The National Association of Broadcasters unveiled today a new on-air campaign promoting the future of broadcast television. The campaign, which is composed of a 30-second television and radio ad, was previewed today as part of a membership-wide webcast from NAB's headquarters in Washington (DC). NAB is making The Future of TV spot available to radio and television stations for airing from Jan. 4 to 24.
Proponents of low-power, non-commercial FM radio stations have a circus-themed message for the National Association of Broadcasters: stop clowning around with our future!
Community radio activists accuse the powerful lobbying group of quietly pressuring senators to block legislation that has passed the House and is pending before the Senate Commerce Committee that would pave the way for thousands of new low-wattage stations across the country. In an effort to shame the association, LPFM activists converged on its headquarters at noon today with hula hoops and juggling pins (shaped like radios) to signal they are tired of jumping through hoops and being tossed around by the influential NAB, which is run by former Senate Commerce member Gordon Smith. NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the group's main beef with the legislation is that it doesn't do enough to prevent interference with full-power stations.
Backers of a stagnant Federal Communications Commission proposal for finally providing a cutting-edge communications network for emergency responders continue their 11th-hour push, arguing that the plan is the only viable option in today's economic reality.
A coalition of telecom carriers, and now a few police and firefighter organizations, is lobbying the FCC to resurrect its plan to auction off 10 megahertz of communications spectrum known as the "D-block" and use the proceeds to help fund the construction of an emergency network. To that end, the group, called Connect Public Safety Now brought in former FEMA Director James Witt to call on lawmakers to give the FCC proposal another look.
As part of its on-going data collection and mapping work, The e-NC Authority has officially launched its newly updated online map to show where broadband is available across the state.
Plotting data down to the census block level and street segment level in some areas, the North Carolina Broadband Map is a highly-interactive GIS (Geographic Information System) tool that outlines what types of broadband technologies - including DSL, cable, mobile, wireless and fiber - are available to households statewide, which companies are offering these services and the exact areas providers say they are currently serving or could serve customers. Users query information by plugging in a street address or selecting a specific technology type. The map is also intended to assist e-NC and state and local leaders in identifying unserved and underserved pockets of broadband availability in North Carolina.
[Commentary] The US is squandering a once-in-a-generation chance to modernize its digital footprint.
The die was cast almost two years ago when President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus lobbed a disappointing $7 billion toward broadband: mainly grants to help municipal, nonprofit, and private entities connect rural digital backwaters. By contrast, green energy received 13 times more funding. Now, with unemployment beached at 9.8 percent, it looks as though President Obama made the wrong bet. President Obama's flunks the test as short-term stimulus. Due to a complex tender process, the Department of Commerce (allotted most of the $7 billion) finalized its 233 grants only two months ago; in dozens of cases, environmental-impact assessments are causing delays. More seriously, it undersells the need for long-term transformation.
The goal set by Obama’s National Broadband Plan is 100 million households (of about 130 million nationwide) accessing world-class speeds of 100 megabits per second by 2020. Encouragingly, the private sector is already inching America toward this target. Verizon, AT&T, and Qwest have committed to build high-speed fiber past 50 million homes in the next two years; cable-television companies also plan upgrades. But these expansions are concentrated in dense areas that are profitable to serve, leaving pockets of the country languishing.
The average US consumer now spends as much time online as watching television, according to research being released by Forrester. To technophiles, it might seem strange to think of people ever watching TV more than they surfed the Web. But the stat marks a big shift for the country at large; this is the first year in Forrester’s survey that people have reported spending equal amounts of time on the two activities -- 13 hours a week. And it’s not because people are spending less time watching TV; those numbers have remained about the same. It’s because Internet usage has grown so dramatically -- 121% in the past five years. So what are people doing less? Listening to the radio and reading things like newspapers and magazines offline, according to the survey.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the UK is making good on its threat to punish companies that purchase coverage online without public disclosure. The OFT says it has "received undertakings" from at least one company for violating the UK's fair trading laws—a warning to others that might pay for blog or Twitter posts without admitting to doing so.
Handpicked Media, a UK-based startup that provides "sponsored" posts to hundreds of blogs, got a public slap on the wrist from the OFT on Monday following the discovery that the company was not properly disclosing its paid online promotions. OFT noted that Handpicked Media cooperated with the investigation, but said that the company has now agreed not to engage in such activity without making it obvious that the posts had been paid for "in a manner unavoidable to the average consumer."
What's the difference between Amazon's and Google's e-book stores? Not price. Not selection. But even if Google's e-book store offers no better prices, selection, or functionality than Amazon's Kindle Store, isn't it true Google's e-books are more "open" than Amazon's? The store's tag line promises that Google's books will "set your reading free." In a blog post, the company touts that its books are as portable as photos or e-mail -- you can access them on "just about any device" using nothing more than your Google username and password.
Openness, it seems, is central to Google's push to become the Web's pre-eminent e-book seller. Google's e-books are "open" in the same way that politicians are "bipartisan" and oil companies are "green"—the claim makes for good marketing, even if it lacks substance. Buying from Google rather than Amazon will give you no greater control over your books. You're not likely to get any practical benefit from going with Google, either. In fact, Amazon's "closed" books will soon work on more devices than Google's "open" books.
Free Press is killing some trees to try and "save" the Internet. Free Press says that SavetheInternet.com volunteers will be hand-delivering 2 million petitions to the Federal Communications Commission, with volunteers making the trek every hour on the hour until sometime Dec 14. Free Press wants the FCC to toughen up the chairman's proposed compromise order expanding and codifying its network openness rules. The order does not rely on reclassifying broadband access under some common carrier regs (Title II), allows for specialized services, and does not apply most of them to wireless broadband.
Internet businesses need stability to thrive. That’s the message that emerged from a meeting held at the Federal Communications Commission last week between Chairman Genachowski and CALinnovates, a group of start-ups and young businesses that are creating jobs and introducing new technology products into the online marketplace.
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