Benton RSS Feed
NEUTRALITY ON THE NET GETS HIGH '08 PROFILE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Babington]
Bloggers and other Internet activists made their marks in the past two presidential elections chiefly by building networks of political enthusiasts and raising money for candidates. Now, they are pushing aggressively into policymaking -- and not just over high-profile issues such as Iraq. They are pressing candidates to back a handful of issues that are obscure to many Americans but vital to those who base their livelihoods on the Internet and track its development. Armed with massive e-mail lists and high-speed networks, these activists are bypassing the familiar campaign tactics of door-knocking and phone-banking. They are also using their new-age technologies for an old-fashioned purpose: making politicians take note of their legislative priorities. One of those is "net neutrality." Hardly a household term, it has no overtly partisan or ideological dimensions. Yet it is shaping up as a Democratic issue this year, largely because its most fervid advocates are liberal bloggers and other Internet activists who play a big role in the early stages of choosing a Democratic presidential nominee. Unlike their Republican counterparts, every major Democratic presidential candidate has endorsed net neutrality. The move keeps them in good standing with powerful grass-roots groups, such as MoveOn.org, and costs them little in return -- perhaps a bit of space on campaign Web sites to promote a matter that comparatively few voters might explore.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/19/AR200702...
(requires registration)
Neutrality On the Net Gets High '08 Profile
DOES CLEAR CHANNEL RUN AN ADVERTISING CARTEL IN LA?
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Clear Channel Communications has filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission denying charges that its eight affiliated Los Angeles radio stations require regional advertisers to do all their business with the broadcasting giant. The firm calls Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters Inc.'s allegations "vague and baseless" and "substantively meritless." On January 19th, Mt. Wilson, which owns two radio stations in Los Angeles, filed a statement with the FCC accusing Clear Channel of anti-competitive behavior. Specifically, Mt. Wilson charges that Clear Channel demands a "quid pro quo" relationship from advertisers. "The Clear Channel modus operandi allows the advertiser to utilize any one or all of the Clear Channel stations and, further, to receive discounts," Mt. Wilson's filing claims: "The 'quid pro quo,' however, requires the advertiser to devote all of its radio advertising budget to Clear Channel stations and to refrain from placing advertisements on any other Los Angeles radio market stations."
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/352
Does Clear Channel run an advertising cartel in LA?
YOU MUST BE STREAMING
[SOURCE: New York Magazine, AUTHOR: Kurt Andersen]
[Commentary] We think we know that the professional news media, especially newspapers, are obsolete, that the future is all about (excuse the expression) you -- media created by amateurs. But such PowerPoint distillation tends to overlook the fact that mainstream media are not all simply shriveling and dying but in some instances actually evolving. And in evolution, there are always fascinating transitional iterations along the way. Such as newspapers’ suddenly proliferating forays into online video. At their best, the newspapers’ online videos are, minute for minute, superior to TV news. As I write, CNN is airing a live press conference by Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and a loop of Smith vamping, while a significant breaking news story -- the U.S. claim that Muqtada al-Sadr has left Iraq for Iran -- is running in tiny type across the bottom of the screen. Given the dumb-and-dumber choices, I can easily imagine newspapers’ Web-video portals becoming the TV-journalism destinations of choice for smart people -- that is, in the 21st century, the dominant nineteenth-century journalistic institution, newspapers, might beat the dominant twentieth-century institution, TV, at the premium part of its own game.
http://nymag.com/news/imperialcity/28152/index.html
* TV Networks Lag In Web Video
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=55...
