March 2012

Free the Gannett 25!

[Commentary] Last week, the hall monitors who run Gannett’s 11 newspapers in Wisconsin brought the mean end of the ruler down on the wrists of 25 journalists for signing petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker.

Kevin Corrado, publisher of the chain’s Green Bay Press-Gazette, spoke the company line in a Mar. 24 column in which he stated that signing the petition constituted a “breach of Gannett’s principles of ethical conduct.” Promising “disciplinary measures” and additional “ethics training” for the signatories, Corrado continued: “A number of the journalists told their editors that they did not consider signing the petition a political act. They equated it to casting a ballot in an election. But we do not make that distinction.” According to Corrado, the Gannett 25 violated six of the 32 principles of ethical conduct in the company code of ethics, even though none of the busted journalists were covering politics.

Comcast, NBCU Pledge to Hire 1,000 Veterans

Comcast and NBCUniversal said they will hire 1,000 U.S. Veterans over three years as part of “NBC News: Hiring Our Heroes” — a company-wide initiative in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce that is focused on getting the nation’s veterans back into the workforce.

The announcement was made on Today by Comcast Chairman-CEO Brian Roberts and coincides with the nationwide hiring fair, “Hiring Our Heroes Today” where more than 1,500 veterans and military families are meeting with 100 companies at the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. The Chamber and Today are also hosting simultaneous hiring fairs in Chicago, Fort Hood, and Stuttgart, Germany, through a virtual online hiring fair at TODAY DOT com/Veterans. Servicemen and women in other parts of the world can also participate in the online event.

Data Points: The Kids Are Online

Kids are adopting technology at ever-earlier ages. A survey by Walker Communications for Bonnier's Parenting Group found that among even the youngest children, nearly half are spending at least a few minutes a day using a smartphone, and nearly one-fifth are using one for up to an hour a day. Boys and girls' media use was similar, although one area they differed significantly by gender was in their use of video games, according to a study by Common Sense Media: While video games are popular among boys and girls alike, boys are more likely to play video games and almost three times as likely as girls to play video games daily.

FCC Entering New Info into Verizon-SpectrumCo Review

As part of the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo transaction review, the Federal Communications Commission intends to examine information contained in the biannual Numbering Resource Utilization and Forecast ("NRUF") reports filed by wireless telecommunications carriers, carrier-specific local number portability ("LNP") data related to wireless telecommunications carriers, and further disaggregated monthly carrier-specific local number portability data ("Carrier-to-Carrier LNP Data") related to wireless telecommunications carriers. These data may assist the FCC in assessing the competitive effects of the transactions.

Accordingly, subject to the provisions of a new protective order, the FCC intends to place into the record in this proceeding:

NRUF reports for all wireless telecommunications carriers concerning data as of December 31, 2008, June 30, 2009, December 31, 2009, June 30, 2010, December 31, 2010, June 30, 2011, and December 31, 2011 (when available).
Wireless-to-wireless LNP data for all wireless telecommunications carriers from the December 2008, June 2009, December 2009, June 2010, December 2010, June 2011, and December 2011 (when available) LNP databases that the Commission receives from the LNP Administrator, NeuStar, Inc. This LNP data shows the total number of ports in and ports out per carrier.
Wireless-to-wireless Carrier-to-Carrier LNP data for all wireless telecommunications carriers, on a monthly basis, from the December 2008 to December 2011 (when available) LNP databases that the Commission receives from the LNP Administrator, NeuStar, Inc. This LNP data shows, on a monthly basis, the specific number of ports from each wireless carrier to another carrier in each area.

Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test-Bed Pilot Program

This notice describes and seeks comment on the types and depth of testing that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) intends to conduct in Phase II/III of the Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test-Bed pilot program to assess whether devices employing Dynamic Spectrum Access techniques can share the frequency spectrum with land mobile radio systems.

Phase II—Evaluation of Capabilities. After successful completion of Phase I, NTIA will evaluate the DSA spectrum sensing and/or geo-location capabilities of the equipment in the geographic area of the Test-Bed.
Phase III—Field Operation Evaluation. After successful completion of Phase II, NTIA will permit the DSA equipment to transmit in an actual radio frequency signal environment. An automatic signal logging capability will be used during operation of the Test-Bed to help resolve interference events if they occur. NTIA and the participant will establish a point-of-contact to stop Test-Bed operations if interference is reported.

Comments are due on or before April 27, 2012.

New rules expand the universe of unlicensed spectrum

Go ahead, add Wi-Fi to your toaster. Or Bluetooth to your shoes, because the Federal Communications Commission has relaxed some rules that make using unlicensed airwaves in the PCS band a little easier. And that means it could be cheaper for radio-makers to add that frequency band for our ever-growing parade of wireless gear.

