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Coverage Type 

AIRWAVES AUCTION MAY RAISE $20 BILLION
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
The wireless future goes on sale today when the federal government puts a huge swath of radio-wave spectrum on the auction block. With the use of cellular telephones and other wireless gadgets booming, the invisible bands of spectrum that serve as the nation's data highways are getting overloaded. Putting valuable frequencies now used by the Pentagon and other agencies to commercial use is expected to help cellular phone carriers as well as cable and satellite TV providers expand their services. One of the largest spectrum auctions ever, the sale could bring as much as $20 billion into federal coffers that could be used to offset the nation's budget deficit. The sale, which combined with another auction planned for early 2008, would nearly double the amount of bandwidth available for advanced wireless devices in the United States. It also promises to jump start the spectrum land-rush for the next generation of wireless services. Known as 3G, for third generation, the technology can enable cellphones to access e-mail, music and video content at high speeds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-spectrum9aug09,1,4885...
(requires registration)

* US wireless sale draws a new crowd
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...


Airwaves Auction May Raise $20 Billion
Coverage Type 

CHARGES OF DIRTY TRICKS ON WEB FEED SPECULATION IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Cooper & John Markoff]
You may not be reading it here first, but challenger Ned Lamont beat three-term incumbent Sen Joe Lieberman in yesterday's Connecticut Democratic primary election. When Sen Lieberman's campaign Web site crashed in the hours leading up to the election, it was hard not to read some deeper meaning into the problem. Was it a sign that Sen Lieberman was clumsy when it came to marshaling the technology that his opponents had used so well against him? Or had some shadowy, sinister bloggertypes who were championing his challenger hacked into the site and shut it down, as the Lieberman campaign charged? The Lieberman campaign said that "we believe that this is the result of a coordinated attack by our political opponents." The Lamont campaign responded that "if Senator Lieberman's Web site was indeed hacked, we had absolutely no part in it, denounce the action, and urge whoever is responsible cease and desist immediately." Either way, the Web battles that marked Primary Day made for a fitting coda to a campaign that played out nearly as much on the Internet as it did on the stump. Even before Mr. Lamont entered the primary race that he would eventually win, the anger directed at Senator Lieberman over his support for the Iraq war and the Bush administration had found a focal point, and a forum, on the Web, among the bloggers and activists who call themselves Netroots.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/nyregion/09blogs.html
(requires registration)

* Lamont Relied On Net Roots -- And Grass Roots
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR200608...


Charges of Dirty Tricks on Web Feed Speculation in the Blogosphere
Coverage Type 

BIG MEDIA ON CAMPUS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Emily Steel emily.steel@wsj.com ]
It's not breaking news that the newspaper industry is losing the attention of young readers. But one sector of the industry is defying the trend: college papers. Hip, local, relevant and generated by students themselves, college newspapers have held steady readership in recent years while newspapers in general have seen theirs shrink. Big advertisers are going on campus to reach these young readers. Ford Motor Co., Microsoft Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have all placed recent ads in college newspapers. Now, media giants are jumping in. Last week, Gannett's Tallahassee Democrat acquired Florida State University's FSView & Florida Flambeau, one of the nation's few for-profit college newspapers. The same day, Viacom's MTV, which already runs a network targeted at college campuses called mtvU, agreed to buy Y2M: Youth Media & Marketing Networks, a company that hosts the Web sites for 450 campus papers. MTV executives hope the deal will give mtvU credibility in the college community, providing its advertisers with easy access to college students.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115509164245730752.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115509164245730752.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
Coverage Type 

COURT DENIES VERIZON'S MARYLAND INJUNCTION REQUEST
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
A federal court judge rejected a request by Verizon Communications' Maryland division for a preliminary injunction to block implementation of franchising rules for Montgomery County, Md. Judge Marvin Garbis also directed Verizon to work with a mediator to resolve issues arising out of the county's attempts to issue a franchise with terms comparable to incumbent video competitors.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360759.html?display=Breaking+News


http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360759.html?display=Breaking%20News

Benton's Communications-related Headlines For Thursday August 10, 2006

To view Benton's Headlines feed in your RSS Aggregator, paste
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For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Employment and Wage Effects of Radio Consolidation
Viacom to buy Atom Entertainment
Broadcasters to discuss 2008 schedule in Beijing

TELEVISION/RADIO
Survey Cites Lack Of Notice About Digital TV Transition
TV Makers Struggle To Meet Mandate For Digital Tuners
No Big Demand for Small Screen
3 Groups Create Fund for Public Radio

TELECOM REFORM
Phone Pork
Regulations for Net still Not Warranted Despite latest Outcry
Economics and the Network Neutrality Debate

NEWS FROM THE FCC
T-Mobile USA dominates first round of FCC auction
McDowell Sees FCC Action On Video
FCC Ends Highway Neutrality

MEDIA & ELECTIONS
Internet, activists help topple prominent Democrat

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Judge delays review of AT&T spying lawsuit
Cuba targets illegal TV dishes as US weapon
Western Internet firms "act as censors" in China

PRIVACY
No Such Thing as a Free Search

ADVERTISING
Many Advertisers Use Nuisance Adware Knowingly
New Book Reports 37% of All Advertising Is Wasted

