November 2, 2010 (Vote)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for ELECTION DAY, 2010
MEDIA, ELECTIONS, AGENDA, POLICYMAKERS
FCC chief looks for bipartisanship on the Hill
Experts expect tech policy gridlock in contest for control of Commerce Committee chairmanship
Privacy bills will survive election storm
GOP Group Pays Fox Affiliates To Influence Election With Anti-Obama Propaganda
Democrats Outspend GOP in TV Ads in House Races
A Gold Mine in Attack Ads on Local TV
New Political Muscle, in Whatever Language
Supreme Court won't hear challenge on campaign disclosure
GOP's LaHood finds few allies among party's insurgents
The Media Roar into the Midterms
JOURNALISM
Jon Stewart vs. the Perpetual Panic Conflictinator
RESEARCH
Innovation: It Isn't a Matter of Left or Right
BROADBAND/INTERNET
National Broadband Plan author talks about his regrets
Were broadband stimulus wireless awards just tokenism?
North Carolina e-Strategy report
US online spending rose 9 percent in Q3: comScore
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
Google sues US over government contract exclusion
TELEVISION/RADIO
Why Fox News should help fund NPR
The Noise About Public Radio
Last Fall for Broadcast?
PBS's Take on KCET Los Angeles' Defection
You Are What You Watch, Market Data Suggest
KIDS AND MEDIA
Technology Can Be a Tool for Student Success, and a Distraction at Home
WIRELESS
Addressing the Wireless Capacity Crunch
Will the next wireless infrastructure be humans wearing radios?
HEALTH
Strategy for Empowering Consumers
Blumenthal notes barriers to health IT in US
Qualms Arise Over Outsourcing Of Electronic Medical Records
OWNERSHIP
Tribune creditors prepare to sue for payback in buyout bankruptcy
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
Amazon's 3G Kindle Leaps China's Great Wall of Censorship
Mobile group abandons legal threat to UK broadband plan
Softbank floats plan for $6.2B venture to build Japan fiber network to replace phone lines
DoCoMo to invest $3 billion in LTE deployment
Canada eases Internet usage billing ruling
Bell Canada, Aliant get permission for rural wireless broadband plan
Google Reposts Barred Turkish Videos
Times reveals digital subscriber numbers
Hugo Chávez celebrates accruing 1 million Twitter followers
MORE ONLINE
Computer simulation is a growing reality for instruction
Concerns grow over cellphone security
Obama's new media director: Online efforts during midterms lackluster
And iPhone Makes Three: Marriage In The Digital Age
MEDIA, ELECTIONS, AGENDA, POLICYMAKERS
GENACHOWSKI LOOKS TO THE HILL
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is an optimistic man. Despite the prospect of a split Congress next year, Chairman Genachowski is confident lawmakers will reach a consensus on many key telecommunications issues, including freeing up more airwaves for wireless services and reforming an $8 billion fund to expand broadband in rural regions. Bipartisan bills on both topics have already been introduced and the FCC chief said he believes momentum will continue to use both as avenues to expand high-speed Internet access throughout the country. "These are issues that are strategic for our country, affecting global competitiveness and consumer choice," Chairman Genachowski said. "We'll continue to focus on the opportunities for the country around broadband and doing everything we can so that broadband and technology keep leading the country out of the economic crisis we're in."
