October 2010

Mobile DTV: A technology in search of a business model

As more and more stations begin broadcasting part of their DTV spectrum to mobile devices, and about 70 stations have thus far, the required technology continues to mature and become more efficient. Now comes the hard part: finding a viable business models that will bring a reasonable return on the roughly $130,000 investment broadcasters have to make in order to get their systems up and running.

Looking around the industry, most stations are simulcasting their main DTV channel in an effort to figure out if consumers in their market are interested in a new mobile video service. Some, like WRAL-TV, in Raleigh NC, are getting a bit more creative. The CBS affiliated station there has spent the past year working on a project that integrates its mobile DTV signal with local ad-supported electronic monitors mounted in city buses. Jimmy Goodmon, vice president of CBC New Media Group, said the partnership between his station WRAL-TV, mobile solutions provider News Over Wireless, equipment vendor Harris Broadcast and the city of Raleigh could be financially beneficial to all involved. The beta phase of the project is now winding down, and Goodmon hopes to have a market-ready system in buses and other places to support a real-world service in early 2011. There's talk of using GPS technology to dynamically change ads as the bus travels through different parts of the city and approaches a sponsor's location. The station's parent company, Capitol Broadcasting Company, is considering other ways to monetize its mobile DTV signal as well.

2010 Midterm Coverage Hits a New High

With Election Day looming and some key races tightening, the 2010 midterms dominated the news agenda last week, registering their highest level of coverage to date.

For the week of October 18-24, the congressional election cycle accounted for 38% of the newshole, up substantially from 28% the previous week, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That also eclipsed the previous high water mark for this year's midterm coverage (30%), which occurred from September 13-19 when tea party candidate Christine O'Donnell won a stunning victory in Delaware's GOP senate primary. Both of the central media narratives of this campaign gained momentum last week: The battle for control of the senate, highlighted by a number of very close races in crucial states; and the nasty tenor of many of these campaigns, including everything from sharp-elbowed ads to personal attacks.

Washington Post Endorses Comcast-NBC: Ironically Proves Dangers of Mega-Merger

[Commentary] The Washington Post published a piece of unabashed corporate advocacy, arguing that the pending mega-merger of cable giant Comcast and NBC-Universal should be swiftly approved by regulators.

The editorial claims that media concentration is not a problem, and that "advocacy groups (opposing consolidation) have been poor prognosticators of the effects of large media mergers." The great irony of the Post's endorsement is that the editorial itself is a poignant example of why the Comcast-NBC merger is so dangerous. When media companies control too much, their own interests -- and opinions -- directly conflict with the public's desperate need for sound policy and diverse, independent, critical viewpoints.

The Post is not a disinterested or neutral observer in this case. The Washington Post Company owns Cable One, provider of television, Internet and phone services to several states. They own six television stations, a long list of print publications, plus Slate.com, Foreign Policy and other online sites. Yes, the op-ed technically discloses this, but fails to disclose how greatly these interests influence the Post's position on this issue.

Rep Waters Uses Fox/Cablevision Hook to Talk Comcast/NBCU

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) used the Fox/Cablevision retransmission fight to renew her calls for conditions on the Comcast/NBCU deal. In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, she said that if Comcast were to use its ownership of NBCU TV stations, or online content, as leverage to negotiate higher rates from cable competitors, it could potentially harm consumers.

Cablevision Makes Its Case Against Fox

In response to a letter from the Federal Communications Commission concerning the retransmission impasse, Cablevision said it was documenting "clear" evidence of bad faith negotiations by Fox parent News Corp., and wants the FCC to step in ASAP.

Cablevision says News Corp. has demanded a "take it or leave it" rate, that it timed the deadline to deny access to baseball playoffs, and that it has benefited from FCC waivers to allow it to own multiple outlets in the New York market, power it is attempting to leverage against Cablevision. Cablevision also argues that Fox is "hiding behind" a most favored nation clause and has refused arbitration that would determine the true value of its TV station signals. Cablevision asked the FCC to require Fox to reinstate its TV station signals and submit to outside arbitration.

