BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2011
For updates throughout the day, follow us on Twitter @benton_fdn
AT&T|T-MOBILE
AT&T Files Public Interest Statement With FCC on T-Mobile Acquisition - press release
Public Interest Community Responds to AT&T Filing - press release
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC's Bad Influence Spreads Abroad - analysis
Open Internet Advisory Committee
Amazon Cloud Failure Takes Down Web Sites
Commerce's NTIA Showcases Broadband Stimulus Success Story
MORE ON SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
A Clash Over the Airwaves
ACLU concerned over Michigan State Police extracting data from cellphones [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Facebook’s ‘too much, maybe, free speech’ problem - analysis
Internet Users Invent Ways to Outwit Beijing's Censors [links to web]
ACLU concerned over Michigan State Police extracting data from cellphones [links to web]
PRIVACY
Congressional Eyes on Apple Tracking
Privacy groups urge public to push for industry adoption of Google Buzz settlement terms
Smartphone App Users Concerned with Privacy When it Comes to Location [links to web]
Lockheed Martin gets more HHS money to study privacy controls [links to web]
ACLU concerned over Michigan State Police extracting data from cellphones [links to web]
VIDEO
Is there Competition in the Video Delivery Market?
Verizon Tallies 3.7 Million FiOS TV Subs [links to web]
Dodgers' TV Money Spurs Selig
Comcast to provide sports coverage for San Francisco NBC station
Supreme Court Asked to Restore Indecency Regulations
Steven Tyler's F-Bomb Moment
OWNERSHIP
With Google-ITA merger, Justice Department continues to expand monitoring of firms
Venture Capitalists Sending Big Money to Media [links to web]
RESEARCH
Agencies Report Scientific Integrity Progress
Children Fail to Recognize Online Ads, Study Says [links to web]
PUBLIC SAFETY
Reps Upton, Waxman concerned about competition in the public safety device market [links to web]
Public safety group stages recess lobbying blitz [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
Japan Internet providers block child porn [links to web]
Children Fail to Recognize Online Ads, Study Says [links to web]
INDUSTRY NEWS
VoIP providers could get special (lower) long-distance access charge rate [links to web]
Verizon rides iPhone boom too; but what about LTE? [links to web]
Verizon Tallies 3.7 Million FiOS TV Subs [links to web]
Verizon Selects Level 3 for 4G LTE Rollout [links to web]
LightSquared partners with SI Wireless [links to web]
LOBBYING
The Influence Industry: New Republicans play an old fundraising game [links to web]
AT&T, Facebook Ramp Up Washington Spending [links to web]
Free Press triples lobbying expenditures [links to web]
Even in an era of budget cuts, these government programs won't die [links to web]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
These headlines presented in partnership with:
Book bind: Public libraries across the US feel strain of budget cuts [links to web]
Library offers computer classes [links to web]
County should support URTV as a public asset [links to web]
AGENDA
FCC Announces May Meeting Agenda - press release
MORE ONLINE
Film on Branded Content Examines a Blurred Line [links to web]
Product placement guru explains how it's done [links to web]
How Apple blocks its competition [links to web]
Jobs Bio Leads on Blogs [links to web]
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AT&T|T-MOBILE
AT&T FILES AT FCC
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Press release]
AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission its Public Interest Statement regarding its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. The filing demonstrates the numerous benefits of the merger, including the deployment of 4G LTE network technology to more than 97 percent of the population. When the parties announced this transaction in March 2011, AT&T initially stated that it would deploy LTE to 95 percent of the U.S. population. After conducting a more refined analysis of the combined network, AT&T is increasing the scope of this commitment to 97.3 percent. This deployment will help fulfill this Administration’s pledge to connect every part of America to the digital age, and it will create new jobs and economic growth in the small towns and rural communities that need them most. Here's what AT&T claims:
AT&T has helped make the United States the global leader in mobile broadband and smartphone sales. AT&T’s mobile broadband leadership, however, presents it with unique spectrum and capacity challenges. A smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone, and the explosively popular iPad and similar tablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a smartphone. AT&T’s mobile data volumes surged by a staggering 8,000% from 2007 to 2010, and as a result, AT&T faces network capacity constraints more severe than those of any other wireless provider.