Over at The CommLawBlog, published by DC law firm Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, a post notes that the FCC has simplified rules governing how devices using the 1920 MHz-through-1930 MHz frequencies can behave: “Unlike some of the other unlicensed bands that house Wi-[Fi], Bluetooth, ZigBee, and thousands of consumer applications (our own favorite is a wireless diaper wetness sensor), the UPCS band is lightly populated, mostly with cordless phones. The FCC rules for the band include a complicated “spectrum etiquette” – a listen-before-talk scheme that minimizes the odds of one device stepping on another’s transmission. But the benefit comes with downsides: added equipment costs, and an upper limit on the number of devices that can successfully operate in a given environment.”

The FCC’s new rules lower the costs of using that band, which means radio companies might cast their eye on it as other bands get too crowded, or they think up a good use case for devices that can take advantage of those frequencies. For example, since the band is already used by cordless phones, simplifying the rules might enable folks to use that band to operate a mess of cordless phones in a densely populated office environment, suggests the FCC.

The billion-dollar fight for control of mobile money

The philosophy behind mobile payments is simple; it's the idea that everyone should have the ability to buy anything, anywhere. And it sounds a lot better when explained that way. Because, beyond all the oddly shaped geometrical dongles and near-field communication magic, that's essentially what the likes of Square, PayPal, Google et al want to do.

Today, there are essentially two main camps in the mobile commerce space—those who want to use phones as a tool to make money, and those who want to use phones as a means to spend money. Square and PayPal fall into the former camp. Both companies want to empower small-to-medium size merchants—think artists, food trucks or mom-and-pop shops—to accept plastic payment, instead of just plain old cash. In the latter camp, you'll find Google Wallet, which is quite literally an attempt to replace your traditional wallet with an NFC-capable Android phone. Instead of paying for goods and services with a traditional credit card, you can use your phone instead. Competitors from pretty much every retail and mobile-oriented industry you can imagine—including Target, Wal-Mart, Verizon, and AT&T—are said to be joining the fray as well.

Is Cable’s Long, Glorious Ratings Run Finally Over?

For more than three decades, cable television programmers enjoyed steady ratings gains -- mostly at the expense of broadcasters. Inspired efforts like AMC’s Mad Men and FX’s Sons of Anarchy notwithstanding, those steady ratings increases sometimes belied the quality of programming they ran on their channels (sorry, Snooki). But with the cable business finally reaching saturation when it comes to adding new subscribers, and viewers blessed with more on-demand choices than ever, many top cable channels have recently experienced their worst ratings declines ever.

Ratings across top cable TV networks have taken a big, unexpected hit in the first quarter of this year. Measuring total day ratings performance, 15 of the top 20 basic cable channels experienced ratings drops in the first quarter—a rather unheard of benchmark in recent years, when channels steadily grew their audience as U.S. cable, satellite and telco TV service providers added subscribers. From 2001 to 2011, ad-supported cable’s full-year ratings average increased from a 26.6 rating to a 37.4, according to metrics researcher Nielsen.

Three Big Questions About Obama's Massive Voter Database

President Obama's re-election campaign is reportedly building a massive database of information about potential supporters. Here's a guide to what we know -- and what we don't -- about the information Obama is collecting about voters.

What information is the campaign collecting about individual supporters?
What will happen to all this personal information once the campaign is over?
Is there any way to erase yourself from the campaign's database?

The Solution To The Wireless Spectrum Shortage: More Wires

[Commentary] We’ve heard a lot recently about the pressing need for government action to free up more radio spectrum for wireless communications or to allow mergers or acquisitions purportedly aimed at the same goal. It’s no surprise that this issue attracts attention in Washington. When people can’t use their mobile devices to make or receive calls or to access content and data, they notice and they make themselves heard. And as any wireless consumer knows, service providers are struggling to meet the rapidly growing demand created by consumers’ desire for innovative devices, applications and content delivered wherever and whenever they want. But focusing on spectrum alone is unlikely to solve wireless network congestion in the long run. Spectrum is a finite resource.

While laws passed by Congress can assign and allocate spectrum, the many competing uses for capacity and the laws of physics limit how much spectrum is available for any one purpose. If consumer demand for wireless broadband continues to increase at predicted levels, policymakers will need to employ all available approaches to encourage efficient use of the wireless spectrum. A key factor in encouraging efficient use of spectrum has been largely overlooked in policy discussions. Wireless providers can add capacity, without obtaining more spectrum, by adding more and more antennas, generally referred to as cell sites. Additional cell sites allow the same spectrum to be used by even more consumers, subject to some well understood design considerations. Importantly, each additional cell site requires a wired connection to the global Internet.

[Crowe is CEO of Level 3 Communications]

Benton

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