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AND THE FEES FOR VOIP PROVIDERS JUST KEEP MOUNTING
[SOURCE: Jeff Pulver 4/19]
[Commentary] First came fees to ensure that VoIP providers can connect to and be backward-compatible with non-IP-enabled local emergency response centers. Then came fees to support the Universal Service Fund, a fund to which VoIP providers are not eligible. Then comes the possible fees that VoIP providers might have to pay Verizon to license the patent for IP-PSTN translations and use of VoIP in WiFi hotspots.... and now, the FCC has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking tentatively concluding that Interconnected VoIP providers should pay regulatory fees to the FCC in order to fund the FCC's enforcement and rulemaking activities. Nice to see that the FCC thinks the VoIP industry should be footing the bill for all the rules it has begun imposing on the VoIP providers.
http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/006823.html

TEXAS STATION INTERRUPTS COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride sarah.mcbride@wsj.com]
Dallas classic-rock radio station KZPS will flip to a rock-and-country hybrid format called Lone Star. But "Stairway to Heaven" won't be the only thing missing from the new station -- regular 30-second and 60-second advertisers won't be part of the lineup, either. Instead, the Clear Channel Communications Inc. station plans to weave in mentions of sponsors, no more than fifteen seconds at a time, throughout the regular programming -- a setup that is more akin to public radio than traditional commercial broadcasting. The move marks a radical extension of Clear Channel's "Less Is More" initiative, which aims to boost audience ratings by cutting the amount of advertising on each of its stations. The broadcast-radio industry, wavering in the face of competition from satellite radio and iPods, is eager for ideas that can create new opportunities. In this case, it is a gamble: The sponsorship plan will generate less revenue initially than regular commercials, though Clear Channel believes that, over time, listeners will flock to a station that isn't cluttered with advertising, allowing KZPS to collect higher sponsorship rates.
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VIRGINIA SHOOTING RESTARTS MEDIA BLAME GAME
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lisa Baertlein]
In the rush to explain massacres like the one at Virginia Tech, experts including popular TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw dusted off a familiar scapegoat -- violent video games, movies and other media. Researchers said focusing on the role of youth-oriented entertainment could mask deeper, intractable issues such as child abuse, poverty, suburban alienation, declining parental involvement and shrinking school budgets that result in fewer nurses and counselors who might interrupt the cycle.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2029563220070420

* Violent TV Images Pose Problem for Kids
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/22/entertainmen...

PHILADELPHIA JOURNALISM'S NEW ORDER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
Many newspapers are losing advertising revenue these days and have taken steps that they might not have taken when times were flush. But at The Philadelphia Inquirer, everything -- even a joint venture with an advertiser that in other times might have raised questions about editorial integrity -- is being rethought. Starting next week, The Philadelphia Inquirer will run a new column called PhillyInc., written by Inquirer reporters and editors, on the first page of its business section. The sponsored column is part of the new world here as Brian P. Tierney, a local advertising executive, settles in as the paper’s hands-on publisher and promoter in chief for what has become a grand experiment in private local ownership of a major metropolitan daily.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/business/media/23inky.html
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