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August 27, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
R Jai Krishna
Rumman Ahmed
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

India's Department of Telecommunications plans to start a much-awaited auction of telecommunications bandwidth on Nov. 12.

India is auctioning the airwaves after the Supreme Court earlier this year revoked the telecom licenses of several companies, citing corruption in their allotment in 2008, and asked them to return the airwaves they held. Bids will be received until Oct. 19 and the final list of bidders who will be allowed to participate in the auction will be decided by Nov. 6, the telecom department said in a notice on its web site. In February, the court ordered the cancellation of 122 licenses issued to several companies. That order was to take effect on June 2.

India Plans to Start Spectrum Auction on Nov. 12

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Related Headlines

Submitted on August 24, 2012

Last week, Benton’s Headlines staff was distracted by breaking news from the Department of Justice that it was approving, with some changes, a nearly $4 billion deal between Verizon and some of the country’s largest cable companies. By this week’s end, the deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission as well. Here’s a quick recap of how the week played out.

On August 16, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that it would require Verizon and four of the nation’s largest cable companies -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications -- to make changes to a series of agreements concerning both the sale of bundled wireless and wireline services, and the formation of a technology research joint venture. The DoJ said that, if left unaltered, the agreements would have harmed competition by diminishing the companies’ incentive to compete, resulting in higher prices and lower quality for consumers.

Verizon agreed in December 2011 to buy $3.6 billion of unused wireless spectrum held by the nation's four largest cable providers. Verizon wants the spectrum to help build out its 4G network. In return, the cable companies will be able to buy access to Verizon's 4G services and bundle it with their own triple-play offerings (pay-TV, broadband Internet, and telephone service). The companies plan to cross-sell each other's services. Verizon will advertise and bundle cable services with its own wireless and landline services, and the cable companies can do the same for Verizon -- but not for Verizon's competitors.

DoJ also said that it would allow both Verizon’s proposed acquisitions of spectrum from the cable companies and T-Mobile USA’s contingent purchase of a significant portion of that spectrum from Verizon to go forward. DoJ said that the spectrum transactions facilitate active use of an important national resource and thereby promise substantial benefit to wireless consumers.

On August 16, DoJ’s Antitrust Division, joined by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications from enforcing a series of commercial agreements. At the same time, DoJ filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the concerns alleged in the lawsuit.

DoJ’s Competitive Impact Statement contains the department’s observations about the most anticompetitive consequences of the Verizon/Cable deal. The commercial agreements:

  • Harm competition in the video, broadband, and wireless markets because they impair the ability and incentives for Verizon and the cable companies to compete aggressively against each other.
  • Contractually require Verizon to have a financial incentive to market and sell the cable companies’ products through Verizon Wireless channels in the same local geographic markets where Verizon also sells FiOS.
  • Unreasonably diminish competition between Verizon and the cable companies—competition that is critical to maintaining low prices, high quality, and continued innovation.
  • Unreasonably diminish future incentives to compete for product and feature development pertaining to the integration of broadband, video, and wireless services.
  • Unreasonably restrain the ability of the cable companies to offer wireless services on a resale basis.
  • Unreasonably restrain competition due to ambiguities in certain terms regarding what Verizon can and cannot do to compete in the marketplace.
  • The aspects of the JOE unreasonably reduce the companies’ incentives and ability to compete on product and feature development, and create an enhanced potential for anticompetitive coordination.

DoJ said the proposed settlement protects competition and consumers by removing provisions that would lessen the companies’ incentives to compete aggressively in the areas where Verizon’s FiOS services offer a critical competitive alternative to the cable companies’ video and broadband products. The proposed settlement also limits the duration of the companies’ collaboration to December 2016 in important respects, ensuring that they retain incentives to compete against one another .

The proposed settlement forbids Verizon Wireless from selling cable company products in FiOS areas and removes contractual restrictions on Verizon Wireless’s ability to sell FiOS, ensuring that Verizon’s incentives to compete aggressively against the cable companies remain unchanged. In addition, under the proposed settlement, Verizon Wireless’s ability to resell the cable companies’ services to customers in areas where Verizon sells DSL Internet service ends in December of 2016 (subject to potential renewal at the DoJ’s sole discretion), thereby preserving Verizon’s incentives to reconsider its decision to stop building out its FiOS network and otherwise innovate in its DSL territory. Finally, the proposed settlement limits the duration of the technology joint venture and other features of the agreements, ensuring that the agreements will not dampen the companies’ incentives to compete against one another going forward.

The proposed settlement also requires the commercial agreements to be amended so that:

  • Verizon retains the ability to sell bundles of services that include DSL, Verizon Wireless and the video services of a direct broadcast satellite company (i.e., DirecTV or Dish Network);
  • After five years, the cable companies are no longer barred from selling the wireless services of Verizon Wireless’s competitors, and may partner with other wireless providers;
  • The cable companies can elect to resell Verizon Wireless services using their own brand at any time as provided for under the amended agreements; and
  • Upon dissolution of the technology joint venture, all members receive a non-exclusive license to all the joint venture’s technology, and each may then choose to sublicense to other competitors.

The settlement also forbids any form of collusion and restricts the exchange of competitively sensitive information. Verizon and the cable companies would also be required to provide regular reports to the department to ensure that the collaboration does not harm competition going forward. [FYI, our friends at Public Knowledge provide a look at the DoJ’s conditions on the deal here.]

Public Interest Community Gives Conditions a Thumbs Down
Parul Desai, policy counsel for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, said the DoJ's requirements are a step in the right direction. But she warned of future consequences of all these telecom heavyweights climbing into bed together. "Moving forward, it is critical that enforcement of these conditions is vigilant," she said. "Today's deal between two giant industries is still troubling. At best it protects the status quo for consumers. "It is hard to see how this improves competition or increases consumer choice in a market landscape already dominated by wireless duopolies and cable-Internet monopolies."

Public interest groups Free Press and Public Knowledge believe conditions on the deal will help consumers, but they said regulators did not go far enough. They called on the government to deal with the underlying problems of the broadband industry, where landline phone companies like Verizon are being beaten by cable companies, who can offer higher download speeds cheaply.

“Policymakers can no longer pretend that the broadband market is competitive,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. “Congress and the FCC should pursue new policies to stimulate competition in wireline Internet access service — or resign themselves to regulating a broadband monopoly.”

“There is still no meaningful competition -- and that will mean higher prices for everyone,” said Joel Kelsey, a policy adviser with Free Press.

One of the key goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was the first major rewrite of federal communications law in 62 years, was to promote facilities-based competition for phone, television and Internet services. The hope was that communications companies including phone and cable companies would begin competing against each other. This has happened to a certain extent most notably of late with Verizon's introduction of its FiOS fiber Internet, video and phone service, which in some parts of the country is the only alternative consumers have to the broadband services offered by cable firms. With Verizon and the cable firms bid to join forces, critics worry that they will no longer actively compete against each other.

Research Director Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America said approval of the joint venture between Verizon and cable “demonstrates that the primary pillar on which the Telecommunications Act of 1996 stood—intramodal and intermodal competition between broadband platforms—has collapsed in a short 16 years.”

“This deal will result in Verizon abandoning further investment in FiOS, its high speed network,” Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America, said. As a result, there will be no high-speed Internet competition in Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, cities across upstate New York and most of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware and Virginia, she said.

