Memo to Sirius: CNN, Fox are not Suitable Substitutes for C-SPAN Posted by Bob at 03/19/07 01:24 PM

Sirius Satellite Radio has dropped C-SPAN Radio from its lineup because the public affairs programmer objected to being regularly bumped for sports broadcasts. We think that is a serious mistake for a company trying to convince Congress and the FCC to let it merge with its only competitor.

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Pitching Wu and Net Neutrality Posted by Bob at 03/16/07 12:52 PM

We just came across a very interesting new article on Tim Wu, the Columbia University law professor who coined the term "net neutrality." It tells the tale of how Wu turned a presentation at an obscure research conference in 2003 into the rallying cry for the current national movement to enact a net neutrality law. The article is a little long by online standards, but well worth the time.

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Cable Television and Hamburger Buns, a la Carte Posted by Bob at 03/15/07 01:09 PM

I love a good hamburger. Hot off the grill, dripping with some sharp cheddar, nestled on a lightly toasted potato roll with a dab of spicy brown mustard. It doesn’t really get any better than that. So what does any of that have to do with cable television?

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Who Owns Your Local Media Outlets? It's Private Posted by Bob at 03/13/07 01:23 PM

It is already hard enough to find out who really owns your local media outlets, although it is a good bet that it is some combination of huge conglomerates such as General Electric or Clear Channel. Get ready for it to get a lot tougher.

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State of the American News Media: Not So Good Posted by Bob at 03/12/07 01:39 PM

The good folks at the Project for Excellence in Journalism are out with their latest "State of the American News Media" report and it's a pretty gloomy document.

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Study Says Abandoning Net Neutrality Won't Improve Service Posted by Bob at 03/08/07 02:04 PM

Leading opponents of net neutrality -- mostly big Internet service providers such as cable and phone companies -- say they would have much more of an incentive to expand and improve their services if they started charging online content providers such as Yahoo! and Google for preferential access to their customers. Not so says Kenneth Cheng, a professor at the University of Florida's Department of Decision and Information Sciences, who led a team that just finished up a fascinating study on the issue.

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A Good Idea Gone Very, Very Bad Posted by Bob at 03/06/07 11:43 AM

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday released an order that effectively undermines the authority of local governments to negotiate franchise agreements with big telecom companies such as AT&T and Verizon, who want to offer pay television services in their communities. As consumer advocates, we are big fans of healthy competition. We don't think the FCC order does much to create a truly competitive market for video services, however, and it could make matters worse for consumers.

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Church Does the Right Thing in Challenging Tribune’s TV Licenses Posted by Bob at 03/02/07 12:58 PM

In a move that cuts to the heart of the current debate on media ownership, the United Church of Christ has formally challenged the license renewals of two television stations in Hartford, Conn, owned by the Tribune media conglomerate. Tribune is the poster child when it comes to domination of local media markets by a single company – and nowhere is that more on clear display than in Hartford.

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AT&T Rewards Indiana for Relaxed Regulations by "Un-Outsourcing" Jobs Posted by Bob at 03/01/07 12:10 PM

We know that communication giant AT&T wields incredible political clout at virtually every level of government, but even we were awestruck by a story out of Indiana this week. At a news conference at the Indiana Statehouse, AT&T officials announced plans to hire 425 people for call-center jobs in Indianapolis. Those jobs had previously been outsourced, the company explained, but had been brought back in-house and were to be located in Indianapolis as a direct result of some very AT&T-friendly legislation passed in Indiana last year.

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