The National Broadband Plan and Small Business

On April 27, Sen Mary Landrieu, the chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski question as a follow-up to a hearing on federal efforts to expand small business Internet access.

Questions include: 1) how the National Broadband Plan will advance opportunities for small businesses, including women and minority-owned small businesses, 2) the role of municipal broadband, 3) allowing placement of wireless towers on federal buildings, 4) broadband competition, and 5) broadband reclassification.

On October 15, Chairman Genachowski wrote back to the Small Business Committee saying that the National Broadband Plan contains a number of strong recommendations to advance opportunities for small businesses, including women and minority-owned small businesses. To improve availability of broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, the Plan proposes a once in a generation transformation of the Universal Service Fund, shifting support from plain old telephone service to broadband communications. The Plan also lays out a strategy for unleashing additional spectrum for wireless broadband; enabling incentive auctions and market-based solutions for driving spectrum to its highest, best and most efficient use and promoting flexible and unlicensed spectrum use -- such as the FCC's recent effort to free up white spaces for unlicensed use to unleash a host of new technologies such as "Super Wi-Fi" and other diverse applications. To bring more broadband choices to small businesses, and improve affordability, the Plan recommends taking steps to promote competition, including the development of an effective framework to ensure that small businesses benefit from robust, healthy competition in the marketplace.

Noncommercial Stations Defend Government Funding As Crucial

The Association of Public Television Stations said that while government funding may only be about 15% of noncommercial TV stations' budgets, it is a crucial 15%.

"[T]hat 15 percent is the most important funding in their budgets because stations use this funding to leverage independent fundraising and support important areas that often aren't covered by foundation funding, corporate underwriting and other revenue sources," Thompson said. She said they were particularly important to local stations in "the most underserved communities" during the current recession.

Fox's news shakeup not as dire as some feared

Local news is losing viewers at an alarming rate, so News Corp. executives during the summer directed the company-owned stations to try something different: roundtable discussions, guests, analysis -- the sort of thing Fox News Channel does.

Left-wing bloggers reacted immediately, saying that the directive -- from Fox Stations Group president Dennis Swanson -- was a nefarious attempt to demand that the stations mimic the likes of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck on a local level. Keith Olbermann at MSNBC led the charge, crowning Swanson his Worst Person in the World.

But fast-forward three months, and it's hard to find progressive politicos who even remember the controversy, let alone care about it anymore. That's because the news broadcasts of the Fox stations are following the directive, but audiences haven't noticed any sort of new political slant to their local news.

Newspaper Circulation Decline Slows

US newspaper publishers slowed their circulation declines in the most recent reporting period, although they continue to face the long-term reality of a shrinking industry.

In the April-September reporting period, average daily newspaper circulation declined 5 percent, while average Sunday circulation declined 4.5 percent year-over-year, according to just-released Audit Bureau of Circulation figures. That's not as bad as the previous two six-month reporting periods, when circulation accelerated its long-term decline as consumers tightened their purse strings and publishers cut back their circulation to reduce distribution costs during the ad recession.

Taking another stab at home networking over power lines

The advent of WiFi was a boon to home computer users, but the consumer electronics industry keeps searching for a more idiot-proof and higher-performing home-network solution -- something that can transmit multiple HDTV streams throughout a home, yet doesn't require anyone to read an owner's manual. Technologies that use a home's power lines to carry Internet traffic have seemed promising in the past -- after all, every electronic device in the home has to be near an outlet -- but the public never really embraced them. They simply didn't work well enough in too many homes with complex internal wiring or (electronically) noisy appliances. So chip makers and telecommunications companies went back to the drawing board, coming up with yet another standard for power-line networking: G.hn. Sigma Designs announced what it says is the first chipset for G.hn products, which boast top connection speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second. The chips will be available early next year, with products based on those chips coming by the end of 2011.

Benton

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