Subject: [Benton's Communications-related Headlines] May 11, 2007 (News from Congress; Broadband plan push back)

From: Kevin Taglang <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 06:27:14 -0500

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY MAY 11, 2007

On the agenda for next week: 1) a hearing on 
Communications and Taxation, 2) a meeting of the 
Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory 
Committee, 3) Prologue to a Farce: Communication 
and Democracy in America, and 4) the 
International Summit for Community Wireless 
Networks. For these and other upcoming media 
policy events, see http://www.benton.org

NEWS FROM CONGRESS
	Politicos take on YouTube, video's future
	Senator Rockefeller Introduces Broadband Resolution
	Hearing: Broadband Mapping and Data Collection
	TV violence bill heads to Senate next week

INTERNET/BROADBAND
	"National" broadband policy a stalking horse for regulating Internet
	Municipal Wi-Fi: A Failure To Communicate
	Who's afraid of Google?
	Google shareholders vote down proposal on censorship

BROADCASTING/CABLE
	TV Station Revs Up 8.2% To $22.5 Billion
	Super Bowl ad for $2.7M also buys MySpace posting
	NTIA Chief Analyzes FCC Cable Plan
	Cable Advertising Hopes to Get Politically Correct
	Cable's 'Million Dollar Eyeballs' Study

CONTENT
	Local news reporting outsourced to India
	Hollywood set to filter on-screen smoking

QUICKLY -- Rural Coalition, Sprint Nextel Escalate Call-Blocking Battle

NEWS FROM CONGRESS

POLITICOS TAKE ON YOUTUBE, VIDEO'S FUTURE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Thursday's House Telecom Subcommittee hearing 
explored the future of video. It quickly became 
apparent that the hearing wasn't just a playful 
show-and-tell for the companies represented, as 
some politicians proceeded to put YouTube in the 
hot seat over its copyright policies. YouTube CEO 
Chad Hurley defended the site's practices as in 
compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright 
Act, a federal law designed to shield Internet 
hosts from liability provided that they meet 
certain requirements and respond to notices from 
copyright holders to remove offending content. 
The event also turned into yet another debate 
over enacting so-called Net neutrality laws, with 
Democrats continuing to urge such a move and 
Republicans decrying them as unnecessary regulation.
http://news.com.com/Politicos+take+on+YouTube%2C+videos+future/2100-1028_3-6182900.html?tag=html.alert.hed
* Markey Makes First 'HillTube' Clip
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed 
Markey (D-Mass.) pulled out a digital camera at 
the start of a subcommittee hearing on the future 
of digital video Thursday and began taking 
pictures of fellow committee members, the audience, and the press.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6440949.html?rssid=193
* Chairman Markey's opening statement
"Today the Subcommittee will explore the future 
of video more broadly. This inquiry will run the 
gamut -- from high resolution, high definition 
digital on big screens to digital wireless video 
services on mobile gadgets and finally, to the 
video services and technologies enhanced by a 
high speed, open architecture Internet. It is a 
future characterized by services that may compete 
with the movies or traditional television, as 
well as by services and technologies that will 
complement the video experience consumers have been used to for years."
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2809&Itemid=141
* House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell's opening statement
"I will pay particular attention to the impact of 
digital video on local media outlets. This 
Committee has worked in the past to see that 
local media outlets, including television 
broadcasters, adequately serve their local 
communities. It is clear that the advent of 
digital video is both an opportunity and a 
challenge for local broadcasters. It is an 
opportunity to better serve local communities 
with increased coverage and more delivery 
options. It also presents challenges to a 
business model centered on advertising."
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110st49.shtml
* Eshoo Troubled By Cable’s Switch Digital Plans
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) voiced concern Thursday 
that a new capacity-expanding cable technology 
would disable digital set-top boxes that rely on 
CableCards to unscramble content, frustrating 
attempts by Congress to allow consumers to shop 
at retail stores for channel-surfing devices.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6441140.html?rssid=196
* TV Plugs May Need Regulating, Says Raymond Creator
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Everybody Loves Raymond creator/executive 
producer Phil Rosenthal said Thursday that the 
government may have to step in and regulate 
product integration, which he said adversely 
affects the creative community and is being 
forced on it by studios, though he later 
clarified to say that the key was disclosure to 
the public that the products were being hawked.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6440974.html?rssid=193
* Cuban: 'Net Can't Handle Streaming HD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
HDNet founder Mark Cuban downplayed the future of 
live Internet streaming as the Internet is 
currently configured, a technology he pioneered 
with broadcast.com, while pitching the future of 
high-definition television, his latest venture.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6440959.html?rssid=193
* Rep Ed Markey Interviews YouTube's Chad Hurley
http://463.blogs.com/the_463/2007/05/rep_ed_markey_i.html
* Mostly Pleasant Surprises and One Expected 
Unpleasantness at "Future of Video" Hearing
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/934

