The Digital Future of the U.S.: Part 3: Spectrum Opportunities and the Future of Wireless
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Senate Commerce Committee Hearing:
XM Sirius
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
10:00 AM
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&...
As the lives of young people increasingly rely on information and communications technologies for education, health and medical care, civic engagement and workforce preparedness, the principle of universal access to broadband becomes one of central concern to the nation's children, youth, and families.
Compared to their peers in households with annual
incomes over $75,000, children in households with
annual incomes less than $15,000 are:
Wendy Lazarus and Andrew Wainer with Laurie Lipper,Measuring Digital Opportunity for America’s Children: Where We Stand and Where We Go From Here (Santa Monica, CA: The Children’s Partnership, June 2005): 26 (http://www.contentbank.org/DOMS). Data from U.S. Bureau of Census, Current Population Survey, Internet and Computer Use, Oct. 2003.
Almost 20% of all young adults ages 18–25 use the Internet to search for health information, including sensitive health subjects like birth control, pregnancy, and AIDS.
39% of online “health information seekers†ages 15–24 changed their personal behavior because of health information obtained online.
Wendy Lazarus and Andrew Wainer with Laurie Lipper,Measuring Digital Opportunity for America’s Children: Where We Stand and Where We Go From Here (Santa Monica, CA: The Children’s Partnership, June 2005): 17 (http://www.contentbank.org/DOMS).
In 1998, Boston Public Schools put high-speed technology networks in their schools and libraries and partnered with the Boston Digital Bridge Foundation to provide students technology access, training, content, and curriculum. The program evaluation showed:
Andrew Wainer with Wendy Lazarus, Impacts of Technology on Outcomes for Youth: A 2005 Review (Santa Monica, CA: The Children’s Partnership, June 2005).
As more and more businesses, government programs, higher education institutions, and the medical field take advantage of technological advancements, youth who do not have access to high-speed Internet and the skills to use it effectively will be isolated from information, services, products, and means of entrepreneurship -- they will be unprepared for the demands of our technologically advanced world. This not only disadvantages our young people, but also our entire nation in terms of workforce competitiveness in the global economy.
Helping Our Children Succeed: What's Broadband got to do with it? by The Childern's Partnership (March 2007)
REPORTED DEATH OF THE INTERNET GREATLY EXAGGERATED
[SOURCE: TechDirt]
[Commentary] Remember a few months back when there was a Deloitte & Touche report that was misread by some folks against network neutrality rules to mean that the push to keep net neutrality was going to kill the Internet? Someone decided to do a little digging further into the Deloitte & Touche report, and while D&T wouldn't provide any more details about their predictions, the reporter went straight to the folks who manage the systems D&T predicted would run into trouble -- and those people flat out denied that they're going to run into any capacity problems any time soon. Basically, capacity keeps growing and even though usage is growing faster than capacity right now, there's plenty of room to spare, and plenty of time to increase capacity should things look like they're getting tight. So, basically, the reports of the Internet's impending destruction due to things like YouTube or net neutrality supporters has been greatly exaggerated.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070405/190255.shtml
ECONOMICS 101: WEB GIANTS RULE 'DEMOCRATIZED' MEDIUM
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Abbey Klaassen]
When it comes to online-advertising riches, the short tail is getting shorter. A recent number crunch from consultancy group Marketspace indicates the 10 biggest Internet players nabbed a whopping 99% of gross online-ad revenue last year. If that's not enough to startle, consider: That's up from 95% in 2005. The growth is notable by any standard in any business, but particularly surprising in a medium whose potential for fragmentation, at least audience-wise, is seemingly limitless. It means the majority of the sites on the web are left fighting over the remaining 1% of online ad revenue. Of course, that's gross online ad revenue. On a net ad-revenue basis, Marketspace estimates the Big Four of online sales -- Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN -- nab about 57% of total online ad outlays and the Big 10 about 70%. EMarketer estimates the Big Four will pull in about 66% in 2007.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=115986
DIRECTV HITS BACK AT HITN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
DirecTV plans to drop the Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network, a Spanish-language public-interest channel, June 30, according to the direct-broadcast satellite provider. DirecTV disclosed its plans to replace HITN with another Spanish-language service in comments Monday to the Federal Communications Commission in a 23-page filing regarding Liberty Media’s proposed $11 billion acquisition of News Corp.’s 38.4% stake in the nation’s largest DBS provider. DirecTV has carried HITN as part of its public-interest obligation as a DBS provider, under federal law, to set aside part of its channel capacity, 4%, exclusively for noncommercial programming of an educational or informational nature. HITN is among a group of companies, including EchoStar Communications, which have filed separate comments with the FCC opposing the Liberty-DirecTV deal. According to DirecTV, it is in negotiations with V-me, a Spanish-language multicast channel that debuted in March and airs original programming, U.S. TV premieres and acquisitions. Educational Broadcasting -- which holds the license for public broadcaster WNET in New York -- is a minority investor in the network. The rest of the network partnership is made up of private investors, including The Baeza Group and Syncom Funds. V-me is getting a carriage boost in part via a 2005 agreement between the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the Association of Public Television Stations, which ensured that at least one local public TV analog signal, plus four digital channels, would be carried by each of the major cable operators.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6432508.html?display=Breaking+News
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