benton.org/node/44360 | Politico
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GRIDLOCK COMING TO HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
What does it mean if Reps Joe Barton (R-TX), Cliff Stearns (R-FL) or Fred Upton (R-MI) lead the House Commerce Committee? Gridlock on telecommunications and technology policy, analysts say. Observers say there is little to distinguish the three on their approach to tech and telecom policy. All three will strongly oppose legislation on network neutrality and may even threaten to take away funding from the Federal Communications Commission if FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski pushes through on his proposed broadband reclassification. We believe Republican mid-term election gains would generally strengthen the hand of the Bells, cable, and broadcasters over their telecom, media and tech rivals" such as Dish Network and Google, wrote Rebecca Arbogast, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. Broadcasters would be emboldened by Republican gains, helping them ward off legislation expected to be introduced by Sen John Kerry (D-MA) to allow the FCC to take a more aggressive role in television retransmission disputes. And while the idea of getting more airwaves out for mobile broadband is embraced by Republican and Democrats, Arbogast wrote that broadcasters will have a stronger voice against any legislation that makes them give up airwaves. What will get done? Privacy and tax reforms. And as telecom and cable firms start digging ground for broadband stimulus projects, Republicans are expected to scrutinize the projects in hearings over how well the grants have helped stimulate the economy.
benton.org/node/44396 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY BILL SHOULD SURVIVE ELECTION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Though some tech-related bills will live or die depending on this week's election results, online privacy legislation is likely to survive the midterm storm, according to observers who track the issue. House Democrats have pushed for privacy legislation that would force online marketers to disclose when they are following customers' activities online. But the effort is likely to have strong prospects for passage in the next Congress no matter which party controls the chamber. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) has championed stricter privacy rules this year, drafting a bill to rein in online marketers. But Rep Boucher is in a tight race to retain his seat against Republican Morgan Griffith. If Boucher is defeated on Tuesday, online privacy advocates could lose one of their most effective allies in the House. But telecom lobbyists say that even if Democrats lose control of the House on Tuesday, Republicans are likely to press ahead with online privacy legislation in the next Congress.
benton.org/node/44391 | Hill, The
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PAID TV PROGRAMMING
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Brad Johnson]
Several Fox television stations and one ABC affiliate in key battleground states are running a Republican front group's anti-Obama propaganda as paid programming in the final days leading up to the election. The National Republican Trust PAC, run by conservative conspiracy theorist Scott Wheeler, has purchased airtime in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Carolina to broadcast its 25-minute "Breaking Point" political attack ad, starting Oct 29. Using clips from Townhall.com, World Net Daily, Fox Business, CNSNews.com, and Glenn Beck, narrator E. W. Jackson invokes the boogeymen of ACORN, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the New Black Panther Party, Hamas, and Mao Tse-Tung to paint President Obama and the Democratic Party as "extreme," "treacherous," "socialist," and "with hostility" towards America.
benton.org/node/44356 | Center for American Progress
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DEMS OUTSPEND GOP IN HOUSE RACES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Luo]
Despite a deluge of campaign spending over the last few months by Republican-leaning outside groups, Democratic candidates and their allies have outspent Republicans over all on television advertising in House races, according to data provided by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising. In Senate races, however, Republicans outspent Democrats. The most recent numbers available, through Oct 29, showed that Democratic candidates and their allies spent $142 million on television advertising across all House races in the general election, compared with $119 million by Republican candidates and their backers. In the Senate, Republican candidates and their allies outspent Democrats, $159 million to $120 million. The Democratic advantage on television spending in House races was something of a revelation, given all the attention that has been garnered this year by the staggering expenditures by Republican-oriented independent groups after a Supreme Court ruling in January that lifted restrictions on corporate political spending. But it appears that the Republican-leaning groups were able to make a significant impact in many House races by leveling the playing field for underfinanced Republican challengers, who in previous elections might have had little chance against Democratic incumbents. "Republican groups basically provided the advertising version of bridge loans for the underfunded challengers, running ads before they could go up on the air for themselves," said Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. The pro-Republican groups were able to expand the political map, going up early with attack ads against Democratic candidates who had seemed to be in comfortable positions and putting them on the defensive.