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

EMPLOYMENT AND WAGE EFFECTS OF RADIO CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Future of Music Coalition, AUTHOR: Peter DiCola]
Using data from the Occupational Employment Survey of the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, FMC Research Director Peter DiCola examines the
effects of radio consolidation on employment and wages for radio
announcers, news reporters, and broadcast technicians. The report
finds that, comparing figures across metropolitan areas, an increase
in the number of stations per owner within a metropolitan area was
associated with both lower employment levels and lower wages during
the years 1996 to 2003. The study also shows that the job losses in
radio impede federal policy mandates to promote localism and
diversity in media. "Consolidation in radio ownership hasn't just
homogenized music formats," said Jenny Toomey, musician and executive
director of the Future of Music Coalition, "it has devastated the
broadcast profession and virtually eliminated the ability of radio
stations to provide unique coverage of local news, music and
community issues. Before the FCC moves forward to further loosen
already weak ownership limits, it should understand the impact that
deregulation has had on jobs and communities."
http://www.futureofmusic.org/news/PRemploymenteffects06.cfm
http://www.futureofmusic.org/images/EmploymentEffectsRadioConsolidation0...

VIACOM TO BUY ATOM ENTERTAINMENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kenneth Li]
Viacom's MTV Networks on Wednesday said it would buy Internet video
and games company Atom Entertainment Inc. for $200 million as big
media companies move to compete with online upstarts such as video
leader YouTube.com. MTV Networks hopes to grow its main audience of
young viewers with Atom's portfolio of online videos created by
Internet users, short independent films and casual online games, said
Chairman and Chief Executive Judy McGrath.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...

BROADCASTERS TO DISCUSS 2008 SCHEDULE IN BEIJING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Nick Mulvenney]
How much does $1.18 billion buy you these days? Well, would you like
to schedule the time for the swimming finals for the 2008 Olympic
games? Heated discussions can be expected when the controversial
competition schedule for the 2008 Olympics is hammered out at a
meeting of broadcasters in Beijing this week. A draft schedule leaked
to the Australian media last weekend had the finals of the swimming,
gymnastics and men's basketball pencilled in for the morning
sessions, prime-time for American television audiences. NBC paid
$3.55 billion for the rights to three Olympic Games, including
Beijing, and many are convinced the early starts are the result of
the American broadcaster looking to ensure they get their money's
worth. The proposed shifting of the swimming finals from their
traditional evening slot has caused uproar in Australia, whose strong
swimming team has a great rivalry with the Americans. Six-times
Olympic medallist Michael Klim slammed the move as "pandering to the
American dollar" and said leading swimmers planned to petition the
International Olympic Committee (IOC).
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=televisionNews&story...

TELEVISION/RADIO

SURVEY CITES LACK OF NOTICE ABOUT DIGITAL TV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 8/4, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
In spite of considerable progress installing digital tuners in
televisions, electronic companies and retailers are not adequately
notifying customers that sets without tuners will not receive
over-the-air broadcasts beginning February 2009. According to a
survey of two leading electronics retailers conducted by Technology
Daily, only 3 percent of sets for sale at Best Buy included notices
about the 2009 change. The comparable number was 33 percent for
Circuit City. The Consumer Electronics Association agreed this spring
that manufacturers voluntarily would affix advisory labels onto any
sets manufactured or imported without digital tuners. None of the
sets in either store included any language from the CEA-recommended
advisory. It reads: "This TV has only an 'analog' broadcast tuner so
will require a converter box after Feb. 17, 2009 to receive
over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the nation's
transition to digital broadcasting on that date, as required by federal law."
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-ZOJX1155047482870.html

TV MAKERS STRUGGLE TO MEET MANDATE FOR DIGITAL TUNERS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 8/4, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
The FCC in 2003 began to require that all televisions manufactured or
imported into the United States include tuners. On July 1, 2004, 50
percent of all sets 36 inches and greater were to have tuners. On
July 1, 2005, 100 percent of those sets, and 50 percent of mid-sized
sets -- 25 inches to 35 inches -- were to have the tuners. The FCC
originally set a 100-percent deadline for all sets 25 inches and
greater for July 1, 2006. However, in June 2005 it shifted that
deadline to March 1, 2006. Electronics manufacturers made marked
strides in putting digital tuners in their television sets within the
past year but fell short of the FCC requirement that 100 percent of
all televisions 25 inches and bigger include tuners. Additionally,
retailers and television manufacturers did not adequately warn
customers that sets without digital tuners will not receive
over-the-air broadcasts once analog broadcasting stops Feb. 17, 2009.
A Technology Daily survey of two leading electronics retailers found
72 percent of the sets for sale at Best Buy included digital tuners,
while 83 percent at Circuit City did.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-TOHW1155047168843.html