You Must Be Streaming
DON'T PANIC. YET
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Feb. 17, 2009 -- a day of infamy or no big deal? Apparently, it is soon to tell. Some are hopeful that the end of analog TV broadcasting will go smoothly and become as big a non-event as Y2K fears were after Jan 1, 2000. But there's also fears that the date for all-digital TV broadcasting is too aggressive -- picked for fiscal reasons rather than smart policy. And there's also some concerns that there's not enough funding available either to let the public know about the transition or to fund subsidies for digital-to-analog converter boxes so that current TVs will continue to work after the deadline.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6417227.html
See also --
* Getting to February 2009: Implementing the Digital TV Transition
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1257
* Getting to February 2009: Outstanding DTV Transition Issues
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1260
TV INDUSTRIES NEED TO WORK TOGETHER ON DTV
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: Mary Collins, Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association]
[Commentary] With just about 730 days to go in the countdown to digital-only TV broadcasting in the US, there's a lot at stake for TV stations, cable operators and TV manufacturers. Collins salutes the recently-announced joint efforts of the national Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the Consumer Electronics Association "to ensure that no American loses the ability to view over-the-air television signals due to a lack of accurate information about the transition." The campaign’s components will include collaborating on a Web site, developing print materials for use at points of purchase and in direct mail, PSAs for cable, broadcast and print media and information detailing the “coupon†program being administered by NTIA. But what will be most important about this campaign is its collective and consistent message about DTV. By utilizing these materials to explain DTV, we will remove the issues that sometimes divide our business interests and communicate one message through one voice. This is essential for meeting our common goal of serving our viewers and customers.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/02/15/daily.9/
EUROPE'S PLAN TO TRACK PHONE AND NET USE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Victoria Shannon]
European governments are preparing legislation to require companies to keep detailed data about people’s Internet and phone use that goes beyond what the countries will be required to do under a European Union directive. Even now, Internet service providers in Europe divulge customer information -- which they normally keep on hand for about three months, for billing purposes -- to police officials with legally valid orders on a routine basis, said Peter Fleischer, the Paris-based European privacy counsel for Google. The data concerns how the communication was sent and by whom but not its content. But law enforcement officials argued after the terrorist bombings in Spain and Britain that they needed better and longer data storage from companies handling Europe’s communications networks. European Union countries have until 2009 to put the Data Retention Directive into law, so the proposals seen now are early interpretations. But some people involved in the issue are concerned about a shift in policy in Europe, which has long been a defender of individuals’ privacy rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/business/worldbusiness/20privacy.html
(requires registration)
Europe’s Plan to Track Phone and Net Use
FUTURE OF NET PHONE FIRM VONAGE HANGS IN BALANCE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
Verizon and Vonage on Wednesday will present opening statements in a patent-infringement case that could have a big impact on consumers and the nascent Internet telephone industry. Most immediately at risk is the future of Vonage. Vonage, one of the best-known brands in the Internet phone world, acknowledged last week that it doesn't have a plan for getting around use of technology that Verizon claims violates patents it owns. The upshot: If Verizon prevails in court, Vonage could be forced to shut down, at least temporarily, while it redesigns its service. That could cause a lot of heartburn for Vonage's 2 million customers. Brooke Schulz, a Vonage spokeswoman, said Monday that Verizon's claims are baseless. "This is about Verizon trying to stifle competition," she said. "We have not infringed on their patents, period."
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070220/vonage.art.htm
Future of Net phone firm Vonage hangs in balance
PBS OMBUDSMAN CRITICIZES DRUG COMPANY SPONSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
PBS ombudsman Michael Getler says he doesn't think PBS should have accepted a sponsorship from drug company GlaxoSmithKline for an obesity special airing next month: "even though GlaxoSmithKline came in late and, under PBS policy, has no say in any of the content, this kind of possible conflict can undermine credibility and, without knowing the financial details, doesn't seem worth it."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6417411.html?display=Breaking...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6417411.html?display=Breaking%20News
WIRELESS VIDEO SERVICE GETS ORLANDO OK
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The FCC will allow wireless phone/content company Qualcomm to operate its new wireless multichannel video service on channel 55 in Orlando, saying the interference that it will create to some TV viewers on channel 56 -- Ion Media's analog station WOPX(TV) -- is acceptable. Qualcomm is rolling out the service nationwide on the channel as it buys out current occupants or, in this case, makes deals with adjacent channels to accept the interference it will cause. Ion agreed to accept interference to 3.78% of its analog viewers and the FCC said that would be in the public interest given that viewers could still receive the digital WOPX, that the analog WOPX was not among the top four stations in the market, and because there were 23 other TV stations serving the market.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6417380.html?display=Breaking...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6417380.html?display=Breaking%20News
"I love the free market, but the fact is more concentration means less competition, and these markets are less free than they should be. And this Commission is about regulation -- regulators. I always worry a little when I hear regulators shy away from regulation talk."
-- Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/4888
BROADBAND BREAKOUT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] More regulation is the last thing today's telecom industry needs, at least if empirical evidence is any indication. As FCC Chairman Kevin Martin reported at a Senate hearing earlier this month, the industry is now taking risks in a way it hasn't since the tech bubble burst six years ago. Of the 11 million broadband additions in the first half of last year, 15% were cable modems, 23% were digital-subscriber lines (DSL) and 58% were of the wireless variety. Between June 2005 and June 2006, wireless broadband subscriptions grew to 11 million from 380,000. This gives the lie to claims that some sort of cable/DSL duopoly has hampered competition among broadband providers and limited consumer options. That's the charge of those who want "network neutrality" rules that would allow the government to dictate what companies like Verizon and AT&T can charge users of their networks. But the reality is that the telecom industry has taken advantage of this deregulatory environment to provide consumers with more choices at lower prices. The one sure way to stop these trends is by bogging down industry players with regulations or price controls that raise the risk that these mammoth investments will never pay off. Yet that seems to be the goal of Senator Dorgan and other Democrats such as Representative Ed Markey, another "Net neutrality" cheerleader. Consumers will end up paying for such policies in fewer choices and higher prices.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117159640486710826.html?mod=todays_us_op...
(requires subscription)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117159640486710826.html?mod=todays_us_opinion