December 2012

The Daily will fire off its last electronic dispatches December 15h, bringing an end to a deeply flawed, but ultimately important experiment in digital journalism.

When the News Corp-owned publication announced staff cuts back in August, AdWeek asked digital industry leaders what the future held for tablet-only publishers, who defended The Daily's foray into the tablet space and noted that the market was (and still is) incredibly young. Since August, The Daily and digital magazine properties like Nomad Editions have shuttered their tablet editions, citing low subscribership and painting a very bleak picture for the tablet-only space that, only a year ago held so much promise for digital media prognosticators.

Mobile has generated buzz lately as a rapidly growing tool for holiday shopping. But an annual survey by marketing services provider Epsilon suggests most people still aren’t crazy about getting messages on their mobile devices. The company’s Channel Preference 2012 report found, for instance, that 80% of U.S. consumers surveyed are not yet interested in receiving location-based mobile offers during or after a visit to a brick-and-mortar store. Mobile users, however, were more likely to be open to receiving messages via digital means than non-users. Consumers overall continue to favor direct mail over e-mail and company Web sites as communication methods. A majority surveyed again reported getting an emotional lift from postal mail, with 62% of Americans saying they enjoy checking their mailbox.

South Korea's telecoms regulator, the KCC, has issued warnings to the mobile networks that they face prosecution if they offer illegal handset subsidies on the forthcoming iPhone 5 smartphone.

The handset is due to go on sale in the country later this week, and the regulator said that this raises the temptation to offer illegal subsidies to lure customers. The warning followed reports that dealers have already started offering subsidies on the smartphone to customers who plan to switch mobile networks.

Add former Democratic FCC commissioner and media consolidation critic Michael Copps to those criticizing Democratic Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski for his media ownership proposal.

That is not a big surprise since Copps voted against a similar proposal offered up by then-FCC chairman Kevin Martin -- a Republican -- in 2007. Copps, currently heading up Common Cause's Media and Democracy Reform Initiative, blogged that he was shocked the Genachowski proposal was even more deregulatory than Martin's. In addition to loosening newspaper/TV cross-ownership, the current proposed media ownership changes include lifting limits on newspaper/radio and TV/radio cross-ownership, although it also would make some joint sales agreements subject to local ownership limits that are not being loosened. FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said also defended the item from critics. "Reports that the order would make it easier to own a top TV station and a major newspaper in a market are wrong," said Lake. "In fact, the order would strengthen the current rule by creating an express presumption against a waiver of the cross-ownership ban to allow such a combination. In addition, the proposed order preserves the existing TV duopoly rule, which forbids ownership of more than one of the top four TV stations in any market."