NO BIG DEMAND FOR SMALL SCREENS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Matea Gold]
Entertainment purveyors may be scrambling to package their content
into mobisodes, video downloads and podcasts, but a new Los Angeles
Times/Bloomberg poll found that teens and young adults -- the
generation most likely to be the early adopters of this new
technology -- have yet to fully embrace it. About half of young
adults and 4 in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching
television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held
devices such as video iPods, the poll found. While more than 2 out of
5 teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this
kind of content online, only 14% of teenagers said they wanted to
watch television on a cellphone, and 17% said they would view
programs on an iPod. The findings suggest that networks are rushing
to package content for these new platforms before even tech-savvy
young consumers are hankering for the "third screen" experience. The
survey, which asked a wide range of questions about entertainment
consumption, highlighted the pervasive influence of television
particularly on tween girls, a majority of whom reported that TV
shows affected their dress, speech, music preferences or social
activities. In addition, it found that a surprisingly high number of
teenagers and young adults gleaned news from traditional media
sources such as local television and network newscasts -- for many
through a sort of information osmosis as they absorbed news from
programs their parents were watching. Perhaps most intriguing,
however, was the indication of a widespread indifference toward
small-screen viewing among teenagers and young adults. While many in
the industry expect the demand for such content to rise dramatically
in the coming years, the poll offered clues to a consumer reluctance
that first must be overcome.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-et-polltv10aug10,1,781...
(requires registration)

3 GROUPS CREATE FUND FOR PUBLIC RADIO
[SOURCE: Associated Press 8/9]
Public radio stations could soon have new benefactors who can invest
directly in the stations through the creation of a fund for public
radio. Three groups -- the Ford Foundation, the Calvert Social
Investment Foundation and Public Radio Capital -- said Wednesday that
they plan to give individual and institutional investors a way to
invest directly in public radio stations, with a target of raising
$15 million over the next six to 12 months. The Public Radio Fund
already has $4.5 million committed in loaned funds from the Bethesda,
Md.-based Calvert Foundation, which collected the money from
individual investors nationwide, and $1.5 million from the Ford
Foundation. The creation of the fund is, in part, a response to
growing concerns about overconcentration of media ownership in the
radio industry. "The Public Radio Fund is a rare opportunity for
socially aware investors of all kinds to band together behind
grassroots, alternative independent media," Timothy Freundlich,
Calvert's director of strategic management, said in a statement.
"This is a major new initiative that brings together the leaders in
the world of public radio financing, socially responsible investing
and foundations."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR200608...

TELECOM REFORM

PHONE PORK
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Tim Doyle]
[Commentary] The telecom reform bill now pending in the U.S. Senate
could include a cap on the $7 billion-a-year boondoggle the nation's
rural telephone carriers collect. For companies like one Hawaiian
telecom that sweeps in $13,345 per line per year, the big battle in
the reform measure is not over network neutrality, which is pitting
AT&T against Microsoft, Google and Yahoo!, but a high-stakes
amendment that could cap the Universal Service Fund (USF) that has
provided the carriers years of financial windfalls. The rising cost
of the program has drawn criticism from House Commerce Committee
Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Rep Barton
has branded the fund's growth "unacceptable, unsustainable and
unnecessary." He has even called for an end to the program. Still,
the telecom reform bill he guided through the House in June contained
no changes at all to the USF. Sen McCain, for his part, is calling
for a cap on the fund. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska) pushed the Senate telecommunications reform bill through
his committee without a cap, saying his staff needs to study how
other changes in the legislation will affect the USF. Those changes
include audits of how USF money is spent and a new fund-raising
scheme that would spread the USF cost more widely, possibly requiring
broadband and local-telephone customers to contribute. Consumers
hoping for some curbs on the program--and some relief from the USF
tax--may be disappointed. One indication: Even though Stevens says he
favors restraint, the bill he pushed through his committee creates
yet another USF program--this one to bring broadband Internet to
rural homes at a cost of up to $500 million a year.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/08/beltway-rural-telecoms-cz_td_0809beltwa...

REGULATIONS FOR NET STILL NOT WARRANTED DESPITE LATEST OUTCRY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: David L. Cohen, Comcast]
[Commentary] As telecom legislation wades through the Senate, a small
but vocal and well-financed band of Internet giants -- led by Google
and Microsoft -- has been pushing for sweeping new Internet
regulations that they call "network neutrality." They say that
without such regulations, broadband providers will start blocking
Internet-based content and that the Internet, as we know it, will
end. Indeed, this hyperventilating about the need to regulate
broadband services is nothing new. Various self-anointed critics --
and some tech companies that stand to gain much financially -- warned
of a similar impending apocalypse during the interactive television,
advanced instant messaging, and "forced-access" debates of the last
seven years, and argued in each instance on behalf of sweeping new
regulations. In tomorrow's world, a broadband provider might want to
help bring health care into under-served rural areas with, for
instance, real-time consultative video for complicated medical
procedures. But network neutrality proponents would outlaw that
advance unless the same network capacity be given to them, for free,
to prop up their own commercial endeavors. The antitrust laws already
police abuses in these industries, including any potential abuse by
broadband providers. Indeed, an increasingly competitive marketplace,
together with existing laws, provide more than enough protection
against attempts to Balkanize the Internet. We need the freedom to
experiment with business models that let us deliver what consumers
want. We can get there if Congress focuses on liberating tomorrow's
networks rather than regulating today's networks.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/15240713.htm

