Communications-related Headlines for 10/24/2000

POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Communications Lobby Puts Full-Court Press on Congress (NYT)
The Ad Campaign: Democrats Hammer at Bush's Texas Record (NYT)

CORPORATE RETRENCHMENT
AT&T Is Planning to Split Up Again (NYT)

BROADBAND
How Gore and Bush Differ On the Future of Broadband (WSJ)
Sprint To Launch High-Speed Wireless Net Access For Home Users (SJM)

JOBS
Tentative Pact Is Reached In Actor Strike (NYT)

MEDIA & SOCIETY
A Parallel Mideast Battle: Is It News or Incitement? (NYT)
Is UPN Too 'Urban' for Salt Lake City (WP)
Feds To Keep Assessing Film Marketing (USA)

FCC
The Voice of the People (WP)
Speech: Public Broadcasting: Bright Future, Cherished Birthright
(FCC)
FCC Seeks Public Comment on Website Effectiveness (FCC)

PRIVACY
Renewed Ban on Web Cookies (WP)

WIRELESS
Consortium Quits Bidding as Italy Ends Wireless License Sale (NYT)

INFOTECH
Lotus Notes Developer to Introduce a New Internet Tool (NYT)

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

COMMUNICATIONS LOBBY PUTS FULL-COURT PRESS ON CONGRESS
Issue: Legislation
Labaton begins: "As Congress nears adjournment, some of the nation's most
powerful corporations have enlisted important lawmakers to tuck provisions
into spending bills that could reshape the balance of power among telephone
companies, Internet companies, broadcasters and cable operators." These
provisions could: 1) relax cable ownership rules so AT&T can buy more cable
operations, 2) save Bell companies billions on fees paid to other carriers
(billion that could be made up by passing fees onto Internet users) and 3)
kill low power FM station before they even get on the air. Welcome to
democracy at its finest! "One of the reasons for accomplishing these items
in riders is that they have a chance of surviving in the end because the
bills they are on may not be vetoed," said Representative Billy Tauzin, the
Louisiana Republican who is hoping that two measures he has supported --
killing the FM proposal and changing the Bell access charges -- are attached
to the spending bills." As a stand- alone proposition, they might be the
subject of a veto. These are issues that begged to get settled as rapidly as
possible." "This is the special interest money grab," said Gene Kimmelman,
co- director of the Washington office of Consumers Union, which has waged a
last-ditch effort to get the riders killed. "It is AT&T seeking to protect
its cable profits and not be forced to divest. It's the Bell telephone
companies seeking millions of dollars from Internet providers and their
customers who use the Internet. It's the broadcasters trying to block
community radio stations to enhance their dominant position in the market.
And it's cable companies seeking taxpayer support to provide local channels
in the communities that they are already supposed to wire."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/business/24LOBB.html)
(requires registration)

THE AD CAMPAIGN: DEMOCRATS HAMMER AT BUSH'S TEXAS RECORD
Issue: Political Discourse
Democrats in nearly 100 cities are introducing a new 10-minute video,
"Texans: In Their Own Words." The tape takes Gov Bush to task on his record
on air quality, schools, medical care and improving living conditions for
the poor. Republicans, meanwhile, have released new ads that focus on Bush's
ideas on education. "Every time a governor runs, the opponent attacks his
record. But three out of the last four times, the governor has won," Darrell
West, a political science professor at Brown University who analyzes
campaign advertising, said of similar attacks faced by Jimmy Carter, Ronald
Reagan and Bill Clinton.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A20), AUTHOR: Peter Marks]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/politics/24ADS.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
POLITICAL CONSULTANTS THRIVE IN THE CASH-RICH NEW POLITICS
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Leslie Wayne]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/politics/24DONA.html)
(requires registration)

CORPORATE RETRENCHMENT

AT&T IS PLANNING TO SPLIT UP AGAIN
Issue: Corporate Retrenchment
The board of AT&T approved a plan yesterday to spin off the company's cable
television and wireless units as separate companies over the next 12-24
months. In addition, AT&T will create a new stock to track AT&T's consumer
long distance unit. The remaining core of AT&T would control most of the
company's network and oversee the unit that serves business customers. "What
the spinoffs take is a direct relationship with the customer," said Scott
Cleland, chief executive of the Precursor Group, a communications research
firm in Washington. "The Bells got the copper wire into 80 percent of
America's homes and Lucent, the equipment supplier, took relationships to
almost every telephone company in the United States and many around the
world."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1/C1), AUTHOR: Schiesel & Ross Sorkin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/business/24TELE.html)
(requires registration)

