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CONGRESS SET FOR COMBATIVE PRE-ELECTION PUSH
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Thomas Ferraro]
U.S. lawmakers return to work today from a month-long recess with time running out for Republicans to pass legislation and impress unhappy voters as they try to retain control of Congress in November 7 elections. Both parties are expected to jockey for political advantage in the coming weeks, particularly over the increasingly unpopular Iraq war and the battle against terrorism. Congress is expected to pass little more than big spending bills for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Deadlocks appear certain to remain on legislation such as raising the federal minimum wage, revamping U.S. immigration laws and reducing inheritance taxes. Congress is set to recess on October 6. But with Republicans so concerned about losing power, they may break a week early to give them more time to go home to campaign.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...
* Congress's Fall Agenda Takes Shape
The House has scheduled 11 full days of legislative work this month after Thursday's vote to curb the slaughter of U.S. horses -- a bill that has prompted dark jokes among Republicans about what awaits lawmakers if they don't get back on the campaign trail. To a remarkable degree, the leadership is prepared to risk the label of a "Do-Nothing Congress" if it means getting rank-and-file members on the hustings.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115741016450653170.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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ELECTIONS, NET NEUTRALITY MAY DISCONNECT TELECOM BILL
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Lawmakers returning to Washington this week will be greeted by telephone company lobbyists engaged in a final, uphill push for help in emerging as cable’s competitors. Verizon and AT&T want final passage of a bill that would let federal officials rather than localities set guidelines for offering video services. Telephone executives say kowtowing to thousands of localities is a barrier to rolling out TV services that offer hundreds of channels over high-speed lines. Cities and counties are fighting the measure, saying it saps their power to protect constituents and rights-of-way. The bill has prevailed in several votes and now needs an OK from the full Senate to clear Congress. But opponents have the calendar working for them. Lawmakers return to work Sept. 5 and adjourn by early October for the fall election campaign. The intervening weeks are likely to be jammed with routine appropriations and debate on national security.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10030...
See also --
* Video Franchise Not On Senate Schedule
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Advanced Telecommunications and Opportunities Reform Act of 2006 is not scheduled for this week, and odds lengthen that it will be considered before the post-election lame duck session, if at all.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6368461.html?display=Breaking...
* CONGRESS UNLIKELY TO TACKLE NET NEUTRALITY
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/3305
** For more on the bill see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/2173
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003086729
CONGRESS UNLIKELY TO TACKLE NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross, IDG News Service]
The U.S. Congress may take another crack at net neutrality and related broadband legislation when it returns from a month-long recess next week, but some observers aren't laying odds on either package passing. The battle lines over net neutrality have, if anything, become more defined since votes earlier this summer on telecommunications reform, and some people involved in the broadband debate say the legislation is unlikely to pass in a highly politicized election year. Neither side has offered a net neutrality compromise during the August congressional recess. The net neutrality debate has turned largely into a partisan issue, at least on Capitol Hill. Many Democrats have sided with consumer groups and many large e-commerce companies backing a strong net neutrality requirement. Many Republicans have backed the large broadband providers and network equipment vendors opposed to a new law.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/09/01/HNcongressnetneutrality_1.html
* See also:
ELECTIONS, NET NEUTRALITY MAY DISCONNECT TELECOM BILL
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/3306
Congress Unlikely to Tackle Net Neutrality
CONGRESS SHOULD ENSURE INTERNET PROVIDERS DON'T PLAY FAVORITES
[SOURCE: Anchorage Daily News, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Advocates of wide-open access to the nation's information superhighway are at odds with Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. They're worried that congressional update of the 1996 Telecommunications Act will allow companies that control Internet connections to play favorites with the content they deliver. Sen. Stevens chairs the key Senate committee on the issue, Commerce, and he does not share their concern. The advocates point out that Internet providers are free to fast-track content from favored Web sites or companies, while slowing down transmissions from everybody else. To prevent those abuses, the access advocates want the new federal law to ensure "net neutrality." That's shorthand for saying Internet companies can't discriminate in delivering content to your computer. Net neutrality is hardly a heavy-handed government intrusion into the free-wheeling world of the Internet. It is a simple antitrust rule that protects consumers by keeping Internet companies from exploiting their control over connections. Congress should get ahead of the curve and ensure net neutrality before abuses begin to spread. BOTTOM LINE: Net neutrality is a good idea. Sen. Ted Stevens should support it.