THE ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION-LINE RESTRICTIONS WITH AN APPLICATION TO
THE NETWORK NEUTRALITY DEBATE
[SOURCE: eScholarship Depository, AUTHOR: Benjamin E. Hermalin and
Michael L. Katz]
The University of Berkeley professors examine the welfare effects of
product-line restrictions, such as those called for by some
proponents of network neutrality regulation. They find that
restricting a monopoly supplier to a single product has the following
effects: a) consumers who would otherwise have consumed a low-quality
variant are excluded from the market; b) consumers "in the middle" of
the market consume a higher and more efficient quality; and c)
consumers at the top of the market consume a lower and less efficient
quality. Total surplus may rise or fall. The authors also examine a
duopoly model and find that imposition of a single-product
restriction always reduces welfare. Absent the restriction, the two
firms engage in head-to-head competition across full product lines.
In some circumstances, the restriction induces the two firms to offer
identical products. The resulting loss of variety reduces welfare. In
other circumstances, the restriction induces the firms to offer
non-overlapping, or vertically differentiated, products. Here, the
resulting loss of competition harms both consumers and economic
efficiency. Lastly, they find that, to the extent that the regulation
is intended to eliminate low-quality products, it may fail. Even
though any one firm can offer only a single product, various firms
can collectively offer a menu of products.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iber/cpc/CPC06-059/

NEWS FROM THE FCC

T-MOBILE USA DOMINATES FIRST ROUND OF AWS AUCTION
[SOURCE: RCRNews.com, AUTHOR: Kelly Hill]
T-Mobile USA Inc. led the first round of bidding in the Federal
Communications Commission's auction of advanced wireless services
spectrum, placing bids for spectrum that would substantially expand
its national footprint. The carrier bid for 20 megahertz of spectrum
in each of six regions across the country, as well as additional
spectrum in markets such as San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth
and many other markets. T-Mobile USA placed seven of the top 10
highest bids and bid highest for the Great Lakes, Northeast and
Western regional licenses. The nation's fourth-largest carrier also
made more than half of the 40 highest bids so far. A pair of
closely-watched players made just two bids each in the first round:
Sprint Nextel Corp. and its four cable company partners made the 10th
largest bid for 10 MHz of spectrum in the Northeast region and also
bid for a 10 MHz block in the Western region. Meanwhile, a satellite
company consortium -- which made the largest upfront payment before
the start of the auction -- bid for 10 MHz of spectrum in the
country's central region, and another 10 MHz in the Mississippi
Valley region. Winning those licenses would give the consortium
spectrum in the vast majority of the country's midsection. Overall.
bidders placed 731 bids in the first round, worth a total of about
$769 million. Of the available licenses, 653 received no bids. The
auction is expected to last several months.
http://www.rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=27050
* Round One Ends in FCC Wireless Auction
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6360918?display=Breaking+News
* Satellite Pair Leads Bids in FCC Auction
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/business/media/10spectrum.html
* Satellite, cable battle wireless in US FCC auction
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID...

MCDOWELL SEES FCC ACTION ON VIDEO
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 8/8, AUTHOR: Heather Greenfield]
More on Tuesday's press meeting with FCC Commissioner Robert
McDowell. If Congress fails to clear a telecommunications bill this
year, the FCC can play a role under existing law to bring more video
competition to the market, Commissioner McDowell said. "I don't want
to underestimate [Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska],"
McDowell said of the bill's author. But he added that there are some
things the FCC can do to "clear unnecessary regulatory underbrush."
"We can help speed the deployment of video penetration ... and
broadband penetration," Commissioner McDowell said. But he does not
believe existing law gives the FCC the authority to impose a mandate
that cable operators carry all digital broadcast signals. McDowell
voted against a mandate in June. "If Congress changes it, we'll
enforce that mandate," he said. "My basic philosophy is to trust free
markets and free people to make their own decisions," Commissioner
McDowell said. "But should there be market failure, the government
should act." He said he would prefer that any new regulations be
"sunsetted" to force deregulation once market failures are cured.
McDowell said consumers want access to the content of their choice
where and when they desire. He believes consumer demand will be "an
incredibly powerful check and balance" when it comes to issues like
per-channel cable pricing or tiered pricing for high-speed Internet content.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-DKUL1155132529041.html

FCC ENDS HIGHWAY NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Lot 49, AUTHOR: Thomas Claburn]
The Federal Communications Commission today approved sweeping new
rules to put the management of the nation's roads under the control
of Internet service providers. The controversial new policy
represents an effort to implement the Telecommunications Executive
Enrichment Act, which was approved by Congress through a secret vote
in early August and signed into law without being read by President
Bush. "Telecom companies have had a hard time of late," said FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin at a press conference. "It's our hope that
putting them in charge of the highway system will allow them to
recoup losses incurred by bad business decisions." Highway neutrality
advocates immediately denounced the new rules as anti-competitive. "I
have already paid for access to the highway system with tax dollars,"
complained Harlan Pasca, Director of the Association of Disorganized
and Impoverished Complainers. "Why should I have to pay again?" Under
the new FCC rules, the federal highway system will be turned into
what amounts to a toll road. Highway Service Providers like AT&T will
be allowed to levy additional fees on drivers based on vehicle make,
speed and weight. These fees will be in addition to transportation
taxes and subscription charges. "Some companies want us to be a big
dumb road that gets bigger and bigger. . . .," said AT&T chairman Ed
Whitacre following the FCC announcement. "No one gets a free ride.
The American economy doesn't work that way. . . We are not going to
build this with no chance for a return. Those that want to use this will pay."
http://www.lot49.com/2006/08/fcc_ends_highway_neutrality.shtml

