Subject: Benton's Communications-related Headlines for 4/26/05

From: Kevin Taglang <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 06:37:20 -0500

** The FCC postponed its agenda meeting to Friday from Thursday. The
meeting will start at 9:30 am. **

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for APRIL 26, 2005
For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm

POLICYMAKERS
        New Front-Runner For Powell Seat

TELECOM
        FCC Urged to Reject SBC-AT&T Merger
        Public Vote Set on Louisiana Overbuild

INDEPENDENT MEDIA
        Network Shares Audio and Video, Screens Out Bootlegs
        LPFM: Prometheus Unbound | The Sound Salvation

QUICKLY -- FCC Not Doing 'Decent' Job, Says Poll; Cable Plans New
Content-Control Effort; Watching TV Makes You Smarter (just as Jack Bauer);
Information about Life, the Universe and Everything

POLICYMAKERS

NEW FRONT-RUNNER FOR POWELL SEAT
Christine Kurth now appears to be the front-runner to gain Michael Powell's
vacant seat at the FCC. She wasn't even in the race until two leading
contenders dropped out. White House FCC favorite and former Texas utility
regulator Rebecca Klein is now the primary candidate to be chairman of the
Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission and probably won't be joining the
FCC. Lobbyist Earl Comstock, previously Sen Stevens' favored candidate,
pulled his name from contention. Others in the race for Powell's seat and
another opening expected when Republican Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy
resigns are Howard Waltzman, lead counsel for House Commerce Committee, and
Michael Gallagher, head of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration. Waltzman is former general counsel to Senator Sam Brownback
(R-KS). Prior to his work in the Senate, Waltzman served as senior
legislative assistant and communications director to then Rep. Brownback.
He also did a stint as a policy analyst and media affairs coordinator at
Empower America. Waltzman began his Capitol Hill career as press secretary
to former Rep. Gary Franks (R-CT). Waltzman received a B.A. from Wesleyan
University, a Masters in Public Administration from Syracuse University,
and a law degree from the National Law Center at George Washington University.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527618.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

TELECOM

FCC URGED TO REJECT SBC-AT&T MERGER
Competitors and consumer groups are asking the FCC to reject the proposed
merger between SBC and AT&T rather than trying to "mitigate the many
public interest harms... through toothless merger conditions." The Consumer
Federation of America, Consumers Union and the U.S. Public Interest
Research Group have told the FCC, "The proposed mergers of dominant Bell
operating companies and their largest wireline telephone competitors...
will have profoundly anti-competitive effects across the full range of
product and geographic markets." The National Association of State Utility
Consumer Advocates urged the FCC to consider the two big telecom mergers --
SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI (or is that Qwest-MCI now?) -- in a combined
proceeding. "Taken together, these two mergers would result in the
elimination of competition far greater than for each merger taken
individually. The Commission must consider the interrelationship of these
mergers." NASUCA's comments to the FCC raised concerns about the SBC-AT&T
merger on consumers, but said the problems might be solved by attaching
"definitive and enforceable conditions." The filing said such conditions
would have to: 1) Promote competition in the local, broadband and long
distance markets for residential and small businesses customers and 2)
Protect such customers from declines in service quality and other "negative
impacts." NASUCA told the FCC,  "Given that this merger is qualitatively
and quantitatively different -- more likely prejudicial to consumers --
from mergers previously considered by the Commission, the conditions need
to be more substantial and more effectively enforceable than the conditions
previously adopted."
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Edie Herman]
(Not available online)
Also see --
* Qwest to turn up heat on SBC-AT&T merger fight
http://news.com.com/Qwest+to+turn+up+heat+on+SBC-AT38T+merger+fight/2100-1036_3-5683932.html?tag=nefd.top
* CompTel/ALTS Files Petition to Deny SBC/AT&T Merger Application at FCC
http://www.comptelascent.org/news/recent-news/042505.html
* Watchdogs to FCC: Telecom Mergers a Disaster for Competition, Consumers
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/002169.html#more
* SBC-AT&T Merger Merits Quick Approval, CWA Tells FCC
http://www.cwa-union.org/news/PressReleaseDisplay.asp?ID=497

PUBLIC VOTE SET ON LOUISIANA OVERBUILD
Cox Communications and BellSouth have gotten what they wanted -- a public
referendum on whether the utility provider in Lafayette, La., should move
into the broadband business. The city-parish council voted April 19 to hold
a July 16 public vote on whether Lafayette Utilities System should build a
project dubbed Fiber for the Future. The broadband project would construct
a fiber-to-the-home plant to 55,000 residences and 6,000 businesses.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA527593.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

INDEPENDENT MEDIA

NETWORK SHARES AUDIO AND VIDEO, SCREENS OUT BOOTLEGS
Mike Homer and Netscape wunderkind Marc Andreessen are using file-sharing
technology to distribute audio and video files for free online. Unlike
other popular "peer-to-peer" programs, however, Open Media Network allows
only authorized sharing and weeds out bootlegged goods. The nonprofit
network is designed to be an outlet for anyone who creates audiovisual
works -- be it an independent filmmaker, a public television station or a
hobbyist with a camera or a microphone. The effort tries to tap the growth
in noncommercial and grass-roots media. the rise in high-speed Internet
connections has fueled an evolution of the Web from a medium heavy on text
and graphics into a source of music and moving pictures as well. And the
proliferation of low-priced digital camcorders and recording gear has
created millions of potential producers of entertainment and information in
search of an audience.
[SOURCE:  Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:Jon Healey]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-openmedia26apr26,1,6741347.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
(requires registration)

PROMETHEUS UNBOUND | THE SOUND SALVATION
On the Media covers low power radio with two stories:
1) Prometheus Unbound: After the FCC cracked down on a pirate radio station
in Philadelphia several years back, the pirates decided to become players.
They reinvented themselves as the Prometheus Radio Project to lobby for the
rights of community broadcasters around the country. Seven years later,
Prometheus is still at work in Washington, having successfully challenged
their former foes in federal court.
2) The Sound Salvation: A Christian station here, a Christian station
there. But together, religious broadcasters account for well over half of
the low-power FM licenses granted by the FCC. And now, they've banded
together to create de facto networks. Does this sort of large-scale
mobilization by religious broadcasters defeat the intent of low-power
legislation?
[SOURCE: On the Media]
http://www.onthemedia.org/

QUICKLY

FCC NOT DOING 'DECENT' JOB, SAYS POLL
The Federal Communications Commission is doing a poor job of enforcing
anti-indecency standards on TV, said more than one-half of adults polled on
behalf of industry watchdog Morality in Media.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527378?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

NCTA PLANS NEW CONTENT-CONTROL EFFORT
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association will unveil today what
it is calling a new, proactive effort to give parents more control over
their kids' TV viewing.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA527608?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

WATCHING TV MAKES YOU SMARTER
The NYTimes says it, so it must be so -- put down that book and start
getting smarter through "24"!
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steven Johnson]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24TV.html
(requires registration)
See also --
* Can video replace the written word?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0426/p14s01-legn.html

BBC LAUNCHES REAL-LIFE 'HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE'
Finally, the technology revolution delivers something useful: a mobile
device filled with information about life, the universe and everything.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Adam Pasick]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=8282539
--------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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The Benton Foundation (www.benton.org) works to realize the social benefits
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value of communications for solving social problems.
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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]