Benton RSS Feed
FCC MUST HEAR PUBLIC'S CONCERNS BEFORE VOTING ON MEDIA CONSOLIDATION RULES
[SOURCE: Common Cause press release]
Common Cause is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hear the public’s concerns and opinions before voting on any proposals to relax media ownership limits. With the appointment of Robert McDowell as the fifth and final FCC Commissioner, it is widely expected that the agency will announce new media consolidation rules at its June 21 meeting. In an open letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Common Cause noted that the FCC in 2003 voted to relax media consolidation limits without giving the public time to review the rules or seeking the public’s views on the impact those rules would have on communities. “When the Court of Appeals in Philadelphia rejected the 2003 rules, the court’s decision made clear that not only were the rules flawed, so was the process that produced them,†Common Cause President Chellie Pingree wrote. “We urge you not to repeat the mistakes of the past.†Chairman Martin has indicated that he would like to eliminate the 30-year-old ban prohibiting a company from owning both a television station and a newspaper in the same market, and may also relax rules governing the number of local television and radio stations that can be controlled by a single owner. “The FCC must actively seek and listen to public opinion on this issue,†Pingree said. The group is urging the Commission to disclose any and all proposed rule changes in a comprehensive package before the June 21 meeting, and to schedule a series of hearings in geographically diverse locations to listen to public opinion.
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=686...
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=686043&ct=2…
WIRELESS AND INTERNET PHONE BILLS SEEN RISING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
Consumers would likely face higher wireless and Internet telephone bills under a plan that could be approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission next week, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed requiring new Internet-based telephone services like Vonage Holdings to contribute a portion of their revenue to the Universal Service Fund, as well as boost contributions from wireless carriers, the sources said. The move comes as the agency is facing in August a shortfall in the $7.3 billion fund. Chairman Martin must find a way to make up for a looming shortfall because the FCC last year exempted companies offering digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed Internet service from paying to the fund. DSL bills could drop if the savings are passed on to customers. The FCC has been weighing broader reform of USF contributions for some time. Martin has supported a charge based on telephone numbers, but he has decided instead to advance an interim step in light of the shortfall, the sources said. Martin's proposal would subject almost 65 percent of the revenue of Internet telephone service, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, to the 10.9 percent contribution factor, the sources said, declining further identification. The current revenue level subject to USF contributions for wireless carriers is 28.5 percent but it would go up to about 37 percent under the proposal, the sources said. If the wireless or Internet telephone providers can prove that their long distance and international revenue is less, they would be allowed to use that as the basis for their contribution to the fund. "I think in general the direction they're going will lead to a better distribution of the cost of supporting a nationwide, affordable communications network," said Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal and international policy at Consumers Union. "It's not clear to me they've got the distribution fully accurate," he cautioned.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID...
THE INTERNET TAX MAY BE CREEPING UP ON US
[SOURCE: Jeff Pulver]
[Commentary] I have repeatedly called for VoIP providers that offer services intended to be nothing more than a replacement for plain old telephone service to step up to the plate and meet the regulatory obligations of traditional telephony providers. In fact, the Voice on the Net Coalition, the voice for the VoIP industry in the US, has also supported meeting the basic economic and regulatory obligations that ensure a robust and ubiquitous public switched network. For the record, however, I have to reiterate that many, if not all, of the current regulations do not make sense in a world where voice is an application riding on top of broadband transmission services. The current Universal Service Fund ("USF") contribution methodology, which requires service providers to determine whether its revenues are derived from intrastate vs. interstate or international services, telecom services vs. information services, or even customer premises equipment, is one of the many regulatory schemes that no longer work in a geographically irrelevant, converged, IP-enabled world. As the VON Coalition has repeated in many of its filings over the last few days, applying USF assessments on VoIP services that act like replacement phone services is not a matter of if or when, but a question of how. To this end, while I do support the assessment of USF contributions on the companies that the FCC refers to as "interconnected" VoIP providers, first, the FCC must reform the assessment mechanisms so that VoIP consumers are not hit with a discriminatory, inequitable, and arbitrary tax simply because they have chosen to utilize advanced IP technology to make voice calls, as opposed to wireless or circuit switched services. Chairman Martin has called for a new contribution system based on working telephone numbers. This is just one better way of ensuring that the transmission service (or the connection) contributes, rather than the application.