MEDIA & ELECTIONS

INTERNET, ACTIVISTS HELP TOPPLE PROMINENT DEMOCRAT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Patricia Wilson]
Fueled by opposition to the Iraq war and anger at President Bush,
liberal grass-roots and Internet activists on Wednesday claimed their
most significant political victory -- the defeat of Democratic Sen.
Joseph Lieberman. The three-term senator from Connecticut was
repudiated on Tuesday by voters from his own party who chose Ned
Lamont -- a relative unknown with a fierce anti-war message -- to
represent Democrats in the November election. "The winner is
people-powered politics," declared the Daily Kos Web site, a
sentiment that echoed throughout the liberal blogosphere. Lamont, a
millionaire businessman who has never held state or federal office,
had almost zero name recognition and very little political experience
when he entered the race. But his vociferous opposition to the Iraq
war and Bush's pursuit of it drew the attention of activists,
bloggers and groups like MoveOn.org, which unleashed an army of
volunteers who went house-to-house in Connecticut for months and made
80,000 phone calls in the days before the primary vote. "What you're
witnessing is the democratization of democracy and don't expect it to
be pretty," said Carol Darr, director of George Washington
University's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...
* Lieberman defeat a win for 'Netroots' politics?
http://news.com.com/Lieberman+defeat+a+win+for+Netroots+politics/2100-10...

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

JUDGE DELAYS REVIEW OF AT&T SPYING LAWSUIT
[SOURCE: Reuters]
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker temporarily halted on Tuesday
further review of a lawsuit charging AT&T illegally allowed the U.S.
government to monitor phone and e-mail communications. He said he
would stay the case pending an appeal of his earlier decision by the
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He said he was also awaiting
another court decision that could bundle similar lawsuits across the
nation before his or another court. Judge Walker also said if the
case proceeded he was considering asking former CIA director James
Woolsey to serve as an expert assisting the court review issues in the case.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...

CUBA TARGETS ILLEGAL TV DISHES AS US WEAPON
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Cuba's Communist government has signaled a crackdown on the use of
black-market satellite dishes. The Communist Party newspaper Granma
on Wednesday warned that the dishes, which many Cubans use to watch
Spanish-language television programs from Miami, could be used by the
U.S. government to broadcast subversive information. "They are
fertile ground for those who want to carry out the Bush
administration's plan to destroy the Cuban revolution," said the
newspaper, the official voice of the government. Such an article in
Granma usually signals that action is on the way. The article also
decried the "avalanche" of capitalist advertising in commercial
television programs.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...
* Cuba Condemns U.S. Broadcasts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR200608...

WESTERN INTERNET FIRMS "ACT AS CENSORS" IN CHINA
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lindsay Beck]
A rights group accused Western Internet companies on Thursday of
complicity with censorship in China and called on Microsoft Corp.,
Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. to resist Beijing's demands. New
York-based Human Rights Watch called the blocking of politically
sensitive Web sites and search terms "arbitrary, opaque and
unaccountable" and urged the publicly traded firms to be upfront with
their users about censorship. "It was ironic that companies whose
existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken
on the role of censor, even in cases where the Chinese government
makes no specific demands for them to do so," the group said in a report.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID...

PRIVACY

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE SEARCH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
MANY AMERICANS WOULDN'T be able to use the Internet without the
virtual road map provided by search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
As they use those sites, though, each inquiry discloses something
personal that they might not want to share. Something embarrassing,
or worse, something misleading. AOL, the nation's biggest supplier of
Internet access, made clear just how sensitive those inquiries can be
earlier this month. Hoping to aid software developers, the company
released logs of about 20 million searches made by 658,000
subscribers from March to May. Although numerical IDs were used in
place of names, the queries often provided clues to the user's
identity, interests and state of mind. The search records were
available online for about a week before a few bloggers stumbled over
them, triggering an outcry about privacy. AOL responded by yanking
the records from its site, but by then it was too late -- others on
the Web were already making the records available to all comers. AOL
may have failed its customers, but it did the rest of us a favor by
showing the kind of information that search sites collect.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-aol10aug10,1,7510...
(requires registration)
* AOL gaffe draws Capitol Hill rebuke
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) said Wednesday that AOL's disclosure of the
search habits of more than 650,000 of its users demonstrates that new
laws are necessary.
http://news.com.com/AOL+gaffe+draws+Capitol+Hill+rebuke/2100-1028_3-6104...