benton.org/node/44407 | New York Times
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GOLD MINE OF POLITICAL ADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
There has been a nationwide surge in TV ad spending for the midterms, which one group projects could top out at $3 billion this year, up from $2.7 billion in 2008. The victims, so to speak, are the local businesses whose ads are drowned out by the political din and the viewers who quickly tire of seeing the same attack ads over and over. Local broadcasters have long grown accustomed to the every-other-year surge in political spending, and the slumps in the off years. What is different for stations is the amount this year, and the economic circumstances. Local stations across the country suffered mightily in 2009 when there was retrenchment from advertisers, especially from those in the automotive category. The recovery is in part because of a remarkably active election season. Discontent with incumbents and with Obama administration have put scores of formally safe seats into play, opening a spigot of campaign cash in local markets that are not accustomed to it.
benton.org/node/44406 | New York Times
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SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA AND THE ELECTION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
A look at the ballooning political power of the Spanish language news media, and in particular Univision, which owns the biggest Spanish-language television and radio outlets in the United States. Because there are relatively few Spanish-language outlets in the United States, Univision wields a more influential megaphone than its English-language counterparts. Univision says it does not favor any political party. Regardless, analysts say that the company is exerting significant influence both on local elections and on the national debate about immigration -- in part by encouraging Hispanics to cast a ballot. César Conde, president of Univision Networks, said Spanish-language outlets had been focusing on the importance of voting because they had a responsibility to "make sure that our community in the U.S. maximizes its potential." Federico Subervi, a communications professor at Texas State University and the author of "The Mass Media and Latino Politics," said that Univision bulked up its election coverage in 2008 -- that year, it sponsored two presidential primary debates -- and again in 2010. Univision's chief (but much smaller) competitor, Telemundo, has done the same, with a get-out-the-vote campaign.
benton.org/node/44405 | New York Times
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JOURNALISM
STEWART VS THE MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Aaron]
[Commentary] Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear," which packed the National Mall in Washington on Saturday, wasn't exactly what I anticipated. I came expecting laughs and mockery -- and, sure, that was part of it -- but instead found myself in the middle of a massive media-criticism seminar. One might hope such a clever and clear-headed critique would serve as something of a wake-up call for the mainstream media. But, alas, their reaction was far more predictable. First, they downplayed the event as little more than a celebrity sideshow -- unworthy of the kind of coverage and column inches they'd give to, say, a much smaller Tea Party rally or Glenn Beck-a-Palooza (which made the front-pages despite being about a third the size of the Comedy Central event). Then the media got awfully defensive about Stewart's jabs. The thin-skinned media should be less defensive about Stewart and more attentive to what their dwindling audience is trying to tell them. They don't really hate the media. They just want them to do their job.
benton.org/node/44399 | Huffington Post, The | The Media Responds
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RESEARCH
INNOVATION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steven Johnson]
Johnson analyzed 300 of the most influential innovations in science, commerce and technology -- from the discovery of vacuums to the vacuum tube to the vacuum cleaner — and put the innovators of each breakthrough into one of four quadrants. First, there is the classic solo entrepreneur, protecting innovations in order to benefit from them financially; then the amateur individual, exploring and inventing for the love of it. Then there are the private corporations collaborating on ideas while simultaneously competing with one another. And then there is what I call the "fourth quadrant": the space of collaborative, nonproprietary innovation, exemplified in recent years by the Internet and the Web, two groundbreaking innovations not owned by anyone. The conventional wisdom, of course, is that market forces drive innovation, with businesses propelled to new ideas by the promise of financial reward. And yet even in the heyday of industrial and consumer capitalism over the last two centuries, the fourth quadrant turns out to have generated more world-changing ideas than the competitive sphere of the marketplace. The fourth quadrant, however, is not locked in a zero-sum conflict with markets. As in the case of GPS, this fourth space creates new platforms, which then support commercial ventures. Why has the fourth quadrant been so innovative, despite the lack of traditional economic rewards? The answer has to do with the increased connectivity that comes from these open environments. Ideas are free to flow from mind to mind, and to be refined and modified without complex business development deals or patent lawyers. The incentives for innovation are lower, but so are the barriers. The problem with the fourth quadrant is that it doesn't fit neatly into our conventional left/right political categories.
