BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2010
For all the latest Headlines see http://bit.ly/9BpZdN
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Is Arkansas Really the Most Competitive State for Broadband?
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Explains Public Interest In Regulating Internet [Video]
FCC's Clyburn skirts reclassification, likely to side with Genachowski
FCC's 'AllVid' Gateway Would Require Six IP Video Streams
Princeton Shows How "Reasonable Network Management" Would Work
How does Google view Network Neutrality now?
Google Exec: Incumbent Telcos Welcome On Our Gigabit Network
The Schemes and "Confessions" of Reed Hundt
SPECTRUM
Spectrum The Talk Of State Of the Mobile Net Forum
Public Interest Groups Stress Unlicensed and Opportunistic Access to Spectrum
Spectrum Shortfall Consequences
AT&T: Industry must reassess mobile data billing models
TELECOM/WIRELESS
Prepaid is the New Wireless Battleground
Verizon Profit Falls As Wireless Relies On Lower-End Customers
Illinois Approves Frontier Communications' Acquisition of Verizon Local Wireline Operations
OWNERSHIP
FCC hears input on media cross-ownership
TELEVISION
Arbitron, PPM Coalition Make Peace
Turner, CBS in 14-year NCAA pact
Canadian TV bulks up on U.S. fare
COMMUNITY MEDIA
These headlines presented in partnership with:
Exploring a Networked Journalism
Teaching Literacy Using a Kindle
Homeless Take Refuge Among the Bookshelves
Students Addicted to Social Media - New UM Study
PRIVACY
For Web's New Wave, Sharing Details Is the Point
Privacy in a New World
HEALTH
Cable News Tops List of the Public's "Most Important" Information Sources for Health Care
Biggest study on cellphone health effects launched
Top Ten Meaningful Use Challenges
Federal panel focuses on patient privacy and safety
Patient access to e-record urgent, HHS panel told
CYBERSECURITY
White House Updates Cybersecurity Orders
Politicians jockey over cybersecurity positioning
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
White House tells agencies to use same framework to exchange information
POLICYMAKERS
Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council
Obama Taps Minow for National Museum Library Services Board
MORE ONLINE
Amazon Now a Larger Seller of Stuff Other Than Media
Next wave of activist lobbying: 'Hijack' Congress members' Facebook profiles
Biz Groups Oppose Expanding FTC Power
Chairman Gordon Introduces COMPETES
Laying the Foundation for a High-tech, Pro-Growth Economy
Blogs Focus on Volcano, Polish Plane crash, and Obama v. Press
Noam Chomsky Listens to Talk Radio
iPad Poised to Revolutionize Retail Industry
Google Partners with Bazaarvoice, Brings Consumer Ratings to Product Search and Ads
Google Spent $1.3 Million on Lobbying, What Are They Buying?
Deciding What Is 'Suitable' in Movie Ads
Democrats plan to introduce bill to blunt ruling on political spending
Your Movie Collection: On A Shelf, Or On A Server?
BROADBAND/INTERNET
IS ARKANSAS REALLY THE MOST COMPETITIVE STATE FOR BROADBAND?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Arkansas, North Dakota and South Carolina are the three states with the most competitive broadband markets, according to a report released by ID Insights and broadband consultant Craig Settles. For those questioning what makes these states so competitive, it's the fact that no single provider — or even a duopoly of providers — serves a huge percentage of the state's broadband subscribers. For example, in Arkansas the top two providers offer service to just 49 percent of broadband customers, whereas the top two ISPs in the least competitive market, Rhode Island, cover 95 percent of subscribers. What's more interesting is that the survey draws out a correlation (not causation, guys) between home values and income, showing that the wealthier you are and the higher your home value, the less likely you are to live in a place with competitive access to broadband. Plus, the more people online in your state, the less competition there is.