AT&T is using up its spectrum at an accelerating rate, and the wireless broadband revolution is just beginning. Over the next five years, data usage on AT&T’s network is projected to skyrocket as customers “mobilize” all of their communications activities, from streaming HD video and cloud computing to a range of M2M applications like energy management, fleet tracking, and remote health monitoring. In just the first five-to-seven weeks of 2015, AT&T expects to carry all of the mobile traffic volume it carried during 2010.
This merger provides by far the surest, fastest and most efficient solution to that challenge. The network synergies of this transaction will free up new capacity - the functional equivalent of new spectrum - in the many urban, suburban and rural wireless markets where escalating broadband usage is fast consuming existing capacity.
This transaction will thus benefit consumers by reducing the number of dropped and blocked calls, increasing data speeds, improving in-building coverage, and dramatically expanding deployment of next-generation mobile technology.
The transaction’s benefits arise from the uniquely complementary nature of AT&T and T-Mobile’s GSM/HSPA+ technologies and spectrum holdings.
The combined company expects to integrate a significant portion of T-Mobile cell sites into the AT&T network. Upon network integration, which will benefit customers in as little as nine months, this will equate to “instant” cell splits - increasing cell density and effectively doubling the amount of network traffic that can be carried using existing spectrum in the areas served by those cell sites.
Groups across the political spectrum, including a broad range of consumer, disability, civil rights, and rural advocacy groups have highlighted the transaction’s potential to empower consumers, workers and small businesses to participate more fully in our nation’s broadband society.
The U.S. wireless marketplace is fiercely competitive, characterized by escalating usage, product differentiation, rapid innovation, fierce advertising campaigns, new entry, and sharply declining prices for wireless service by unit of consumption (e.g., minutes or megabytes). In fact, the FCC found last year that approximately three-quarters of Americans live in localities contested by at least five facilities-based wireless providers. These other competitors are rapidly growing and investing and will ensure the wireless marketplace remains vibrantly competitive after the transaction.
benton.org/node/56792 | AT&T | read AT&T's filing | FCC Public Notice | Reuters | The Hill | ars technica
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REACTION TO AT&T
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
After AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission its statement regarding its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA, the pubic interest community reacted.
"Justice Department and FCC approval of this merger would be a decision to make mobile broadband duopoly inevitable, harming consumers in the long run. The government cannot seriously consider approving such extreme consolidation in the wireless industry at a time when the FCC has only just begun to address the serious gaps in competition policy that already put smaller, rural and regional carriers at a severe disadvantage to AT&T and Verizon," said Michael Calabrese, Director of New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative (OTI) Wireless Future Project. "In addition to higher prices and less choice for consumers, the merger is guaranteed to cost thousands of employees their jobs at a time when the nation's economy is struggling to create new jobs, let alone make up for the massive job losses that have happened over the past 10 years. Both consumers and American workers would benefit far more from a real focus by the Obama Administration and the FCC to create policies to promote more competition in the wireless market, including mobile device interoperability and spectrum caps, rather than approve a merger that would further hobble the very limited competition that exists today," added Benjamin Lennett, Senior Policy Analyst for the Open Technology Initiative (OTI).
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said, “Over the next few weeks and months, AT&T will spend millions of dollars to persuade the government and the American people that their takeover of T-Mobile is in the public interest. They will hire faculties worth of economists who will produce libraries worth of “research.” They will donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to outside groups. They will equip themselves with battalions of outside lobbyists, including prominent former members of Congress and will spend millions more in campaign and other contributions. They will blanket the airwaves with ads. All of that effort and all of that money cannot disguise the simple, fundamental fact that AT&T in this one transaction will fundamentally reshape the wireless industry in ways that will hurt consumers, raising prices, restricting innovation and limiting choice. The plain fact is that every one of the benefits AT&T promised to achieve can be accomplished without this merger. Every time someone sees or hears an AT&T ad, or sees or hears someone defend this deal, they should think about how AT&T is simply reducing the number of national carriers from four to three. And they should also think how much better AT&T’s service would be if that money was invested in their network and service.”