BROADBAND

HOW GORE AND BUSH DIFFER ON THE FUTURE OF BROADBAND
Issue: Broadband
The next President will arrive in the White House just as construction of
the next information network swings into high gear. Communications firms
plan to spend $200 billion over the next four years putting together a
high-speed communications network, which will be greatly affected by the new
president's approach to broadband communications. The president will
influence the level of regulation, the pace of mergers, the role of cable
and telephone monopolies, and the ability of wireless entrepreneurs to
acquire enough radio spectrum to build nationwide networks. If elected, vice
president Al Gore would follow the strategy he crafted during the 1996
Telecommunications Act, which included advocating increased industry
competition and a strong government role to protect consumers and ensure
that the benefits of the new technology reach everyone. Mr. Gore would
likely favor government subsidies to make sure the broadband service is
available to everyone, fearing that market forces alone wouldn't do the job.
George Bush, on the other hand, would likely to take a lighter regulatory
approach. Mr. Bush might also be open to considering some radical,
market-based approaches to broadband policy. For example, some Bush advisers
have expressed interest in a plan that would give broadcasters ownership
rights to the segments of the radio spectrum that were given to them for
digital-TV broadcasts. The broadcasters would then be able to sell the
segments to others, such as wireless-communications companies, which are
starved for radio spectrum to create nationwide broadband networks.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: Bob Davis]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB972346555485600190.htm)
(requires subscription)

SPRINT TO LAUNCH HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS NET ACCESS FOR HOME USERS
Issue: Broadband
Sprint Corp. plans to launch high-speed Internet access service called
"fixed wireless" that uses radio waves to relay Internet data between a
central transmission tower and a pizza box-size antenna attached to a
customer's rooftop. Priced at about $50 a month, Sprint will give residents
of Silicon Valley a new high-speed alternative DSL and cable modems. Cable
modem connections are available only to people who have specially upgraded
lines, which are shared by an entire neighborhood and can have slow data
speeds when lots of people log on the Net. DSL is available only to
customers who live within three miles of a telephone company's "central
office," where Internet connection equipment is installed. With Sprint's
fixed wireless service, on the other hand, a single tower can serve 20,000
to 30,000 customers without having to install equipment at dozens of central
offices or dig up ground to lay miles of cable lines.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Joshua L. Kwan]
(http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/front/docs/sprint102400.htm)

JOBS

TENTATIVE PACT IS REACHED IN ACTOR STRIKE
Issue: Jobs
Television commercial actors seem close to ending their nearly six-month
long strike in a dispute that involved issues ranging from pay in
commercials on cable programs to advertisements on the Internet. Advertisers
will nearly double the flat fees paid to actors for commercials on cable
television and the advertisers will recognize the jurisdiction of the two
actors' unions for commercials that run on the Internet.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Bernard Weinraub]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/business/24ACTO.html)
(requires registration)

MEDIA & SOCIETY

A PARALLEL MIDEAST BATTLE: IS IT NEWS OR INCITEMENT?
Issue: Media & Society/Radio
Israeli military helicopters recently bombed the transmitters of the Voice
of Palestine, the Palestinian Authority's official radio network, which
Israel contends has deliberately incited mass violence and ethnic hatred.
"This was the voice of the intifada, and people could express their feelings
without censorship," said Ibrahim Milhem, the host of "Good Morning
Palestine," a popular call-in talk show. "The only way Israel could stop it
was to bomb it." Soon VoP was back on the air using transmitters loaned from
private stations. The network's news bulletins, commentaries and martial
music have become the ubiquitous soundtrack to life in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. As with the two television stations owned by the Palestinian
Authority, programs are regularly interrupted by live coverage of clashes
with Israeli troops and eulogies for each Palestinian killed in the violence
that has claimed more than 100 lives in three weeks. Israel tried leveling
another weapon against Palestinian broadcasters: the truce agreement
brokered by President Clinton in Egypt. The pact expressly called for a halt
to incitement, a provision read by Israelis as a requirement that official
Palestinian news outlets cease their depictions of all
Palestinian killed as heroes and all Israeli soldiers and settlers as
villains. But while senior Palestinian officials urged local news media to
stress their commitment to the cease-fire, radio and television news
directors said they were not asked and have not volunteered to change the
basic tenor of their broadcasts.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A12), AUTHOR: William Orme]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/world/24RADI.html)
(requires registration)

