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SENATE DEBATE ON TV: NOT LIVE, AND NO LOCAL MEDIA ALLOWED
[SOURCE: Hartford (CT) Courant, AUTHOR: Jon Lender]
When WFSB-TV, Channel 3, announced plans to sponsor the only debate of all five candidates in Connecticut's nationally watched Senate race, station general manager Klarn DePalma said the event reflects "our commitment ... to deliver news and information to viewers in Connecticut." But it appears that the delivery is going to be delayed. The Hartford CBS affiliate has banned representatives of the news media - other than its own - from Wednesday's 3 p.m. taping of the debate that is to be moderated by national CBS newsman Bob Schieffer before an audience of specially invited guests. After a news blackout of 27 hours, WFSB plans to show the canned one-hour event Thursday at 7 p.m.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-wfsbdebate1017.artoct17,0,198821...
Senate Debate On TV: Not Live, And No Local Media Allowed
AT&T MIGHT LOCK RATES TO WIN BELLSOUTH OK
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service]
In meetings with the Federal Communications Commission about its takeover of BellSouth, AT&T has discussed not raising rates charged to other carriers to use its facilities, as well as locking in prices for business leased lines, according to a Friday letter from AT&T to the agency. Consumer groups and competitive carriers have voiced alarm over the deal in the wake of recent consolidation in the industry, saying it will reduce choice for businesses and consumers. Among other proposed conditions, the merged carrier would agree to keep offering competitors access to its network and not seek higher state-approved rates for that access. It also would not raise rates for DS-1 and DS-3 leased lines in its territory, nor would it increase its interstate tariffs. AT&T/BellSouth also would do business in line with the principles of an FCC policy statement on network neutrality issued last September. Most of the conditions would stay in effect for 30 months from the close of the deal. Other steps that have been discussed give a glimpse into AT&T's possible plans. One proposal would have AT&T provide broadband -- though defined only as Internet access over 200K bps (bits per second) -- to all residences in the BellSouth territory by the end of 2007. Only 85 percent of that would be wired broadband, while the remainder would use alternatives including satellite and WiMax. Another point discusses AT&T initiating 10 new trials of wireless broadband, including at least five in BellSouth's territory, by the end of 2007. The Computer & Communications Industry Association dismissed the proposed conditions, saying AT&T is already bound by such rules from its merger last year with SBC Communications.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/17/HNattlocksratesok_1.html
AT&T might lock rates to win BellSouth OK
BELLSOUTH URGES COURT TO SEND TARIFF CASE BACK TO FCC
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 10/12, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
BellSouth urged the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to send back to the FCC a case involving a longstanding and unchallenged government interpretation of an anti-discrimination section of the Communications Act. The complaint against the telecommunications company, originally brought to the FCC by AT&T, alleged that BellSouth priced special-access services on a wholesale basis at deep discounts to its own long-distance subsidiary, slighting AT&T and others. Ironically, the Justice Department on Wednesday approved a $78 billion merger between AT&T and BellSouth. AT&T originally backed the FCC in the case but withdrew its involvement in May. Qwest Communications International and Verizon Communications filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the Commission. Various telecom carriers need access to BellSouth's network to complete long-distance calls on behalf of their retail customers, the FCC's brief said. That access price is a major component of the retail rates that a long-distance provider charges its consumers. AT&T complained that BellSouth violated the 1934 act, and the FCC agreed. The agency held that BellSouth could offer discounts to its affiliate -- through its Transport Savings Plan -- but only if it makes them "available on a nondiscriminatory basis to all unaffiliated [long-distance] carriers."
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-TLTF1161087404462.html
BellSouth Urges Court To Send Tariff Case Back To FCC
UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUNDS NOT BEING SPENT
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service]
The GSM Association (GSMA), an industry group comprised of mobile operators, estimated that governments in 15 countries have collected $6 billion for their universal service funds, including $2 billion that came from levies on mobile operators. Of this amount, governments have spent $1.6 billion, leaving billions untouched. "The unspent $4.4 billion should be put back in the industry as soon as possible," Tom Phillips, government and regulatory affairs officer at the GSMA, said at the 3GSM World Congress Asia conference in Singapore. Phillips noted that India and Malaysia together hold $2 billion in levies. GSMA wants to see the funds done away with over the long term. "Universal service funds may have a short-term tactical benefit, but there's often no justification for universal service funds to exist, especially in markets that are relatively developed," Phillips said.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/17/HNuniversalservicefunds_1.html...
Universal Service Funds Not being Spent
FCC UPHOLDS VIACOM INDECENCY SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The FCC has rejected a challenge to its 2004 consent decree with Viacom that settled a host of radio and TV indecency complaints and about a dozen proposed fines against Infinity radio stations. In denying the challenge, the FCC said that despite those indecency findings, it had no "substantial and material questions" about Viacom's fitness as a licensee. Indecency fines are levied against individual stations, not radio or TV networks. As part of the settlement, Viacom admitted some of the material was indecent, paid $3.5 million to the treasury, and adopted a company-wide compliance policy to prevent a repeat of the "indecent" broadcasts, including putting a delay on live radio and TV programming. For its part, the FCC agreed to dismiss all proposed radio fines and complaints against radio and TV -- with the exception of the Janet Jackson complaint--and not to use any of the dismissed complaints, or complaints about other past shows, against the company in the future. In essence, Viacom got a clean slate. The two groups, the Right to Decency and the American Decency Association, had challenged the decree, arguing that the FCC was allowing Viacom to buy basic character qualifications to hold its TV and radio licenses. The Commission disagreed, saying that if it did not think Viacom was still qualified to hold its licenses, it would not have struck the deal.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6382130.html?display=Breaking...
