August 2011

After years of decline, the audience for network news jumps upward

Finally, there's some good news for network TV news. Ratings are up this year, both evening and morning, and not just a little. But hold the celebration, too, because it could just be a blip.

At first glance, the numbers are nothing to sneeze at. The three evening newscasts added almost 2 million viewers combined in the second quarter compared with the same period the year before. That amounts to a 10 percent increase – the first major jump in a decade – not too shabby for programs that have been written off as dinosaurs. The network morning shows saw a similar uptick, adding 1.2 million viewers for a total of 13 million. It's too soon to call it a trend, but the numbers are significant enough to be worth a closer look. What's going on here? There's no question that more viewers tune in when there's big news, and there was plenty of it this spring. The aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami raised fears of a nuclear meltdown. The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in Pakistan marked a turning point in the 10-year fight against terrorism. And the devastating tornadoes across the South provided the kind of emotional footage that TV news thrives on. But that's not the whole story behind the numbers.

100,000 New Broadband-Enabled Call Center Jobs

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski joined business leaders from Jobs4America – a coalition of call center companies -- in Jefferson, Indiana, to announce the creation of 100,000 new broadband-enabled, call center jobs over the next two years in the U.S., helping to revive some communities hardest hit by the economic downturn. Many of these call center jobs will be brought onshore from foreign countries and can be performed at a new cell center or through connectivity at home.

An average of 4,000 call center jobs are being created each month in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2011, over 18,000 new call center jobs were created in the U.S. Chairman Genachowski announced that 175 new jobs will come to Jeffersonville, Indiana including jobs that can be performed at home to benefits people with disabilities or working parents who need more flexibility. Call center employees will handle customer service calls for companies like BJ’s Wholesale Club and Charbroil.

Chairman Genachowski said, “This initiative involves meaningful job creation that will have a meaningful impact across America. Bringing broadband to your town and home in the 21st century is like bringing in electricity in the 20th – connecting you and your community to the larger economy and opening up new worlds of commerce and opportunity.”

Does USF Reform Put RUS Loans at Risk of Default?

Loans recently made to small telcos by the Rural Utilities Service would no longer be “financially feasible” if the Federal Communications Commission caps the Universal Service fund, according to data filed by the RUS with the FCC. The filing came to light just as the nation’s largest and smallest telephone companies announced they had reached accord on Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation reform. Although the large carriers apparently have agreed on a USF cap to the areas they serve, the smaller carriers are recommending that Universal Service funding for their service areas be allowed to continue to grow

French online deal firm wants EU probe into Google

French online daily deals company Deal du Jour has complained about Google's business practices to EU antitrust regulators, the latest company to take its grievances about the web search giant to the European Commission.

In a complaint filed with the European Commission, Deal du Jour claimed Google illegally removed its site from its web index without any justification. It said Google also blocked it from using its Adsense advertising service, saying the world No. 1 Internet search engine's actions were "clearly anticompetitive." Google moved into the daily deals sector on Monday when it acquired The Dealmap which aggregates offers from lots of daily deal websites. The lucrative sector is dominated by Groupon and LivingSocial. The complaint by Deal du Jour underscores the difficulties currently facing Google, the subject of nine antitrust complaints filed with the Commission and also the target of a Federal Trade Commission investigation.

ACLU might sue over law limiting teachers' Facebook use

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri is considering suing the state over a new law that prohibits teachers from sending private message to students on social-networking sites such as Facebook. The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, signed into law last month by Gov. Jay Nixon (D), bans teachers from establishing an Internet site "which allows exclusive access with a current or former student." The law was designed to prevent teachers from having inappropriate contact with students.

96 Stations Have Installed Mobile DTV

A new survey of mobile DTV launched by U.S. broadcasters has found that 96 U.S. stations have launched mobile DTV services and that 126 stations in 48 markets are planning to launch the mobile services by the end of 2011, reports the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), which conducted the research. The uptick in installations indicates that broadcasters are on track to cover about two thirds of all households in early 2012, the OMVC believes.

Smartphones, the cigarettes of the next century?

[Commentary] Smartphones are addictive, according to a study from the British telecom regulator Ofcom, which, like many other studies on the topic, emphasizes that people do things like using handsets in bathrooms in lieu of talking to their children and points out how they are changing social behavior. The press release on the research, issued Thursday, uses the word addiction in a variety of forms five times, including when it says 37 percent of adults and 60 percent of teens admit they are “highly addicted” to the devices. But why wouldn't they be? Thanks to apps such as Twitter, texting or even email we are assured that someone is out there on the other end, listening and caring about us. And if the repercussions of such easy and electronically limited socializing mean that we have less time for reflection, or less time for dull or difficult conversations with those who are standing right in front of us, then it’s worth asking what that means for people, society and business.

The threat facing Android

Mobile malware is on the rise, and so is the market for companies that develop anti-virus software for cell phones -- particularly Android devices.

According to a recent report from Lookout Mobile Security, three out of 10 Android phone users will encounter a web-based threat on their device this year. The report also says that Android users are 2.5 times more likely to encounter malware today than they were six months ago. An estimated half million to one million people were affected by Android malware in the first half of 2011. "On the PC, you have to hack someone's account or get access to their credentials," says Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder and CTO of Lookout, which sells a security app that protects your phone if it's lost or stolen and blocks phishing and malware sites. "On mobile it's much easier for the bad guys to make money. They can directly monetize by charging to a user's phone bill." Of course, Android is not the only mobile operating system that the "bad guys" are targeting, and Lookout isn't the only company trying to capitalize on the growing security threats on cell phones. Apple's iOS and other platforms are not immune to malware, though reports like Lookout's suggest malicious applications have been most common on Google's (popular Android OS. It now claims almost 50% of the worldwide smartphone market. According to Lookout, the number of Android apps infected with malware rose from 80 to 400 in the first half of this year. Just this week, researchers at enterprise software vendor CA Technologies said they uncovered new Android malware that can actually record conversations on infected phones.

FCC approves latecomer Microsoft as white-space database provider

The Federal communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has named Microsoft as an administrator of the TV white spaces database, despite the company filing late and others opposing its designation.

Microsoft is now required to develop and operate a TV bands database in its geographic area that will locate the unused slivers of broadcast spectrum. Microsoft is now the 10th company the FCC has designated as a white space database provider. Microsoft requested to become a database provider 15 months after the OET's stated deadline. Nine companies were given the okay to provide databases back on Jan. 26--Comsearch, Frequency Finder, Google, KB Enterprises, LS Telecom, Key Bridge Global, Neustar, Spectrum Bridge, Telcordia and WSdb. Databases are necessary to determine what white-space channels to use since the spectrum consists of slivers of 700 MHz channels freed by the transition of TV channels from analog to digital. Using geolocation, the databases should detect interference with TV broadcasts and other signals and allow white-space devices to jump to free spectrum.

Deutsche Telekom Profit Falls on T-Mobile USA Client Losses

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest phone company, reported a 6.5 percent decline in second-quarter profit before some items as it ceded mobile-phone customers in the U.S. and recorded costs for early retirements in Germany.

T-Mobile USA had a net loss of 281,000 contract clients in the quarter, bringing losses to almost 1 million over 12 months. Analysts had projected a termination of 200,000 accounts. Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann, 48, is focused on returning Deutsche Telekom’s European markets to growth by 2013 after agreeing to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T for $39 billion in March. He’s also overseeing a shift into areas such as mobile Internet, digital content and health services to help make up for falling sales from traditional landline and voice services.

Benton

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