benton.org/node/34654 | GigaOm | read the report
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COPPS ON BILL MOYERS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps will appear on "Bill Moyers Journal" April 23. In the interview, Commissioner Copps says Network Neutrality won't be achieved "without a fight." he argues that because of the media shift online, it is in the public interest to regulate the administration of Internet service. "This is a tough question for America right now. Here you've got this dynamic technology that thrives on openness,that thrives on innovation... and you don't want to regulate or artificially limit it. But at the end of the day, if that's where everything is moving, if that's where our national dialogue, if that's where our civic dialogue is moving, there is a public interest component to that...." Commissioner Copps said. "I think at the end of the day, you have to come to that conclusion: we have a public interest in how this is used to inform and serve the American people."
benton.org/node/34628 | Huffington Post, The | www.youtube.com
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CLYBURN ON "THE COMMUNICATORS"
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn said she hasn't decided conclusively what course of action she will take as the agency deliberates on whether it will reclassify broadband services under Title II. But a source close to Commissioner Clyburn said she will likely side with a decision made by FCC Chairman Genachowski. In an interview for C-SPAN's "The Communicators that will air this weekend, Commissioner Clyburn talked about her views on the federal appeals court decision in favor of Comcast. She said the decision was narrowly tailored, but "does not state, as some would have it, that the Commission cannot regulate the Internet, period. Rather, it held that we do not have the ancillary authority under Title I to enforce the four open Internet principles we have had in place for several years."
benton.org/node/34653 | Washington Post | see the interview
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FCC ALLVID PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
The Federal Communications Commission is looking for feedback on its proposal to require US cable, satellite and telco TV operators to supply all their customers an "AllVid" device or gateway -- capable of delivering as many as six different IP video streams to TVs, DVRs or other equipment in the home -- beginning no later than the end of 2012. For now, the FCC is seeking comment on the AllVid concept and does not intend to impose rules immediately. However, the agency has suggested it would require all MVPDs to supply all subscribers with the AllVid solution no later than Dec. 31, 2012, and mandate the use of the interface with their operator-leased set-tops and DVRs as well. The cable industry supports the "all-MVPD" solution, in large part because it would put satellite and telco competitors in the same regulatory boat. In its notice of inquiry, the commission suggested two possible AllVid equipment configurations: a small "set-back" device, capable of communicating with one navigation device or TV set and providing at least two simultaneous video streams, to allow for picture-in-picture and to let subscribers watch one program while recording a program on another channel; and a whole-home gateway, capable of providing at least six simultaneous video streams within the home. The FCC further suggested IP and 100-Mbps Ethernet as the communications protocol and physical-layer interface, respectively, for AllVid. However, the commission also seeks comment "on any other physical connectors (for example, Multimedia over Coaxial Cable ('MoCA')" that could serve as the link between AllVid adapters and retail navigation devices or whether the FCC would need to mandate a physical layer technology at all.
benton.org/node/34640 | Multichannel News
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PRINCETON AND THE IPAD
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] iPads had a problem that started bringing down Princeton's Wi-Fi network. So Princeton blocked the iPads, diagnosed the problem, published the details of the problem and acted in an open and transparent manner, developed a work around, published the work around, allowed any iPad that implemented the work around to reconnect, and is now working with Apple to share the work around with everyone. It is a good example of how to deal with the "what if a device runs rampant and starts taking down the network" scenario that I had to post something.
benton.org/node/34625 | Public Knowledge
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GOOGLE CHANGING TUNE ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY?
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Kevin Walsh]
[Commentary] Has Google's thinking on network neutrality changed? Or has it just become more nuanced? There are probably two factors at work altering Google's thinking concerning Internet regulation. First, the Internet and broadband networks are increasingly being tasked to carry video alongside garden-variety Web pages, e-mail and chat. Google understands the complexity of employing a single network infrastructure to deliver widely varying traffic types while still meeting consumer quality expectations. Doing so without robust traffic management capabilities may not be technically possible. Yet the most strident of Net neutrality proponents insist networks should be stupid. With announced plans to develop set-top boxes, Google may have concluded that Net neutrality purists could hinder its plans to own the television. Second, Google is preparing to roll out fiber-to-the-premises broadband access networks to as many as 500,000 homes. It would not be a stretch to conclude that, in doing its homework, Google encountered many of the same traffic management challenges often cited by telcos and cablecos as reasons to think more deeply about the need for Internet regulation. Certainly deeper thought than slogans like "Just deliver the bits, stupid!" imply. [Kevin Walsh is Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at Zeugma Systems, a privately held telecommunications equipment supplier.]