SENATOR ROCKEFELLER INTRODUCES BROADBAND RESOLUTION
[SOURCE: TMCNet, AUTHOR: Greg Galitzine]
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV has introduced a 
resolution calling for the creation of a National 
Broadband Policy with the goal of becoming a “100 
Megabit Nation” by 2015. Sen Rockefeller believes 
that, “A national broadband policy is critical to 
the future of our country,” and, “would provide a 
tremendous social and economic benefit,” to all 
Americans. He cited popular video and social 
networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace and 
how they have become such integral parts of 
society. He stressed that those popular sites are 
just scratching the surface when it comes to the 
transformational power of broadband.  Sen 
Rockefeller proposed a roadmap towards 
establishing a set of goals. “The first step in 
going somewhere is to know where you are going, 
and the same is true in public policy.” By the 
end of 2007, we should establish a national goal 
and pass a series of policy actions designed to 
achieve our national goal. There will likely be 
multiple parts to the plan, and we will likely 
need to modify those parts over time. But if we 
do not have a plan, we cannot expect to 
accomplish our goal.” Sen Rockefeller suggests 
policy actions such as tax incentives to spur the 
private sector to act more aggressively in 
pursuit of this goal. He believes that Government 
should offer low-interest loans, and he calls for 
reform of the Universal Service Fund to encourage broadband deployment.
http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/6779-senator-rockefeller-introduces-broadband-resolution.htm

HEARING: BROADBAND MAPPING AND DATA COLLECTION
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and 
the Internet will hold a Legislative Hearing on 
H.R.____, a Discussion Draft Addressing Broadband 
Mapping and Data Collection.  Thursday May 17 at 
2:00 p.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building
http://energycommerce.house.gov/membios/schedule.shtml

TV VIOLENCE BILL HEADS TO SENATE NEXT WEEK
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is set to introduce 
legislation next week aimed at protecting 
children from violent television programming. The 
bill is likely include some of the 
recommendations from a recent government report 
that concludes Congress could craft laws to 
regulate violent content without trampling on 
constitutional protections for free speech.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2007-05-10T233123Z_01_N10192976_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-VIOLENCE-DC.XML

INTERNET/BROADBAND

"NATIONAL" BROADBAND PLAN A STALKING HORSE FOR REGULATING INTERNET
[SOURCE: Scott Cleland]
[Commentary] A "national broadband plan" is a 
codeword for a 1970's-style government 
"industrial policy" where the government decides 
what technologies consumers get and which 
companies will succeed of fail. By arbitrarily 
choosing speeds and arbitrarily setting 
timetables for deployment, the government is 
setting itself up to take a much more proactive 
and interventionist role in heavily regulating 
and managing broadband competition into a utility-like system.
http://www.precursorblog.com/node/389

MUNICIPAL WI-FI: A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: ]
EarthLink plans to undercut traditional broadband 
prices. That starts with a $21.95 monthly plan, 
or $3.95 per hour, for Internet access anywhere 
in a city, indoors or out. What that gives you, 
when it works, is impressive. But the challenge 
for municipal Wi-Fi providers is to deliver 
broadband-like reliability. Wireless consultant 
Novarum found that it got connections only 72% of 
the time for the 20 Anaheim sites where 
EarthLink's service was working. Cell phones, 
Novarum notes, work about 86% of the time. 
EarthLink maintains that Feather, which is now in 
40% of Anaheim, connects 90% of the time indoors 
and 95% outdoors. But in buildings of more than 
three stories, you need additional receivers to 
boost the signal. That's also true, I found out, 
in Starbucks, McDonald's, and other businesses with competing Wi-Fi.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035084.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