benton.org/node/44367 | New York Times
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BROADBAND/INTERNET
LEVIN'S REGRETS
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: David Ramli]
A Q&A with Blair Levin, the Federal Communications Commission staffer who led the team that wrote the National Broadband Plan. He said that while the FCC rolled out the plan, it could have done a better job of explaining some of the ideas behind it as opposed to simply the policy recommendations. The most important thing to understand, he said, is that broadband is not important in and of itself. It is important because it is the vehicle of knowledge exchange, which turns out to be an incredibly important driver of economic and job growth and critical for a civic society. He noted that the conventional wisdom says the primary metric for measuring the validity or power of a national broadband plan is the speed of the wireline network to the most rural of residents. The correct approach, however, is that it's not a primary metric, it's an ecosystem. And if you think there's a single factor that measures something, you don't understand how what you want is a constantly improving platform for knowledge exchange. So you want networks, devices, applications and, most importantly, people interacting to constantly improve how they operate. The one that's most wrong is the speed. Speed is the input and use is the output. We should be thinking about how we use it because the real upside is not in increasing speed, it's in increasing the applications. A third thing is that it's almost always about wireline and it turns out wireless is going to be the key driver of growth in the next decade. On the institutional side, speed is incredibly important but what we found was for most of the country speeds are actually pretty good. I would say that 4G is going to end up being more important to more people over the next couple of years than increases in wireline speed.
benton.org/node/44394 | IDG News Service
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WERE BTOP/BIP WIRELESS AWARDS JUST TOKENS?
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The WiMAX Forum put a positive spin on its recent announcement noting that 40 companies won funding for WiMAX projects from the Rural Utilities Service in the second round of the broadband stimulus program. The decision-making process for all broadband stimulus awards was completed late last month. "WiMAX is the ideal technology to help bring broadband to those who currently can't get access while keeping service and device costs low," said WiMAX Forum President Ron Resnick in the announcement. But despite the WiMAX Forum's cheeriness, wireless projects did not fare as well in the broadband stimulus program as landline projects. The vast majority of the 320 broadband stimulus awards that the RUS made in two funding rounds went for last mile projects -- and the largest share of those awards went to landline projects, typically based on fiber. The RUS may have favored fiber-based projects because it believed they would be more future-proof, supporting the highest speeds in the long run. But the agency may have been reluctant to shut out wireless applicants totally. Perhaps the granting of a handful of awards for broadband wireless just tokenism -- enabling the agency to say it made awards for all different types of technology.
benton.org/node/44392 | Connected Planet
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NC E-STRATEGY REPORT
[SOURCE: e-North Carolina Authority, AUTHOR: Press release]
e-NC and SNG announced today the findings of a comprehensive study of residents and businesses in the state of North Carolina. In all, 30,000 households and 70,000 businesses and organizations were surveyed to uncover utilization of broadband and e-solutions statewide, with 1,492 households and 6,266 businesses and organizations responding. The e-Solutions Benchmarking and accompanying e-Strategy report from SNG was funded by a grant to the e-North Carolina Authority by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce. The SNG study, conducted between February and October 2010, revealed the potential of broadband for competitiveness and economic opportunity:
Nearly one in five (18%) of new jobs were created as a direct result of Broadband Internet. Small businesses (less than 20 employees) are especially dependent on Broadband Internet as 28 percent of new jobs in that sector are attributed to using the Internet.
