BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for NOVEMBER 13, 2008
We've created a timeline of stories about the transition to a new administration -- see http://benton.org/headlines/transition_2008-09
THE TRANSITION
Obama Announces Agency Review Chiefs
A new Congress, a new approach to technology?
Conyers To Abolish IP Subcommittee
Obama preparing comprehensive technology policy
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Broadband Obama
Broadband over power lines gets boost from IBM
NebuAd, ISPs sued over DPI snooping, ad-targeting program
New Rules For Banks Target Online Gambling
Web Host of Groups That Traffic Spam Kicked Offline
BROADCASTING/CABLE
Only 1 in 8 Children's Educational TV Programs Meet High Quality Standards
NCTA Calls On FCC To Rescind Letters Of Inquiry
The Cable TV Industry: Hardwiring Influence
HDTV Sets Now In More Than One-Third of U.S. Homes
Does Local TV Have A Future?
TELECOM
Intercarrier Compensation/USF Reform Comment Period Set
USAC Directors Sought
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Few Will Miss Following Campaign News
Radio Obama Reigned During Campaign
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
New Tribune DC Bureau Chief Expects More Shared Coverage
THE TRANSITION
OBAMA ANNOUNCES AGENCY REVIEW CHIEFS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: ]
The Obama-Biden Transition Team announced the Agency Review Team leads for the Treasury, State, and Defense departments, as well as Agency Review Team co-chairs and Agency Review Working Group members. After reviews that should begin at the end of the week, according to the transition office, the teams will provide information on agencies, departments and commissions -- as well as the White House -- to the new administration so that it can make "strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration." Agency review co-chairs include Don Gips who served in the White House as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Gore. Previously, Mr. Gips was Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission where he was responsible for the WTO negotiations and all spectrum policy. Working group members include: 1) former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt who will be responsible for the international trade and economics agencies. 2) Tom Wheeler who will be responsible for the science, technology, space and arts agencies. Currently with venture capital firm Core Capital Partners, Wheeler has worked for the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. 3) Jon Wilkins of McKinsey and formerly of the FCC. Macon Phillips, a key Obama campaign Web official, has been tapped to head new media for the transition, and Jesse Lee, a leading Web operative who handled Rahm Emanuel's DCCC Internet outreach operation during the 2006 take-back of Congress, has been hired to do online communications. The outreach team will also include Dan Siroker and Andrew Bleeker as Deputy Directors of New Media, Cammie Croft on Online Communications, and Kate Albright-Hanna on Content Lead.
http://benton.org/node/18861
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A NEW CONGRESS, A NEW APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stephanie Condon]
With election '08 over, Democrats are likely to be newly emboldened and may be eager to approve legislation that stalled in the 110th Congress, including spyware regulations and a shield law that would protect some bloggers. The outlook is complicated by some shuffling in House and Senate committee leadership, which is expected to take place next week. Two politicians are jockeying over chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee, which includes green tech and Internet regulation in its portfolio. And increased interest in intellectual property issues in the House Judiciary Committee has led John Conyers (D-MI) to reorganize a key subcommittee (see below). Other issues expected to be addressed again next year include Net neutrality, consumer privacy issues such as regulation over electronic medical records, and patent reform.
http://benton.org/node/18864
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CONYERS TO ABOLISH IP SUBCOMMITTEE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
More proof that the 2008 election is bringing major changes to Congress, not just the White House. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) will apparently abolish the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property in the new Congress and instead keep intellectual property issues at the full committee level. A Subcommittee on Courts and Antitrust will be created, but no other subcommittee changes are expected. The IP Subcommittee is currently chaired by Rep Howard Berman (D-CA) who plans to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the coming session.
http://benton.org/node/18860
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OBAMA PREPARING COMPREHENSIVE TECHNOLOGY POLICY
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Hiawatha Bray]
Barack Obama's Internet-fueled campaign has transformed the way Americans choose a president. Now, the president-elect's administration plans to change the way Americans - and government - use technology. If Obama gets his way, all Americans would have broadband Internet access, whether they live in big cities or remote villages. Online life would be safer, with better defenses against cybercriminals. And there would be greater access to government, with online services to let anyone question members of the president's cabinet or track every dime of the US budget. "I think it's not going to happen in the first 100 days, but I think a lot of this can happen in the first term," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press. But Obama is bound to face resistance from rural phone companies.
http://benton.org/node/18859
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND OBAMA
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: John Celentano]
[Commentary] Is broadband a technology or a service? Should broadband be considered a lifeline service just as wired telephone service has been for the past 75 years? How long to achieve universal broadband? Federal mandate will provide umbrella guidelines for broadband implementation and set a faster timetable for a nationwide deployment. Such a policy need not supersede state mandates but rather dovetail with them. A directive like this also establishes important guidelines for service providers and their equipment suppliers.
