December 2009

Italy Asks EU to Review News Corp. TV Plans

The Italian government is seeking an opinion from EU regulators on whether News Corp.'s plans to launch a free television channel in Italy conforms to restrictions on the company's broadcasting operations in the Italian market. The planned launch of the channel, called Cielo, would mark News Corp.'s entry into Italy's free TV market, which is now dominated by state-broadcaster RAI and Mediaset SpA, owned by the family of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

News groups open new online front

The US news industry opened a new front on Monday in its battle to find a better online business model, with the publication of a study intended to arm publishers in their attempts to make allies out of former foes such as Google, Yahoo and AOL. The Fair Syndication Consortium, a group of more than 1,500 newspaper publishers, said a month-long study of how news spread across the Internet found that the average American newspaper story was being copied 4.4 times in full or in part by unauthorized websites. The study of 101,000 articles published by 157 newspapers found that more than 75,000 sites reused 112,000 almost exact copies without authorization, and a further 520,000 articles in part. The problem was most serious for large national publishers, with 15 unauthorized reuses on average. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, publishers can already force ad networks to ensure that unauthorized stories alongside which their advertising appears are taken down, although few such requests are made. But publishers are eager to try a different approach, which would allow them to claw back the ad revenues being made by sites that are distributing their content without the authorization of a traditional syndication agreement.

For-Pay The Key To New Media Success, says WSJ editor

While many blame traditional journalism's precarious state on the encroachment of new media, Robert Thomson, the Wall Street Journal's managing editor, says he believes members of newsrooms' old school are also part of the problem. "Far too many journalists have failed to respond with flare and creativity to the extraordinary opportunities provided," Thomson, who also serves as Dow Jones & Co. editor-in-chief, said Tuesday. Speaking at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on journalism's future, Thomson said that part of journalism's survival is incumbent on news professionals, particularly newspaper employees, to adapt to audiences' new habits and demands. The uncertain future of newspapers, he said, reflects years of journalists who, in the face of changing media, showed an "inability to understand how fundamentally the life of the reader has changed." Instead of capitalizing on — and, more specifically, monetizing — new media opportunities as they emerged, traditional journalists set the stage for pending doom by being lackadaisical instead of hungry, he said.

Lunch With The President: The Politics Of Obama's War Plan

President Barack Obama spoke with a group of columnists and reporters at a White House lunch Tuesday in advance of his West Point address on his revised Afghanistan strategy. The hour-long discussion was on the record, but attendees agreed to embargo the content until the president finished speaking at West Point. As President Obama answered questions, White House stewards served the president and his guests a three-course meal. Some reporters scribbled notes in moleskin books; at least two recorded the session with their iPhones; one pecked away at his computer. Before President Obama arrived, a White House aide placed five separate audio recorders in front of the president. Two of his aides took copious notes. But the president did not seem to be overly concerned about calibrating his words, even as he discussed more sensitive issues, like counterterrorism in Pakistan and his conversations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Political Google

Sen John McCain (R-AZ) has been named the "fastest falling" Google search this year, according to 2009 search trends. President Obama also made the "fastest falling" list coming in at No. 4, just ahead of Sarah Palin.

A $350 early-termination fee for smart phones? Now that smarts

Before you go shopping for a nifty new smart phone this holiday season, keep this in mind: Verizon Wireless, the largest provider of mobile-phone services, has just doubled its early-termination fee for high-end handsets if you decide you'd rather go with a different carrier. It was bad enough when the company would slap you with a $175 charge for jumping ship after a 30-day trial period. Now that penalty is $350. The in-your-face fee applies to BlackBerrys, the much-touted new Droid phones and other smart phones capable of sending and receiving text messages and e-mails as well as accessing the Internet.

The Internet Must Not Become a Segregated Community

[Commentary] When Fox News' Glenn Beck called President Barack Obama a racist this past July, the online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org launched a campaign to convince advertisers to boycott the show. To date, some 285,000 people have joined the effort, and more than 80 companies have pulled their ads. CNN parted ways with Lou Dobbs last month after civil rights groups and Presente.org mobilized thousands of Latinos online to call on CNN to dump the talk show host for spewing hate against immigrants for years. None of this -- not these advocacy efforts, not countless small business success stories, not even the election of President Obama -- would have happened without a free and open Internet.