http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/004835.html
The Internet Tax May Be Creeping Up on Us
FEDS ASK MORE TIME TO LOOK AT SALE OF FOUR KR PAPERS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Pete Carey and Chris O'Brien]
Federal regulators reviewing the purchase of Knight Ridder by McClatchy need more time to examine McClatchy's proposed sale of four Knight Ridder newspapers, including the Mercury News and two other Northern California papers, to Denver-based MediaNews Group. The request from the Department of Justice came Monday, the final day of an initial 30-day period regulators have to review major mergers and acquisitions under guidelines set down by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Act. McClatchy received a request for more information on its purchase of Knight Ridder on April 26. That review is ongoing, said people familiar with the process. The latest request from regulators focuses on McClatchy's sale of four Knight Ridder papers, including three in the Bay Area. MediaNews is also buying the St. Paul Pioneer Press. While experts believe the sales won't be blocked, an obvious area of antitrust concern is the purchase of the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey County Herald by MediaNews Group. MediaNews already owns seven papers in the region, which overlap in some areas with those it is acquiring. The timing may jeopardize McClatchy's plan to close the deal to buy Knight Ridder and simultaneously sell the four papers. The sale of Knight Ridder to McClatchy is slated for 4 p.m. June 27. It's possible the Justice Department could approve that sale before then but take more time on the MediaNews deal, forcing McClatchy to take over the papers for a short time, something it was anxious to avoid.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/14814416.htm
Feds ask More Time to Look at Sale of Four KR Papers
CHANDLERS CALL FOR BREAKUP OF TRIBUNE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher and the Associated Press]
The second-largest shareholder of Tribune Co. on Wednesday called for a breakup of the Chicago-based media company, saying its strategy of combining broadcasting and newspaper properties in large cities has failed. The Chandler family, which owns 12 percent of Tribune's shares, also said in a regulatory filing that they would not tender their shares as part of a major buyback the company is undertaking. In a stinging letter to Tribune’s board of directors included in the filing, William Stinehart Jr., trustee of the Chandler Trust, wrote: “Over the past two years, Tribune has significantly underperformed industry averages and there is scant evidence to suggest the next two years will be any different. Clearly, it is time for prompt, comprehensive action.â€
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* At Tribune, a Call for a Split
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/15/business/media/15tribune.html
* Chandlers Threaten Proxy Fight Over 'Disastrous' Tribune Strategy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115030372387580193.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
* Chandlers Demand Breakup of Tribune
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-tribune15jun15,1,32...
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=…
TRIBUNE'S ASSETS SEEN AS BIG LURES FOR BIDDERS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jerry Hirsch and James Rainey]
The prospect of a breakup of Chicago-based Tribune Co. and its 11 daily newspapers and 26 television stations would draw intense interest from potential buyers despite skepticism among many investors about the value of traditional media. Several media analysts said that if the Chandler family succeeded in forcing a Tribune breakup, it was far more likely the company would be sold off piecemeal rather than to one or two buyers. That's because the larger individual assets -- including the Chicago Cubs baseball team -- are likely to draw interest from local and regional buyers who view them as trophy properties. The allure of Tribune's publishing and broadcast arms is likely to vary by market. Big city television operations generally would be more attractive, whereas newspapers in those markets face growth challenges and competition from mostly free online classified advertising services such as Craig's List. Tribune's major-market TV stations -- WPIX Channel 11 in New York; KTLA in Los Angeles and WGN Channel 9 in Chicago -- probably would be most attractive to private equity funds -- pools of investment money that finance acquisitions -- that have subscribed to the idea of "brand name" value and already are players in several recent media purchases.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fi-buyers15jun15,1,...