Critics in Congress, Too
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) was the most vocal critic of DoJ’s announcement and proposed settlement. He argued the conditions won't do enough to protect competition for broadband Internet service. “Most consumers, and especially those in rural areas in Minnesota and elsewhere, have few or no options for high-speed broadband service, which is one of the reasons I was so concerned about this deal," said Sen Franken, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee's sub-panel on antitrust issues. "Without meaningful competition for broadband, the cable companies will be able to charge whatever they want — and drive consumers to purchase expensive bundles of services they don’t want or need in order to get Internet service. The Department of Justice has addressed some of the worst parts of this transaction, but I don’t think it has gone far enough."

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) -- chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights -- said he is pleased with the changes the Justice Department required of the deal. He added that his subcommittee will "closely monitor" the implementation of the arrangements.

The subcommittee's top Republican, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who had already expressed support for the original deal, said he is pleased the companies will be allowed to move forward. He said the deal will benefit consumers by "putting previously fallow spectrum to efficient use, expanding consumer choice through the introduction of a new bundled offering, and spurring innovation in the development of new technologies and products."

In the House, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said that, even with the conditions, he remain concerned that the deal will harm competition and cost jobs. "DOJ, the FCC and Congress must remain vigilant to ensure that our worst fears about this deal do not come to pass," he said.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Commerce Committee, said, "As an author of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, I expressed concerns about the impact of this transaction on competition and consumer choice. While I remain focused on how this deal will affect these vital touchstones of the telecommunications marketplace, the FCC and the Justice Department have identified and mandated several key changes to significant issues that should help address harms to competition and consumers arising from the deal."

All Eyes Turn to FCC
With DoJ’s announcement, attention turned to the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released a statement saying it was time for the FCC, too, to wrap up its review.

“A rigorous review by the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice staffs revealed that the deal as proposed by Verizon Wireless and the cable company owners of SpectrumCo posed serious concerns, including in the wired and wireless broadband and video marketplaces. In response to the agencies’ objections, the parties have made a number of binding pro-competitive commitments and will also make fundamental changes to their agreements. Because of these substantial undertakings and in light of the Consent Decree the companies executed with the Justice Department today, I believe the Commission should now approve this transaction, and I will be circulating a draft order to my colleagues that would do so.

“Specifically, Verizon Wireless has undertaken an unprecedented divestiture of spectrum to one of its competitors, T-Mobile, and has committed to accelerate the build-out of its new spectrum and enhance its roaming obligations. In addition, the companies’ commercial agreements will be modified to, among other things, preserve Verizon's incentives to build out FiOS, increase wireless competition, and ensure that the proposed IP venture is pro-consumer and that its products cannot be used in anti-competitive ways.

“Approval of the substantially modified transaction will promote the public interest and benefit consumers in several ways. By advancing U.S. leadership in 4G LTE deployment, the transaction marks another step in our effort to promote the U.S. innovation economy and make state-of-the-art broadband available to more people in more places. The transaction will preserve incentives for deployment and spur innovation while guarding against anti-competitive conduct. And vitally, it will put approximately 20 megahertz of prime spectrum—spectrum that has gone unused for too long—quickly to work across the country, benefiting consumers and the marketplace.

By August 21, we started seeing reports that Chairman Genachowski had won the votes first of Republican colleagues Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai. By August 22, Broadcasting & cable reported that the FCC had voted 5-0 to approve the deal.

On August 23, the FCC announced that it had concluded its review of the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo deal and approved four significant spectrum transfer applications, subject to a number of binding commitments and conditions.

The FCC Order imposes as conditions the following four voluntary commitments made by Verizon Wireless:

Divested Spectrum

  • Verizon Wireless must close its proposed spectrum transfer with T-Mobile within 45 days of its closing of the SpectrumCo, Cox, and Leap transactions.

Buildout

  • Within three years, Verizon Wireless will provide signal coverage and offer service to at least 30 percent of the total population in the Economic Areas or the portions of Economic Areas in which it is acquiring AWS-1 license authorizations (calculated by summing the population for each of these areas); and
  • Within seven years, Verizon Wireless will provide signal coverage and offer service to at least 70 percent of the population in each Economic Area in which it is acquiring AWS-1 license authorizations, or, where a portion of the Economic Area is acquired, to at least 70 percent of the population of the total acquired portion of the licensed Economic Area.

Roaming

  • In the event the current data roaming rule is not available to requesting providers, Verizon Wireless will continue to offer roaming arrangements for commercial mobile data services on any of its spectrum in the areas where it is acquiring AWS-1 spectrum to other commercial mobile data service providers on commercially reasonable terms and conditions, and providers may negotiate the terms of their arrangements on an individualized basis. This commitment will remain in place for five years following the date of the Commission’s order.

Reporting

  • Verizon must provide on a semi-annual basis, subject to an appropriate protective order, reports concerning trends in DSL subscribership following the implementation of the commercial agreements.

In addition, to assist in monitoring any effects the Commercial Agreements have on the marketplace and on the development of emerging product markets, the FCC Order directed the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau to open a docket (WC Docket No. 12-234) “for the public to file complaints or petitions alleging that the parties are acting in violation of the conditions imposed by this order or engaging in anti-competitive conduct relating to this transaction that implicates the public interest or otherwise violates the Act or FCC rules.” By this Public Notice, the FCC is informing the public that has been established for this purpose.

Comcast’s Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer David Cohen writes that conditions on the transaction adopted by the Department of Justice and the FCC preserve “the most important goals of our agreements”:

  • Comcast will be able to market Verizon Wireless products and services across our entire footprint under a renewable agent agreement (for the first five years, we will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless, but Verizon Wireless will not be able to enforce the exclusivity provisions after five years).
  • Comcast and Verizon Wireless will be able to work together for at least five years in an R&D partnership to develop innovative technologies that integrate wireless and wireline products and services; after five years, we can continue that partnership with the agreement of the DOJ.
  • Comcast has the right to opt into an MVNO (or reseller) agreement with Verizon Wireless at any time after six months' notice.
  • Verizon Wireless will be able to market Comcast products and services throughout the vast majority of the Comcast footprint (everywhere outside the FiOS footprint) under a renewable agent agreement; after five years, Verizon Wireless can renew the agreement other than in the DSL footprint where DOJ approval is required.

Does this Deal Lead to More Deals?
Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeffrey Silva said he expects that this deal could lead to similar transactions down the road. "As distasteful as it is to many, my sense is such 'frenemy' relationships will be the rule rather than the exception going forward, and it will be up to policymakers to decide when and how to intervene where these pacts are deemed to have crossed the line," he said.

On August 17, the Wall Street Journal reported that the government's relative leniency in its requirements for giving a green light has sparked hopes of further wireless consolidation as carriers seek spectrum to build out next-generation 4G LTE networks. One theory is that Sprint, which needs more capacity to compete with Verizon and AT&T, will buy MetroPCS, which has some spectrum that is contiguous with Sprint’s. Leap Wireless International could also be a Sprint takeover candidate. Like Metro, its network uses the same technology, allowing for easier customer transfer. Metro's spectrum is more valuable than Leap's because it is in major cities. But Sprint's board already spurned Metro in February, making a reversal unlikely. Sprint could even make a run at T-Mobile -- there could be as much as $20 billion in synergies because T-Mobile hasn't started building an LTE network.

These deals would also come with considerable costs. Verizon is paying 69 cents per megahertz pop—an industry metric representing bandwidth per person in a coverage area—for the spectrum it is buying. But an acquirer would have to pay 83 cents and 87 cents for Metro and Leap, respectively, just to cover their net debt, according to BTIG.