http://benton.org/node/18858
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BROADBAND OVER POWER LINES GETS BOOST FROM IBM
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Vanacore]
IBM is throwing its considerable weight behind an idea that seemed to have faded: broadband Internet access delivered over ordinary power lines. The technology has been around for decades, but most efforts to implement the idea on a broad scale have failed to live up to expectations. Now, with somewhat scaled-back goals, improved technology, and a dose of low-interest federal loans, IBM is partnering with a small newcomer called International Broadband Electric Communications Inc. to try to make the idea work in rural communities that don't have other broadband options. Their strategy is to sign up electric cooperatives that provide power to sparsely populated areas across the eastern United States. Rather than compete toe-to-toe with large, entrenched cable or DSL providers, International Broadband is looking for customers that have been largely left out of the shift to high-speed Internet. Geoff Daily raises some concerns and says the most exciting potential for BPL is in-home networking.
http://benton.org/node/18857
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NEBUAD, ISPs SUED OVER DPI SNOOPING, AD-TARGETING PROGRAM
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
A group of Internet users has sued NebuAd, the company behind the highly-controversial behavioral-targeting ad platform, in the US District Court of Northern California. The lawsuit accuses NebuAd, Bresnan Communications, Cable One, CenturyTel, Embarq, Knology, and WOW! of all being involved in the interception, copying, transmission, collection, storage, usage, and altering of private data from users. NebuAd "exploits normal browser platform security behaviors by forging IP packets, allowing their own JavaScript code to be written into source code trusted by the web browser," reads the complaint. "NebuAd and ISPs together cooperate in this attack against the intentions of the consumers, the designers of their software, and the owners of the servers they visit." All of the involved parties are alleged to have violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, California's Computer Crime Law, the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the California Invasion of Privacy Act. Several of the ISPs are accused of aiding and abetting violations of the above laws and are even accused of civil conspiracy. All defendants are being charged with unjust enrichment for benefiting from the communications they intercepted. The lawsuit asks for injunctive relief prohibiting NebuAd and the ISPs from engaging in deep packet inspection and requiring them to "disgorge all of their ill-gotten gains" to the class. The suit also asks that the defendants delete all of their collected data and offer a way for class members to permanently opt out of any future data collection activities.
http://benton.org/node/18856
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NEW RULES FOR BANKS TARGET ONLINE GAMBLING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: R. Jeffrey Smith]
The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank yesterday issued new regulations spelling out how banks and other financial institutions must comply with a 2006 law that bans many forms of Internet gambling. The regulations were released just a few days after critics of the law questioned the involvement of a former National Football League lobbyist in the White House's final review of the new rules. Running 120 pages, the regulations detail how banks must identify and block illegal Internet gambling transactions beginning in January. Companies involved in processing online payments have complained that the task will be difficult and costly. Some Democratic lawmakers had proposed to regulate and tax Internet gambling instead, an approach opposed by the Bush administration and many congressional Republicans.
http://benton.org/node/18863
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WEB HOST OF GROUPS THAT TRAFFIC SPAM KICKED OFFLINE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide may have dropped drastically yesterday after a Web-hosting firm, identified by many in the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity, was taken offline. McColo, a San Jose Web-hosting company that, according to computer security experts, serves as a U.S. staging ground for international firms that sell a variety of items, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals and child pornography, ceased operations after two Internet providers blocked Web access. SecureWorks, an Atlanta security-services provider, estimates that McColo was responsible for 75 percent of all spam sent in the United States each day.
http://benton.org/node/18862
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
ONLY 1 IN 8 CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL TV PROGRAMS MEET HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS
[SOURCE: Children Now, AUTHOR: ]
A new study by Children Now reveals substantial deficiencies in children's educational television programming and raises serious doubts about broadcasters' commitments to the nation's children. The study evaluated the quality of programs claimed as educational/informational (E/I) by commercial stations, and found that only one of every eight E/I shows (13%) is rated as "highly educational." In contrast, almost twice as many, nearly one of every four (23%) were classified in the lowest category of "minimally educational." Most E/I programs (63%) were judged to be "moderately educational." Media researchers Dr. Barbara J. Wilson (University of Illinois), Dr. Dale Kunkel (University of Arizona) and Kristin L. Drogos (University of Illinois) analyzed a total of 120 episodes across 40 program titles, evaluating each show on a range of educational criteria that are associated with children's learning from television. Their findings indicate that most programs designated as E/I offer only limited educational value for child viewers. The new study reveals that the large majority of stations (59%) deliver only the minimum required amount, with just 3 percent of stations nationally offering more than four hours per week. Furthermore, 75 percent of stations schedule E/I programming exclusively on weekends, despite the fact that children watch an average of three hours of television per day every day of the week.
