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CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA
House Dems Eye Telecom Review
Dingell Pounds NTIA, FCC on DTV Transition
Markey Plans Sirius/XM, Converter Box Hearings
Broadcasters Get Retrans Support From Markey, Dingell
RADIO/SATELLITE
House Gets First Crack At XM-Sirius Proposal
Sirius Business
Saving Radio in the Satellite Era
What's Stalling Satellite
Expanding Our Horizons, Expanding Our Networks
God's word, plus static, on Calvary Satellite Network
TELECOM
Net Neutrality Debate Spreads To Wireless
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
New Profiling Program Raises Privacy Concerns
A TV Station on the Verge of a Takeover in Thailand
QUICKLY -- Bush Administration FOIA Report Card Hits New Low;
Moonves: We'll Talk with Large MSOs
CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA
HOUSE DEMS EYE TELECOM REVIEW
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The Democrats' innovation agenda, released in November by now-House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), will be woven into upcoming telecom
legislation. The agenda calls for universal, affordable broadband
access within five years. The Bush administration has pledged to
achieve that goal by 2007, but critics say it is not on track. House
Democrats are planning a thorough re-examination of
telecommunications and media policies that will feature multiple
oversight hearings and fresh legislation. Fostering high-speed
Internet deployment, ensuring an open and accessible Internet, and
overhauling the federal universal service program that subsidizes
telecom connections in rural and impoverished areas are among the key
issues to be addressed. The competitiveness of the video, telephone
and radio marketplaces also will be explored, along with protecting
the privacy of phone records and promoting efficient use of spectrum.
House Democrats plan to scrutinize several FCC policies, include the
agency's review of media-ownership limits and its authority to
investigate allegations that the National Security Agency conducted
surveillance of phone records without warrants. Also to be examined
is a recent FCC decision relaxing local video-franchising guidelines.
The telecom subcommittee also plans oversight hearings on the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is
playing a central role in the transition to digital television, and
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the White House has
targeted for budget cuts.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-MJSN1172609975538.html
DINGELL POUNDS NTIA, FCC ON DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) took shots at
the Bush administration's oversight of the digital-TV transition
Tuesday, especially the converter-box program designed to keep old
analog-TV sets running when only digital signals are available from
local TV stations after early 2009. To the dismay of
Chairman Dingell and other House Democrats, the Commerce
Department's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration is proposing to exclude cable- and satellite-TV homes
from the program. It also indicated that it might support limiting
coupon eligibility to low-income broadcast-only homes. "Their initial
notice showed rather shocking ignorance of the congressional debate
and little attention to the attitude of the American people,"
Chairman Dingell said in a speech to 500 members of the National
Association of Broadcasters. Rep Dingell also questioned whether the
Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Kevin Martin was up
to the task. "I have some additional and serious concerns with the
FCC's desire and ability to handle the overall transition," he said.
Chairman Dingell is concerned that a poorly managed transition would
anger millions of consumers, who would make their displeasure felt at
the polls. He is debating whether a bill crafting a new transition
scheme is needed.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6420008.html?display=Breaking+News
* Dingell Questions FCC Ability To Oversee DTV Transition
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419961.html?display=Breaking...
MARKEY PLANS SIRIUS/XM, CONVERTER BOX HEARINGS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey told broadcasters he
will hold a hearing on the proposed Sirius XM merger -- and other
radio issues -- on March 7. He noted that broadcast TV faced new
challenges from broadband competition but said he was still a fan of
over-the-air TV and would work to keep broadcasters at the center of
the digital revolution. Commenting on the Univision $24 million fine,
he said that most broadcasters were fulfilling their obligations when
it came to educational kids TV programming but that the FCC must
enforce the law against violators. Rep Markey was the driving force
behind the 1990 Children's Television Act, which mandated the
three-hour minimum programming for educational kids TV, which
Univision allegedly violated. Chairman Markey said he expected to
deal with the DTV public-interest obligations issue this year.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419779?display=Breaking+News
* Read text of speech
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2638&I...
* Markey plans push in telecom
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/02/27/markey_plans_pu...
* Will Chairman Markey allow "competition" of views on future of the
Internet policy?