But Public Knowledge’s John Bergmayer took an even longer view. He argued that the problem isn't any one transaction. The problem is that the majority of spectrum that becomes available ends up in the hands of AT&T or Verizon. AT&T and Verizon are able to out-bid any other potential buyer, not merely because they have so much money. Rather, AT&T and Verizon are willing to pay more for spectrum, and do more to get it, because spectrum is more valuable to them. First, they already have large networks, so due to economies of scale they can put new spectrum to work more cheaply than their competitors. This makes them more willing to pay for spectrum than any competitor that would have to spend a lot more to get a network off the ground. And, of course, it's worth good money for them to corner the market for a basic input their competitors need to operate -- imagine if McDonald's was able to buy up all of the hamburger buns in the country, or it Microsoft was able to corner the market on ones and zeros. As a given carrier has more and more spectrum the "foreclosure value" of buying up spectrum goes up.

Wireless and the State of US Broadband
Former White House Advisor Susan Crawford wrote a scathing commentary inspired by the likely approval of the deal by regulators. She argues that the approval of this deal will be yet another piece of evidence that this monopoly power remains unconstrained; if Verizon and Comcast were competing actively with one another in expanding wired connectivity, they wouldn’t be collaborating to create a “seamless environment” for their red-branded services.

People launching new high-bandwidth services should be worried, because their fates are dependent on how this “seamless environment” decides to treat them. Watch out, Netflix; if life gets too difficult for you, you may have to join the red team of ComcastVerizonNBCU.

Crawford argues that the U.S. should be making a national upgrade to reasonably-priced fiber access for all of us. Instead, Americans are paying more than people in many other countries for services that aren’t as good, even as inequality in communications leaves more people behind every day.

We’ll continue to keep our eye on wireless, broadband and all things telecommunications – and we’ll see you in the Headlines.

A Message About Charles Benton

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

            The United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication Inc. will honor Charles Benton, chairman of the board of the Benton Foundation, at the 30th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Breakfast on September 25, 2012. Charles will receive the Everett C. Parker Award in recognition of his many years of leadership and support for promoting the public interest in traditional and digital media.

For the past three decades, Charles Benton has served as chairman of the foundation that bears his family’s name, leading its evolution to become an organization focused on articulating a public interest vision for the digital age and recognizing the value of communications in addressing social problems. In the 1960s, Benton became involved with the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting (NCCB), one of the first organizations to build on Everett Parker’s work as a leader of the United Church of Christ. In 1973, under Benton’s chairmanship, the NCCB board hired retiring Federal Communications Commissioner Nicholas Johnson as executive director to carry on the fight to make broadcasters more responsive to community needs, following OC Inc.’s legal victory establishing the public’s right to participate in the broadcast licensing process.

 In 1978, President Carter appointed Benton chairman of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and in 1979 Carter appointed him chairman of the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Benton to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. In 2012 President Obama nominated him to the board of the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Benton has not only been a leader in the policy arena, but also a leader within the philanthropic community, particularly in championing the importance of supporting media to help achieve philanthropic goals. Through Benton’s leadership, his foundation has provided a progressive voice in helping to shape the National Broadband Plan and working on the transition of the Universal Service Fund from analog telephone services to digital broadband. Through his work in government, business and the nonprofit sector, Benton has demonstrated a long-term, steadfast commitment to the values of access, diversity and equity that also guided Everett Parker’s work.

Help us honor

Charles Benton, chairman of the board of the Benton Foundation,

 

As he receives the Everett C. Parker Award

in recognition of his many years of leadership and support for promoting

the public interest in traditional and digital media.

 

Featured speaker

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

Who will speak about media justice and communications rights, as we celebrate the 100th year of Dr. Parker's birth at the

 

30th Annual Everett C. Parker Lecture

8 a.m., Tuesday, September 25, 2012

 

Held at the First Congregational United Church of Christ,

945 G Street NW, Washington, DC

 

Sponsored by the United Church of Christ's media justice and communications rights ministry--working for more than 50 years to bring diversity, accountability and access to media and telecommunications. 

 

Individual tickets $50

Corporate and nonprofit sponsorships available, please enquire.
 

 
Thank you!
Cecilia Garcia
P.S. If you like to stay up to date and in the know concerning media related issues, be sure to subscribe to my Foundation's weekly or daily newsletter, create an account now: http://benton.org/newsletter/subscriptions.

August 24, 2012 (FCC Approves Verizon-SpectrumCo)

Planning a communications course for the Fall? See how Headlines can help http://benton.org/headlines/classroom

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2012

Headlines is taking Mondays off in August; we will return TUESDAY, August 28, 2012


VERIZON-SPECTRUMCO
   FCC Concludes Review of Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo Deal and Approves Related Spectrum Transactions - press release
   FCC Establishes Docket for Monitoring the Recent Verizon Wireless Transaction - public notice
   CWA Slams Verizon/SpectrumCo Approval as Job (Loss) Creator
   DOJ Releases Confidential Information; Verizon/Cable Deal As Bad As We Thought - analysis

MORE ON WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Unlimited data plans are back. But are they needed? - analysis
   South Korea Court Says Samsung, Apple Infringed Each Other's Patents
   National Public Safety Network: $135 Million Set For Planning [links to web]
   When Wireless Sensors Meet Big Data [links to web]
   Wi-fi guy gets a fair chance [links to web]
   WiFli Wants To Bring Internet Access To The Entire Planet [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC to study data caps, and may raise broadband speed threshold
   3 things we still don’t know about U.S. broadband - analysis
   Broadband Progress Report Map – Another Digital First - press release
   What’s up with special access: the $128 billion surcharge on Spring and T-Mobile? - analysis
   FCC Special Access Call Continues to Draw Crowd [links to web]
   AT&T's FaceTime fight is a very slippery slope - analysis
   Obama faces Delicate decisions as Cyberattack Fears Rise
   Google's audacious bet on fiber -- and why it could work - analysis
   With SOPA gone, setting Internet advocacy’s next stop
   US Judge Gives Poker a Break [links to web]

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Romney uses secretive data-mining
   Press Coverage of the Character of the candidates is Highly Negative - research
   Convention, not reruns, ABC, CBS!
   Local TV News Best Cable Nets In Reaching Key Voters [links to web]
   TV stations love super PACs
   Cable News Networks See Rising Potential in Convention Coverage
   Debates Denied, Univision Turns to Candidate Forums [links to web]
   Will Text Message Donations Help Carriers Influence Policy? - analysis
   Obama campaign first to accept donations via text message [links to web]
   Donations by Media Companies Tilt Heavily to Obama [links to web]
   Study: Congressional Twitter accounts are plagued by phony followers [links to web]

MORE ON ADVERTISING
   Liquor Ads Win Airtime
   Why a trillion TV ads matter - research [links to web]
   Cutting Through the Clutter: 5 Characteristics of Winning TV Ads - research [links to web]
   Digital gaining on newspapers faster than thought [links to web]

CONTENT
   DoJ compares Apple and publishers to big oil in e-books case
   No, metered-content walls won’t save journalism - analysis [links to web]
   Some Broadcast Slippage, Cable Sees Uptick In Summer Fare [links to web]
   US Judge Gives Poker a Break [links to web]

PRIVACY
   In a Blow to Hulu, Judge Rules Video Privacy Law Applies Online [links to web]
   Consumer Watchdog Seeks To Weigh In On Google's Privacy Settlement [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Sirius Investors Lose Bid To Halt Liberty Media Takeover [links to web]
   House Subcommittee Wades Into the Universal-EMI Deal [links to web]
   South Korea Court Says Samsung, Apple Infringed Each Other's Patents

