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Celebrating Ten Years of the E-Rate

February 26, 2007

Secretary Margaret Spellings
U. S. Department of Education

Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez
U/S. Department of Commerce

Chairman Kevin Martin
Federal Communications Commission

Dear Secretaries Spellings and Gutierrez, and Chairman Martin:

This week, many people -- Members of Congress, education technology leaders, corporate executives, administration officials and senior staff, state and local educational/library representatives, and national and state association representatives -- will be celebrating a decade of technological progress for public and private schools and public libraries, progress made possible by provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that, when implemented, became to be known as the E-Rate.

The Benton Foundation has conducted multiple research projects on the E-Rate, in partnership with the Joyce Foundation. In February 2000, in collaboration with the Center for Children and Technology, Benton released The E-Rate in America: A Tale of Four Cities. This was one of the first studies of the impact of the then-new federal program, tracing the ideas and political battles that led to its establishment and recounting the practical issues confronting school districts as they sought to benefit from E-Rate resources. The second phase of our E-Rate work culminated in the 2002 release of Great Expectations: Leveraging America’s Investment in Educational Technology. This report continued our investigation into the new program and developed new tools to assist teachers, administrators and policymakers. For the full reports, see the EdTech section at http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=publibrary.

As part of the celebration of the E-Rate’s impact, the Benton Foundation is today releasing two new research papers that highlight the benefits derived from it.

In What Have We Learned From the E-Rate?: An Assessment of E-Rate Performance, Heather E. Hudson explains how the Telecommunications Act of 1996 took an important first step in linking universal service and broadband access. The Act created the E-Rate program as part of the universal service fund to make broadband universally available in every school, classroom, library, and rural health care center in America. The E-Rate has been an enormous success in improving broadband access for libraries and schools. In 1996, only 28 percent of public library systems offered public Internet access. Today, thanks to increased resources and the E-Rate, nearly all library buildings offer public access computing, and 14 million Americans regularly use these computers at no fee. Further, only three percent of instructional classrooms were wired in 1994. As of 2003, 93% of instructional classrooms are wired. Between 1998 (when the E-Rate launched) and 2003, statistics show that classroom Internet access disparities between rural, urban, and suburban schools and high and low-poverty districts have been dramatically reduced.

In When Public Libraries are the Sole Gateway for Those Without Access: Assessing the Performance of Public Libraries Receiving E-Rate Subsidies, Nancy Kranich finds that thanks to the USF’s E-Rate program and other investments, 99% of public libraries are now wired—many with broadband and wireless services—and offer free public access to the Internet. Libraries are now the number one point of access for the public outside the home, school, and work, leveling the playing field for those left behind in the digital age. But the success of the E-Rate program goes well beyond Internet access – it now is helping provide a communication outlet of last resort in a crisis. Both 9/11 and Katrina demonstrated the power of public access broadband in libraries for providing alternative communication channels. Continuing the success of the E-Rate and expanding the goals of universal service to broadband could similarly have broad and unmistakable impacts well beyond just increasing Internet access rates.

But as we mark the success of the E-Rate this week, we also note, with regret, the untimely demise of additional programs that helped make the E-Rate so effective. For ten years, from 1994 to 2004, the Technology Opportunities Program – TOP – supported demonstrations of new telecommunications and information technologies to provide education, health care, or public information in the public and non-profit sectors. We once again need to be supporting innovative applications for harnessing new technologies to advance critical public interest goals.

Community Technology Centers (CTCs) around the country provide low-income, minority, and other disenfranchised individuals free or low-cost public access to technology tools and services, including trainings that may enhance employment opportunities. Federally funded research has demonstrated CTCs to be an effective community-based model, and Congress, in the past, has supported CTCs. However, the elimination of federal support for CTCs has put their work in jeopardy.

These and other cuts signal a dramatic decline in government support for innovative uses of technology to connect communities and opportunities for residents of low-income communities to learn and utilize computer-related skills. As we celebrate the E-Rate’s success this week, let’s not lose sight of additional steps we can take to realize our commitment to ubiquitous, affordable access to the most important technologies of the era.

