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BBC PRESSES FOR FINANCING, AND ITS DETRACTORS CRY FOUL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
The BBC is under more than the usual degree of scrutiny because the license fee of $ 242 a year that every British television owner must pay to finance its operations is under review by the government. While the broadcaster’s royal charter has been renewed for another decade, the level of financing must still be determined. A majority of Britons, in a recent survey commissioned by the BBC, said they supported the license fee. But the review process and the corporation’s plans for spending the money have opened the door to all sorts of critics from outside the BBC and some from within. The BBC has asked the government to increase the license fee, which raises nearly $5.5 billion a year, by 2.3 percentage points more than the annual inflation rate over the next seven years. The BBC says the money is needed to pay for digital television and Internet services as it prepares for an uncertain future in which consumers will be able to choose from a proliferating array of media options. Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, is expected to announce on Wednesday a reorganization aimed at meeting this challenge. “The BBC is going through huge change, moving from traditional linear broadcasting to the challenging and exciting world of interactive on-demand digital media,†Mr. Thompson said this month as the corporation published its annual report. “It means the BBC’s relationship with audiences is also constantly changing.†Signs of change include declining audiences for the BBC’s flagship conventional television channels as viewers turn to digital alternatives or log on to the Internet. Meanwhile, some of the BBC’s plans to move into new areas, particularly in its small but growing commercial activities, have upset some competitors in the private sector.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/business/media/17bbc.html
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BBC Presses for Financing, and Its Detractors Cry Foul
HOORAY FOR MEDIA CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] For the 1.2 million Adelphia customers in greater Los Angeles, it's time to say hooray for media consolidation. When the dust settles this summer in LA, Time Warner will go from minor player to kingpin — it will be the sole cable operator for about 98% of the city and 75% of the region. So why is this good news? This is the cable industry, after all, which ratchets up prices as regularly as swallows return to San Juan Capistrano. For starters, removing Adelphia from the local cable TV picture is addition by subtraction. Although it is currently the largest cable operator in the region, with customers from Ojai to Temecula, Adelphia has been notorious for poor customer service and sparse product offerings, particularly in the years leading up to its 2002 bankruptcy filing. The primary benefit of Time Warner's ascendance in Southern California is that the company plans to start offering local phone service soon, giving parts of the city their first taste of local-phone competition. Many residents also will be offered cable-modem service, an alternative to the local phone companies' high-speed Internet lines, for the first time. Judging from what has happened in other communities, competition may not drive down prices significantly, but it should yield more value for the money.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-cable17jul17,1,37...
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Hooray for Media Consolidation
ADELPHIA DECIDED
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] A look at the FCC's approval of the sale of Adelphia cable TV assets two industry giants Comcast and Time Warner. Negotiations over the move delayed the FCC's meeting last week for 5 hours. The FCC did not adopt a network neutrality condition, they did not adopt a condition on PBS Sprout, allowing Comcast to get by with a voluntary commitment to make the programming available on a non-exclusive basis for the next three years. They acted on the Washington Nationals, and gave a nod to leased access. Find a detailed analysis of the conditions, which will expire in six years, at the URL below. Feld concludes: "So, all things considered, do I count this as a win? In the end, I have to wait for the final order to come out to know the full impact. We got a lot of stuff out of an order that could easily have been a catastrophe, even if we lost a skirmish in the Net Neutrality war and the media consolidation fight generally. So do I measure by what was reasonable to achieve in a 3-2 Republican administration, in which case this is a pretty amazing success? Or do I measure by the fact that, at the end of the day, Comcast and Time Warner got their merger through? As a long time Red Sox fan, allow me to offer a possible analogy. Red Sox fans consider it a bad season if the Sox don't make the playoffs. It's a good season if they make it to the play offs, a great season if they win the play offs (especially if they beat the Yankees along the way), and a once in a life time day of holy celebration if they win the World Series. On the “Red Sox†scale, I place this somewhere between making the playoffs by beating the Yankess and actually winning the playoffs. If we'd gotten Network Neutrality as well, I'd have bumped it up to winning the playoffs." (Just one question from Chicagoland -- what are these 'playoffs' of which you speak?)
