Subject: Benton's Communications-related Headlines for 4/27/05

From: Kevin Taglang <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 07:07:56 -0500

Kevin will be in the home office in Washington, DC the rest of the week and 
Headlines will be back Monday, May 2.

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for APRIL 27, 2005
For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm

MARTIN ON THE HILL
        Hill Pushes Martin on Indecency
        FCC Chief Wants 911 Service for Internet Phones
        FCC Chairman Martin's Testimony Before the Committee on Appropriations

BROADCASTING
        Christian Radio Plan Doubted after Permits Sold for over $800,000
        The End of Analog TV
        McCain Intros Video-Description Bill
        Anchors May Not be Only Change in TV News
        Cable TV tells parents to ‘Take Control'
        Study Links TV Ads, Prescriptions

INTERNET
        FTC Seeks Comment on Children’s Online Privacy Rule
        Judge Rejects Sanction Over Political E-Mails
        The Gated Online Community

QUICKLY -- Why the Fuss over MCI?; A TV-turn-off Year; What can 
progressives do to fix journalism?; Unions Press Comcast Shareholders; 
Bunnie Riedel has a Proposal for Brian Roberts; Video-news Releases Hearing 
Delayed; Old Computers Finding New Uses

MARTIN ON THE HILL

HILL PUSHES MARTIN ON INDECENCY
Nothing is as fun as your first Capitol Hill appearance as Chairman of the 
FCC. That's what Kevin Martin learned Tuesday as he appeared before Members 
of the House who decide how much money his agency will have to spend. 
Lawmakers told Chairman Martin to more aggressively press for voluntary 
TV-industry safeguards to protect children from inappropriate programming. 
As FCC Commissioner Martin supported a an hour nightly prime time broadcast 
block for family-friendly viewing (the so-called family hour) and has 
called on cable operators to sell family-themed tiers of programming. He 
promised to provide more leadership on the issue now that he is FCC 
chairman. Rep. Frank Wolf -- chairman of the House Subcommittee on Science, 
State, Commerce, Justice and Related Agencies -- encouraged Chairman Martin 
to convene meetings with broadcasters and cable operators aimed at winning 
commitments from the industry that would allow parents to know specific 
timeslots (broaodcast) or programming packages (cable) that would be 
suitable for all members of their families.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527861?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

FCC CHIEF WANTS 911 SERVICE FOR INTERNET PHONES
In testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations, Federal 
Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said on Tuesday he would 
soon propose requiring Internet-based telephone providers to offer their 
customers emergency 911 dialing services. After the hearing, Chairman 
Martin told reporters he planned to offer a proposal to the other three FCC 
commissioners so they could vote on it in May, possibly at the May 19 FCC 
open meeting.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=8303447
In a related story --
Verizon Communications, the largest of the Baby Bells, said it plans to 
open its 911 emergency calling infrastructure to providers of Net-based 
phoning.
http://news.com.com/Biggest+Bell+to+hand+911+access+to+VoIP+operators/2100-7352_3-5685250.html?tag=nefd.top
Also see --
* FCC to Take Up VoIP 911
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601638.html
* 911 Rule Weighed for VOIP Providers
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-help27apr27,1,5573183.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

FCC CHAIRMAN MARTIN'S TESTIMONY BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
The FCC is requesting spending authority of $304,057,000 for Fiscal Year 
2006, with a direct appropriation of $4,823,000. The Commission will raise 
the remainder, or $299,234,000, through regulatory fees. During the current 
fiscal year, the Commission has a spending level of $281,098,000, with all 
but one million dollars being raised through regulatory fees. To continue 
to operate at its current level, the Commission would require $289,784,000, 
or a 3%increase over the previous fiscal year, for nondiscretionary 
operating increases. The FCC is requesting an additional $14,273,000 to 
implement four program performance initiatives. First, $450,000 would fund 
the E-Government Personnel Program to allow the FCC to participate in a 
government-wide program to manage personnel data electronically. Second, 
the Commission requests $1,350,000 for the Licensing Integration Initiative 
to provide enhancements to the Commission’s computer systems in order to 
improve licensing resources and facilitate cross-bureau applications a 
program that will enhance consumer interaction with all of the Commission’s 
licensing systems at a time of increased convergence in telecommunications 
services. Third, the Commission is requesting $9,300,000 for a special 
Field Facilities Improvement Initiative at the Commission’s offices in 
Columbia, Maryland. The FCC’s fourth special request is $3,173,000 to hire 
26 limited term FTEs to increase Universal Service Fund audit and oversight 
activities in Fiscal Year 2006.
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258333A1.pdf