Sincerely,
Charles Benton

(see .pdf version of this letter at http://www.benton.org/benton_files/tenyears.pdf)

The New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program cordially invites you and your colleagues to a lunch policy forum:


:
Should Carterfone and Broadband Nondiscrimination Rules Apply to Cellular?

Featuring:

Tim Wu
Professor, Columbia University Law School

Michael Altschul
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, CTIA- The Wireless Association

Christopher Libertelli
Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Skype

Jeannine Kenney
Senior Policy Analyst, Consumers Union

Blair Levin
Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus

Moderator:
Michael Calabrese
Vice President and Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation


Wednesday, March 7, 2007
12:00 – 2:00 PM

New America Foundation*
1630 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC

*NOTE: This event venue is tentative. We will send a further email if changes occur.

As broadband data communication moves into the mobile, wireless world, should basic concepts of “network neutrality” that exist in the wireline world be applied to the wireless industry? On February 21, Voice-over-IP provider Skype filed a petition requesting that the FCC affirm the right of consumers to attach any legal device (such as a VoIP-enabled cell phone) to cellular networks, as embodied in the Commission’s Carterfone rules that are currently observed in the wireline telephone world.

Skype’s petition referred extensively to evidence and arguments from a new paper released by the New America Foundation, authored by network neutrality expert Tim Wu. In the paper, entitled, “: Cellular Carterfone and Consumer Choice in Mobile Broadband,” Wu offers a scathing critique of today’s dominant mobile phone carriers. He demonstrates that wireless carriers inhibit innovation and violate network neutrality by exerting undue control over the wireless device and applications industries, and by offering discriminatory broadband data services with undisclosed bandwidth limits and restrictions on access to content and applications. The report recommends, among other things, applying the FCC’s Carterfone rules and other network neutrality principles to the world of mobile phones in order to jumpstart innovation and enhance consumer welfare.

The cellular industry disagrees with the call to apply network neutrality principles to the wireless world, arguing that current industry practices already promote consumer welfare and are necessary to maintain network service and security. At this lunchtime policy forum, representatives from different sides of the debate will weigh in. Tim Wu will introduce his headline-grabbing new paper. Christopher Libertelli of Skype and consumer advocate Jeannine Kenney will discuss why wireless network neutrality will benefit innovators and consumers. Michael Altschul of CTIA will argue why carriers believe wireless network neutrality is unnecessary. Investment analyst Blair Levin will discuss the potential market implications of applying network neutrality to the wireless industry.

To RSVP, please email communications@newamerica.net. If you have questions about this event, please call or email Liz Wu at (202) 986-2700 ext.315 or wu@newamerica.net.

Libraries as Universal Service Providers

Nancy Kranich
KS Consultants
Past President of the American Library Association
Former associate dean of libraries at New York University
nancy.kranich@nyu.edu
814-234-0777

December 1, 2006

In the twentieth century, public libraries deployed a number of creative means such as mobile and outdoor libraries, packhorse rural delivery, literacy training, and reading to the blind to ensure that everyone in their communities was served. Similarly, today's public libraries provide access to the Internet, ensuring equal opportunity and leveling the playing field for all Americans. 2/3 of Americans use a public library at least once every year, either in person, by phone, or by computer. These numbers hold for Americans of all groupings and ethnicities. Thanks to the Universal Service provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Gates Foundation, and local, state and federal investments, 99% of public libraries are now wired -- many with broadband and wireless services -- and offer free public access to the Internet. Libraries are now the number one point of access for the public outside the home, school, and work, leveling the playing field for those left behind in the digital age. But universal service programs need increased funding, better coordination, policy changes, and service improvements if every American is to have the opportunity to participate in the 21st century information society.