NEWS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
   White House Launches Presidential Innovation Fellows Program - press release
   Building-Blocks of a 21st Century Digital Government - press release
   We the Coders: Open-Sourcing We the People, the White House's Online Petitions System - press release [links to web]

NEWS FROM THE FTC
   Consumers Asked DISH Network to Leave Them Alone, But FTC Says Calls Kept Coming - press release [links to web]
   Infomercial Marketers to Pay Millions to Settle FTC Charges [links to web]
   U.S. Court Hands Down Record $478 Million Judgment Against Marketers of Massive Get-Rich-Quick Infomercial Scams - press release [links to web]

HEALTH
   HHS announces next steps to promote use of electronic health records and health information exchange - press release [links to web]
   Hate Speech On Commercial Talk Radio Could Negatively Impact Listeners' Health - research
   Liquor Ads Win Airtime

LABOR
   Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from April 2012 Through June 2012 - research [links to web]
   2012 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey - research

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   New Delhi Expands Curbs on Web Content
   Winning the Internet Arms Race - op-ed

MORE ONLINE
   Judge Rules Ebay Not Covered By Americans With Disabilities Act [links to web]
   Personalized 9-1-1 Profiles Help Improve Emergency Response - press release [links to web]

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VERIZON-SPECTRUMCO

FCC CONCLUDES REVIEW OF VERIZON WIRELESS-SPECTRUMCO DEAL AND APPROVES RELATED SPECTRUM TRANSACTIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission has concluded its review of the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo deal and approved four significant spectrum transfer applications involving Verizon Wireless, subject to a number of binding commitments and conditions. The applications include, among other things, the assignment of AWS-1 licenses held by Cox and SpectrumCo (a joint venture among subsidiaries of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks) to Verizon Wireless; a spectrum “swap” between Verizon Wireless and Leap; and Verizon Wireless’s net assignment of AWS-1 licenses to T-Mobile. The Order imposes as conditions the following four voluntary commitments made by Verizon Wireless:
Divested Spectrum
Verizon Wireless must close its proposed spectrum transfer with T-Mobile within 45 days of its closing of the SpectrumCo, Cox, and Leap transactions.
Buildout
Within three years, Verizon Wireless will provide signal coverage and offer service to at least 30 percent of the total population in the Economic Areas or the portions of Economic Areas in which it is acquiring AWS-1 license authorizations (calculated by summing the population for each of these areas); and
Within seven years, Verizon Wireless will provide signal coverage and offer service to at least 70 percent of the population in each Economic Area in which it is acquiring AWS-1 license authorizations, or, where a portion of the Economic Area is acquired, to at least 70 percent of the population of the total acquired portion of the licensed Economic Area.
Roaming
In the event the current data roaming rule is not available to requesting providers, Verizon Wireless will continue to offer roaming arrangements for commercial mobile data services on any of its spectrum in the areas where it is acquiring AWS-1 spectrum to other commercial mobile data service providers on commercially reasonable terms and conditions, and providers may negotiate the terms of their arrangements on an individualized basis. This commitment will remain in place for five years following the date of the Commission’s order.
Reporting
Verizon must provide on a semi-annual basis, subject to an appropriate protective order, reports concerning trends in DSL subscribership following the implementation of the commercial
agreements.
Comcast’s Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer David Cohen writes that conditions on the transaction adopted by the Department of Justice and the FCC preserve “the most important goals of our agreements”:
Comcast will be able to market Verizon Wireless products and services across our entire footprint under a renewable agent agreement (for the first five years, we will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless, but Verizon Wireless will not be able to enforce the exclusivity provisions after five years).
Comcast and Verizon Wireless will be able to work together for at least five years in an R&D partnership to develop innovative technologies that integrate wireless and wireline products and services; after five years, we can continue that partnership with the agreement of the DOJ.
Comcast has the right to opt into an MVNO (or reseller) agreement with Verizon Wireless at any time after six months' notice.
Verizon Wireless will be able to market Comcast products and services throughout the vast majority of the Comcast footprint (everywhere outside the FiOS footprint) under a renewable agent agreement; after five years, Verizon Wireless can renew the agreement other than in the DSL footprint where DOJ approval is required.
benton.org/node/132924 | Federal Communications Commission | read the Order | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai | Comcast
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FCC ESTABLISHES DOCKET FOR MONITORING THE RECENT VERIZON WIRELESS TRANSACTIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
On August 22, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission approved with conditions the assignment of spectrum licenses to and from Verizon Wireless arising from several interrelated transactions. These included the assignment of AWS-1 spectrum licenses from Leap to Verizon Wireless, the assignment of AWS-1 spectrum licenses from Verizon to T-Mobile, and the assignment of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox (Cable Companies) to Verizon Wireless. The spectrum assignment from the Cable Companies to Verizon Wireless was part of a larger transaction between Verizon Wireless and the Cable Companies (“Verizon-Cable Transaction”), which also included commercial arrangements under which: (1) Verizon Wireless and the cable operators act as sales agents of one another’s services; (2) each of the cable operators may become resellers of Verizon Wireless’s services; and (3) the parties (other than Cox), through a joint venture, may seek to develop ways to integrate wireline and wireless services (collectively, “the Commercial Agreements”). As part of its approval, the FCC noted that Verizon Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless agreed to comply with a number of conditions, including the assignment of spectrum licenses to T-Mobile, build-out requirements, roaming requirements, and monitoring and reporting requirements.
In addition, to assist in monitoring any effects the Commercial Agreements have on the marketplace and on the development of emerging product markets, the Order directed the Wireline Competition Bureau to open a docket “for the public to file complaints or petitions alleging that the parties are acting in violation of the conditions imposed by this order or engaging in anti-competitive conduct relating to this transaction that implicates the public interest or otherwise violates the Act or FCC rules.” By this Public Notice, the FCC is informing the public that WC Docket No. 12-234 has been established for this purpose.
benton.org/node/132922 | Federal Communications Commission
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CWA SLAMS DECISION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Critics of the Verizon/SpectrumCo deal were quick to register their disapproval after the Federal Communications Commission released the order approving Verizon Wireless' $3.9 billion purchase of spectrum from some major cable operators. The Communications Workers of America, which had worked hard to block the spectrum sale, said it was a case of government serving the interests of business rather than consumers. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has repeatedly said he sees the FCC as a consumer-focused agency, and indicated he thought the deal, with its modifications from Justice and the FCC, was consumer friendly. CWA did not, using the terms "kill" (jobs) and "harm" (consumers) to describe the deal. "The FCC's decision allowing Big Cable to virtually monopolize wireline and video connections to millions of homes will lead to job loss and hit consumers with higher prices," said the group. "It will slam the door on our country's high speed future because it has destroyed any incentive for Verizon to continue the build out of its high speed FiOS network." CWA said the FCC and Justice appeared content with an anticompetitive deal that cost jobs and raised prices. Among the conditions were time, and other limits on cross marketing agreements between Verizon Wireless and cable operators, but CWA said they were weak and added it was unclear how they would be enforced.
benton.org/node/132919 | Broadcasting&Cable
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DOJ RELEASES COMPETITIVE IMPACT STATEMENT
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Martyn Griffen]
[Commentary] The Department of Justice released details of Verizon’s and cable companies’ commercial agreements. The DoJ’s Competitive Impact Settlement includes previously confidential details about the deals, which is disappointing to read given the DOJ’s approval and lackluster conditions. Everything the DOJ mentions in this Statement further emphasizes Public Knowledge’s position that this deal is bad for consumers and potentially crippling for innovation in the broadband and wireless marketplaces. Here are some of the DOJ Statement’s observations about the most anticompetitive consequences of the Verizon/Cable deal. The commercial agreements:
Harm competition in the video, broadband, and wireless markets because they impair the ability and incentives for Verizon and the cable companies to compete aggressively against each other.
Contractually require Verizon to have a financial incentive to market and sell the cable companies’ products through Verizon Wireless channels in the same local geographic markets where Verizon also sells FiOS.
Unreasonably diminish competition between Verizon and the cable companies—competition that is critical to maintaining low prices, high quality, and continued innovation.
Unreasonably diminish future incentives to compete for product and feature development pertaining to the integration of broadband, video, and wireless services.
Unreasonably restrain the ability of the cable companies to offer wireless services on a resale basis.
Unreasonably restrain competition due to ambiguities in certain terms regarding what Verizon can and cannot do to compete in the marketplace.
The aspects of the JOE unreasonably reduce the companies’ incentives and ability to compete on product and feature development, and create an enhanced potential for anticompetitive coordination.
benton.org/node/132918 | Public Knowledge
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