WHO'S AFRAID OF GOOGLE?
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Verne Kopytoff]
For a company that pledged to not be evil, Google 
makes a lot of enemies. From Madison Avenue to 
Hollywood, some of industry's most powerful 
entities are marshaling their forces to combat a 
company that has risen to the top of the business 
world in less than a decade. Fear is the 
motivating factor. And with every passing 
quarter, there is more to be worried about if you 
count Google as a competitor. Since going public 
in 2004, the Internet giant's market value has 
grown to dwarf Disney and McDonald's combined. 
Earlier this year, it became the most visited Web 
property in the world and was named the world's 
most valuable brand. And its runaway success in 
search and advertising has big corporations like 
AT&T and Microsoft crying monopoly without a 
trace of irony. In perhaps the greatest testament 
to Google's power, media reports surfaced late 
last week that its archival Yahoo was considering 
teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to 
compete. "Essentially, the new Microsoft is 
Google," said Jeff Clavier, a prominent Silicon Valley investor in startups.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/11/GOOGLE.TMP

GOOGLE SHAREHOLDERS VOTE DOWN PROPOSAL ON CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Elinor Mills]
Google shareholders rejected a proposal on 
Thursday to require the search giant to set 
policies to protect freedom of access to the 
Internet and not self-censor. Google "must make 
special efforts to avoid being seen as complicit 
in human rights abuses...and not be proactive in 
censorship," said Patrick Doherty, a 
representative of the New York City Pension Fund, 
which submitted the resolution. When it created 
its Web search site for China, Google said it 
would remove results from its www.google.cn Web 
site that would likely offend the Chinese 
government. Yahoo shareholders face several 
similar resolutions at their annual meeting.
http://news.com.com/Google+shareholders+vote+down+proposal+on+censorship/2100-1038_3-6182997.html?tag=nefd.top

BROADCASTING/CABLE

TV STATION REVS UP 8.2% TO $22.5 BILLION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
TV station revenue in 2006 was $22.5 billion, up 
8.2% from the year before, according to financial 
advisor BIA Financial Network Spanish-language TV 
beat the average by rising 10.3%. BIA attributed 
the gain to more widely available programming and 
predicting it would beat the average in 2007 "and 
beyond." BIA analyst Mark Fratrick was 
attributing much of that gain to the cyclical 
boost in ad spending from the elections and Olympics.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6441114.html?rssid=193

SUPER BOWL AD FOR $2.7 MILLION ALSO BUYS MYSPACE POSTING
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Bruce Horovitz]
Super Bowl advertisers who buy time on Fox's 2008 
broadcast of Super Bowl XLII won't get just a 
30-second ad slot for $2.7 million. They'll also 
get a bigger Web pop after the game. Responding 
to demands from marketers for new-media options — 
and to worries the ad market will soften — News 
Corp.'s Fox Sports and MySpace and the National 
Football League announced a partnership on 
Thursday that would, for the first time, post the 
game's ads on MySpace.com and link to the 
marketers' websites. A Super Bowl spot would go 
from a TV buy to a multimedia buy.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070511/foxsuperbowl11.art.htm
* Fox, MySpace team with NFL
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1127017920070511
* Fox's Nesvig: Super Bowl XLII Sales Hit 30%; Adds MySpace Component
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003583809

NTIA CHIEF ANALYZES FCC CABLE PLAN
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 5/8, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
Highlighting the challenges of the digital 
television transition, a Commerce Department 
official said that an FCC initiative governing 
cable carriage of digital broadcast signals may 
raise thorny First Amendment issues. John Kneuer, 
the chief of Commerce's National 
Telecommunications and Information 
Administration, said that the proposed rules, 
which are strongly opposed by the cable industry, 
might interfere with the transition if introduced 
"at this juncture." The transition deadline is Feb. 17, 2009.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/2007/05/by_david_hatch_tuesday_may.html#more

CABLE ADVERTISING HOPES TO GET POLITICALLY CORRECT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News 5/9, AUTHOR: Stuart Schley]
Cable’s pursuit of billions of dollars in 2008 
political-campaign advertising may be stymied by 
what one national-campaign strategist called a 
“massive lack of flexibility” in the way 
operators handle the placement and airing of 
spots. That’s how political media advisor Kyle 
Roberts described frustrations common to campaign 
media strategists, who say cable pales in 
comparison to over-the-air television in adapting 
to the urgency and scheduling needs of campaigns 
that often change out spots on the fly. Roberts, 
president of Smart Media Group, said close to 
$1.1 billion of the $2.1 billion in advertising 
tied to 2006 elections was spent in the final 30 
days leading up to the election. 
Local-cable-advertising organizations need to be 
better prepared to deal with a flurry of traffic 
instructions and copy changes that typify political advertising, he added.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6440563.html