http://benton.org/node/18855
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NCTA CALLS ON FCC TO RESCIND LETTERS OF INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to rescind the FCC's letters of inquiry to cable operators about their move of some channels from analog to digital tiers, calling the letters an abuse of the Commission's process and a violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. In a letter to Chairman Martin and his fellow FCC Commissioners, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said NCTA would be glad to discuss the issue of cable's migration to digital with the FCC, a migration McSlarrow says he believes to be "plainly in the public interest." But he took issue with the FCC sending out letters to 13 companies in order to obtain industry-wide information, saying a more general Notice of Inquiry or the FCC's annual video competition report were more appropriate venues. Since the 13 companies represent 86% of cable customers, said McSlarrow, the letters were a defacto Notice of Inquiry, but were released by the Chairman alone "without input from the other commissioners," which would have been required of a Notice of Inquiry. FCC spokesperson Edie Herman said that the Commission's mailing of letters to 13 cable companies does not violate the Paperwork Reduction Act and, rather than being a broad inquiry masquerading as a targeted one, as cable forces claim, is an official government request for information based on complaints received from cable subscribers about the specific companies involved.
http://benton.org/node/18854
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THE CABLE TV INDUSTRY: HARDWIRING INFLUENCE
[SOURCE: Common Cause, AUTHOR: ]
Common Cause released a report that brings together New York State lobbying and campaign finance data for the first time to demonstrate how the cable television industry has used its financial resources to fight for industry self-interest at the expense of New York cable subscribers. The report documents the veritable "army" of lobbyists employed by the cable TV industry, which paid more than $24 million for these lobbying efforts in recent years, as well as $4.3 million in campaign contributions made to politicians, their political parties, and party slush funds.
http://benton.org/node/18853
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HDTV SETS NOW IN MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF US HOMES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
Leichtman Research Group reports that 34% of U.S. households have at least one HDTV set, about double the percentage of households that had such TVs two years ago. The growth of HDTV sets has largely been driven by on-going consumer purchasing of TV sets coupled with a dwindling supply of lower-end non-HDTV sets being sold, according to Leichtman. Overall, 22% of all households purchased a new TV set in the past 12 months, with 43% of this group spending over $1,000 on a new TV.
http://benton.org/node/18852
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DOES LOCAL TV HAVE A FUTURE?
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Diane Mermigas]
[Commentary] With broadcast network companies such as NBCU, Disney, News Corp. and CBS increasingly relying on online sites, digital platforms and devices to distribute their programs, local station owners fear the dilution of the affiliate brand. They worry that the broadcast network owners will exit the TV station business by selling programs directly to cable and new digital media. Local TV station owners (many of them heavily in debt) are under pressure to modify high-cost legacy structure, leverage their unique local content and connections, and engage in new digital enterprises to collectively offset traditional ad declines. That means reaching beyond cash retrans fees from cable and telco operators to linking their local franchise brands with consumer electronics manufacturers like Apple, GPS operators, wireless mobile telephone and PDA manufacturers (like RIMM). It also means leveraging their position with Google and other Internet players seeking to capitalize on selling their available ad inventory and launching new Wi-Fi services using unlicensed "white space" between their channels. "If our business is going to be in-play, we might as well reinvent ourselves," confided one veteran independent broadcast executive. "It beats waiting for a rescue that will never come."
http://benton.org/node/18851
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TELECOM
INTERCARRIER COMPENSATION/USF REFORM COMMENT PERIOD SET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission has published a Notice in the Federal Register seeking comment on three specific proposals to reform intercarrier compensation and universal service. The first is the Chairman's Draft Proposal circulated to the Commission on October 15, 2008. The second proposal is a narrow universal service reform proposal circulated to the Commission on October 31, 2008. The third is a draft Alternative Proposal circulated to the Commission on November 5, 2008. Comments are due on November 26, 2008. Reply comments are due on December 3, 2008.
http://benton.org/node/18850
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USAC DIRECTORS SOUGHT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking nominations for the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The terms of the current board members expire on December 31, 2008. Only members of the industry or non-industry group that a board member will represent may submit a nomination for that position. Nominations are due December 1, 2008.
http://benton.org/node/18849
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
FEW WILL MISS FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN NEWS
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: Andrew Kohut et al]
According to the Pew Research Center's Weekly News Interest Index, by all accounts, the public liked Campaign 2008 and followed election news avidly. But enough is enough. Fully 82% say they will not miss following election news, while only 17% say they will miss it. Even among Democrats, only a quarter say they will miss the campaign.
http://benton.org/node/18848
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RADIO OBAMA REIGNED DURING CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Erik Sass]
President-elect Barack Obama spent $250 million on advertising versus the $210 million spent by Sen John McCain and the Republican National Committee. radio business as a whole got about 10% of total broadcast budgets for political advertising, according to TNS -- which should equal about $200 million. That's just a fraction of local broadcast's 70% share -- equal to about $1.4 billion, but still a much-needed boon to the struggling radio business.
http://benton.org/node/18847
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
NEW TRIBUNE DC BUREAU CHIEF EXPECTS MORE SHARED COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Joe Strupp]
Tribune Co's new DC Bureau Chief Cissy Baker that the bureau's future will likely see more shared content and consolidated coverage. "We are going to have reporters covering stories around Washington for all the papers," she said. "It is still in the midst of transition so I want to stay away from more details." But, she added, "we are going to get the best of the best to cover the major stories in Washington. It is an exciting time for us." The DC reporters for Tribune papers, such as the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, will also be more involved in the company's broadcast and online outlets based in the same bureau, she said.
http://benton.org/node/18846
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