Kranich identifies a number of issues concerning the E-rate:

1. Program Inequities
While the E-rate program has connected many libraries throughout the country, its impact varies. Just as gaps in citizen’s access to computers and telecommunications networks persist, so do disparities in support for institutions that underpin the universal service infrastructure. Differential levels of service across libraries, particularly between urban and rural and rich and poor districts as well as between states, must be equalized as well as sufficient before America’s evolving information needs are fully met through public access programs like the E-rate.

2. Infrastructure Challenges
Even though many communities, especially those in rural America, are eager to connect their libraries, they lack access to broadband. To achieve the Bush Administration’s stated goal of universal broadband deployment by 2007, the ALA has proposed that the FCC use the E-rate program to aggregate demand from schools and libraries with others in a particular area in order to build a business case for much needed infrastructure buildout and/or expansion.

3. Bureaucratic Complexities
35.3% of libraries that qualify for E-rate discounts did not apply in 2006 because they are either unaware of their eligibility, lack sufficient staff to implement new technologies, or find the application process too complex. Another 31.7% failed did not submit proposals because they felt the low discount rate was not worth the effort to participate.

4. Meaningful Performance Measures
Federal regulators need to collect better data and develop meaningful performance measures related to the core mission of the E-rate program.

5. Demand Outstrips Supply
Although public libraries have leveraged private, federal, state, and local funds to offer high quality Internet access, 80% report that they cannot meet user demand.

6. Federal Laws Undermine Public
The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), passed by Congress in 2000 and upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2003, mandates use of blocking software on all public library and school computers as a condition for eligibility to receive E-Rate discounts or federal grants under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Unfortunately, filters do more harm than good, blocking only some sites with indecent materials and communications sent through e-mail, chat rooms, non-web sources, peer-to-peer exchanges, and streaming video while restricting access to thousands of legal and useful resources.

Policy Recommendations
The following recommendations are proposed to improve the universal service program:

  • Promote an evolving concept of universal service
    • Use the federal E-rate program to achieve the Bush Administration’s goal of universal broadband deployment by 2007.
    • Support affordable, advanced universal broadband services for all libraries that offer public access computing.
    • Maintain flexibility for eligible categories for services covered under the E-rate program in order to allow local communities to respond to their particular needs.
    • Keep the E-rate program technology neutral and encourage more local control.
    • Support improved rural high bandwidth connectivity so that libraries can offer more advanced services in these communities.
    • Develop a means for extending the E-Rate program to communities that lack public libraries.
  • Simplify the E-rate application process and reduce bureaucratic and other barriers to E-rate participation.
    • Make it easier for less advantaged libraries to apply and receive assistance.
    • Encourage local, regional, and state library organizations to develop technology plans, rather than requiring submission of a plan to USAC that fails to advance the needs of local libraries.
    • Fund more libraries at higher discount rates so they can help America realize the vision behind universal service.
    • Incorporate an evaluation component into the E-Rate program that promotes more useful and timely data collection and demonstrates the substantial state and local contributions to providing access.
    • Rectify inequities in the discount calculation methodology so that libraries and schools can compete on a level playing field.
    • Bring stability and create greater certainty for long term technology planning and budgeting by providing a permanent exemption from the Anti-Deficiency Act requirements and ensuring that future funding is not disrupted.
  • Eliminate unwarranted and unfunded mandates that discourage participation and relegate library users to second class Internet use.
    • Offer telecommunications services without content controls.
    • Ensure that libraries continue to provide open access to all types of information to all people.
    • Provide statutory protection for the principles of non-discriminatory open access to the Internet (net neutrality).
  • Recognize and support the 4 C’s--connectivity, content, capability and context as part of universal service.
    • Develop a government-wide strategy for closing information access gaps.
    • Coordinate federal, state, and other efforts to close information access gaps by working with agencies and organizations focused on all components of universal service.
    • Leverage the E-rate program with other federal, state and private efforts in order to enhance the reach of the program and services to all Americans.
    • Recognize the vital role that universal service plays during crises and include libraries in the nation’s emergency services planning and funding.
    • Fund libraries to serve as e-government agencies.

