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CBS TAKES JACKSON FINE TO COURT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
CBS has paid the $550,000 indecency fine for the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident, but only so it can take the decision to court. "CBS is filing today an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit seeking to overturn the FCC’s finding that the 2004 Super Bowl half-time broadcast was legally indecent," the network said in a statement. A prerequisite for filing this appeal is to pay the $550,000 fine, which we are also doing today only for this procedural reason." CBS was paying a $27,500, then the FCC maximum, for 20 station cited. It made the wire transfer to the FCC Friday "under protest." "CBS has apologized to the American people for the inappropriate and unexpected half-time incident, and immediately implemented safeguards that have governed similar broadcasts ever since. However, we disagree strongly with the FCC’s conclusions and will continue to pursue all remedies necessary to affirm our legal rights." The FCC's response Friday was essentially, 'Bring it on': "The Commission will vigorously defend the Forfeiture Order issued against CBS," it said in a statement. "CBS’ continued insistence that the halftime show was not indecent demonstrates that it is out of touch with the American people. Millions of parents, as well as Congress, understand what CBS does not: Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” was indeed indecent."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6357266.html

* CBS to Fight Janet Jackson Ruling
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6357463.html?display=Breaking+News

SOME IMPORTANT FCC DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF THE BROADCAST BAND
[SOURCE: Truth, Justice and telecom Policy 7/26, AUTHOR: J.H. Snider]
[Commentary] While media reform activists have been preoccupied with telecom legislation on the Hill and the media ownership proceeding at the FCC, the National Association of Broadcasters has been quietly moving ahead with critical initiatives at the FCC, especially in the radio bands: 1) The NAB has asked the FCC to drastically restrict the use of FM modulators in the FM band (see more at the URL below). FM modulators are unlicensed devices that use the white spaces between licensed channels. 2) The NAB has petitioned the FCC to allow AM radio broadcasters to acquire available FM frequencies for FM translator service within their own protected coverage areas. 3) Expected to come up in the next few weeks -- FM multicasting rights -- a proceeding that may well be the last time to point out to the FCC that it has given radio broadcasters double their licensed spectrum and the capacity to provide up to 20 times their current service levels without asking for anything in return.
http://quixote.blogs.com/telecompolicy/2006/07/some_important_.html

* Breaking Terrestrial Radio's Automobile Monopoly
http://quixote.blogs.com/telecompolicy/2006/07/breaking_terres.html

AFTER ADELPHIA: THE NEW LANDSCAPE OF THE CABLE INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: George Winslow]
The U.S. cable map has just changed. After 15 months of delays and regulatory wrangling, the $17 billion deal through which Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable will acquire Adelphia Communications Corp. and, at the conclusion, swap a number of systems, is expected to close today. This is how the numbers now add up: Time Warner Cable systems pass 27 million homes, up from about 19.8 million. The operator counts 14.5 million basic subscribers, up from 11 million. About 85% of those subscribers will be located in just five regions, or “clusters”: Southern California, where it will now serve 2.4 million households, up from 0.7 million; Texas, where it will serve 2.6 million, up from 2.0 million; the Carolinas, at 1.9 million, up from 1.7 million; Ohio, at 2.3 million, up from 1.5 million; and New York, at 3.1 million, up from 2.6 million. Comcast, meanwhile, will expand its total number of subscribers to 23.3 million, up from about 21.5 million in the first quarter of this year. It strengthens its presence in markets such as Washington, D.C.; Boston; Minneapolis-St. Paul.; major Florida cities and Pittsburgh.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6357343.html