“No matter how many high-priced lobbying firms AT&T hires, it won't be able to fool Americans into thinking the reconstitution of the Ma Bell monopoly is a good thing. Make no mistake, this deal is about eliminating a competitor and nothing more. AT&T has chosen the marketing slogan ‘Mobilize Everything’ to sell this competition-killing deal, but it's clear their real goal is to ‘Monopolize Everything,’" said Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner. "This merger would cost jobs at a time when unemployment is still at record levels; it would result in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers; and it would stifle innovation and investment in the wireless market. AT&T is falling back on its tired claim that this merger would give it the opportunity to improve service and deployment of its wireless network, but the fact is AT&T doesn't need to merge with anyone to remedy the problems it created for itself by chronically under-investing in its network. It's already sitting on plenty of unused spectrum, and it continues to earn record profits. It's simply a false choice to ask Americans to pay higher prices, endure poor customer service and sacrifice innovation in exchange for fulfilling deployment promises that AT&T has already made. If antitrust has any meaning left in America, then the FCC and the Department of Justice must find that a new national wireless duopoly will cause significant harm and must swiftly reject this unthinkable plan to restore Ma Bell.”
Parul P. Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “We routinely hear a lot of complaints from wireless customers about high prices, hidden charges and poor customer service, and it's hard to see how AT&T buying T-Mobile would improve the situation. We have long sought reform on a number of issues to help promote a marketplace that fosters consumer choice and fair prices, such as interoperability and access to broadband infrastructure. We feel that these should be addressed to facilitate competition in the wireless marketplace before ruling on this transaction.”
benton.org/node/56788 | New America Foundation | Public Knowledge | Free Press | Consumers Union
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC'S BAD INFLUENCE
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
The European Union's latest network neutrality pronouncement had all the earmarks of the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Just like the FCC's Dec. 21 order on an open Internet, EU Vice President Neelie Kroes said all the right things, tiptoed right up to the line, and then backed off before doing anything significant to protect Internet users. In making the long-awaited announcement of its Net Neutrality policy, Kroes said all the right things. "The true value of the Internet lies in the fact that it belongs to all of us." That's true. "As a platform for free expression, for community, for business – it may even be our most valuable communal asset." Can't argue with that.
Then there was: "The Commission will not put the achievement of the open Internet at risk. I am determined that everyone in the EU should have the chance to enjoy the benefits of an open and neutral Internet, without hidden restrictions or slower speeds than they have been promised." All well and good, right? The policy was good as far as it went, but the problem was it didn't go very far. It endorsed some modest U.S.-style changes -- a need for transparency and quality standards, as well as a non-U.S. factor, ease in switching providers. The last one is significant because in many EU countries, there is some choice for consumers that we in the U.S. don't have. The EU, to its credit, still maintains requirements that Internet Service Providers lease lines and have wholesale arrangements with other companies. As a result, consumers in many countries actually have some choice in providers. The new rules, to be published at the end of May, will make certain "that conditions and procedures for contract termination do not act as a disincentive against changing service provider."
benton.org/node/56701 | Public Knowledge
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OPEN INTERNET ADVISORY COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Marlene Dortch]
In a Federal Register notice, the Federal Communications Commission announced its intent to create the Open Internet Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Committee is to track and evaluate the effects of the FCC's Open Internet rules, and to provide any recommendations the Committee deems appropriate to the FCC regarding policies and practices related to preserving the open Internet. The Committee will observe market developments regarding the freedom and openness of the Internet and will focus in particular on issues addressed in the FCC's Open Internet rules, such as transparency, reasonable network management practices, differences in treatment of fixed and mobile broadband services, specialized services, technical standards, and the state of competition.