More than half of all businesses (54%) said that they would not be in business if they did not have broadband while two in five (41%) would have to relocate if broadband was not available in their community;
The number of households either currently running (31%) or planning to run a business from their home in the next twelve months (14%) is nearly half (45%) of North Carolina's broadband
households;
Even more broadband households are either now using (41%) or planning to use (24%) broadband to sell items online. That's nearly two-thirds (65%) of broadband households using it to at least supplement their income;
Most (85%) of home-based businesses said that broadband was essential to their business. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/44393 | e-North Carolina Authority
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
GOOGLE SUES US
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Alexei Oreskovic]
Google is suing the US government for excluding its products from being considered for a five-year contract worth about $59 million to upgrade the Department of the Interior's email system. In a complaint filed on Oct 29, Google said the government abused its discretion and acted in a manner that was "arbitrary and capricious" by only considering sales proposals with email technology based on Microsoft Corp technology. The suit comes as Google, the Internet search leader, steps up efforts to court federal, state and local government customers for its online email and productivity products. Google said the Department of the Interior's move ran contrary to "assurances to Google representatives that DOI would conduct a full and open competition for its messaging requirements."
benton.org/node/44389 | Reuters | Fast Company
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TELEVISION/RADIO
FOX NEWS SHOULD FUND NPR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steve Coll]
[Commentary] National Public Radio's decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams after he made controversial comments on Fox News about Muslims has become - for some Republican lawmakers, at least -- a teachable moment. NPR, House speaker-in-waiting John Boehner (R-Ohio) said recently, is a "left-wing radio network" and should be stripped of federal funding. Eric Cantor, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly and other conservative voices have issued similar calls. The Williams imbroglio is teachable, but its lessons actually point in the opposite direction: America's public media system, including NPR, requires more funding, not less. In particular, the funding should come from commercial broadcasters that profit from their licensed use of scarce public airwaves -- and that would include News Corp., the parent of Fox News. In this time of niche publications and cable networks that thrive on ideological anger, we should be seeking to strengthen NPR's role as a convener of the public square, a demagogue-free zone where all political and social groups - including conservatives and others opposed to federal funding of public media - should be welcome on equal terms. Williams's firing is a distraction from the media policy choices facing the country, but it should not be dismissed as merely another episode of Fox News-inspired theater. The incident has no doubt reminded NPR's leaders that the network's growing importance requires extraordinary care about perceptions of political bias. Still, during the next several years, the country will confront broader questions about the future health of public media and its decades-old, congressionally mandated mission to serve the public interest. By fixing the public interest obligation system of the Communications Acts, we have the means to modernize our public media and, by doing so, to reinforce a calm, nonpartisan center in American democracy. [Coll is president of the New America Foundation.]
benton.org/node/44366 | Washington Post
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THE NOISE ABOUT PUBLIC RADIO
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] National Public Radio's ham-handed firing of Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made foolish and hurtful remarks about Muslims on the Fox News Channel has emboldened conservative Republican leaders in Congress to demand -- once again -- an end to federal support for all public broadcasting. This would be the worst possible outcome of a clumsy contretemps. NPR radio and PBS television -- a separate entity that had nothing to do with this controversy but was still flooded with misguided complaints about unfairness -- are vitally important sources of information in the nation's healthily cacophonous democracy. Federal grants account for no more than 2 percent of NPR's $161.8 million annual budget. Member stations, which played no role in the firing, rely on federal support for about 10 percent of their annual budgets, $90 million in all. When all is said and done -- no small challenge for modern media -- anyone who listens regularly to NPR news and its local stations can hear the due diligence to fairness in its reports. Any cutback in federal support would hurt the American public.
benton.org/node/44384 | New York Times
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YOU ARE WHAT YOU WATCH
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Beth Snyder Bulik]
According to psychographic ad targeter Mindset Media, the TV shows you watch can offer marketers key insights into your personality. "Your personality determines what you consume, what TV shows you watch, what products you buy, and all the other decisions you make -- political choices, for example," said Mindset Media CEO Jim Meyer. "We didn't invent psychographics or personality traits -- they are really the things that separate buyer groups where demographics fail." To find out which personalities are attracted to which TV shows, Mindset Media recently analyzed self-reported data from about 25,000 TV viewers across more than 70 TV shows. What they found were common personality traits among many of the shows' audiences of people who answered that they regularly tune in. Only a few mainstream shows like "House" and "Bones" didn't have any single personality that stood out statistically either because the audiences are so broad, or the fact that personality isn't a driver of viewership.