[SOURCE: Scott Cleland, Precusor]
[Commentary] Will Chairman Markey allow free and open "competition"
of views on what is best for "the future of the Internet" during
Thursday's House Telecom Subcommittee hearing?
http://www.precursorblog.com/node/307
BROADCASTERS GET RETRANS SUPPORT FROM MARKEY, DINGELL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
At a National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference
Tuesday, Colin Crowell, veteran House Commerce Committee staffer to
Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA),
said broadcasters have the right to withhold their signal if they
cannot come to terms with cable systems over carriage. Crowell said
that he would be surprised if the issue of retransmission consent was
not raised in a "future of video" oversight hearing the subcommittee
planned to hold sometime in the spring. On the issue of multicast
must-carry, Crowell suggested that a broadcaster commitment to DTV
public interest obligations would allow Chairman Markey to support
multicast must-carry. In another speech to the conference,
broadcaster and Telecommunications Subcommittee member Greg Walden
(R-OR) warned that activist Democrats might extract so much in the
way of DTV obligations that multicast channels would look more like a
cable public access channel than a commercially viable enterprise.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6420007.html?display=Breaking...
* Dems Won't Wait for Bills To Grill Industry
More on the developing telecom agenda for the new Congress: media
ownership; the future of radio, TV, wireless and broadband; the
digital TV transition -- including the NTIA's converter-box program
and the need for a consumer education campaign.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419873?display=Breaking+News
* Walden: Supreme Court Could Nix FCC's Indecency Authority
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rep Greg Walden (R-OR), member of the House Telecommunications
Subcommittee, told broadcasters Tuesday that he wouldn't be surprised
if the Supreme Court ultimately throws out the FCC's authority to
regulate indecency. Rep Walden, himself a broadcaster -- though he is
selling his five radio stations -- supported raising the FCC's
indecency fines tenfold and giving the commission more indecency
authority but says the FCC's "patchwork" of confusing rulings has
opened the door for the courts. He cautioned broadcasters to educate
Congress about drug and alcohol advertising issues -- and violent
programming on TV. He also put in a plug for loosening media ownership rules.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419863?display=Breaking+News
RADIO/SATELLITE
HOUSE GETS FIRST CRACK AT XM-SIRIUS PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Babington]
Congress and federal regulators need to get with the times. That's
the message that Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius Satellite
Radio, plans to deliver today at the first public hearing on a
proposal to merge the nation's two satellite radio companies, Sirius
and XM Satellite Radio Holdings. Karmazin, who will face skeptical
members of the House Judiciary Committee's newly formed antitrust
task force, says satellite radio is in stiff competition not only
with free, over-the-air radio but also with such newer products as
MP3 players, Internet radio and music-downloading cellphones. "What I
need to do is lay out the realities of the marketplace as we see it,"
Karmazin said. He can expect resistance. "What I'm concerned about
now is whether we're creating a monopolistic situation," Rep. John
Conyers Jr. (D-MI), who will chair the task force hearing, said in an
interview yesterday. "I don't think it will stimulate competition,
and it could very well take away from the competition taking place
now in the industry." The Justice Department and Federal
Communications Commission, not Congress, will decide whether to allow
XM and Sirius to merge. But today's hearing seems certain to
introduce the chief arguments for and against the plan, whose outcome
may not be decided for nearly a year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR200702...
(requires registration)
SIRIUS BUSINESS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Henderson]
[Commentary] In expressing its strong reservations about the
proposed merger between Sirius and XM, the Federal Communications
Commission seems to think that there are only two competitors and
that a merger would reduce the number to one. But that's true only if
the relevant market is the satellite broadcasting market. In fact,
the market is much larger, including at a minimum all existing radio
stations. If you doubt that, ask yourself how you would decide
whether or not to subscribe to Sirius or XM. Surely a big part of
your decision is the quality and range of programming you can get on
"free" radio. That alone is strong enough evidence for allowing the
merger. But there is even stronger evidence, and it has to do with
how XM's and Sirius's "free-radio" competitors view the merger. If
some competitors in an industry resent others and even end up going
out of business, competition is alive and well. It's when the
competitors get too cozy that we need to worry. It follows that if
existing competitors oppose a merger, the merger is likely to be good
for consumers. This is the bottom line: If the FCC cares about
consumers and not about making things cozy for traditional
broadcasters, it should allow the XM-Sirius merger.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117263534282621709.html?mod=todays_us_op...