The Future of Universal Service Fund Support for Organizations: Schools, Libraries and Rural Health Care Providers

The Future of Universal Service Fund Support for Organizations:
Schools, Libraries and Rural Health Care Providers

Heather E. Hudson
Director, Communications Technology Management Program
School of Business and Management
University of San Francisco
hudson@usfca.edu
415-422-6642

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandated discounts for high speed connectivity for schools, libraries, and rural health care centers. Innovative although somewhat complex mechanisms were developed to implement this mandate. This paper identifies some of the key features of these programs and how they have been implemented, issues to be addressed, and recommendations for the future of the program.

Hudson identifies a number of key issues concerning these programs:

1. Should these Programs remain under the FCC?

Some federal officials have proposed that the E-rate should be merged with other Department of Education technology programs. However, because of its direct role as a key component of universal service policy, the E-rate should remain independent of other government departments and under the administration of the FCC.

2. Should E-Rate Funds support Capability and Content?

Some educators advocate expanding E-rate funding beyond connectivity to support training, technical support, and content. However, given the pressures on the funding base and ongoing requirements for connectivity subsidies, E-rate funds should be limited to supporting connectivity, while other sources should be tapped for these additional important needs.

3. Why should Key Elements of the E-rate Process be Retained?

The E-rate funds allocation process has unique features that should be retained:

  • Awards to the user: The E-rate funds are awarded to the user (school or library) rather than directly to the carrier or vendor. This approach serves to empower the schools and libraries as customers of the carriers, rather than supplicants. In some cases, schools and libraries have become “anchor tenants” for these carriers, encouraging them to bring broadband into previously unserved communities.
  • Competitive bids: The E-rate process requires competitive bids for approved services through the USAC website. This approach not only creates incentives to minimize costs, but also encourages new entrants in addition to incumbents and large vendors to provide equipment and services for schools.

4. How Can the E-Rate Process be Improved?
Waste, Fraud and Abuse
The E-Rate Program has been subject to allegations of waste, fraud and abuse. Some school districts have purchased equipment that was unnecessary, too costly or beyond their capability to manage. Equipment vendors have been accused of fraud and price-rigging. In 2003, USAC, with support from the FCC, convened a task force to recommend steps to strengthen and improve E-rate compliance procedures and protections from waste, fraud and abuse. In December, 2003, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to prepare a report on the FCC’s management and oversight of the E-Rate Program. The GAO found evidence of some mismanagement of E-rate funds, bureaucratic delays in disbursing funds, and some waste of E-rate resources. Its report called for the FCC to strengthen its management and oversight by determining comprehensively which federal accountability requirements apply to the E-rate, establishing E-rate performance goals and measures, and taking steps to reduce beneficiary appeals. In March 2005, the House Committee held hearings on the GAO report.

USAC and the FCC have taken significant steps to rectify these problems. They are also being addressed through the FCC in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on USF management, administration and oversight.

At the Federal Level
Although there are strengths in the E-rate allocation process, the program has proved difficult to implement and administer. Some educators and librarians have found that it places a heavy burden on them in terms of time, effort and expertise. The application process is demanding, and requires careful monitoring and attention to detailed specifications and submissions.
The required technology plan was intended to force schools to think through how they would address the “other C’s” including teacher competency and relevant content, as well as how they would fund ongoing technical support and maintenance. Yet some schools have simply outsourced the preparation of the technology plan, or used a “cookie cutter” model that satisfies the requirement but not the intended benefit of preparing the plan.

At the State and Local Level
One strategy that the school districts and state coordinators could use more effectively is mentoring. A resource person who can provide advice, critique draft submissions, and trouble-shoot the process can make a major difference.

Many school districts state that they would have difficulty finding funds to pay for connectivity if E-rate funds and discounts were discontinued. While this claim demonstrates the value of the E-rate subsidy to the schools, it also shows that school districts need to examine how they allocate their available technology dollars, and whether they can diversify their funding sources or include connectivity costs in their annual budgets.