For communities of color, the Internet provides us with a unique opportunity to speak for ourselves without first seeking approval or permission or having to secure major funds to do so. But the big telecommunications companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast want to create an effectively segregated online community where they will act as our gatekeepers. We are living through a critical moment in our nation's history. The FCC is going to decide whether the Internet will remain an open platform that allows for the greatest number of voices to participate in our democratic society, or whether it will be a closed network controlled by the big telecom companies. We are concerned about the dire consequences of living without Net Neutrality. It would create a separate but unequal online world where our communities will be unable to use the Internet to compete or to advocate for justice when we have been wronged. We need civil rights, media justice, community-oriented and grassroots organizations to stand together to make sure effective Net Neutrality regulation will protect our communities from the predatory practices of the phone and cable companies. As with past civil rights struggles that successfully expanded access, thwarted discrimination, destroyed legalized segregation, and created broad opportunity, so too will the cause of Internet freedom.

[Malkia Cyril is the executive director of the Center for Media Justice. Chris Rabb is the founder of the online community Afro-Netizen and is a visiting researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Joseph Torres is the government relations manager of Free Press and former deputy director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.]

Fine Network Neutrality Whines Accompany Comcast's NBC Takeover

[Commentary] Just in time for the holidays, some old and new whines are presenting themselves for our seasonal enjoyment. In New York City, songwriters are still complaining about the Internet as a City Council committee considered endorsing the simple idea of "Network Neutrality." In Washington, AT&T's top lobbyist blew his stack when an Administration official endorsed Net Neutrality in terms the lobbyist didn't like. Not that there are any terms endorsing Net Neutrality that the lobbyist would like, save those with which he agrees, which are relatively meaningless. All of this would be mere background noise to the sound of Christmas carols if it weren't for the pending announcement of Comcast, the country's largest Internet Service Provider, taking over NBC-Universal, one of the biggest content providers. The debate over that unwieldy combination will move Net Neutrality to the forefront of issues as policymakers and the public consider the shifting balances of power between controlling the distribution of content and the content itself. Those who want to argue that AT&T, Verizon and, yes, Comcast, should be able to play favorites and have control over the content on the Internet will have an even larger barrier to surmount as the breadth, depth and economic might of the new media giant becomes apparent.

Comcast, GE Value Cable Channels at Up to $7 Billion

Apparently, Comcast and General Electric have valued Comcast's channels at as much as $7 billion, potentially lowering the amount of cash the cable company would have to pay over time to form a venture with NBC Universal. Comcast, which is in talks to merge its cable channels with GE's NBC entertainment assets, would probably also contribute about $6 billion in cash to the new company, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. GE owns 80 percent of NBC Universal and is in talks to buy Vivendi SA's 20 percent stake. GE and Comcast may announce a deal as soon as Thursday.

Free Press, Media Access Project want Comcast-NBC merger blocked

Free Press and Media Access Project are calling for regulators and the Obama Administration to block the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC, which the groups say would "open the door to a new era of media consolidation that reaches across content creation and distribution, giving one company enormous power over TV and Internet content." "The American public doesn't want a media behemoth controlling the programming they watch and how they can access it," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press. "If Washington allows this deal to go through, Comcast will have unprecedented control of marquee content and three major distribution platforms: Internet, broadcast and cable. We've never seen this kind of consolidated control." The merger proposal will be weighed by regulators just months before the FCC begins its media ownership review next year. Media diversity, competition and consolidation will be three issues on the docket in that review. The deal also comes as the debate over net neutrality--or how much control Internet service providers should have over content delivered through their pipes--rages on in Washington. Andrew Schwartzman, president and CEO of Media Access Project, said he is concerned about the market power a combined Comcast/NBCU would enjoy. "I am especially concerned about the effects the merger would have on evolving technologies for delivering video over the Internet....I also expect a great deal of opposition from the private sector, since the merger has anti-competitive implications for local TV stations, independent cable programmers, advertisers, Internet video entrepreneurs and many other businesses," he said.

Benton

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