions.
http://benton.org/node/26968
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WIRELESS


SHOULD THE FCC FORCE APPLE TO SELL GOOGLE'S APPS?
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
The iPhone runs on public networks and therefore falls under government jurisdiction. At the very least, the regulators have a duty to ensure fair competition on wireless networks -- and by arbitrarily blocking rivals from its device, the iPhone's software platform simply isn't fair. We would never accept its rules in other contexts: Imagine if Apple were building cars instead of phones and one day decided that everyone who'd bought an iCar would be banned from listening to any music not purchased from iTunes. Or say that Apple banned all Mac users from downloading Firefox because the browser duplicated the functionality of Safari. Such restrictions sound ridiculous; they wouldn't pass the barest scrutiny of regulators or consumers. So why should we allow Apple to do the same thing with the iPhone?
http://benton.org/node/26963
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BEHIND ERIC SCHMIDT'S APPLE RESIGNATION
[SOURCE: TheBigMoney, AUTHOR: Chris Thompson]
Apple and Google may genuinely dislike each other now. It's all about China, says FT reporter Kathrin Hille. According to Hille's new report, Google and Apple are gearing up for a massive war to control the mobile smartphone market in China. In Google's corner: China Mobile, the largest mobile operator in the world, which plans to launch a new Android-powered 3G OPhone. In Apple's corner: the smaller China Unicom, which is reportedly about to finalize a deal with Apple to launch the iPhone in the Middle Kingdom. "A deal with Apple would give China Unicom a powerful tool to poach young mobile users from the market leader," Hille writes.
http://benton.org/node/26962
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THE BIG PHONE COMPANIES' HYPOCRISY
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Kate Aishton]
[Commentary] Exclusive deals by the largest phone companies are generating controversy in the communications world, and they should have you worried, too. In TV, the big cable companies use their power to strike exclusive deals for cable TV channels to keep new pay TV services offered by other companies from getting off the ground. Since AT&T and Verizon are hoping to offer those new pay TV services through their UVerse and FiOS networks, they say that these exclusive deals need tight government regulation to promote competition and protect consumers. In the wireless world, however, AT&T and Verizon sing a different tune. They use exclusive deals for popular handsets like the iPhone and the Blackberry Storm to keep customers from switching to other wireless services. Since AT&T and Verizon benefit from these exclusives, they want to convince the public that these deals are also great for competition and consumers. No need for government regulation, they say, nothing to see here. Whether they limit access to TV content or network options for wireless handsets, exclusive deals by dominant companies mean less choice for consumers. So what's the difference between these arrangements for cable channels and for wireless networks, according to AT&T and Verizon? They don't say. But what's a little hypocrisy when corporate profits are at stake? Here's the bottom line: When the phone companies mix their messages about exclusive deals, consumers get more than gossip ­ they get screwed.
http://benton.org/node/26961
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CARRIERS EMBRACE WIFI
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Sarah Reedy]
In the past year, WiFi has exploded on smartphones and in hot spots across the country. This unlicensed spectrum used to be a pain point for many wireless operators keen on keeping subscribers on their cellular networks, but given the momentum, they have been forced to embrace WiFi and ­ in some cases ­ even require it. According to Ovum's latest data, out of the 77 smartphone models released by key manufacturers between the second quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, 49 had WiFi built in. It was a feature that spanned nearly all smartphones, not just high-end models, and is moving into the feature-phone market, as well as across operators' triple-play product lines, according to Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the WiFi Alliance. Carriers may still be adjusting to the notion that WiFi is increasingly necessary as too much traffic and bandwidth-intensive applications and services tax their network.
http://benton.org/node/26954
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AT&T PAYS SPRINT $59M IN SPECTRUM SWAP
[SOURCE: FierceWireless, AUTHOR: Mike Dano]
AT&T Mobility will pay Sprint Nextel $59 million for spectrum in parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Florida and elsewhere. AT&T said "the additional spectrum will enable AT&T to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services to the public in the areas of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. ... The additional spectrum will also facilitate AT&T's continued deployment of GSM/EDGE and HSDPA/UMTS technologies." Interestingly, the deal includes spectrum in Oklahoma City, a market where AT&T was forced to divest spectrum not once but twice--first as a condition of its merger with Cingular Wireless four years ago and then in 2007 as part of its acquisition of Dobson. AT&T argued that the FCC should approve its acquisition of the Oklahoma City spectrum from Sprint because neither its merger with Cingular nor its acquisition of Dobson contained "a prohibition on re-acquisition of divested spectrum," and because of what AT&T said was robust wireless competition in the Oklahoma City market. The carrier pointed out that Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, US Cellular and Clearwire all own spectrum in Oklahoma City.
http://benton.org/node/26952
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HEALTH & MEDIA