5. Should the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program be continued?

Should a program that has disbursed less than 10 percent of its authorized funds since 1998 be continued? The answer is not as simple as it would appear. First, the amount of $400 million per year was a very rough estimate without much foundation. Second, there has been very limited publicity about the program. Third, its application procedures have been very complex, and until recently, the discount for high speed connectivity in many rural areas was minimal.

The FCC has now changed the formulas for calculating the discounts, and included discounts for Internet access. It has also now announced a two-year pilot program to support investment in broadband infrastructure to link health providers and to provide guidance for the future of the program. The RHC should be allowed to continue at least through the next two years, subject to findings from the pilot program, which should include independent evaluation.

6. Should the USF fund infrastructure?

The RHC pilot program includes funding for broadband infrastructure. In addition to linking health facilities, these networks, as the FCC points out, could also provide vital links for disaster preparedness and emergency response and facilitate the goal of implementing electronic medical records nationwide. Extension of broadband networks to connect schools and libraries has also brought broadband to neighborhoods and rural communities that previously lacked access. The FCC should continue to explore how USF funding for schools, libraries and rural health care can contribute to the national goal of providing universal access to broadband.

Recommendations

  • Continue the Universal Service Fund organizational programs for schools, libraries and rural health care as a permanent component of universal service.
  • Keep responsibility for the Universal Service Fund programs for schools, libraries, and rural health care at the FCC, but establish advisory committees with membership from the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services as well as from professional educational, library and health care organizations, and experts on utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in these fields and evaluation of ICT programs and impacts.
  • Continue the following E-rate policies:
    • Limit funding to connectivity and related facilities
    • Maintain discounts based on poverty and rurality
    • Maintain competitive bidding process for vendors.
  • Require a triennial review of FCC and USAC administrative, application and oversight procedures to improve efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of funds disbursement.
  • Require that a small percentage of USF funds be used for outreach to make more educators, librarians and rural health care providers aware of the programs and how to participate, and for evaluation to update and analyze data on program utilization and to assess impacts of USF support.
  • Identify sources of federal funds to support the other factors critical to effective utilization of ICTs: capacity-building for teachers and others in using ICTs, development and exchange of effective content for education and other development applications, and contextual applications (based on factors such as language, culture, ethnicity, disabilities).
February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

TEN YEARS AGO...

Deal By Murdoch For Satellite TV Startles Industry
[SOURCE: New York Times 2/26/1997, AUTHOR: Mark Landler]
Ten years ago cable television and satellite companies around the country were roiled [we used words like "roiled" back in the 90s] by the news that Rupert Murdoch had agreed to invest $1 billion in a new satellite service that could be the first full-fledged competitor to cable in its three-decade history. News Corporation and Echostar were to fold their respective direct broadcast satellite services into a single venture. The service would combine Murdoch's internationally known Sky satellite-television brand name with Echostar's 430,000 United States subscribers. Experts said it could be far more than the sum of these parts. Because the combined company could have eventually had seven satellites floating above the earth, the service would have been able to beam 500 channels of programming to its subscribers. The companies planed to use this vast channel capacity to include local broadcast stations -- which were not available on any other satellite service, and which analysts said could enable Sky to offer consumers the first genuine alternative to their local cable operator. Satellite enthusiasts said that consumer benefits could include a clearer picture, better service and a broader menu of programming. The deal would hit a snag in April 1997 and implode by May.
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F20613FD3C550C75...
(requires TimesSelect subscription)

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F20613FD3C550C758EDDAB08…

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February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

"The web is a valuable, perhaps essential, tool for expanding and enriching public debate in our country. It has already greatly enhanced the nation's discourse on public affairs. But until it is as pervasive as broadcast media and newspapers -- and until new websites truly compete with those traditional media outlets (and the web sites they control) -- the web's existence should not be used to justify media consolidation."
-- Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)

http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/4944

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February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