BROADCASTING

CHRISTIAN RADIO PLAN DOUBTED AFTER PERMITS SOLD FOR OVER $800,000
Since 2003, Clark Parrish, a radio engineer, and two partners have received 
FCC permits to build an eye-popping 1,026 “translator” radio stations 
nationwide. A translator rebroadcasts the signal of a full-power station to 
reach communities outside the station's normal service area. Parrish says 
he wants to retransmit non-profit Christian radio stations across the USA. 
But a coalition of religious and public-interest groups contends that 
Parrish's companies are illegally exploiting licenses by selling them 
almost as quickly as they acquire them. Though Parrish's companies got the 
permits free, they've sold or given away about 85 of them to other 
broadcasters, both religious and secular, for more than $800,000. And 
they've signaled plans to unload hundreds of other stations. “This was 
nothing but a scheme to traffic in commission licenses,” says Harold Feld 
of the Media Access Project, which is representing the coalition before the 
FCC. “To let people come in under false cover, get a valuable federal asset 
and resell it for a tidy profit is just wrong.”  Feld says the practice is 
especially harmful because the translators occupy valuable channels that 
could be used by non-profit low-power radio stations to offer locally 
oriented content. Congress is considering a bill to nearly double the 
maximum number of low-power stations across the country.
When the papa, um the FCC, found out, it began to shout, and it started the 
investigation.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050427/b_translators27.art.htm

THE END OF ANALOG TV
If you heard it first at MSNBC I'm not doing my job very well... 
[Commentary] If Detroit was selling cars that used a type of gasoline that 
would soon no longer be available, consumers would expect to be informed. 
But Americans are buying analog television sets at a rate of 20 
million/year even though we may be a all-digital TV nation by January 1, 
2007. Congress is considering subsidizing sets for low-income households so 
they can go on enjoying Judge Judy, General Hospital and Elimidate. If 
consumers aren't ready for the transition, and the government is going to 
get stuck buying a billion dollars of converter boxes, why not put off the 
transition indefinitely?  The broadcasters don't seem to be in any hurry: 
They have both their old analog channels plus the opportunity to experiment 
with digital broadcasting. But consumer electronics manufacturers are 
pushing Congress hard. Switching everyone to digital TV could be the 
biggest bonanza the industry has seen since the mid-Eighties, when the 
advent of audio CDs fueled an enormous upgrade market. In addition, 
returned spectrum can be used by public safety officials and by high-tech 
companies to provide powerful wireless broadband networks that could offer 
seamless high-speed Internet service virtually everywhere in the U.S. Oh, 
and there's the little deal of spectrum revenues helping cut the federal debt.
[SOURCE: MSNBC, AUTHOR: Michael Rogers]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7593620/page/2/

MCCAIN INTROS VIDEO-DESCRIPTION BILL
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has renewed his effort to mandate video 
descriptions for the blind; he introduced a bill Tuesday a bill that would 
require broadcasters to add video descriptions--of important plot points 
and action that is seen but not heard--to at least 50 hours of prime time 
or kids shows per quarter (that's about 2.5% of total programming). 
Narration, which is received over a special TV frequency, is squeezed into 
programming between the actual dialogue. The service was developed by 
advocacy group Metropolitan Washington Ear and WGBH, Boston's public-TV 
station, and first aired in 1987 on the PBS American Playhouse. In 2000, 
the FCC required the four biggest broadcast networks and the five biggest 
cable nets to narrate four hours of prime time and kid shows weekly. Judges 
ruled two years later that the FCC had no authority to impose the mandate. 
The bill would: 1) Reinstate the FCC’s video description rules, 2) 
Authorize the FCC to make additional changes to those rules, and 3) 
"Require the FCC to consider whether it is economically and technically 
feasible and consistent with the public interest to include “accessible 
information” in its video description rules, which may include written 
information displayed on a screen, hazardous warnings and other emergency 
information, and local and national news bulletins."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton & Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527795?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

