Don Blumenthal will be a senior policy adviser at the Public Interest Registry, which provides Web addresses for non-profit organizations across the globe. He previously directed the Federal Trade Commission's Internet Lab, which works to collect evidence and build cases against online criminals. Since leaving the Commission in 2006 he has been in private practice.
As part of its plan to shift 120 MHz of spectrum from TV broadcasting to wireless broadband, the Federal Communications Commission wants to pack TV stations more tightly together in the remaining 180 MHz of spectrum to free up some for auction. To do that most efficiently, it must make the VHF portion of that remaining spectrum (channels. 2-13) more hospitable to broadcasting.
The FCC has proposed increasing the power of VHF stations and imposing minimum performance standards on VHF receive antennas. It also called for other ideas for making VHF work better. The initiative is badly needed. After the final transition from analog to digital in June 2009, the VHF band, particularly the lower end (chs. 2-6), was exposed as a digital weakling. But improving the VHF service will not be easy. In the rulemaking, the FCC floats two ideas for reinvigorating VHF broadcasting.
First, it proposes to raise the maximum transmitted power (effective radiated power or ERP) of VHF stations in its heavily populated Zone 1 (the Northeast and Upper Midwest). Stations in the low-V band could up their power to 40 kW, while those operating in the high-V band could go to 120 kW. If the broadcast antennas are higher than 305 meters above average terrain, the power limits would be somewhat lower. The greater power “would help to compensate for some of the higher noise levels that tend to be present where consumers use indoor antennas,” the rulemaking says.
Second, the FCC proposes a standard for receive antenna performance, namely the ANSI/CEA-2032-A standard. It demands that antennas produce gain of at least -12 dBd on low-V channels and -8 dBd on high-V channels. The FCC also suggests that VHF stations looking to improve service add a vertically polarized element to their broadcast antenna if they don't already have one.
A coalition opposed to Comcast's proposed merger with NBC Universal is now arguing that the current broken federal process for resolving disputes between independent programmers and television distributors will not be able restrain the new combined company from discriminating against independent cable networks.
In its latest letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on the merger, the Coalition for Competition in Media said the incentive Comcast already has to discriminate against independent content that competes with its own will only grow if the cable operator is allowed to merge with a major content provider like NBCU, which owns the NBC network, a major Hollywood Studio and several cable channels. The coalition includes a broad range of groups and companies such as the public interest group Free Press, financial news provider Bloomberg, the National Coalition of African American Owned Media, and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association.
"Unaffiliated networks often lack the leverage that larger integrated programmers use to secure fair pricing and channel placement--a lack of leverage Comcast has long viewed as a business opportunity," the coalition wrote. "This merger will only enhance those incentives, sharpen the ability and increase the universe of non-Comcast-owned programming that will suffer the consequences. The end result will be decreased consumer choice and less diversity of important content, such as news and information."
The group also argued that the current process for resolving disputes between independent cable channels seeking carriage on cable systems has been unable to resolve some ongoing complaints filed against Comcast by the Tennis Channel and WealthTV.
Imagine if a cable network group -- Viacom, Discovery, or even an NBC Universal (that is, the company it is today in 2010) -- were to find a way to stuff scores of new cable networks into the slim cable spectrum that's currently available. This is probably how Comcast feels about Netflix as it continues to increase the number of movies, TV shows, and other content through Comcast's broadband service. All this seems to be part of the reason Level 3, Netflix's online video server partner, is complaining about extra charges from Comcast. This would seem to be an apples and oranges comparison between old-style cable networks and other content distributors. In the digital space, there are seemingly no limits. No shelf space. But in fact, there is. Comcast says Level 3 is pushing through twice as much content as other similar companies -- and that's not right.
As a big cable operator, Comcast knows a thing or two about shelf space. But in the digital media landscape, that old-time retail business term gets fuzzy -- especially to consumers who still see the Internet, and growing digital platforms, in a different ways. In part, Comcast and other big media companies are to blame -- marketing to consumers about a brave new digital world where every possible variety of media content can be available in an unlimited playground. But there's little mention in all this marketing of how much more all this will cost.
