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NAB SAYS NTIA CONVERTER BOX PROGRAM FALLS SHORT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A day after the National Telecommunications & Information Administration held its first public hearing on new DTV-to-analog converter box rules, the National Association of Broadcasters has weighed in saying the program "does not go far enough." Though the NAB did not specify how the NTIA program falls short, it is likely a matter of money. Broadcasters are looking to Congress to boost funding for the program. The last Congress set aside up to $1.5 billion to subsidize roughly two thirds of the cost--$40 of about $60 per--for up to 33.5 million converter boxes that will allow analog-only sets to receive digital broadcasts after the digital switch in February 2009.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426371?display=Breaking+News
* NAB Statement on NTIA Public Hearings on DTV Transition
http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Room&CONTENTID=8494&TEMP...
* Interests Air Concerns About Federal DTV Conversion Plan
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-UVAK1174417336771.html
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426371?display=Breaking%20News
PUBLIC RADIO SEEKS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
[SOURCE: The Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Alex Beam]
Like newspapers and television news, public radio has a graying audience. "We have learned in focus groups with younger listeners that they are interested in many of the topics that NPR covers, but often find the programming boring or staid," a perhaps too candid confidential NPR document states. This same NPR memo calls the network "a national institution of weight, merit and immeasurable value to our democracy" -- a heady self-assessment to be sure. Enter "NPR Zack: A New Space for Younger Listeners." "We thought Zack is exactly the kind of name NPR staffers would give their male children," one NPR-nik explained to me. Its radio namesake is slowly taking shape at NPR headquarters in Washington, and in New York. Originally envisaged as a full-blown, 7 a.m.-to-10 p.m. alternative public radio channel, Zack now has more modest ambitions. The first shows, which had been scheduled for next month, will go on air in the fall. Zack is one of several interesting initiatives on the public radio horizon. Minnesota-based Public Radio International may try to duplicate the success of its WGBH-BBC coproduction, "The World," by teaming up with The New York Times and the BBC to produce a new morning news hour out of WNYC in New York. This was not a subject that spokespeople for the Times, PRI, or WNYC were willing to discuss. Starting in May, Chicago Public Radio plans to launch a brand-new alternative station, emphasizing audience involvement, user content, and , of course , the Internet, which is becoming a powerful distribution system for radio.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/19/public_radio...
Public Radio seeks a breath of fresh air
AND NOW, A COMMERCIAL BREAK THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE ONE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
A viewer who skips the advertising is the moral equivalent of a shoplifter. [Come on, you've read that before.] ABC is considering changes in the decades-old way it interrupts programs for commercial breaks. The goal is to encourage viewers to stick around rather than reaching for the remote or racing to the refrigerator. “We want to bring the audiences right to the commercial so they don't feel they've gone into the commercial,†said Michael Shaw, president for sales and marketing at the ABC Television Network. “The more commercials are being seen,†he added, “the more value you are to advertisers." If ABC changes how it presents commercial breaks during programs like “Desperate Housewives,†“Grey’s Anatomy†and “Lost,†it would be the biggest broadcast network to do so. A smaller broadcaster, the CW network, owned by CBS and Time Warner, introduced what it calls content wraps for the 2006-7 season.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/media/21adco.html
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And Now, a Commercial Break That Doesn't Seem Like One
ADVERTISERS DEFEND GRAPHIC SHOWS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
The head of a media watchdog group, which targets sponsors of TV shows it finds objectionable, was in the lion’s den Tuesday, drawing a somewhat hostile response from a group of national advertisers. Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, plead his case for sponsors to be more careful about where they put their ad dollars during a panel at the 2007 Association of National Advertisers TV Forum. But during the session on “Media Advocacy Groups: Friend or Foe?,†three attendees complained to Winter about the PTC’s tactics, with one audience member suggesting that advertisers should be able to take action for “restraint of trade†when angry emails or phone calls from advocacy groups flood their companies.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6426375.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6426375.html?display=Breaking%20News
HOUSE QUESTIONS 'OVERREACHING' FBI SPY POWERS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Widespread abuse of the FBI's authority to secretly obtain Americans' telephone, Internet and financial records drew pointed questioning on Tuesday from the House Judiciary Committee. As promised by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), the panel chided U.S. Department of Justice Glenn Fine and FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni about an internal audit released earlier this month that detailed the FBI's missteps and illegal use of an investigative tool known as national security letters. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), one of the chief architects of the 2001 Patriot Act and its subsequent renewal, was among the most outspoken Republican critics at Tuesday's hearing.
http://news.com.com/House+members+question+overreaching+FBI+spy+powers/2...
* F.B.I. Is Warned Over Its Misuse of Data Collection
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21fbi.html
See also --
* Senate Bill Would Mandate Disclosure of Data Mining
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703...
House questions 'overreaching' FBI spy powers
NEW WHITE SPACES BILL SURFACES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Tuesday, Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Nathan Deal (R-GA) introduced the Wireless Innovation Act which would require the FCC to allow both fixed and portable unlicensed devices to operate in the so-called white spaces between TV channels. The devices would be subject to technical standards to prevent interference with TV service.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426374.html?display=Breaking...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426374.html?display=Breaking%20News
PUBLIC LESS SATISFIED WITH GOVERNMENT WEB SITES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steve Barr]
Citizen satisfaction with federal government Web sites slipped in the first quarter of the year, with some data showing that the gap between the government's score and private-sector scores has started to widen. Electronic government received a score of 73.4, out of 100, on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index released yesterday -- down half a point from the last quarter of 2006. Comparable private-sector scores were higher, ranging from 76.5 to 80. The government's score has been more or less flat since September 2005, indicating that private-sector Web advances, such as speedier software applications, and the increasing popularity of social networking and user-generated content are beginning to raise customer expectations in ways that the government will find difficult to match. "The challenge for government sites is keeping up with this," said Larry Freed, president and chief executive of ForeSee Results, a Michigan company that helps Web sites develop strategies for building audiences and improving services.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703...
(requires registration)
Public Less Satisfied With Government Web Sites
TVs OUTNUMBER PEOPLE IN US HOMES
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Michele Greppi]
According to data released Monday by Nielsen Media Research, the average television home in the United States houses slightly more TV sets (2.8) than people (2.5). And there are now there are 111.4 million TV homes in the U.S.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11732
(requires free registration)
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11732
SALES OF MUSIC, LONG IN DECLINE, PLUNGE SHARPLY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ethan Smith ethan.smith@wsj.com]
In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of this year plunged 20% from a year earlier, the latest sign of the seismic shift in the way consumers acquire music. The sharp slide in sales of CDs, which still account for more than 85% of music sold, has far eclipsed the growth in sales of digital downloads, which were supposed to have been the industry's salvation. The slide stems from the confluence of long-simmering factors that are now feeding off each other, including the demise of specialty music retailers like longtime music mecca Tower Records. About 800 music stores, including Tower's 89 locations, closed in 2006 alone.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117444575607043728.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117444575607043728.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
CBS BUYS HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS ONLINE NETWORK
[SOURCE: Reuters]
CBS Corp. said on Tuesday it has purchased high school sports online network MaxPreps to expand its local sports coverage. MaxPreps, which offers information to nearly 80,000 high school football and 500,000 boys and girls basketball games played each year, will become a part of CBS-owned College Sports Television (CSTV).
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2033765720070320
CBS buys high school sports online network