LOCALS BRING CONSOLIDATION COMPLAINTS TO FCC
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
The Federal Communications Commission heard two sides of the media consolidation debate in its third media ownership hearing in Harrisburg, Penn., but its hopes for limiting comments to smaller market issues got sidestepped as residents of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore drove to the hearing to add their concerns about bigger market issues. Consumers questioned further consolidation, said radio consolidation had already gone too far and suggested the little advanced reporting on the hearing by local media was indicative of the effects of consolidation. Broadcasting&Cable reports that the forum was crowded with broadcasters and representatives from several organizations on both sides of the issue applauding the industry including the United Way, the YWCA, The York Jewish Community Center, Salvation Army, the local blood bank, and a representative of the Amber Alert system. That tone was in marked contrast to the industry bashing that predominated the FCC's previous media ownership hearing in Nashville. though ultimately critics weighed in toward the latter half of the hearing. Among those weighing in against more consolidation was a representative of a small newspaper publisher, who argued against lifting the ban on newspaper/broadcast crossownership--a rule will likely survive the FCC's review of planned rule changes.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11604
(requires free registration)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6418989.html?display=Breaking...

See also
* Free Press Counters NAB's Request for Speaker ID's at FCC Hearing
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Activist group Free Press has taken issue with a National Association of Broadcasters request that the FCC should require commenters at its public hearing on Friday, February 23 to identify where they were lived. In the end, the FCC did not require speakers to identify themselves geographically.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419187.html?display=Breaking...

* FCC Debates Relaxing Media Ownership Rules
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-AKMT1172496579949.html

BROADCASTERS MAKE THEIR CASE TO FCC AT MEDIA OWNERSHIP FORUM IN HARRISBURG
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Broadcasters made their case for loosening media ownership rules at the FCC's media ownership hearing in Harrisburg on Friday. The first speaker was Bill Baldwin, an executive with Hall Communications, owner of 21 radio stations including in nearby York and Harrisburg (PA). He said that his stations are run by local managers and that 50% of the employees are women. He said his employees devote 30,000 minutes annually to public service spots, and invest in local news and public affairs. They also hire local talent and the average length of service is 20 years. "Turnover is something we don't know much about," Baldwin said. The stations are also involved with food banks, hospices, Make a Wish, Habitat for Humanity, rescue missions, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, United Way, among others. To make Baldwin's point, the head of the local United Way praised broadcaster commitment to the organization, including emceeing events and producing campaign videos at no charge. Also making the broadcasters' case was Paul Quinn, President/GM of Hearst-Argyle's WGAL-TV, who said local service is a core mission. Quinn said that his station does more than 30 hours of local news, 20-plus hours of public affairs and national news, has a 24-7 local weather channel, raised more than $10 million for local charities last year, and 16 town meetings. He also said that during the 2006 election, like all Hearst-Argyle stations, provided at least 10 minutes per day for candidate-centered political coverage. Because of its vast resources, he said, the station "was able to stream this meeting over our station's Web site." Given unprecedented competition, including competitors that were not around in 2003 when the FCC first tried to loosen ownership rules. "We will not be able to serve communities if the rules are not brought into conformance with today's realities," Quinn said. There was even a working broadcaster in attendance with a six-week-old baby in her arms arguing that "Big Media" had given her the flexibility to be both broadcaster and mom.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6418989.html?display=Breaking...

FCC'S MARTIN FLOATS LEASED MULTICAST MUST-CARRY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin used the media ownership public hearing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to publicly push a new multicasting approach he had earlier pitched privately to minority media interests and broadcast and cable lobbies. In his public statement before the hearing , he said the commission needs to "find more opportunities for diverse viewpoints to be heard. "Part of the problem is the limited number of channels available on broadcast television and radio and the high start-up cost of building your own station." He pointed to low-power FM radio as one attempt by the FCC to increase that number of voices. He also said that it would allow small and independently owned businesses to lease some of an existing broadcaster's spectrum to distribute their own programming. "Conversion to digital operations enables broadcasters to fit a single channel of analog programming into a smaller amount of spectrum," he told the crowd. "Often, there is additional spectrum left over that can be used to air other channels of programming. Small and independently owned businesses could take advantage of this capacity and use a portion of the existing broadcasters’ digital spectrum to operate their own broadcast channel. This new programming station would then obtain all the accompanying rights and obligations of other broadcast stations, such as public interest obligations and carriage rights."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419183.html?display=Breaking...
* Link to martin's Statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270765A1.doc