CABLE'S 'MILLION DOLLAR EYEBALLS' STUDY
[SOURCE: AdAge 5/9, AUTHOR: Andrew Hampp]
The cable networks have coined all types of 
phrases to describe their coveted, upscale 
viewers -- Discovery's "slambrosia" and Bravo's 
"affluencers" are two of the more colorful 
examples -- but a recent survey from Monroe 
Mendelsohn Research is helping those networks put 
their viewers where their mouths are. The 
"Million Dollar Eyeballs" study, conducted 
between June and September 2006, tabulated how 
many hours viewers in households above and below 
the $1 million mark in total income and 
investments watched cable TV over a seven-day 
period. Though the usual suspects cropped up (Fox 
News ranks No. 1 for the upscale set with 7.9 
hours, Discovery's "slambrosia" watched 3.8 hours 
to rank sixth in the same category), there were a 
few surprises. CNBC, the No. 2 network above $1 
million, had the biggest disparity between its 
two categories, with 7.3 hours watched in upscale 
households and 2.6 hours on the other end of the 
income spectrum. Fox News, while top-ranked among 
the affluent, dipped to No. 6 in the "under 
million" category, with ESPN taking top honors among that segment.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=116591&search_phrase=million+eyeballs

CONTENT

LOCAL NEWS REPORTING OUTSOURCED TO INDIA
[SOURCE:  Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Alex Pham]
When is local journalism not really local? When 
it's about Pasadena and written by someone in 
India. James Macpherson, editor and publisher of 
the Pasadena Now website, hired two reporters 
last weekend to cover the Pasadena City Council. 
One lives in Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a 
year. The other will work in Bangalore for 
$7,200. The council broadcasts its meetings on 
the Web. From nearly 9,000 miles away, the 
outsourced journalists plan to watch, then write 
their stories while their boss sleeps — India is 
12.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time. "A lot 
of the routine stuff we do can be done by really 
talented people in another time zone at much 
lower wages," said Macpherson, 51, who used to 
run a clothing business with manufacturing help 
from Vietnam and India. So, on the Indian version 
of Craigslist, he posted an ad that said in part, 
"We do not believe that geographic distance 
between California and India will present 
unsurmountable problems, and that working 
together with you will result in your development 
of a keen working knowledge of this city's 
affairs." Dozens replied. One of the two chosen 
had attended the UC Berkeley Graduate School of 
Journalism. Rob Gunnison, the director of school 
affairs there, is dismayed. "It just seems so 
fundamental to journalism to be there," Gunnison 
said. "I still can't quite believe it's not a hoax."
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-pasadena11may11,1,984491.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
(requires registration)

HOLLYWOOD SET TO FILTER ON-SCREEN SMOKING
[SOURCE:  Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
Under a policy announced Thursday, the Motion 
Picture Assn. of America said its movie raters 
would take into account "depictions that 
glamorize smoking or movies that feature 
pervasive smoking outside of a historic or other 
mitigating context." That makes smoking a major 
factor to be considered alongside violence, 
profanity, nudity and drug use by the MPAA's 
rating board, the Classification and Rating 
Administration, when deciding the warning parents 
will get. For filmmakers and studios, the new 
policy complicates the creative process because a 
stricter rating can hurt ticket sales. The change 
in policy is a partial victory for anti-smoking 
advocates and researchers, who have pressured the 
MPAA for years to take a tougher stance on the 
issue. The trade group, however, resisted calls 
for an even more radical proposal to give films 
with smoking a mandatory R rating, meaning 
children under 17 would not be allowed to see 
them without a parent or guardian.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-moviesmoking11may11,1,6942623.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
(requires registration)
* Hollywood Ads Adult Smoking To Ratings System
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6441178.html
* Put It Out, Shweetheart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051001347.html
(requires registration)

QUICKLY

RURAL COALITION, SPRINT NEXTEL ESCALATE CALL-BLOCKING BATTLE
[SOURCE: TelecomWeb, AUTHOR: ]
In a continued effort to fight the rise of 
alleged call-blocking by major telecom players, 
more than a dozen rural local exchange carriers 
(LECs) and conferencing providers have banded 
together to form the Coalition for Carrier 
Neutrality. On the flip side, Sprint Nextel is 
taking at least 10 Iowa rural LECs to court.
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/23178.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
...and we're outta here. Thanks for reading us. Happy Mother's Day!
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/howejwriting/a/mothers_day.htm
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online 
news summary service provided by the Benton 
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important industry developments, policy issues, 
and other related news events. While the 
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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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Kevin Taglang
Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Foundation
Communications in the Public Interest
1625 K Street, NW 11th Floor
Washington, DC 20006
headlines AT benton DOT org 

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