MANY FAULT MEDIA COVERAGE OF HEALTH CARE DEBATE
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Kohut et al]
As the fight in Washington over health care reform continues to dominate public attention and media coverage, most Americans are critical of the way news organizations are explaining key elements of the debate. News about proposed health care legislation was the most closely followed story of last week, just as it had been the prior week. More than a third (36%) say they followed news about the debate more closely than any other major story. And when people are asked what news story they are talking about with friends, the most frequent response is health care (also 36%), far outpacing mentions of other stories, including the economy. The latest News Interest Index survey, conducted July 31-August 3 among 1,013 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, finds that the public gives news organizations low marks for their coverage of health care. More than seven-in-ten say the media has done either a poor (40%) or only fair (32%) job explaining details of the various proposals. Just 21% offer a positive rating of this coverage: 4% excellent and 17% good.
http://benton.org/node/26951
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HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS SLOW TO INVEST IN HEALTH IT SYSTEMS, EXPERTS SAY
[SOURCE: iHealthBeat, AUTHOR: ]
Industry experts say health care providers are weighing their options before investing in electronic health record systems and other health IT tools. Eric Brown, research director at Forrester Research, said most hospitals and physicians plan to adopt EHR systems. However, he predicts that demand for health IT tools will grow gradually because many health care providers are conservative in their investments. Chris O'Neal, director of corporate reporting at research firm KLAS, said many health care organizations are conducting intense research into health IT systems before making decisions about adoption.
http://benton.org/node/26950
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PREPARING TO IMPLEMENT HITECH
[SOURCE: State Alliance for E-Health, AUTHOR: ]
A guide to help states comply with the health IT provisions of the federal economic stimulus law. The report calls for state officials to prepare for the new federal health IT requirements by: Creating a state office to manage health data exchanges; Designing a communications strategy; Developing a business model for health information networks; Enacting privacy and security safeguards; Encouraging participation from state agencies; Launching health IT training and education initiatives; Soliciting stakeholder input; and Updating state plans on implementing health information exchanges.
http://benton.org/node/26949
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WATCHING TV: EVEN WORSE FOR KIDS THAN YOU THINK
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Alice Parker]
It's no secret that sedentary behavior contributes to obesity and chronically poor health. But not all sedentary behaviors are created equal, according to a new study that examines the link between blood pressure in children and their choice of inactive pastimes, including watching TV, using the computer and reading. Researchers in the U.S. and Spain collaborated on the study of 111 children ages 3 to 8 and found that of all the forms of inactivity they examined, television-viewing was the worst. It was linked to significantly higher blood pressure in children — the more TV kids watched, the higher their blood pressure — and the effect held true regardless of whether a child was heavy or at a healthy weight. What's more, other sedentary behaviors, like using a computer, were not associated with similar blood-pressure hikes, according to the study, which was published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
http://benton.org/node/26948
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POLICYMAKERS


SENATE CONFIRMS SOTOMAYOR, FIRST HISPANIC SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: J. Taylor Rushing]
The Senate on Thursday sent Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court with a modest display of bipartisan support, making her the first Hispanic justice and only the third woman to serve on the high court. The 68-31 vote held few surprises, as a small band of Republicans joined Democrats in confirming her 72 days after President Barack Obama nominated the former prosecutor and judge. Her confirmation paves the way for Sotomayor to begin assembling her staff and prepare for the court to convene in October. At the White House, President Obama said he was "pleased and deeply gratified" with the confirmation and "very happy" with the margin. She is not expected to significantly tilt the court's philosophical balance.
http://benton.org/node/26945
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OBAMA TABS KENNARD FOR EU AMBASSADOR
[SOURCE: The White House]
President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate former Federal Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard to be Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the rank of Ambassador. Currently, Kennard is Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. While FCC chairman, Kennard advanced policies that brought the Internet to a majority of American households, greatly expanded investment in new wireless and broadband networks, and made digital technologies more available to schools, libraries, low-income communities and people with disabilities. Before becoming FCC Chairman, he served as the FCC's General Counsel and as a partner and member of the board of directors of the law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (now DLA Piper). Kennard currently serves on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Hawaiian Telcom, Inc., and Insight Communications; in addition, he is a board member of several nonprofit organizations, including the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, One Economy Corporation, Common Sense Media, Year-Up Inc. and the Yale University Council.
http://benton.org/node/26967
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... and we're outta here. have a great weekend. And Go Cubs!

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