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04/17/07
Financial Services Subcommittee
Federal Communications Commission
10:00 AM 2220 Rayburn House Office Building
Kevin J. Martin, Chairman
FCC CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN A NO-SHOW AT NAB
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will not be attending the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, according to an NAB spokesperson. The conference traditionally features the FCC's top regulator. The chairman is scheduled to be the only witness at a hearing in the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee Tuesday, April 17 (10 a.m.), on the FCC's appropriation, though he will also be grilled on how the commission is doing its job. Martin will be explaining and defending the FCC's budget request. Committee spokeswoman Kristin Brost couldn't say when the hearing schedule had been set, but said an FCC hearing had been planned since at least February. According to Brost, the committee was unaware of the potential NAB conflict. According to the office of Chairman Jose Serrano (D-NY), the subcommittee worked with FCC staffers on the timing of the hearing, and would have made accommodations if the FCC had asked to move it.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433738.html
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin A No-Show at NAB
NONPROFIT GROUPS WANT SHOT AT FM RADIO LICENSES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: M.R. Kropko]
Nonprofit community groups, schools and churches this year will get their first opportunity since 2000 to apply for licenses for full-power, noncommercial/educational FM radio stations. The Federal Communications Commission stopped taking those applications so it could catch up on its backlog and revise its system for reviewing them. The agency says it expects to begin taking requests again in the fall. Noncommercial/educational stations are usually found at the low end of the FM frequencies spectrum (87.9 to 91.9) and depend on public or institutional support. Because there's a lack of noncommercial space on the radio dial in cities, opportunities more often exist in remote or rural areas. Although the licenses are free, costs a station would face could limit the number of applicants. Legal, engineering and equipment startup costs typically could total as much as $250,000, said Matthew Lasar, a media history professor at University of California at Santa Cruz and editor of a blog on FCC issues. Adding to what could be a flood of new applications are the hundreds of low-power noncommercial stations that could look to increase power and cover a much wider area through a full-power signal.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/17082112.htm
Nonprofit groups want shot at FM radio licenses
A FUBAR WAITING TO HAPPEN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Former-FCC Commissioner James Quello]
[Commentary] Letting unlicensed devices, from wireless laptops to radio-controlled toys, use spectrum that was once reserved for television has great potential of becoming a disaster. A key problem is the location of these unlicensed devices relative to a consumer's TV set. Even a low-power device can interfere with a TV set if it is located close enough: A neighbor in the next apartment or down the street may cause your new digital TV set or subsidized converter box to freeze up. In a more perfect, logical world, the government should first finalize the DTV transition before activating auctions or before validating unlicensed devices.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433707.html
A “Fubar†Waiting To Happen
FCC MEDIA OWNERSHIP HEARING IN TAMPA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On March 13, the FCC announced it would hold a media ownership hearing in Tampa, Florida. On Friday, more details were offered. The hearing will be held Monday, April 30 from 4-11pm at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The purpose of the hearing is to fully involve the public in the process of the 2006 Quadrennial Broadcast Media Ownership Review that the Commission is currently conducting. The hearing is open to the public, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. This hearing is the fourth in a series of media ownership hearings the Commission intends to hold across the country. There will be a period for public comment following panel discussions. Further details including names of the panelists will be released prior to the hearing. For additional information about the hearing, please visit the FCC's website at http://www.fcc.gov/ownership. Press inquiries should be directed to Clyde Ensslin, at 202-418-0506, or David Fiske, at 202-418-0513.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-272326A1.doc
FCC ASKS CLEAR CHANNEL FOR SUGGESTIONS ON MEDIA PANEL
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
A public filing indicates that Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate asked Clear Channel Communications for suggestions for professors at the University of South Florida for a panel "on younger listening habits." The FCC has scheduled its next public hearing on its national media ownership rules to take place at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida on April 30th. The April 12th Clear Channel filing says that on April 6th, Republican Commissioner Tate met with the media giant and a group of Tennessee broadcasters to discuss their opposition to the proposed XM/Sirius satellite radio merger. During the conversation, Tate also presented Clear Channel with a request "for contacts at The University of South Florida in Tampa to potentially help set up a panel to discuss younger listening habits," according to the Clear Channel response. It isn't clear from the filing, but seems likely, that Tate was referring to a potential panel for the media ownership hearing scheduled for Tampa. Clear Channel's Vice President Tom English then forwarded the question to the company's Tampa Market Manager, Dan Diloreto, who came up with the following suggestions and descriptions: 1) Edward Jay Friedlander "Professor specializing in mass communications and society." 2) Kenneth C. Killebrew Jr. "Associate Professor specializing in television reporting, writing public policy and opinion." 3) Larry Z. Leslie "Associate Professor specializing in media ethics, mass comm. theory and impact on society." 4) Terry Hynes, Ph.D. "Dean and Professor College of Journalism and Comm." 5) Rebecca Hoover "Director of Development College of Journalism and Comm."