(requires subscription)
SAVING RADIO IN THE SATELLITE ERA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Klinenberg, New York University]
[Commentary] Today in Congress, the executives from XM and Sirius who
propose merging into a $13 billion satellite monopoly will argue that
consolidation offers the best hope for reviving radio. Traditional
broadcasters also favor consolidation. In October, the National
Association of Broadcasters asked the Federal Communications
Commission to relax ownership limits in local markets, so companies
could control yet more stations per town. But does anyone believe
that consolidation has been good for radio? During the past five
years, I've traveled the country asking people to describe what has
happened to their local stations, and not one has told me that radio
is better than it was a decade ago. Listeners complained that their
favorite local D.J.'s, talk show hosts and reporters have
disappeared, replaced by syndicated shows, automated programs,
predictable song cycles and endless commercials. It's time for
Congress and the FCC to consider policy ideas intended to serve the
public interest, like requiring broadcast radio stations to air
original programming on their new digital stations, or allowing
satellite companies to run local news, talk and music. Mega-mergers
are unlikely to provide any real benefits to citizens and consumers.
Why resort to even more consolidation when we already know it doesn't work?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/opinion/28klinenberg.html
(requires registration)
* Sirius Radio Chief Urges Merger
The chief executive of Sirius Satellite Radio, Mel Karmazin, is
taking the campaign to sell his company's proposed merger with XM
Satellite Radio to Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/business/media/28satellite.html
(requires registration)
WHAT'S STALLING SATELLITE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Andrew Hampp]
getting approval from the Federal Communications Commission is just
one of the hurdles satellite radio faces. Even as one company,
satellite still needs to compete in an audio market that includes HD
formats, MP3 players and podcasts. Here are five challenges that
still need to be dealt with: 1) satellite radio's share of the
overall audio market is small; 2) the service's reach outside of
major markets is small; 3) selling consumers on the idea that the
merger is justified; 4) gaining loyalty is hard when battling digital
radio and MP3 players; and 5) lack of advertiser support.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=115193
EXPANDING OUR HORIZONS, EXPANDING OUR NETWORKS
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
John M.R. Kneuer, Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information, spoke at the 10th SIA Leadership Dinner in between of
the rubber chicken and spongy cheesecake. He discussed the
interactions between the U.S. Government and the commercial satellite
industry and recognized satellite's unique role for our economic,
homeland, and national security. "The new National Space Policy," he
said "recognizes our reliance on commercial capabilities and our
commitment to spur entrepreneurism." That policy, adopted in August
2006: The United States is committed to encouraging and facilitating
a growing and entrepreneurial U.S. commercial space sector. Toward
that end, the United States Government will use U.S. commercial space
capabilities to the maximum practical extent, consistent with
national security.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2007/JKneuer_SIA_022107.htm
GOD'S WORD, PLUS STATIC, ON CALVARY SATELLITE NETWORK
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Christopher Goffard]
When Chuck Smith, founder of the worldwide Calvary Chapel movement,
decided to invest big in radio, the Orange County evangelist joined
forces with a pastor he trusted. Mike Kestler was one of his
proteges, a folksy preacher with a ponytail who had ridden the
Calvary phenomenon to a pulpit in Twin Falls, Idaho. Smith had
presided at Kestler's wedding. He'd helped Kestler keep his job after
a churchgoer complained that Kestler had begged her to run away with
him. Now, the pastors would be business partners. Kestler knew how to
run a radio station. Smith had money and a famous name. They shared a
vision of FM radio as a megaphone for God's word. Bolstered by $13
million from Smith's Costa Mesa church, Calvary Satellite Network
grew into a spectacular recruiting tool for the evangelical movement.
In listening areas across the nation, Calvary Chapels proliferated.
But relations between the two pastors deteriorated. In 2003, Smith
cut off funding for the radio network, precipitating a crisis that
continues to roil Calvary's leadership. It sparked a war for control
of the network on terrain Smith had preached against for years: the
earthly courts. The two sides have hurled accusations of lust and
greed, betrayal and embezzlement. As part of the battle, Smith funded
a lawsuit against Kestler by a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who
said he had fired her from her radio job for rebuffing his sexual
advances. Now, after a year of hugely expensive legal sparring, the
79-year-old Smith is so eager to settle the case that he is willing
to do so at a staggering loss.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-calvary28feb28,1,34...