(requires registration)
Tribune's Assets Seen as Big Lures for Bidders
CABLE OPERATORS BLAST HANDLING OF RURAL BROADBAND INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com]
A federal program designed to speed the expansion of high-speed Internet services to rural areas is coming under increasing criticism from cable operators that say the aid is unfairly subsidizing competitors. The Broadband Access Program, administered by the Agriculture Department, has provided more than $871 million in loans since 2003 to broadband companies serving communities with populations of less than 20,000. The department says those funds will provide high-speed Internet access to 380,000 homes and businesses. But cable operators contend that they already have spent tens of millions of dollars to offer service in many of those areas and that the federal program is putting those investments at risk by enabling competitors to offer rival services at lower costs. "It's poor administration and misuse of the taxpayers' money," says Matt Polka, president of the American Cable Association. In the latest escalation of the fight, late last month the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association joined with Mediacom Communications Corp., a midsize cable operator, in filing a lawsuit against the Agriculture Department alleging the program is violating the intent of Congress. The lawsuit says that the cable companies receiving loans are using the money to provide customers with TV service as well as broadband services. The Agriculture Department has been attacked by both sides of this debate. While cable companies have criticized the government for making too much money available, other critics have attacked the agency for not spending it fast enough. At a recent congressional hearing, for example, Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) warned that hundreds of millions of dollars of loan capacity may have to be returned to the Treasury if it isn't spent by September. "Time really is of the essence here," he said. Cable and phone companies haven't extended broadband service to many rural areas because they are too sparsely populated to make it worthwhile. Only 19% of households in rural areas have broadband, compared with 28% in suburban areas and 29% in cities, according to the Government Accountability Office.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115032596559080552.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115032596559080552.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
CABLE SPENDING ON TRIPLE PLAY DWARFS US TELECO INVESTMENTS
[SOURCE: Telecommunications Online, AUTHOR: Bob Wallace]
Developing a full-service video offer is one of the most important facets of the "triple play" -- providing voice, video and Internet service -- battle now forming between local telephone companies and cable operators. A new report from Detecon finds that the $90 billion investment made in the triple play by cable operators since the 1996 Telecom Act dwarfs Baby Bell spending in the same area.
http://telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_2150
http://telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_2150
GOVERNMENT INCREASINGLY TURNING TO DATA MINING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed and Sara Kehaulani Goo]
Industry executives, analysts and watchdog groups say the federal government has significantly increased what it spends to buy personal data from the private sector, along with the software to make sense of it, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They expect the sums to keep rising far into the future. Privacy advocates say the practice exposes ordinary people to ever more scrutiny by authorities while skirting legal protections designed to limit the government's collection and use of personal data. Critics acknowledge that such data can be vital to law enforcement or intelligence investigations of specific targets but question the usefulness of "data-mining" software that combs huge amounts of information in the hopes of finding links and patterns that might pick someone out as suspicious.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR200606...
(requires registration)
Government Increasingly Turning to Data Mining
CONGRESS KEEPS ITSELF, PUBLIC IN DARK ON SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] With its wiretapping of international phone calls and collecting a database of domestic phone records, the Bush administration is busy watching for evildoers. Unfortunately, spying on those who pose a threat is not easily separated from spying on everyone else, and no one is watching the Bush administration with equal attentiveness. Despite lots of rhetoric, Congress has offered little to fulfill its duty to act as a check on the executive branch. Today, six months after The New York Times disclosed that the National Security Agency has been wiretapping international phone calls of U.S. residents without court orders, and one month after USA TODAY revealed that the NSA has been compiling a huge database of domestic phone records, Congress is poised for its first action. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider a bill by its chairman, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that would consolidate a gaggle of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the warrantless wiretapping program. It would send the issue to a special court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act(FISA), which approves — or in some rare instances denies — wiretap requests. Sen Specter's goals are admirable. He wants to ensure that challenges to these programs get their day in court and are not dismissed on technical grounds. But his measure would do more harm than good. It appears to embrace the president's dubious claim that he has the constitutional authority to order wiretaps without the FISA court's approval. By explicitly stating that the president might have such authority, Congress not only would fail to guard its constituents' privacy, it would also deepen the risk. Its actions could influence the court's thinking on the legality of the wiretaps.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060615/edit15.art.htm
* My bill would light the way
Commentary from Sen Arlen Specter
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060615/oppose15.art.htm
Congress keeps itself, public in the dark on surveillance