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/8156658p-8049486c.html
* Net Neutrality Wins More Senators
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20060901NetNeutralityWi...
Congress should ensure Internet Providers don't Play Favorites
TIERING, IT'S NOT JUST TELCO'S ANYMORE
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] New Internet registry contracts will now allow price-tiering for names. As Milton Mueller at ICANNWatch observes, this raises similar worries as tiered Internet access. This is why Sascha Meinrath's & Victor Pickard's new paper on redefining net neutrality is important. Meinrath and Pickard make the very good point that the openness of the Internet rests on more than just residential access providers. Those concerned with the current fight to maintain net neutrality -- as narrowly defined as preventing the last-mile access provider from defining the Internet experience -- should be aware of the need to protect other potential bottlenecks from emerging. What I love most about reality, is how it will always turn around and bite you in the rear end if you decide to ignore it. Reality soooo does not care that you chose to be ignorant of things like economics and political science, any more than it cares when idiots in poli-sci decide they can dictate technology and try to make idiotic rules about blocking net gambling or blocking indecency or outlawing peer-2-peer. Reality doesn't care. It just is.
http://www.wetmachine.com//item/584
Tiering, It's Not Just For Telcos Anymore
CLEAR CHANNEL PRESSES FCC TO RAISE OWNERSHIP CAPS IN LARGEST MARKETS
[SOURCE: RadioandRecords, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Yorke and Carol Archer ]
Clear Channel’s legal eagles landed in two FCC Commissioners’ offices last week to influence their positions on expanding ownership cap limits in the largest radio markets. For months, Clear Channel lobbyists have been pressing the flesh on Capitol Hill and in the halls of FCC headquarters. On Aug. 29, Clear Channel's executive VP and chief legal officer Andrew Levin, senior VP of government affairs Jessica Marventano, and outside legal advisor John Fiorini III of the influential K Street law firm, Wiley Rein & Fielding, held separate meetings with both Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate and her legal assistant Chris Robbins, and with Commissioner McDowell and his legal assistant, Cristina Chou Pauze. A Tate staffer said that it was obvious that Clear Channel’s interest in expanding market presence was due to its concerns about “audience fractioning†caused by growing competition from iPods and satellite radio operators Sirius and XM. The discussions are part of the on-going 120-day comment period initiated by the FCC earlier this summer when it invited public comment its obligatory review of media ownership rules. Current caps on large market ownership limit one group to owning up to eight stations  five on one band, three on another  in a market the size of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington or even Baltimore. But based on a document obtained by R&R, Clear Channel specifically uses New York City -- with 149 stations in the area -- as an example that it says shows that owning eight stations in markets with 45-to-59 stations is just 18% of the market, owning 10 stations in markets with 60-to 74 stations would be 17% of the market and owning a dozen stations in markets of 75 or more stations would be 16% or less of the market.
http://www.radioandrecords.com/radiomonitor/news/business/leg_reg/articl...