ANCHORS MAY NOT BE ONLY CHANGE IN TV NEWS
One anchor or two? Tie or no tie? A long discussion on saving nightly 
network TV newscasts that focuses little on, well, the news. The key for 
networks is “to focus first and foremost on the content,” says ABC News 
president David Westin. “What are the news stories? What is the truth about 
these stories? What can we bring to news stories that is valuable to the 
audience and different from what others can bring? How can we tell the 
stories most effectively? Then, having gotten the best and most distinctive 
content, we will need to make sure that we're distributing it in every way 
possible. We will continue to attract our audiences if we make our strong 
and credible reporting available on as many platforms as possible,” he says.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Peter Johnson]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050427/1a_cover27.art.htm

CABLE TV TELLS PARENTS TO 'TAKE CONTROL'
In a bid to head off federal regulation, the cable industry today plans to 
unveil an expanded campaign to make TV ratings more prominent and to inform 
parents on how to block racy channels or programs. The industry campaign — 
called “Take Control. It's Easy”— features a year of public-service 
announcements on more than 100 cable channels, informing parents of ways to 
block channels or programs. Cable networks will donate airtime, valued at 
$250 million, for the spots, which will begin May 1. [We'll check with the 
NAB, but doesn't cable merit broadcast licenses for that kind of commitment?]
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:Paul Davidson]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050427/1b_indecency27.art.htm

STUDY LINKS TV ADS, PRESCRIPTIONS
The drug industry spends $3.2 billion yearly advertising prescription drugs 
directly to U.S. consumers. Published in this week's Journal of the 
American Medical Association, a study that used actors to visit doctors and 
pose as patients has found that television ads for prescription 
antidepressants lead to both proper use but also overuse of such medicines, 
researchers said.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111456118952517770,00.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal
(requires subscription)
Also see --
* Doctors Influenced By Mention Of Drug Ads
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601624.html
* TV Ads for Drugs Help Boost Prescriptions, Researchers Say
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-drugads27apr27,1,7963571.story?coll=la-news-a_section

INTERNET

FTC SEEKS COMMENT ON CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY RULE
The Federal Trade Commission is examining whether to retain five-year-old 
rules aimed at protecting the personal information of children using the 
Internet. The rules restrict how Web site operators and online services may 
obtain personal information from children under 13. To help the FTC decide 
whether to retain, eliminate or modify the rules, the agency is asking for 
public comment on current practices for collecting and disclosing 
children's information; children's ability to access information they want, 
and the prevalence of child-targeted sites. Comments are due June 27.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527651?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
For more information, see the FTC website:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/04/coppacomments.htm

JUDGE REJECTS SANCTIONS OVER POLITICAL EMAILS
Two government employees did not violate restrictions against partisan 
politics in the federal workplace last fall when they sent politically 
charged e-mails to more than 20 of their colleagues, an administrative law 
judge ruled this month. The judge ruled that the e-mails amounted to the 
electronic equivalent of a discussion of politics around the office water 
cooler, something that is legal.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Christopher Lee]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601305.html
(requires registration)

THE GATED COMMUNITY
Would you want to be part of a club that wouldn't have you as a member? Now 
you can find out online. An increasing number of sites are touting their 
exclusivity -- including aSmallWorld.net, Catch27.com and FunHi which seeks 
to emulate a club and "bounces" users who lack style, like "meatheads" and 
people who "look homeless." The debate over how exclusive to be mirrors a 
broader issue facing many Internet businesses: whether to attempt to 
attract millions of eyeballs -- or to focus on a smaller but more devoted 
group of users. While people in the latter category might spend more time 
on the site or even be willing to pay a fee to use it, the former strategy 
can yield the kind of mass that some advertisers are seeking.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saranow 
[email-masked]]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111455358049717577,00.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal
(requires subscription)