ADVERTISING

MANY ADVERTISERS USE NUISANCE ADWARE KNOWINGLY -- STUDY
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology]
More than half of the pop-up ads served by nuisance "adware" programs
are placed knowingly by advertisers, CDT found in a new study
released today. Although many ads purchased by major national
companies pass through complex networks of affiliates before being
displayed by nuisance adware distributors, 55 percent of the ads
served by those distributors are placed directly by the companies
being advertised, according to "Following the Money II: The Role of
Intermediaries in Adware Advertising." The study builds on the
findings of Following the Money I, which untangled the complicated
web of affiliate relationships common to nuisance adware
models. August 09, 2006
Press Release: http://www.cdt.org/press/20060809press.php
Following the Money II: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20060809adware.pdf
Following the Money I: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/20060320adware.pdf
http://www.cdt.org

NEW BOOK REPORTS 37% OF ALL ADVERTISING IS WASTED
[SOURCE: AdAge 8/8, AUTHOR: Jack Neff]
A new book -- "What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to
Guarantee Yours Succeeds" -- finds that 37.3 percent of advertising
budgets are wasted. The book traces $1 billion in spending and finds
that it is at least possible to find out exactly what's wasted -- and
how to get better performance from the other 62.7%, offering hope
that battered business can rise from the mat.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=110937
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
does not always represent the tone of the original articles.
Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang headlines( at )benton.org -- we
welcome your comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Benton's Communications-related Headlines For Wednesday August 9, 2008

To view Benton's Headlines feed in your RSS Aggregator, paste
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/6/all/feed into your reader.
For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org

NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC Lacks Multicast Muscle, Says McDowell
Airwaves Auction May Raise $20 Billion

INTERNET/BROADBAND
Charges of Dirty Tricks on Web Feed Speculation in the Blogosphere
Bloggers Drive Inquiry on How Altered Images Saw Print
Sprint Will Build an Intel-Backed Network
A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749
Chinese Tech Buffs Slake Thirst for U.S. TV Shows

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Big Media on Campus

QUICKLY -- Comcast, Ebay Talk Net Neutrality; Another Court Loss for
EchoStar; Court Denies Verizon's Maryland Injunction Request; Cable,
Telcos Debate in Pennsylvania

NEWS FROM THE FCC

FCC LACKS MULTICAST MUSCLE, SAYS MCDOWELL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
New FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell put something of an exclamation
point on his regulatory independence in a briefing with reporters
Tuesday, including making it clear he does not think the FCC has the
authority to mandate multicast must-carry without clearer direction
from Congress. Commissioner McDowell said he saw two principal issues
on the FCC agenda, "threading the needle" of the third circuit remand
of media ownership rules, and revamping the universal service fund,
which underwrites telecommunications deployment to rural and
underserved areas via contributions from industry. Commissioner
McDowell, who was sworn in June 1, said he was open to separating the
omnibus FCC ownership review into smaller bites rather than "one big
kidney stone to pass." He also said he wanted to take a wait-and-see
approach to the issue of cable a la carte, saying consumer demand
may force a private sector solution. As to multicast must-carry,
which like a la carte has been pushed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin,
an engaging and at-ease McDowell said he did not believe Congress had
given the FCC authority to mandate it, saying if Congress wanted to
give it that express authority it could. McDowell called "network
neutrality" a Rorschach term (those ink blotches psychologist ask
patients to interpret), that depends on where you stand. Where he
stands, he said, is in support of the FCC's four neutrality
principles and concerned with balancing the need for network
management with the threat of abuse. He said it would be tough for
the government to apply a prophylactic for a problem that does not
yet exist, suggesting that the FCC did not want to be the French
goalie, referring to a World Cup soccer shootout in which that
goalie, as with most goalies in such shootouts, kept guessing left
when the ball went right, or vice versa. Commissioner McDowell said
that if a franchise reform bill does not pass, the FCC has the
authority to step in and take action itself.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6360473?display=Breaking+News
* McDowell Sees FCC Role in Cable Franchising
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360712.html?display=Breaking+News
* TW/Bell South Merger Could Face 2-2 FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: ]
New Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, formerly with
independent telecom association Comptel, could be recused from the
AT&T/Bell South merger review, but it hasn't happened yet. If
McDowell can't cast a vote, that will leave the FCC with a 2-2
commission, as it had during the marathon 404-day review of the
Comcast/Time Warner/Adelphia deal. McDowell told reporters Monday
there was a one-year period during which he had to steer clear of
proceedings in which Comptel filed, and that if/once it did weigh in,
he would have to step away. Comptel filed a formal petition to deny
the merger June 5, according to the group, only four days after he
was sworn in.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6360751?display=Breaking+News

AIRWAVES AUCTION MAY RAISE $20 BILLION
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
The wireless future goes on sale today when the federal government
puts a huge swath of radio-wave spectrum on the auction block. With
the use of cellular telephones and other wireless gadgets booming,
the invisible bands of spectrum that serve as the nation's data
highways are getting overloaded. Putting valuable frequencies now
used by the Pentagon and other agencies to commercial use is expected
to help cellular phone carriers as well as cable and satellite TV
providers expand their services. One of the largest spectrum auctions
ever, the sale could bring as much as $20 billion into federal
coffers that could be used to offset the nation's budget deficit. The
sale, which combined with another auction planned for early 2008,
would nearly double the amount of bandwidth available for advanced
wireless devices in the United States. It also promises to jump start
the spectrum land-rush for the next generation of wireless services.
Known as 3G, for third generation, the technology can enable
cellphones to access e-mail, music and video content at high speeds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-spectrum9aug09,1,4885...
(requires registration)
* US wireless sale draws a new crowd
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...