AFTER ADELPHIA: CLUSTERS EVERYWHERE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: George Winslow]
The Adelphia cable deal is scheduled to be completed today. Time Warner will boost its subscriber base by about 3.5 million, to 14.5 million customers. Comcast Corp., which will get about 1.7 million customers through the deal, will expand to 23.3 million cable homes. That will give the two cable companies control of roughly 58% of total U.S. television households. More importantly, both companies will control a combined 17 of the 20 largest markets in the United States. “It’s a parallel evolution to what’s happening on the phone side -- Bell Atlantic has gone away, BellSouth is going away,” said Janco Partners cable analyst Matt Harrigan. “It makes sense, especially when you look at the complexity of the product bouquet.” Fragrance aside, increased scale will allow both Time Warner and Comcast to deliver advanced services more efficiently. But Harrigan said he doesn't expect to see a new wave of consolidation in the industry for one simple reason -- a scarcity of available properties. “There aren't a lot of elephants left on the savannah,” Harrigan said. Instead, there may be more system swaps, particularly among smaller players. Miller Tabak & Co. media analyst David Joyce said. Mediacom Communications Corp. could pare down some non-core systems, and relatively new cable companies such as Suddenlink Communications, Bright House Networks and Bresnan Communications all could be involved in swaps to better cluster their operations. Creating large concentrations of customers in major markets is a fundamental strategy for cable operators such as Time Warner or Comcast. The ability to serve the vast majority of households in a given region allows them to more effectively market advanced services, as well as compete against satellite operators, who can reach every home, and telcos, which have lines into almost every one.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6357493.html?display=Top+Stories

ADELPHIA DEAL MAY CUT TIME WARNER'S PROGRAMMING COSTS, BUT NOT CONSUMERS' BILLS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson]
What does the Adelphia deal mean for Time Warner? The cable giant will pick up 3.5 million new cable customers which represent a 29 percent increase and give it 14.5 million cable subscribers. The company, which already has a big position in New York, will also become the dominant cable provider in Los Angeles. Since key decision makers in the advertising and media worlds are concentrated in these cities, Time Warner Cable will become even more of a destination for programmers. “You will reach the mind-share folks” if your network is carried on Time Warner Cable, said Lowell Singer, an analyst at Cowen & Company. “If you’re a programmer, you have to be on there.” Precisely how much of an advantage Time Warner Cable can gain in cable channel negotiations is unclear since contract details are rarely disclosed and each programming contract is different. Time Warner expects programming costs to rise by around 12 percent for the remainder of the year. Time Warner will have to wait years for its existing contracts to expire before renegotiating them. Still, when Adelphia is sold, its programming contracts will lapse and Time Warner’s agreements will be applied, to the dismay of many programmers who stand to earn less money. Time Warner’s rates are roughly 10 percent lower than Adelphia’s. Whatever Time Warner saves on programming is unlikely to make its way into the pockets of consumers, at least not directly. The company is likely to use the money to offer new services that produce revenue, like digital phones and video-on-demand. Consumers get discounts for buying bundles of services, but they also spend more money. “What mergers demonstrate is that there is not competitive pressure to pass along savings to customers even with the Bells getting into the television market,” said Gene Kimmelman, director of the Consumers Union. “If people think the transaction will lead to lower prices, there’s no data to support it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/technology/31adelphia.html
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INTERNET NEWS SUPPLEMENTS PAPERS, TV
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Peter Johnson]
Mainstream media may be able to breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now: A study finds that although the Internet has grown significantly in the past decade, it is supplementing traditional outlets such as newspapers and television, not replacing them. The biennial news consumption survey of 3,204 adults, out today from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that although a growing number of people go online for headlines, most still also go to newspapers and television for in-depth news. The findings suggest that “for at least the forseeable future, traditional media are going to continue to co-exist with online news, and that the online news experience is a partner to other traditional news sources and not growing fast enough to supplant traditional media,” Andrew Kohut, Pew's president, said Sunday. The study found that just a decade ago, one in 50 Americans got their news from the Web. Today, one-third of Americans go online for news -- mainly to get the headlines. But as the Internet has become more mainstream, its audience growth has slowed considerably since 2000.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20060731/d_pew31.art.htm

* Online news audience growth slows in US: survey
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&story...