UNLIMITED PLANS
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Sean Captain]
The overwhelming majority of customers on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon don't even use 2GB per month, which is below the data caps for all but the stingiest plans from all carriers for the common two-year contracts. And virtually no one uses over 3GB. T-Mobile, however, does have the most data-hungry users, according to NPD. Eleven percent of customers use more than 3GB per month, versus 4 percent for AT&T and Sprint and 3 percent for Verizon. "T-Mobile consumers tend to be younger," said Hold. "Younger demographics are the ones we find hit the network harder by doing a little video and music streaming." And even when customers have had unlimited data at their fingertips, as on Sprint, most didn't take advantage of it. "In general, Sprint's usage is the same as the other networks and less than T-Mobile," Hold said. One reason people stay under their limits is that they often use their smartphones over Wi-Fi. And even if people use only the cellular network, they will probably be fine. For example, 2GB per month is enough to do all the basics, such as email, Web surfing and Facebook posting, as well as streaming music for 30 minutes per day.
benton.org/node/132946 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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APPLE-SAMSUNG RULING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Evan Ramstad, Min Sun Lee]
A South Korea court delivered a split decision in its piece of the global legal battle between Apple and Samsung over mobile computing patents. A three-judge panel in Seoul Central District Court said Apple infringed two Samsung technology patents, while Samsung violated one of Apple's patents. The court awarded small damages to both companies and said they must halt sales of the infringing products in South Korea. None of the banned products are the latest models of Samsung or Apple devices. The court also ruled that there was "no possibility" that consumers would confuse Samsung and Apple smartphones, and that Samsung's smartphone icons don't infringe Apple's patents. The ruling holds greater symbolic than practical impact as neither company gained an advantage in the broader dispute, which is playing out in trials in the U.S. and Australia this month and extends to nine countries in all.
benton.org/node/132947 | Wall Street Journal | FT | AP | Bloomberg | LATimes
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FCC TO STUDY DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Steve Donohue]
With Comcast, Verizon and other broadband providers beginning to offer broadband Internet services with download speeds of 300 Mbps and faster, the Federal Communications Commission says it may need to change the definition for what it considers broadband. Since 2010, the FCC has said that Internet service providers had to offer download speeds of 4 Mbps and upload speeds of 1 Mbps for their products to be considered broadband. In a notice of inquiry issued on Tuesday, the FCC said that the threshold may need to be raised to reflect the demands required by consumers relying more on broadband services to download high-definition video and to access the Internet on multiple devices in their homes. The commission, which released its Eighth Annual Broadband Progress Report on Tuesday, said it is also considering whether to gauge the impact that broadband usage caps and tiered data plans in next year's report. "If we add a data capacity threshold for fixed broadband in the next report, what data capacity threshold or thresholds should we adopt," the FCC asks in the notice of inquiry. "What data capacity limits do most fixed broadband providers offer today? How often, and under what circumstances, do consumers exceed these limits?"
benton.org/node/132908 | Fierce | GigaOm
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US BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Smart Planet, AUTHOR: Mari Silbey]
While the Federal Communications Commission provides a substantial amount of data in the latest Broadband Progress Report, it also acknowledges what it doesn’t know. Even as the FCC works to accelerate U.S. broadband deployment through a number of new initiatives, here is some of the information we still don’t have.
Comprehensive data on broadband access in elementary and secondary schools
Well-documented information on mobile broadband access
A complete understanding of how broadband requirements will change
benton.org/node/132916 | Smart Planet
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BROADBAND MAP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Michael Byrne]
The Federal Communications Commission released an interactive, web-based map that illustrates our Broadband Progress Report. These maps are:
Complete: 100% of the data in the authoritative sources, and the report and represented in the maps
Authoritative: taken directly from the source at http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/Jun-2011-datasets
Accessible: no software barriers, terms of service, or other restrictions prohibit use)
Machine readable: the map data is stored in a SQLite file, whose open specification is found here: http://mapbox.com/developers/mbtiles/
Non-discriminatory: anyone can have access at fcc.gov/maps, without any registration or further requirement
In a non-proprietary format: no other software is required to look at or analyze the data
License free: data is not subject to any further restrictions, and you can download it
Interactive: you can pan and zoom anywhere you want to view what the data says about anywhere in the United States.
benton.org/node/132888 | Federal Communications Commission
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WHAT’S UP WITH SPECIAL ACCESS?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Sprint and T-Mobile are rejoicing, as are many other rural telcos and other companies that are reliant on buying access back to the Internet from circuits that are primarily owned by AT&T and Verizon. The Federal Communications Commission said that it would halt the deregulation of the special access business while it looked at the rates charged by the companies providing the circuits connecting rural telcos and many wireless towers back to the Internet. The FCC is halting the ability of circuit providers to raise their prices while the regulatory agency gathers data on how the prices are set and how those prices affect competitors and rural carriers. The FCC plans to issue a mandatory data request in the next month or two, but that in itself is a long process requiring approvals and comment periods that mean the FCC won’t even have a conclusion on whether or not it needs to reform special access until next year. The issue is esoteric, and is a long time coming given the FCC began its look at the problem in 2009, but it does indirectly affect consumers. Sprint and T-Mobile both pay AT&T and Verizon a lot of money to buy access to those backhaul circuits so they can keep their network running. This means even when T-Mobile and Sprint are doing well, a portion of their proceeds ends up feeding Verizon and AT&T. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski estimates that special access charges are roughly $12 billion a year industry, which isn’t chump change.
benton.org/node/132885 | GigaOm
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SLIPPERY SLOPE
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
AT&T is vigorously defending its controversial plan to restrict wireless access to Apple's FaceTime app for certain iPhone customers. The heated battle between the carrier and its critics could have broad implications for how cell phone companies can control bandwidth-intensive apps in the future. AT&T's legal justification has a few glaring holes. The company's tiered data plans are set up so that heavy data users pay more for their usage. So why restrict them from using a bandwidth-intensive app like FaceTime if AT&T already has safeguards in place to manage heavy downloads? If someone gobbles up lots of FaceTime data, they'll be paying AT&T for every bit of it. Other wireless providers have so far stayed mum on the issue. It will come to a head in a few weeks, when Apple is widely expected to release the latest version of its iOS mobile operating system. Apple announced in June that the update would open up FaceTime to cellular networks for the first time. Previously, the app had only been available over Wi-Fi networks.
benton.org/node/132912 | CNNMoney
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OBAMA FACES DELICATE DECISIONS AS CYBERATTACK FEARS RISE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
With Congress looking unlikely to act anytime soon to fix vulnerabilities in the nation’s computer systems that leave them open to cyberattacks, President Barack Obama is weighing the pros and cons of using an executive order to do what Congress hasn’t. But President Obama needs to consider his options carefully, because any unilateral steps could invite accusations from his critics of overstepping his authority. As the acrimonious debate over antipiracy legislation illustrated earlier this year, simmering Internet issues can easily explode. Backers of the White House’s proposals say an executive order could add clarity to the debate and prove to skeptics that the government can play a greater role in protecting American networks without violating privacy or burdening private businesses. “I think it’s hard to make things any messier than it was politically,” said James Lewis, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If done right, an executive order could help critics reconsider their arguments.” That’s an analysis echoed by University of California (Berkeley) professor Steven Weber who said many people seem to be “sleepwalking” when it comes to the threat of cyberattacks. An executive order, he said, could reform cybersecurity policies before a catastrophic attack galvanizes public opinion. An executive order could give Obama the chance to take a strong stand on a rising national-security concern while portraying Republicans in Congress as ditherers.
benton.org/node/132883 | National Journal
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GOOGLE’S FIBER BET
[SOURCE: Fortune, AUTHOR: Kevin Kelleher]
After a promising start, the debate is far from settled over whether Google Fiber will be disruptive in the way its search engine or Gmail was, or whether it will be an interesting -- but costly -- experiment like the company's plan to sell the Nexus One through its own online store. That debate is likely to continue for several years, because it's going to take that long for Google Fiber to have anything more than an incremental impact on the way people access a high-bandwidth Internet. What's clear is that Google Fiber, as conceived at launch, has a lot going for it. But it also has a lot going against it -- notably the entrenched power of the giant Internet service providers Google is taking on. In its favor, however, Google has launched Fiber with a thought-out plan aimed at the biggest frustration surrounding current ISP plans: relatively slow speeds at high prices. Google is also using the power of old-fashioned social networking to draw subscribers. There is also a risky cost-versus-return bet that Google is taking. The Kansas City project will cost $500 million. Scaling that up to many cities would quickly burn through Google's $43 billion in cash. But the surge in broadband content could bring Google new revenue from web and TV advertising. And by becoming an ISP, Google could win a strong presence in many U.S. living rooms.
benton.org/node/132861 | Fortune
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SETTING INTERNET ADVOCACY’S NEXT STOP
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hayley Tsukayama]
In January, several tech companies aided by a groundswell of support from communities across the Web fought to derail a pair of online piracy bills — and won. Since the fight against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act ended, there’s been a lot of discussion about where, exactly to direct all that energy. Reddit and the site’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian have an idea: they’re launching a bus tour that will introduce the Internet itself as a player in the 2012 election. “The bus will be half-red and half-blue, with ‘Internet 2012’ on the side of it, where the candidate’s name would be,” Ohanian said. The tour kicks off in Denver, Colo. — the site of the first presidential debate — and will conclude in the city that hosts the first vice-presidential debate, Danville (KY). It may be an old-school tactic, but Ohanian and the other members of his tour are doing more than taking a road trip. They’ll be on a mission to get protections for Internet openness into the platforms for both parties, meaning that they want to see politicians commit to preserving free expression, access and privacy online.
benton.org/node/132891 | Washington Post
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