INTERNET/BROADBAND

CHARGES OF DIRTY TRICKS ON WEB FEED SPECULATION IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Cooper & John Markoff]
You may not be reading it here first, but challenger Ned Lamont beat
three-term incumbent Sen Joe Lieberman in yesterday's Connecticut
Democratic primary election. When Sen Lieberman's campaign Web site
crashed in the hours leading up to the election, it was hard not to
read some deeper meaning into the problem. Was it a sign that Sen
Lieberman was clumsy when it came to marshaling the technology that
his opponents had used so well against him? Or had some shadowy,
sinister bloggertypes who were championing his challenger hacked into
the site and shut it down, as the Lieberman campaign charged? The
Lieberman campaign said that "we believe that this is the result of a
coordinated attack by our political opponents." The Lamont campaign
responded that "if Senator Lieberman's Web site was indeed hacked, we
had absolutely no part in it, denounce the action, and urge whoever
is responsible cease and desist immediately." Either way, the Web
battles that marked Primary Day made for a fitting coda to a campaign
that played out nearly as much on the Internet as it did on the
stump. Even before Mr. Lamont entered the primary race that he would
eventually win, the anger directed at Senator Lieberman over his
support for the Iraq war and the Bush administration had found a
focal point, and a forum, on the Web, among the bloggers and
activists who call themselves Netroots.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/nyregion/09blogs.html
(requires registration)
* Lamont Relied On Net Roots -- And Grass Roots
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR200608...

BLOGGERS DRIVE INQUIRY ON HOW ALTERED IMAGES SAW PRINT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye & Julie Bosman]
As of yesterday afternoon, Adnan Hajj was the most-searched term on
the Technorati Web site, which tracks what is being discussed in the
blogosphere. And a rendering of his work was one of the most viewed
videos on YouTube. Mr. Hajj, a Lebanese photographer based in the
Middle East, may not be familiar to many newspaper readers. But
thanks to the swift justice of the Internet, he has been charged,
tried and convicted of improperly altering photographs he took for
Reuters. The pictures ran on the Reuters news service on Saturday,
and were discovered almost instantly by bloggers to have been
manipulated. Reuters then announced on Sunday that it had fired the
freelancer. Executives said yesterday that they were still
investigating why they had not discovered the manipulation before the
pictures were disseminated to newspapers. The matter has created an
uproar on the Internet, where many bloggers see an anti-Israel bias
in Mr. Hajj's manipulations, which made the damage from Israeli
strikes into Beirut appear worse than the original pictures had.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09photo.html
(requires registration)
* Blogger Takes Aim At News Media and Makes a Direct Hit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR200608...

SPRINT WILL BUILD AN INTEL-BACKED NETWORK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff & Ken Belson]
Intel won a major victory yesterday in its decade-long campaign to
create a mobile Internet based on an array of new data services.
Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest cellular carrier with 51.7
million subscribers, said it would use WiMax, a technology promoted
by Intel, in building a high-speed wireless data network with
connection speeds about five times those currently available. Sprint
said it would spend up to $3 billion over two years on the network,
which will be able to support new mobile services like full-motion
video and interactive gambling when it goes into operation in 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09chip.html
(requires registration)
* Sprint Nextel to Build $2.5 Billion Wireless Network
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR200608...

A FACE IS EXPOSED FOR AOL SUBSCRIBER NO 4417749
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Barbaro & Tom Zeller]
America Online's detailed records of searches conducted by 657,000
other Americans, copies of which continue to circulate online,
underscore how much people unintentionally reveal about themselves
when they use search engines -- and how risky it can be for companies
like AOL, Google and Yahoo to compile such data.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)
* AOL's data sketch sometimes scary picture of personalities searching Net
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060809/maney09.art.htm

CHINESE TECH BUFFS SLAKE THIRST FOR US TV SHOWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Howard French]
Volunteers across China spend night after night creating Chinese
subtitles for American sitcoms and dramas for a mushrooming audience
of Chinese viewers who download them from the Internet free through
services like BitTorrent. Their ambition is to make American popular
culture available in near-real time free to Chinese audiences,
dodging Chinese censors and American copyright lawyers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/asia/09china.html
(requires registration)

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

BIG MEDIA ON CAMPUS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Emily Steel emily.steel( at )wsj.com ]
It's not breaking news that the newspaper industry is losing the
attention of young readers. But one sector of the industry is defying
the trend: college papers. Hip, local, relevant and generated by
students themselves, college newspapers have held steady readership
in recent years while newspapers in general have seen theirs shrink.
Big advertisers are going on campus to reach these young readers.
Ford Motor Co., Microsoft Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., and
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have all placed recent ads in college
newspapers. Now, media giants are jumping in. Last week, Gannett's
Tallahassee Democrat acquired Florida State University's FSView &
Florida Flambeau, one of the nation's few for-profit college
newspapers. The same day, Viacom's MTV, which already runs a network
targeted at college campuses called mtvU, agreed to buy Y2M: Youth
Media & Marketing Networks, a company that hosts the Web sites for
450 campus papers. MTV executives hope the deal will give mtvU
credibility in the college community, providing its advertisers with
easy access to college students.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115509164245730752.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

QUICKLY

COMCAST, EBAY TAKE THEIR NEUTRAL CORNERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John M. Higgins]
As Senate Commerce Committee Republican Chairman Ted Stevens
continues to try to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened
Democrat veto -- over the issue of network neutrality -- and bring a
communications reform bill to the floor, David Cohen, EVP of Comcast
Corp., and Meg Whitman, President/CEO of online auction site, eBay,
have become electronic pen pals of a sort, swapping e-mails over the
issue, though on opposite ends of the spectrum.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6360701.html?display=Breaking...