http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/item/550
Adelphia Decided
SERENDIPITY VS A LA CARTE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Larry Aidem, Sundance Channel]
[Commentary] The Sundance Channel's CEO writes, The United States is multicultural, multiÂlingual and multifaceted, a vibrant and robust nation of ideas. These diverse voices are in evidence in the wide variety of programming available on cable and satellite TV. Scores of channels beckon, highlighting a range of interests and serving a quintessentially American audience, which represents a broad mix of ethnicity, heritage and points of view." He warns that pay-per channel cable regulation would reduce the number of viewing alternatives, diminish diversity in programming and raise costs for most customers. He concludes, "Organizations representing African-Americans and Latinos have warned Congress of the disastrous impact on programming diversity and choice. Executives from networks serving Asian, Latino and African-American audiences sent a strongly worded letter to key senators explaining that their ability to reach audiences would evaporate. Multiplicity of voices makes our nation great. Let's not imperil that gift with à la carte regulations curtailing the many voices and viewpoints on television today."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6353653.html?display=Opinion
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6353653.html?display=Opinion
CABLE RIPS NIELSEN'S AD RATINGS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
In part of a growing brouhaha, several top cable-research officials criticized Nielsen Media Research’s plans to start tallying national viewership for commercials this fall. Both Jack Wakshlag, Turner Broadcasting System’s chief research officer, and Tim Brooks, Lifetime Television’s executive vice president of research, voiced their concerns about various aspects of Nielsen’s plan to provide average national commercial-minute ratings, kicking off in November. Ad agency Magna Global USA also publicly blasted Nielsen’s announced commercial-rating initiative, which is being done at the request of the broadcast networks. Before it proceeds with these ratings, one of the issues Nielsen needs to address, according to Wakshlag and Brooks, is agreeing upon a definition of what constitutes a commercial minute. “Right now, a commercial minute is a minute that has at least one second of a commercial in it,†Wakshlag said. “I'm not sure if that’s fair or that’s the best way to go about doing it.†Any system Nielsen comes up with ultimately would need accreditation by the Media Rating Council, and it must be agreed upon by all of the ratings service’s clients, Brooks said.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6353313.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6353313.html?display=Breaking%20News
DON'T TOUCH THAT TELEVISION DIAL
[SOURCE: Beloit Daily News, AUTHOR: Rep Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)]
[Commentary] A look at Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006 (COPE HR 5252). Rep Baldwin writes: "Competition in the video delivery business? I'm all for it. Lower prices for the consumer? I'm all for that. But the devil, once again, is in the details. While I support the “ends†of the COPE bill (increased competition and lower prices), I don't support the “means†and voted against the bill." Why? The bill does not contain adequate local controls or consumer protections nor does it promise “net neutrality†or aspire to universal service, assuring that every American has a chance in the digital age. The legislation also weakens funding support for local public, educational, and governmental (PEG) channels. Rep Baldwin concludes: "Do we need to update our federal telecommunications policy to respond to ever-changing technology and consumer demand? Absolutely. But not at the expense of consumer protections, municipal budgets, and the common good. The COPE bill is yet another example of the Republican majority favoring well-connected, special interests over average Americans."
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2006/07/13/editorials/edit02.txt
Don't touch that television dial
NEUTRALITY RULES WOULD CLOG THE PIPE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Tom Tauke, Verizon]
[Commentary] Phone giant Verizon's chief lobbyist Tom Tauke makes his company's case, again, against Network Neutrality. "Net neutrality is perhaps the oddest Washington debate I have seen. It amounts to holding a Congressional vote on hypothetical business plans." He concludes, "If policymakers decide that network access cannot be created differently, we drag broadband back to the days where there was no incentive to innovate and very little competition. In a world of 30 or 50 or 100 Megabit networks -- more than enough capacity to meet the needs of everyone -- there are no network problems. In the midst of this healthy, emerging marketplace, imposing regulations isn't a policy approach government should be taking."
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6353464.html?display=Opinion
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6353464.html?display=Opinion
SENATORS PUSH FOR E911 FUNDING
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 7/12, AUTHOR: Michael Martinez]
Last week, Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), co-chairmen of the Congressional E911 Caucus, urged their Senate colleagues to fund matching grants to state and local governments to assist those jurisdictions in deploying enhanced 911 services authorized by a 2004 law. Burns and Clinton earlier this year requested that $42 million from the budget for the coming fiscal year be directed for such purposes. Specifically, they have asked for half of that sum to come from a transportation appropriations measure, and the other half from a commerce appropriations bill -- both of which are soon slated for action in the Senate Appropriations Committee or by the full Senate.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-NMWZ1152907353300.html
Senators Push For E911 Funding
A NATION LEFT BEHIND ON ED TECH?
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Robert Brumfield]
As lawmakers in the U.S. continue to scale back funding for educational technology--Congress is considering eliminating funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology block grant program, the single largest source of technology-specific funding for schools in the federal budget--education officials in other countries, including Britain and Mexico, are pouring more dollars into school technology programs, gearing up to prepare students for the global economy.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6442
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6442
JUDGE ASKS FOR FCC MERGER ORDERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
D.C. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is reviewing the Justice Department's antitrust conditions placed on the SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI mergers, has asked the FCC for an unexpurgated copy of its order approving the two deals. FCC General Counsel Michele Ellison told the court that she will supply it once she has contacted all the parties whose confidential information was redacted in the public order to get their permission. The FCC conditions on the merger, including a 30-month net neutrality provision, are not at issue in the court review.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6353333.html?display=Breaking...
* Judge Seeks FCC Documents On Recent Phone Mergers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115310805401708409.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6353333.html?display=Breaking%20News