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MARTIN: EXPANDED BASIC CABLE A TYING ARRANGEMENT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that cable’s expanded-basic tier is a “tying” arrangement because consumers are denied refunds for channels they either block or refuse to watch. Chairman Martin, who supports the a la carte sale of cable channels, told Wall Street analysts cable's most popular programming tier is not an example of bundling in an economic sense because none of the channels is available for sale outside of the tier. Instead, he added, expanded basic is an example of commercial tying. “Tying is taking things that are sold separately and stopping selling them separately and only selling them together in a bundle,” Martin said. “Tying is what’s occurring in the cable industry, and that’s different from just bundling.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6372384.html?display=Breaking+News

"INTERNET WATCH LIST" IDENTIFIES DANGEROUS LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy & Technology]
As Congress mounts its final push before the midterm elections, a number of bills that threaten the bedrock of Internet privacy and civil liberties could either come up for votes or worm their way into larger legislative packages that end up being rushed into law. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) issued its "Internet Watch List," which contains nine legislative efforts that should not be allowed to succeed in the so-called "silly season" at the end of the 109th Congress. In the coming weeks, CDT will urge lawmakers, journalists and the online public to keep close watch on these legislative efforts to ensure that this collection of bad ideas doesn't become a collection of bad laws. Note #6 on the list: "Telecom Bill Without Internet Neutrality."
Internet Watch List: http://www.cdt.org/legislation/2006watchlist.php
Press Release: http://www.cdt.org/press/20060913press.php

* For more on the pending Telecom Bills, see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=tracking_legislation

CHANGING ITS TUNE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Siklos]
While more than 9 out of 10 Americans still listen to traditional radio each week, they are listening less. And the industry is having to confront many challenges including streaming audio, podcasting, iPods and satellite radio. As a result, the prospects of radio companies have dimmed significantly since the late 1990’s, when broadcast barons were tripping over themselves to buy more stations. Radio revenue growth has stagnated and the number of listeners is dropping. The amount of time people tune into radio over the course of a week has fallen by 14 percent over the last decade, according to Arbitron ratings. Over the last three years, the stocks of the five largest publicly traded radio companies are down between 30 percent and 60 percent as investors wonder when the industry will bottom out. Now, radio’s woes have spurred a new wave of deal making. Clear Channel Communications, the nation’s largest radio operator, is now considering selling some of its 1,200 stations in smaller markets after years of acquiring everything in sight, according to industry analysts. The CBS Corporation did the same thing recently and now says it is looking at further station sales. The Walt Disney Company struck a deal this summer to get out of the radio business altogether, and in May, Susquehanna Broadcasting, the nation’s largest privately held radio group, was sold to another broadcaster. But rewriting the ownership map is just part of radio’s scramble to find a new groove. In the last year, the industry has moved into overdrive by increasing experimentation with new formats and starting digital initiatives like HD Radio -- a nascent format that will allow listeners with special tuners to hear more specialized channels. Radio companies are moving fast into Web businesses that incorporate video and other features that could not have been imagined when commercial radio first appeared nearly nine decades ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/media/15radio.html
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POLITICAL AD SPENDING COULD HIT $1.6 BILLION THIS YEAR
[SOURCE: AdAge]
Despite all the media chatter about Howard Dean's digital legacy and the rise of blogs and websites as the new powers of political marketing, local and national broadcast TV will continue to receive the overwhelming bulk of all ad spending during the upcoming primaries and presidential race, according to Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of the Campaign Media Analysis Group at TNS Media Intelligence. Speaking at the Television Bureau of Advertising conference earlier this week, Tracey noted that state and national political marketing strategies remain "married to broadcast television" and that only small slices of candidates' budgets are going to cable or digital platforms.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=111843