ANOTHER COURT LOSS FOR ECHOSTAR
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
EchoStar Communications suffered a court loss Monday regarding its
ability to provide out-of-market feeds of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox
programming to about 1.2 million customers around the country, an
EchoStar official said Monday. EchoStar asked the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 11th Circuit to stay a key ruling while the case was
on appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court refused the
request Monday. The case returns to federal district court in south
Florida Aug. 15, an EchoStar official said.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360281.html?display=Breaking+News

COURT DENIES VERIZON'S MARYLAND INJUNCTION REQUEST
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
A federal court judge rejected a request by Verizon Communications'
Maryland division for a preliminary injunction to block
implementation of franchising rules for Montgomery County, Md. Judge
Marvin Garbis also directed Verizon to work with a mediator to
resolve issues arising out of the county's attempts to issue a
franchise with terms comparable to incumbent video competitors.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360759.html?display=Breaking+News

CABLE, TELCOS DEBATE IN PENNSYLVANIA
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
The latest battle over cable regulation had its first skirmish in
Pennsylvania, with telephone companies arguing that local franchising
is a barrier to entry and cable countering that telcos can compete
now and need no governmental assistance. Cable executives noted that
regulations were changed in 1996 that allow telcos to provide video
services. Under those rules, Verizon Communications negotiated 23
franchise agreements around the state.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360417.html?display=Breaking+News
--------------------------------------------------------------
That's a White Sox winner! way to go, Paulie.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
does not always represent the tone of the original articles.
Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang headlines( at )benton.org -- we
welcome your comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Coverage Type 

"The public-interest standard -- the bedrock obligation of those who broadcast over the public airwaves -- has fallen into an unfortunate state of disrepair over the years. It’s time to put up scaffolding and get the restoration under way."
-- Then-FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani in December 1999


http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/3178
Coverage Type 

MCDOWELL SHOWS INDEPENDENCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed]
Lawyers who follow the Federal Communications Commission closely say Commissioner Robert M. McDowell's early record has served notice that he is an independent force at the FCC who is willing to defy the chairman, Kevin J Martin. His actions have confounded the conventional wisdom that once he became the third Republican on the five-member commission, he would give Chairman Martin a reliable majority at the agency, whose decisions can mean billions of dollars to communications companies. FCC watchers also said Commissioner McDowell may now emerge as the swing vote on the commission with considerable influence as it weighs decisions such as whether AT&T, the nation's largest phone company, should be allowed to swallow up the third-ranking player, BellSouth, in a roughly $67 billion deal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR200608...
(requires registration)


McDowell Shows Independence
Coverage Type 

BRAVE NEW BROADCASTING WORLD
[SOURCE: Fort Worth Weekly, AUTHOR: Kay Mills]
If you own an analog TV set and don't subscribe to cable or satellite, your television will go dark on February 18, 2009. Years in the making, this decision to go digital has far-reaching ramifications, and not just for your ability to watch your daily programs. Billions of dollars are at stake -- including an expected government windfall of at least $10 billion, to come from auctioning off the excess broadcast spectrum that will be freed by the move to digital. A power struggle is also going on over who will control what you see, with those who provide program content -- such as local broadcasters and networks -- on one side and those who are the conduits for the shows -- cable and telephone companies -- on the other. Depending on who wins some epic regulatory battles, you may have a rich new menu of programs to watch, including reports on election campaigns and local high school football, and some media giants may earn bundles of extra money. Everyone from local newscasters to actors, writers, and producers of TV programs also has an enormous stake in how this transition turns out. At least as important is the parallel battle going on to determine whether the public interest will be any better protected in this brave new digital world than it is now -- that is, whether TV stations will have to provide more coverage of local and federal elections, for instance, as well as giving airtime to nonprofit groups.
http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=4114


http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=4114
Coverage Type 

MCKINSEY STUDY PREDICTS CONTINUING DECLINE IN TV SELLING POWER
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Abbey Klaassen]
A study is about to give Madison Avenue a fresh pummeling: McKinsey & Co. is telling a host of major marketers that by 2010, traditional TV advertising will be one-third as effective as it was in 1990. That shocking statistic, delivered to the company's Fortune 100 clients in a report on media proliferation, assumes a 15% decrease in buying power driving by cost-per-thousand rate increases; a 23% decline in ads viewed due to switching off; a 9% loss of attention to ads due to increased multitasking and a 37% decrease in message impact due to saturation.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=110899


http://adage.com/article?article_id=110899