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REPORTS SHOW FUTURE LOOKS STRONG FOR MEDIA
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
Newspaper and TV executives might not expect encouraging financial news from a major gathering of industry critics. But a collection of studies being released Friday at the National Conference for Media Reform contends that economic prospects are strong for newspapers and TV stations -- despite more competition from new media. Their forecasts run counter to a widely held view that digital media and the Internet have dramatically altered the economic landscape for traditional media. Companies that have run into trouble, including Knight Ridder and Tribune (TRB), "mangled the transition to the digital age," says Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America. "It's management, not the business." His group, as well as Consumers Union and Free Press, prepared their relatively upbeat studies ahead of the Federal Communications Commission's Tuesday deadline for public comment in its pending review of media-ownership rules. Newspaper and broadcast companies and trade groups say that the changes in the media business merit relaxation of the rules, including latitude to own more TV and radio stations in a market and to own other media, including newspapers, in the market. The consumer groups, however, argue that Internet blogs and community sites, and even local cable news channels, still are not much competition for newspapers and broadcasters. People still prefer to get local news from familiar institutions and reporters, they say. The groups also say research contradicts the notion that young people's media habits have changed: Several studies show that 18- to 29-year-olds spend less time than other adults reading or watching news, but data from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press show news interest grows as they mature. Meanwhile, traditional media still generate large cash flow, though private investors seem to appreciate this more than do the public markets.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2007-01-12-media-ownership-usat_x.htm
Reports show Future looks Strong for Media
ADELSTEIN SLAMS "FAITH-BASED REGULATION"
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein criticized the Commission Thursday for practicing "faith-based regulation" and called on media reformers to push for "real" peer review of 10 studies the FCC will conduct as part of its media ownership review. The "faith" base Adelstein was referring to was not religion, but the industry. Commissioner Adelstein said that FCC staffers had complained of "being squeezed and unable to participate fully in debates because political pressure at the FCC suppressed views contrary to those of industry." Commissioner Adelstein said that he and Commissioner Copps would hold public hearings on cable public, educational, and government channels and "what the FCC can do to strengthen public access."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406929?display=Breaking+News
* For more see Dispatches from the Media Reform Front by MAP's Harold Feld
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138/post/1430006343.html
* FCC Commissioner Adelstein Kicks Off Academic Pre-Conference in Memphis
http://www.wetmachine.com/item/699
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406929?display=Breaking%20News
INTERNET FREEDOM DECLARATION OF 2007
[SOURCE: Free Press]
In Memphis, Free Press released a public agenda for the future of communications supported by 11 organizations (including the Benton Foundation). The document asks policymakers to foster the following Internet rights: 1) Universal Affordable Access, 2) An Open Network (Network Neutrality) and 3) World Class Quality through Competition. Supporters also include MoveOn.org, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Common Cause, US PIRG, the United Church of Christ, the Media Access Project, Educause, Afro-Netizen, and the Center for Creative Vpices in Media.
http://freepress.net/
Internet Freedom Declaration of 2007
MARTIN DISCUSSES FCC AGENDA ON WAY TO ELECTRONICS SHOW
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 1/10, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made a pit-stop on his way to the Consumer Electronics Show, telling a Citigroup conference that the agency's focus will be to continue pursuing a communications environment that enables companies to deliver new services to more customers at fair prices. Continued convergence and competition in the industries regulated by the FCC is guiding Martin's mission as he discussed his agency's priorities at Citigroup's annual entertainment, media and telecommunications conference. On the network neutrality debate, which likely will consume many lobbyists and lawmakers in the 110th Congress, Martin said the buzzword "means different things to different people." Chairman Martin said he believes consumers should be able to tap free Internet content without being blocked, and that the commission has taken the steps necessary to enforce that principle. At the same time, network operators who have invested in high-speed infrastructure understandably want to offer tiers of service, he said. The trouble lies in differing interpretations of "nondiscrimination" and whether the government should require equal treatment of broadband content, Chairman Martin continued. The FCC traditionally has defined nondiscrimination more conservatively than the Internet firms and consumer groups that want a federal net neutrality mandate, he indicated.
http://njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-JCET1168545255535.html
See also:
* FCC Chairman talks around net neutrality
http://www.gigalaw.com/news/2007/01/fcc-chairman-refuses-to-stake-positi...
Martin Discusses FCC Agenda On Way To Electronics Show
CLEAR CHANNEL COURTS MINORITY BUYERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Clear Channel, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, and the National Association of Broadcasters are hosting a meeting in Washington this week at NAB headquarters to give minorities and women tips on how to "best position themselves to purchase Clear Channel radio and television assets," said Clear Channel. The radio giant has decided to sell its 42 TV stations and 430 -- or more than a third -- of its radio stations
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406945.html?display=Breaking...