(requires registration)
TELECOM
NET NEUTRALITY DEBATE SPREADS TO WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The network neutrality debate that has focused for the past two years
on maintaining an open Internet is expanding to a new battlefield:
wireless mobile services. In a newly released paper, Columbia
University Law School Professor Tim Wu sounded the alarm about the
ability of consumers to use devices of their choosing on cellular
networks now limited to proprietary equipment. Wu emphasized that the
FCC's "Carterfone" rules, which let consumers connect various gadgets
to wired telephone networks, do not apply in the wireless arena.
"These controls continue to affect innovation and the development of
new devices and applications for wireless networks," he wrote. Until
now, net neutrality, the concept of requiring cable- and phone-based
high-speed Internet providers to treat content equally, has mostly
concerned mandating non-discriminatory Internet access. But
reflecting the rapidly changing technology universe, the debate now
encompasses the ability to connect devices and software unaffiliated
with wireless carriers. Wu's concerns have galvanized at least one
company -- the Internet telephony provider Skype -- to weigh in on
the issue. Last week, Skype asked the FCC to initiate a rulemaking
detailing consumer rights governing wireless systems.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-HIHV1172610164710.html
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NEW PROFILING PROGRAM RAISES PRIVACY CONCERNS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima and Alec Klein]
The Department of Homeland Security is testing a data-mining program
that would attempt to spot terrorists by combing vast amounts of
information about average Americans, such as flight and hotel
reservations. Similar to a Pentagon program killed by Congress in
2003 over concerns about civil liberties, the new program could take
effect as soon as next year. But researchers testing the system are
likely to already have violated privacy laws by reviewing real
information, instead of fake data, according to a source familiar
with a congressional investigation into the $42.5 million program.
The idea of the program is to troll a vast sea of information,
including audio and visual, and extract suspicious people, places and
other elements based on their links and behavioral patterns.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR200702...
(requires registration)
A TV STATION ON THE VERGE OF A TAKEOVER IN THAILAND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Fuller & Wayne Arnold]
Thailand is poised to take over a television station once controlled
by its former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a
coup in September. The move would end a long dispute between the
broadcaster and the military-appointed government, but would leave
the future uncertain for the only private station in the country. The
government said Tuesday that it would terminate the license of the
station, iTV, if the broadcaster did not pay a $2.9 billion fine by
next Tuesday. The station, which has a market value of $34 million,
said that sum would be impossible to pay. The government's case
against iTV dates to 2002. Set up in the 1990s, iTV was given a
30-year broadcast concession on the condition that it mainly
broadcast news. When Mr. Thaksin was prime minister, iTV was offered
a lower annual concession fee and was allowed to increase its
entertainment content at the expense of news. But last May, a Thai
court rescinded these benefits and ordered iTV to return to its
mostly news format and to pay a 97.8 billion baht ($2.9 billion) fine
as well as back fees and interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/business/worldbusiness/28itv.html
(requires registration)
QUICKLY
BUSH ADMINISTRATION FOIA REPORT CARD HITS NEW LOW
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Mark Fitzgerald]
Back in December of 2005 with the White House coming under increasing
criticism for its secrecy, President George W. Bush ordered federal
agencies to speed up their responses to requests under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). A new FOIA report card by a coalition of
journalists groups makes it clear that Bush's directive did not
produce a "surge" in the response rate by the agencies. The study by
the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government concludes the Bush
directive did nothing to speed up responses by agencies that have
been systematically cutting back the personnel assigned to FOIA work,
even as backlogs of requests grow and the cost of fulfilling requests
increases.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
MOONVES: WE'LL TALK TO LARGE MSOs
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
Hot off a retransmission-consent deal with nine small cable
operators, CBS CEO Les Moonves said Tuesday that agreements with
larger operators like Comcast and Time Warner Cable could be
negotiated before their existing pacts expire. While CBS has pushed
for cash for retrans for years and has been successful in getting
paid in several smaller deals, there has been some skepticism that
the broadcaster will be able to extract cash payments from larger
operators, which represent a larger portion of the network's
advertising revenues. CBS' deals with Comcast and Time Warner expire
in the 2009-10 time frame. Asked if CBS may eventually charge
affiliates for programming, the CBS CEO says the relationship with
affiliates "continues to evolve." According to Moonves, there is
"little chance" that CBS would part with any of its major market
stations in the light of the coming retrans windfall.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6419809.html?display=Breaking+News
* Moonves Doesn't Say Never to Reverse Comp
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/02/27/daily.6/
--------------------------------------------------------------
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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