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/390
Spring break in Tampa!
BROADCASTING MOVES AWAY FROM WALL STREET
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Paige Albiniak]
Since November, four of the country’s biggest station groups -- Ion, Univision, Tribune Co. and Clear Channel -- have announced plans to be acquired by private-equity firms. In February, CBS sold seven of its stations to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for $185 million. And two more groups that aren't among Broadcasting & Cable’s Top 25 Station Groups -- The New York Times Co. and Bluestone Television -- are taking shelter under a private-equity umbrella. More than half of the companies on the annual B&C list changed rank. CBS fell to No. 2 (exchanging places with Fox) because of the sale of seven stations. E.W. Scripps dropped from 11th to 16th because it sold off several stations that were part of the Shop at Home network it abandoned. But on next year’s list at least eight stations will be privately held, double this year’s number. “Wall Street has walked away from broadcast investments because they don't see the growth that the industry has had over the past 20-30 years,†says Larry Patrick, president of station brokerage Patrick Communications. “Growth has slowed, but broadcasting is a tremendously high free-cash-flow business. If you are a big hedge fund or a private-equity fund and you have $10 billion-$20 billion, you have to find places to park that. A television company has 35%-40% operating margin. You can't put your money in anything else that gets that kind of return.â€
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433752.html
See also --
* Private-Equity Firms Face Public Future
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Thomas Heath]
The co-founder of the Carlyle Group, the giant District private-equity firm that invests tens of billions of dollars on behalf of pension funds and other investors, said over the weekend that he expects most of the major firms in his industry to become public companies in the next few years. "These guys who built these private-equity firms: You can say many things about them, but one thing you can't say is they're stupid, or they are not an alpha male," said David M. Rubenstein, Carlyle's managing director. "These guys are going to be fairly forthright about getting what they think they earned for building these firms."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR200704...