The Transportation Department is examining technology that could potentially block people from using cell phones while driving. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in response to the growing number of deaths and injuries related to distracted driving that "there's a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we're looking at that." While cell phones jammers are banned, technology from companies such as Zoomsafer, tXtBlocker and iZup could be used to disable a phone when a vehicle exceeds a certain speed.
Educational technology experts say the purchase of ed-tech company Wireless Generation by media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. raises questions about how effective the partnership will be over the long haul, but they hope the Nov. 22 announcement inspires further large-scale private investment in the K-12 technology market.
They say the deal -- in which News Corp. bought 90 percent of New York City-based Wireless Generation for $360 million -- is far from a certain success. While the media conglomerate’s expansive resources may be unparalleled within the relatively small ed-tech business sphere, News Corp. may find it challenging to define its footprint in that world -- perhaps one of the reasons it also recently announced the hiring of outgoing New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein as an executive vice president in the office of the chairman, where he is expected to help oversee educational endeavors. Further, observers say, the longer, slower business cycle that typifies the education market may take some adjustment on the part of the world’s third-largest media company, which counts the 20th Century Fox film company, Fox’s numerous TV enterprises, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and book publisher HarperCollins among its holdings.
Federal investment in cybersecurity will reach $13.3 billion by 2015, driven by a 445% increase in security incidents over the last four years and the shortage of qualified security professionals.
The size of the investment represents an annual increase of 9.1% over the next five years, according to the Federal Information Security Market, 2010-2015 report by Input. The firm based the report on its own analytics, interviews with federal IT professionals and the government's own spending forecasts, it said.
IT security represents about 15% of agency IT budgets and has produced the largest staffing increases of all IT positions in the last one to two years. However, lack of qualified security professionals to fill positions needed to boost cybersecurity is both a key obstacle to federal cybersecurity efforts and also driving investment in the space, according to the report. Because the government itself doesn't have the expert personnel it needs to implement security in complex IT environments like those of federal agencies, it will have to invest in training its own staff or contract work out to qualified professionals, according to Input. This represents an opportunity for federal contractors to get in on the action.
ComScore's just published its survey of consumer spending for the Cyber Monday that's just passed: It was the single biggest day ever for shopping online, the first to surpass a billion dollars in U.S. spending. It proves shopping has changed forever.
According to ComScore's research, November 2010 saw $13.6 billion dollars of e-commerce from U.S. consumers, up 13% on the same figure for last year. Cyber Monday itself, which is largely an "invented" sales window, brought to us by the rise of the Internet, became the biggest online shopping day ever with $1.03 billion dollars being spent--the first day to beat the billion dollar-a-day figure. The Cyber Monday boom was possible since buyers spent more on average than they did last year (12% more) and the total number of buyers rose by 4%, to 9 million people. Consumers even spent more on average per transaction (up 10%) meaning that the sales figure wasn't being distorted by one or two particular special deals, and they performed more transactions--up 6% versus 2009. This means they're really embracing the idea of Cyber Monday itself.
To put the figure in context, online spending on Black Friday -- the traditional sales holiday -- was around $648 million dollars, or about two thirds of Cyber Monday's total, and up only 9% versus last year. True, Black Friday is traditionally a day for in-store sales, but the trend is undeniable.
Google is implementing four changes to better address online copyright infringement:
The Los Angeles County Public Library system is facing tough financial straits in the next ten years and will either need to raise more funds through a special tax or reduce services to the community, according to a new report given to the Board of Supervisors.
The Library Commission Report given to the Supervisors on Tuesday details how the library system has been hit hard during the recession. Despite several cost cutting measures including reduced hours, program cuts, and more efficient purchasing, it still faces a $22 million deficit in its $109.7 million budget over the next ten years. The County Public Library is "not exempt from the fallout of the economic crisis," the report said, as losses in tax revenue from declining property values and increased costs including health care have put tremendous pressure on the nations largest library system.
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