benton.org/node/56699 | Federal Communications Commission
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AMAZON CLOUD FAIL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Claire Cain Miller]
A widespread failure in Amazon’s Web services business took down many Internet sites on April 21, highlighting the risks involved when companies rely on so-called cloud computing. The problems, which began early Thursday morning and had not been completely repaired by the end of the day, affected sites including Quora.com, Reddit.com, GroupMe.com and Scvngr.com, which all posted messages to their visitors about the issue. Most of the sites were inaccessible for hours, and others were only partly operational. The Web companies use Amazon’s cloud-based service to serve their Web sites, applications and files. Amazon’s customers include start-ups like the social networking site Foursquare but also big companies like Pfizer and Nasdaq. Amazon, which is a leader in this business, lets these companies rent space on its servers and take advantage of its big data centers and computing power. But that gives the companies little control if the servers fail.
benton.org/node/56813 | New York Times | WSJ
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BYTE BACK
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Anna Gomez]
Earlier this month, I saw firsthand the benefits of our sustainable broadband adoption projects when I attended a graduation ceremony in D.C. Byte Back, a BTOP grantee partner, held a ceremony for adults who completed computer and jobs-skills training courses. At the graduation, I met students who showed me how these courses are enabling them to cross the digital divide and open doors to new opportunities.
One of the graduating students was a mother who had to seek out her teenage daughter’s help in order to pass the course. Another graduate was a senior who came to the program when her computer broke. She enjoyed the courses so much that she is now a volunteer with the program, helping to teach other seniors valuable computer skills that can help them stay informed and connected. Several others were already finding ways to put their new skills to work and had lined up job opportunities.
We know that computer skills are increasingly important for success in today’s digital economy, and investments in training are addressing a very real need: nearly 80 percent of that graduating class were unemployed when they began training, and forty percent of that class were living in temporary or transitory housing situations. Many of the students, already in difficult situations, had to venture out of their comfort zone to tackle the challenging coursework. But now, armed with new skills, there is more hope for these graduates. If they follow the trend of classes from the year before – according to Byte Back – every $100 invested in training unemployed students who are seeking work will result in a $1082 increase in student earnings. Byte Back says half of the program’s unemployed job training graduates found employment last year.
benton.org/node/56797 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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MORE ON SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
A CLASH OVER THE AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wyatt]
Dropped calls. Maps that take eons to load. Echoing voices on a mobile phone. And, as iPhone users know, the dreaded “Cannot Open Page.“ Those annoyances are likely to get worse, as airwaves that carry cellphone signals and wireless Internet connections grow ever more crowded. The Federal Communications Commission has a solution: reclaim airwaves from “inefficient“ users — specifically, television broadcasters — and auction them off to the highest bidder, sharing some of the proceeds with television stations that volunteer to give up airwaves, known in the trade as spectrum. Broadcasters, however, are furious with the plan, setting the stage for an old media vs. new media lobbying battle with cellphone companies and the government. “We’re in full battle mode to protect broadcasters from being forced to give up spectrum,“ said Gordon H. Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters and a former United States senator, addressing his members at their meeting here last week. The CTIA, the lobbying group for the wireless industry, quickly fired back, accusing broadcasters of “desperate and inaccurate stall tactics,” said Steve Largent, the group’s president, who is a former Oklahoma congressman and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Broadcasters have long been under siege, their audiences slipping away to cable television, their advertisers defecting to the Internet. Although giving up spectrum would go unnoticed by most viewers, the fight to hold onto a chunk of the airwaves could be the industry’s biggest battle in years.