ROMNEY DATA-MINING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jack Gillum]
Mitt Romney's success in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the costliest presidential race ever can be traced in part to a secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information — including their purchasing history and church attendance — to identify new and likely, wealthy donors. For the data-mining project, the Republican candidate has quietly employed since at least June a little-known but successful analytics firm that previously performed marketing work for a colleague tied to Bain & Co., the management-consulting firm that Romney once led. The head of Buxton Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, chief executive Tom Buxton, confirmed to the AP his company's efforts to help Romney identify rich and previously untapped Republican donors across the country. The project relies upon a sophisticated analysis by powerful computers of thousands of commercially available, expensive databases that are lawfully bought and sold behind the scenes by corporations, including details about credit accounts, families and children, voter registrations, charitable contributions, property tax records and survey responses. It combines marketing data with what is known in this specialized industry as psychographic information about Americans. The effort by Romney appears to be the first example of a political campaign using such extensive data analysis. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has long been known as data-savvy, but Romney's project appears to take a page from the Fortune 500 business world and dig deeper into available consumer data.
benton.org/node/132954 | Associated Press
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PRESS COVERAGE OF THE CHARACTER OF THE CANDIDATES IS HIGHLY NEGATIVE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
On the eve of the conventions, the portrayal in the news media of the character and records of the two presidential contenders in 2012 has been as negative as any campaign in recent times, and neither candidate has enjoyed an advantage over the other, according to a new study of mainstream media coverage of the race for president. More of what the public hears about candidates also now comes from the campaigns themselves and less from journalists acting as independent reporters or interpreters of who the candidates are. An examination of the dominant or master narratives in the press about the character and record of presidential contenders finds that 72% of this coverage has been negative for Barack Obama and 71% has been negative for Mitt Romney. The study, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, examined the personal portrayal of the candidate in 50 major news outlets over a 10-week period. These numbers make this as negative a campaign as PEJ has seen since it began monitoring the master narratives about candidates in press coverage in presidential campaigns in 2000. Only one campaign has been comparable-2004 when coverage was filled with the controversy over the war in Iraq, the prison scandal at Abu Ghraib and the Swift Boat documentaries. That year, 70% of the personal narrative studied about Democrat John Kerry and 75% of that about incumbent George Bush was negative, numbers similar to now.
benton.org/node/132874 | Project for Excellence in Journalism
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NETWORKS TO RUN RERUNS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alexandra Petri]
[Commentary] It’s official. Neither NBC, ABC, nor CBS is planning to air any coverage of the Republican National Convention opening night on Monday, when Ann Romney will be speaking. Instead? ABC and CBS are airing reruns, of “Castle” and “Hawaii Five-0” respectively. The argument of the networks seems to be that this is only parity — the Democratic National Convention is just three nights long, and a fourth night would be, er, a half-hour of extra publicity for the GOP, and Up With That We Cannot Put. “Why,” the network brass shouts, “if people were allowed to hear Ann Romney speak for any length of time at all, especially in prime-time, it would ALL be OVER! We might as well forget the next 60-odd days. America would rise up as one and go surging off to the polls with whatever ID was necessary!”
benton.org/node/132896 | Washington Post
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TV STATIONS LOVE PAC MONEY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tarini Parti]
For all the talk about super PACs and nonprofit groups spending millions of dollars on campaign ads, the traditional campaigns still have one advantage: Their money goes farther. To the viewer, an ad is an ad, but to TV stations, not all ads are created equal. Stations have to provide discounted rates to all qualifying candidates running for public offices. But they don’t have to give those same breaks to the super PACs and nonprofit groups like American Crossroads, Restore Our Future and Priorities USA, which are spending millions of dollars on the election. So that means President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can stretch their dollar more than Karl Rove or Bill Burton. And the influx of political ad spending from super PACs and outside groups is serving as a boon to broadcasters and their corporate owners.
benton.org/node/132915 | Politico
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CABLE AND CONVENTION COVERAGE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Jeanine Poggi]
The political conventions, which kick off on August 26 when Republicans will gather in Tampa, will be a battle for more than just the presidential candidates. Cable news networks are making major pushes to use the quadrennial events to expand, shore up or win back audiences for the rest of the campaign. The stakes for all cable convention coverage have been getting bigger: Cable news networks nearly doubled their convention audiences between 2004 and 2008. They've also been closing the gap with broadcast TV, which has continued to shrink the amount of time it dedicates to the gatherings. But the conventions may matter most this year to third-place CNN, whose ratings hit a 21-year low in the second quarter. The conventions could prove critical to the network's effort to regain viewers heading into the election.
benton.org/node/132894 | AdAge
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TEXT MESSAGE DONATIONS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Michael Weinberg]
[Commentary] We may never know if a wireless carrier decides to use control over text message donations in order to reward or punish a candidate because of the position that candidate takes on an issue. The problem is that even the threat could have a subtle influence on policy decisions, and those threats can be hard to track. That is why it is critical for the Federal Communications Commission to recognize that text messaging deserves the same protection as voice calling. Today, no campaign worries that crossing a wireless carrier will result in its phone number being disconnected. Going forward, no campaign should have to worry that text message donations will end because of a policy disagreement.
benton.org/node/132897 | Public Knowledge
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ADVERTISING

