Cable Companies' Big Internet Swindle
Free Press Media Reform Daily
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News of the movement for November 24, 2009
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-- FUTURE OF THE INTERNET --
CABLE COMPANIES' BIG INTERNET SWINDLE Most people agree: They pay
their cable company too much money. Some financial analysts and
institutions have noted that the profit margin for cable Internet
subscribers is on the order of 80 percent. In other words, your
cable company charges you $40 for something that costs them $8 to
supply.
Adam Lynn, Free Press
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=EI0wqNHAxDDMOBcXPHCukA..
FCC 'FORGETS' THERE'S LIMITED COMPETITION The vast majority of the
time, FCC policy presented to the public as being centered around
creating competition is really just the technological equivalent
of giving Ma Bell a backrub. If the FCC's looking for gaps in
broadband deployment, the agency should examine its fealty to the
largest carriers, and how this has prevented real competition from
taking root.
Karl Bode, Broadband Reports
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Hs8RT6V3Ib-hngaiHT4OpA..
U.S., INTERNET'S INVENTOR, LAGS IN WEB ACCESS Despite being the
country that invented the Internet, America lags far behind nations
like Japan and South Korea in broadband speed and access. How did
the United States fall so far behind, and what are we missing out
on?
NPR http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=5ArgMFmt5FOL8WapDlgoZA..
FCC TO HOLD NOV. 30 FIELD HEARING AT MIT ON BROADBAND, ENERGY AND
THE ENVIRONMENT The FCC will hold a field hearing at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology on how broadband can help the nation achieve
its energy and environmental goals, including energy independence,
greenhouse gas emissions reductions and clean energy generation.
The public is encouraged to attend and participate.
FCC http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=l4Yvgr7bx0HXEMYlYhaAzg..
GOOGLE BLOCKING SET TOP BOXES FROM SHOWING YOUTUBE UNLESS THEY PAY
UP?
The makers of a set top box that can display Internet content are
complaining that Google is blocking them from displaying YouTube
content, unless they agree to "partner" and commit to buying lots
of ads. If all these set top boxes are really doing is accessing
free Internet content and formatting it better for a TV, why stop
it?
Mike Masnick, TechDirt
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=h7Ni4pdGrAKMlfvXaBmC8Q..
SPAIN MANDATES AFFORDABLE BROADBAND FOR ALL Spanish officials said
that the government will require service providers to offer broadband
with speeds of at least 1 Mbps at regulated rates to residents
living anywhere in the country.
Marguerite Reardon, CNet
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=cjk-aLZ3__J6FxTCcE1dBg..
-- SAVE THE INTERNET --
TELCOS TO FCC: GIVE US BILLIONS, BUT DON'T MAKE US SHARE LINES AT&T
and Verizon are up in arms about a "slanted" survey of global
broadband practices done for the FCC taht concludes that mandatory
line-sharing rules produce better Internet speeds and penetration
rates. Is it possible the United States could (again) force ISPs
to open their networks?
Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=t0BsT0o3H_b4MJJhe49liQ..
AT&T PRESSES FCC ON GOOGLE VOICE, NET NEUTRALITY AT&T is keeping
the pressure on the FCC regarding two specific issues: AT&T's
objections to the Google Voice application and its position on Net
Neutrality regulations.
Phil Goldstein, Fierce Wireless
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=K5D4cV2XjWCIOoHYwMBLpg..
MOBILE GROUPS PROTEST PROPOSED NET NEUTRALITY RULES Until now, the
FCC has focused its Net Neutrality principles on wired carriers.
But consumer groups and other pro-Net Neutrality advocates say the
consumer expectations are no different on mobile broadband networks.
And mobile carriers are speaking out against open networks.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=en64ku13tGT2ax-6ipxfig..
NET NEUTRALITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR NYC'S IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
There's a lack of awareness about Net Neutrality among immigrant
communities.
The FCC and advocacy groups have largely failed to connect with
these communities on the subject. Yet for these communities to
succeed, a free and open Internet is crucial to access to information,
education and economic success.
Jehangir Khattak, SavetheInternet.com
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Wic-S7M0MqKWn8GGX5eeog..
-- JOURNALISM & BEYOND --
NEWS CORP. WEIGHS AN EXCLUSIVE ALLIANCE WITH BING Microsoft has
been in discussions with News Corp. about a deal to pay the company
to remove links to its news content from Google's search engine and
display them exclusively on Bing. If such an arrangement came to
pass, it would be a watershed moment in the history of the Internet
and set off a fierce debate over the future of content online.
Tim Arango and Ashlee Vance, New York Times
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=F2z4hvUyrDRdAbLLhakbkw..
MURDOCH, MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE So Rupert Murdoch is trying to squeeze
the search engines for some cash. This move seems more likely to
be an incremental one for the news industry as far as revenue goes
-- even if it backfires. The implications for the search industry
longer term, however, could be more interesting. It's hardly a
silver bullet for the news.
Ryan Chittum, Columbia Journalism Review
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=k9Q7eyQYYv6QgET_ZaQRmA..
MURDOCH MADNESS Were Bing to pay News Corp. to drop Google, it would
be a double-play in Google's favor: Microsoft would lose money and
gain little. And News Corp.
would lose traffic.
Jeff Jarvis, Buzz Machine
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=fogb0R4wpQoLc4Ot_YS74Q..
WHY IT MATTERS THAT PIERRE OMIDYAR IS LAUNCHING A NEWS STARTUP
Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, is launching a for-profit news
startup in Hawaii. Omidyar is going for something that seems to
have fallen somewhat out of favor for local news startups, the
notion that they can and should be profitable.
Dan Gillmor, PBS http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=4OOJWRuYmqaTjLB3V3wM1g..
