US Media and communications policy are regulated primarily by the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission.
Legislation and Regulation
Life, liberty and connectivity for all
Submitted by jonathan on Tue, 2009-01-06 10:15We live in a civil society – a place where primary education is freely available to all, where anyone can enjoy a walk through our public parks or down our sidewalks and freely drive through the streets. Libraries across the country loan out books for free – literature that you can read on a spring day in our parks or beneath the streetlights on main street on a warm summer's evening. You don't have to tip the firemen who show up at your house or pay for police protection – in a civil society, public safety is freely available to everyone.
We enjoy myriad services and resources that we don't pay for each and every time we use them. Yet each of these key facets of contemporary society was part of a new social contract, often adopted only after years of battle and turmoil to overcome a prior status quo (from private fire and educational services to for-fee libraries and parks). Eventually, however, new models are seen to provide such an enormous benefit to the entire population that we're willing to invest in ideas that lift all boats. We realise that, as a society, each of us is better off when certain basic services are freely available to all.
Digital TV coupon program runs out of money
Submitted by jonathan on Mon, 2009-01-05 11:51In a new challenge to the digital TV transition, the government’s program offering $40 coupons for TV converter boxes is out of money, weeks faster than anyone expected.
The Department of Commerce today announced that it now has committed the entire $1.34 billion available for the coupons and is starting to put new requesters on a waiting list.
Government's DTV coupon program may run out of money - soon
Submitted by jonathan on Wed, 2008-12-31 12:31In the latest in an ongoing series of eye-rolling developments, the government agency in charge of the digital television converter box coupon program – the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration – said it will likely stop processing coupon requests as early as next week because it expects to run out of money.
Think about that for a minute. NTIA says it will stop processing coupons at the precise moment that consumers will be needing them most – the last few weeks leading up to the digital television switchover.
FCC's Martin discusses telecom, DTV matters before stepping down as Chairman
Submitted by jonathan on Wed, 2008-12-31 12:25FCC Chairman Kevin Martin does not see much chance of tightening program-access complaint rules or getting his free broadband proposal out the door before he exits as chairman in mid-January.
He is more sanguine about the prospects for the digital-television transition, though he concedes there will be challenges, including possibly running out of available money for DTV-to-analog converter boxes.
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has reportedly pushed for a more concentrated and coordinated call center program to field viewers’ calls around the time of the Feb. 17, 2009, switch. Martin says broadcasters will need to step up—NAB already has announced a call center plan—but that funds they have requested from the FCC would be subject to government contracting rules.
Internet providers move to shape broadband push
Submitted by jonathan on Wed, 2008-12-31 12:21President-elect Barack Obama's call to improve the nation's broadband infrastructure has cable and phone company lobbyists maneuvering to get a leg up.
Lawmakers in Congress want a plan that will create jobs over the next two to three years while also tackling the longer-term goal of improving the availability and quality of high-speed Web access in the U.S. The U.S. has slipped to 15th from fourth place since 2001 in broadband penetration, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Advocates say broadband deployment is critical to the competitiveness of the U.S. economy.
FCC puts the MPAA on hold
Submitted by jonathan on Wed, 2008-12-31 12:20Looks like Hollywood isn't going to unleash selectable output control, a controversial anti-piracy technique, any time soon.
The MPAA had sought the Federal Communications Commission's permission to use selectable output control on a new type of service to be offered by cable and satellite TV operators: movies made available on-demand shortly after they debuted in theaters, well before they were released on DVD. Studios could use the new technique to turn off the analog outputs on cable or satellite receivers, allowing the movies to be transmitted only through encrypted digital outputs. Closing the so-called "analog hole" would make it harder for people to make pristine digital copies of the movie. But it would also prevent consumers who have older TV sets, which weren't equipped with encrypted digital inputs (including early HDTV models), from taking advantage of the new service.
Media, civil rights groups voices support for black-focused TV network
Submitted by jonathan on Tue, 2008-12-30 10:50Ion Media and Robert Johnson's Urban Television have a number of supporters, at least in principle, for their proposal to create a minority-targeted over-the-air TV network by programming multicast must-carry channels and trying to get the FCC to grant those stations must-carry status.
In separate filings with the FCC, Media Access Project/Common Cause and nearly a dozen civil rights groups weighed in on the proposal.
FCC, TV, Internet set for big changes in 2009
Submitted by jonathan on Mon, 2008-12-29 13:18From an Obama administration plan to give all Americans broadband to the nation's looming switch to digital television, the communications landscape is expected to see big shifts in 2009.
At the heart of much of the change is the Federal Communications Commission, which soon faces its own shake-up as at least one commissioner departs and Democrats take charge.
That could mean policy changes at an agency that oversees everything from cable providers and radio airwaves to public safety communications and broadcast indecency rules.
Larry Lessig's Newsweek piece is a pre-dot-bomb retread
Submitted by jonathan on Mon, 2008-12-29 08:56Larry Lessig’s latest article in Newsweek is very disappointing, a pre-dot-bomb retread that backs down from all his recent progressive thinking. It’s so dated, one wonders if it was written in the last ten years, or if someone just found this article now and decided to print it. When was this written? 1995? 1998? Are you sure this was written by Larry Lessig, not George Gilder? If this is what it purports to be, then it helps explain why Larry is a very good teacher, but he should never be let closer to a telecom network than the handset.
Telecom industry seeks to influence broadband policy in North Carolina
Submitted by jonathan on Wed, 2008-12-24 11:21Citizens across North Carolina are clamoring for better access to the Internet, but cable and telecom companies say it's too expensive to build service that reaches them. Now the industry has decided it is willing to pay an outside group, Connected Nation, to collect data about who's stuck on dialup, ostensibly to deliver improved service. But critics say the motive is hardly altruistic, charging that cable and telecom companies are more interested in warding off regulators than in bridging the digital divide.