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406945.html?display=Breaking%20News
ADVOCATE URGES SENATE TO UPDATE LAWS TO PROTECT CITIZENS FROM GOVERNMENT DATA MINING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Michael Sniffen]
The government's ability to use computers to gather personal information about citizens and act on it has far outstripped the federal laws designed to protect them from secret federal dossiers, a privacy advocate told Congress on Wednesday. Leslie Harris, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to update the Privacy Act and other laws to keep pace with the Digital Age. She was among a handful of think-tank scholars and privacy advocates who testified Wednesday about government data-mining -- the computerized searching of large banks of information for clues to the identity of terrorists or criminals. Their broadest area of agreement was that Congress needs to know much more about what the government is doing in data-mining.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DATA_MINING?SITE=TXMID&SECTION=HO...
* Daylight Sought For Data Mining
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR200701...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DATA_MINING?SITE=TXMID&SECTION=HOME&TEMPL…
JOHN KERRY INTRODUCES WIRELESS INNOVATION ACT TO SPUR NEW BROADBAND CONNECTIONS
[SOURCE: The Democratic Daily]
Sen John Kerry (D-MA) introduced the Wireless Innovation Act of 2007 which will make broadband available to unconnected communities by exploiting the unused frequencies in the broadcast spectrum known as “white spaces.†Sen Kerry introduced the same bill in the 109th Congress, however it was not acted on by the full Senate. The bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to move quickly to free up valuable but unused broadcast airwaves -- known as "white spaces" -- which could then be used for unlicensed, wireless broadband. In many markets, more than half of the available broadcast channels have not been licensed to television stations. Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott said: "Free Press... urges the Senate to move quickly to pass the Wireless Innovation Act of 2007. This bill holds the potential to create universal, affordable broadband access across the United States. Greater access to unlicensed spectrum in the low-frequency bands would improve local emergency communications networks, nurture the growth of small business and entrepreneurship, generate competition in the broadband market, and ensure that underserved areas are not left behind as technology advances in the 21st century. The expansion of unlicensed spectrum in particular will create a boom in innovative technologies and expand the opportunities for citizens to communicate. The unlicensed spectrum currently available - just 2 percent of the total spectrum that is commercially available - already has spurred entrepreneurship and technological innovation, generating billions of dollars in new business for manufacturers, retailers and providers. This is a critical issue whose time has come."
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=5088
* Free Press Applauds Wireless Innovation Act of 2007
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=200
* Kerry Reintroduces Wireless Innovation Act of 2007
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406639.html?display=Breaking...
* Kerry drops another good bill
http://www.wetmachine.com//item/698
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=5088
ANALYSIS OF INTERNET FREEDOM PRESERVATION ACT
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
See what public interest telecom lawyer Feld thinks of the Network Neutrality bill offered by Sens Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
http://www.wetmachine.com/item/697
* For additional information on the bill see
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/4456
Analysis of Internet Freedom Preservation Act
FCC MEETING AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Wednesday, January 17, 2007, which is scheduled to commence at 9:30 a.m. in Room TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. The Meeting will focus on presentations by senior agency officials regarding implementations of the agency's strategic plan and a comprehensive review of FCC policies and procedures. Presentations will be made in four panels: Panel One will feature the Managing Director and the Chief of the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau. Panel Two will feature the Chiefs of the Enforcement Bureau and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Panel Three will feature the Chiefs of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology, and the International Bureau. Panel Four will feature the Chiefs of the Media Bureau, and Wireline Competition Bureau.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-269442A1.doc
FCC Meeting Agenda 1/17
NO SET-TOP WAIVER, SAYS MARTIN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Glen Dickson]
At the Consumer Electronics Show, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that Comcast isn't likely to get a waiver of the FCC's July 2007 deadline for requiring cable companies to separate the security and channel surfing functions of their digital cable boxes: "there are a series of waivers in front of us. We shouldn't just provide a blanket waiver to the whole industry, at this point, to a rule that was adopted in 1998. Comcast is asking for further delay without giving a timetable on downloadable security." Asked about the status of the transition to DTV, which is scheduled to be completed by February 2009, Chairman Martin said, "We'll do everything we can to help them [broadcasters]. Missing the date is not an option."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406635?title=Article&spacede...
* FCC Rejects Comcast In Bid for More Time For Set-Top Box Change
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116848608851573441.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
* No Set-Top Waiver for Comcast
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6406655.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6406635?title=Article&spacedesc=news