WHY NONPROFITS NEED NEWSPAPERS For the past twenty years, the media,
notably print journalism, have assumed responsibility for keeping
our nonprofit organizations publicly accountable.
But many daily newspapers have abandoned their investigative teams,
and they are no longer paying as much attention to the nonprofit
world that they covered so conscientiously.
Pablo Eisenberg, Carnegie Corporation
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=sirDNe79cOEExSmON7F2Dw..
MSNBC.COM TAKING OVER @BREAKINGNEWS TWITTER FEED MSNBC.com will
take over one of Twitter's most popular feeds for news, @BreakingNews,
as part of a deal with the feed's creator, BNO News. MSNBC is the
second major cable news channel to take over a Twitter feed developed
by someone else. In April 2009, CNN acquired @CNNBrk, a Twitter
feed that linked to the top stories on CNN.com.
Alex Weprin, Broadcasting & Cable
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=EdbOMiDj161t4hAy7mSMOA..
PANORAMA SEEKS TO EXPAND REACH OF NEWSPAPERS A small group of young
writers and artists who work out of the back of a stationery shop
in San Francisco's Mission District -- and are dedicated to preserving
the printed word -- have turned their attention to "old" media: the
newspaper.
Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=FmiOkDlBMWc3Oa6dODdO-Q..
SEVEN MONTHS LATER: WHAT'S HAPPENED TO SEATTLE P-I JOURNALISTS In
March, Hearst closed the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer
newspaper.
Since the staff stopped filing stories and began filing for
unemployment, only 15 percent have found full-time paid work in
journalism. What is happening with the rest of the 140 workers?
Ruth Teichroeb, SavetheNews.org
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=8EPqzRncS05W7qS75yplOw..
-- FEATURE --
ACT NOW!
Tell Your Story: What does Net Neutrality mean to you? Why is it
important for the FCC and Congress to stop companies like AT&T and
Comcast from controlling content on the Web? In your own words,
tell us why you need a free and open Internet.
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=k5zB1qjoGevlACk8cU2lWw..
-- IN OTHER NEWS --
GE SAID TO LEAN TOWARD IPO OF VIVENDI'S NBC STAKE General Electric
is leaning toward allowing an initial public offering of Vivendi's
minority holding in NBC Universal as talks to purchase the stake
stall. The two sides are about $500 million apart on a valuation
for Vivendi's 20 percent stake in the entertainment unit, and little
progress has been made in recent days.
Bloomberg http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=9W-vYtFwhf2tTgCnpM-CdA..
TIME INC.'S SQUIRES ASSEMBLE TEAM OF RIVALS TO HARNESS DIGITAL MEDIA
Some of the magazine industry's biggest names are on the verge of
forming a new company that would allow them to take the digital
future into their own hands. The company will prepare magazines
that can work across multiple digital platforms and create a store
similar to iTunes, where you can buy new and distinct iterations
of each magazine.
New York Observer http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=qN47th-iM2ceAWAstoNbdg..
BETTER REPORTING TECHNOLOGY AN UNEXPECTED BYPRODUCT OF STIMULUS The
federal mandate to make stimulus spending transparent led some
states to develop systems for rapidly gathering and reporting
information to the federal government. The administration, in turn,
used new systems to make the data, in some instances just weeks
old, available to the public.
NextGov.com http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=N1X7pmwiAuOWc3ItceKkkA..
FTC ASKED TO REDEFINE DEFINITION OF PROGRAMMING TARGETED TO KIDS,
TEENS A consortium of kids activists and academics has asked the
Federal Trade Commission to redefine its definition of programming
targeted to kids and teens. The goal is to collect more information
on the marketing by popular TV shows, and to collect it from program
distributors as well food marketers.
Broadcasting & Cable
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=TFhlzh57GJnLWqWFT95vEA..
FEINGOLD LAUNCHES 'SPOTLIGHT ON SPENDING' SERIES Sen. Russ Feingold
(D-Wis.) announced the launch of his "Spotlight on Spending" series
to highlight actions Congress can take to reduce the deficit.
The first featured provision is the elimination of the Radio and
TV Martm, programs dating back to the Cold War that sends broadcasts
into Cuba.
Common Dreams http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=i9wJNgUQEPTxMndvjnsQbg..
BILL MOYERS TO LEAVE WEEKLY TELEVISION The PBS mainstay Bill Moyers
said he was retiring from weekly television and would end his Friday
night public affairs show, Bill Moyers Journal, on April 30, 2010.
That date will also be the last for Now on PBS, which has been
canceled.
New York Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=VpBp-WY6FbgeQFRX5ddbZA..
-- UPCOMING EVENTS --
HOW WILL JOURNALISM SURVIVE THE INTERNET AGE Dec 1-Dec 2: Washington,
DC http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=4-rmEUSKKAd_3ipg5BSVhg..
FCC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIVERSITY FOR COMMUNICATIONS IN THE DIGITAL
AGE Dec 3: Washington, DC
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=L7qzpExorFWOYtg_6saCpQ..
FCC MEMPHIS FIELD HEARING ON DIGITAL INCLUSION Dec 5: Memphis, TN
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=iQWTtdg41isoQ6sCdEV-qg..
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Dec 8: Washington, DC
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=O7y4RriYf1kEsLYARipg_Q..
FCC WORKSHOP: LESSONS FOR THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN FROM LOCAL
OFFICIALS REPRESENTING UNDER-SERVED COMMUNITIES Dec 9: Washington,
DC http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Ixe8yZepe18NO7v1S24uZw..
TRUE SPIN CONFERENCE Jan 20-Jan 21: Denver, CO
http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=kNs1xRbb-59IBIUaCCKKZA..
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