benton.org/node/56815 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TOO MUCH FREE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alexandra Petri]
[Commentary] Facebook is allowing “too much, maybe, free speech, in countries that haven’t experienced it before,” said Adam Conner, a lobbyist for Facebook. "Maybe we will block content in some countries, but not others." Conner’s remarks remind me that Facebook has begun a long and potentially sordid flirtation with China and its regime of online censorship. Yes, vast markets in closed-Internet regimes are tempting. But they are not devoid of social networks willing to censor content. China already boasts sites like Kaixin and Renren. Yes, the pie’s large — but is it worth it for such a small potential slice? Facebook won't gain any friends by simply joining the group for Censors of Online Content. Besides, Facebook is a site based on the principle that nobody should be required to shut up, ever. Song lyrics. Bizarre conspiracy theories. Links to “informative” articles. Thoughts that seemed profound on April 20th. Let it all hang out on your newsfeed! Any Web site that won't let me detag that one photo can’t start censoring now. Besides, if Facebook wants to crack down on unwanted expression, it should probably start by getting rid of poking.
benton.org/node/56779 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY
APPLE TRACKING
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Twenty-four hours after researchers provided a new open-source tool for iPhone users to view their phone's logged location history, Sen Al Franken (D-MN) and Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) have both issued sets of questions for Apple CEO Steve Jobs. While Franken's letter requests a "prompt" response, Rep Markey wants answers "within fifteen business days."
Rep Markey has long been a leading voice on tech questions, and has previously chaired key committees related to tech issues, so his letter was hardly a surprise. Indeed, in June 2010, Markey co-authored another set of questions for Steve Jobs on the issues of privacy and location-based services. Markey's new letter asks many of the same questions his old letter did, including one about whether Apple complies with Section 222 of the Communications Act, which "requires express prior customer authorization for the use, disclosure of, or access to the customer's location information for commercial purposes." Apple responded to this issue last year, saying that Apple is not subject to Section 222 but that "the privacy protections described in detail in this letter are consistent with the intent of Section 222." Rep Markey also wants to know if iPhone users can really disable the cell tower and WiFi logging, and he follows Franken's lead in asking about widespread use of iPhone and iPads by minors. "Is Apple concerned that the wide array of precise location data logged by these devices can be used to track minors, exposing them to potential harm?" he asks.
Sen Franken's letter includes this list of questions:
Why does Apple collect and compile this location data? Why did Apple choose to initiate tracking this data in its iOS 4 operating system?
Does Apple collect and compile this location data for laptops?
How is this data generated? (GPS, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi triangulation, etc.)
How frequently is a user's location recorded? What triggers the creation of a record of someone's location?
How precise is this location data? Can it track the users location to 50 m, 100 m, etc.?
Why is this data not encrypted? What steps will Apple take to encrypt the data?
Why were Apple consumers never affirmatively informed of the collection and retention of their location data in this manner? Why did Apple not seek affirmative consent before doing so?
Does Apple believe that this conduct is permissible under the terms of its privacy policy?
To whom, if anyone, including Apple, has this data been disclosed? When and why were these disclosures made?
benton.org/node/56702 | Ars Technica | ars technica - Franken
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PRIVACY GROUPS TO PRESSURE GOOGLE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:]
Privacy groups have launched an effort called Fix Google Privacy to put pressure on the Internet search giant to improve its practices for handling consumer information. Among the changes they want is for Google to delete user search histories and to endorse a do-not-track requirement for Web browsers so that people could prevent their online activities from being followed by advertisers and other companies. "I think Google is thinking it can get away with doing the bare minimum," to comply with the settlement, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "That’s why this public comment period is so important. We’re not going to let Google off easy here."
benton.org/node/56778 | Los Angeles Times
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VIDEO
VIDEO MARKET REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission seeks data, information, and comment on the state of competition in the delivery of video programming for the Commission's Fourteenth Report on Competition in the Market for the Delivery of Video Programming. Using the information collected pursuant to this Further Notice, we seek to enhance our analysis of competitive conditions, better understand the implications for the American consumer, and provide a solid foundation for Commission policy making with respect to the delivery of video programming to consumers. Under a new analytic framework, the FCC first will categorize entities that deliver video programming into one of three groups: multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), broadcast television stations, and online video distributors (OVDs). Second, the FCC will examine industry structure, conduct, and performance, considering factors such as:
Structure: The number and size of firms in each group, horizontal and vertical integration, merger and acquisition activity, and conditions affecting entry and the ability to compete.