Clear Channel Presses FCC To Raise Ownership Caps In Largest Markets
TOP 3 CABLE FIRMS OFFER $2.3 BILLION FOR AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg News, AUTHOR: Molly Patterson & Christopher Stern]
The three largest U.S. cable operators have offered more than $2.3 billion for airwaves in the Federal Communications Commission's current auction, a slice big enough to create a new national wireless network. SpectrumCo LLC, 52 percent of which is owned by Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, has made the top offers for 132 of the licenses being sold by the FCC, including ones in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Overall, bids for 1,122 licenses totaled $13.7 billion after Thursday's 70th round. The Comcast-led group is poised to capture airwaves covering about 265 million people, or 89 percent of the U.S. population. Winning the licenses would allow its members, which include Time Warner and Cox Communications, to build their own wireless network. Another member, Sprint Nextel, has a separate agreement to provide wireless services to cable-company customers. The Sprint-cable partnership was third in total bidding in Thursday's most recent round, after T-Mobile USA Inc.'s $4.15 billion and Verizon Wireless's $2.8 billion. With offers for the largest swaths of spectrum unchallenged for a week or more, participants are now battling for airwaves in midsize cities.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/283420_fccauction01.html
Top 3 Cable firms offer $2.3 billion for Airwaves
LET BROADCASTERS BE FREE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Former FCC Commissioner James H. Quello]
[Commentary] Broadcasters need help. The government must assure the future maintenance of television and radio's expensive but vital emergency, local-news and community services. Foremost, the amazing influence of the Internet and its universal omnipresence must be fully considered. Second, the multichannel effect of the digital transition, especially for broadcasting, requires a revised regulatory outlook. Quello concludes: "It may be nearing the time that Congress set a date certain to establish a telecommunications open marketplace and eliminate the barriers between TV, radio, newspaper, cable, satellite, DSL and phone services. Companies should be allowed to enter any field in open competition. Remember, it is entrepreneurial industry, not government regulation, that provides investments, jobs and innovative consumer-serving technical advances. Admittedly, this proposal may be a few years ahead of itself, but the progressive benefits to consumers and industries, plus the need to effectively compete in the challenging, burgeoning, international marketplace, makes it a future imperative.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6368434.html?display=Opinion
See also:
* JAMES QUELLO AND THE BROADCAST LOBBY
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/3323
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6368434.html?display=Opinion
HUBBARD'S SECRET SATELLITE WEAPON
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John M. Higgins]
Why has Hubbard Broadcasting been an active buyer of video programming lately? The Hubbards have a little-known deal granting them slots for three channels on DirecTV and the potential to reach its 16 million subscribers -- and the deal expires soon. Securities filings show that, when DirecTV bought USSB, the satellite TV service Hubbard controlled, in 1999, the deal included a special agreement to carry the Hubbards’ All News Channel (which ultimately folded in 2002), as well as two additional channels to be developed later. With the deal expiring this year, the company has had to move quickly. So when Ovation’s investment banker, Lazard Freres, approached the company about the channel, Hubbard’s son, Stanley E. Hubbard II, pounced, agreeing to buy in and use the DirecTV rights as leverage to secure carriage.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6368381?display=Breaking+News
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6368381?display=Breaking%20News
IN A TIVO WORLD, TELEVISION TUNES MARKETING EFFORTS TO NEW MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
Two deals that are scheduled to be announced today are indicative of the ways TV is headed in new directions to meet the new needs of marketers. CBS and TiVo will work together to make it easier for TiVo subscribers to sample four new series on the network's fall schedule. The agreement is the first time that TiVo, which is trying to change its image as being unfriendly to advertisers, and a broadcast network have teamed up for a sneak peak of a new series. Previous preview deals struck by the broadcasters have been off television, offering computer users a chance to watch streaming video on Web sites like msn.com and yahoo.com. The other agreement involves ITN Networks, a media sales company in New York with estimated annual billings of $300 million. ITN assembles customized national TV networks for advertisers from the commercial time it buys from local broadcast stations. ITN clients include Burger King, Capital One, Clorox, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Sara Lee and Sears. A group of media heavyweights -- Sony Pictures Television, Veronis Suhler Stevenson and the Zelnick Media Corporation -- is buying a majority stake in ITN, spending an estimated $200 million initially as part of plans to eventually invest up to $250 million. The group also intends to expand ITN beyond broadcast TV into other realms like cable and satellite TV, the Internet and video games. For all the focus on new media, “people will not stop watching television anytime soon,†said Strauss Zelnick, chief executive at Zelnick Media in New York, who will take the new post of chairman at ITN. The problem with television is that “for years, it’s been a one-size-fits-all medium, when advertisers want to reach targeted audiences more effectively,†Mr. Zelnick said. “We’re trying to look around the corner and benefit from where the media market is going in the future.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/business/media/05adco.html
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In a TiVo World, Television Turns Marketing Efforts to New Media