TV LIQUOR ADS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mike Esterl]
Liquor ads have found a new home: network TV. ABC, CBS and NBC in recent months have begun airing spots for Captain Morgan rum, Grey Goose vodka, Jack Daniel's whiskey and other brands on late-night television programs such as "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," the "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live." The broadcasters are easing decades-old voluntary bans that limited their national alcohol advertising to beer and wine, which have less alcohol by volume than spirits. The move lets them tap a new stream of revenue as advertisers continue to shift their ad budgets to cable TV, the Internet and online videos. It also highlights the increased public acceptance of hard liquor. Previous attempts to relax the ban sparked protests. Many liquor companies are increasing their TV marketing budgets by double-digit percentages this year after becoming fixtures on cable networks over the past decade. The exposure from cable ads already has helped the companies lure consumers away from beer. Though brewing companies still spend more than five times as much as liquor companies on TV commercials, beer shipments have slipped in the past three years.
benton.org/node/132948 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT

DOJ COMPARES APPLE, PUBLISHERS TO BIG OIL
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Laura Hazard Owen]
In its response to recent filings from Apple, publishers and booksellers on its proposed e-book settlement with three publishers, the Department of Justice addresses few specific complaints. Rather, citing the “unmistakable consumer harm that has resulted from the conspiracy in this case,” the DOJ calls on Judge Denise Cote to approve the settlement without a hearing. The DOJ shoots down the argument that e-books are different from print books but doesn’t elaborate on why they are the same (and doesn’t respond to the criticism that it has failed to take interrelated markets, like those for e-readers, into account). Rather, it says, “Railroads, publishers, lawyers, construction engineers, health care providers, and oil companies are just some of the voices that have raised cries against ‘ruinous competition’ over the decades,” and publishers should not be granted special treatment.
benton.org/node/132880 | paidContent.org
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NEWS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

INNOVATION FELLOWS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park announced the first class of “Presidential Innovation Fellows.” Selected from an applicant pool of nearly 700 innovators from across the country, the 18 “Fellows” have agreed to spend six months in Washington to work on five high-impact projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and the economy, while significantly improving how the Federal Government serves the American people.
Blue Button for America will spread the ability for millions of Americans to easily and securely download their own health information electronically, all while fueling the emergence of time and money saving products and businesses.
RFP-EZ aims to develop an online marketplace that will make it easier for the government to do business with small high-growth tech companies, and enabling the government to buy better, lower-cost tech solutions from the full range of American businesses.
MyGov will create a prototype of a streamlined online system enabling citizens to easily access the information and services from across the Federal Government.
The 20% Initiative will work to transition “the last mile” of international development assistance payments from cash to electronic methods – lowering administrative costs, promoting financial inclusion, and reducing theft, fraud, and violence.
Open Data Initiatives will accelerate and expand Administration efforts to make government data more publicly accessible in “computer-readable” form and spur the use of those data by entrepreneurs as fuel for the creation of new products, services, and jobs.
benton.org/node/132871 | White House, The
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DIGITAL GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Steven VanRoekel]
August 23 marks three months since we released the Digital Government Strategy – as part of the President’s directive to build a 21st Century Government that delivers better services to the American people. Executing on this vision of government cannot happen alone. To provide the highest value of services, we must rethink from step one how government builds and provides services for the American people. We must unlock rich government data, information and services so that everyone from citizen developers and private sector entrepreneurs, to our very own Federal agencies can help provide the American people with the access to these services “anywhere, anytime, on any device.” Today agencies are making great strides towards putting a solid foundation for a 21st Century Digital Government in place.
benton.org/node/132873 | White House, The | read the strategy | Census as example
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HEALTH
USING BIOLOGICAL MARKERS TO MEASURE STRESS IN LISTENERS OF COMMERCIAL TALK RADIO
[SOURCE: National Hispanic Media Coalition, AUTHOR: Hermes Garbán, Francisco Javier Iribarren, Nicholas Barr, Weidong Zhu]
A pilot study released by the National Hispanic Media Coalition ("NHMC") and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center ("CSRC") found that listeners subjected to hate speech targeting vulnerable groups experienced an increase in the production of a stress-related hormone that could, over time, have a significant negative impact on the listener's health. Findings suggest that increased production of this hormone occurs regardless of listeners' race, ethnicity, nativity, or ideological alignment with the speaker, suggesting that hate speech may harm not only its targets, but all that hear it as well.
Researchers collected readings of various biological data (known as "biomarkers") from live subjects before and after they listened to a 23-minute segment of The Savage Nation, a nationally-syndicated commercial talk radio show hosted by Michael Savage. The segment was chosen due to the prevalence of hate speech targeting vulnerable groups in the clip. After analyzing changes in the biomarkers, researchers observed a statistically significant correlation between changes in clinical anxiety and the production of salivary cortisol, a hormone that when chronically elevated could potentially influence the onset or development of pathophysiological processes or diseases such as cancer or chronic inflammatory diseases. The report recommends further research with a larger sample size and a control group.
benton.org/node/132866 | National Hispanic Media Coalition
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LABOR

TV AND RADIO NEWS STAFFING
[SOURCE: Radio Television Digital News Association, AUTHOR: Bob Papper]
The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey finds the percentage of minorities is up a full percent in television from a year ago -- and even more in radio. The percentage of minority news directors also went up in both television and radio. And the percentage of minority news directors at non-Hispanic TV stations set a new high mark -- for the second year in a row. Women overall in TV news stayed almost exactly the same, women TV news directors passed the 30% mark (30.2%) for the first time ever. Women in radio news and women radio news directors both went up noticeably. As far as minorities are concerned, the bigger picture remains unchanged. In the last 22 years, the minority population in the U.S. has risen 10.4%; but the minority workforce in TV news is up 3.7%, and the minority workforce in radio is up 0.9%.
benton.org/node/132863 | Radio Television Digital News Association
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