Conduct: The business models and competitive strategies used by firms that directly compete as video programming distributors, including product differentiation, advertising and marketing, and pricing.
Performance: The quantity and picture quality of programming, prices charged for delivered video programming, financial indicators (e.g., revenue and profit margins), and investment and innovation activities.
Third, the FCC will look upstream and downstream to examine the influence of industry inputs and consumer behavior on the delivery of video programming. The FCC expects to discuss three key upstream industry inputs: video content creators, video content aggregators, and consumer premises equipment.
Comments in the proceeding are due June 8, 2011. Reply comments are due July 8, 2011.
benton.org/node/56704 | Federal Communications Commission
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TV MONEY AND THE DODGERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Matthew Futterman]
At the center of the controversy over Major League Baseball's takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers is a growing battle over the team's television rights and how owner Frank McCourt planned to spend the money from the deal. That battle over what will likely be one of the richest media deals in sports and Mr. McCourt's plans to use proceeds for personal reasons played a major role in Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's decision to take control of the team. For months a new deal for the TV rights has been a key element of Mr. McCourt's plans to keep control of the team, despite mounting debts, an embarrassing and expensive divorce case and recent concerns over security at Dodger Stadium, all of which have brought increased scrutiny of his oversight of the team. At the same time, maintaining the rights to televise Dodger games, which are a pillar of the Southern California cable-sports operation of News Corp.'s Fox unit, has become increasingly urgent within Fox. Analysts value Fox's Southern California sports-cable channels, which broadcast the region's professional sports teams, at more than $1 billion. The Dodgers' current deal with Fox's Prime Ticket cable channel expires after the 2013 season. An extension gained urgency in February, when the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, whose games are now shown on Fox's Fox Sports West channel, reached a deal with Time Warner Cable Inc. to launch a rival regional sports network next year. Meanwhile, McCourt was seeking cash to cover the costs of operating his franchise and also to buy out his wife, Jamie McCourt, from her 50% ownership of the team. The couple has been undergoing a high-profile divorce for the past year and a half, and ownership of the Dodgers, which Mr. McCourt has been maneuvering to control despite not having the cash to buy out his wife, has been a major sticking point in the case. Earlier this year, Fox and Mr. McCourt agreed to terms on a $200 million loan to the Dodgers that Selig rejected because the team is already highly leveraged and because the commissioner was concerned Mr. McCourt planned to use a significant portion of the money for personal reasons.
benton.org/node/56806 | Wall Street Journal
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COMCAST SPORTS COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, AUTHOR: Bob Fernandez]
A Comcast regional sports network will assume sports coverage for an NBC TV station in northern California, the first case of the cable company's sports content replacing a traditional sports report at an NBC broadcast affiliate. NBCUniversal will examine whether similar synergies exist in other markets where it owns a local TV station and a regional sports network, including Philadelphia, where the company owns NBC10. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, acquired 51 percent control of NBCUniversal in January. The move at KNTV, which covers San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, is part of a sweeping review inside NBCUniversal of its operations since former Comcast executive Steve Burke assumed the top position at the New York-based news and entertainment company.