benton.org/node/44361 | AdAge
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KIDS AND MEDIA
TECH A PLUS AND MINUS FOR KIDS
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Hilton Collins]
Smartphones, laptops and Internet access are becoming so ubiquitous that places without them, such as some U.S. grade schools, seem backward by comparison. Much fanfare has been made about the digital divide -- the gap between those who have access to IT and those who have very little access or none at all. Researchers study this divide, often at the grade-school level, to see how technology -- or a lack thereof -- affects student performance. The focus often is on how broadband access and computers impact students' work on campus, although recent research incorporates the digital divide's impacts in students' after-school and home lives. Surprisingly some researchers are finding that the digital divide's impact at home may not be as great as is commonly assumed. "The problem that kids are facing is that when high-speed Internet service comes into their home, it's leading them to do things like play games online, and chat or Facebook with their friends -- and it's actually leading them to spend less time on their homework," said Jacob Vigdor, professor of public policy and economics at Duke University.
benton.org/node/44387 | Government Technology
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WIRELESS
WIRELESS CAPACITY CRUNCH
[SOURCE: Rethink Wireless, AUTHOR: Caroline Gabriel]
Although LTE upgrades are generally touted as the magic bullet that will save wireless carriers from the overload on their networks, they will not be enough on their own to solve the problem. This was the conclusion of a panel discussion at the Broadband World Forum in Paris. The main factor limiting the impact of LTE on operators' data plans will be shortage of spectrum, argued Denis Gautheret, an executive at Deutsche Telekom. "Spectrum is just like gas. You don't have enough," he said, as Paris struggled with fuel shortages amid a wave of strikes over spending cuts. In particular, the lower frequencies support more cost effective coverage, but the desirable digital dividend band around 800MHz has very limited capacity, he said.
benton.org/node/44358 | Rethink Wireless
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HEALTH
EMPOWERING HEALTH CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: HealthITBuzz, AUTHOR: Jodi Daniel]
The Department of Health and Human Services is currently drafting a five-year Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan, which is scheduled for publication in early 2011. In the plan, the proposed framework for consumer empowerment takes into consideration HHS's existing activities. But it also provides a unique opportunity to set forward-looking direction and do more for consumers over the next five years. The goal is to empower consumers to better manage their health through health IT. The objectives are to: 1) Engage consumers in federal health IT policy and programs, 2) Accelerate consumer access to electronic health information, 3) Foster innovation in consumer health IT, and 4) Drive consumer-provider electronic communications. HHS is asking for public input to the plan and what specific activities would you like to see the federal government take on?
benton.org/node/44385 | HealthITBuzz
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BARRIERS TO HEALTH IT ADOPTION
[SOURCE: ModernHealthcare.com, AUTHOR: Jessica Zigmond]
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Blumenthal said the U.S. has four problems it must overcome to be able to have a strong healthcare IT system. Currently, the country's healthcare IT system is challenged by a lack of adequate funding; logistical problems relating to physicians' questions and concerns about which health IT system to buy, how to implement it and whether it will become outdated; a lack of infrastructure to support health information exchanges; and a fourth barrier associated with the general public, he said. "American people need to be convinced that the information exchanged will be private," Dr Blumenthal said.