IS UPN TOO 'URBAN' FOR SALT LAKE CITY
Issue: Media & Society
UPN is parting ways with KJZZ, a Salt Lake City affiliate. KJZZ management
insisted, among other things, on the option of canceling their relationship
should UPN increase number of series with minority casts during its
prime-time slate. In contract talks with UPN KJZZ submitted a list of
proposal points. Point 8 on the list reads: "KJZZ will have the option, with
90 day written notice, to cancel this contract should UPN increase the
urban/ethnic programming above the current two (2) hours per week." UPN COO
Adam Ware called the station's demand to limit the programming both
"outrageous and offensive." "They mean African Americans--we don't want any
more shows that feature African American stars--more than you do now," he
told the Washington Post's TV Column yesterday. KJZZ General Manager Randy
Rigby said the station's stance has nothing to do with race, just with
ratings. "It's simply a viewership issue and is in no way any indication
'ethnicity' at all" he said. "It's simply an issue of the urban-programming
slant has not worked in our marketplace. If they wanted to enlarge that, it
would have an additional financial impact on us in the future." Third point
of view on the matter: the big sticking point of the contract talks isn't
programming at all but UPN's refusal to continue paying the station to air
the network's shows; KJZZ is one of only a few UPN affiliates receiving such
compensation.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C01), AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64701-2000Oct23.html)

FEDS TO KEEP ASSESSING FILM MARKETING
Issue: Media & Society
The Federal Trade Commission and the Senate Commerce Committee are pounding
out specifics to regularly assess whether the industry is living up to
promises made by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the
chiefs of eight major studios during congressional hearings last month. The
Federal Trade Commission, which did a year-long study of entertainment
marketing, is designing a monitoring process to over-see compliance with the
MPAA's 12-point guidelines to prevent the marketing of violent R-rated
movies to children. Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is the
committee chairman, and committee member Sam Brownback, R-Kan., sent letters
to studio chiefs, asking them to elaborate on their plans to protect
children younger than 17 from the marketing of R-rated films.
[SOURCE: USAToday (6D), AUTHOR: Josh Chetwynd]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001024/2774474s.htm)

FCC

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Issue: Low-Power Radio
[OP-ED] Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, William E.
Kennard writes on Low Power Radio's fate on the Hill. "It's Halloween time
in Capital City, and who's that skulking about the halls of Congress in the
dead of night? Not ghouls or goblins, but special interest lobbyists up to
their old tricks and looking for more treats. And this time, they're out to
devour small community radio." Radio stations operating on the same wattage
as a table lamp will "create radio for the people." Low-power FM Radio
(LPFM) will allow schools, churches and other local organizations to use the
public's airwaves to "make their voices heard" creating "democracy on the
dial" in the face of "increasing consolidation and homogenization of the
industry and the marketplace of ideas." So, it is both a sad and predictable
development that special interests, "-namely, the National Association of
Broadcasters (NAB)-" are using the closed-door Congressional appropriations
process to bury the program. Their attempts to kill LPFM is not about
ideology, but about money. The concept of LPFM has been embraced by groups
from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, to the National Education
Association to the National Council of Churches. 1,200 applications from the
first 20 states have been received. "The only group siding against [LPFM] is
big radio, who in a textbook case of protectionism are trying to use the
government to smother any potential competition." Their argument of signal
interference is disingenuous. "Thanks to the FCC's decades of experience
with FM radio and refinements in radio receiver and transmitter technologies
over the years, low-power FM will not interfere with existing radio service.
And the broadcasters already know that." Over the years they have asked us
to allow full-power stations to sit as close to one another on the dial as
any new low-power FM station would [sit] to any existing station. "If this
distance doesn't cause harmful interference between full power radio
stations (operating at as much as 100,000 watts), why would it do so with
low power FM (10 or 100 watts)? It simply doesn't make sense." "That NPR
would [join the NAB and] side against true community radio is the unkindest
cut of all. We deserve better from an organization that calls itself
National Public Radio... I very much hope Congress will do the right thing
and snuff out the broadcasters' protectionist plot to make an end run around
our democratic process. In this Halloween season, community radio deserves
better than a ghost of a chance."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, Oct. 23 (A23), AUTHOR: William E. Kennard]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58803-2000Oct22.html)