benton.org/node/34638 | Connected Planet
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GOOGLE WELCOMES INCUMBENTS
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Sarah Lai Stirland]
Incumbent communications companies are welcome to set up shop on Google's experimental super-high speed Internet service once it's up and running, one of the company's executives said Wednesday during a discussion about rolling out fiber networks. "We definitely inviting the Comcasts, the AT&T service providers to work with us on our network, and to provide their service offering on top of our pipe we're definitely planning on doing that," said Minnie Ingersoll, Google's product manager and co-lead for alternative access. "Our general attitude has been that there's plenty of room for innovation right now in the broadband space, and it's great what the cable companies are doing, upgrading to DOCSIS 3.0, but no one company has a monopoly on innovation."
benton.org/node/34631 | BroadbandBreakfast.com | GigaOm
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CONFESSIONS OF REED HUNDT
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Patrick Maines]
[Commentary] Sorry to say, there are people in public life who, were hubris a lubricant, could forgo ambulation and just glide on down the road. Reed Hundt, the former chairman of the FCC, is one such person. Hundt is back in the news these days because policies he clandestinely pursued while chairman are now thought by some (including Hundt himself) to be coming to fruition at the hands of his former FCC aides and confidantes, one of whom, Julius Genachowski, is now chairman. This, and more, was revealed in a speech Hundt gave last month at Columbia University. The subject of his address was the national broadband plan, then set to be released by the FCC just a week later, and what he characterized as a "confession or admission" of the role he played, years earlier, in using his office as chairman to systematically elevate broadband, at the expense of broadcasting, as the "common medium."
[Patrick Maines is president of The Media Institute, an organization funded by contributions from media and telecom companies.]
benton.org/node/34627 | Huffington Post, The
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SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM TALK OF STATE OF THE MOBILE NET
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
Representatives of top telecommunication companies, industry stakeholders and some government officials gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss mobile Internet communications with much debate focused on how to ensure future growth and innovation is not stifled by limits on the availability of spectrum. At the second annual State of the Mobile Net Conference, telecom experts chewed over the possibilities and constraints of the wireless industry, one of the fastest-changing sectors of the U.S. economy. "We are just scratching the surface of what you can wireless enable," Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices at AT&T, said during a keynote address. Lurie outlined some of the mobile products AT&T will provide networking capacity for including a pet-tracking collar and a pill-bottle cap that will remind the user to take their medication. Much of the discussion, however, circled back to the growing demand for spectrum to accommodate the growth of the mobile Internet. "Integrating market mechanisms into the spectrum allocation process" is critical for the future, Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC's broadband task force, said. Allocating spectrum based on history, rather than markets, Levin stated, has been the traditional practice of government.
benton.org/node/34630 | CongressDaily
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UNLICENSED AND OPPORTUNISTIC ACCESS TO SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Media Access Project, AUTHOR: Matt Wood]
Representatives from Consumers Union, New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, and Media Access Project have been meeting with Federal Communications Commission staff to discuss a range of spectrum policy issues raised in the National Broadband Plan and in other proceedings currently pending at the FCC. The representatives reiterated positions set forth in their joint and individual filings regarding the importance of both unlicensed and opportunistic access to spectrum. In particular, the representatives urged the FCC to consider establishing for unlicensed use, as part of the Commission's spectrum reallocation efforts pursuant to the National Broadband Plan, a contiguous band of substantial size located below 3 GHz. Such an allocation would permit continued innovation and investment in broadband communications technologies, generating tremendous consumer welfare akin to and potentially surpassing the value generated by WiFi. The also emphasized that making more spectrum available for unlicensed and opportunistic use would ease congestion experienced by licensees and ultimate end-users of licensed spectrum.
