August 2009

Broadband Internet connections, pay-TV subscriptions and mobile phones are among the last items consumers are prepared to forgo during the recession. About half of British people would rather give up eating out, holidays and DIY than do without communications services, according to research by Ofcom. About 47 per cent of consumers said they were likely to economize on restaurant meals, compared with just 10 per cent who would give up their high-speed Internet connection. Take-up of broadband has continued to grow strongly, reaching 68 per cent at the end of the first quarter this year, compared with 58 per cent a year earlier. About 12 per cent of households have mobile broadband, and people spend on average 25 minutes online each day, compared with nine minutes in 2004. Radio is the only communications sector in decline. During the past five years listening hours among children aged between four and 15 have fallen by 21 per cent; and among 15 to 24-year-olds by 12 per cent.

[Commentary] The state of Oregon earlier this week awarded its contract for broadband mapping under the stimulus law. The news in the announcement is that the winner was not Connected Nation. Instead, the winner was a consortium headed by One Economy, including New America Foundation, BroadMap, Navteq, and BCT Partners. It doesn't appear as if Connected Nation even bid on this one. The One Economy's $1.6 million bid won out over six other competitors. So far, the One Economy group has won in Hawaii, Guam and Samoa, in addition to Oregon. The bid will combine New America's new crowd-sourcing technology with One Economy's Digital Connectors youth corps while aiming to be more transparent than Connected Nation. The group promised a heavy emphasis on demand-side mapping, along with a live and updateable data base. Meanwhile, Kentucky is about ready to issue a Request for Proposals for stimulus-funded broadband mapping. The new RFP will not be a gift to Connect Kentucky, the original organization from which Connected Nation developed.

The Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday approved the nomination of Patricia Cahill to be a board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Cahill is the general manager of noncom KCUR-FM Kansas City as well as an assistant professor of communications at the University of Missouri, which runs the station. She is also a former board member of National Public Radio.

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Dennis Hightower to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce, the Department's chief operations officer responsible for the day-to-day management of the Department's $17 billion budget and more than 38,000 employees. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) noted Hightower's record at Walt Disney and Europe Online Networks -- and teaching at the Harvard Business School. "[Y]our ability to think strategically will undoubtedly help to shape the long-term policy direction of the Department," Chairman Rockefeller said. Mr Hightower said, "America must now act with a renewed sense of urgency. Our global competitors are neither standing still nor shy about taking action to exert their global economic ambitions. America must demonstrate not only a willingness to take action, but we must put in place the appropriate metrics to help us know when we have achieved the intended results. As I look at the challenges facing America and the Department of Commerce, I am reminded of a saying that defined the mission of one of the elite fighting forces I was a member of, and that is: 'Rangers lead the way!'"