benton.org/node/44357 | ModernHealthcare.com
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OUTSOURCING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma, Ben Worthen]
Indian technology companies are eyeing a coming wave of US spending to digitize health-care records. But sensitivity over outsourcing and resistance by American hospitals to sending medical information overseas could thwart efforts to win big contracts. The US government next year will begin to dole out billions of dollars to health-care providers who adopt electronic medical records. Doctors also face a federal mandate to upgrade software as the US switches to a new system of insurance billing codes. For Indian companies with experience in software outsourcing, the flurry of health-related tech spending in the US is "like another Y2K opportunity," says Pradep Nair, head of the health-care practice at New Delhi's HCL Technologies Ltd., referring to the turn-of-the-millennium computer glitch that provided work for Indian tech firms. But cashing in on what Forrester Research expects to be a nearly $50 billion US health-information market in the next two years won't be straightforward for Indian companies. While they have had success handling outsourced work for pharmaceutical companies and insurers, Indian companies have struggled to win business from U.S. hospitals, which will do the bulk of new health-tech spending.
benton.org/node/44404 | Wall Street Journal
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OWNERSHIP
TRIBUNE CREDITORS PREPARE FOR SUITS
[SOURCE: Crain's Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Lynne Marek]
Tribune Company's creditors committee this week is poised to sue a slew of the media company's current and former executives, directors, advisers, lawyers and shareholders it blames for engineering an $8.2-billion leveraged buyout in 2007 that landed Tribune in bankruptcy. Possible targets such as Chairman Sam Zell, the billionaire real estate mogul who led the takeover, are well-known. But former major Tribune shareholders the McCormick Foundation and the Chandler family of Los Angeles could be named, too. Officers and directors, such as former CEO Dennis Fitz-Simons and board members William Osborn and Betsy Holden, also could become defendants. Others: deal adviser Valuation Research Corp., of Milwaukee, and New York-based Morgan Stanley. Tribune, owner of TV stations and newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, estimated in a court filing that the claims could yield billions of dollars. In suing on behalf of the company, the committee of unsecured creditors will allege that a host of illegal moves, from unjust enrichment to breach of fiduciary duty to professional malpractice, resulted in a "fraudulent transfer" of assets that left Tribune insolvent. The committee is expected to sue now even though it has agreed not to pursue litigation until either a reorganization plan is approved or until April 1, if that comes sooner.
benton.org/node/44359 | Crain's Chicago Business
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
KINDLE VS CHINESE CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Kit Eaton]
Chinese users of Amazon's Kindle get an unexpected bonus along with being able to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on an e-ink screen--they can use the device's Whispernet 3G powers to leap over the Great Firewall of censorship. Amazon's Kindle 3G Whispernet service is pulling a fast one on the Chinese censorship-happy government, and giving Chinese Kindle owners the opportunity to connect up to services like Twitter and Facebook that are otherwise officially banned inside the country. Whispernet, a GSM-based communications system, is how 3G Kindles connect to Amazon's ebookstore to wirelessly download books and surf the net through the "experimental" browser. The amount of data needed to serve up books or slowly download simple text to the Kindle's browser is pretty tiny, so Amazon makes Whispernet a free service--even while it pays its global telecoms partners for the privilege. This censor-leaping skill is definitely an unexpected boon.
benton.org/node/44354 | Fast Company
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COMPANY DROPS LEGAL THREAT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
Everything Everywhere, the UK's largest mobile phone operator, is abandoning legal action that could have derailed a central plank of the government's efforts to improve Britain's digital infrastructure. Ed Vaizey, communications minister, welcomed Everything Everywhere's decision not to sue the government, and said the coalition was now ready to support major improvements to the UK's broadband networks. Britain's fixed-line download speeds lag behind some industrialized nations and the UK has also missed the opportunity to be an early adopter of super-fast mobile networks based on fourth generation wireless technology. Ministers are therefore making a priority of overhauling broadband infrastructure, in the belief it should improve productivity and nurture innovation. The government's plans were rocked in August when Everything Everywhere threatened legal action if ministers proceeded with legislation which is meant to ensure that mobile operators have sufficient radio spectrum to cope with booming consumer demand for smartphones such as Apple's iPhone. However, Tom Alexander, Everything Everywhere's chief executive, has agreed to drop the threat of legal action following intensive discussions with the government.
benton.org/node/44401 | Financial Times
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