BROADCASTING
FCC Releases Advertising Study (FCC)
Splintering of TV Audience May Be Networks' Downfall (ChiTrib)
INTERNET
Online Publisher Challenges Copyright Law (CyberTimes)
Internet World Gaining Women, Less-Affluent Users As It Grows (ChiTrib)
A New Breed of Internet Surfers (WP)
Electronic-Commerce Initiative Is Set By Top Executives at
17 Companies (WSJ)
COMPETITION
Regulators Seek AOL-Netscape Information (WSJ)
Must AT&T Give Rivals Access To TCI's Network (WSJ)
Auctioned Licenses to Be Resold for Big Gain (WP)
INTERNATIONAL
Speech: International Telecommunications: An Opportunity for U.S. and
EU Joint Leadership (FCC)
ANTITRUST
Economist Testifies Microsoft Confronts Myriad Threats to
Its Windows Software (WSJ)
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BROADCASTING
============
FCC RELEASES ADVERTISING STUDY
Issue: Advertising/Broadcast/Minorities
From the News Release: Stating that "Minority broadcasters should have a
fair opportunity to compete for ad dollars," FCC Chairman William Kennard
today released a study and conducted a forum on the impact of advertising
practices on minority-owned and minority-formatted broadcast stations. The
study was done by Kofi Ofori, Director of Research for the Civil Rights
Forum. The study provided evidence that advertisers often exclude radio
stations serving minority audiences from ad placements and pay them less
than other stations when they are included. Findings include: 1) Ninety-one
percent of minority radio broadcasters responding to the survey indicated
that they had experience with "no urban" dictates or "no Spanish" dictates:
instructions from advertisers not to buy advertisements on their radio
stations. Those exclusions were often based on stereotypes about the
minority consumers they serve. 2) The dictates that no time be bought on
urban or Spanish stations and the lower rates paid to these stations when
buys were made, reduced their revenues by an average of 63 percent. Chairman
Kennard announced that on February 22 a summit would be held in New York
City to continue this initiative.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Informal/ad-study/
SPLINTERING OF TV AUDIENCE MAY BE NETWORKS' DOWNFALL
Issue: Television Economics
"The major TV networks, as we know them, are dead," begins Samuelson's
column. The influence of the Big Three networks is gone because of the
popularity of cable and satellite. TV's future is radio -- "a mass of
channels that split the audience into ever-smaller slices based on
interests, lifestyles, temperament, age, income and religion." Networks are
caught in a spiral -- as they lose audience to cable channels, they can
charge less for advertising and, so, have less to spend developing quality
shows -- meaning they lose still more audience to other outlets. NBC,
thought to be the strongest network, is considering converting to a cable
channel. Why? Because cable outlets have two income streams: subscriptions
and advertising.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.23), AUTHOR: Robert Samuelson]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9901150061,00.html
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INTERNET
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ONLINE PUBLISHER CHALLENGES COPYRIGHT LAW
Issue: Copyright
The online publisher of literary works that are in the public domain was on
the verge of shutting down his site after Congress passed the Sonny Bono
Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (CTEA)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.00505: which added 20 years
to most copyrights. But the publisher decided to fight back and he's found
some help: Profs. Lawrence Lessig and Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School,
Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet &
Society http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/, and Geoffrey Stewart and Pamela
Jadwin, lawyers with the firm Hale and Dorr. The OJ-caliber team is working
pro bono (all puns intended). The case represents an attempt to reset the
balance between the competing rights of copyright owners and the general
public in the digital age. "People like [the publisher], they are the
spirit of the Net," said Professor Lessig, an expert on Internet law,
constitutional law and other subjects. "These are the logical people to
stand up for the principle of the public domain that the framers of the
Constitution had in mind." The complaint
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/eldredvreno/complaint.html, filed on Jan. 12,
specifically attacks the provision in CTEA that retroactively extends
copyrights of already written works. In legal papers, the lawyers reminded
the court that the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, grants Congress
authority "To Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries." Yet, Congress's practice of