benton.org/node/34619 | Media Access Project
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SPECTRUM SHORTFALL CONSEQUENCES
[SOURCE: CTIA, AUTHOR: Christopher Guttman-McCabe]
Wireless industry lobbying group CTIA supports the National Broadband Plan's recommendation to identify 500 MHz of additional spectrum for wireless broadband. In Spectrum Shortfall Consequences, Rysavy Research describes the technical, service, and market consequences of not bringing sufficient spectrum to market for mobile wireless broadband services. At stake is the country's continued leadership in mobile broadband and mobile innovation.
benton.org/node/34618 | CTIA
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MOBILE DATA BILLING MODELS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
AT&T has made its best case for its eventual shift from all-you-can eat smartphone data plans to a tiered or usage-based models that more closely align customers data bills to the amount they consume. Though AT&T gave no timeline on when it would make such a shift or how such plans would be implemented, chief financial officer Rick Lindner said the emergence of new data-focused devices and the growing disparity in the amount of data customers consume will force not just AT&T, but the industry as a whole, to move away toward billing models that are much more equitable to the way individual consumers behave.
benton.org/node/34624 | Connected Planet
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TELECOM/WIRELESS
PREPAID IS THE NEW WIRELESS BATTLEGROUND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jenna Wortham]
This week, both AT&T and Verizon Wireless reported steep declines in the number of customers who signed up for cell phone contracts during the first quarter of 2010. AT&T said it only added 512,000 customers under contract, also known as postpaid subscribers -- down 43 percent from a year ago. Verizon Wireless said it added only 423,000 customers under contract, down 55 percent from the same period a year earlier. Analysts have said that most of the growth in the wireless industry is now stemming from pay-as-you go, or prepaid, phones, which are typically more affordable for consumers. "The postpaid wireless industry is hitting a brick wall," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with Bernstein Research. Slick new smartphones like the iPhone and Motorola Droid have helped the wireless carriers court new customers, but even that sheen may soon fade. AT&T will eventually lose its exclusivity with the iPhone.
benton.org/node/34652 | New York Times
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OWNERSHIP
FCC HEARS INPUT ON MEDIA CROSS-OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Tampa Tribune, AUTHOR: Walter Belcher]
The consolidation of media outlets was vilified and defended at a Federal Communications Commission workshop April 20 that focused on cross-ownership of newspapers and television stations. FCC representatives heard from an 11-member panel of local media representatives and some critics of cross-ownership, in which one company owns both a newspaper and television station in the same market. They also heard from about 15 citizens who spoke out at the sparsely attended four-hour session at the University of South Florida, which drew an audience of only about 35. The issue apparently is not as volatile as in 2007, when hundreds turned out to sound off against cross ownership at a similar workshop in Tampa. And some of those who spoke wandered off topic to urge the FCC to support more low-power radio stations and local public access cable channels. "Cross ownership is not the critical issue in national communications, but it bears watching," said Karen B. Dunlap, president of the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists that owns the company that publishes the St. Petersburg Times. Local media representatives such as Ken Tonning, general manager of WTSP, Channel 10, said the government should get out of the way in these tough economic times and allow media companies to find innovative ways to operate.
benton.org/node/34623 | Tampa Tribune
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TELEVISION
ARBITRON SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Erik Sass]
The long-running dispute between Arbitron and the minority broadcasters represented by the PPM Coalition has finally be settled after several years of acrimonious dispute. This clears away potential obstacles to further expansion of electronic radio audience measurement by Arbitron's Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device. According to Arbitron, the radio ratings firm has formulated initiatives in cooperation with the PPM Coalition and the Media Rating Council that are designed to address some of the shortcomings of PPM ratings -- namely, the under-representation of minority audiences in Arbitron's audience samples. The measures include address-based sampling and targeted in-person recruiting. Both measures are designed with the goal of increasing panelist participation in minority audience samples: in-person recruiting will allow the company to reach young minority adults that might not have land lines at home, while address-based sampling will help make recruiting of land-line households more accurate. Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn said, "While I do have some general structural concerns about the voluntary nature of the MRC's process, I am nonetheless heartened that the parties have negotiated a solution without formal governmental action. I will continue to stay engaged with the parties as they implement their agreement to ensure that all radio stations and listeners receive the promised benefits of the PPM system." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps added, "This would appear to be a major step forward. How successful it will be will depend, of course, on implementation of the terms of agreement. It was obvious that the Arbitron PPM was not fully representing minority audience count, to the commercial disadvantage of minority radio broadcasters."