-- More Opening Statements --
* Copps: " Don't believe anyone who tells you that big media's push for more consolidation has gone away. I've seen their very recent pleadings at the FCC. They're still marching along behind that same Pied Piper of Consolidation they've been following for years. They haven't gone away, and their lawyers and lobbyists haven't gone away either. They have money and they have power. So if we are going to succeed in this-and go on from there to a broader national dialogue on the future of the media in our democracy-a discussion that has been too long delayed and too long denied-it will be because of citizen action from millions of Americans and testimony at hearings like this one."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270758A1.doc

* Adelstein: "The problem can be seen here in Harrisburg because the statistics speak for themselves. According to Consumer Federation and Free Press, just four companies control over 79 percent of the Harrisburg area news market. There are three companies that own 60 percent of the commercial radio stations, with one owning 6 stations, thus creating a market where non-local entities own nearly 75 percent of the radio stations. This is especially discouraging when considering that there are no locally owned commercial news stations. There are no full-power commercial TV stations owned by a racial or ethnic minority in the Harrisburg area, and none are owned by women."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270762A1.doc

* Tate: "Given the important role that the broadcast media play in our democratic society's marketplace of ideas, I am committed to working with my FCC colleagues to ensure that our actions further the touchstone goals of competition, localism, and diversity."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270759A1.doc

* McDowell: "In particular I look forward to learning about competition, diversity and localism in the Harrisburg market from all of you. We need the first-hand knowledge that only you can provide about how our ownership rules affect you as businesspeople and as viewers and listeners so that we can determine whether the times demand that those rules change."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270763A1.doc

DOYLE SAYS NON-NEUTRAL NET ISN'T COMPETING VOICE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), vice chairman of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, weighed in remotely at the FCC's media ownership public hearing in Harrisburg, Pa., Friday (Feb. 23) to say the existence of the Web, particularly without network neutrality guarantees, should not be used to justify further media ownership consolidation. In a letter that he asked to be read into the record of the hearing, Rep Doyle said that "then-Chairman Michael Powell made the mistake of acting as if the Internet was an independent source of national and local news -- a mistake repudiated by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals when they remanded the Commission's rules on this very point," he said. Rep Doyle said that though he believed the 'net "has the potential to give everyone an equal platform to report about and opine on the goings-on around them," and that "an open and free Internet could be considered the first truly accessible tool to make the spirit of First Amendment come alive for everyone in the country," he also said that "without an Internet available to all that guarantees fast speeds to anyone's content, that potential is just a promise."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419376.html?display=Breaking...

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February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