SPEECH: PUBLIC BROADCASTING: BRIGHT FUTURE, CHERISHED BIRTHRIGHT
Issue: Public Broadcasting
October 22 Remarks of Commissioner Ness at the PBS Fall Planning Meeting &
Annual Members Meeting.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/2000/spsn008.html)

FCC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON WEBSITE EFFECTIVENESS
Issue: Access to Gov Info
The Commission is evaluating its Internet web site in an effort to make it
easier and faster for its users to retrieve information. Although the FCC's
website was recently cited as one of the best in the government, the
Commission is always interested in upgrading and improving it. A key part of
the assessment process is to ascertain what the public expects from the
agency's website and whether the site is meeting those expectations. Toward
this end, the FCC invites interested parties who use the website to submit
comments, including their views about improvements that would make retrieval
of information faster and easier. Among those from whom the FCC would like
to hear are members of industry, consumer and public interest groups, state
and local regulatory groups, and professional associations. This evaluation
does not address any of the FCC's electronic filing systems but rather is
limited to the FCC website, www.fcc.gov, and associated webpages. Comments
should address, among other things, usability, navigability, format,
content, interactivity and ease of contacting the Commission. Please submit
all comments by November 10 to webeval( at )fcc.gov. For more information,
contact Dave Kitzmiller at (202) 418-0507.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/2000/pnmc0011.html)

PRIVACY

RENEWED BAN ON WEB COOKIES
Issue: Federal Page
In response to the release of a congressional report alleging federal
agencies are electronically tracking online users, the Clinton
administration is stepping up its efforts to ensure the online personal
privacy of Americans. In response to the report, White House sponkesman Jake
Stewart said the offending 13 federal agencies ignored a directive against
tracking visitors to government Web sites. The White House is starting to
keep tabs on agencies. "What we've done concretely is to ask them, when they
submit their budget requests in December, to give us an update on exactly
where they are in the process and how they're correcting their policy if
it's out of compliance with our regulations," Siewert told reporters. The
Office of Management and Budget report does make a distinction "cookies"
used for helpful tracking and the surreptitious collection of information.
The Education Department site, for example, uses cookies to help student
loan recipients fill out applications and consolidate their loans online.
The U.S. Mint shopping site also uses cookies to keep track of purchases.
Forbidden are "persistent" cookies, which track Web habits over and extended
period of time, or that pass a person's information to a private company.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A25), AUTHOR: D. Ian Hopper]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A71-2000Oct23.html)

INFOTECH

LOTUS NOTES DEVELOPER TO INTRODUCE A NEW INTERNET TOOL
Issue: InfoTech
Ray Ozzie, the developer of Lotus Notes, is expected to release today a
software tool intended to provide a wide range of new ways for workers to
collaborate over the Internet. It is, in essence, a sort of Napster for the
workplace. "My goal is to bring something new to the table that will change
people's view of how the Internet might be used," Ozzie said. "I wanted to
build a better platform for direct person-to-person communication." "Ray
Ozzie is Napsterizing Notes," said Michael Schrage, a groupware expert who
is co-director of the Emarkets initiative at the Media Laboratory of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The new software, Groove, employs the
same peer-to-peer approach to permit small groups of workers to share
computer data, have voice conversations and create a shared "virtual space"
without need of a large corporate network infrastructure.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C8), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/technology/24GROO.html)
(requires registration)

WIRELESS

CONSORTIUM QUITS BIDDING AS ITALY ENDS WIRELESS LICENSE SALE
Issue: Wireless
Italian spectrum auctions ended after just three days as a consortium
backed by British Telecom backed out -- leaving just five bidders for five
available licenses. Total revenues for the licenses to operate next
generation wireless services came to $10 billion instead of the $20 billion
the Italian government had expected. The bidders that were left were
cellular phone alliances backed by the former national phone company,
Telecom Italia; Vodafone AirTouch of Britain; Telf