Today, the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the
Digital Age meets. Next week, the FCC has an open meeting and there will be
a discussion about funding public television's digital future. For these
and other upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
MEDIA
UCC Wants Two Miami TV Licenses Yanked For Not Running Ad
Copps Pushes Ownership Rewrite
Powell Aide Praises Congress on DTV
Who Owns the Media?
TV Trash? Just Stop Watching
TV Stations Adjusting to New Restrictions
EU Wants to Make Internet Safe for Children
Sony-MGM Deal Cleared by Regulators
TELECOM
Spectrum Bill Will Transform U.S. Wireless Industry
Sprint and Nextel Discuss Merging As Cellular Giant
Cellphones Aloft: The Inevitable Is Closer
Mobile Phone Users Double Since 2000
MEDIA
UCC WANTS TWO MIAMI TV LICENSES YANKED FOR NOT RUNNING AD
Can you give me an "Amen!"? The United Church of Christ (UCC) filed a
petition to deny the license renewal of two Miami TV stations for rejecting
the group's controversial ad (CD Dec 2 p12). The group asked the FCC to
deny WFOR-TV (Ch. 4, CBS) and WTVJ (Ch. 6, NBC) renewals for failing to
recognize the UCC's limited right of access to purchase air time in the
absence of the fairness doctrine. "How can it be in the public interest for
television stations to exclude a church's message of inclusion?" asked
Gloria Tristani, managing director of the UCC's Office of Communication.
Media Access Project President Andrew Schwartzman, who helped file the
petition, said that policy was illegal in the absence of a fairness
doctrine. Tristani said the petition wasn't based on fairness doctrine
rights but on policies inherent in the Communications Act's public interest
standard. "Repeal of the fairness doctrine was supposed to result in the
airing of more, not less, controversial programming," said Angela Campbell,
Director of Georgetown U. Law Center's Institute for Public Representation.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Tania Panczyk-Collins]
(Not available online)
* Petition against CBS station WFOR:
http://www.mediaaccess.org/WFORPetitionToDeny.pdf
* Petition against NBC station WTVJ:
http://www.mediaaccess.org/WTVJPetitiontoDeny.pdf
More coverage:
* Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA486541?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* MediaChannel.org
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert297.shtml
* People for the American Way
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16842&action=1477
Also see:
Accessible Airwaves
http://www.accessibleairwaves.org/
COPPS PUSHES OWNERSHIP REWRITE
By Jan 2 the FCC must decide whether to seek Supreme Court review of a
lower court's order to require the FCC to rewrite its 2003 deregulation of
broadcast ownership limits. Commissioner Michael Copps is urging FCC
Chairman Michael Powell to skip the litigation and start the process of
crafting new rules. "Now is the time to come up with media concentration
protections that will expand the voices and choices that support our
marketplace of ideas and sustain American democracy and creativity," Copps
aide Jordan Goldstein told a public forum on media ownership in St. Paul
(MN) Thursday. Copps is also urging Powell and other commissioners to hit
the road and host more public forums to gather input from Americans. Copps
wants the Commission not to rewrite the individual rules one by one but to
tackle broadcast ownership review as one package. "Some have also suggested
that the Commission should move to eliminate or loosen the media
concentration rules one by one, rather than look at their collective effect
on our media," he wrote. "I can only surmise that this strategy to further
erode media concentration protections step by step would be designed to
accomplish gigantic changes to our media landscape while minimizing public
scrutiny of the overall impact." Chairman Powell isn't expected to address
how a rewrite is pursued until the possibility of a Supreme Court appeal is
resolved.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA486900?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
POWELL AIDE PRAISES CONGRESS ON DTV
Congress Wednesday approved a resolution calling for a new law next year
designed to end the digital-TV transition as soon as Dec. 31, 2006. Current
law allows the transition to run until 85% of TV households in a market
have digital-reception equipment. In support, FCC Chairman Powell's senior
legal assistant, Jon Cody, said, "With the substantial benefits that will
flow to the public with the end of the DTV transition, including more
spectrum for public safety and broadband deployment and billions of dollars
to the U.S. Treasury, it is no surprise that Congress agrees that setting a
firm deadline for the end of the transition is a priority."
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA486891.html?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
See also Powell's statement on passage on a package of telecom bills
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-255180A1.doc
WHO OWNS THE MEDIA?
[Commentary] The nation's founders, particularly Madison, believed that it
was important for the public, not merchants, to own and support the major
media distribution mechanism of the day -- the post office. Public
ownership of media remains an important part of U.S. communications policy,
but going back as far as the days of the robber barons and the trusts
battling against Teddy Roosevelt and Louis Brandeis, corporations have
sought to diminish public media. While most of us rely on corporate media
(the New York Times, Verizon, Comcast, NBC, etc.), publicly-owned media
continues to struggle for the place the founders established for it. This
struggle is illustrated by two seemingly different examples. One involves
the future of public broadcasting; the other involves the efforts of the
City of Philadelphia to provide its citizens with an alternative means of
communication.