continually extending copyright retroactively "means that Congress, in
effect, is granting copyright holders more than a 'limited term,'" the
lawyers wrote.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Carl S. Kaplan kaplanc( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/cyber/cyberlaw/15law.html
INTERNET WORLD GAINING WOMEN, LESS-AFFLUENT USERS AS IT GROWS
Issue: Internet
According to results of a Pew Research Center study, the demographics of the
Internet are looking more and more like mainstream America. In the past two
years, Internet use has doubled with about 41% of adults saying they use the
worldwide computer network. One-third of those people say they go online at
least once a week for news. The most popular subject sought on the Internet
-- weather. Use of the Internet to find local news has increased from 27% in
1996 to 42%. Internet users are more likely to read a newspaper than
non-users and to follow the news in general. They are also less likely to
rely on TV news.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec3, p.3), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9901150376,00.html
A NEW BREED OF INTERNET SURFERS
Issue: Internet
Visitors to the World Wide Web are looking more and more like America as a
whole. According to a new study by the Pew Research Center for People and
the Press, Internet surfers are now less computer savvy, less wealthy, and
include more women than earlier waves of Net devotes. The study found that
email was the most popular Internet activity and weather was the most sought
after type of news. While the Internet is rapidly becoming more mainstream,
the study did find that the Web still attracts users who are younger,
better-educated, and more affluent than the general population.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (Online), AUTHOR: Anne Gearan (Associated Press
Writer)]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990114/V000865-011499-idx.html
ELECTRONIC-COMMERCE INITIATIVE IS SET BY TOP EXECUTIVES AT 17 COMPANIES
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Top executives of 17 high-profile Internet, media and telecommunications
companies have launched an initiative to address such issues as consumer
privacy online, taxation and data security. The initiative, called the
Global Business Dialogue on E-Commerce, plans to tackle myriad issues facing
businesses as they seek to boost electronic commerce. Other issues that they
have included for consideration are liability for online content,
intellectual property-rights protection, technical concerns about the
Internet, controversial content such as pornography, who has jurisdiction
over Internet transactions, and consumer confidence in e-commerce
transactions. Included among the members are America Online, Time Warner,
IBM, Japan's Fujitsu and Toshiba, Germany's Bertelsmann and France Telecom.
Some privacy advocates and regulators are skeptical. "It is another instance
of corporations getting together and making decisions without actually
listening to consumers," said David Banisar of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Andrea Petersen]
http://wsj.com/
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COMPETITION
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REGULATORS SEEK AOL-NETSCAPE INFORMATION
Issue: Merger
The Justice Department's antitrust division has requested additional
information about the planned $6.5 billion merger of America Online Inc. and
Netscape Communications Corp., according to people familiar with the
situation. The action does not mean it will attempt to block or modify the
deal, but it does indicate heightened scrutiny. The Government is expected
to study how the deal might affect competition in the market for Internet
software and online services. The law permits either the Federal Trade
Commission or the Department of Justice to try to block the deal in the
first 20 days after an additional information filing. Netscape executive
Barry Ariko was quoted earlier this week as saying the deal is expected to
close by April.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Paul M. Sherer & Kara Swisher]
http://wsj.com/
MUST AT&T GIVE RIVALS ACCESS TO TCI'S NETWORK
Issue: Bandwidth/Competition
Local regulators in Portland, OR are considering forcing AT&T to make TCI's
cable network available to competing providers of Internet services. Once
their partnership is finalized AT&T plans to invest billions of dollars in
making TCI's network capable of delivering high-speed Internet access. The
broadband service would be exclusively available to customers through the
TCI affiliate, At Home. Regulators, however, are concerned that AT&T will
have too much control over the future of Internet service if customers are
forced to go through At Home in order to receive high-speed cable modem
access. While the Department of Justice has already authorized the AT&T/TCI