benton.org/node/34647 | MediaPost | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Copps
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MARCH MADNESS DEAL
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Michael Schneider]
CBS and Turner's TNT, TBS and TruTV will split a new 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with the NCAA to air the Division I Men's Basketball Championship starting next year and running through 2024. That means all March Madness games will be available on four national TV outlets -- a first for the tourney. New deal means opening- , first- and second-round games will be shown nationally on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV, the NCAA said. CBS and Turner will split coverage of the regional semi-final games. CBS will cover the regional finals, as well as the Final Four -- including the National Championship Game -- through 2015. Beginning in 2016, coverage of the regional finals will be split by CBS and Turner, and the Final Four and the National Championship game will alternating every year between CBS and TBS.
benton.org/node/34635 | Variety
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PRIVACY
ONLINE PRIVACY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
Too much information, you say? On the Internet, there seems to be no such thing. A wave of Web start-ups aims to help people indulge their urge to divulge — from sites like Blippy to Foursquare, a mobile social network that allows people to announce their precise location to the world, to Skimble, an iPhone application that people use to reveal, say, how many push-ups they are doing and how long they spend in yoga class. Not that long ago, many were leery of using their real names on the Web, let alone sharing potentially embarrassing personal details about their shopping and lifestyle habits. But these start-ups are exploiting a mood of online openness, despite possible hidden dangers. "People are not necessarily thinking about how long this information will stick around, or how it could be used and exploited by marketers," said Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union.
benton.org/node/34665 | New York Times
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PRIVACY IN THE NEW WORLD
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] As people use newer forms of communication, the Supreme Court must ensure that privacy protections keep up. Courts across the country have been unclear about what privacy rights apply to e-mail and texting, which are fast eclipsing postal mail and conventional telephones. The Supreme Court should make clear that the Fourth Amendment's robust privacy protections apply just as robustly to 21st-century communication.
benton.org/node/34664 | New York Times
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HEALTH
CABLE AND UNDERSTANDING HEALTH CARE REFORM
[SOURCE: Kaiser Family Foundation, AUTHOR: Press release]
The first Kaiser Health Tracking Poll fielded since the passage of health reform last month finds that 8 in 10 Americans know that President Obama signed the legislation into law. But 55 percent say they are confused about the law and more than half (56%) say they don't yet have enough information to understand how it will affect them personally. Americans of all political leanings pointed to cable television news more than any other source when they were asked to choose their most important source of news and information about the law. More than a third (36%) cited cable TV news stations and their websites as their most important outlet, followed by network news (16%), newspapers (12%), friends and family (10%) and the radio (9%). There were some differences along party lines, however. Republicans were more likely to name cable TV as their most important news source, with 45 percent saying so compared to 30 percent of Democrats. On the other hand, Democrats were twice as likely as Republicans and independents to say that they got most of their information from network news (23% of Democrats compared to 12% of the other two groups).
benton.org/node/34622 | Kaiser Family Foundation
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CELLPHONE STUDY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kate Holton, Georgina Prodhan]
The biggest study to date into the effects of mobile-phone usage on long-term health was launched on Thursday, aiming to track at least a quarter of a million of people in five European countries for up to 30 years. The Cohort Study on Mobile Communications (COSMOS) differs from previous attempts to examine links between cellphone use and diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders in that it will follow users' behavior in real time. The COSMOS study is recruiting participants aged 18-69 in Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark through mobile carriers. It will use data from volunteers' phone bills and health records as well as questionnaires.
benton.org/node/34649 | Reuters
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