QUICKLY

WHY THE TUG OF WAR BETWEEN QWEST AND VERIZON OVER MCI?
Why are Qwest and Verizon so intent on grabbing MCI? MCI's real plum is its 
“enterprise” business -- its big corporate and government customers. This 
lucrative base is exceedingly loyal to MCI. Most of these customers stayed 
put even when MCI -- then known as WorldCom -- was in bankruptcy 
protection. Qwest, in a word, is desperate. The company, with one of the 
worst financial profiles in telecom, is eager for a new business strategy. 
It has a relatively meager $14.8 billion in annual revenue and a 
gut-busting $17.5 billion in debt. Qwest had originally hoped to buy MCI, 
in part, to gain access to MCI's $5.5 billion cash hoard. Qwest hoped to 
use that to help pay off its debt.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050427/mci27.art.htm

LIVING 'OUTSIDE THE BOX' -- ONE ESCAPEE'S TV-TURN-OFF YEAR
[Commentary] Millions of people in the United States and 10 other countries 
are celebrating it April 25-May 1, according to the TV-Turnoff Network, 
which promotes alternatives to excessive screen time. Here's the story of 
someone who turned it off for more than a week.
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Stacy A. Teicher]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0427/p09s02-coop.html

MAKING CONNECTIONS
Why is the news so bad? What can progressives do to fix it?
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Jessica Clark and Tracy Van Slyke]
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/21872/

UNIONS PRESS COMCAST SHAREHOLDERS
The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of 
Electrical Workers called on Comcast shareholders to adopt three proposals 
that the unions say will improve corporate governance and management 
accountability at the cable giant. The proposals call for: 1) one vote per 
share for all company stock, 2) elimination of the poison pill provision, 
and 3) independent, non-executive board chair.
[SOURCE: Communications Workers of America Press Release]
http://www.cwa-union.org/news/PressReleaseDisplay.asp?ID=498

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER...
[Commentary] Like me, Bunnie Riedel loves 'Fiddler on the Roof' and she 
thinks she's found the perfect husband for her daughter -- Comcast's Brian 
Roberts. Next week Bunnie tells us what she'd do if she were as rich as a 
Rothchild (probably do some consulting on the side).
[SOURCE: Riedel Communications, AUTHOR: Bunnie Riedel]
www.riedelcommunications.blogspot.com

The Senate Commerce Committee has postponed its hearing on video-news 
releases until after next week's spring break.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527773?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

OLD COMPUTERS FINDING NEW USES
More than half the old personal computers replaced by consumers last year 
were put to productive use instead of being dumped or stored away, 
according to a nationwide survey by MetaFacts, a San Diego research firm. 
Businesses are recycling old computers at a 19.1 percent rate, six times 
higher than households. Homes with small children were twice as likely to 
keep and still use their older computers (43.3 percent) than single-person 
households (20.9 percent). The survey found that lower-income families were 
more likely to recycle discarded computers than wealthier respondents.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR:Karl Schoenberger]
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/11500206.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service 
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through 
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, 
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are 
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the 
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang 
([email-masked]) -- we welcome your comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c)Benton Foundation 2005. Redistribution of this email publication -- both 
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The Benton Foundation (www.benton.org) works to realize the social benefits 
made possible by the public interest use of communications. Bridging the 
worlds of philanthropy, public policy, and community action, Benton seeks 
to shape the emerging communications environment and to demonstrate the 
value of communications for solving social problems.
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The Free Press also collects media and media policy related headlines that 
complement well the work we are doing. Media Headlines is a free, daily 
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Kevin Taglang
Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Foundation
Communications in the Public Interest
1625 K Street, NW 11th Floor
Washington, DC 20006
[email-masked]