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THE FIGHT OVER YOUR TV SET
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] An editorial in favor of California video franchising legislation. The measure would give phone giants such as AT&T and Verizon permission to use their wires statewide to offer video alongside cable firms, who now control the market. The Chronicle paints a picture of two goliaths -- cable and telephone companies -- fighting. There's some caution about 1) cities losing the franchise fees they negotiated and other features such as local programming or construction schedules and 2) red-lining poor areas by concentrating service in wealthier areas. But the Chronicle concludes: "What's significant is the competition that a cable-versus-phone rivalry can mean to this household expense. Consumers have watched as the merger and technology game played out, and now it's time to collect the benefits."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/0...

TV CLUTTER CONTINUES TO WORRY ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Willow Duttge]
It's upfront time and marketers' fears about advertising on TV might be coming to fruition. Clutter continues to remain high during prime-time network programming and increased by 5% on cable overall, according to MindShare's 2005 Clutter Watch survey. For the first time since Mindshare began tracking in 2000, cable ran more clutter than broadcast networks. Among the broadcast networks, ABC gets the prize for the most non-program minutes (a category that includes network commercials, local commercials, PSAs and promos) -- 15 minutes and 26 seconds per hour. However, Fox beat out ABC when it came to total commercial minutes. Fox had 11 more seconds of commercials than ABC, at 12 minutes 55 seconds. UPN has the least clutter, but not by much. UPN's total non-program time was still up to 14 minutes and 26 seconds and total commercial minutes were nearly 12 minutes. MTV was the cable clutter leader, with more than 16 minutes of non-program material. But close behind with more than 15 minutes of non-program material were Discovery, Lifetime, USA and Spike. ESPN had the least non-program minutes, while TNT had the least minutes of commercials. Even though TV is less cluttered than print and online, viewers believe TV has too much advertising, according to MindShare's research.
http://www.adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=108995

* More Clutter on Broadcast, Cable
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9921

SIGNING AWAY THE CONSTITUTION
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman]
[Commentary] Last Sunday, the Boston Globe’s Charlie Savage broke a story that, "President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution." Amazingly, most of the mainstream media does not appear to think this is much of a story. If a tree falls on the front page of the Boston Globe and is heard only in the blogosophere, does that mean it hasn't really fallen? In other words, will the Bush administration’s lawlessness continue unabated without even exciting any interest on the part of the mainstream media? Just how much contempt for Congress and the Constitution is too much?
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1624525

PHILADELPHIA WI-FI MOVES CLOSER
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Philadelphia's wireless Internet initiative cleared a critical hurdle on Wednesday, putting the city on track to become the first major metropolitan area with municipal broadband. But full deployment could be delayed a few months until the third quarter of 2007. The project got the green light from the city's technology and information services and public property and public works committees and is now headed for a vote before City Council. The Council is expected to approve the Wi-Fi initiative as early as next week. Under a 10-year contract, EarthLink Inc. will build, operate and maintain a wireless Internet network over Philadelphia's 135 square miles. Full deployment was initially expected next spring, but the project spent two months in committee, which wrangled over issues such as the participation of women and minority businesses. The committees added amendments that gave City Council members more oversight over Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit chartered by the city to oversee the Wi-Fi project. Wireless Philadelphia entered into a contract with Atlanta-based EarthLink to provide the high-speed Internet service. Changes include appointing a diversity oversight committee that would make sure Motorola Inc., which EarthLink hired to build the network, will give at least one-fourth of the business to women, minority and disabled business owners. Wireless Philadelphia also has to meet regularly with an advisory group that will be made up of members appointed by the City Council, the mayor and other officials.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=sci_tech&id=4141478