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Mark Lloyd]
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=262672
TV TRASH? JUST STOP WATCHING
[Commentary] The real reason that our culture is getting dirtier, trashier,
and more inclined toward garbage of all kinds? It sells. It is sold in bulk
to us by large corporate media companies, which have supported the Bush
Administration's deregulation of the communications industry. They make
tons of money peddling this scummy material. So the solution, Harris
writes, is to just turn it off -- don't let your kids listen to/see it and
don't consume this media yourself. If we do this, the upshot will be
breathtakingly simple: The media conglomerates will take this stuff off the
air because unwatched programs do not make money for them. Period.
[SOURCE: Toledo Blade, AUTHOR: David Harris, University of Toledo]
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041208/OPINION04/412...
TV STATIONS ADJUSTING TO NEW RESTRICTIONS
Some Venezuelan television stations began altering their programs, citing
fears of penalties under a new law restricting violence and sexual content.
The law limits broadcasts deemed to be obscene or violent and details a
range of offenses for which the government may fine media organizations.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times]
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-briefs10.4dec10,...
(requires registration)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/international/americas/10venez.html
EU WANTS TO MAKE INTERNET SAFE FOR CHILDREN
The European Union has launched a $60 million plan to protect children from
pornography and racist sites when they surf the Internet. The money will go
to 1) expanding the number of hotlines where parents can report illegal
content found on the Internet, 2) financing technology to filter out
pornography and 3) raising awareness among parents and children.
[SOURCE: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=7041976
SONY-MGM DEAL CLEARED BY REGULATORS
A consortium led by Sony on Thursday cleared U.S. antitrust hurdles in its
efforts to buy film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The deal will still face
review from European regulators next year, however. The Sony group includes
Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Comcast and DLJ Merchant
Banking Partners.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-mgm10dec10,1,776344.s...
(requires registration)
TELECOM
SPECTRUM BILL WILL TRANSFORM US WIRELESS INDUSTRY
With passage of HR-5419 by the Senate late Wednesday night, the bill awaits
just President Bush's signature to become law. Within 18 months of that,
the FCC must auction spectrum for third-generation wireless services. FCC
Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont said the FCC is ready to move to notify
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (part of the
Department of Commerce) of its intention to have an auction. "We are
thrilled that Congress has cleared the way for next-generation broadband
wireless services," Tramont said. "We look forward to putting this spectrum
into commercial hands as soon as practicable." Former NTIA Director Greg
Rohde said that 10 years from now the bill will be viewed as the most
critical telecom legislation since the 1996 Telecom Act. "This is a
long-term piece of legislation," he
said. "If we want to regain leadership in telecom...the only way we're
going to remain competitive is we have to find a way to allocate more
spectrum into the commercial sector and make better use of spectrum." Rohde
said a major problem the U.S. faces is that government users take up so
much spectrum. "The only way to bring [the Department of Defense] and other
agencies to the table is they have to have the assurance that they're going
to have their costs reimbursed and the funding is available," he said: "The
significance of this legislation I don't think can be overstated long term."
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Howard Buskirk]
(Not available online)
See also statement from NTIA Director Michael D. Gallagher
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2004/mdgstatement_12092004.html
SPRINT AND NEXTEL DISCUSS MERGING AS CELLULAR GIANT
Sprint and Nextel Communications are in discussions about a potential
merger that would top $30 billion. Such a deal would create the nation's
third-largest cellphone operator with about 38.5 million customers,
narrowing the U.S. cellular industry into a business dominated by three
giants. Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless and a combined Sprint-Nextel
would control about 75% of the market, though a host of other entrants also
compete. The talks come just six weeks after Cingular became the country's
largest cellphone operator, following its completed acquisition of AT&T
Wireless Services. "This is the signal of an ongoing trend to reduce
competition," says Gene Kimmelman of Consumer's Union.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dennis K. Berman
dennis.berman( at )wsj.com & Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110262093331795896,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
See also:
* Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53244-2004Dec9.html
(requires registration)
* USAToday
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20041210/1b_phonedeal10.art.htm
* LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-sprintel10dec10,1,194...
* NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/technology/10tele.html
CELLPHONES ALOFT: THE INEVITABLE IS CLOSER
Federal regulators plan next week to begin considering rules that would end
the official ban on cellphone use on commercial flights. Technical
challenges and safety questions remain. At next Wednesday's Federal
Communications Commission meeting, the agency is expected to approve two
measures. One, an order that is expected to be adopted, would try to
introduce more price competition among phone companies to offer telephone
and high-speed Internet services from the seatback and end-of-aisle phones
that are now on many planes. The second measure will begin the regulatory
process of considering whether there are technical solutions to some of the
current obstacles to passengers' using their own mobile phones on planes.
Safety will be a major consideration in any rule changes. The Federal
Aviation Administration and Boeing, the nation's largest builder of
airliners, both support the FCC's ban, arguing that cellphones can
interfere with navigation systems.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson & Micheline Maynard]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/technology/10phone.html
(requires registration)
MOBILE PHONE USERS DOUBLE SINCE 2000
Mobile phone subscribers around the globe totaled nearly 1.5 billion by the
middle of this year, about one quarter of the world's population, the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Thursday
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Robert Evans]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=G3KSWADR10ZW2CRBAEOC...
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...and we are outta here. Have a great weekend.
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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