deal, some local regulators want to make access to TCI's network a condition
of the deal's approval. Several communities around the nation are
considering following the lead of Portland's Mount Hood Cable Regulatory
Commission, which has voted to recommend imposing an access condition on the
AT&T/TCI merger. "We all agree that this is a debate that would have been
better to have at the FCC," says commissioner Ruth Miles. "But in the vacuum
of leadership from the federal level, we have made this decision hoping
they'll take notice."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: Bryan Gruley]
http://wsj.com/
AUCTIONED LICENSES TO BE RESOLD FOR BIG GAIN
Issue: Competition
WNP Communications Inc. of Reston, VA, a small company that bought 40
cellular telephone licenses in a Federal Communications Commission auction
nine months ago, has reached a deal to sell the licenses for $355 million
profit. Because they were classified as a small business they were able to
buy the licenses for $187 million in March. Now they are selling them to
NextLink Communications, a Seattle company founded by cellular phone pioneer
Craig McCaw, for $542 million. The sale, which the FCC must approve,
highlights the Commission's difficulty in carrying out a mandate to use
auctions to give taxpayers the full market value of a scarce public resource
- radio frequencies. In 1993, Congress ordered auctions of licenses after a
decade of handing out cellular telephone licenses by lottery, free of
charge, to applicants who often quickly sold them for millions. The FCC has
no rule barring license winners from quickly selling them, although it has
considered ways to curb the practice, known as "flipping." Over the past
nine months, NextLink officials said yesterday, the value of the licenses
grew in the marketplace as other competitors such as Teligent Inc and
WinStar Communications Corp. found success with similar wireless data and
phone services and equipment manufacturers began to improve the radio
equipment needed for the service.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-01/15/071l-011599-idx.html
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INTERNATIONAL
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SPEECH: INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR U.S. AND
EU JOINT LEADERSHIP
Issue: International
Commissioner Ness' remarks before the European Institute: "...now seems to
be a good time to
take stock of the international telecommunications regulatory issues on the
front burner for both U.S. and EU regulators to identify: (1) those issues
where we occupy common ground and are successfully collaborating to spread
pro-competitive policies around the world; and (2) those issues on which we
differ or where we need to share more information, if we are to have a
chance at reaching common ground to resolve them." Topics include WTO
Agreement Market Access, Accounting Rate Reform, Merger Policies, Bilateral
and Multilateral Agreements, and Spectrum Policy.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/spsn902.html
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ANTITRUST
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ECONOMIST TESTIFIES MICROSOFT CONFRONTS MYRIAD THREATS TO ITS WINDOWS SOFTWARE
Issue: Antitrust
Richard Schmalensee of MIT said yesterday Microsoft's Windows isn't a
monopoly because rivals don't face a substantial barrier to entering its
market. On the stand for the second day in the Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust
trial, Schmalensee noted myriad threats to Windows ranging from a resurgent
Apple Computer to 3Com Corp.'s popular Palm Pilot hand-held computer. He
did concede that none of these competitive threats yet amount to viable
alternatives for use by major personal-computer makers on new machines.
David Boies, the Justice Department lawyer, repeatedly confronted the
witness with his own writings, suggesting they were contradictory. To a
published report in which he had written that "persistent excess profits
provide a good indication of long-run power," he told the court, "It does
not provide a good indication of my present views." Separately in Seattle,
Microsoft was harshly criticized by a federal judge as "outrageously
arrogant" for trying to deny possible court-ordered compensation or benefits
for its many temporary workers, who sued the software maker in 1992. The
judge gave Microsoft until Jan. 26 to, as he put it, "do the right thing."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke & Keith Perine]
http://wsj.com/
See also:
MICROSOFT WITNESS HIT WITH HIS OWN WORDS
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E3), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran & Mark Leibovich]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-01/15/072l-011599-idx.html
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...we got you, babe.