(requires registration)
Broadcasting moves away from Wall Street
FOUR IN RUNNING FOR CLEAR CHANNEL TV
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: Harry A. Jessell]
With the bidding past the $1 billion mark, four companies are vying for Clear Channel Television, the division of Clear Channel Communications that operates 42 TV stations in 24 small- and mid-sized markets, and a winner could be named with the next two weeks. The four bidders include Nexstar Broadcasting Group, a publicly traded broadcast group headed by Perry Sook, along with three entities backed by private equity firms that have been active in the station trading marketplace over the past year -- Kelso, Oak Hill Capitol Partners and Providence Equity. The next round of bids is due next Wednesday, and parent Clear Channel Communications is expected to pick a winner within a week of those bids.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/04/13/daily.6/
* Suitors Raise Bid for Clear Channel
The two private equity firms seeking to buy Clear Channel Communications have sweetened their offer, fearing that their initial bid may be rejected by shareholders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/media/16deal.html
Four in Running for Clear Channel TV
CLEAR CHANNEL, TENNESSEE BROADCASTERS LOBBY FCC AGAINST XM/SIRIUS MERGER
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Clear Channel Communications is leading a small battalion of Tennessee area broadcasting groups against Federal Communications Commission approval of a merger between XM and Sirius satellite radio. Clear Channel says the move will give XM/Sirius an "unfair spectrum advantage." But now the radio giant has to explain why media consolidation is good for the goose but not for the gander. The company has long protested FCC rules that limit to eight the number of radio stations that it can buy in a designated market. Clear Channel, in tandem with three other groups, met with the FCC's Deborah Taylor Tate on April 6th to lobby hard against the proposed XM/Sirius union. "The broadcasters noted their concerns with the XM-Sirius merger and its adverse impact on free radio and listeners," their public filing, dated April 12th, concludes. Clear Channels' partners in this move include Whit Adamson, President, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, and radio station owners Bayard "Bud" Walters of the Cromwell Group, and Craig Jacobus, President of South Central Communications.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/389
Clear Channel, Tennessee broadcasters lobby FCC against XM/Sirius merger
GOOGLE BUYS ONLINE AD FIRM FOR $3.1 BILLION
[SOURCE: New York Times 4/14, AUTHOR: Louise Story & Miguel Helft]
Google agreed to its largest acquisition, reaching a deal to purchase DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, almost double what it paid for YouTube last year. And perhaps just as important, the deal kept DoubleClick from the hands of Microsoft. For Google, the purchase is another step in its transformation from a search engine into an advertising powerhouse. DoubleClick, which is based in New York City, specializes in software for display advertising and has close relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14deal.html
(requires registration)
* Google's Rivals Fear DoubleClick Deal Concentrates Too Much Web-Ad Clout
Microsoft, AT&T, Time Warner and several other large Internet and media companies are hoping to encourage antitrust regulators to closely scrutinize Google's planned $3.1 billion purchase of Internet-ad-services firm DoubleClick. They said the deal would give Google a grip over the booming market for online advertising. The planned acquisition will be subject to a review by either the Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission, in accordance with standard procedure for acquisitions larger than a certain size. At issue is that Google already controls the lion's share of the market for Internet-search advertising and related contextual ads; the DoubleClick deal would make it a dominant player in the market for serving graphical ads on Web sites on behalf of the sites' publishers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117667837084170630.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* Microsoft Wary of DoubleClick Buyout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR200704...
See also --
* Google Reaches Deal With Clear Channel to Sell Radio Ads
Google will begin selling advertisements across all of the stations of Clear Channel Communications, the No. 1 radio station owner in the United States, at the end of June, the companies will announce today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16radio.html
Google Buys an Online Ad Firm for $3.1 Billion
VONAGE HAS NO 'WORKAROUND' FOR VERIZON TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
Vonage has finally confirmed what many had feared: The embattled Internet phone company has no "workaround" in hand to sidestep Verizon's patented Internet phone technology. Moreover, Vonage isn't sure that such a plan is even "feasible," given the expansiveness of Verizon's patents, which set out methods for passing calls between the Web and conventional phone networks. Vonage's chilly assessment, contained in a filing submitted to a federal court Friday, marks the first time it has admitted that it doesn't have a plan for getting around Verizon's technology.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070416/vonage16.art.htm
VONAGE PATENT CASE COULD HURT PHONE COMPETITION
[SOURCE: HearUsNow.org, AUTHOR: Bob Williams]
[Commentary] The Vonage-Verizon patent suit over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services could end in Vonage going out of business. By itself, that would be bad for all phone consumers, not just Vonage customers. Competition from new rivals such as Vonage and cable operators have forced traditional phone companies such as Verizon and AT&T to fight harder for customers, generally driving down prices and improving service. Far more troubling, however, is the possibility that Verizon might try to use similar litigation to cripple or shut down other new competitors in the phone business. Competition has clearly benefited phone consumers. It will be unfortunate if Verizon is able to use lawsuits to kill off its rivals rather than competing with them.
http://www.consumersunion.org/blogs/hun/2007/04/vonage_patent_case_could...