INDIA’S ONLINE CONTENT CURBS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: R Jai Krishna, Rumman Ahmed]
India broadened recent efforts to regulate the Internet with moves to block Twitter accounts of some prominent journalists and content from mainstream news organizations, sparking a backlash across social media in the country. Since last week, the government has blocked content that it claims has fueled continuing communal violence in the northeast of the country. That fighting, between Muslim settlers and members of an indigenous group in the state of Assam, has left more than 80 people dead and sent ripples of tension across India. The government confirms it has blocked around 250 Web pages it says were inciting Muslims to attack northeasterners, including sites carrying doctored photos purporting to show Muslim victims of fighting in Assam. Officials say these images on the sites, coupled with mass SMS phone messages threatening reprisals, have caused panicked northeasterners to flee their homes in a number of large Indian cities. In recent days, though, the government has quietly widened its offensive, drawing up lists of journalists' Twitter accounts and news stories by local and foreign media organizations to be blocked. The lists, some of which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by two telecom operators, include Twitter handles of journalists who have been critical of the government and some who have parodied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
benton.org/node/132953 | Wall Street Journal
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WINNING THE INTERNET ARMS RACE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Craig Newman]
[Commentary] Recognizing the threat that online speech represents to their illegitimate regimes, dictators around the world have intensified their fight against communications technology. Many of these efforts are clandestine, but not always. Russia, China, North Korea and a host of other countries are seeking to advance their repressive agendas at the United Nations' inaugural World Conference on International Telecommunications, set for December in Dubai. These countries are pushing for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations treaty organization, to expand its mandate to include "regulation" of the Internet. This expansion would allow dictators to advocate treaty changes that could have the effect of legitimizing their censorship efforts. Whatever the outcome in Dubai, one thing is clear: The struggle for Internet freedom requires more action—especially to support new technologies and applications—and less rhetoric. Every human-rights movement hinges on a moment when the focus shifts away from words toward action. The fight for Internet freedom has reached just such a pivotal moment.
[Newman is CEO of the Freedom2Connect Foundation]
benton.org/node/132951 | Wall Street Journal
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August 24, 2012
Source 
Associated Press
Author 
Jack Gillum
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Mitt Romney's success in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the costliest presidential race ever can be traced in part to a secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information — including their purchasing history and church attendance — to identify new and likely, wealthy donors.

For the data-mining project, the Republican candidate has quietly employed since at least June a little-known but successful analytics firm that previously performed marketing work for a colleague tied to Bain & Co., the management-consulting firm that Romney once led. The head of Buxton Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, chief executive Tom Buxton, confirmed to the AP his company's efforts to help Romney identify rich and previously untapped Republican donors across the country. The project relies upon a sophisticated analysis by powerful computers of thousands of commercially available, expensive databases that are lawfully bought and sold behind the scenes by corporations, including details about credit accounts, families and children, voter registrations, charitable contributions, property tax records and survey responses. It combines marketing data with what is known in this specialized industry as psychographic information about Americans. The effort by Romney appears to be the first example of a political campaign using such extensive data analysis. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has long been known as data-savvy, but Romney's project appears to take a page from the Fortune 500 business world and dig deeper into available consumer data.

Romney uses secretive data-mining

Topics

Related Headlines

August 24, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
R Jai Krishna
Rumman Ahmed
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

India broadened recent efforts to regulate the Internet with moves to block Twitter accounts of some prominent journalists and content from mainstream news organizations, sparking a backlash across social media in the country.

Since last week, the government has blocked content that it claims has fueled continuing communal violence in the northeast of the country. That fighting, between Muslim settlers and members of an indigenous group in the state of Assam, has left more than 80 people dead and sent ripples of tension across India. The government confirms it has blocked around 250 Web pages it says were inciting Muslims to attack northeasterners, including sites carrying doctored photos purporting to show Muslim victims of fighting in Assam. Officials say these images on the sites, coupled with mass SMS phone messages threatening reprisals, have caused panicked northeasterners to flee their homes in a number of large Indian cities. In recent days, though, the government has quietly widened its offensive, drawing up lists of journalists' Twitter accounts and news stories by local and foreign media organizations to be blocked. The lists, some of which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by two telecom operators, include Twitter handles of journalists who have been critical of the government and some who have parodied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

New Delhi Expands Curbs on Web Content

Topics

Related Headlines

August 24, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Craig Newman
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

[Commentary] Recognizing the threat that online speech represents to their illegitimate regimes, dictators around the world have intensified their fight against communications technology. Many of these efforts are clandestine, but not always.

Russia, China, North Korea and a host of other countries are seeking to advance their repressive agendas at the United Nations' inaugural World Conference on International Telecommunications, set for December in Dubai. These countries are pushing for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations treaty organization, to expand its mandate to include "regulation" of the Internet. This expansion would allow dictators to advocate treaty changes that could have the effect of legitimizing their censorship efforts. Whatever the outcome in Dubai, one thing is clear: The struggle for Internet freedom requires more action—especially to support new technologies and applications—and less rhetoric. Every human-rights movement hinges on a moment when the focus shifts away from words toward action. The fight for Internet freedom has reached just such a pivotal moment.

[Newman is CEO of the Freedom2Connect Foundation]

Winning the Internet Arms Race

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August 24, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Alexandra Berzon
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Is poker more a game of skill or of chance? A federal judge in New York concluded this week that skill plays the bigger role in determining who wins a poker game, in a ruling that could strengthen the hand of the companies seeking to get online poker legalized in the US.

They range from social-games maker Zynga to casino giant Caesars Entertainment to Internet poker giant PokerStars, who all view online poker as a potentially rich source of revenue. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that a New York electronics dealer hadn't violated a key federal gambling law by running Texas Hold 'Em poker games out of his Staten Island warehouse because, unlike roulette or slot machines, poker isn't "predominated by chance," a common legal definition of gambling. The federal law allows federal authorities, under certain circumstances, to prosecute violations of state gambling laws. The ruling marked the first time a federal court has directly considered poker's status, even though it is generally treated as a game of chance that is covered by gambling laws. State courts have been divided on the issue.

US Judge Gives Poker a Break

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August 24, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Mike Esterl
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

Liquor ads have found a new home: network TV. ABC, CBS and NBC in recent months have begun airing spots for Captain Morgan rum, Grey Goose vodka, Jack Daniel's whiskey and other brands on late-night television programs such as "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," the "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live."

The broadcasters are easing decades-old voluntary bans that limited their national alcohol advertising to beer and wine, which have less alcohol by volume than spirits. The move lets them tap a new stream of revenue as advertisers continue to shift their ad budgets to cable TV, the Internet and online videos. It also highlights the increased public acceptance of hard liquor. Previous attempts to relax the ban sparked protests. Many liquor companies are increasing their TV marketing budgets by double-digit percentages this year after becoming fixtures on cable networks over the past decade. The exposure from cable ads already has helped the companies lure consumers away from beer. Though brewing companies still spend more than five times as much as liquor companies on TV commercials, beer shipments have slipped in the past three years.

Liquor Ads Win Airtime

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August 24, 2012
Source 
Wall Street Journal
Author 
Evan Ramstad
Min Sun Lee
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

A South Korea court delivered a split decision in its piece of the global legal battle between Apple and Samsung over mobile computing patents. A three-judge panel in Seoul Central District Court said Apple infringed two Samsung technology patents, while Samsung violated one of Apple's patents.

The court awarded small damages to both companies and said they must halt sales of the infringing products in South Korea. None of the banned products are the latest models of Samsung or Apple devices. The court also ruled that there was "no possibility" that consumers would confuse Samsung and Apple smartphones, and that Samsung's smartphone icons don't infringe Apple's patents. The ruling holds greater symbolic than practical impact as neither company gained an advantage in the broader dispute, which is playing out in trials in the U.S. and Australia this month and extends to nine countries in all.

South Korea Court Says Samsung, Apple Infringed Each Other's Patents Split ruling in Korea Apple-Samsung case (FT) Court bans some Apple, Samsung products in South Korea (AP) Apple, Samsung Must Stop Some Korea Sales In Patent Fight (Bloomberg) South Korean court bans some products in Apple-Samsung patent case (LATimes)

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