FCC MAY TRY TO SCRUB KIDS' TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz Amy.Schatz@wsj.com]
Broadcasters have long considered Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin an ally. Since becoming an FCC commissioner in 2001 he's been an advocate for some of their biggest priorities, including a requirement that cable companies carry more local channels once the U.S. shifts to digital-only broadcasts in 2009. The National Association of Broadcasters hope he'll torpedo a proposed merger of terrestrial radio's rivals XM and Sirius. But broadcasters are also increasingly finding themselves on the wrong side of Mr. Martin's FCC. Last year, the networks and affiliates took the unusual step of challenging several proposed indecency fines in federal court. More recently, the FCC has drafted a report suggesting Congress can expand the agency's reach to regulate violence on TV. Now, the FCC's unusually large fine against Univision appears to be part of a larger effort by the agency to make sure broadcasters are offering kid-friendly programming. The $24-million fine was negotiated by Mr. Martin's staff, not the five-member FCC board. Several senior FCC officials, including at least one FCC commissioner, said they learned of the fine by reading the New York Times on Saturday. "Across the board we're trying to protect consumers," said Mr. Martin, who pointed out the Univision fine follows previous efforts to ensure 911 service is available from all phones and newly proposed rules to protect the privacy of cellphone users. "I don't think I'm trying to send any particular message. The commission takes all of its rules seriously," he said. But the fine also may go a long way toward placating Latino groups who've complained the FCC has ignored violations on Spanish-language stations, and some conservative Christians who've grumbled that Mr. Martin hasn't done enough to clean up the airwaves.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117244863225318833.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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RECORD FINE EXPECTED FOR UNIVISION
[SOURCE: New York Times 2/23, AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
When Univision began broadcasting a show three years ago about the misadventures of 11-year-old identical twin girls who swapped identities after discovering they had been separated at birth, it characterized the episodes as educational programming for children. That decision is expected to cost Univision, the nation’s largest Hispanic network, $24 million in what would be the largest fine the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company. The penalty is also expected to send a strong signal to broadcasters that they will be expected to meet their required quota of shows that educate and inform children, after years of permissive oversight in this area. The commission has decided to impose the heavy fine -- disclosed by FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin in an interview -- as a tough rebuke to Univision for claiming to meet its obligations to broadcast educational children’s programs by showing the Latino soap opera “Complices al Rescate” (“Friends to the Rescue”) and other so-called telenovelas. The penalty represents an unusually aggressive enforcement of the 1996 regulations that interpreted the Children’s Television Act. Those regulations, adopted after some broadcasters characterized cartoons like “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons” to be educational programs, imposed more substantive requirements on the networks as they comply with the mandate to broadcast at least three hours a week of programs of intellectual value to young people. Although some television critics say it is common for stations not to comply, only a handful of complaints have been filed. An even smaller number have resulted in modest penalties of several thousand dollars for stations found to have violated the rules.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/business/24fcc.html
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* Landmark FCC Ruling Against Univision is Result of United Church of Christ's Public Advocacy for Children
http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20070224/NYSA01024022007-1.html

* FCC to Children’s Rescue?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/07/26fedfil.h26.html

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February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

FCC CAN STOP KIDDING THEMSELVES
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Brian Lowry]
[Commentary] Having spent years failing to craft a coherent policy regarding televised indecency, Democratic legislators and the Federal Communications Commission are groping to add violence to their regulatory comedy act. Yet if they're truly committed to helping parents navigate a confounding TV dial -- as opposed to just flapping their gums with grasping-for-moral-high-ground rhetoric -- there is a potential solution, one that could assist parents without reducing television to pabulum for the vast majority of adults who don't live with someone under the age of 16. After years of expecting parents to master the V-chip, TV content ratings and everything short of the Dewey-decimal system, TiVo or its digital-video recorder equivalent could be the answer. Indeed, it's an approach upon which many tech-fluent parents have already stumbled, confining children's viewing to programs allowed through TiVo's filter along with whatever DVDs they purchase. In this way, they eliminate channel-surfing or any other happenstance way kids might encounter inappropriate content. The result, parents will tell you, is tots who don't know much about TV networks or schedules, only how to punch up their specific programs.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960062.html?categoryid=1682&cs=1&ni...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960062.html?categoryid=1682&cs=1&nid=2635

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February 26, 2007
Coverage Type 
Lauren Frayer

A THIRD OF US SURFERS TRIED WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Reuters]
One-third of U.S. Internet users have connected to the Web using a wireless network to send e-mails, check the latest news or read other things, according to a survey released on Sunday by the Pew Internet Project. The survey also found that 20 percent of Internet users now have wireless networks available at home, double the number recorded in January 2005. "We know that 'always on' broadband connections really deepen people's relationship to the Internet; adding 'on the go' to the mix takes this a step further," said John Horrigan, associate research director at the Pew Internet Project. "The convenience of wireless access gives people the chance to fire off a quick e-mail to someone while waiting in a doctor's office or check the news headlines on the way to work."
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2518346420070225

* Wireless Internet Access
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/203/report_display.asp

* Wireless Internet Access Becoming More Common
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=56...

A third of U.S. Surfers tried Wireless

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