* FCC Denies Petition Regarding Viacom and Infinity Radio
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-153A1.doc
See also --
* FCC Denies Application for Review of Radio X Broadcasting
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-151A1.doc
* FCC Denies Petition Regarding Emmis Communications
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-152A1.doc
* FCC rejects Christian group's challenge to Viacom indecency settlement
http://lasarletter.com/freepage.php?id=200610171
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6382130.html?display=Breaking%20News
A QUESTION OF EYEBALLS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Louise Story]
In June, Nielsen Media Research, the ratings agency announced it would start rating commercials, beginning in November. But that announcement has set off a battle worthy of a “Survivor†episode, with just about everyone in the TV and advertising businesses disagreeing over how Nielsen should measure ad viewership. Nielsen is hearing some of the loudest complaints from the cable TV industry, which argues that some of the quirks of their business -- including regional ads in sports, and crawler ads along the bottom of the screen -- make their ads harder to measure. Now, Nielsen’s project has slowed to a crawl. Unable to resolve the infighting, it plans to delay releasing the new ratings until December. And in an effort to help ease some objections to the new ratings, Nielsen has decided to give the new data away for free the first year. It is also calling the new effort an experiment, and will let the networks choose whether to have their commercials rated or not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/media/18adco.html
(requires registration)
A Question of Eyeballs
RECORD LABELS TURN PIRACY INTO MARKETING OPPORTUNITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Sarah McBride and Ethan Smith]
There's a new tack being taken by the music industry to deal with the challenge posed by widespread music piracy. For years, the industry has been suing individual downloaders and file-sharing services, hoping to discourage the practice. In a tactic little known outside the music industry, record labels have also started to hire outside companies to plant "decoy," or fake, files on the sites. (One such company, ArtistDirect's MediaDefender, says it has deployed decoys for as many as 30 of the top 100 Billboard songs at any given time.) The decoy files frustrate users because they fail to download even though, thanks to the companies' technical expertise, they often claim the top spot in search results for a tune. But now there's a growing recognition among some record executives and performers that the people who are downloading illegally are frequently huge music fans and that marketing to them may be more desirable in the long run than suing or otherwise harassing them. By inserting promotional material into the decoy files, and then planting those files prominently on file-sharing sites, record labels and other marketers can turn what is now an antipiracy tool into an advertising medium.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113611429796022.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
See also --
* Music Companies Sue 8,000 More in Anti-Sharing Fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR200610...
* Universal Sues Video Sharing Websites
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-universal18oct18,1,54...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113611429796022.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
"LAW AND ORDER" BOSS DICK WOLF PONDERS THE FUTURE OF TV ADS (DOINK, DOINK)
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg brian.steinberg@wsj.com ]
Long before he created the popular crime-solving TV series "Law & Order," Dick Wolf was an ad man working for Benton & Bowles and other agencies. One of his big accomplishments was helping to devise the slogan "You can't beat Crest for fighting cavities" for the Procter & Gamble toothpaste. When working with P&G, Mr. Wolf says, "the sacred mantra was brand extension, and the biggest negative was a brand extension which would hurt the brand. That was to be avoided like the plague." He took P&G's lesson to heart when building "Law & Order" and its critically-acclaimed spinoffs, which are broadcast so frequently on NBC and cable stations that their familiar "doink, doink" sound effects between scenes seem ubiquitous. Mr. Wolf gives P&G full credit. "There are some tips you never forget," he says. These days, however, even the most successful TV producers face an uncertain new world. Consumers can watch entertainment programming whenever they please, on venues other than traditional television, and speed through the commercials. Mr. Wolf, 59, recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the changing relationship between advertisers and television. Excerpt: "if anyone tells you what the television business is going to look like a decade out, they are on drugs."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113866082296113.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116113866082296113.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
COMMON CAUSE RALLIES ANTI-MEDIA FORCES
[SOURCE: tvnewsday]
A coalition of advocacy groups opposed to the FCC easing its broadcast ownership limits will release research on Thursday that its says shows people in 12 states live in “highly concentrated media markets with few choices for news and views.†The release of the study will coincide with a tele-press conference at which representatives of the groups will argue against changing the rules, which now restrict ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market and the ownership of two top-rated TV stations in a market. The FCC’s deadline for comments in its proceeding aimed at relaxing the rules is Monday (Oct. 23). Slated to speak at the press conference: Common Cause President Chellie Pingree, Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott; Consumers Union Vice President Gene Kimmelman and Consumer Federation of America Director of Research Dr. Mark Cooper.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/10/17/daily.3/
Common Cause rallies Anti-big media forces
GOOGLE CEO: TECHIES MUST EDUCATE GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Those in the know about technology must spend more time reaching out to governments and helping them understand the Internet's role in society, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Tuesday. "The average person in government is not of the age of people who are using all this stuff," Schmidt said at a public symposium here hosted by the National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. "There is a generational gap, and it's very, very real." Of particular importance on the policy front are Net neutrality, the idea that network operators should not generally be allowed to prioritize content that travels over their pipes--the "revenge of the Bell companies," as Schmidt put it--and digital copyright law. Online service providers like Google that routinely grapple with complaints about copyrighted content on their properties are adequately protected now under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but any future changes in that area "could significantly change the way the Web works," he said.
http://news.com.com/Google+CEO+Techies+must+educate+governments/2100-102...
Techies must educate governments