benton.org/node/56693 | Philadelphia Inquirer
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INDECENCY APPEAL TO HIGH COURT
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
The Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a policy that allows federal regulators to fine broadcasters for showing nudity and airing curse words when young children may be watching television. The Justice Department is seeking the High Court's review of appeals court rulings that threw out the Federal Communications Commission's rules against the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman's nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ABC's "NYPD Blue." Last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York threw out the FCC policy, saying it was unconstitutionally vague and left broadcasters uncertain of what programming the agency will find offensive. The challenge to the FCC rules arose over celebrities' use of the F-word and S-word on live awards show programs. In January, the same court said its ruling on the FCC policy compelled it to nullify a penalty of more than $1.2 million against ABC and 45 affiliates over less than seven seconds of airtime from "NYPD Blue." Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, the government's top Supreme Court lawyer, said the Justices should hear the case because the appeals court has stripped the FCC of its ability to police the airwaves.
benton.org/node/56803 | Associated Press | WSJ | B&C | National Journal
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AMERICAN IDOL MOMENT
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Anthony Crupi]
American Idol judge Steven Tyler let fly with that most taboo of gerunds last night, dropping the F-bomb in front of a live television audience of 24 million viewers.
Shortly after Casey Abrams finished his rendition of the Maroon 5 song “Harder to Breathe,” the leathery scarf enthusiast let rip. “I mean, there’s millions of people in America that are really angry because, because you pissed them off . . . because you’re so ****ing good!” Tyler enthused. “You've changed so many people’s minds!” The show quickly went to a commercial. When the show went back on air, Tyler was seated in his customary spot, with a swatch of duct tape plastered across his mouth.
benton.org/node/56774 | AdWeek
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OWNERSHIP
JUSTICE AND MERGERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jia Lynn Yang]
The Justice Department recently concluded that a deal by Google to buy a travel search firm would “substantially” reduce competition, stifle innovation and leave consumers with fewer choices. Then it approved the merger — after adding limits on Google’s behavior that will require years of monitoring by the department’s antitrust division. In two other high-profile mergers, involving Comcast and Ticketmaster, the government threatened to take the cases to court but instead greenlighted the deals after laying out rules for the companies, which the Justice Department will now have to watch. Not since antitrust officials took on Microsoft in the 1990s has the department taken on this much responsibility enforcing restrictions on some of America’s most dominant companies. Some experts worry that the agency, now reviewing the blockbuster deal between AT&T and T-Mobile, is trying to regulate complex businesses when it should instead be blocking controversial mergers in court.
benton.org/node/56710 | Washington Post
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RESEARCH
SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Mira Atanassova]
Fully 30 executive branch departments, agencies, and offices have responded to OSTP Director John Holdren’s call for progress reports on the development of their respective scientific integrity policies, and six of those have submitted draft or completed policies for comment. The responses, which were due this week pursuant to Dr. Holdren’s December 17, 2010, Memorandum to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, include representatives of every executive branch department—a gratifying first step to the assurance of scientific integrity across the executive branch as called for by President Obama. OSTP is pleased to report that it has received progress reports from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the State Department, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Executive Office of the President, as well as from the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce and a number of individual branches, agencies and offices within those last two departments. [Mira Atanassova is a Student Volunteer at the Office of Science and Technology Policy]
benton.org/node/56771 | White House, The
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AGENDA
MAY AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 12, 2011:
NPRM to Strengthen and Secure America's Critical Communications Infrastructure: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to extend the outage reporting requirements in Part 4 of the rules to interconnected VoIP and broadband service providers to promote the resiliency of America's 9-1-1 system and the country's critical communications infrastructure.
Elimination of the International Settlements Policy NPRM: As part of the Commission's regulatory reform efforts, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to remove outdated regulations governing the exchange of telephone traffic between U.S. and foreign carriers that are no longer necessary to protect consumers and competition, while strengthening protections against anticompetitive practices by foreign carriers.
Streamlining and Modernizing International Data Reporting Requirements First Report and Order and FNPRM: As part of the Commission's Data Innovation Initiative, a First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to eliminate unnecessary reporting requirements regarding international telephone service, while streamlining and modernizing remaining international data reporting to ensure continued relevance in light of changing markets.
benton.org/node/56799 | Federal Communications Commission
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... and we're outta here. Have a great weekend. See ya Monday.
